“What are you doing, Jinba? It’s late, you should go to sleep.”
“Hn? Ooh… Sorry, just a little longer…”
That night, Yuugo and Marcos received permission to sleep in the guards’ station, and Yuugo spoke to Jinba after finding him at his desk doing something.
As he got closer, he saw many photos of men and women with bad appearances on the desk, which Jinba was checking.
“What are these photos?”
“They are photos of people who committed small crimes over these past few years, that were in the guard records. I thought maybe I could find Regen’s underlings here.”
Jinba’s eyes stayed on the photos even as he replied.
Why was he doing that? Thought Yuugo, as Jinba continued as if to respond to that question.
“They’re hiding in the birdcage, so one of them must be carrying it hidden. They don’t know what’s going on outside from the birdcage, and Regen isn’t stupid enough to entrust his hideout to someone he doesn’t know. The carrier has to be someone he trusts to a certain extent.”
“So someone here is carrying the birdcage?”
“It’s just a possibility, but small timers like them are more easily gobbled up by a bigger evil. For Regen, underlings are useful people he can easily brainwash into adoring him.”
Threatening unrelated regular people or making them cooperate with money came with a risk of betrayal.
And so, despite the small suspicion it brought, it would be better to have someone faithful to him carry the hideout… Jinba was convinced Regen would see it this way.
Yuugo and Marcos nodded, thinking that was the kind of thinking that could only come from someone chasing his partner’s killer for ten or so years. Jinba placed a photo he held on the desk, and continued.
“The best scenario would be to destroy the birdcage before his underling made a move. That will free the kids locked inside and make it so he can’t use the magic item anymore.”
“They have the advantage as long as they have hostages…”
“That’s why I don’t want to miss any possibilities. I’m drilling their faces into my mind before tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? What about tomorrow?”
“It’s the Water Thanksgiving Festival. It happens around this time every year, gathering many people. I thought it would be suspended because of this event, but…”
“…The higher ups see it as the best chance to catch Regen, so they decided to go ahead with it. Security has been increased, and it looks like they’ll stop at nothing to catch him.”
It was a plan put together in spite of the risks. But the guards wanted to solve this case as soon as possible, so this was a perfect opportunity.
Regen’s revival and his performance to show off the power of monster armor beasts needed a stage. This Thanksgiving Festival with many people gathered was the perfect stage.
This situation played out perfectly for both parties, so it was actually not a good idea to act rashly.
Jinba wanted to put an end to all of this in the festival that would be the stage of the decisive battle, and Yuugo spoke while grabbing a document off his desk.
“If Jinba is going to fight to catch the criminals, I’ll take care of this.”
“What is that? Some sort of list?”
“…It’s the list of the kidnapped kids. We have to save them quickly and return them to their parents.”
Even at a glance, there were more than ten names. Yuugo looked at them while responding to Marcos.
It was just like him to fight to protect people rather than to defeat an enemy, bringing a light smile to Jinba’s face.
“Not to defeat, but to protect… That’s just like you, Yuugo.”
“That’s always the reason why heroes fight. For angels who forgot how to smile…”
“Haha! That sounds poetic. How about becoming a poet?”
As he teased Yuugo, Jinba looked away from the photos of criminals and looked at Yuugo, who held the list.
He nodded a little and spoke quietly while looking at the photos again.
“If we can destroy the birdcage first, we can avoid pointless battles and stress and take the fight right to Regen. We have to find the person holding the birdcage, for the kids too.”
“Yep. To catch the criminals and save the kids, we have to destroy the birdcage before the holder makes a move. That’s the best way to do it.”
Taking the initiative was the best way to contain damage.
And what they could do to make that happen was destroy the birdcage before they made a move.
If they could do that, they would not only land a sneak attack, but also recover the hostages.
Jinba was doing all he could to make that happen, but someone wanted the guards to be at a disadvantage and make sure the children were not safe.
And that person was…?
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