"So it was like that..."
"Nn..."
"I'm sorry, I didn't even notice something was wrong..."
"No, it's fine, Sis. I hid it after all."

I had told Karen about the dream, or what seemed to have been a dream. She seemed rather depressed that she hadn't even noticed something had happened.

"But... That dream... Do you think what you saw were really your memories?"
"Nn... I don't know... Rather than memories... It felt like someone was showing those scenes to me."
"Showing... But just who would do something like that?"
"I don't know. Although there's someone I suspect... but..."

The only one who knew enough about my former world in this place was her.

"Do you mean... Yumias? You did say she knew about your old world."
"Nn. I don't know anyone else who could do this... But I don't understand why she would do this."

Would she really go about it in such a roundabout way? Probably yes. She seemed to be quite interested in messing around with people, and this method was really bothersome if nothing else.

"Yumias, huh... Yumi, do you think Lily might know something in that case?"
"Nn... I don't think so."
"Mh..."

It was unlikely that Lily would be involved in this. She was someone who loved to mess around, but she was a really nice girl at her core. I simply couldn't imagine her doing this. Not to mention I doubted she even knew how to do this. Well, neither did I or Karen, though.

"In any case, there's not much I can do about it. I don't even know why I was shown this."
"It's rather mysterious, isn't it..."
"It sure is."

It would've been much easier if it wasn't so cryptic. I only saw fragments of what was presumably the past. They were barely enough to make a few assumptions, nothing else.

"Guess we really can't do much about it, huh..."
"Nn."

This feeling of helplessness sure was unpleasant. But we couldn't dwell on it. We had to go on for now.

"Sis, the next time I'll meet her, I'll ask."
"Is there nothing else we can do?"
"No, not really..."

A deep sigh escaped her. Then she suddenly paused for a moment, before turning to me.

"Yumi."
"Nn?"
"Back when you met her, did she say nothing regarding your memories?"
"Nn... She said a few things but..."

What had she even said that time? It had been a few days and while the whole thing did leave an impression, not every detail stayed in my memory. In fact, I had been quite agitated at the time and my focus had been entirely elsewhere.

"Nn... I think she said something about 'adjusting her plans' because she forgot I was missing my memories."
"She... forgot?"
"... I think so?"

Karen raised an eyebrow. She probably thought it unbelievable, just as I had at the time. It was pretty unbelievable. One didn't simply forget about such important things.

"I have no idea why she would either..."
"The more I hear about her, the less I understand."
"If you ever meet her, I fear you'll understand absolutely nothing."
"In a way, that sounds impressive."

It was impressive. Not necessarily in a good way though...

"But I don't think she said anything else noteworthy..."
"Mh..."
"Well, to be honest, I don't really want to see her again... But I don't have any ideas other than asking her either..."

Thinking about how I might have to face that monster once more... made me shudder. Yumias was eccentric, but that wasn't all.
What I saw at that time, at the end of my meeting with her... a void that seemed like it might devour me... It was scary. It really scared me.

"Uhhh..."
"Nn?"

Our third person present at this table finally decided to wake up again. The sun had long moved on and her little nap in the sun had already become a nap in the shade quite some time ago.
For some odd reason, both suns moved in a similar way with a similar speed. It just made the second sun even more unbelievable though.

"Good morning..."
"Nn, morning."
"It's afternoon, though."

Lefa raised her head from the table and observed her surroundings. After a short moment, her eyes widened in confusion.

"Eh? Uhh... Where am I?"
"At the same spot where you fell asleep," answered Karen.
"Same spot... Oh! The mercenary camp! Ehh... How late is it?"
"Quite far into the afternoon."

She stared blankly at Karen. Then, suddenly, a gasp escaped her.

"I was supposed to cook today!"
"Cook?"

I tilted my head. I wondered how she even arrived at that.

"Yes, cook! Ahh, we take turns cooking, and today was my turn. They'll be mad, won't they... Ahh, what do I do now..."
"Turns? Are there other students besides you?" asked Karen.
"Yes, we are three. We came together to assist the professor! The other two are Alf and Eward. They are good boys, but a little unreliable."

Most likely, the boys I saw with Lefa were the ones in question. Though, honestly... They made a more reliable impression on me than Lefa did.

"Ahh... What do I do... I didn't even tell them where I am. They're going to be really mad..."
"Nn, good luck."
"But why do you have to cook for yourselves? Aren't you guests here?"

Karen raised a valid question. They weren't even part of the garrison, so why did they have to cook?

"... They don't have enough people to care for us."

Ahh, yet another inconvenience brought about by the labour shortage.

"And the professor is really picky with his food... So if we don't start early we'll still be cooking when the sun is gone..."
"That sounds... troublesome... But isn't he still shutting himself in his room?"
"Well... We leave the food in front of his door."

Clearly, this professor was a well-trained shut-in. Also, how did being picky result in cooking the entire evening? Did they have to boil the food down into a gooey mass?

"Ahh, well... I'll have to leave now. It was fun! Thank you, Karen, Yumi."
"Nn, it was fun. And thank you for bringing me back."
"Bye, and thank you for your help."
"No need to mention it! If you need me again, just call for me!"

She walked a few steps and then turned around once more.

"I'll come back! Bye!"

And then she ran off her fluffy tail swinging left and right with every step.

"Truly running at her own pace, isn't she?"
"Nn..."
"She was pretty exhausting, but she did help me out. And brought you back."
"Ahaha..."

Karen pulled the training device back in front of us and tried once more to make the inside of the sphere glow.

"If she didn't explain this to me, I probably would still struggle even with this."
"Huh... Is it that hard?"
"Yes... Though you probably could do it immediately."
"Really?"

Karen nodded and then removed her hand from the sphere.

"You can move mana even outside your body right?"
"Well... Yes."
"The device is for learning how to move it in the first place, so since you can already do that..."
"Ahh..."

Karen rubbed the top of my head, ruffling my hair.

"Why don't you try it? Ria said there was no need to fear it exploding, too."
"Well... I can try, I guess..."

Why did she have to mention that it couldn't explode in the first place? It actually made me feel a bit reluctant to try it now. Nonetheless, I put my hand on top of the sphere. Once done, I attempted to move a small amount of my mana towards the sphere, which the device rapidly sucked it in.

"Oh. This feels weird..."

I quickly understood why it was possible to train with this. Even though the mana was inside the sphere now, I still had the impression that it was inside my body. The device felt like an extension of my arm.

"Ahh... I still can't get used to it..."

Karen stared at her hand with a wry smile.
I returned my attention to the device and began moving the mana inside the sphere. I didn't really know what exactly I had to do, but that question quickly answered itself.

"Ohh, it's glowing," said Karen with some excitement in her voice.
"Nn. It's pretty to look at... But I wonder... How does it glow? I'm just moving the mana, right?"
"I don't know how it works either, but it has to do with the contents of the sphere apparently. Ohh, it's glowing so much more than when I did it."

The sphere was shining brightly. It was honestly fun causing it to glow. The light wasn't uniform, it was wobbly and wavering around in tune with how the mana was moved inside. It was a mesmerising sight.

"I hope I can get it to move like that sometimes too."
"Nn, I'm sure you will."
"Speaking of which, Lefa was even worse at it than me."
"That's... unexpected, to be honest."

Wasn't she a student at a magician's academy? Why was she bad at this?

"I was surprised too. But apparently, her mana reserves are low, so she can't do much with it."
"Huh... But my own capacity is low too... Though, I wonder if that's why she was looking for other magicians?"
"She was?"
"Nn. She considered asking here for help but... maybe she simply forgot about it."

I certainly could see her forgetting about it. Just how she forgot it had been her turn with the cooking duty.

"That might be. Speaking of which... Maybe we should look for Ria? You were still not done with inspecting the supplies, right?"
"Nn, we finished most of it, though. At least I think so."
"Then, let's look for her. If possible, I'd like you to be done by dinner, so everyone can take a bath together afterwards."
"Nn."

I nodded. With a smile, Karen took hold of my hand.
Holding hands, we began looking for Ria.

---

"Wenners... You can't do that..."
"But Ria... We, we can't just leave this thing alone!"
"Regardless... You can't..."
"But Ria!"

It didn't take us long to find Ria. She was together with Wenners as well as Lily and the Black Guards, including their captain, Greyward.
From the looks of it, Wenners was upset about something. Quite upset

"Oh? Yumi, Karen. Come here."

Like always, Lily spotted us nearly immediately and waved at us. It was a mystery how she always found us so quickly.

"Lily, what is going on here?"
"Well, Karen, you see... Mr Yuu played a prank on Wenners..."
"... Mr Yuu?"

I felt like I had heard that name before.
With a grin, Lily pointed towards a certain small figure standing on a crate.

"Yumi, isn't that..."
"It is..."

It was a doll. A specific doll. The doll that was in the Black Guards' care for some inexplicable reason. And it had transformed. It was now donning black armour and something akin to a lance. Although at this size it looked more like an oversized toothpick. An immensely oversized toothpick.

"So they really named it Mr Yuu... Where did they even get that armour? Is that real metal?"
"It is real! Papa and the others brought some iron scraps to the blacksmith and had him make a simple armour for Mr Yuu."

These people were way too dedicated to this doll. What the heck...

"Nn, let's ignore it. That's better. More importantly, what happened here?"
"Mr Yuu played a prank."
"You said that before... What kind of prank?"
"Well... he poked him in the butt. With the lance."
"..."

I turned again towards Wenners who was still vehemently insisting on... taking measures against Mr Yuu. He and Krutz never spoke to us so this was the first time I properly heard his voice...

"Ria! You can't just let this haphazardous thing run around!"
"I can... and I will... On Captain's orders..."
"Then I'll go to the captain and tell him these things are dangerous!"

He wanted to get rid of the doll. Having his butt poked with a lance, even if it was comparatively small, must've hurt quite a lot. And most likely, his dignity too.
But if someone had to ask me if it was worth making such a fuss over... No. No, it wasn't.

"This is stupid."
"I agree, Yumi. If it wasn't Mr Yuu one of the others would've done it."
"Wait, this was planned?"
"..."

Lily averted her eyes for a moment.
What the heck? Weren't the Black Guards mostly middle-aged and old men? Why were they playing pranks like little boys?

"Apparently Wenners and Krutz were complaining about the lack of tidiness in the Black Guards' wagons. When they were inspecting it earlier."
"And so they resorted to such a childish prank."
"Yes."

That was a really petty reason for all the Black Guards to plan such a childish prank. Though, I probably would've been annoyed too if someone only complained about my tidiness. Or lack thereof.
Actually... were really all of the Black Guards involved? All of them...

"Lily?"
"Yes, Yumi?"
"Were you involved in that prank?"
"Ehh..."

She averted her eyes once more. She wasn't even trying to hide it.

"Well, you know... it seemed fun?"
"Lily... Weren't you busy too?"
"We actually finished a while ago."
"Oh?"

That was unexpected. Unexpected, but certainly welcome.

"So only your groups is not yet done, Yumi."
"Nn... But Sis, I can't really change that, can I? Without Ria nor Fenna, I don't even know where we stopped..."

Fenna was still missing and Ria was... looking as if she would murder someone soon. Actually, her expression was really scary right now. I was slightly impressed that Wenners could still stand up against her. Unless... he didn't even notice.

"Yumi, Ria said earlier they were done with inspecting."
"Eh, really? Did she continue without us?"
"No, I think she sent Krutz to deal with it. Something about some new kind of weapon among the supplies? Not sure what she was talking about, but she left it to him."
"Well... That certainly could be used as a weapon."

I didn't want to imagine the poor guys that had to deal with that biological weapon. Actually, I felt bad for Krutz too. Was that why he wasn't here? I hoped he wasn't still busy with it. I wouldn't help, though. No way.

"So... All of us are done with work now?"
"Seems so, Sis."

Surprisingly, I was already finished for the day. If every day was like this, that'd be great. Though already wasn't quite right either. We had taken quite a few hours inspecting the supplies. The suns were already moving towards the horizon.

"We still have some time until dinner, though..."
"Nn..."
"By the way, Lily. Have you seen Rina?" asked Karen.

Speaking of Rina, I hadn't seen her at all today... Actually no, I saw her during breakfast.

"Rina? I saw her playing with the three rascal girls earlier. No idea where they are now, though."
"Hm... Guess I'll look for her, I kind of left her alone the entire day."
"Sis, I'll come with you."
"Thank you, Yumi."

Karen seemed to feel bad about leaving Rina alone. She probably was worried about her. On the outside, Rina was quite happy-go-lucky, but whether everything was really okay... Maybe Karen was worried the same thing.

"Mh... I kind of want to watch this spectacle but I also want to join you as well..."
"You should just come with us, Lily. Let those people alone."
"Nn, you should."

It was better to get away from here. Ria's expression took a turn for the worse. Somewhere I heard that the kind and quiet ones are the scariest when angered. I could believe that, looking at Ria's expression. Something told me, to get far away.

"Mhh... Okay. I'll tell Papa, so wait a moment, yes?"
"... Nn."

And she dashed off towards Greyward. Once she arrived, she talked with him with a big smile plastered on her face. They were some ways away so unfortunately, we couldn't hear what they were talking about.

"I'm a bit jealous."
"You have me, Yumi."
"You aren't my mother, Sis."
"Guess that's true... Haa..."

Watching Lily talk with her adoptive father was a sight for sore eyes, but it also made me a bit sad. Lily was always really energetic when she was with us. When she was with the Black Guards, though, with her father especially, she was like a little spoiled girl.
Sporting a big smile on her face, she was probably reporting that she would come with us. Greyward gave a hearty laugh and pat her head, which prompted Lily to complain, causing her ears to quiver adorably... I wanted to touch those ears.
She seemed to quickly recover her composure, though. A few moments and short exchanges later, she turned around and came over to us.

"Nn, too bad we couldn't hear them."
"If Wenners would be quieter, we could've heard them probably."
"Nn."
"What are you two talking about?"

A beaming Lily returned to us. I really wanted to pat her right now. But I should hold back. I had to. As unfortunate as it was.

"Nn, nothing important. Shall we go?"
"Yes. Come, Lily. Let's go."
"... I'm coming."

She tilted her head in wonder, but neither I nor Karen decided to answer that we were a little bit jealous. Neither of us had parents to care for us anymore after all.

"Lily."
"Yes, Yumi?"
"We're your family too."
"Huh? Of course, you are. Where did that come from?"

It probably was sudden, yes. But I had to make that point clear. She might still have her adoptive parents, but she was already part of our family, too.
From the corner of my eyes, I could see Karen smiling at me. Lily was tilting her head but then her eyes widened all of a sudden and she smiled at me as well.

"Of course, we're family, Yumi. Karen, too. And Rina and those three rascal girls. You're important family."
"Nn, I just wanted to make sure.."
"Were you possibly jealous? Hee, were you?"
"Nn, I was."
"Eh?"

Maybe she didn't expect my blunt answer. She froze. Completely
To make matters worse, Karen decided to add her piece as well.

"That's right, Lily. We were quite jealous."
"... That's... Well..."

Lily was clearly overwhelmed. Her face had turned red and she was looking towards the ground, fidgeting.

Hmmm... Is Lily maybe bad at dealing with such blunt affection directed towards her?

She was good at showing affection but not so good at receiving it. If that was really the case...
I took a glance toward Karen. She seemed to be lost in thought.
Then, she suddenly took Lily's hand into her own.

"Ka, Karen?!"
"Yumi. The other one."
"Nn? Ahh. Got it."
"Eh?"

I quickly took Lily's other hand and now we had her sandwiched between us.

"Yumi?! Karen?! Wha, what are you doing?!"
"Nn, let's go."
"Yes, let's go!"
"Wa, wait! Let me go!"
""No way.""

A small scream escaped our adorable Lily as we abducted her, holding her hands.

---

"They were supposed to be somewhere around here."
"Nn."

We had asked around, hoping to find Rina and the girls. Yet, we couldn't find them. They were quite elusive.

"Maybe they are playing somewhere else now?" suggested Lily.
"Probably. But let's take a look around. Maybe we just missed them."
"Nn."
"Ah, wait, don't pull!"

By now, Lily had stopped trying to escape our grasp. In fact, whenever it seemed we would separate, she would squeeze our hands and tried her best not to let go. It was so adorable to watch and it warmed my heart.

"Oh? Maybe over there? I can hear some people."
"Really? Let's take a look then."

Lily directed us to the source of the sounds and after a few corners, we found it.

"Oh, it's Rina and the girls."
"Nn, but... Sis, doesn't something seem wrong?"

We found the four girls we were looking for, but they weren't alone. Some other children were also standing a few steps away from them, grouped together. It was very quickly clear that something was incredibly wrong.
Rina looked worried, Maya seemed to be angry and while Sele still looked indifferent, I got the feeling she was in a rather bad mood too.
And then... Emily sat on the ground, tears in her eyes. Clutched in her's hands was one of my dolls. A broken doll.

"Those children... they are from the mercenaries' families," told us Lily.

The mercenaries' families? Korwen had told us about those before, didn't he? Most of the families seemed to prefer staying among themselves, so we actually didn't see much from them. Only Korwen's wife and a few other women were frequently around us.

The girls and the other children noticed us approaching.

I got a bad feeling about this. A really bad one.
"Rina? What happened here?"
"Big, Big Sis, uhm... You, you see... It's, err..."

Rina wanted to tell us something, but her stuttering made it impossible to understand.

"Rina, calm down and tell us what happened here."
"Lil Sis... Uhh..."

Tears gathered in her eyes and it seemed that she'd start bawling at a moment's notice.

"Ri, Rina? Calm down, yes?"

In a hurry, Karen stepped forward and tried to calm Rina. Although she had to let go of Lily's hand in the process, which prompted a disappointed 'Ah.' from her. Unfortunately, now wasn't the time to enjoy Lily's adorable acts.
I turned around to take a look over to the other group present. It was a group of six boys and three girls, their ages ranging from probably just about ten to around fourteen.

"Hmph! The non-humans multiplied! Suits you well, licking each other's wounds!" snorted the oldest boy.

His eyes showed pure contempt towards us. It was an incredibly uncomfortable feeling.

"Yumi, I already don't like that brat," whispered Lily.
"What a coincidence. Neither do I."

Some of the other children joined his jeering, shouting insults and calling us various other cruel things.

"You all! Stop calling us that! And apologise to Emily!"

Maya took a step forward, her face was red with anger. But before she could take another one, Karen had already caught her and held her back. Maya was immediately struggling, trying to break free and charging at that boy.

"Let me go! I'll have to teach that guy a lesson!"
"Maya, calm down. That's only going to make it worse."
Karen can probably handle that...

Sele seemed fine, for now, but Rina and Emily were both crying now.

"Lily, go to Rina."
"Okay."

I let go of her hand and walked over to Emily, who was sitting on the ground, holding the broken doll to her chest. She raised her tear-stained face and looked at me, sniffing occasionally in between.

"Yu, Yumi... Your... doll... It's... it's..."

Emily could barely speak a coherent sentence, interrupted by her sniffles. Before she could continue though, I pulled her into my arms.

"Emily, you aren't hurt, are you?"
"Uhhh... I'm... I'm fine..."
"Then, that's good. Don't worry about the doll."
"But... But! Uhhh..."

I gently pat her back. Emily buried her face in my chest and cried. She was such an energetic and happy girl usually, so seeing her crying... it made me mad at the ones responsible. Really mad.

I honestly have the urge to beat those brats up...

If it was a simple test of strength, it was obvious which side would win. Even I could probably deal with these children that had no magic. But that was no good. Most likely, it would make the problem just worse. Alas, I was still angry. I was silently praying that Maya could escape Karen's grasp and slug that brat a good one. He certainly deserved it for making Emily cry.
To his luck though, Maya couldn't break free from Karen's hold.

"Pah, cry all you want. Nobody cares for you non-humans anyway!"

He started laughing and the other children joined him. It was really unpleasant.
I threw a glance towards Karen, who was still holding back Maya.

"Sis."
"Ahh... Lily, take Sele and Rina. We're leaving."
"Okay."

Lily was comforting Rina who had started crying. She also took Sele's hand and was leading them both away. Or rather, she had to pull Sele who was quietly glaring at the brats.

"Come, Emily."

I helped Emily stand up. Her face was red and full of tearstains and she was still holding back her sniffles.

"Come, let's leave those stupid brats alone, yes?"
"Un..."

She nodded weakly. In the meantime, Karen had forcefully hoisted Maya up into her arms and was carrying her away, while we followed.

"Ha! They're scared and running away from us! We won against the monsters!" shouted the idiot boy behind us.

I could feel Emily twitch upon hearing those words.

"Hey, Sis. Can't I slug that brat once into the face? Can't I? Please?"
"You can't, Yumi. That'll only cause problems with their families."
"Ugh, I wish I could."

We slowly walked away from that place. Once we arrived at a more secluded spot, we stopped.
Karen put the grumbling, red-faced Maya back onto the ground.

"Now then, are any of you injured?"
"... No."

Maya answered grumpily, while the other three simply shook their heads. They might not have been physically hurt, but that didn't mean a lot here.

"At least something... Come, let's sit down first, yes?"

Karen pointed at a few chairs and a table nearby. I hadn't even seen those. I led Emily to a chair and helped her sit down. She was still holding onto the doll with one hand, but she calmed down a bit. Maya sat down as well, pulled up her legs and hugged her knees. Sele also sat down quietly, staring at the table.

"Emily."

Squatting down next to Emily, Karen had brought out a waterskin bottle from who knows where and was handing it to Emily. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Lily handing one to Rina as well.

"Drink something, you'll feel better afterwards."

Emily nodded weakly, but when she wanted to take the bottle, there was a problem. In one hand was the doll, and with her other hand, she was holding onto my clothes.

"Let me take the doll, Emily."

I couldn't bear to force her to let go of my clothes right now. Not with how tightly she was gripping them. So, instead, I took the doll from her and flashed her a smile. With another little nod, Emily took the bottle from Karen and drunk some water.
Karen smiled and stood up, taking a seat at the table as well. Then she turned towards Maya.

"So, just what happened there?" asked Karen, her expression serious.
"... We... We were playing... When they... They suddenly appeared... Saying something like... that we should disappear... And then... Then..."

Maya clenched her teeth and stared at the table.
Then, I could feel someone pulling on my clothes.

"Yumi...  Should we... disappear?" asked Emily with a weak voice.

It took me a moment to process her words.

"Emily, we don't want you to disappear. We don't want any of you to go away," explained Karen to her.
"But... But... Uhhh... They..."

Emily wasn't able to say anything anymore. Once more, tears gathered in her eyes. I quickly hugged Emily.

"Emily. I won't allow you to go away. Aren't we friends and family already? Just ignore those idiots."
"But... They... They broke... your doll..."
"Don't worry about that, Emily..."

I squeezed her tightly, then let her go with a smile.

"Let's take a look, yes?"

I examined the doll in my hands. The limbs were broken and had tears all over, but none of the parts was actually missing. That meant it was easy to fix. Probably. I took a deep breath.

Better not mess up now. Emily's smile is on the line.

After mentally preparing myself, I began using magic, softening the wood the doll was made of. After softening, I evened out and fixed the damaged parts. Within a minute, the doll was back in one piece. And once repaired, it also began stirring to life again, jumping out of my hands. And most amusingly, into Emily's instead.

"It's... fixed?"
"Nn. Dolls can be fixed, so don't worry about something as small as that, yes? I'm just glad you are alright."

Emily was staring wide-eyed at the doll in her hands.
I pat her head, and then, Emily began smiling again, her drooping ears twitching as well.
Yes, this little girl needed to smile. There was no need for tears staining her face. Maybe seeing Emily beaming again, Rina grinned a bit as well and Maya also smiled. Emily's smile really worked wonders on everyone. Even Sele sported a small smile.

"Everything fine now, Emily?"
"Mhm! Thank you! Yumi!"
"Woah!"

Emily basically jumped into my arms, laughing happily.

"Yumi! Yumi! Thank you!"
How quickly they can change gears, I'm a bit envious.

I pat Emily's head while she was squeezing me and rubbing her still tear-stained face on me. I was still pretty angry about those brats but Emily was grinning from ear to ear once more and the others also seemed to be in a better mood now. It wouldn't do to stay angry now.
In contrast, Karen let out a sigh and shrugged her shoulders. Lily was... smiling.

I guess, for now, we got this resolved.

---

Around an hour later we were sitting around a long table, eating dinner. Together with Korwen.

"So that's what happened... Why does everyone have to get riled up today," lamented our dear captain, Korwen.

After we had calmed down and the mood of the girls improved, we cautiously asked what had even happened once more. Turned out they simply turned up and made a ruckus while they were all playing together. There wasn't really anything else to add.
Outside of that brat pushing Emily and that the doll tried protecting her. Which ultimately led to its demise.

I'll make sure to slug that brat at least once. I will have to think about how I'll do it, but I will.
"Haa... First, we got Fenna beating up Merim, then Ria blew up Wenners and finally, we got those goddamn useless brats causing trouble again."

So Ria really did something. It was the right call to bail from that place. I didn't dare to say that out loud, though. Fenna, as well as Ria, were sitting close by. I valued my life too much.

"Are those children often causing trouble?" asked Karen.
"Quite often... The oldest boy in their group, that tall boy, Ludo, is known for his pranks and troublesome behaviour..."
"... And nobody does anything against that?"
"Unfortunately not. His mother spoils him rotten and defends him every time he does something. Nobody wants to deal with her. And his father on the other hand..."

Korwen sighed, heaving up his mug and drinking a hearty amount.

"Let's better not talk about other families' troubles..."

Karen furrowed her brows. It might have been their trouble but it was causing us problems as well.

"Just keep away from them, that's the best for now."
"Somehow, that doesn't sit right with me."
"Don't go causing trouble with them on purpose, you hear me?"
"... I won't"

Karen stared at her own mug with a grumpy expression.

"Girl, if you show that expression to those girls, they'll be sad again."
"... I know. But I still don't like this."
"There are many things in life that aren't so great. Don't let yourself get swept away by them. Also, those girls are strong. They'll be back on their feet in no time. After all, they now have a family to trust."
"A family, huh..."

Still sporting a grumpy expression, Karen began turning the mug around a few times before she sipped on the contents. Although that only caused her to grimace.

"Uhhh..."
"Ahaha, not to your liking?"
"It burns... How can you drink this?"
"You'll get used to it. Look at Yumi, she can deal with it just fine."

Karen stared in my direction. I would have preferred it if the attention wasn't diverted to me. I was just enjoying a little bit of alcohol, surely that much was fine?

"Yumi... You shouldn't drink so much. Your throat will burn away."
"... I don't think it will burn away, Sis."

While I agreed that alcohol had a tendency to burn in your throat, it wasn't actually burning the throat. There were no injuries involved.
Karen sighed and once more stared at the mug in her hands, her expression turning sour. I wasn't sure if it was because of the previous topic or because of the alcohol in her hands though.

"Sis, should I drink yours?"
"... But..."
"There's no need to force yourself, is there?"
"Uhh... Then, please do."

Karen pushed the mug over to me. Now I had two mugs. It was a bit unfortunate I couldn't enjoy it together with Karen, but maybe sometime in the future.

"You'll find the taste for it soon enough, don't worry, Karen."
"Mr Captain... I don't think I'll even understand what that taste is supposed to be."

With a sigh, Karen turned instead towards her food. It was some cooked meat with vegetables. I had no idea what either meat or vegetables were even supposed to be, but at least the taste was good. Definitely miles better than hard bread.

"Nn, that reminds me. There's always meat in our dinner... But how do you prevent it from turning bad?"
"Three of the supply wagons have a freezing tool. They are expensive but well worth it. Not only meat but also vegetables and fruits get stored there."
"Huh... How convenient."

A kind of magic refrigerator. How nice. I had to thank whoever invented this. After all, I was able to have a nice dinner thanks to them.

"It's really convenient. Before we had them, we had to hunt game to get any meat on the table. Not only meat, but our general supplies also took a turn for the better. Feeding a few hundred hungry men isn't an easy task. Albeit fresh meat is still the best."

A few hundred men... The band had around eight hundred people, most of those were soldiers. Just imagining the amount that was probably necessary each day made me shudder.

"If everyone ate as much as you, Yumi, we'd save so much on food expenses. We could easily afford a fourth or even a fifth then."
"... I'm not sure whether that should make me happy or not."

My stomach was simply small, therefore the amount I ate was also small. Although the first few days I had been overeating and got a pretty bad stomachache as a result. Somewhere, deep inside, I was still calculating my hunger with the amount I used to eat. And that was simply way too much now. I ate less than half that amount now.
Unfortunately, that also meant I had a rather limited amount of food I could enjoy every day.

Still... The monster fish I ate back then was still the most delicious.
"Anyway, you girls. There's a reason I'm eating here. We got to discuss something."
"Nn?"

Korwen, who had already finished his food, leaned onto the table with a serious expression.

"If you remember, part of our payment here was a mana pass each for Yumi and Rina respectively."
"Nn..."
"Mr Captain, what is a mana pass even?"

Karen tilted her head and asked the question that probably a few of us were wondering.

"It's a sort of identification paper. The one who issued them vouches for the person that they aren't a dangerous individual. It allows you to get registered without any troublesome tests."
"Huh... So, I wouldn't need to reveal that I'm a monster?"
"Exactly."

Korwen nodded in confirmation.
That meant no fear of being subjected to weird experiments by mad scientists. Not that I had any such fears... But you could never rule out these things.

"In any case, Ruben wants to have a talk with you and Rina before he issues those passes. Just go to him first thing tomorrow morning."
"Nn... Got it."
"And that's already all I wanted to say."
"Mr Captain, was it really necessary to eat here just for that?"

Korwen turned towards Karen with an exasperated expression.

"If I eat over there I'm surrounded by middle-aged men. If I have the choice between eating with middle-aged men or with cute young girls, it's obvious I'd choose the latter, isn't it?"
"Mr Captain. Even if that's the case, you shouldn't say that."
"You were the one who asked."

Karen shook her head. I could understand Korwen's choice though. If I was in his shoes, I'd surely do the same as well. Even though those middle-aged men were all pretty friendly and I got along with them.

"In any case, I'll take my leave now. Don't stay up all night, you two."

Korwen stood up and grinned widely before he left. It was rather obvious what he was implying. Even Karen understood the implication, her face reddening.

"... It's not like we could even if we wanted to..."
"Nn... Nothing we can do about it, though."
"Haa... Come, let's finish up. Before it gets too late to take a bath."
"Nn."

We quickly finished the remaining food. Afterwards, we collected the other girls and made our way towards the bath.

I must say, I'm looking forward to the bath. Yes, I'm quite looking forward to it.