“Chamo and Hans are here?” Tgurneu was understandably shocked to hear this from the wolf-fiend. They weren’t on the approach; they were here. Tgurneu was stunned at the incompetence of its subordinate, who had failed both to hold them back—even with a unit of one hundred—and to report the breakthrough.
An aerial fiend circling in search of Adlet’s party had reported to the wolf-fiend that it happened to see slave-fiends and said that Hans and Chamo were headed straight for Adlet, Fremy, and Dozzu.
“<Send out one unit to fight them. Stop Hans, at the very least,>” Tgurneu ordered for the time being.
But the wolf-fiend complained through number twenty-four, “<Th-they wön’t make it in time. Fremy’s shot down möst of the messenger fiends, and there aren’t mäny I can use.>”
“…Ngh.” Tgurneu was irritated. “<You know where Adlet and Fremy are, don’t you?>”
“<Y-yes, Cómmander, I do.>”
“<Chamo and Hans will most likely seek to kill Fremy. Once Hans, Chamo, and Fremy begin fighting, attack from the side. Your target is Chamo. Have the Braves or Dozzu and Nashetania kill Hans. Listen to me: No matter what happens, absolutely do not allow Fremy or Adlet to die.>”
“Undérstood.” Number twenty-four stopped transmitting the wolf-fiend’s message.
Number eleven, at Tgurneu’s feet, said, “Should we not älso sörtie to kill Hans, Cómmander?”
“…No need. I trust in the power of love—and in Adlet. As he is now, he’s sure to make it through such a simple bump in the road.” Tgurneu kicked at the ground in irritation.
Right when it was getting good. Tgurneu had been delightedly imagining Fremy’s despair, so tantalizingly close… And now this interruption.
✦ ✦ ✦
Adlet tossed two flash grenades into the sky. Bursting in the air, they illuminated the ruins like day for an instant. One flash grenade was the signal that they had found Tgurneu. Two meant Hans was coming.
“Where is Hans?!” Adlet asked Fremy and Dozzu.
“I don’t know,” said Fremy. “But he should be close. A slave-fiend discovered me, then immediately left. I think they’ll be coming for us soon.”
Hans’s target would be either him or Fremy.
The three ran westward. Nashetania and Rolonia would be coming to them from that direction. Adlet’s party would meet up with them to face Hans and Chamo. The three alone would be at a disadvantage otherwise.
“So Hans truly has won Chamo over,” said Dozzu. “She still believes you’re the seventh, Adlet.”
“Nothing we can do about that,” Fremy replied. “This is Chamo. She may be strong, but you can’t expect much from her brains-wise.”
Listening to Fremy and Dozzu’s conversation, Adlet considered what to do now.
He couldn’t kill Hans or Chamo. If he killed Hans, he could talk his way out of it, but killing Chamo was out of the question. He would be suspected of being the seventh all over again. On the other hand, leaving the two alive would place Fremy’s life in jeopardy.
And this would also make it more difficult to kill all the Braves aside from Fremy. He would be forced to suspend the plan, as they’d decided beforehand. He would no longer be able to ensnare the Braves in their own stratagem.
But right now, he didn’t have time to be thinking so far ahead. He had to deal with the imminent threat.