CH 59

Strategy Meeting

“――Ah, we can use this as a weapon.”

In the end, it was Sheila who found something that could be used as a weapon.

The things Dilliam brought were bed sheets and scraps of shutters that were about to come off, all of which couldn’t be used as weapons.

She had heard before that he was the next head of the Count’s family, but it was at that moment that she wondered if it would really be all right for him to be the head of the family.

However, it wasn’t completely unusable. The thin sheet could easily be ripped, so she decided to cut out a small inconspicuous section to draw a sketch.

At that moment, multiple footsteps approached.

The children hurriedly all returned to their original positions and began to act out their despair at being tied up. They were quite good at it. She was rather slightly worried about Dilliam.

Crow, the masked man, and a plump middle-aged man who looked like an aristocrat came.

She felt disturbed because the man’s smile was too vulgar. It was hard to believe that a man who could smile like that would have the pride of a nobleman.

Ignoring Crow waving happily behind the man, Sheila eyed the creepy aristocrat.

When the man fixed his eyes on Sheila, his smile fell and he gave her a disdainful look.

“He is a beautiful boy in his own way, isn’t he? It is rare to see such vivid red hair.”

With the man closing the distance, Sheila leaned back as much as she could. He was wearing a strong perfume to disguise the smell, but she couldn’t help but notice that there was a terrible rotten smell wafting through the air.

“Are you the man behind the human trafficking?”

“I’m sorry I’m not very talkative. Besides, we’re only sheltering children here. Please stop the rude accusations of human trafficking.”

“….”

In fact, there was certainly no evidence of human trafficking, as it appeared that they had kidnapped but not yet sold the children. She led him on in the hope that she could get a few words out of him that would get to the heart of the matter, but he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders there.

Dilliam’s shoulder brushed against Sheila’s as she glared up at the man.

“Hey, that person is a Count. He has a higher rank than me, the next Count.”

He might have been trying to say that she was being too irreverent, but there was no need to pay respect to a man who had been involved in wrongdoing.

The man who had looked at Sheila with such disdain responded to Dilliam with a beaming smile.

“Ah, you are the son of the Ishmer family, aren’t you? I am sorry that my men have been so careless as to involve you in this matter. If you keep your mouth shut about this matter, I won’t make it worse for you.”

Dilliam’s eyebrows furrowed, feeling complicated at the stupefyingly obvious detraction.

“――Count Gilgner. The children are tied up like this. And yet you still intend to speak of protection and other sophistry?”

She was surprised because she had never seen Dilliam with the gait of an aristocrat before, but he was surprisingly firm in his response. Sheila seemed to have underestimated him.

However, the man called Count Gilgner was one step ahead of him and answered with a smile.

“It may not look like it, but that rope is a toy, you know. You can tell by the cleanliness of the children that we take good care of them, can’t you?”

The Count simply evaded the accusation without hesitation. He wasn’t a good fighter, but Sheila and Dilliam, who weren’t very good at brain games, couldn’t compete with him.

Sheila interjected their conversation.

“Where is Abby? There must be another kid that you kidnapped.”

“Abby? Well, I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“….”

Count Gilgner was quite a cunning man. In this case, even if he were to be captured by the Patrol Corps, he might be able to escape and survive without any faults.

She looked at the children who were lying on the ground. They were acting resigned, but in actuality, they were trembling at Count Gilgner’s words. They were so angry and sad at having been wronged that their bodies were reacting on their own, even though they were trying to keep their emotions out of their heads.

“….”

She had to think of a way to make sure this man was finished off. She wouldn’t allow him to get away with something so horrific. No matter what it took, he had to be eliminated from society.

Even after Count Gilgner and the others had left, Sheila remained motionless for a while. Her head was burning with anger, and her blood seemed to be boiling.

“Big brother?”

She finally came to her senses when Melvis peeked at her with concern. Right now, the priority should be on the children.

“――Lina, are you alright?”

“Even though he’s the one…. How could he say such a thing when he’s the one who ordered this to happen…..?”

Sheila hugged Lina, whose face was contorted as if she were about to cry.

A sob escaped from the clenched lips of the girl who was leaning against her. Her clenched fists tremble not only because she was sad, but also because she was frustrated.

For a while, Sheila continued to soothe her by rubbing her back. The other children were encouraged by Melvis. After telling him that he was good at protecting someone, he took the initiative to take care of the younger children.

After the children’s emotions had calmed down, she resumed the task of drawing a sketch on the sheets as if to refresh the atmosphere.

Sheila put her index finger in her mouth and bit down on it. Perhaps because she had been using her jaw too much to untie the rope, she was unable to adjust. She bit harder than she expected.

“――Ah, I overdid it. Oh well.”

Sheila was thinking of using blood as a substitute for ink.

As soon as she turned around to ask Melvis about the floor plan, for some reason everyone was in shock. She was aware that she overdid it, but they didn’t have to look so pale. Rather, it was a waste of blood if they didn’t hurry up.

“Hey, tell me quickly, Melvis.”

Melvis hurriedly nodded with his eyes wide open.

It was hard to notice because the windows were closed with shutters, but this was a two-story building. Despite this, he knew the layout of the building so precisely that it was hard to believe he was a child. Sheila only knew the passageway she had taken, so she did her best to capture it.

The resulting floor plan was eerie to look at, but in a sense, there was a possibility that those who found them would be frightened and consult the Patrol Corps. Considering that, Sheila was rather pleased with the finished product, but the reaction of the others wasn’t so subtle.

“…. It looks like you’ll be cursed if you took it.”

“I think they’re going to be looking away from me…..”

“It can’t be helped. Brother must have a strange sense of humor.”

“That’s right, it would be rude if you make a disgusting face about something like this.”

Sheila could hear the children rustling and whispering.

She felt like she was going to cry because she was being cared for by the much younger boys and girls. Even Dilliam was giving her a sympathetic look.

“――Anyway. We need to figure out where Abby is trapped.”

Sheila told the unaware children that another person had been kidnapped. She told Dilliam her inner guess as to why she was being kidnapped.

“I see…. So, in that sense, we can’t afford to lose her.”

“It’d be nice if we could help her when we ran away.”

Dilliam and Melvis nodded and looked at the floor plan with serious faces.

They all were planning to escape as soon as the Patrol Corps came to their rescue. If they were taken hostage, it would slow them down and increase the danger. If they could take advantage of the chaos and escape as far as they could, and then join up with the corps, victory would be theirs.

“At the very least, it’ll be a place that’s under lock and key.”

“She couldn’t be on the first floor because someone might find her there, right?”

Sheila nodded at Melvis’ point.

“That’s true. Then, we might be on the same floor….”

That’s when Sheila suddenly realized.

“The Count’s footsteps were heading this way, weren’t they? But they were coming from this way.”

“Now that you mention it, yes. They came up this staircase.”

Dilliam’s slender fingers indicated the route from the stairs. Lina tilted her head.

“Um, if they’re going to and coming from different places, does that mean they have something to do over here?”

“Yes. Maybe he went to see Abby.”

Sheila smiled and nodded her head.

Assuming that Abby was on the same floor, the fact that her voice didn’t reach them at all meant that she must be a good distance away.

“This room doesn’t have a lock on it, then it’s either here or…. around here.”

Sheila pointed to a small room, almost diagonal to the room they were in, that was as small as a storage room. Melvis had also been locked in there once, and he said it was a room with no windows and no bed to fit in.

It would be the perfect room for a single child, and if you wanted to cut down on the spirit of the person in question.

If they wanted to get something out of Abby, they would have to corner her first. The more she thought about it, the more her instincts told her that there was no doubt about it.

One by one, the things she had to think about in order to escape were decided. This would never have happened if Sheila had been alone. Once again, she cast her appreciative glance at the children, who were gradually beginning to assert their own opinions.

After that, they discussed where the corps would go if they were to raid, and which route the members of the organization would take if they were to escape. By that time, everyone had completely lost their hesitation and began to share their frank opinions.

Melvis turned to Sheila.

“Big brother. Our other problem is the key, what are we going to do about it?”

“Yeah, I’ve already thought of that――”

The strategy meeting went on for a long time until the food was served.