-- Ket Nya Conference Room
"So it's finally right on our doorstep..."
At Kiji's grim words, every single attendee in the massive conference room wore a sour expression. It was probably treating this like a hunt. As though savoring our fear and despair, the Great Blue Dragon—Cetus—had slowly decimated one neighboring monster settlement after another, and had at last reached the vicinity of Ket Nya.
"I knew it would come eventually, but the time has finally arrived... What do we do? At this rate, our settlement will be wiped out."
A woman of the Garuda tribe—a race with the heads of birds—voiced with an anxious look the very question on everyone's mind.
"This is a good village. I'm dead set against abandoning it, no matter what!"
Bū forcefully argued in defense of Ket Nya.
Bū was one of the key figures who had helped us build and expand this village. He clearly possessed a profound attachment to this city.
"I agree it's a good village and all, but none of that matters if it gets destroyed, right?"
Resting his chin in his hands, a young lizardman muttered absently. His words likely represented the shared sentiment of everyone present. Each person sank into thought with a troubled look.
"Lord Lou, may I have a word?"
A bearded, one-eyed giant of the cyclops tribe, who had kept silent until now, addressed Mr. Lou.
He was Cyclone, a cyclops survivor rescued during a retreat operation by the city's relief force under Mr. Lou's command. This was his first time participating in a conference, but he had looked displeased from start to finish; it was clear he had reservations about this meeting. And I had a vague guess as to why.
"What is it?"
Mr. Lou, who had kept both eyes firmly shut, opened one eye and turned his gaze toward Cyclone. Seeing Mr. Lou looking uncharacteristically intimidating, someone among the attendees could be heard audibly swallowing.
"Why is a human present in this place? Is this not supposed to be a village of us monsters?"
"I'd like to know that myself. Humans are nothing more than food to us, ain't they? Why is someone like that in this city, sitting in on such an important conference?"
Next to Cyclone, the crocodile-faced man, Crocodus, chimed in with agreement.
Suddenly, Bū slammed his right fist onto the table.
"The hell are you newcomers barking about?"
With veins bulging across his forehead, Bū glared menacingly at Crocodus in a fit of rage, causing Crocodus's crocodilian face to twitch.
"Y-You're the crazy ones for playing buddy-buddy with a human! Humans are the enemies of us monsters! That's supposed to have been an eternal, unchanging rule ever since this world began!"
He shouted in a shrill, cracking voice.
"Well, that might be true. Those people are crude and barbaric, and the demon race pushing south are ultimately no different from the human race, after all."
The Garuda woman offered her thoughts while staring blankly at me, but...
"I don't really mind, though. Mr. Gil understands us so well it's hard to believe he's even human."
The young lizardman voiced his objection.
"That might be true, but getting all cozy with a human is just a bit..."
The Garuda woman faltered as well.
I had felt this sense of alienation grow stronger every time a new race of monsters joined us.
Just as she said, to the monsters, the demons doing whatever they pleased across Northground were closely related to humans. It went without saying that their distrust of humanity ran deep.
The discussion wouldn't make any progress at this rate. If that happened, this conference would be pointless. Above all else, we were in a critical situation with the Great Blue Dragon currently advancing south.
"I'm heading back home ahead of you."
Leaving only those words for Kiji, who was facilitating the meeting, I stepped out of the conference room without waiting for a reply.