#whose fault is that.

rejoice, Xbalanque distrusters!! our nemesis (?) has finally showed his true colors. in the weapon about the cuuute story of him gifting a sword to Och-Kan! no. i don't buy this. overthinking ahead, maybe, but seriously, i do not trust him on anything ever

okay so it starts with his team, partying and drunk, arguing over what's the best weapon. then, he wants to settle that debate, i suppose. even though it would've been ended when he brought the food anyway. whatever, if they need An Answer,

The man who could use all weapons, naturally, could not give everyone a satisfactory answer

but the problem is that Xbalanque can't give an answer that satisfies everyone. this is the reason he doesn't want to answer the question himself. Mr Perfect cannot afford to look bad or have someone displeased by his answer? so, how will he get out of this?

the man with the flaming hair turned his gaze upon [Och-Kan], [...] "By the way, you've gone without weapons all this time, right? So, what do you want to use? Whatever you pick... We'll take that to be the best weapon!"

seriously, you're not cute, Xbalanque. so what he does is that instead of answering the damn question (that he should perfectly be able to answer as one who can use all weapons instead of asking someone who does not wield any??), he asks, or i kinda want to say, he hides behind Och-Kan instead.

what do you want to use? but is this really about what Och-Kan wants? the timing is quite, uh, 'convenient', and he can't even pick his goddamn weapon without the added pressure of being the ultimate judge like the others could. all so Xbalanque won't look bad in front of his drunk, partying friends.

At any rate, he made his decision... His answer likely only pleased Ahpub and that man who now did not need to answer a troublesome question.

of course Xbalanque would be pleased with the answer whatever it was! he gets to come out of this looking soo nice and kind for gifting him a weapon, while Och-Kan is the one who has to deal with the displeasure from Yupanqui/Lianca/Ixquieh/Uenuku... and Maghan, for some reason despite being the one who uses the sword from Salutary Series

..... okay, i'm being a bit dramatic here. it's a bunch of partying friends arguing about weapons and nobody is actually mad at Och-Kan for prefering a sword over a polearm or whatever. however it makes you wonder whether Xbalanque uses this, erm, manipulation tactic? in other more serious situations. ah, wait, no need to wonder, because:

It was only later that he discovered that this was one of that man's aggravating habits — throwing ridiculous questions at bystanders.

he does! it's a habit of his! in this situation here, he asked that ridiculous question to put someone else on the spot while he gets to look good, so if that was a habit of his... i don't even want to think about what kind of situations he got himself out of by throwing someone else under the bus like this. maybe that's why everyone remembers him as being so perfect.

(by the way, the whole thing being from Och-Kan's pov, i find it so funny that he of all people calls Xbalanque's habit "aggravating". if even your worst glazer talks about you like this....... more seriously, it's another hint that the version of Xbalanque he loved is an idealized version, we knew this, but i didn't expect to go as far as to find the actual Xbalanque aggravating. well.)