It was high noon by the time we arrived at the slums once again.
We decided not to take any detours by going to the hut we lived in, but instead to go straight to Karen's acquaintance, the seamstress. Once we entered the slums, Karen chose a rather confusing path to reach our destination to make sure that the riffraff wouldn't follow us.

"This bag is drawing quite the attention, it is obvious we are carrying something that may be of interest or value, so it is better we don't allow them to follow us in the first place," explained Karen when I wondered about that.

That, unfortunately, also meant I was completely lost after a few turns as well, which worried me a bit since losing Karen would be fatal for me right now.

But after around half an hour we arrived at a run-down house, without me getting lost. It clearly looked abandoned, though. Nonetheless, Karen walked straight towards the building and knocked on the door, three times. I peeked at the door from behind her but nothing was happening.

"Is nobody home?" I asked Karen.
"I don't think so. She always takes forever to open the door."

Karen knocked again three times on the door and we resumed waiting. After what felt like an eternity, the door opened just wide enough to peek through the resulting gap.

"Who are you?"

It was a husky voice asking us for our identity. Karen seemingly recognized that voice and slightly lifted the hood of her robe.

"It is Karen, we have come for business."

The eye that peeked through the gap stared intensely at Karen's face.

"If you try to mess with me, please leave immediately."

And the door closed, not opening again.
I looked at Karen's face only to see her dumbfounded expression. She didn't expect that reaction either.

"Eh? Wait a second? Wanda? It's me?" shouted a panicking Karen.
"Go away, that girl would never run around cleaned up with a blooming smile like a young girl in love."
She totally knows it's Karen already, doesn't she...

Unfortunately for Karen, she was completely oblivious to that.

"Yumi... do I look that much different...?"

Karen turned to me, asking with a depressed voice.

"Well, if I had to choose between you barely look different and you look quite different then it would be quite different. Nn, really different, to the better."
"Aaaaa..."

Karen, having realized for the first time that mud and dirt were not the best make-up for any girl, fell down to her knees, leaning on the door. With perfect timing, the door opened and Karen fell forward on the floor. She was still carrying the bag in front of her chest and after she fell onto it, her posterior assumed an elevated position.

"Stop showing your ass to the world and come in. You too, kid."

The woman that appeared from inside was a middle-aged woman, slightly past her prime, with short dark hair and a powerful look in her eyes. Her entire atmosphere reminded you of those stern teachers or housekeepers that were never smiling and always going on about work.
The only things she was missing, were the glasses and the appropriate clothes.

Karen, realizing that the woman was messing with her, jumped up, checked that her robe was still in a position that hid her butt and followed the woman into the house. I followed slightly behind Karen.

"Wanda, it is not nice to bully others. Couldn't you have let us in normally?" she complained in exasperation.
"Hmph, for a mud girl like you to just come and appear cleaned up, who wouldn't get suspicious of that."

So there actually were people calling her a mud girl after all. The woman, Wanda, closed the door behind us and led us into what was apparently a kind of living room. Inside the room was a table with a few chairs around it, one being considerably higher than the others.

"Kid, you can climb on that yourself, can you?"

Wanda was looking in my direction. She obviously spoke those words to me, didn't she?

"Uh... Nn... I can."

I felt like complaining but I couldn't go against that oppressive stare that did not allow any opposition. Slightly bewildered I climbed onto the chair, while Karen sat down next to me with quite a grin.

This is obviously a chair for children... why does this house have a chair for children...

After confirming that I sat down Wanda went to the kitchen and brought wooden cups with some water. The building looked run-down and abandoned but contrary to my expectations it was a lot better than the small hut we lived in, or probably even better than most homes in the slums.

Wanda put down the cups and then put a small something next to mine. It was the size of a nut, brownish but obviously something manmade. I picked it up and inspected it carefully, wondering what it could be.

"That is candy," whispered Karen to me.

Candy? It did look similar to those old hard candies that used to be popular in many countries.
I was totally being treated like a kid, wasn't I? Directing my gaze towards Wanda I noticed she already sat down opposite of us, looking quite indifferent.
For now, let us postpone the candy, for later. For research purposes, of course, I would have to study it in detail.

"Why are you here, girly? Even bringing a little kid. She obviously can't be your little sister, otherwise, you'd be gone already from this place."

Seemed this woman knew about Karen's sister. I wondered how they got to know each other.

"We want you to make some clothes and other things for us."
"For the kid? Or for saving your sister?"

Karen and I both stiffened up in response. How did she know?

"Even I can add one and one together, girly. Especially when that human trash is looking for you and a kid with weird hair colour all over the place. You can be glad that nobody knows where you live or they would have made a visit already."

Karen sighed in resignation.

"Both of them actually. We need clothes and some other things like bags and maybe a rope."
"Hmph, even if you tell me that, I can't do anything without materials. Those bastards took pretty much everything with them. I don't even have enough cloth to make a small purse."
"We have materials you can use."

With those words Karen put the improvised bag onto the table and opened it, revealing my cutoff hair. Wanda's eyes went wide upon seeing the hair. She took a few of them and inspected them, then started tugging at them, rubbing them between her fingers and some other things, before she put them back. Her look became serious.

"Impossible."
"Huh? Impossible? Why?"
"First of all, this is not yarn, I'd first have to spin it. Second, this is not suitable to be made into yarn. I can see why you want to use this, but, girly, this is basically human hair, right?"

Wanda's eyes glanced towards me for a moment and then returned to Karen. Did she notice?

"If you wanna force it you can spin it into yarn, but it's not good at all, you would completely waste the qualities of this. Human hair is vastly different from what we commonly use for yarn. This doesn't stick together at all and it is too thick."
"So... it is no good?"
"I wouldn't say no good. I don't know the specifics, but from the strength of the strands, I guess it's similar to a monster material, right? So its strength most likely comes from the mana inside it. In that case, you can make do by having a magic craftsman work this into proper yarn. Then I can make you whatever you want."
"A magic craftsman... how are we supposed to find one..."

Karen looked quite down. It seemed this had become a slight problem but...

"What is a magic craftsman?" I asked since I never heard the term so far.
"It is basically someone who works with monster materials and magic materials, they have various kinds of knowledge to refine those into materials that can be used by regular craftsmen. They need to have a basic knowledge of magic, though, so there are not a lot of them. It's a profitable job but most magicians are some rich kids more interested in their stupid honour games than actually doing something that has any actual practical value, so most of them do not even consider becoming a magic craftsman." explained  Wanda to me.
"Huh... So we can't do anything with this until we find someone... and there's not a lot of them."
"There are only two magic craftsmen in this city as far as I know. One works inside the city for the stupid lord, the other one is at the same place where the girly's sister is."

I looked over to Karen who was visibly depressed by the news. It was unfortunate that we couldn't use my hair for now. That meant we needed some kind of alternative or somehow find a magic craftsman who would work for us. But Wanda said it was a profitable job, so most likely their service was expensive, too. Nothing a slum dweller could afford.

"So, what do we do now, Sis?"

Wanda reacted with surprise to my words, probably because I called Karen 'Sis.'

"I don't know, we still need at least a bag or something and at least some clothes for you. But with no materials..."
"I still have some children's clothes around. They won't be much good but they are better than nothing. As for a bag, I can probably stitch something together with a bit of time."
"But didn't you say you had no materials left?"
"I have still some leftover clothes from my own collection. Those won't see much good use anyway so I can reuse them. Making a simple bag is quick too, it just won't be able to bear anything really heavy."
"Would that really be alright? You won't have anything else to use for bartering then anymore, won't you?"
"Pah! Don't you worry about me, I can have some idiots return the favours they are owing me for a while. And if you intend to get your sister back, that's equivalent to trying to crush that human trash, isn't it? Once those idiots are gone it'll be a lot easier for a while. I'd rather take my bet helping you in that case, it won't cost me really anything anyway."
"You sound awfully sure that we'll succeed..."

Wanda gave an evil grin at Karen's statement and then looked over to me.

"You found someone interesting, didn't you? You wouldn't do this if there was absolutely no chance, but something came up that you decided there was one, so it's most likely something to do with that kid there."
"..."

Karen didn't respond to that but instead looked a bit troubled. Was Wanda right about that? If I gave Karen some hope, that would have made me happy, but I also had to make sure that that hope wasn't misplaced.

"Hey, kid!" Wanda suddenly addressed me.
"Huh? Yes?"
"Your name."
"Eh?"
"What's your name?"
"Uhm... It's Yumi..."
"Is that so? Take good care of the girly there, kid."

Why did she ask for my name if she had no intention of using it?

"Nn... I will."

I would even if she didn't tell me to, but this woman, she surprisingly cared about Karen.

"And kid, not going to eat that?"

Wanda pointed to the supposed candy that was still in front of me. Not quite sure what to do I tried looking for help from Karen but she was lost in thought for some reason, probably because the conversation stirred away from her. That's not really great timing to get lost in thought. For me, anyway.

"It's not poisoned, kid. I wouldn't poison my customers."

Even if it were poisoned, it was possible it wouldn't affect me too much. Taking up some courage I popped the candy into my mouth. It was surprisingly sweet, by far not as good as candy from modern earth, but it was also not as extremely sweet as some of them. The candy was, simply speaking, quite delicious.

"Hmph, so you can smile, kid. That's a better expression you got now."

Did I not smile? I thought I was rather expressive, but maybe the whole situation got to me more than I realized. And I was actually quite a bit older than a child, but maybe I should just give up at this point. I did look young.

I wanted to ask what she meant by me not smiling since I was still a little confused, but she already turned back to Karen, so I figured I should ask Karen later what she might have meant.

"Hey, girly, stop thinking and for now decide what you want to do. You're saying yes or not? I don't have all day."

Karen brought back to reality, was a bit surprised for a moment.

"Ah, yes.  Yes, of course.t."
"Good, then let's get to it."
"Eh?"

Wanda stood up and walked over to me, who was still busy with the candy. By the time I noticed, she was already right behind me. With surprising strength, she grabbed me by the scruff, technically the robe's, and lifted me up. With one arm.

Another superhuman appeared! Wait, where are you taking me? Sis! Help!

"I'll take the kid, for now. Some loud fellow might appear in the meantime, don't chase her out. And put that stuff away for now."
"Understood... Ah, but payment..."
"We'll talk about that later."

Leaving those words she left the room. With me, of course. I was by no means heavy or so, but I still had the weight of a proper person my size. And yet I was abducted without even flinching. Karen only watched with a wry smile and waved me goodbye, while I struggled in a futile attempt of returning to the ground.

Don't just sit there! Save me! 

---

Despite all what I said, it wasn't anything dangerous in the end. Except that I was stripped down within seconds and was now standing in the middle of an unknown room, naked. Wanda brought me here, took my clothes with even more skilful hands than Karen's, and then started to hold various clothes in front of me, measuring with her eye whether they might fit.

It couldn't have hurt to warn me, could it... And what's with those overly cute clothes. They look damaged and partly not well made, but they were all obviously designed with cuteness in mind.

"This might work. Hold up your arms."

Resigning myself to this unfortunate fate of being a dress-up doll, I held up my arms while she put me in a sleeveless, white-greyish one-piece dress. It was frayed and rough but still significantly better than what I had before. Not like that posed any challenge.

"Hmm... Yes, this is good, we can work with that."

'We can work with that' you say? We're not done?

Wanda went back to a drawer, taking out various things and came back. I could recognize various ribbons and other things among those.

"Uhm... Are those... necessary...?"
"Yes, they are!"

Alas, the intimidating aura allowed no objection. And so, she put on various ribbons on me and tried out various hairstyles, until she was satisfied with it. In between, she was also considering using some other dresses but thankfully she stayed with the one-piece dress. Otherwise, this might have never ended.

By the time she was satisfied, a considerable amount of time had passed already. I felt like my soul was in danger of leaving any second now.

I did want to be a cute girl, but honestly, wearing all this cute stuff is incredibly embarrassing. This is all so flowery...

Unfortunately or fortunately I couldn't see my own appearance right now due to the lack of a mirror, but I got a good grasp of it anyways.
My hair was apparently now styled in half up pigtails with ribbons. Basically, only half the hair on each side was used for a pigtail. I also wore the one-piece dress, with a few more ribbons adorned.
She explained nearly everything, in fact, but I just couldn't remember all the information she bombarded me with, but this was what remained from it.
Seemingly quite satisfied with her work, Wanda stood now in front of me, inspecting every single inch.

"Yes, this is good, this is really good."

A dangerous smile crept up her face. This was suspicious, we weren't done yet?

"Now that we decided on your outer look, we can move on to your inner look."
"Inner... look?"
"Your underwear."

Matter of fact, I still wasn't wearing underwear. It completely slipped my mind as well since I hadn't worn any for quite some time now. But now, I felt how my face went pale. Not quite from the fact that she obviously meant I had to wear women's underwear, but rather, that we were still not done.

"Don't worry, I have enough of a selection that we will surely find something good for you. You won't need anything for your chest yet. It might be good to wear some in the near future though, so you are free to come back then!"
I am absolutely certain that I won't. I probably won't grow anyway so there's no need for that! At least, I think I won't?

And so, we resumed our quest to make myself 'presentable' to the world. What was the meaning of this anyway right now? Didn't we have other things to worry about than my underwear?
Yet, my worries were ignored and after much deliberation, Wanda settled on simple white panties with a ribbon to complement my 'fairy-like appearance,' as she called it. She had mysteriously two pairs of these so I was given the other one as a spare.

Finally, after a long time, we finished our dress-up play, with me being the dress-up doll. 

---

When we returned to the supposed living room, hell awaited us. Karen was lying on the floor with eyes that were so lifeless that a dead fish looked healthier. She was still twitching from whatever ordeal she had to endure.

Just what happened here while we were gone? Wasn't Karen alone? Did someone break in and attack her?

"Ahhhh, who is this cute kid? She's like a doll, so cute!"

An unknown high-pitched voice came from the kitchen while I was already completely panicking. Turning towards the voice, my vision disappeared immediately. I felt something warm and soft on my face. The unknown person, a woman, I presume, has charged at me and hugged me.

"Hey, Wanda, who is this? Hey, who is this? She's so cute, can I have her?"
"Calm down, you walking disaster. I know she is cute, but you can't have her!"
"Eeh? But why?"
"Because she is Karen's already."
"Karen? Is that the other girl? She is also cute, so I'll take both!"

First of all, I'm neither Karen's nor yours nor anyone else's. Secondly, release me! I'm suffocating!

Since I was buried, all form of communication was by means of flailing around, so my objections were conveniently ignored. Or rather, nobody heard them anyway in the first place.
At least Karen's state was now understandable. She went through this already. My condolences.

"Calm down, walking disaster!"
"Ouch!"

I was released and could at long last breathe air again. It was soft and comfy but if it required my death, I could live without it.
After catching my breath, I directed my attention to my assaulter, who was crouching on the floor, holding her head. Wanda stood next to her waving a rolling pin. My fear of Wanda was reinforced even more. What a fearful woman she was.

"So... who is... this?"
"This is regrettably a rather capable mercenary."
"Don't call me regrettable! I'm a proud and popular mercenary, protecting all the cute girls in the world!"
Oh, she revived. And I don't think a mercenary's job is to protect cute girls.

Wanda held her head as if she had headaches. Maybe she actually had headaches. This girl seemed really troublesome. I figured Wanda liked to call people by various nicknames but calling someone 'walking disaster' was quite impactful, to say the least.

"In any case, she has serious personality issues but she is good at what she does. She could help you both, for the right price."
"Eh? I'll help this girl that's as cute as a doll for free! So what is the problem? Did someone bully you? I'll give them a whopping they won't forget!"

Ignoring the antics of that girl, I considered Wanda's words. The right price was it. I doubted we were able to pay a mercenary, though.
I looked over to the girl in question. She was maybe a bit older than Karen and had semi-long black hair and blueish eyes. She seemed to be a little taller than Karen, much to my surprise. She felt smaller when she hugged me.

She was clad in some leather-like equipment that looked quite well-maintained. Not like I had really any knowledge of that. But the most distinctive trait was the various swords in their sheaths that she was carrying on her waist and on her back.

It wasn't just two or three swords, but probably over half a dozen, all different kinds. One looked like a katana, one like a common sabre, a falchion, one resembling an early Roman gladius and other kinds I couldn't recognize. On her back was yet another sword that looked like a large Zweihänder.

How can this girl even move that fast with all those weapons? Those must weigh tons.

In the meantime, Karen, who was lying forgotten in the corner of the room, stirred and heaved herself up. She still looked exhausted from whatever this girl did to her.

"Wanda... I demand an explanation. Just who is that..."
"I just told you who she is. A rather capable mercenary with some personality issues."
"Wanda, you're so rude, stop saying I got personality issues in front of these cuties. They'll get the wrong impression!"

What kind of wrong impression? Wasn't it exactly like that? Even if she didn't tell us, we would've noticed right away. Karen meanwhile was back up on her feet and standing opposite of the unknown girl.

"Then, why is a mercenary in the slums, where there is no profit? And don't most mercenaries work in groups?"
"Oh, if you think there's no profit to have here, then you're far off, really far off! There's plenty of profit to have here, just not the pleasant kind. As for working in groups, that's true... Well, you know, most mercenary groups, err, yeah, you see, they consist nearly entirely of men."

The girl made a grimace as if she was thinking of something disgusting.

"You see, when those men worked out, especially after a fight, they stink. They stink so much it's unbelievable. Sweat, blood and guts do not make for a nice atmosphere. Also, many of them thought they could land a good night with me. After all, I'm also quite cute, aren't I? I taught them a lesson but it was just so much of a pain, just no. Never again. So, I work alone! You see?"
"Ha... Haaaa..."
"Whatever the case, you should introduce yourself first. I didn't call you for playing around."
"Oh that was right, you called me for a job, right? Is it about these two? Can I take them with me?"
"No, you can't. It's about these two and the current problems in the slums."

With those words, the whole happy-go-lucky atmosphere disappeared from the girl and a savage smile replaced it. This girl was absolutely bad news. Really bad news.

"Those fuckers, huh? It's time to finally get rid of them? Can I kill them all?"

A chill went up my spine. That smile, that was clearly looking forward to something, like a kid going out to play with friends, casually asked whether she could go and kill others.

"I don't mind, ask these two. That's why I told you to introduce yourself."
"Oh, is that so."

The girl turned towards me and Karen, who at some point walked to my side. Then, for some inexplicable reason, she gave a military salute.

"Name's Lily. 18-year-old maiden. Occupation: Mercenary. A former member of the 'Black Guard' mercenary band. Time without a girlfriend equals time alive. A pleasure to meet you."

Shouldn't you say boyfriend here? Are you that much after girls? I don't mind it that much but I can't imagine that kind of introduction works all that well...

The girl, Lily, was still sporting that savage smile, so the whole introduction with the military salute was really intimidating.

"What's your request?" she asked us.

Next to me, Karen looked slightly troubled by this situation.

"No, even if you ask us, we don't even have money to pay you."
"Girly, there's something you can pay her with. The stuff you showed me should do just fine for that. Just get to an agreement first, though."
"Hey, Wanda, you aren't expecting me to make a work contract without even knowing my payment, do you?"
"Is my word not enough for that, you walking disaster? I give you my word that it is valuable enough."
"Hm, in that case, I'll hold you to it. If Wanda gives her word then I guess we can start negotiating?"

---

It took nearly an hour to negotiate with Lily. Karen wasn't really fond of the idea of hiring a mercenary nor that Wanda called that girl here to this place without consulting us. When and how did she contact her anyway?

But we clearly knew that with only the two of us, rescuing Karen's little sister was close to impossible. And according to Wanda, Lily was by far one of the more agreeable mercenaries around. A battle junkie and lover of cute girls for sure, but she apparently valued her contracts and was a good fighter, while additionally having plenty of contacts. She also did not pose a direct danger to your chastity. Probably.

The negotiations were mainly done between Karen and Lily, with Wanda and me occasionally interjecting. Apparently, both of them were surprised that I was able to follow the discussion.

I realized that being treated like a child may not be completely a bad thing, but it certainly posed an issue when I needed others to take me seriously.

When you grow, you quickly start to miss your childhood, even though you couldn't wait to grow up at that time.
Now, on the one side, I want to be spoiled like back when I was a child, having no worries about all the important things, but on the other side, I can't exactly do that, can I?

It was an unfortunate situation, but for now, I had to return to being an adult.

"Okay, let's summarise what we agreed on now:

"For the agreed upon payment I will support you two in rescuing Karen's sister, whether that implies taking apart the whole organization or not, is irrelevant. Specifically, I will provide you with the relevant information I have, provide a point of contact for my acquaintances that may help and support you in any actions that require combat or infiltration. If I deem any action too dangerous I will refuse to take part, but that does not free me from any other obligations. I also am allowed to prioritise my own safety.

"On your side, you will provide me with all the relevant information you possess. The goods will be held by Wanda in advance until the fulfilment of the contract. We good on that?"
"... Yes, that should be fine."

Karen agreed and they shook hands with each other, while Wanda was writing out the contract on what looked like a kind of paper. It didn't seem to be animal parchment, probably something using more primitive papermaking. The paper was greyish and rough, and you could hear the screeching feather on it. It gave me goosebumps.

After she was done Karen went over the contract and signed it, then Lily who was then followed by Wanda, until they gave the contract to me. Did they expect me to sign as well? I didn't even know the letters and I inconveniently couldn't recall any alphabet from Earth either.

Wait, does that mean, I went from university-level to being illiterate?

"I can't read or write the letters, so..."
"Oh? That's surprising, I was sure you could."

Lily was surprised while Karen gave a wry smile and Wanda murmured something that she should have expected this.

"Yumi, come, I'll teach you the letters for your name at least."

And so, we all four signed the contract after Karen taught me the necessary letters and read the contract to me. I should ask her to properly teach me how to read and write in the future, to prevent this embarrassing situation from repeating.

"Great, with that out of the way, can I finally see what I am even getting paid for all of this? I've done this 'cause Wanda said it'd be good stuff but even if you are cuties, I'm not going to work for free, you know?"

Didn't she say something, in the beginning, she'd work for free for us because we are cute? Whatever, I glanced at Karen, who was still kind of unwilling to reveal it. But we already agreed to this, so I took it upon myself and brought out the bag that Karen had put away.

"It's this? Now I'm getting excited, let me see!"

It seemed that Lily was really looking forward to it, but would it really be that good? Wanda told us she couldn't work with it and that she would need a magic craftsman to refine it first. It was still my hair, so I had some mixed feelings about it, but it would be cool overall if we could use it.

Incidentally, we brought up the subject of paying with fish, but Lily laughed at us and told us, that no idiot would risk their lives for some luxury food, especially not if they were the travelling type that had the option to visit a fishing village.

After I put the bag on the table, Lily dashed to my side immediately, opening it and looking inside before I could react. Being surprised by the content she looked over to me, unsure how to react.

"Is this... your hair?"
"Nn. It is."
"And this is my payment?"
"Nn. That's the case."
"You're not messing with me, right?"
"We aren't."

Probably still not sure what to think, she decided to take a strand to inspect it. After around a minute she put it back and faced us with a sigh.

"Now I get why Wanda didn't want to talk about it before. This is quite interesting, whether you would bring it to a merchant or a magic craftsman, you'd be sure to make some nice and tidy profit off it. In itself that would still not be sufficient payment, but..."

She stared at me and gave me a dangerous grin.

"I know where it comes from. And since you are everything but bald that means you are a steady source. This knowledge is basically the payment, isn't it?"

She sat back down into a chair and gave a chuckle.

"Ahh, I completely lost, didn't I? If I had known this I would've tried to go for more favourable terms. Should've known something was up when you specified a deal in goods only."
"But you aren't dissatisfied, right? This is still a good deal for you, but only as long as both of them are safe."
"Wanda, you sly bastard... I repaid the favour I owe you with that, clear?"
"Loud and clear."

I had no idea what they were talking about. I understood that the payment kind of included knowledge about me. It wasn't surprising that Wanda could guess the origin of the hair after turning me into her dress-up doll, but it made me wonder, just how much did she plan of all of this?

At least, Karen seemed to be confused as well, since she immediately raised her question.

"What do you mean by that?"
"Ahhh, cutie, this Wanda there managed to give you quite some favourable terms and made me unable to back out. Because I already received an advance payment in form of information now. I could've still backed out if it weren't for that, in case I wasn't satisfied with the payment.

"My only way to back out now would be to silence you all, including Wanda. But that would cause a lot of trouble in itself. Oh, I could, of course, just go and refuse anyway, but then I'd lose all trust as a mercenary and I would be unable to do any work in this region. Wanda would make sure of that.

"I'm also now forced to protect that cute doll there if I want to make use of the information in the long run. Man, at least the terms aren't really disagreeable and it's two cute girls, so... it's fine, I guess? Though one is more like a doll."

She had quite some energy to revive this fast every time. She stood up with renewed power and turned to us.

"Whatever, I got my job now, so I'll do it. I'll just have both of you as my body pillows today and all is good. We should discuss what to do."
"No, we're not going to be your body pillows. I refuse."
"I refuse your refusal!"
"Are you a kid?!"
"I'm fine with being a kid!"

Maybe she had a bit too much energy. There was one thing that bothered me though.

"What do you mean, one is like a doll?"
"Huh? Because, you know, do you have any expressions even?" replied Lily after she turned towards me, slightly bewildered.
What? I have barely any... expressions?
"That's not quite right, she smiled like a flower when I gave her a candy earlier."
"What? How unfair! I want to see! Ahhh, I have no candy with me. Wanda, teach me how to make candy!"

Lily started pestering Wanda about how to make candy while I turned towards Karen, asking the important question.

"Sis,... do I have no... expressions?"
"Huh? Uhm... They are a bit stiff but they are properly there."

Karen was rather confused as well. I personally thought I was quite expressive if nothing else, but I seem to be collecting weird traits that I never asked for.

What is next? I can't even think of any other weird traits someone could throw at me now. What kind of creature am I going to become at this rate? Though, I guess I should've given up the moment I sprouted tentacles.

Seeing me worried, Karen came close and put her hand on my head, caressing me gently.

"Isn't it fine either way? I don't think you're as expressionless as she says. Also, I didn't say it earlier, but the clothes Wanda gave you, they suit you!"

I felt how my face became hot while I squinted my eyes due to my head being rubbed.
The clothes were embarrassing at first, but for this praise, it was all worth it.

"Nn!"
"Ah! Ahhhh! So she really smiles! How unfair, smile for me too!"
Shut up over there, let me enjoy my quality time with Sis!

---

After everyone calmed down, or rather, once Lily calmed down from attempting to make me smile—unsuccessfully, I might add—we decided to go to Lily's place and prepare. Some of the hair was left with Wanda, but only after taking it out of the bag, so Karen could finally wear her skirt under her robe again.

Speaking of bags, nobody realized when, but Wanda already fixed a simple bag up for us. She said she'd collect the appropriate payment at a later time. Now, we definitely had to pay for it, right?

We said our goodbyes to Wanda and left her place.

I was still a bit unsure what to make of all of this, having a new companion, albeit a temporary one.

"Where do you live anyway?"
"Hm? Me? Ahh, I currently am lodging at a place in the city, I'm a mercenary so I'm not too interested in permanent residence, so sorry if it's not something comfy."
""Eh?""

Both, Karen and I, stopped dead in our tracks. Did we hear right? The city?

"What's the matter you two? Something wrong?"

Lily was oblivious to our surprise, not knowing how hard it was for us to even enter the city.

"But, uhm... the entrance fee?"
"The entrance fee? Ah, don't worry about that, I'll pay for it. Can't have my golden goose disappear on me now."

So, I've become a golden goose? Wasn't this exactly what I tried not to become?

"Yumi is not your golden goose."
"Hm? Ah, sorry if that irked you. Didn't mean anything deep with it. I just want a favourable long-term relationship, you see? And business relationships need to be treated with care, right? So, I won't mind something as minor as that, don't worry! Ah! That's right, there was something else!"

She suddenly stopped in her tracks as well. Turning around like the wind she held something forward.
I could feel something cold on my neck. A huge sword appeared out of nowhere.

"Business relationships have to be cared for by both sides, right? So, won't you fess up to the actually important parts, little doll? Or should I call you little miss monster?"