Roughly five hours before the bandit gang Sadotela launched their assault.
Inside the sheep cat tribe's dungeon cell.
"I see... So Charme is the only one missing?"
"Yeah, that's right."
A sharp sense of dissonance nagged at me, like a fishbone lodged in my throat. Normally, taking several hostages as meat shields was standard practice. So why take only Charme? Because she served as the shrine maiden who could activate the barrier? No, if they were knowledgeable enough about the settlement's inner workings to know that, they would have used a better, more direct approach. They wouldn't resort to a scheme that would be discovered so quickly. Besides, with our side in absolute turmoil right now, why hadn't they made a move? If they attacked under these conditions, this settlement wouldn't stand a chance.
"It's no good, it makes no sense!"
None of the pieces fit, and I couldn't read their intentions at all. However, there were also reports of human race scouts being spotted.
They kidnap Charme alone without anyone noticing, yet their scouts get spotted with ease. Clumsy yet masterful bandits? Just what kind of group were we dealing with?
"Gil, do you think so too?"
Kiji asked, resting a hand on his chin.
"Yeah. There are three major irrationalities. First, going out of their way to kidnap only Charme. Second, the scouts making the blunder of getting spotted. And to top it off, they're still giving us time to get our act together."
"It's simple! He's working with them from the inside and leaked Charme's information to the scouts outside! That's all there is to it, right?!"
Chato furrowed his brow, spouting nonsense that wasn't even worth entertaining.
"Listen, I've been in here the entire time. You were the ones who unlocked the door, so you should know that better than anyone, right?"
"So what does that prove?!"
Veins bulged on Chato's forehead as he yelled.
"This is an underground cell. There isn't a single window. How would I contact the outside?"
"You probably used some shady human race spell!"
"If I had such a convenient spell, I would have told them to attack while everything was in chaos. This settlement would have been overrun by bandits long ago."
"..."
Chato gritted his teeth, glaring at me.
He wasn't convinced. But he had no material for a counterargument either. That was about the size of it. Still, this provided a brief reprieve from the annoyance.
"It's only a matter of time before they attack. It would be faster to capture them and interrogate them on Charme's whereabouts."
If they tried to use Charme as a hostage, so be it. That would give us room to maneuver. After all, a hostage was completely useless unless revealed to the opposition.
Straightening my posture toward Kiji, I spoke.
"Please. Let me meet with the representatives of this settlement."
I stated my request once more.
Either way, capturing all the bandits by myself was impossible. I needed their cooperation.
"There's no way in hell! How could we ever trust you?!"
Sure enough, Chato raised his voice in protest, but I addressed him,
"Listen to me. Do you actually understand the current situation?"
I questioned him in an admonishing tone.
"I-I do."
Though he stammered, Chato answered.
"No, you don't understand at all. If you truly grasped the situation, you wouldn't have the luxury of taking out your frustration on me just because you failed to protect Charme."
I let out a heavy sigh, shrugged my shoulders, and declared flatly.
"Shut up! You filthy human!"
An impact struck my face, slamming me against the wall. Heat and a dull ache welled up inside my mouth. Spitting the coppery blood onto the ground, I glared at Chato. Then, kicking off the stone floor, I drove my fist right into his face.
"Y-You bastard—"
As Chato wiped his mouth and tried to stand, I grabbed him by the collar, hauled him in close, and spoke.
"Listen. Right now, with Charme gone, the barrier is unusable. On top of that, going by the fact that scouts were prowling the perimeter, they'll be attacking here very soon. If we don't prepare the defense of this settlement immediately, this place will be destroyed. Do you understand that? That's what I'm asking."
Why was this? Watching Chato's childish tantrum irritated me to no end. And this intense sense of déjà vu... Perhaps someone close to me in the past had thrown disgraceful tantrums and caused trouble for others in the exact same way.
"..."
Chato's mouth twisted in bitter frustration. Shoving my arm away, he stormed out of the room.
"Gil, I'm sorry, but we cannot trust an outsider like you."
"I figured."
Kiji gave the expected response.
"Therefore, the meeting will take place while you remain restrained. Would you still be fine with that?"
"Huh? Does that mean you'll let me meet them?"
"Yeah. There are far too many unanswered questions regarding this incident. It's a bit beyond what we can handle on our own. We would certainly like to hear your perspective."
He must have been dutiful by nature. Kiji extended his right hand toward me.
"That was my intention from the start."
Without hesitation, I gripped his hand in return.
That's right. I will protect Charme. Because for the current me who has lost his past, that was my one and only desire.