The Ballad of Adler Young, Canto 2.5

>Ash: You could have assisted Adler in secret of your own initiative, but Adler seems to keep forgetting what the general public thinks of him. His reputation paints him as either a mass murdering despot that delights in the destruction of others or a spineless, incompetent fool that strips himself naked while being interrogated, curls into a ball, and cries for hours on end.
>Adler: *in complete embarrassment* How do you know about that?
>Ash: Nobody bothered to keep it a secret. Anyway, if Adler was the former, he would have welcomed your help with open arms, if he was the latter there was no way of knowing if he would ever do anything useful or even have a plan which would require direct intervention to get the ball rolling. The fact that among Adler's first actions was to start a cult of hair dressers did not inspire confidence. It turns out Adler is somewhere near the middle, you admit that's on you for assuming he'd be one of the extremes. You'll be honest, elves don't lie after all, the main reason you offered to do all the work for Adler while he skips to the end is that, after hearing his life story and the way all of his exploits seem to turn out, you are worried that having Adler directly involved would be like keeping a powder keg near a kiln.Speaking of powder, you have to ask, Why was Adler so adamant on trying to steam gun powder?
>Adler: Why is it that despite everything else that has happened, that is the one thing everyone fixates on?