—Roughly 40 minutes before the bandit gang Sadotela's raid—
"The work is done."
Chato entered the village chief's residence and reported the completion of the preparations.
"We managed to make it in time, then..."
At Kiji's words, a collective sigh of relief filled the room.
I had thought that getting even forty percent of my instructions done would be a huge win, but the sheep cat tribe turned out to be far more dexterous than I had expected. By dividing the labor under Kiji's command, they had finished all the preparatory work I had assigned in just a few hours.
"Is the temporary evacuation of the villagers finished?"
"Yes. Everyone has been moved to the nearby cave. It should be easy to defend there as well."
Kiji took a deep breath.
"All that's left is to heat it up and place it in the designated spots, right?"
He spoke with his eyes fixed on the grass in Chato's right hand.
"Luring them in and wiping them out in one fell swoop... Can we really pull that off with just this?"
An elderly woman voiced her doubt, addressing no one in particular.
"Yeah, I'd like to hear about that too."
Holding up the bunch of grass in his right hand, Chato looked at me.
"If I hadn't seen that, I wouldn't have come up with such a reckless plan in the first place. To us humans—or rather, to anyone other than you sheep cats—that grass is like a deadly poison. It'll definitely work."
It was true. A bunch of the grass Chato was holding had happened to fall right outside my cell. The guard watching over me had probably brought it along out of boredom to enjoy as a mild indulgence. When I examined it closely, I remembered that it was a special plant called dream grass.
When I asked Char about it, she told me that for the sheep cat tribe, dream grass was a treat that produced a buzz similar to alcohol intoxication in humans.
"Still, nothing happened to you, did it?"
A cat-faced woman with short red hair asked a perfectly reasonable question, casting a deeply suspicious look in my direction.
"It's harmless in its raw state. Only in its raw state, that is."
When exposed to a certain amount of heat, the grass's husks burst and scattered a vicious pollen. To humans, that pollen acted as a virulent toxin.
"So that's why we have to heat it up?"
"Exactly. If all goes well, we can slaughter every last one of the bandits without shedding a single drop of our own blood."
I had a good feeling about this. For better or worse, I seemed to thoroughly enjoy and excel at devising these kinds of underhanded schemes.
"The ones you're killing are humans just like you, aren't they? How can you stay so nonchalant about it?"
Chato asked, looking slightly unnerved by the thought.
"Well, that's because they made themselves my enemies."
Given the circumstances, killing them offered the highest chance of getting Char back. In that case, I wouldn't hesitate for a second. Right now, the survival of Char—the benefactor who had saved my life—took priority over everything else.
"Just like he said, humans really might be deeply sinful creatures."
Kiji muttered under his breath, narrowing his eyes as he looked at me.
"I don't know who said that, but I agree."
After all, I was the one who had come up with such a cruel and underhanded method. Before I lost my memories, my nature must have been truly rotten to the core. So rather than humanity as a whole, maybe I was the one who was deeply sinful.
"Anyway, there's no turning back now. We just have to see it through."
Chato looked around the room, and the others nodded, resolve written across their faces.
Then, Chato turned back to me.
"Hey, Gil. I still don't trust you. If this plan fails—"
"I know. Boil me, roast me, do whatever you like."
Either way, if this plan failed, Char would never come back. That was the one outcome I refused to accept. I would make sure this succeeded, no matter what.
Besides, now that every single preparation was complete, I didn't doubt for a second that our plan would work.
"You really are... No, never mind."
Chato trailed off, swallowed his words, and gave Kiji a bow.
Kiji nodded in return.
"Alright, everyone, begin the operation!"
At Kiji's command, a unified cry rose from the group.
Their roar, shouted as if to drown out their lingering anxiety, shook the building before fading into the darkness of the night.