Chapitre 49: CHAPTER 49: NEW PLAN (1)

"Why would they let you go...?" I frowned, trying to sort out what little info I had.

"So it seems that they're smart enough to use hostages." General Zhang put his hand on his chin, as if he was busy thinking about something.

"Hmm... That's a plausible theory. Luke did say that some monsters have high intelligence." I pondered for a bit. It would be troublesome if one day we had to face a crazy smart, crazy strong monster. Just thinking about it made my heart race a bit in nervousness.

"That's pretty unheard of, but that could be the case." Jeanne agreed.

"Alright. I kinda get the situation now," general Zhang said as he ruffled his hair, "aah, so troublesome~ Now we have to rescue 2 hostages while taking the throne."

I stayed quiet for a bit, thinking about what step we should take next to get out of this sticky situation. I actually kind of had a vague plan in mind the moment I heard the word 'hostage', but would it be wise to share it?

After hesitating for a bit, I finally decided to open my mouth, "Jeanne, sorry to ask this, but how long would it take for you and the other general to recover?"

"Oh, already planning for the next course of action? Good job, little cub~" General Zhang smirked at me.

"You're making it sound like I'm a heartless demon who doesn't care about missing teammates." I said as I threw a bloody gauze, which I used for Jeanne's wound, at his face.

"Probably around 3 days..." Jeanne answered between her ragged breaths.

"No, I'm talking about full recovery, perfect condition." I replied. I didn't think it was a smart idea to rush into a new raid with suboptimal conditions. Especially since we were short of 2 generals.

"Make it around a week, little cub," general Zhang answered it for me, "I'll go think of a plan. Ahh~ I should've gone instead. Now we got extra work."

"Hm... I see." I weighed my options for a while. It would be hard to rescue them with less manpower, especially when they had hostages. If 4 generals couldn't even reach the middle of the maze, how could we?

"Anyway, you should ask Dmitri and Wolf about their report too, since we got separated inside the maze," Jeanne told general Zhang, "I would advise you to ask general Emilio, but right now he's training, and he gave a strict warning to not bother him."

"Oh, that's right. We need to hear their side of the story, too. Where are they?" General Zhang asked.

From what I've heard, general Emilio and general Enzo were twins, so it would make sense for him to be devastated right now. Most people would react the same way if their family was kidnapped. Not that I would understand though, I had no family.

Anyway, it was good that general Emilio had a reason to train harder, I guess. I could only hope that he would be stronger in our next raid. Normally, bringing emotional people into the war would be bad, but since he was a general, I'd just assume that he was great at managing emotions.

"Dmitri should be in the infirmary right now, alongside Wolf. Go ahead, I'll catch up to you guys later. I still need to organize the soldiers here." Jeanne answered.

"Alright. C'mon, little cub, let's hurry. I still need to meet the headmaster after this."

I nodded and followed general Zhang towards the infirmary. While we walked, I could see that he was pretty deep in his thought, considering that his trademark grin wasn't visible and his gaze felt a bit more dangerous.

"Hey, eel." I pulled on the chain that was connecting us to get his attention.

"Hmm?" His reply was short and he didn't even spare me a glance.

"Do you plan to participate in the next raid?" I asked.

"Most likely."

"With the other generals? Will there be anyone guarding this city while you're out?"

"I don't know yet."

It was rare to see him be all serious like this, but it wasn't a bad sight. I guess he was still a general despite his childish tendencies and annoying pranks.

"Well... Can I go with you?" I asked.

Finally, he stopped and turned around to face me, "do you want to?"

"I mean, kinda." I scratched my cheek.

"Why? Are you even confident you'll be useful if you go?" He eyed me for a while, and then there it was. His trademark grin was back on his face again.

"Oh, I see now~ You're planning something, aren't you, little cub?" He tilted his head a little bit while leaning closer to me.

"Nah, I can barely call it a plan, but I do have something in mind." I told him as I took one step backwards to put a little more distance between our faces.

"Let's hear your thoughts." He grinned amusedly.

"Can you really convince that old geezer to let me tag along, though? I'm pretty sure he wants me tied up in the underground prison, or hotel, I guess." I asked. Maybe, just maybe, if I continued pursuing this main mission thing, I could meet Eli again.

"Of course I can. He thinks I'm his most loyal dog, after all~"

"I hope that's the case," I sighed, "if we end up going with my 'plan', can you not tell that geezer that it's mine? Just say you came up with it while taking a dump or something."

"Now I'm even more curious," he crossed his arms, "sure. It'll be more exciting that way. But why?"

"Well, it's because my 'plan' kinda sounds bad, really bad, actually..." I scratched my cheek again and averted my gaze, "that's why I chose to tell you first, not Jeanne. She won't be pleased to hear it after experiencing such things. And you're kinda messed up in the head anyway, so I figured you'd be willing to listen."

"Hmm~ Thanks for calling me crazy, little cub," he pulled the chain, bringing me closer to him until we were only centimeters apart. He then grabbed my chin and tilted my head upwards until our gaze met, "now let's hear your plan and see who's crazier between us."

I gulped.

"I... I think we shouldn't go get the hostages."