breaks out, all this will have been for nothing! Kaito immediately realized that he was going to have to be the one to stop them. Leaping out in front of the beastfolk, he spread his arms wide. "Wait, hold up! Jeanne might not make any sense, and she might be a total asshole, but she's not your enemy!" "I feel as though I'm being mocked. Not that I'm disputing the charges, mind you!" "Have you gone mad, Sir Kaito?! Why would you protect the monster who mercilessly wounded and cruelly slaughtered our people...? Curses, she must have brainwashed you! Or perhaps you were accomplices from the start... I truly don't want to believe that, but..." Lute ignored Jeanne's comical interjection as he ground his fangs. Kaito gave a silent thanks for Lute's rationality. If he hadn't hesitated just then, arrows would already be flying. Now, how should he go about breaking the deadlock? Kaito frantically racked his brain. In the end, he decided to hit the beastfolk with the most appropriate card he had. "The golden girl...Jeanne de Rais didn't slaughter the people in those villages!" "What did you just say?" Lute was visibly shocked, just like Kaito had expected. He breathed a sigh of relief. The beastfolk were proper soldiers; they cared more about their people who had fallen victim than about the wounds they themselves had suffered. He could take that to mean he'd been successful in buying them another chance to discuss things over and explain themselves. In order to give both himself and the beastfolk a chance to calm down, he took his time laying out his next few points. "Would you mind hearing me out? Right now, she and I are working together. And it's to prevent the killer you guys are looking for from achieving their ultimate goal. If it's okay with you, Lute, I wanna give you a proper explanation of everything that's happened. Do you have somewhere we could sit down and talk?" Kaito already knew that the beastfolk had set up camp, but he decided to feign ignorance. However, the response he got was lethargic. Lute's subordinates seemed unsure as well. Looks like they need another push. C'mon, think. How much information can I safely give out? The terrible truths he'd come to learn floated through his mind one after another. Each and every one of them was like a bomb with the power to shake human society to its foundations. If he let them slip carelessly, he could very well end up bringing about an international incident. Despite the fact that he was short on time, he considered his options as carefully as he could. I really want to be able to see eye to eye with Lute and his men here. They had no idea what was waiting at the World's End. Given that the Butcher had brought them there, it had to be something important, but they were critically short on preparation and manpower. They didn't even have a home base to speak of. We need to get the beastfolk to work with us. Because most importantly, if we lose Lute, we lose our connection to Vyade Ula Forstlast. Kaito and the others were trying to face off against the Church, a massive, influential organization. It was vital that they get someone powerful to back them up, and there was no guarantee that they'd have another chance to negotiate with the beastfolk. At worst, the world might even be destroyed before then. I don't want to start a war between them and the humans. But right now, I need to maintain my relationship with the beastfolk. Kaito clenched his fists. Steeling his resolve, he opened his mouth. Then he threw down one of the most crucial cards available to him. As far as humanity was concerned, it was a perilous card indeed. "There's something I want to tell you, something the Church has been working to conceal." That one sentence was more than sufficient to insinuate the Church's involvement with the beastfolk murders. Lute's ears twitched beneath his hood. As they did, he stared straight at Kaito and studied his expression. Kaito responded to Lute's piercing gold gaze with silence. The shoe was on the other foot now. This time, Kaito was the one concealing information and asking for help. And he was well aware of how self-serving he was being. But what we're trying to do ends up being in Lute's best interest, too. Kaito's conviction stemmed from his desire to stop the world from ending. Thanks to that, he was able to avoid looking away. The two of them stared at each other, the way they had when they'd first met. Eventually, Lute closed his eyes for a moment before reopening them. Having made some sort of decision, he raised his arm straight out to the side. Kaito's shoulders twitched. However, he made no motions to flee, nor did he ready himself to defend or counterattack. Staring fixedly at him as he did, Lute abruptly turned his palm down. All at once, his subordinates lowered their swords and bows. They relaxed their postures. Kaito let out a sigh of relief. The tension in his body had faded away so rapidly, in fact, that his knees began to awkwardly give way. As he looked at Kaito, Lute narrowed his eyes. Then he placed his palm atop his vermilion breastplate. As he did, he spoke in a respectful tone. "I suppose this marks the second time, then, that we extend an invitation to the enemy of mankind." Bright red flames crackled up within the stone-enclosed hearth. In a sense, seeing light and heat in that closed-off world of ice and snow was practically moving. On top of the fire was a pot filled with scooped-up snow. After slowly melting, the clumps had transformed into shockingly pure water. Hina was hard at work shredding flower petals and pouring them in. The water boiled, and as it changed to a vibrant shade of orange, she scooped the petals back up before they could go tart. Then she replaced them with some diced-up dried fruit. Beside her, a gray wolf beastman was setting out bowls. As the preparation of the tea steadily advanced, Lute, Kaito, and Elisabeth sat down in a circle. They were currently resting, having made their way to one of the portable dwellings of the beastfolk's campsite. The inside of the ceiling above their heads was supported by an umbrellalike frame. Comprised of wood and beastfolk hides, the hut had been prepared in advance so that it could be set up by anyone. After the planks that made up its round floor had been laid out, they'd been covered twice over with rugs woven from various types of fur. According to Elisabeth, they'd been made from the pelts of powerful mages, and the patterns woven within served to ward off the cold. Given all the measures they'd taken, the inside of the hut was surprisingly warm. With no need to worry about the cold, Kaito and the others sat cross-legged as they talked. "After that, we went back to Elisabeth's castle for a bit. But the Butcher had already been..." As he relayed his story to Lute, Kaito cast a number of furtive glances to the side. Jeanne was sitting in the corner hugging her knees under the watchful eyes of several guards. Her hip adornments interfered with her ability to sit, so she'd done away with them, but as a result, she was practically naked from the waist down. If they hadn't been beastfolk, her guards would have likely been at a loss for where to look. Originally, the plan had been for her to be confined to a different room altogether. But with just a few words, Jeanne herself had gotten that plan amended. "If confining me in name alone will satisfy you, then do as you wish. But if a couple of nobodies guarding me will put your minds at ease, then you're all a bunch of dumb shits. Looks like living till old age just ain't in the cards for ya." Her words had evoked no small amount of displeasure from the beastfolk. On the other hand, she did have a point. Locking her up would accomplish little. It took a thief to catch a thief, and it took a Torture Princess to stand up to a Torture Princess. Even so, they didn't want to upset the beastfolk any more than they already had. Having been given strict instructions by everyone to say nothing, Jeanne was currently sitting in silence. Next, Kaito had dispelled Vlad's phantasm and thought back to the complaint Vlad had lodged. "Hold on now, my dear successor. Lumping me in with her and getting rid of me as well is rather unjust, no? Respect might not be either of our strong suits, but we are different people, I'll have you know. Hmm? 'Did you forget all that you said back in the beastfolk village?' Good heavens, is a man forbidden from enjoying a smart remark now and again? But very well. I am a dead man, after all; being forgotten about seems appropriate enough." Now that I think about it, was he being sarcastic back then? Eh, whatever. Kaito then turned his focus back to the exposition he was giving to Lute. At long last, the story reached the point where they'd arrived at the World's End. "...And so basically, we ended up flying here." "I...see. I must admit, it all seems rather implausible." Apparently at a loss for words, Lute stroked his chin. He had just gotten a huge amount of information dumped in his lap. Kaito could certainly appreciate his bewilderment. After all, the entire story felt almost surreal. If I hadn't lived through it myself, I probably wouldn't believe it right away, either. After receiving Elisabeth's approval, he'd gone ahead and told Lute almost everything. Even while he was talking, he felt like he'd been spinning some sort of tall tale. Despite that, though, he unfalteringly laid out the truth. The one thing he did make sure to do, though, was stress the fact that the culprits behind the beastfolk killings were only a group of fanatics within the Church who'd taken advantage of the chaos of Godd Deos's death to run wild, and that their wishes ran contrary to those of humanity as a whole. Furthermore, he added, he felt that they should be treated like demons and their contractors and viewed as enemies of the entire world. If the beastfolk see that as an "act committed by humanity" and decide to retaliate, then even avoiding the world's restructuring won't be enough to stop the world from falling into an age of darkness. Both sides would suffer tremendous casualties. Lute had avoided giving Kaito a firm answer to his request. Given his position, doing so made perfect sense. Even if he knew who the killers were, the choice of how to retaliate wasn't Lute's to make. Everything lay on the shoulders of Vyade and whichever other members of the imperial family to whom she chose to disclose the information. Vyade's the Wise Wolf. She holds harmony in high regard, and she desires peace for her people. Kaito chose to believe that she wouldn't start a war in retaliation. Before him, he could see Lute's face growing more sullen by the minute. He looked as though he'd just bitten into a piece of meat that not even his beastfolk fangs could tear. "The first demon slumbering in the royal underground tomb, the truth about the Saint, the Apostle yet living... It's like something out of a myth or a fairy tale." "Man, tell me about it." "If not for the land on which I heard it, I'd have written it off as idle fancy." "If not for where you heard it, huh...? So you believe me?" "It would seem I have little choice. You see, Sir Kaito,