The room distribution went surprisingly smoothly. While everyone wanted a place for themselves, most of them weren’t really picky about where the room was. In the first place, this was more of a preliminary discussion and nothing final. After all, we had no idea in what state the fort ultimately was. The rooms we chose might very well be completely inhospitable.

Nonetheless, everyone was quite excited about it. The floor plan that Korwen had spread out was huge. Honestly, you could probably let half the mercenaries stay on that floor alone. Fortunately for us, that meant that there were enough nice rooms and thanks to most of them being everything but picky, precious little competition.

“So, you girls are fine with this one?”
“Nn.”
“Yes.”
“Well then, let me take a note. Okay, done. If nothing else comes up, that room will be yours.”

Karen and I watched Korwen marking the room on the floor plan. It was one to the westside of the fort, facing the lake. We hoped to have a nice view from the room. Whether we would have that or not was, of course, something we’d only find out upon our arrival.

After we had decided on our room, Korwen had to mark down a few more before everyone had settled upon one. Or had decided it didn’t particularly matter for them.

“Good. With that out of the way, let’s see… Let’s discuss the kitchen and the dining hall next… and then...”

In other words, all essential facilities were next on the list. Workshops, storage rooms and whatever else was needed. Of course, a wine, err, ale cellar was also included. It actually stood quite high on the list of priorities. Whether it really was an essential facility… Well… It was something you could argue about.

“Hey, captain sir, this floor plan has some stairs marked on it going down. But this is already the basement, no?”

A mercenary whose name I didn’t know was pointing at the floor plan for the basement.

“Ahh, yes… There is no floor plan for what is down there.”
“There’s not? The hell? Why?”
“I don’t know either. It was likely lost when they abandoned it. Or they destroyed the floor plan to keep whatever used to be there a secret, Not like it matters now anymore.”

There was another floor below the basement we knew nothing about? Seriously? Was this going to be fine?

“Mr Captain, it’s not going to… cave in, right?” asked Karen, voicing out my concerns.
“It won’t. Even back then, they had the help of Earth magicians to construct forts like this. Without outside interference, it’s very unlikely to collapse by itself.”

All hail the Earth magicians.

“I do understand the concern, though. That’s why one of our first tasks upon arrival will be to explore and chart the area below the fort. It’s also a place that’s likely to turn into a monster nest.”
“Monsters might nest in the fort?”
“It has been abandoned for over two hundred years, after all. I’d be surprised if there weren’t any.”

So, other than charting that unknown area, our primary task would end up getting rid of any monsters living in there…

“Sounds bothersome.”
“It is bothersome, but what can you do? We can’t just let them stay down there.”
“Mm…”

Well, I’d rather not share an abode with a bunch of aggressive monsters either.

“We’ll also need to get rid of any monsters living near the fort as well. At the very least, the path to the town needs to be safe.”
“Nn, how far is the fort from the town anyway, Captain?”
“Should be around an hour by foot.”
“That’s… close.”

Much closer than I had expected. I would have thought it’d be half a day or something like that.

“There’s not much point having a fort far away from civilization. The further off it is, the worse it is to ship supplies to it.”
“Ahh, that’s true.”

Transportation took a lot of time. Just getting from one town to another could take several days and then the amount they could carry was limited as well.

Now that I think about it, are we going to be fine?

Transportation costs weren’t as big an issue for wandering mercenaries since they could just go there themselves. But if we settled down, that was a different matter.

“Captain, will we be fine with getting supplies at the fort?”
“That’s a pretty good question. And one that’s a little hard to answer. Getting general supplies like foodstuff and the like shouldn’t be much of an issue. But military supplies will likely be a different matter…”
“Military supplies? Like weapons?”
“Weapons, armour and even raw materials like iron. Despite Auria being close to the border, the Sleeping Forest covers the border area and is generally considered unpassable. That’s why Auria itself isn’t really considered as a border town and not as fortified. Military supplies are going to be small in number. And they likely only import as much iron as the town itself needs.”

Wasn’t that pretty bad?

“Then, what are we going to do about that?”
“For the first few years, we’ll have to either get by with what we have or travel ourselves for it. After a year or two have passed, the merchants should realise that a large group of mercenaries needs an appropriate amount of supplies as well.”
“So, we’ll wait for the merchants to adapt to the new situation?”
“Pretty much, yes. They definitely won’t pass up the opportunity to make plenty of money through us, after all.”

Better hope they’d adapt fast, then.

Well, it’ll be a problem if they won’t…

After the short interruption, the discussion about the distribution for the facilities continued for a good while.

---

“Anything else we’ll discuss when we are actually in Auria and have seen the fort.”

Korwen collected the sheets of papers, indicating the end of the discussion and the nearing end of the impromptu meeting.

“For that matter, we’ll leave in two days at the latest. For the remainder of today, you can take a break and tomorrow, we’re going to start packing. Relay that to everyone. The earlier we are done, the earlier we can leave.”

Then, today really would be the last free day… As expected.

“If there are no further questions, you are dismissed.”

In an instant, most of the people attending left their seats and went their way, discussing how to spend their last day here.

“Fenna, you stay. I’d like a word with you.”
“... Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“...”

Ah, Fenna was going pale. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to talk about Korwen’s daughter earlier…

“Haaa… I’m not hung up on earlier. I know you didn’t mean ill. But please try to keep the gossip in moderation when other people are around, yes?”
“Yes… I’m sorry.”
“Good.”

He had a strained smile on his lips as he watched Fenna apologising meekly. A moment later, his eyes turned towards Karen and me.

“So, any reason you two are still here? Did you need anything?”
“Nn, well… Today is the last day, right? So, Karen and I wanted to go into town and eat out. And, well, Fenna mentioned that the captain might know some good places.”
“Ahh… Places to eat out, huh...”

With a wide grin, Korwen looked at us, quickly understanding what our plans were.

“Mm… If you just care about the food, there are plenty of good eateries around in the capital. It’s hard to go wrong just choosing one that is decently crowded.”
“Nn, are there any that aren’t… that crowded? And have good food? It’s fine if it's a little more expensive, too.”
“That’s a bit of a tough request.”
“Why?”

I stared at Korwen, unable to think of a reason on the spot how that’d be a problem.

“Because eateries are mostly for the common people.”
“... Are there none that cater to the, uh, more accomplished people?”
“Why would there be? Those people just hire a cook anyway.”
“...”

So, in other words, it wasn’t that they were, maybe, too expensive or, maybe, didn’t even let us in. They just didn’t exist in the first place.

“Not what you expected?”
“Nn…”

How unfortunate…

“There are taverns that serve food but they’re probably not what you are looking for either.”
“Nn…”

So much to that plan…

“Actually, I might know something…”
“Ohh?”

My ears perked up at that.

“There is a certain tavern close to the river. It serves good food and isn’t as crowded. Most of the customers are people of certain repute.”
“Huh, that sounds nice.”

And more like something we were looking for.

“There’s just one problem.”
“... They won’t let us in?”
“Pretty much.”

Of course, that was going to be the problem.

“As I said, they only let in known people with a good standing. If someone unknown tries to get in, they’ll just show them the door.”
“Is that so…”

I let out a sigh in defeat. If that was the only place Korwen could think of, then we were probably screwed. And here I wanted to enjoy a nice evening date with Karen.

“Now, now, it’s not like there’s no chance for you to get in.”
“... Not?”
“Look, who is in front of you?”

With his arms crossed and a smug smile on his lips, he waited for our answer…

“... The captain.”
“Mr Captain.”
“... You girls really are no good for a joke.”

If he hadn’t tried to be so smug about it, we might have actually played along. But, alas…

“Haa… Anyway, I can write you a recommendation for that tavern. They should let you in with that. As long as you can abide by a few conditions.”
“... Conditions?”
“Yes. First, don’t cause a ruckus.”
“We didn’t intend to.”

It’d just ruin our evening as well.

“Second, that both of you go in armour. Of course, only the most necessary parts of it but enough for people to know who you are. Keeps the trouble at a minimum.”
“Uhm… okay? Will they even let us in like that?”
“You don’t need to worry about that, they will.”

That was a rather weird condition… And even weirder that they’d let us in but… If that was all he wanted from us.

“Can you promise me to keep those two?
“... Nn, we’ll promise.”
“We’ll promise.”
“Good. Just give me a minute and I’ll get it ready.”
“Understood.”

It seemed that thanks to Korwen, our planned evening date was saved.

“Mh… And there…”

Korwen wrote a short letter, then put it into an envelope, stamped it and finally handed it to us.

“Don’t lose it.”
“We won’t. Thank you, Captain.”
“You’re welcome. Enjoy your day.”
“Nn, we will.”
“Good. Now, shoo shoo. Go and have your fun.”

We were promptly kicked out of the tent...  Oh well…

“Yumi.”
“Nn. Let’s go.”

---

Before we would enjoy our day off in town, however, we had decided to visit Lefa. She was the only one we hadn’t had the chance to say goodbye to yet. And so, after changing clothes and fetching some funds from the treasurer, we were now standing in front of the Academy once more.

“It’s a little… deserted…”
“Nn.”

The only people around were the two guards at the gate. The plaza behind them was completely deserted with not a single soul in sight. Hearing our mutter, the nearby guard spoke up and told us what’s going on.

“The classes for students were cancelled. That’s why barely anyone is here right now.”
“Were they cancelled because so many are absent?”
“Probably? Don’t know the details. Better ask someone else.”
“Then, are there no students here currently?”
“As far as I know, no.”

Well, what to do now. If Lefa wasn’t here, we’d have a problem.

“Sis, what do we do now?”
“I don’t know… Maybe her professor knows where she lives?”

That professor, huh…

“Are you looking for someone?” asked the guard.
“Nn. A student.”
“I see. Good luck.”
“Thank you.”

We’d sorely need it.

After thanking the guard, Karen and I made our way into the Academy. Fortunately, Karen remembered the way to that professor’s… workplace. If you could call it that. Once we arrived at the hall’s door, we knocked and waited for a response.

“... Is he not here?” muttered Karen.

There was no response at all, so Karen knocked again, this time with a little more force.

“... I think I can hear something.”
“Really?”

Karen put her ear on the door, trying to listen to the sounds.

“Yes, someone’s there… Ah.”

She stepped back from the door and a few moments later, the door opened.

“Sorry, the professor is not here right now! Really sorry!”
“... Lefa.”
“Huh? Huh? What? Karen? Yumi?”

The red foxkin’s eyes went wide as she realised that it was us who had bothered her.

“What are you two doing here?”
“We were going to visit you…” answered Karen.
“Me?”
“Nn.”

We both nodded, causing only more confusion for poor Lefa.

“Err, let’s… let’s not stand in the hallway? Come in?”
“Thank you.”
“Nn, thanks.”

Lefa led us into the hall. The familiar sight of dozens of small pens with monsters in them greeted us. Pretty little had changed since our last visit.

“Are the monsters doing well?” asked Karen.
“They’re as lively as they could be, unfortunately. The professor is in high spirits because of it… Haa…”

Lefa sighed as she threw a glance at the pens we were walking past, her fluffy ears drooping low. A look of exhaustion painted her face.

“I just wish he would be a little more considerate of his humanoid assistants.”
“Ahaha…”

We arrived at the other end of the hall, the place where the professor had his workspace, where Lefa told us to sit on the nearby chairs.

“So… We heard your classes were cancelled. We already thought we wouldn’t find you here...”
“They were… Most of the students have already left to return home, after all. And some professors left, too. It’s… gotten quiet…”
“... Are you going to return home?” I asked.
“Me?”
“Nn.”

As far as I knew, she was only here because she was a student of the Academy.

“Probably, yes. With classes out, I don’t really have any reason to stay here. And I’m only here to help Professor Marvim out anyway.”
“The professor is staying here in the capital?”
“More like, who would care for the monsters if he is not here? He can’t leave.”
“... True.”

It’d be a catastrophe if the monsters were let loose.

“I just hope he’ll be fine on his own if I go home…”
“... He did probably manage even before you started helping him, didn’t he?”
“... I think so.”

Not very reassuring…

“Well, not my problem…”

Lefa leaned back in her chair, sighing again.

“Maybe you should take a break…” suggested Karen.
“I will. I’ve been here since yesterday… I want to sleep...”
“Since yesterday?!”
“Yes…”

Maybe we should give that professor a piece of our mind. No, not maybe, we definitely should next time we’d see him.

“Going back home… Now I really want to go home…”

She stared at the ceiling for several seconds before straightening her posture and looking at us.

“Mm. Going home sounds like a good idea. I think I’ll do that.”
“That’s probably a good decision.”
“Nn. You should take care of yourself, Lefa.”

Lest she’d just make us worry.

“Ahhh… Speaking of which, how long will you two stay here?”
“Well…”
“That’s kind of why we wanted to visit.”
“Mm?”

Lefa adorably tilted her head, not knowing what we were implying.

“We’ll be leaving the day after tomorrow…”
“The day after tomorrow… So soon?”
“Nn.”

With a nod, I confirmed it once more.

“That’s quite sudden…. I thought you’d stay for a while longer...”
“Ahhh… there are some circumstances… our captain managed to purchase a fort from the king. We’ll use that one as a base in the future.”
“I think Mr Captain just wants to get there as soon as possible.”
“Nn.”

He likely thought nobody would notice but that look of excitement he had on his face today betrayed him. The look a young boy would have whenever they found something of interest. And, well, he wasn’t the only one… Many of the other mercenaries were similarly excited. Having a home base was just that important to them.

“A fort? Like… Something like the Hollow Fort?” asked Lefa.
“Nn. That’s right.”
“We haven’t seen the fort ourselves yet, though. We don’t know the state it is in.”

Probably not a good one.

“Then, then, you are going to stay in Lafria?”
“At the very least, I think we’ll come back here more often?”
“Ohhh!”

All of a sudden, her drooping ears shot up in excitement. The heck.

“Then, we can see each other more often! Hey, where exactly is that fort?”
“It’s the Auria Fort near the town of Auria. Close to the Sleeping Forest, the Grand Spirit Lake and the Krohmean border,” answered Karen.
“... That’s, err, northeast? Right?”
“... I think so.”
“Mmm…”

If I recalled correctly, to the west was the lake, to the north the forest and to the east the Aldreighan border. As for the town… Maybe in the south?

“Lefa? Something wrong?”
“No. I was just wondering how far away that was.”
“It’s a few days from the capital.”
“Ah, not the capital.”
“Not the capital?”

From where else, then?

“Our village, the red foxkin’s territory, is to the south of the Grand Spirit Lake. I don’t know the exact distance but I think your fort would be closer than the capital, actually.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”

Well, that sure was a surprise. If it was close enough, we might be able to see each other more regularly.

“At the very least, I think we have a caravan visiting the town of Auria regularly. To buy fish.”
“That’s quite unexpected…” muttered Karen.
“Nn… If it’s close enough, we might be able to visit each other.”
“Ah! That’d be awesome!”

Yes, it definitely would be awesome.

“Maybe I should return home as soon as I can as well… Then I can come to visit you.”
“Well… I’m pretty sure we’re going to be busy cleaning up the place…”

For a long while.

“I don’t mind!”
No, Lefa, that’s not the issue here!

Even if she didn’t mind, others would…

“Lefa, Yumi meant that we’ll be busy even if you do come and visit.”
“Oh, right… Then, what if I help out?”
“... I think Mr Captain would scold us if we made a guest help out.”
“Is that so…”
“Yes.”

On the other hand, I could imagine Korwen giving us a break if she came to visit… And then work us twice as hard to make up for it…

Okay, probably not the last part.

“Mh… But then I won’t know when to visit…”
“... We’ll figure something out, so just come when you want to. Right, Sis?”
“You say that so easily… But I guess it’ll work out somehow. It’s not like we’ll work all day.”
“I see… I’ll come to visit as soon as I can!”

Something to look forward to. But all this talk made me a little curious.

“By the way, Lefa…”
“Yes?”
“What is your home like?”
“My home? The red foxkin’s village?”
“Nn.”

I heard they were quite adept at magic, which was quite uncommon among the beastkin. But apart from that, I didn’t know anything. Well, I knew they were fluffy if Lefa was any indication.

“It’s nothing really special. A small village, nothing more.”
“Nn… But, err, well…”
“Mm? Something the matter?”
“I did hear a little from… others…”
“... Ah.”

I didn’t want to directly point out what I had heard from Elma and Nela. Still, Lefa seemed to understand what I was hinting at.

“It’s all wrong!”
“... Wrong?”
“Yes, wrong! Whatever you heard in those rumours, the red foxkin are all nice people!”
“... Sorry, what are you talking about?”
“Huh? Wasn’t that what you meant?”
“...”

Apparently, my attempt at subtly hinting had splendidly failed?

“I probably meant something else.”
“Ohh, is that so… That’s a relief!”

She let out a sigh, her body relaxing from the sudden excitement.

“I thought you had heard that unpleasant rumour…”
“What unpleasant rumour?”
“It seems some people say that we are tricking merchants out of their goods with magic. Or that we are threatening harmless travellers. Things like that. But I tell you, such things would never be allowed!”
“I, I see… That’s good.”

Those sure were some unpleasant rumours, though… Rumours didn’t appear without reason, though. Either there was some truth to it, or someone had a malicious intent towards the red foxkin tribe. But, Lefa was a really kind girl. While I couldn’t say anything about her relatives, it did give me a reason to believe her over rumours like that.

Nonetheless, I was still curious where they came from but that wasn’t an appropriate topic now.

“But if that wasn’t what you meant… Then what did you mean, Yumi?”
“Uhh… Well… I heard that the red foxkin were really good at magic.”
“Ahh, they are! Most people in our village can use magic! It’s really incredible. And we use magic everywhere we can. Some people can make plants grow really big overnight. And others can conjure large fires with the snap of a finger! Like, that!”

She snapped her fingers, conjuring a flame. A very adorable flame, the size of a fingertip.

“Uhh, just bigger, of course!”
“Nn. Bigger.”
“Yes, bigger! As big as a person!”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“... They don’t usually do that, it just needs to be enough to light the stove.”

Figured as much. If they started conjuring flames of that size without restraint, the village would have likely burnt down ages ago.

“I wish I was a little bit better at magic… I envy you two, you both can use magic, right?”
“Nn… More or less…”

What I was using just wasn’t regular magic. But it was still classified as magic, at least. And for Karen…

“I… can’t,” replied Karen, causing Lefa’s eyes to widen in surprise.
“Huh? You can’t? Why?”
“Well, not yet. I’m learning.”
“Oh… It takes time…”
“It does.”

Just for the record, Karen was diligently doing her exercises in the morning. And the training would likely resume in earnest soon again. It had just been put on hold due to the roper job.
Of course, that included our physical training… I was not looking forward to it, even if I knew it was necessary…

“Then, as fellow trainees, let’s support each other, Karen!”
“Uhm, sure?”
“Then it’s decided!”

Lefa grabbed Karen’s hands, holding them firmly while the determination burned brightly in her eyes.

“We’ll show everyone what we’re made of!”
“Okay?”
“Yay!”
“Ya— Yay?”

Lefa lifted hers and Karen’s hands in a shout, repeating the action several times. With each repeat, Karen’s expression went from severe confusion slowly to… embarrassment. Maybe it was better if I helped her out a little.

“Lefa. Lefa. What about me?”
“You can already use magic so you are rejected!”
“Ehhh?”

Unexpectedly, I was denied.

“Unfair…”

But, well, if Lefa had found a comrade in Karen, that was fine with me. While she was busy converting Karen to her side, I decided to look around the hall a little. The monsters in the various pens were doing pretty much the same things they were doing last time. The floating balls were floating, the weird plant wasn’t moving and the goblins were… doing something I had precious little interest in knowing what it was. Couldn’t be any good.

But those floating balls… They’re… edible?

Honestly, if someone told me you could eat them—after removing their mana, of course—I’d probably wonder if they were a lunatic. I mean, how could you eat something that was covered in eyeballs or mouths…

Wait, actually, now that I think about it. Are those two the same kind of monster? Or are they different? And which one is edible? The one with eyeballs or the one with mouths?

It’s not like the difference made them any less… hard to look at.

“Ehhh?”
“Nn?”
“Are you for real?!”
“Ye— Yes…”

For some reason, Lefa was more than a little shocked, her eyes going back and forth between Karen and me.

“Sis, is something wrong?”
“No, I just told Lefa of our plans later.”
“Oh. Is it that surprising?”

She probably meant the tavern, right? But it was just a tavern, even if you needed a recommendation… Korwen didn’t make it sound like it was anything special beyond that…

“It is! That place, that is where the big people in the world go to! Nobles and big merchants! It’s said that the king himself would visit there on occasion!”
“... Seriously?”

Now it was my turn to be surprised. Did he actually send us to a rather… high-tier establishment?

“Seriously! Seriously! Waaahhh! To think you would go there!”

The initial shock in her eyes had now been replaced with awe. I still had no idea how big of a… thing this was, though.

“Err, Lefa, you said nobles and merchants go there… But our captain told us earlier there were no eateries and the like for the… higher class.”
“That’s not wrong. Eateries are mostly frequented by labourers or students like me. But, in eateries, you only eat! But taverns are a place where the people socialise over drinks! And that place, in particular, is famous! It just happens to serve food, too, I guess.”

It just happened to serve food… I did expect that there was something off when Korwen gave us those conditions but…

“Lefa, you said it’s a place for socialisation?”
“Yes!”
“With nobles and merchants visiting it?”
“And supposedly even the king!”
“... I see.”

Did he maybe give us the recommendation because of that? After all, it was my job to be the future face of the mercenaries.

Haaa… I’ll just ask him later. I can kind of guess what his intent was but… As long as we’ll have an enjoyable evening, I don’t really mind.

Shoving those thoughts aside, I once more joined the conversation with Lefa. We didn’t know when we’d see each other again, so it was better to enjoy this for as long as we could.