“If they use the hostage as a shield and won’t respond, I’ll intimidate them to make an opening. Then we grab Kizuna. We can think about classifications of good or bad after that,” I responded. I could be evil, and Kizuna could be good. I was only a guest in this world, after all. I could shoulder a negative persona. No worries about that.

“I don’t like to rely on you so heavily, but if it comes down to it, I also think you can handle anything that comes up. Very well. Intimidate away, if you have to,” Glass said.

“That said . . . sometimes I have to make cold, hard decisions. Don’t expect too much from me, Glass,” I added. We weren’t dealing with a foe who would respond to a diplomatic appeal to free the hostage. They wouldn’t go for anything we dangled in front of them, be it money or weapon power-up methods. If we shoved proof of their crimes right in their face, they would just fall back to using Kizuna as a hostage. I had real trouble understanding how they were being this selfish when the world was in such danger.

Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu might have been wanting to have some fun using their game knowledge, but they hadn’t considered taking over the world. If we couldn’t settle this with discussion, we would have to use force. That was probably exactly what they wanted too.

“I understand,” Glass replied. “I am prepared for that eventuality.”

“Let me break down what I consider a good plan, then. First, Raphtalia, Rishia, and anyone else good at concealment will sneak into the facility to take back Kizuna. If that works out, we just escape right away,” I said. That was the first stage and the best possible operation. If Trash was here, maybe he would have a better proposal. “If whatever Raphtalia fears is what causes them to be discovered, we will charge in to help. If that happens, L’Arc will lead a team at the same time to attack the dragon hourglass and cause confusion among the enemy. This is a gray area—about as close to black as you can get. But if we can get evidence of their wrongdoing, we will be in the right. Don’t worry about the diplomacy side of things until afterward,” I said.

“Sure thing! We just need to take them down, right?” L’Arc said.

“Yeah. You’ll be acting as a diversion too, so make it as loud and noisy as you can,” I said. Even if the musical instrument hero appeared over there, that would still suit us. That could buy us the time we needed to save Kizuna.

“Just to prepare for the worst . . . what if an enemy appears who can steal vassal weapons?” Therese asked. That was a good question.