After we left the tavern, Karen and I strolled through town for a little more, enjoying the evening atmosphere, the setting sun accompanying us. Several boats passed us by, going down the river. Small boats but also larger ones, clearly transporting something. We hadn’t really thought much about it, but the warehouses where we had collected the mana crystals were likely downstream as well. Admittedly, the town was quite large so I wasn’t too sure.

This is probably our last time walking through these streets…

At least, for a good amount of time. Who knew when we would have the chance to come back here again. It had only been just over a month, yet, so much had happened during our stay. The uproar at the fort and the encounter with the elves, the discovery at the cave, the assault of the village. Accompanied by the troubles behind the scenes, especially the Worshippers but also the no-good nobles that tried to pin the blame on us. Truly, much had happened. Including good things, of course.

We’ve met many people. We met the kind foxkin Lefa and the couple El and Nel, students at the Academy. The magic craftswoman Elina, who is obsessed with muscles. Miss Karker, an older lady with a lot of influence and just as many mysteries, posing as a grandmother. We met the High Priest, a good-natured but hyperactive clergyman. Will, the very king of this country and Ruben, the military man standing at his side. And finally, we also met the Elder, who will accompany us on our journey.

Most of them we wouldn’t meet anytime soon again. But, I was sure we would meet again in the future.

“Yumi? Something wrong?”
“Nn? No? Why?”
“You’ve been spacing out for a while.”
“Ahh… I was thinking about all the people we met during our stay.”
“I see.”

We walked down the streets, holding our hands. The gate was already coming into sight, signalling the end of our date.

“We won’t be seeing them for a while…” muttered Karen after a while.
“That’s right. But I’m sure we’ll meet again in the future. I mean, we already made such plans with Lefa now.”
“That’s… true.”

I smiled wryly, seeing Karen’s hesitation.

“I’m going to miss them.”
“Me too.”

We stood right in front of the gate now. Soldiers stood guard, checking every traveller coming in or going out. Even at this time of the day, the gate was still busy.

“Hey, you girls, are you trying to leave town?”
“Huh? We are…”

A soldier called out to us, coming over.

“You should think that over again. The gate will close soon and you don’t want to worry your parents, do you? So hurry up back home, will you?”
“Uhm, we’re living outside…”
“Outside? Are you… Are you serious?”

The soldier was taken aback at Karen’s slightly ambiguous reply.

“Hey, ya idiot, what are ya doing?”
“Wha— Sir! These two girls were trying to leave so I stopped them, sir!”
“Look what they’re wearing.”

An older soldier rebuked his younger colleague as he pointed at our clothes. The younger one quickly followed his advice, looking more than a little confused.

“Uhh... Sir?”
“The emblem, ya idiot! Are ya that daft? Ya got stones for eyes?”
“Huh? That…”

Finally noticing the small embroidered emblem on the clothes I was wearing, his gaze wandered out the gate, then back to us.

“... These girls?”
“If ya understand, go back to ya post.”
“Ah, yes, sir!”
“Hey, what should ya say to these ladies first?”
“I apologise for the trouble!”

The young soldier bowed his head and then rushed back to his post.

“Sorry ‘bout that, new blood and all that shi— err, stuff..”
“It’s fine.”
“Well, that’s a relief to hear!”

The soldier laughed heartily. But something was weird when I looked at this man… Somehow, I felt like I had seen this man before.

Ah, he’s the soldier who registered us on our first day.

It had been nearly a month but this was the first time we had seen this man here on duty again. He was complaining and venting quite a bit so he left a bit of an impression at the time… And the other soldier who kept trying to scold him and stop venting.

“Nn? Is the soldier who worked with you not here?”

The soldier’s expression froze in an instant. Did I say something I shouldn’t have?

“Well, to think ya remember me… Not sure if I should be happy or not… But, Tross… that bastard won’t be coming.”
“Did he quit being a soldier?”
“Nah, the dork volunteered for a subjugation mission. Didn’t come back.”
“Ah.”

Subjugation mission… That could only mean… The roper subjugation…

“Stupid bastard, getting himself killed before me. The world’s really messed up. The young ’uns keep dying and we old pieces of shite still sit on our lazy asses watching it all happen. What’s the world if not fucked up?”
“I see…”

The soldier shook his head, sighing repeatedly.

“Sorry, didn’t want to curb ya mood.”
“No need to apologise, I asked, after all…”
“But I should. Ya mercenaries are the reason we all can still sleep soundly. Ya should be proud of what ya did.”

Proud?

“Meanwhile, those nobles and what they call themselves, they were fucking each other up instead, then sending the young ’uns to die. Really, it’s fucked up, I tell ya. Fucked up!”

A few passersby looked towards us in confusion because of the soldier’s outburst. The gazes centred on him allowed him to quickly regain his composure.

“Tsk, I shouldn’t get all worked up in public. Sorry, seriously. It’s all just too much for an old hare like me. Everything’s gone to shite.”

He sighed a last time, before straightening his back.

“Now, little ladies, the gate’s gonna close soon, so ya should hurry and get back home. And tell ya, friends, that ya saved a whole buncha life. We’re not like those stuck-up noble asses, we’re grateful, ya hear. If ya ever got a problem, just give a holler. Now, get going.”

With an awkward grin, he chased us out before we could even properly reply to him. Confirming we had left the gate area, he shouted up to some soldiers standing on its top to let down the gate. A short moment later, the heavy iron lattice was lowered, barring all entry and exit.

“... Hey, Sis?”
“Yumi?”
“The world’s pretty cruel.”
“It is.”

Glancing a last time at the gate, the two of us made our way back to the camp. Somehow, our little evening date had ended on a slightly sour note. But…

“He was grateful…”
“...”

And he told us to be proud. Proud that we saved lives…

We… can’t save everyone… Just like the villagers… and those soldiers. We also have our own lives and our own people to protect… Korwen told me as much...

But, the lives we saved beyond the bare minimum… Could we take pride in that? I had no idea…

“Sis, let’s go back.”
“Yes.”

I lightly squeezed her hand and she squeezed back. With slow steps, we walked over to the mercenaries’ camp.

---

After we got back, we reported to Korwen what had transpired at the gate. He was quite surprised. “That soldier’s a good man,” he had said. Once we had finished giving him that report, Karen and I decided to take it easy and relax for the remaining evening. We already had dinner so we weren’t particularly hungry anyway.

“Home, sweet home. We’re back.”

After opening the door of our bed, I immediately let myself plop onto the bed, causing the wooden frame to cry in protest. The bed was still working that mysterious gravitational force to the bone. It was impossible to resist.

“Home, huh…”
“Nn? Isn’t it?”
“... It is.”

Karen sat down next to me before gently patting my back.

“Mmm…”

The warm touch of her hand was comfortable.

“Oh? Yumi.”
“Mmmm…”
“Yumi, the dolls are here.”
“The dolls?”

I rolled on my back and forced myself to sit up again. Right there on the window were a few dolls peeking through the gap in the window. If I didn’t know better or wasn’t used to them by now, it probably would’ve looked like something straight out of a horror movie… Actually, it still looked like it, I just wasn’t scared by it anymore... 

“What do they want?”
“Don’t know?”

Karen tilted her head at my question, unclear about their intent as well.

“Uhh, you can come in… No need to peek through the wi— Woah!”

I hadn’t even finished the sentence before the dolls climbed through the gap into the room. No, climbing wasn’t the proper word for it. They poured into the room by the dozens. And not just the one window we had watched, but also the other ones… Before long, the room was filled with wooden dolls to the point we couldn’t even see the floor anymore. And the worst part…

“Sto— Stop climbing me! Ah, Sis, help!”
“I, I can’t!”

Somehow, Karen also sounded quite panicked. A quick glance showed me, that the dolls were also climbing her. Now, this was new… So that’s what it looked like from the outsider perspective… Wait, that wasn’t the time for this.

“Ahh, stop, come on! Don’t climb on us! Behave yourselves!”

The dolls all froze, not moving even the tiniest bit.

“Haaa… Seriously, you are quite troublesome kids as well…”

But that was probably my fault, wasn’t it… Even Yumias had told me they just did this to get my attention.

“Sorry that I’ve been neglecting you. But don’t cause trouble because of that, okay? Do you understand?”

The unmoving dolls regained their life, lining up on the floor and saluting. That… probably meant they understood it, right?

“As long as you behave it’s all good.”

The dolls threw up their arms into the air, jumping up and down, all giddy and happy. Maybe I was too quick to forgive them.

“But tell me, why were you climbing up Karen as well?”

Getting my attention was one thing but… Ahh, they were tilting their heads. Did they not understand my question?

“Yumi…”
“Nn?”
“... Maybe they want my attention as well?”
“I guess so…”

But the question as to why they wanted to climb her remained.

“Well, whatever…”

I let myself fall back onto the bed. Somehow, I was quite tired.

“You poor dolls, your mother is always ignoring you, isn’t she? What a no-good mother, right? Right.”
“Hey, I can hear you…”

Was I supposed to go hug them now? Maybe if they were a little softer… like the tentacles.

… Maybe I can make a doll out of the tentacles?

A weird idea popped into my head… Well, it’d be fine if it worked but in the worst case, it might look more than just a little grotesque, wouldn’t it? I wasn’t exactly that good with sculpting the dolls’ bodies.

But they can do the sculpting themselves… as long as they don’t create some weird abomination.

It was probably something worth keeping in mind.

“Oh? Ohhh?”
“What’s wrong, Sis?”
“Well… Your dolls…”
“Mh?”

I forced myself up once more, only to see the dolls all surrounding Karen’s feet, holding up their arms like children wanting to be picked up.

“What are they doing…”
“I don’t know.”

At times like this, it was really a little troublesome we couldn’t communicate with them… The only thing they could do was draw.

“... Sis, do we have a pen and paper here?”
“Huh? I… think so?”
“Where are they?”
“They should be in the drawer from the desk. I think.”
“Mmmm… One moment.”

I slowly got up from the bed, careful not to squish any dolls by accident. Mostly because it’d hurt me more than them if I stepped on one. After wading my way to the desk, I checked the drawers and the immediate surroundings of the desk. The pen was actually on top of the desk.

“Okay, you dolls. Here you go. Why are you flocking to Sis? Draw it here.”

The dolls crowded around me, snatching up the pen and some sheets of paper before drawing on the paper.

“Mh? This is…”
“Ohhh.”

We— Well… This isn’t quite what I expected.

“So… They think I’m also their mother?”

On the sheet were two girls drawn. Obviously, they were Karen and me. Then, two lines went down from both our portraits, leading to dozens of small dolls. The, honestly, looked like a family tree…

“Guess they do. Congratulations, Sis. Now you’re a mother.”
“...”

No response. How weird. I expected her to react to my attempt at teasing her, but she was just blankly staring at the sheet for a good while until she finally broke out into a big wide grin.

“Sis?”
“Yumi, Yumi, they’re our children! Even the dolls think we belong together!”
“Nn, they do.”
“Hehehe!”

So, she was happy about that. Well, I could relate to it. Having the dolls recognise it as well made me just a little bit happy.

“Oh, what are they doing now?”

Some dolls crowded around the sheet of paper, facing each other and gesturing wildly. It seemed as if they were arguing about something. Only the sound was missing. After a minute or so, they had come to an understanding and resumed their work on the sheet.

“That’s…” mumbled Karen.
“The tentacles?”
“They’ve drawn them, too…”

The dolls had added a bunch of tentacles next to their own image as if saying the tentacles and the dolls were siblings to the same parents. Well, that wasn’t quite wrong.

“Well, Sis, looks like our children include some tentacles.”
“... Seems like it.”

Somehow, the whole thing seemed so ridiculous that I couldn’t help but chuckle at it. As for the dolls, after finishing their masterpiece of a picture, they were celebrating. Then, some dolls suddenly lifted the sheet and ran over to the door. A few other dolls followed them and then jumped up and down in front of the door as if trying to draw our attention to them.

“... Well, let’s open it.”

While I had absolutely no idea why the dolls would want to show them that picture now, the least I could do was open the door for them and watch whatever would happen.

The moment the door opened wide enough for the dolls to pass through while carrying the sheet, they stormed inside, jumping on top of the tentacle floor and making their way to the centre tentacle. Having arrived, they held up the sheet in front of it, showing it the picture. Some dolls were once again gesturing as if possessed.

“Yumi, are they… communicating?”
“I wish I knew. Really.”

It did seem like the communication was rather one-sided, though. With only the dolls doing the talking if you could call it that.

“Speaking of which, Yumi, do the tentacles have enough mana?”
“Mh? They… should? Maybe?”

There wasn’t anything left to drain a lot of mana... But now that she mentioned it, did we even recover their mana after our failed… experiment? I couldn’t remember whether we did… So we probably didn’t.

“Good thing we already got new mana crystals…”
“You’re feeding them?”
“Nn. I don’t think we gave them anything after the last time.”
“Now that you mention it… We didn’t? Did we?”

Even Karen wasn’t sure anymore. Well, it wasn’t a waste to feed them anyway. They could store the mana. And since we were planning on resuming our experiments soon…

“One… should be enough, right?”
“Yumi, don’t tell me you want to feed a whole crystal to them?”
“...”

They did have a lot of mana, didn’t they? She was right.

“... Guess that’s too much, yeah. I’ll see how much to give them.”

I entered the room with the tentacles and the dolls that were still making a silent ruckus made space for me. Squatting down, I transferred the mana from the mana orb over to the tentacles. They did have quite a bit of mana after I took a good look but it was probably mana they had absorbed from our surroundings.

“Nn, that should be enough.”

The centre tentacle wiggled around as if happy. Was it always this expressive?

Don’t tell me…

I stretched out my hand to the tentacle.

“Paw.”
“...”

Nothing happened. Was I wrong?

“Yumi, what are you doing?”
“I was wondering whether the tentacles can understand us. Too… Doesn’t seem like they do.”
“... No, I mean. What is ‘Paw’ supposed to mean? The tentacles don’t have paws.”
“...”

Did she not know about dog tri— Oh, wait… Mm… Apparently not.

“Err, forget what happened… Okay, attempt number two. Come here.”

I opened my hand again and tried a more direct approach. And, as if it finally understood what I wanted, the large centre tentacle put itself into my hand and nestling against it.

“They understand us?!”
“...”

Somehow, Karen was staring at me as if I was an utter idiot. That hurt… That gaze, it hurt.

“Yumi, sometimes, I’m not sure if you’re just pretending or actually stupid.”
“You’re quite rude, aren’t you, Sis?”
“I was pretty serious, you know?”
“Wait… Really?”
“Yes.”

… Okay. I decided to just not think about that for now. My fragile heart couldn’t take it.

“But in all seriousness, I expected they could understand us to a degree… They were communicating with the dolls before as well. And, they can distinguish between your enemies and friends.”
“Nn… And if they have some form of intelligence, it’d be no wonder they could, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“That’s… quite reasonable. I was wondering about that part, too, to be honest.”

Seeing the tentacle pitfalls accurately attack only our enemies did give me cause to wonder. And they had been intelligent enough to stop the roper back in the village.

“Intelligent, huh...“

I gently squeezed the tentacle that was nestling in my hand. It quivered slightly in response.

“Haaa… What troublesome children I have.”

The dolls and the tentacles, they were so… weird.

“Take care of me from now on as well, okay? The dolls, too.”

The group of dolls was once more jumping around, while the tentacle simply wrapped itself around my arm. Although I said ‘simply,’ it was still quite… restrictive. Nonetheless, I couldn’t help but smile at their eccentric behaviour.

For a while, we played a little with the dolls and the tentacles until it had become completely dark outside. Deciding it was time to hit the hay, we gave our goodnights to the tentacles and the dolls. The dolls disappeared somewhere, leaving Karen and me alone in our bed.

“It’s been quite a long day, hasn’t it?”
“It has, Yumi. But it was fun for the most part.”
“Nn, it was fun.”

I snuggled against Karen’s naked skin. It really made me wonder sometimes how her bare skin could feel so comfortable. At this point, it had to be an addiction.

“Yumi, that tickles.”
“Nn, but it feels good.”

Resting my head against her chest, I could hear her heartbeat, echoing rhythmically in my ears.

“Yumi, you pervert.”
“Nn? But I haven’t done anything yet.”
“Do you plan to?”
“Of course I do.”

There was never another option.

“... Yumi.”Nn?”

Karen moved towards my ear, whispering.

“I planned to as well.”
“...”

Once Karen let those words sink in, she gently bit my ear and nibbled on it.

“Nnah?! Sis, that’s…”
“Ehehehe, Yumi.”

Her hand gently stroked my stomach, reaching towards my belly button. A gentle shiver ran through me as she traced my midriff with her finger.

“Yumi.”
“Si, Sis?”
“One day. One day, in the future, let’s have children.”
“Sis?!”

I cried out in surprise. Did she just?

“Let’s have lots of them. We’ll find a magician who can use conception magic. And if that doesn’t work, then we’ll look for another way. And once we find one, then I hope you’ll give me a lot of cute children.”
“Wait, it’ll be me who— Nn?!”
“Of course, it’ll be you.”

She bit into my ear and gentle pain ran through it. But not an unpleasant one. It was weirdly… comforting.

“You’re mine, after all. All mine.”

I could feel her hand embracing my waist and gently stroking my back.

“And then we’ll have a big family. I bet Lily and Rina are going to have children as well in the future. And who knows what will happen with the dolls and the tentacles until then. Ahh, I wonder what will be with Emily, Maya and Sele then… They’re sure to grow up into some pretty women. And if they find someone too...”
“That’s a very big family you are planning there, Sis.”
“... I have to make up for it, after all. For all the time I was alone.”
“Sis…”
“So, you better work hard.”

Working hard? At… That was a bit of a mental hurdle. I had been a man in the past and… Sure, I knew that was possible in the future. But having to confront it so suddenly… I’d need some time getting used to the thought. Oddly enough, I wasn’t that against it.

“Well, it’s still going to be a long time until then.”
“Nn… But, when the time comes, I’ll, err, do my best? Probably.”
“... Pfff.”
“Hey, what are you laughing at now?”
“Sorry. Just… I guess I should be happy.”

Karen pulled me a little closer and squeezed me as gently as she could.

“Let’s be together forever, Yumi.”
“Of course.”

I returned the embrace. It was warm. So wonderfully warm and happy.

“Hehe.”
“Sis?”
“Yumi.”
“Nn?”
“Let’s think of one. Our surname.”
“... Huh?”

Surname? How did she come to that?

“After all, if we’re together forever, we’ll need one, don’t we?”

Somehow, I had the feeling that Karen was grinning broadly right now.

“Sis, was that… Just now…”
“Mmm? Maybe?”
Are you kidding me?

Honestly, I hadn’t even thought that far. It just felt… so natural to accept it.

“... What happened with staying as a family?”
”Don’t worry, you’ll always be my little sister as well. But it’s not like we can’t have both, right?”
“That’s… true.”
“That’s why I’ll be greedy. I’ll be as greedy as I can when it comes to you, Yumi.”
“Sounds scary.”

Did her possessiveness increase even more now?

“Having second thoughts?”
“As if I could ever have those. If anything, I feel all the happier for it.”
“Then, I guess I don’t need to hold back.”
“Nn, you don’t.”

In fact, I didn’t want her to hold back at all.

“In that case…”

Karen grabbed my shoulders and rolled me on my back before mounting me.

“I guess I’ll fully indulge tonight.”

With a predatory smile on her lips, she looked down at me. I felt my body heating up in anticipation. Stretching out my arms, I returned her smile.

“Sis. I love you.”
“I love you too, Yumi. Now and forever.”

Needless to say, we had a rather eventful night. Karen played with my body for most of the night. If I had proper muscles, I probably would have been sore all over the next morning.

---

In the end, morning came without mercy, ending a very passionate night between the two of us. After breakfast, we helped out with packing things, taking down tents, bringing over the parked wagons and stowing everything away. Caring for the waroxen and helping people who had troubles. There was a lot that needed to be done.

Especially in regards to our additional passengers, namely the elves. Frankly put, there was too little space. After ousting the troublesome families, some wagons had been freed up, but it was still not quite enough. Especially because Karen and I had kind of taken over one of them. Plus, some wagons had been damaged in our scuffle with the elves or even been destroyed. As such, everyone had to squeeze closer just a little more. And since not many knew about my situation, the number of people that could travel with me and Karen were a little limited. Basically, it was only Lily and Rina. And someone had to drive the wagon. Which meant that Karen and I still ended up alone, since Lily was the only one who knew how to steer the waroxen and Rina would obviously join her. Plus, Lily had her own living place with the Black Guards anyway.

“Good boy, good boy, yes. Here you go. Woah!”
“Yumi, be careful.”
“I try to but… This one’s really greedy.”

I patted the large warox on its back as it munched on the feed I had just given it.

“We’ll be in your care tomorrow.”

I stroked the back of the magic beast. The fur was smooth to the touch and quite pleasant. As I was patting its back, a sharp clap resounded through our former camp.

“Everyone, listen here!”

The source of it, Korwen, drew the attention to himself.

“First of all, good work to everyone! There are only a few things left but we mostly finished packing. Tomorrow, we will leave Larfas and make our way to Auria. From the town of Auria, we will also reach the fort, our new home!”

Clamour and cheers erupted from the audience.

“We will set out before sunrise! Finish what you are doing and then get an early rest. If I see anyone going out to town in an attempt at getting laid I’ll leave them behind, you got that?”

Laughter echoed all around us, amused at the threat.

“You’re dismissed! Good job everyone. Get a good rest!”

He clapped again, ending his short announcement.

“Tomorrow, huh… Already.”

It was finally time to bid this place goodbye. I was going to miss it.

Until next time. 

---

Love has as many shapes as there are lives in the world.
No one shape is inferior to another, no one shape more equal than another.
Love is equal to all, cruel to all.

For love is what makes the world truly turn.