Xiao Ran suddenly did not know what to say. In the few replies Captain Daitetsu had given from the beginning until now, he had consistently conveyed the attitude: I am a Federal Army soldier. You will get nothing from me. The calmer he appeared, the firmer his resolve was.
Captain Daitetsu had likely already resolved himself to die. Only for some reason or purpose had he chosen to endure and become Xiao Ran's prisoner. But even if Daitetsu had tried to ingratiate himself with Xiao Ran from their very first meeting, Xiao Ran would never have trusted him. And if he had truly done that, he would not have been Daitetsu.
His brief conversation with Daitetsu had been entirely unproductive, but Xiao Ran was in no hurry. Daitetsu and the Steel Dragon Squad were now in his hands. Sooner or later, he would win them over one by one. Besides, it was rare for him to meet Captain Daitetsu, and Xiao Ran was interested in speaking with him a little longer.
"For now, those are the arrangements. But there should be further arrangements for you afterward. Letting you leave and return to the Federation is impossible, but simply locking you up would feel like a waste of your abilities. That leaves me rather conflicted."
Xiao Ran openly expressed his desire to recruit Daitetsu and every member of the Hagwane. At the same time, he told Daitetsu how they would truly be handled: they would be imprisoned. If they refused recruitment, they would be imprisoned.
However, Captain Daitetsu acted as though he had not heard Xiao Ran at all and remained silent. Perhaps, to him, having the entire crew merely imprisoned rather than subjected to something worse—having only their freedom restricted—was already far better than the worst possible outcomes.
He did