Ok now making seemingly complexe characters that can't be seen as plain evil or good is a thing and could feel refreshing when you're only reading shitty stories with these types of villains (this manga failed tho) BUT I am telling you that every human is in fact both evil and good; we're always between the two through thoughts and sometimes through actions.
You're responsible for everything you do. That president and his butler are the scums of the earth (knowing whether if they're evil or good; in which way morally ? Socially ? Lawfully? It doesn't really matter) . Not only because they're aware of rules and regulations but also because they pretend to be something they're not. I see people saying they turned out good or peaceful ???????????????????????????????????
There's so many things to explain that it hurts my brain. My english is really sloppy but I'll try for a bit. It was already said through and through that they act based on reputation which is power for a merchant. Of course he has to keep up the act, they both lie, murder at the turn of a hat for personal gains. Was it impossible to remain righteous while knowing shady and dirty inner workings of guilds? If you're righteous, it doesn't mean you have to be naïve. The fact that most people in the comments are saying : "good I like them, or good I like to see people portrayed nor good nor bad". You're in serious need to read philosophers or any good novel like classics for that matter because you're talking about concepts that are way beyong your understanding. Portraying them as being nor good nor bad is being clueless because at no point did they ever defend someone else's interests when they acted their crimes. Why did they try to be rich again? Seem like motives, personal motivations are all thrown out the window in the manga. It's the images of the manga itself that first portrayed plain docile and kind and then showed them evil to no end to finally come to the conclusion that they're needed for Makoto?
Not only considering Makoto, it's not needed since he's got a land (why does he want to be a merchant again? we don't really know) but also rising in the merchant guild through their aid makes your rise not only cynical but you'd also be ignorant of all evil that has been done by them. Meaning, they trade with them and don't care about their nature in the slightless. Business is business eh ? Is that right now...
The way Tomoe reacts is completely like JAPANESE people not at all like a dragon that's gone dull to human morals. That hypocrisis brought by the famous "ura" "omote" and the ever lasting non-confrontational behaviour to just watch as disgusting acts are being unfold. I'm sorry; I'm from Europe and I don't think it's only linked to culture but it's rather about thinking, philosophy (Most philosophers no matter their origin be it in ancient greece or elsewhere: humans have universal truths, rights and objective qualities are real) that would think in this case : remaining silent or not acting about the truth makes you an accomplice.
At the very least, if you have any dignity as a human being you wouldn't associate with them no matter the benefits if you're not motivated enough to clean up the trash ( it's likely these two can never be punished by anyone if the MC doesn't do it himself, instead they'll live happily while not being held responsable for any act they've commited). That's the pole opposite of what a redemption is as not only are there no actions but there are no thoughts as well, NOT EVEN AN OUNCE OF GUILT. How can redemption start? Repentance is not even enough to start redemption let alone the :" I'm helping the MC because he's interesting and do things I can't so I'm a good guy now".
Honestly if they side with him.... What's the point of having that much power, no trouble ahead, wealth etc if you're not righteous ? As all human beings are both good and evil and most more evil than good (in order to survive, Seneca: "all men are bad") then in which way his vision is any different from everybody else? I've seen the Godwin point being cleared in the comments; do you think that everything Hitler did only lead to evil things? Of course not. If you do evil things and that indirectly leads to good things happening (I'm not saying Hitler did indirectly anything good though despite Europe seemingly uniting for a time), could you get credit from the infinity of causes and consequences that lead to this good? No you can't or else criminals would be saints (not the religion type). That's why no matter how much good an evil character would do indirectly , he'd still be evil because his intentions, psyche and actions are still morally wrong no matter how you look at it. It's like the Evil demon King in these shitty cliche isekai stories could take credit for rallying humanity as one and by being killed bring peace for a while. There is no motivation of doing so unlike in some manga like Code Geass, so you can't say he's done good. As long as someone sides with the MC, he's good or even if he's bad as long as he's useful that's ok? Fuck that cliche....
The people making manga in general really need more time dedicated to thinking rather than drawing I suppose, I must say that being ethnocentrist (all humans are) to the extend of feeling like an insular,"Japan being the big island", really doesn't help as most people still act in normalized ways and never question concepts or try to understand them as japanese society would feel threatened from such thinkers/thinking. Though the real independant intellectuals, the free thinkers, would bypass it no matter the time or place.
