"Do you all understand what's going to happen?"

"Mhm."

"Yep."

"Got it."

Pierre, Charlotte, and Lance found themselves nodding after hearing Melody's explanation of what they were ordered to do.

"Then, all that's left to do is wait.", Lance noted as he kicked back in the cell.

Looking forward with determination, he pumped a fist.

"We'll definitely free these people from the rule of that tyrant."

Melody glanced over with one eye, but did not say anything.

It was then that they heard a number of snakemen shuffling through the hallways of the prison.

"File into your cells. Lets get going, scum!!"

The voice of someone shouting was heard and many doors were opened and closed.

"Be thankful! Because the provider is going to be attending a sacrifice tonight, he has allowed you all to finish your work early today so that you can attend it later. You will all watch and see what happens to those who have gone too far in offending the provider!"

'Ah, they must be talking about us....', Charlotte thought. 'To think that we're going to be used as an example like this.... it's a good thing that Melody has planned everything out....'

Melody slipped the invisible ring back on her finger and fiddled around with the settings quickly.

[Reset to previous state]

After turning a dial, which technically she could not see but instead felt out, she was able to turn back the setting of the ring so that it would portray the previous physical illusion which it was set to- namely that her fingers had been butchered and cut off.

Soon enough the guards who seemed to be leading the prisoners back into their cells for the day reached the cell where the four were.

Being pushed by the guards were two people- a snakeman and a snakewoman. Both looked completely dejected and depressed as they were shoved into their cell. The man was covered in bruises and beatings, and while the woman was nowhere near as injured, she was not unharmed either.

"You two in particular had better get a good look. See those people in the cell across from you? They're the ones who are going to be sacrificed tonight. Watch what happens to them before you ever think of slighting the provider again."

The guard walked off and the two looked across the cell in fear, however upon seeing that the guards had left this fear quickly turned to anger.

"This is your fault, you idiot!! I can't believe...."

The woman's eyes filled with tears as she looked at the man furiously.

"I can't believe you would pull something like that..... this is your fault!!! It's your fault that I'm here!!!! Your fault, and whoever placed that piece of meat at my doorstep!!! I did the right thing!!! I brought the meat to the guards and presented the evidence to the provider!!!! But because you went and pulled something like you did the other day, suspicion on me had already been cast!!!! Our children..... they'll become unregistered now!!!!! They'll be arrested and likely killed!!!!"

"I..... I was just trying to get us some food for the week..... I know.... I shouldn't have spoken up.... I should have just not said anything..... but I was worried for your sake!!! And for our children!!! If we were to go an entire week without food..... I didn't want to see that!! I am one thing, but for our children to not eat anything for an entire week!?"

"Isn't that your fault for getting sick and not being able to work in the first place?"

The man looked down, depressed.

"You're right..... I should have just gone to work, even if I was sick...."

"And now that you went and pulled that, I got arrested as well!!!! I did everything right, and yet here I am!!!! Because of you!!!!!"

"I'm sorry....."

"Grr...."

Melody didn't so much as glare over at the feuding couple, but Charlotte looked over and noticed something.

'Ah.... that man!! That man is the one who was beat up the other day.... but that would mean that the woman with him is his wife?! Why is she here?'

Looking up, Charlotte called out to the two.

"Um.... excuse me.... but aren't you the woman who received a piece of meat on your doorstep the other day?", she asked.

The woman looked over with disgust at the four humans sitting in the cell.

"Don't talk to me, outsider!!! I don't want anything to do with you!! AH!! It must have been you lot, wasn't it!?!? Are you the outsiders who left that piece of meat on my doorstep!?!"

Not reading the mood, Lance blurted out with confidence.

"Yep! That was us!! We knew that your family wouldn't be able to eat anything for a week, so I took that piece of meat and gave it to you! Did your children enjoy it?"

On hearing this statement, the woman became furious and stood up, grabbing the bars of the cell.

"Why you piece of shit!!!!!! I'll kill you!!!! Why the hell would you do this to me!?!?!?! I'm stuck here because of you!!!!!! Ah.... my poor children....."

The woman grabbed her head and seemed to fall down, dizzy.

"What am I going to do....."

Lance was shocked at the sudden reaction of the woman, but everything clicked in his head at that moment.

"Ah.... I see..... so the reason you were arrested..... is because of that meat I gave you?"

"Of.... of course it was..... I was already under suspicion because of this fool..... and you went and stirred the flames!!!!"

The woman was glaring daggers at him as if she was going to eat him up, but Lance stood up proudly.

"Wait just a minute. You seem to be blaming your husband and myself here for your situation. I'm one thing. If you want to blame me..... well, then go ahead. I'll take responsibility for whatever you've suffered. But isn't there someone who is more at fault here?"

Melody seemed to crack a smile as she sat in the corner with her eyes closed, listening in.

Pierre too stood up.

"That's right. It may be true that you were arrested because of that piece of meat, but we didn't have any such ill intent. And the same goes for your husband. We were merely trying to feed your family and prevent you all from having to go without."

"SO WHAT!?!?! Do you think good intentions justify breaking the law, and getting other people arrested!!?!??! Pay for what you've done to me!!!!! I can't wait to see you four executed later!!!!!"

"Isn't that law a little unjust? I think that the one you should be blaming isn't us or your husband, but instead this 'provider' who decided the law in the first place."

The faces of both the man and the woman went wide with shock on hearing the provider be brought up so casually.

"D-don't you dare bring up that person in such a rude manner!!"

"How dare you use that term without respect!!! You'll get us killed if this conversation is overheard you know!!!!"

"It's true though, isn't it?", Charlotte said while sitting down. "It's really the fault of the person who put these horrible laws into place. But don't worry. Soon enough, we'll remove this awful ruler from his position and these horrible laws will be taken away!!"

Charlotte smiled over at the two, but they were filled with horror at hearing such words.

The two slithered over into a corner and began holding their heads in fear while murmuring.

"I have.... nothing to do with them..... I have nothing to do with them....."

"Outsiders.... they must die..... for slighting the provider..... for saying such blasphemous things..... I have nothing to do with them....."

On seeing this reaction, the three were baffled.

"H-hey.... what are you doing?", Lance asked.

"Are you two ok?", Pierre questioned, concerned.

"W-what's going on with them?", Charlotte asked.

However, the two were now simply shivering while facing their respective corners, completely ignoring anything and everything which the three said.

"I have nothing to do with them....."

"I'm not talking to them..... I haven't said anything....."

"What's wrong!?!", Lance shouted.

"Heh heh heh.... don't you three see?"

The voice came from behind the three as they tried to get the attention of the snake people.

"What do you mean, Melody?", Pierre questioned. "What's wrong with them?"

"Their minds have been destroyed to this point. They're not going to respond to anything you say about saving them. To them, being saved is not even within the realm of possibility. In this place, it's a sin to even so much as dream of being saved. They don't even see that there is anything to be saved from."

Melody stood up, smiling while keeping her eyes closed, coming to the front of the cell.

She spoke quietly yet with an utmost confidence.

"Telling them that you're going to save them is the same thing as saying you're going to get them killed. It's equivalent to a threat."

Looking across the cell, Melody open her eyes and her grin widened.

"Which is why when it comes to this place, we are not here to save anyone. We are here to grab them by the throats and force a new rule on them. That is..... the rule of their excellencies."

----

The Commander walked down the hallway, his eye throbbing.

'Ugh.... the pain is unbearable.... but.... this is all for the sake of the Fuhrer..... so I must persist.... yes, this is merely a test..... I will show that woman..... we will all show her.....'

After having eliminated a dissenter and an unregistered child, the Commander's only responsibility left for this day was to ensure that the sacrifice went as planned.

'That woman will likely spout some garbage about how magnificent her leaders are even on her deathbed, but we will prove that she is nothing more than a delusional freak who has been brainwashed beyond the point of repair.'

His eye continued throbbing, and the pain was so unbearable that he could not force out a grin, but if he could, he would be smiling victoriously.

'Ah.... there is the cell just up there.... I suppose I should inform them that their assailants have been eliminated. I wonder if that woman will be able to keep a straight face upon realizing what has become of those she worked with. Although....'

The horrible face of the woman as her very fingers were being sawed off replayed in the Commander's mind over and over.

'Would she really even be phased by such a thing?'

----

The four mercenaries were all now sitting once more.

Lance, Charlotte, and Pierre had given up on the two across from them after hearing what Melody said.

'Did.... did we- no, did I make a mistake in trying to help them?'

'Should I have just stayed my hand like Melody told me to at first and not stolen that piece of meat?'

'Is this truly my fault?'

Lance was bombarded with a heavy series of questions in his head as he looked over to the terrified faces of the two in front of him.

'Should I really have done nothing?'

Looking to Charlotte, Lance spoke up.

"Hey..... do you think what I did was right? Or did I make the wrong decision?"

"I... I think what you did was right!", she responded energetically. "Even.... even if people don't appreciate it, we can't stop trying to help people!! Isn't that what their excellencies are trying to do? They.... they're willing to become villains.... demons.... monsters.... they're willing to be hated by the entire world in order to help people! None of the humans may realize that.... just like Caspus and the soldiers under him weren't able to..... but we did! So.... even if people don't appreciate us, I think that's nothing compared to what their excellencies are doing!"

Lance smiled lightly at her, his confidence somewhat restored.

"Thank you."

Charlotte smiled lightly, looking down as her face became just a bit red.

"You're welcome..."

Pierre then put his arms around the two.

"It's not like you two to think so much about things. Come on. You're not supposed to be the ones who are concerned with the details. We just need to do what we've always done, right?"

Pierre looked over to Melody with a smile.

"We just need to keep on going. We need to keep on doing what we think is right. And I personally think that serving the antiheroes... even if things may be roundabout.... even if it may seem wrong at some times.... I think this is the best way to bring about a better world."

Pierre's face became serious as he said this.

"A world without criminals. A world where nobody has to steal from anyone, and at the same time nobody is allowed to steal from anyone. A world where nobody is deceived, and nobody is allowed to deceive. A world where nobody is killed, and nobody is allowed to kill. His excellency said it before, right? There may be some things that we disagree with when it comes to their form of justice, that seem wrong at first. We agreed to that. Now lets see it through to the end."

The two nodded.

"And Melody.... thank you for working so hard for both us and for that goal. You've done more than any of us."

Melody closed her eyes peacefully.

"I am just following orders. I don't even really have to do much thinking now that their excellencies are guiding my every move.", she said while running her hand through her hair, sliding her fingers past her ear as if she was stroking a cat.

It was then that the four heard the slithering of yet another person coming down the halls.

At hearing this sound, the two in the cell across from the four seemed to shrink back in fear, hiding themselves from whoever was to come.

'It must be a guard! We can't allow ourselves to be seen speaking with these people...'

'Please.... whatever you do.... don't speak to us, humans!!!'

In front of the four appeared a snakeman wearing a black uniform.

It was the Commander.

"Well well well.... if it isn't the human outsiders. What a coincidence that I would run into you here.", he said while holding his throbbing eye, clearly trying to mask the pain he had.

"A coincidence? To run into us as you walk by the cell which we've been assigned? I thought that the people of this village were orderly and had everything recorded down to the last piece of meat."

The Commander flinched at this statement and the two in the cell behind him seemed to be shivering in fear as Melody brought this up.

"Why you.... no, I won't allow you to provoke me further, woman. Your fate is already set in stone. You'll soon see just what a mistake it was to go against the provider."

"It looks like you won't be seeing much anytime soon.", Melody commented with a strange sense of calmness.

The other three merely looked back and forth between the two, unable to break the strange tension. They didn't say anything, knowing that Melody wouldn't want them to interrupt this interaction.

"You..... no.... what an irritating woman you are....I won't let you provoke me..... You're referring to this wound, correct? This scar of battle? This is proof of my own loyalty. You may have lost those fingers for the sake of your leaders, but I too have lost this eye now! Now we are on an even playing field when it comes to our own loyalty to our leaders. But that is not the reason I have come here."

The Commander looked around, taking note that nobody else was here aside from the prisoners.

"I wanted to let you know what happened to your little friends. I was informed that you stayed in the home of a certain unregistered child just the other night, along with a certain dissident soldier."

The eyes of Lance, Pierre, and Charlotte went wide at hearing this.

"You... you mean Pliara!?"

"Wha-"

"What have you done to them!?"

Melody however remained calm.

"Oh? It looks like your comrades have such concern for them. But you.... you seem to hold no concern. Do you not care about their fates? Or perhaps you never cared about them in the first place and were merely using them for your own benefit."

Everyone seemed to be looking at Melody, awaiting her response.

Her bright red hair was gathered on the floor around her, and she seemed to stroke it with her hand- the one which appeared to have no fingers.

Her face was emotionless, and she opened her eyes to look at the Commander.

"You did something to them then?"

"Oh? Maybe you do care about them. I thought that your fanaticism would override emotions such as concern for others, but perhaps I was wrong? Well.... as for the young girl.... that unregistered child which you all seem to have given a name to..... I beat her to death with this very baton."

The Commander patted his side, smirking.

"Her windpipe was crushed and she died of asphyxiation due to blood in her lungs. I didn't mean to kill her so quickly, but she just up and died on me before I even had the chance to extract any information out of her. Ah, and the soldier of course was killed in the end as well. You should have seen his face. I told him that if he didn't cooperate with me that harm would come to that little girl, so he gave me everything I needed before I told him that she was already dead!! Imagine his face when he learned that!!"

At hearing this, Pierre stood up, furious.

Lance and Charlotte were filled with horror and remorse, looking back and forth with teary eyes.

"You piece of shit."

Pierre grabbed one of the bars to rip it open, consumed with rage, however he felt a hand on his shoulder- though it appeared to be a nub rather than a hand.

"Are you going to stop me?"

Pierre asked this question and looked back with rage, but when he did he saw Melody behind him with an evil eye.

"Now is not the time."

The Commander watched this scene with a laugh.

"What are you going to do? Break open those bars with those wimpy human hands of yours?? Haha!! 'Now is not the time!' That's rich! But look at you, woman!"

"Silence, scum. You will not be forgiven. We will ensure that you suffer far more than Pliara and that soldier did. However, I think you seem to be misunderstanding something here."

Melody's face which showed anger before turned into a victorious grin.

"You seem to be under the impression that I am angry about their deaths. I am not angry about such a trivial thing. The only thing I am concerned about is the fact that you put them through suffering."

The Commander was confused at this statement.

"Even inside a cell you sure know how to speak arrogantly, woman. But what are you talking about? You're not angry about their deaths, but only of the pain they went through? What does that even mean? How could you not be angry about their deaths if you care about the suffering they endured!?"

Melody stuck her own face through the bars, bringing it all too close to the commander as she thinner her eyes, grinning.

"Is your leader such a fraud that he isn't even able to conquer death?"

"Wha-!?"

The Commander stumbled backwards on seeing that disturbing face so close, holding his eye and panting.

"What are you talking about!?!?"

"I'm saying that if your leader is so pathetic that death is something he cannot fix, then he will never even be able to hold a candle to their excellencies and her eminence."