All the more interesting that he has the idea to ask Ardaic about his hesitance. I suppose Ardaic has never thought to put Reynolds in the “opponents” category and is therefore surprised to see any kind of fancy trick coming from his side. That kind of obliges him to ask questions first because he finds it much harder to assume that Reynolds is actually opposing Gasto… Iwatania and could deliberately cause enough of a problem that he should be removed from his position.
Being called out on that matter, though, changes that quickly… so I’m not sure what Reynolds hoped to achieve with the remark, or whether it was simply a spontaneous idea to change character and make an impression while he still has initiative.