"Should we just wait here?"
"Hmm..."
Rowell's question made me pause and think for a moment.
The bars in front of us looked like ordinary iron. Of course, they were almost certainly anything but. In this world, the strength of a high-level human was nothing short of incredible; simple iron rods could be twisted like putty with bare hands. To compensate, magically reinforced metals were often preternaturally tough. I was certain these bars had undergone that kind of treatment.
Still, I had a feeling we could escape if we really wanted to. I suspected Rowell’s Blade Through could slice right through magically processed metal. I could also use Shadow Leap to slip to the other side of the cage, or if it came to it, I could just turn the bars themselves into a Golem.
But we hadn't done anything to justify being arrested. It had to be some sort of misunderstanding, and staging a jailbreak would only make things more complicated.
"Let's just wait and see how things play out," I suggested.
And so, our period of detention began. Since there was nothing in the cell, we quickly found ourselves with too much time on our hands. We could have retreated into the Magic House, but it might cause trouble if someone came by to check on us and found the cell empty.
"In that case, I think we should eat!"
The petit-sized Petit Golems nodded their agreement vigorously at Shiroru’s suggestion. Even in a situation like this, they were as consistent as ever.
Then again, I was starting to feel a bit hungry myself.
"Alright, let's have a meal then."
I pulled a table and chairs out of my Storage Ring and arranged them inside the cell. I laid out a tablecloth and began setting out the dishes.
"Here's today's menu."
"Yay!"
It was omelet rice—savory chicken rice wrapped in a blanket of fluffy eggs. Halfa seemed particularly delighted; she gripped her spoon with a smile even wider than usual.
"Which sauce would you like?"
"I want the demi-glace!"
"Me too!"
I had prepared three varieties: a simple ketchup, a rich demi-glace, and a mushroom cream sauce. The demi-glace seemed to be the clear favorite, though the other two were quite good as well.
"How incredibly carefree..." Garna muttered, sounding exasperated.
Despite her words, she had already secured her own plate of omelet rice. Ever since she’d taken a liking to rice crackers, she had gradually begun showing interest in other foods. She was steadily joining the ranks of our resident gluttons. I suppose that meant she was finally settling in as a true traveling companion.
As we were all enjoying our meal, the area suddenly erupted with the sound of frantic, clattering footsteps. Of course, the alarm had been blaring non-stop, so it had been noisy for a while now.
"We've caught you, otherworlders! Your—wait, what on earth is this?"
A group of soldiers appeared, led by a middle-aged man dressed in somewhat formal attire. He had been shouting with a stern, menacing expression, but his face quickly went blank. I suppose the scene inside the cell was a far cry from whatever he’d been expecting.
"Sorry," I said. "We'll be finished eating in just a moment."
"Ah... Right. Well, take your time, then."
"Thank you."
I was glad he was such an understanding gentleman. I decided to take him up on his offer.
"Um... Lang-san? Is this really okay?" one of the soldiers whispered.
"Wh—!? I mean, look at them. Aren't they mostly just children?"
"Well, yes, but... still..."
"Do they look dangerous to you?"
"No..."
The men continued to mutter among themselves, but since they weren't trying to stop us, I figured it was fine to keep eating. The eggs were perfectly runny and delicious.
"Thank you for the meal!"
"That was wonderful!"
Halfa and Spira set their spoons down with satisfied expressions. We finished our omelet rice under the watchful eyes of the officials. However, there was one glutton who wasn't quite finished yet.
"What about dessert? Is there no dessert?" Shiroru demanded.
As much as I wanted to satisfy her, I thought it might be a bit much to keep the men waiting any longer. Rowell was laughing, clearly thinking it was far too late to worry about manners now, but everything had its limits. For the time being, I just popped a candy drop into Shiroru’s mouth to quiet her down.
"Um, sorry to keep you waiting. Here, would you like one as well?"
"A-Ah, no, please don't trouble yourself."
I offered a candy drop as an apology for the delay, but the man seemed hesitant. As we stood there politely bowing to one another, one of the soldiers cleared his throat.
"Lang-san. This has already gone completely off the rails, but we should at least try to do this properly."
"R-Right!"
The man—apparently named Lang—seemed to snap out of it. He tried to harden his expression again, but his eyebrows soon slumped back down.
"Ahem. So... are you all truly otherworlders? Our detection device picked up a powerful, atypical presence, so we were forced to quarantine you here."
Lang-san looked at us with an awkward, conflicted expression. The piercing alarm had stopped at some point; it seemed it was a warning triggered specifically by the presence of an otherworlder.
We all looked at each other.
"Maybe it reacted to Garna’s malice?" I asked.
Though we were on good terms now, Garna had once been treated as an evil god. It wouldn't have been surprising if she were detected as an atypical presence. However, Garna just looked at me with pure exasperation.
"Fool. I am a god of this world. There is no way I could be an atypical presence. No matter how one looks at it, you are the anomaly here."
"That can't be right. I'm just a normal human who happens to be a little lucky."
"...A little?" Halfa and the others chorused, tilting their heads in unison.
Well, maybe "a little" was an understatement. Or maybe I was just downplaying it. I wasn't quite sure of the right word.
Regardless of my internal debate, the soldiers were whispering intensely nearby.
"That cat is talking..."
"The dog was talking earlier, too. And it has a horn..."
"What are those small dolls? They're moving by themselves."
"They get teleported into a prison cell and then just start eating like nothing happened... That's not normal."
"The whole situation is so bizarre I don't even know where to start..."
Oh?
I had gotten so used to our group that I’d completely lost my sense of perspective... but were we, perhaps, not very normal?