With the speech from our representative, Kiji, brought to a close, the various events organized by the committee got underway.
Now that our management duties had settled down for the moment, the three of us—myself, Char, and Chato—were checking out the entertainment in the plaza.
Tama, a sheep cat woman clad in an eccentric outfit, was balancing atop a ball while dancing alongside a young high ogre woman in a similar getup holding a sword.
"Tama and that high ogre are seriously nimble, aren't they?"
A performance with all that jumping and leaping would be completely impossible for a human like me. Well, to be precise, I felt like I might know someone who could pull it off, but a fog settled over my memories again, and I couldn't recall.
"According to Orgo, when it comes to the high ogre tribe, it's mostly the women who are that agile. The men couldn't pull that off to save their lives. Well, give or take, that goes for us too, though."
Chato offered his thoughts while gazing blankly at Tama, who was still dancing.
"Huh, so in your tribe, the women are more dexterous than the men too?"
"Pretty much. Feats like that acrobatics routine are way beyond me."
Chato was normally quite light on his feet, so I had assumed it would be easy for him. But I see—it really was that difficult.
"Wait, but I can't do that at all, you know?"
Char asked with a bewildered look on her face, to which Chato replied,
"Well, that's 'cause you're just plain clumsy."
Chato stated his observation with deep, heartfelt conviction.
"Boo! I object!"
After patting Char on the head a few times as she puffed out her cheeks in protest, I decided to steer the conversation elsewhere.
"Wasn't there a martial arts tournament going on next door?"
After all, if Char went into a sulk, she would stop talking to me altogether. It would bring nothing but trouble.
"Right. If I remember right, Master Cyclone and Orgo should be fighting right about now. Wanna go check it out?"
"Sounds good."
Raising a hand in farewell to Tama, we headed toward the large building next door.
A multitude of voices blended into a low rumble that shook the very air, while atop the circular stage in the center of the building, a one-eyed giant and an ogre monster were locked in fierce combat.
"Ooh, they're really going at it. Look at 'em go."
From what Chato could tell, the two appeared completely evenly matched. Judging by the sheer fervor in the room, it was bound to be an impressive bout.
We took our seats in the spectator stands and began watching the match.
"My, how utterly low-level. Just as I thought, —— was merely overthinking things."
While everyone else was glued to the fight, an out-of-place remark reached my ears. Turning around on instinct, my eyes landed on a red-haired woman with white wings sprouting from her back, and next to her, a black-haired boy with freckles across the bridge of his nose.
—Throb!
A sharp pain shot through my head, as if a spike had been driven straight into my brain. At the same time, the scenery warped.
The sight of a freckled boy of about eight years old desperately chasing after me,
—I have no need for incompetence among my Knights. Kill him!
Overlapped with a vision of myself flying into a rage, having turned into that absolute piece of garbage from my dreams.
"—il."
"Guh...!"
As I groaned, clutching my splitting head with both hands—
"Gil?"
Char, sitting in the seat next to me, tugged at my sleeve with an anxious expression.
Instantly, the headache subsided, and my vision cleared back to normal.
Judging by the wings sprouting from their backs, those two were probably of the Garuda tribe. Just like the sheep cat tribe, the Garuda tribe had members with avian heads and others with human heads. Having an appearance that closely resembled a human was by no means unusual.
Even so, that freckled Garuda boy gave me a powerful sense of déjà vu. Or rather, was it nostalgia? It was likely just my mind playing tricks on me, but if I went and spoke to him, I would know for sure.
"I'm fine."
After giving Char's hair a gentle stroke, I stood up from my seat to speak with them.
"Excuse me—"
Just as I was about to call out to the Garuda boy and girl—
—Clang, clang, clang!
The shrill ringing of a bell echoed across the entire area.
Wondering what had happened, everyone rose from their seats at once and turned their gaze toward the north gate where the sound originated. As I instinctively faced the source of the noise, a voice crackling with sheer panic came through the communication magic tool installed in the arena's ceiling.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! It's the Demon King Army!"
It was the frantic shout of a Garuda youth on lookout duty.
Instantly, the surrounding area erupted into complete pandemonium.
"Gil!"
Chato looked to me for our next move, his expression unusually tense.
"Cyclone, Orgo, gather the other core members and head to the usual meeting hall immediately!"
"Right!"
"..."
Both of them nodded firmly and bolted out of the chaotic arena.
"Chato, Char, you two guide the citizens to the evacuation shelters!"
"Understood!"
"Yes! I'll do my best!"
Both of them nodded vigorously.
"Listen up, everyone! We're guiding you to the shelters now! Move, right away!"
Chato shouted at the top of his lungs.
"We're leading you to the shelters, this way!"
Char swung her little arms around energetically, determined to fulfill her role.
I could leave things to them without worry. Time for me to fulfill my duty as well.
First, I had to grasp the situation. At my pace, reaching the north gate wouldn't even take a few minutes. Right now, assessing the threat was top priority.
I broke into a full sprint toward the north gate.