Trolley problem

"Sergeant Jagger, I have an idea."

The man lifted his eyes at Zemin.

"I suggest we walk west from here, along the edge of the Glass Fields, and search for tracks of anyone else entering them." Before anyone could interject, Zemin hurried to explain his idea. "With all that was said, it's most likely that the demon base is somewhere at the edge of the Glass Fields, or next to them. And western direction from here is where the most of the attacked settlements are. Either we find the demon base, or more trails."

"This is literally the same idea we started with, kid," Danis said.

"There's a difference," Zemin snapped at him. "But I doubt that the explanation will fit into your pea-sized brain."

He almost immediately wanted to take the words back, but Danis just chuckled and leaned back in his seat.

"I knew that Narcisa's venom is contagious," he said.

Jagger closed the map shut with a clap.

"There is a difference, as Zemin said. Danis, since we have a direction, scout ahead. We will move behind you under the cover of trees where there are any."

Danis gave Jagger a lazy salute. The man had no respect for authority whatsoever.

"Roger, sir."

He jumped off the wagon and closed his eyes in concentration. A second later, the air around Danis wobbled, and his figure turned entirely transparent. The only sign of his presence was a ripple in the air, like from heat, and sounds of movement.

Danis never told Zemin what exact discipline he used to do this. Zemin suspected it was some combination of Pyromancy and Telekinesis, which Danis used to turn the surrounding air into a light-curving prism that turned him invisible.

Zemin tracked the only faint trace of Danis with his eyes for ten meters. Then he blinked, and couldn't find it again in the myriad of flickers and reflections.

They waited for Danis to move far enough away. Several minutes later, the scout's voice came from Jagger's walkie-talkie.

"Danis reporting. The coast is clear, you can start moving. Over."

"Copy that. Over." Jagger pressed several buttons on the walkie-talkie to switch channels. "Citri, start walking."

***

"Danis reporting. Spotted hostiles about to walk into the Glass Fields. Three demons, ten captives. They don't know I'm here. Over."

Zemin jerked up in his seat, waking from the dull state brought by boredom. It's been four hours since Danis left the wagon, and nothing happened, except that the sun fell closer and closer to the horizon.

He didn't expect that they would find something right before the sunset.

"Copy that. What is the estimated danger grade there? Over." Jagger asked.

There was a brief pause.

"Can't say exactly, sir. Two out of three look weak, maybe around D grade. But I can't sense more without risking discovery. Over."

"Understood. Keep watching, Danis. Over."

Janis turned the walkie-talkie off and turned to his team.

"This is exactly the opportunity we need. All we have to do is to watch over Danis's back, and this mission is as good as done. I'm not specializing in stealth like Danis, but I can also hide in plain sight for a while, so I will follow him for support. You three will keep a safe distance unless we will need cavalry."

Zemin bit his lip. He already accepted that the previous group of kidnapped people was lost to them, but this one…

"Sir, but what about the captives? Isn't it our job to protect them?"

Narcisa huffed. "Our job was explained in the mission briefing. Nothing more and nothing less."

Jagger frowned.

"I will forgive this for the first time, even though I shouldn't. The next time, insubordination in the middle of a mission will be noted, and your rating points will be revoked, Zemin—and they CAN go into negatives. Remember where we are and what are the risks! Saving these people is the work for the soldiers."

Zemin bit his lip. He felt divided desires fighting in him—one to save these people, and another to complete the mission.

<Analysis of the situation says demons are interested in keeping their prisoners alive. The people that won't be saved now will experience torture for an unspecified length time, but probability them being later by main forces army is high.>

The Void System's words didn't help Zemin calm down at all.

'Torture isn't something to be dismissed so easily!' he thought with bitterness.

Even after all these years, Zemin sometimes woke up in a cold sweat, seeing the faces of his dying parents before his eyes. His sister could only walk with crutches. The victims of demons won't forget their wounds, either.

'There must be a way… a reason… Right!'

"Sir, permission to give a suggestion," Zemin said.

Jagger gave him a suspicious look, but nodded.

"Permission granted, Esquire."

"What if we ambush the convoy and interrogate demons for the information we look for? It will be faster, and…" Zemin scrambled for more ideas.

<The demons are likely to know details about their base which observation will not give.>

'Oh, thanks a lot, System!'

"And the demons must know more than Danis can just see. Their base must be well hidden, so how much will he find from just looking at it from the outside? Maybe he won't even see it."

"I second this, Sergeant," Citri spoke. She had turned fully to the group, and her sad eyes stared at the group through the glass of her helmet.

"We don't have a voting system," Jagger grumbled, but with much less strictness in his voice than moments before. "But this suggestion actually made sense. Let that be a lesson for you, Esquires."

Narcisa sighed. "Never a mission without a fight… And here I was hoping."

"New plan—we will prepare an ambush." Jagger turned on the walkie-talkie. "Danis, Jagger speaking. Go back to us. I will explain the rest in person. Over."

"Huh? Understood. Over."

Jagger turned the walkie-talkie off and looked up at Citri.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Which of us wanted to fight demons? Carry us to our ambushing specialist!"