บท 69: Prospective Reunion

"Are we all ready? If you aren't, there are some packets of blood at the back. I'm sure those will perk you right up." A man in his early thirties spoke to the crowd which was gathered in the middle of a clearing. There were at least five men standing there, being addressed by the man as if they were in the army.

In a sense, they were in his platoon, and he was the commander, leading the charge tonight since they'll be going on a very important mission.

"Do we really have to bring her with us? Blergh~!" One of the men held his nose in a disgusted manner as he shooed a little girl who was standing by the corner. Just like the first man who spoke, he seemed to be in his early thirties or late twenties as well.

"Yeah, boss. We can fight any Hybrids or infected that come our way, given our capabilities and all. Do we really have to bring her? I doubt she'll be useful to us." Another man spoke.

"She's going to be a burden. What if we're surrounded by a horde? Instead of fighting freely, we have to protect this kid." Scratching his head, the third man also agreed with the consensus. He also felt like bringing the small child would have more cons than pros.

However, the fourth man who spoke seemed to disagree with the majority. Raising his hand, he glared straight at their leader, clearing his throat before he spoke. "I mean sure, if we look at it in a general sense, we can assume that the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages. However, if we look at it objectively, we can see that the stronghold leader is right about this matter."

"Before you say anything, it is the stronghold leader herself who gave us the order to bring her along. Why? It's because we're going to be hitting one of the most powerful nests of Aberrants tonight. The reason why the stronghold leader ordered us to bring her along is that she'll eventually prepare us for the battle ahead of us. "

"Essentially, we'll be saving an obnoxious amount of energy if we were to bring her along. We don't have to deal with outside forces. We don't have to deal with hordes and the only thing we'll be dealing with, at most, are the Hybrids who are foolish enough to attack us."

The lengthy reasoning of the fourth man received a nod from their leader. He acquiesced with the first man. At first, he also didn't want to bring the girl along, but not because of the reasons that everyone else gave. He thought to himself that traveling with the girl would unnecessarily put her in danger, and he didn't want that.

They were hybrids assigned to protect the stronghold and defend it. Why do they have to put a young girl at risk when they were supposed to protect her along with everyone?

But then again, the fourth man gave some pretty valid reasons. Of course, since she's a Canary, there's no real danger wherever she goes. This would also help the team conserve their energy before engaging the Aberrants in combat. It wasn't really a win-win situation, but it would alleviate some unforeseen risks in the long run.

"We're going with the young girl. That's final. And even if we were to get cornered, we have Sano with us. He's a pretty decent Hound so he'll get the job done getting her out of there if the worst-case scenario happens."

Since it was the final decision and it cannot be overruled, the rest of the squad was forced to nod in agreement as they shut their mouths. They didn't bother arguing with their leader since they'd already clearly laid down their case.

As for Sano, he nodded to their leader, then back at Amaya who seemed to be nervous. She was literally shaking in her boots, but she didn't say anything. At this point, she had already been mentally prepared for what was about to come. This wasn't her first rodeo, after all.

...

After being directed to their room (it wasn't actually a room, but a house tucked in the corner of the outer street), Kazuichi and Tris took a breather and sat down.

"Once you've unpacked, please come outside. I'll be escorting you to the stronghold leader's place." The guard called out, gently pulling the door behind him once Kazuichi and Tris entered the house.

"Unpack? Are you unpacking anything?" Kazuichi asked. Even if this was a safe haven, he wasn't going to part with his trusty backpack. Anything can happen at any given point in time and he needed to be prepared no matter what— this included not leaving his things unattended, even if it was behind closed doors.

Receiving a shake of the head from Tris, the two of them stayed in the room for a couple of minutes before they headed out. As expected, the guard was still there, patiently and motionlessly standing by the door.

With a slight bow, he gestured for Kazuichi and Tris to follow him before he led the way.

Despite the white noise in the background, coupled with indistinct conversations coming from the people who were nearby, it was a silent walk since the guard didn't bother starting a conversation with Kazuichi and Tris. Feeling that he wasn't up for a talk, Kazuichi and Tris decided to keep silent as well while they followed him.

Sniff. Sniff.

While walking, Kazuichi stopped short and looked around. Somehow, he caught a whiff of a familiar scent, and it stopped him in his tracks. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed a group of people walking out of the front gate of the Scarlet Blood Stronghold. As the drawbridge was lowered for them, Kazuichi caught sight of a little girl who was accompanied by a familiar face as well.

"Wait... isn't that..." Kazuichi trailed off as he noticed Amaya picking up her pace while running toward the group.

"Amaya!" She let out, finishing Kazuichi's sentence.