With Fred and Conrad gone to the forest, Roy made his way toward Jeff’s house. As he looked around at the villagers going back and forth doing their chores, the weight of his responsibility grew even more clear.

I can’t fuck up right now. If I fuck up all of them will suffer.

Roy walked through a land bridge across the trench that surrounded the tailor’s house. The wooden spikes were no longer to be seen as Marth and his group took them to the lake. As they had planned before, they were going to use them block the movements of the red bear. Even if they could not pierce through the beast’s hide, they could still serve as a protection or a distraction.

While Roy was stuck in his thoughts, Mr. Roger walked out of the front door, “Oh, I was going to look for you.”

Hearing Roger’s voice, Roy snapped out of his daze, “Oh, Mr. Roger, how is the thing we talked about?”

The middle-aged man smiled and said, “I talked with Jeff and the old heads. They said that they trust you and the knight captain Marth; if you guys want everyone to go to this dungeon thing, then we will do.”

Roy nodded and smiled, “That’s good to hear. I will be talking with Alfonse’s group now, they should start taking everyone there in a bit.”

Roger stroked his beard as he looked up in thought, “I think that they’re doing a rotation right now.”

Roy furrowed his eyebrows at the new term, “What’s a rotation?”

“Oh, you didn’t know that?” The middle-aged man raised his eyebrows, “Two of them go and patrol in different directions, while two stay to keep an eye on things.”

Roger then pointed at the side of the house, “I think I saw Alfonse and Alric there, so you go and check things out with them.”

“Thank you for telling me,” Roy nodded before walking to the side of the house. He found both Alfone and Alric sitting on a bench, talking to each other.

“Oh, hey there Roy,” Alfonse casually raised his hand as a salute, “Are things going well on Marth’s side?”

“They’re already done,” Roy shrugged.

Alric leaned back and nodded, “That’s fast. I thought digging a trench would take the whole day at the fastest.”

“Well, we were surprised too,” Roy chuckled. “But that’s not what I came here for, we need to move quickly.”

Alfonse furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, “Why? What’s happening?”

Roy explained the plan to put the villagers inside the entrance of the dungeon once more. As he finished by stating Alfonse and Alric’s role, the knight couldn’t help but clap in amazement.

“Honestly, that’s an amazing idea. It works so well and decreases the chance of something random happening that would throw a wrench into our plans.”

“Well, that’s the idea anyway,” Roy wryly smiled. “We can only hope things work out smoothly from now on.”

“So, when should we start taking the people to the dungeon?” Roy asked after great thought, “Also, did you talk to them about this?”

“Yeah, I had Mr. Roger go and talk to people,” Roy nodded. “I think you should talk with him and start organizing the groups from right now. Two of you should smuggle a group of five, that way you’re not that easy to spot.”

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“And we should also take random routes,” Alfonse continued Roy’s train of thought. “Okay, sounds like a plan.”

“What about you?” Alric asked with interest. “What will you be doing?”

“I will be waiting for you with Marth,” Roy smiled. “Let’s try to finish this work as soon as possible.”

With those words, both Alric and Alfonse got to work. They went inside the house to talk with Mr. Roger and old Jeff, leaving Roy inside.

Well, that leaves only one thing to be done.

Roy made his way back to Roger’s house where he found Jaimie still training the little kids. The young boy was sparring with Daniel using his makeshift knife. Daniel continuously tried to pounce at Jaimie or catch him off guard, but the latter simply side stepped or jumped away from all Daniel’s attempts.

After the sparing session was done and Daniel was left gasping on the ground, Roy gestured for Jaimie to come toward him.

“Ehh, is there something I need to do?”

Roy chuckled at Jaimie’s confused expression, “Well, I guess so. In the fight against the red bear, I need you to do a very important job.”

The young boy nodded and looked with resolute eyes at Roy, “Just tell me and I’ll do it. You can count on me.”

Roy pointed at the group of kids, “You see those kids, and all the people around here, I need you to protect them.” Roy then took a deep breath before continuing, “We’re going to be hiding everyone inside the start of the dungeon, where there are no wolves. But we need someone to stay outside to protect them if things go bad inside and they need to go out, you understand me?”

Jaimie furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, before nodding, “Okay, so I just need to stay outside the dungeon, and keep the place safe, right?”

Roy replied, “Yeah, can you do that?”

Jaimie bobbed his head up and down, “Yeah, you can count on me!”

“Good boy,” Roy chuckled while scratching Jaimie’s head, “Well, I’ll need to leave someone with you. Maybe Peter?”

After Roy voiced out his thoughts, he left Jaimie to continue training the batch of kids. With everything he needed to do in the village accomplished, Roy made his way back to the forest. As he reached the bear’s territory, the young man looked down at his black coat and almost cried.

Well, fuck… Gotta do what I gotta do.

Roy splattered dirt and grass all over himself to get rid of his smell. The more he dirtied the coat Jack had gifted him, the more he felt a piece of his soul crumble.

After his black coat had become brown, Roy continued on his way to the lake. He found both Marth and Jack’s group setting up the wooden spikes. They placed them in such a way that the only way to move without hitting them was through falling into the booby trap.

Jack turned to look at Roy and almost couldn’t contain his laughter, “The hell happened to your coat? Did you roll in the mud somewhere?”

Roy shook his head at his friend’s antics, “You can’t be saying that when your skin has become the same color as Hassan.”

Hassan looked at Roy with a deadpan expression, “How did I end up getting in the crossfire?”

While the three were joking around with each other, Marth gestured for Roy to come.

“How is the plan going? Are they going to the dungeon?”

Roy nodded at Marth’s questions, “Yeah, Alfonse and the rest are gonna take them there.”

Marth scratched his beard before asking another question, “Have you thought about who is going to guard them if they have to go outside?”

“Yeah, I was thinking of Jaimie,” Roy shrugged. “I was also thinking of having Peter stay with him there.”

Marth looked deep into Roy’s eyes before nodding and smiling, “Thank you for that.”

The knight captain then looked at the direction of his group and shouted, “Hey, Peter! Come here.”

The young boy quickly ran over toward Roy and Marth, “Yes, sir. Do you need me for anything?”

“We have an important mission for you,” Marth stated with a grave voice. “We need you to keep guard of the dungeon when the villagers enter it. If there is no one there, and the people need to get out of the dungeon for any reason, they will be wolf and fox food before they could even scream.”

Peter bowed at Marth’s order before asking, “Will be going alone, sir?”

“No, you’re gonna be Jaimie,” Roy responded. “If the two of you find yourselves in a danger you can’t handle, take Jaimie with you and run. We will come to support the moment we finish off the red bear.”

“Understood,” Peter nodded, “Should I be going right now?”

“Wait,” Marth shook his head. “Wait until Alfonse comes back here, then you can go.”