The next morning came, greeting us with subtle rays of light shining through the gaps of the windows. Yesterday’s incident was still fresh on my mind when I woke up... but, thankfully, I had calmed down by now. A good night of sleep did wonders, after all. We all had been just too shocked. Even Korwen hadn’t expected something like this to happen. It had been just… too sudden.

“Haaa…”
And now we’ve also delayed our plans…

We had originally planned to try out what would happen if I consumed the mana crystal in the evening. But thanks to what had happened, we had delayed it.

“Yu… mi… Mmm...”
“Nn?”

Opening my eyes, I was greeted with Karen’s sleeping face right in front of me, still fast asleep.

“Mm… Hehehe...”
Seems like someone has a good dream. Doesn’t look like I’ll have to be worried about her.

If she could smile like this while dreaming, then there was probably little to worry about.

“Mm...”
“Seriously…”

I gently stroked her cheek, pushing away some strands of her that had fallen down her face.

But what do I do now? Go back to sleep? Or watch Karen’s sleeping face?

As long as she was asleep, I couldn’t even leave the bed. Karen had me firmly in her grasp.

“Mm…. Mm?”

Just as I thought that it’d be better to go back to sleep, Karen opened her eyes.

“Yu… mi?”
“Good morning.”
“Mm… Morning...”

And they closed again. Did she actually wake up or was she still half-asleep?

“Are you awake?”
“Mm… Am… awake…”
“I see…”

That reply didn’t inspire much confidence. Well, it was fine if she wanted to sleep some more. Since I wasn’t quite sure whether she was actually awake or not, I decided to just watch her for a while. After what felt like a few minutes, her eyes opened once more.

“Yumi…”
“Nn? What is it? Sis?”
“Kiss me…”

Before she could even finish her request, her eyes had fallen shut again… I chuckled a little, before giving Karen the kiss she desired. It was a simple, short kiss, but when I parted away from her, I could see her smile.

“Mm… I love… you… Yumi…”
“Nn, I love you too, Sis. Hehe.”

Yes, there had been nothing to worry about, after all.

“I really, really do.”

Once more, I stroked her cheek. It was soft. Everyone kept saying how squishy I was, but Karen was quite squishy as well, wasn’t she? Not only her cheeks, of course.

So soft.

At some point, I found myself poking her cheek. It was a weirdly satisfying sensation. Unfortunately, it only served to wake her up faster.

“Yumi… Stop that…”
“But… This is fun. Somehow.”

Usually, I was at the receiving end. Having the chance to be on the other side for once was pretty nice. I might get addicted to this.

“Yumi. My cheeks are not playthings.”
“Awake?”
“I am.”
Too bad. Playtime’s over.

Guess she really was awake now. Maybe I should feel bad for waking her up… Then again, the sun was already up in the sky so we probably wouldn’t have had much time left anyway.

“Hey, Yumi.”
“Nn?”
“We’ll stay together, right?”
“Nn, of course. Why?”
“Mm… I had a nice dream. I think.”
“You think?”
“I can’t quite remember.”

Ah, yes. The moment you were distracted by anything, you had already forgotten about the dream. I knew that too well.

“But I think it was a very nice dream where we were together.”
“I see. You did seem quite happy while you were asleep.”
“... You were watching me?”
“Nn.”
“... That’s bad manners.”

I was pretty sure she had done something similar before, though.

“Yumi.”
“Nn? Wah?!”

Suddenly, Karen rolled onto her back, pulling me along so that I was lying right on top of her.

“Yumi, let’s stay like this.”
“I don’t mind but…”

If we stayed like this, we were bound to miss breakfast.

“Yumi.”
“Nn?”
“Yesterday…”
“...”
“Yesterday was… That really happened… didn’t it?”
“... Nn. It did.”

Unfortunately for all of us, it really had.

“I see…”
“...”
“I wonder… Why would they do something like that…”
“I don’t know… but probably...”

The most likely cause was… the liquid. They had been so desperate to get to it, that they...

“You mean… that?”
“Nn…”
“... I don’t get it.”
“That’s… That’s fine, I think. Honestly, I don’t want to get it.”
“I think… I can agree on that.”

A forced laugh escaped Karen as she agreed with me.

“I hope we won’t have to see such a thing ever again.”
“Nn.”

Nobody would ever want to see such a thing, surely.

“... Yumi! What are our plans for today?”
“Huh?”

The sudden change in topic stumped me for a moment since I hadn’t expected it.

“Well, the plan got a little messed up so… I guess we’ll eat breakfast and then we do our experiment?”
“The experiment, huh… I wonder what will happen.”
“So do I. That’s why we’re doing it after all.”
“Maybe you’ll grow more tentacles.”
“...”

That scenario wasn’t even that unlikely. Especially since, in a way, I had gotten more tentacles the last time.

“I’m more worried if we actually have enough mana orbs.”
“Yumi, I think that’d be a little scary by itself.”
“It would be…”

Either way, the only way to know was to try it out.

“Well, should we go get breakfast?”
“... Can we stay like this for a little more?”
“... Just a little. We’ll have a lot of time for this later, Sis.”
“Mm, I’m looking forward to it.”

A mischievous grin surfaced on her face. She wasn’t going to get any strange ideas, was she? Ahh, she definitely was.

---

We spent some more time just… lazing around. Afterwards, we had breakfast before we searched for Korwen. We both had gone straight to bed so we had no idea what had happened after that.

As usual, it didn’t take particularly long for us to find him, overseeing the mercenaries getting ready for departure.

“Captain.”
“Mr Captain, good morning.”
“Good morning. How are you two feeling?”
“We’re somehow fine, I guess?”
“That’s good news.”

Korwen looked genuinely relieved at hearing this. He must have been quite worried about us.

“Guess the initial shock was the worst part. For all of us.”
“Nn, maybe…”

If it was just about… gruesome sights… then the sight of the village had been by far the worst. That had been something I probably would never be able to forget. That didn’t mean the sight from yesterday wasn’t bad… If possible, I’d rather not have to see goblins—creatures that were, if only vaguely, reminiscent of humanoid beings—cannibalise each other.

“I talked with Ria after you two left, but she doesn’t have much of an idea what caused that behaviour either. Either way, we decided we’re definitely not going to use goblins for any future experiments again for now. Haaa…”
“I see.”

But, what if other monsters would behave the same?

“I’m just glad we sent the recruits away to deal with that goblin nest.”
“Nn, I thought that back at the village already, but you are quite careful about what they see.”
“Of course, I am. We have to let them slowly get used to such things or they just end up traumatised and quit the job. Then again, it’s not often we have to deal with… such things.”

I’d be very worried if such things were common… I’d have second thoughts as well then. Still, they could count themselves lucky to have such a thoughtful captain around. I knew I was.

“Well, be that as it may, you wanted something, didn’t you?”
“Ahh, we wanted to ask what happened after we left yesterday…”
“Not much, really. We cleaned up and I let the men have some off time to forget about that. A few good drinks and they were back to their usual antics. Merim and Fenna came back later as well. They cleaned up the goblin nest. Oh, speaking of which.”
“Nn?”

Korwen suddenly turned around and disappeared into his wagon. A moment later, he came back, holding a leather pouch.

“Here you go. The mana crystals they collected. Make good use of them.”
“Ohhh.”

I opened the bag and peeked into it, spotting dozens over dozens of small crystals. They came in completely different sizes, some so small they were barely the size of a pebble while the largest one was nearly the size of my fist. I picked up the large one, checking how much mana it contained.

“Huh?”
“Something wrong?”
“No. I was just surprised, these mana crystals have more mana than I expected.”
“Well, they’re just goblins but on the other hand, they still are goblins. Not exactly a foe to be trifled with. The big one is probably from the oldest goblin in that nest.”
“Huh. They didn’t look that strong to me.”

The only goblins I had seen so far were the ones in the Academy and the ones from yesterday so there wasn’t much to go off from, considering they all had been held captive. Nonetheless, that professor kept goblins around but when he wanted an ogre people were alarmed about it. So, at the very least, a goblin was weaker than an ogre… Might be obvious but, err, whatever.

“Individually they aren’t terribly strong. The problem is that they are numerous and comparatively smart. At least, compared to most monsters. To boot, they actually form groups, build nests, make tools and weapons and more. Most monsters remain lonesome in their territory, killing anything that might disturb it, even monsters of the same kind. But goblins don’t.”
“I see…”
“That does make them popular sources of mana crystals, though. Since, as you can see, a single raid on a goblin nest can net you quite a few. And they’re easier to deal with than larger and more dangerous monsters.”

Yes, indeed. If this was the loot gained from a single nest, this would be quite substantial. These mana crystals were quite a bit larger than the ones from the warehouse. This bag alone was probably enough to contain mana comparable to a few of those crates.

“I guess the goblin nest was quite a lucky find, then,” I said.
“That it was, without a single doubt. Good training and you get something out of it. Can’t complain.”

Actually, if I had one complaint… I would have preferred if they had cleaned the crystals… They were still covered in bloodstains. Hopefully, it was only bloodstains… I would probably find out later.

“Captain, should I make them into mana orbs as well, then?”
“Do whatever you think is fine.”
“Okay. Thank you.”

More mana crystals was never a bad thing, after all. 

“Mr Captain, is that really fine?”
“Sure is. Ria finally has something to keep her busy without blowing something up, so she won’t need them. And the others got their own supplies. They don’t go even remotely as fast through them as Yumi does, though.”

My, sorry about burning through them…

“And you might need them later already, won’t you?”
“... We might.”
“Just, don’t use up everything, okay? Or I’ll be depressed.”

So would I. No kidding.

“I guess you two will do whatever it is you’re doing once we set off?”
“Nn, that was the plan.”
“Got it. Will it be fine if we send Lily or Ria to check up on you?”
“That’s fine.”

Both of them knew about me. There shouldn’t be any issue if they came by. Probably.

“Then we’ll do that. With that out of the way… I don’t know. Good luck, I guess? Try to wake up before we reach the fort.”
“I wouldn’t want to miss that, so we’ll do our best.”
“It’d be a shame if you did.”

That it would be.

“Well, guess there’s not much else to say. I wish you well.”
“Thank you, Captain.”
“Thank you.”

He laughed heartily as we both thanked him. Karen and I exchanged a glance, grinning. It was reassuring to know that he was here. He, and all the other mercenaries.

---

“We’re moving again…”
“Nn.”

After our talk with Korwen ended, we went back to the wagon. Lily and Rina were already busy preparing so we had to fill them in about our little plan. It had slipped my mind but… we completely forgot about that. They would have been in for a surprise if we had done it yesterday already.

Either way, once we had done so, and asked them to tell the Elder—on account of us being unable to find her—we went into our little home and began with the preparations. Not like there was much to prepare.

“Yumi, what should we do with the mana crystals Mr Captain gave us? Should we leave them be for now?”
“Nn… Probably better. Although considering how dirty they are… Maybe we shouldn’t.”

The last thing I wanted was to wake up to the stench of blood…

“We could clean them.”
“I feel that would be putting the cart before the horse… or before the ox? Whatever, let’s just make them into orbs and be done with it.”
“Or you could just absorb them as is.”
“Or that.”

When the mana crystals lost their mana they would conveniently crumble. And that, conveniently, made cleaning them kind of pointless if their purpose was to get drained in a few minutes anyway.

“Then, I’ll just absorb them first.”
“Okay.”

Before I even finished the sentence, Karen had grabbed the hem of her shirt and began undressing. Someone was, uhhh, quite eager. I couldn’t help but feel that my priorities and Karen’s priorities in this were a tiny bit different. Not to say that cuddling wasn’t high on my priority list. It was. Just... It was more of a side effect than the main purpose.

“Now, Yumi, come here.”
“...”

Karen, having sat down on the bed, naked as the day she was born, was spreading her arms wide open, welcoming me in.

“... Guess I can’t say no now.”
“I’d cry if you did. I’d really cry.”
“I never planned to anyway.”

With a strained smile, I also undressed. After neatly folding my clothes and putting them on the desk, I took the bag with the mana crystals and went over to Karen, before sitting down in her lap, moving my hair out of the way so it was falling down my shoulders and to the floor. It wasn’t really the most hygienic thing to do, but even I had my priorities here. And there was no helping that it was so long.

“Ehehe, I caught a Yumi.”
“Sis…”

She hugged me, a sleazy chuckle escaping her.

“What?”
“Nothing. Just don’t forget there’s a reason we do this.”
“Of course I won’t.”

I wasn’t so sure about that right now. Well, it’d be fine. Karen was responsible and diligent. At least, most of the time.

“Then, you won’t mind if I start, right?”
“... I don’t mind.”

That pause bothered me a little… Either way, I couldn’t let this distract me too much. Even if her breasts pressing against the back of my head were tempting. Even then!

“Yumi, didn’t you want to start?”
“... I will now.”

Karen was trembling, holding in her laughter. Yet, her only course of action was to embrace me a little stronger, consciously pressing her breasts against me.

“... Sis, you’re unfair, you know that?”
“I have to repay you once in a while, don’t I?”
“...”
“Or do you want me to stop?”
“Please continue.”

If she stopped now, that would be nothing short of depressing for me.

“Hehe, then I’ll continue.”
“... Nn.”

I was going to savour it. I did enjoy having sex with Karen but just hugging like this was also very enjoyable to me. And we were going to stay like this for several days from now. Even if we weren’t exactly conscious for most of it.

“Hey, Sis?”
“Yes?”
“I know this is a little late to ask but… are you really sure you want to stay with me through this again?”
“It is quite late to ask that, Yumi? Honestly, if you left me behind now, I’d be quite angry at you.”
“I don’t want you to be angry, so I guess there’s no choice… It’s just… I mean, we more or less know what might happen to me but…”

I couldn’t suppress the worry about Karen.

“I’ll be fine, Yumi. I don’t know what will happen either but I’ll accept whatever it is. Maybe we’ll become inseparable?”
“That sounds like it could become slightly bothersome.”
“I’d be fine with it being bothersome if it means I can stay with you at all times.”
“...”

Even when I had to use the toilet? No, knowing Karen, she wouldn’t mind that at all. But I did mind.

“Let’s hope it’s not that.”
“... Is that so. How unfortunate.”

A sudden weight pressed down on me from above as Karen rested her chin on top of my head.

“I really wouldn’t mind.”
“...”
“I really really wouldn’t mind.”

How should I respond to such a weird… opinion? Was there even anything I could say? Something...

“Sis, assuming that really would happen, then we wouldn’t be able to wear clothes. How would we even wear them? I don’t want others to look at you.”
“... Yumi!”
“Woah?!”

Karen stiffened for a moment, before suddenly hugging me with all her might and rubbing her cheek against mine.

“You’re too cute for your own good!”

I was only saying what I really meant. But getting hugged so vigorously made me happy as well.

“Gee, Sis. You’re overreacting.”
“I’m not. Anyway, if you put it like that, I guess it can’t be helped. Also, I’d like to see you wear many cute clothes.”
“I’m sure Wanda is going to make some for us.”
“Those dresses were nice.”
“They were.”

It was unfortunate there weren’t many occasions to wear them. Surely, in the future again.

“Hey, Sis... Should I start?”
“... Yes.”
“Understood.”

I opened the bag that had been sitting on my lap and took out the first few mana crystals.

“Then, here I go.”
“...”

Taking a breath, I slowly absorbed the mana, guiding it directly to my core, to my mana crystal. And, as you would expect, it disappeared, while the crystal in my hand crumbled to dust.

“And?” asked Karen, her voice a tinge nervous.
“... Nothing, really? I don’t think just one crystal would make a difference.”

If it would, it’d be quite a surprise.

“I see.”

I took another crystal and absorbed its mana.

“And?”
“Sis, please don’t ask every time. Nothing’s changed yet.”
“I wonder how many are needed until something does happen…”
“Who knows? We don’t even know if something will happen.”

That reminded me… The first time, Yumias had warned me in advance. She had already known what would happen.

Speaking of which, didn’t she say something… If I had troubles, to go somewhere?

No good, I had forgotten what she had said back then. There hadn’t been any troubles but thinking about it, it could have been worth it to check it out nonetheless. She wouldn’t have advised so without reason.

“Yumi? You stopped?”
“Nn? Ah, sorry, I was thinking about something?”
“About what?”
“Well, Yumias, the last time we spoke… She said I should visit somewhere in case I had troubles but I can’t quite recall where…”
“It’s a little late to remember that.”
“Ugh… Leave it, I had a lot on my mind.”

Way too much. I still had, to be honest. But, I had probably sorted out most things by now.

“Ah, I remember?”
“Oh?”
“She mentioned a, err, Prayerhouse?”
“A Prayerhouse?”
“Yes.”

No idea what that was. Sounded religious.

“Never heard of that…”
“Nn… Maybe it has something to do with the Spirit Faith? It sounds religious, after all.”
“Maybe… But I don’t think they have any places with such a name.”
“That so… The Worshippers? Couldn’t be them, right?”

Apparently, she didn’t have a very amicable relationship with them. Kind of ironic, that the worshipped didn’t like their worshippers.

“Maybe you should make a note and ask the Captain or someone else at some other time?”
“Sounds like a plan.”

Leaving Karen’s lap for a few seconds—a very unfortunate few seconds—I went to the desk, retrieved some paper and wrote a short note.

“Okay, now I won’t forget. Hopefully.”
“Maybe you should keep more notes.”
“That… might be a good idea.”

Like I mentioned before, I had a lot on my plate back then… Although I said that, I was still prone to forgetting a few things here and there, wasn’t I?

“Ahh, whatever! Let’s continue.”

I plopped back down into Karen’s lap, leaning against her. In response, Karen let herself fall backwards.

“Waah! Sis, don’t surprise me like that.”
“Hehe. But isn’t it more comfortable like that?”
“Nn… I don’t know.”

While I very much enjoyed that, lying down on my back like that was weird.

“I don’t think I can work like this.”
“That so…”
“Too bad.”

With slight reluctance, Karen sat up again together with me.

“We’ll have a lot of time to spend together later.”
“Except, we won’t even be conscious. If something happens at all.”
“Something… probably will.”

I took another mana crystal and absorbed it. Still, nothing changed.

“I really hope we won’t be using up all of them… The mana orbs, I mean. Not these.”
“I can’t imagine that you would need that much…”
“Nn… But who knows?”

Now that I had remembered that Yumias had talked to me last time, I tried to remember if she had said anything in regards to this… But there hadn’t been much. She only mentioned that something would change, that I would find out why it would absorb mana. And that she was sad she couldn’t witness it.

Hey, if things work out, she won’t witness the second time either.

With that said, I still didn’t really know why it absorbed mana… Judging from those words, it really was that… I was changing, once I had absorbed enough mana.

“Nn… Ah, this is bothersome.”
“Yumi?”

I put my hand into the back with the mana crystals. I got some practice with this back in the warehouse, so I drained all the crystals at the same time. The mana was quite substantial, to be honest, yet it disappeared without a trace.

“And the bag is empty.”
“... Did something change now?”
“Nn… I don’t think so.”

I sighed as I concentrated on my mana crystal.

“Well, the orbs are next. Sis, if you could.”
“Sure. Here.”

We had collected a considerable number of mana orbs and put them into our bags so that we had them ready on the bed. Yes, our preparations were, in essence, so that we didn’t have to get up. Saying it like that, I felt like… we were indulging in debauchery. Which might not be that wrong either.

“Hey, Sis. Are we… perverts?”
“...”
“...”

Silence. She didn’t deny it nor confirm it.

“Oh well. Let’s keep going.”
“Yes, let’s do that.”

I was quite fine with that anyway. It was quite likely that it was the truth. It wasn’t something I’d regret, though.

“Then, first one orb…”

Taking one orb from the back, I absorbed the mana inside. Since each orb actually held a considerable amount of mana, it took me a while to drain it completely until it fell apart.

“Nn…”
“Yumi?”
“Well, I feel a little warm?”
“Oh?”

Might be just me getting horny, though. Karen’s breasts were rubbing against me. And her thighs were quite comfortable beneath me as well.  I could even feel her stomach touching my back. Yeah, that was definitely the cause...

“Let’s keep going.”
“Okay?”

I continued on, draining another orb. Once it fell apart, I went for another. Once that one broke, I’d take yet another. And so on, and so on.

The whole process repeated itself several times and I could gradually feel myself getting warmer with each orb I absorbed. At this point, even I understood that my getting aroused wasn’t just because I was being hugged by Karen. The mana was actually affecting me, much to my surprise, even though it shouldn’t.

“Yumi, are you okay? You’re burning up.”
“I am… Sorry, Sis, but, uhh… The mana… it’s affecting me.”
“Eh? What do you… Ah.”

It took Karen a moment but she still got my hint.

“I see. Then everything is fine. Though, I feel a little left out.”
“Want me to pass some over to you?”
“... Would that actually work?”
“Err, I don’t know?”

I recalled that Merim was getting aroused simply from being inside this wagon, due to the Lust mana inside. But Karen was usually fine, same for me. In the first place, I wasn’t sure if that would be a good idea…

“Let’s shelve that for now…”
“Ehh? Well… I guess I should relieve you a little then?”
“Nn? Myah?!”

Karen’s hand circled around, touching my side. I was feeling a little ticklish and couldn’t help yelping in surprise.

“Sis… Not now.”
“Ehhh? Are you sure?”
“Mnh?!”

A finger traced along my sides, to my stomach and finally towards my chest. There, her hand cupped my left breast and gently massaged it.

“Sis… Mh!”

Now, her tail was travelling along my legs, lovingly caressing my thighs before making its way towards their base.

“Sis, not… Ah! Not now…”
“Shouldn’t you rather worry about the mana orbs, Yumi? They don’t get absorbed on their own. Maybe I’ll do some more if you do a good job?”

This really wasn’t the time for this… But… But I couldn’t help but want more… I already felt incredibly horny from all the mana I had absorbed and what she was doing now wasn’t going to make it any better. But at the prospect of feeling better… I simply couldn’t help myself. I grabbed another orb and slowly absorbed the mana. I had to be careful… And Karen messing with me meant I had to go at it even slower than before.

“Good job, Yumi. You’re such a good kid, aren’t you? Ehehe?”
“Nah?!”

The tip of her tail rubbed against my crotch, stimulating it even more.

“Yumi, go on. Do more.”

Above me, Karen was urging me on, her warm breaths touching my neck. Only now did I notice that Karen was breathing quite hard.

So... it wasn’t just me?

I had no way of knowing, nor did I care enough to find out right now. The most important thing in my mind was to be closer with Karen, to feel better together. And for that, I took yet another orb and absorbed it.

“You did well, Yumi.”

A hand rested on my head, gently stroking it.

“Ah?!”

Then, without a forewarning, her tail… invaded, went inside me.

“Ahh… Si— Sis…”
“Don’t stop, Yumi.”

Her hand was right in front of my eyes, holding a mana orb. Her tail was moving inside me, and her other hand had never once stopped massaging my chest. Slowly, I reached for her hand, touching the mana orb and absorbing it. After what felt like an eternity, it finally crumbled.

“Ah.”
“Yumi?”

My body lost strength, going limp in Karen’s arms. Somehow, I felt really warm. Warm and happy. I lifted my head with my remaining strength, to look at Karen’s face, to look her into the eyes.

“Sis… I love you.”
“I do too.”

With a sensual smile one her lips, her face came closer. Her lips touched mine. Her glowing eyes were looking right at me. There was something about them that drew me in. I felt like I could lose myself in them. In the subtle glow, not quite silver, not quite pink.

Then, my eyes closed. But I could still feel her warmth. Her warmth never left me, not even for a single moment. I felt… safe.