Blue grass was laid out across the wooden room. Seated upon it were several men and women with features halfway between cats and humans.
"We should kill him right this instant!"
A young man with a cat head and short blond hair surged up from his seat, shouting in agitation.
"Aye, but Lady Charme strongly refuses that. In the near future, those demons will invade this land. The activation and maintenance of that barrier artifact is heavily tied to Lady Charme's state of mind. In our current situation, we cannot afford to put her in foul spirits."
As an old woman with a cat head offered this gentle counsel,
"Dammit! Why the hell is Charme the only one who can cast the village barrier?!"
The blond youth slammed his fist against the blue grass floor. As strands of blue grass scattered into the air,
"To us, both the demon race invading even now and the human race trying to wipe us out are the same. They are our enemies. I don't care if it's Lady Charme's wish—I refuse to breathe the same air as a human!"
A young red-haired woman with a cat head cried out with bitten-back venom.
"That's true. Honestly, it makes my skin crawl just imagining my child being taken hostage. Since his purpose for coming here is completely unknown, leaving him to roam free is out of the question."
Touching his chin, a black-haired young man with a cat head muttered bitterly.
"According to the lad himself, he claims he doesn't even know who he is."
"That's a load of crap! If we can't kill him, we oughta throw him out right now!"
The short-haired blond youth with a cat head yelled again, but
"Are you an idiot?! Humans have already crept into these lands! If we're careless and set him free, and the village's presence is leaked to those humans, we'll be wiped out before the demon race even gets here!"
He was coldly shot down by the red-haired cat-faced woman.
"Then what the hell are we supposed to do?!"
"How should I know?! Use that empty head of yours and think for once!"
"What did you say?!"
"What, you wanna go? Suits me just fine!"
As the two stood glaring at each other, ready to tear into one another,
"Enough."
A commanding voice came from a red-haired man with a cat head and a scar across his left cheek. In an instant, absolute silence fell over the room, and the bickering pair meekly returned to their seats.
"Until this affair is concluded, we shall keep the human confined in the dungeon."
At the grave decree of the scarred man,
"However, will Lady Charme accept that?"
"I will make my daughter accept it, no matter what. Are the rest of you in agreement?"
He swept his gaze across the room, and not a single voice of dissent arose. Such was the deep, unshakeable trust placed in this man.
"Continue bolstering our defenses as planned, and ensure everyone is prepared for an emergency."
With nods acknowledging the scarred man's orders, the council came to a close.
Left alone in the empty room, the scarred man looked upward.
"A human visitor, is it...? If that rumor about the slaying of Deboa is true, then—"
He muttered softly under his breath, only to shake his head.
"We cannot join hands with the human race, nor can we mingle with them. That is an absolute, immutable law that has remained unchanged since ancient times."
Speaking with solemn weight as if to cast aside his own naive thoughts,
"Yet it is also true that this is the first news of a human visiting in over a decade, not since that person... Whether this brings good fortune or ruin..."
The faint mutter that slipped from the lips of the scarred man was drowned out entirely by the creaking of the building against the fierce wind outside.