Warmth filled my chest. A comfortable, familiar warmth. The warmth of someone embracing me.

“Nn…”

My hazy consciousness demanded to return to sleep, to indulge in my dreams once more and not to lose myself in this embrace. Alas, the reality was different. Once you began to wake up, there was no stopping it.

“Nnmm…”
Is this…

I slowly opened my eyes, still half asleep. It was dark. But the sleeping face in front of me was clear as day to me. With a hoarse voice I called out to her.

“Sis.”
“Nmmgh…”

She stirred a little in response, so I couldn’t help but chuckle quietly.

It seems I woke up…

Everything was still a little hazy but… I could still remember where I was. This was the wagon. And Karen and I, we… We had done a little experiment, right? Yes, and after that… What had happened after that?

This place… is the wagon, right?

What I could see behind Karen was a pink wall. The wagon definitely wasn’t pink. Then, this wasn’t… the wagon? What the… Where were we?! Ah. Wait.

Isn’t this the eggshell again?!

Right, it was probably just the shell. Just the shell.

That surprised me.

I sighed in relief. I definitely wasn’t quite awake yet… How long had we been asleep anyway? Last time, it had been a few days, so probably it was the same this time.

“Nm… Yu… Mmm…”

Karen moved a little, muttering something. From the looks of it, she was still asleep. Even in this darkness, I could see her smiling.

But what do I do now? Do I wake up Sis?

I tried to look around but I couldn’t exactly see much. The shell wasn’t something you could call spacious. And with Karen and me squeezed in, there was basically no room to move at all.

Nah, let’s just stay like this for a while.

It was really comfortable inside this shell. Hell, it was even better than the bed, to be honest. Karen was embracing me really tight and wherever our skin wasn’t touching, the soft insides of the shell were supporting us. If you couldn’t call this comfortable, then what could you?

Well, it’s not like we’re in a hurry. We did expect to need a long time.

In the meantime, I would enjoy Karen’s sleeping face. A pastime I really enjoyed. Karen had a lot of different expressions to show, but this relaxed expression was one she would only show while asleep.

“Nn?”

While looking at her face, I noticed something with her hair. Over time, the pink strand in her hair had grown quite a bit to the point it was hard to miss. But now, you couldn’t even call it a single strand anymore. There was a patch of hair on her right side that was completely pink now.

So it affected her after all…

I knew she chose this herself and I couldn’t deny that it made me happy. But I also couldn’t deny that it worried me a little. Would Karen become like me? Or would something completely different happen to her? We didn’t know. Yet, she chose to join me, knowing full well how much it might change her.

“Really, you’re so brave, Sis…”

If I was asked to do the same, I honestly didn’t know if I could do it. I was probably too much of a coward for that. I wished I could be as brave as her. It made me feel a little jealous. Just a little.

“Yu… mi…”
“Yes, Sis, I’m here.”
“Mmm…”
“Hehehe.”

I had to do my best so she wouldn’t leave me behind. But, right now, I didn’t need to be brave. I could simply indulge myself in watching her sleep.

I wish this would go on forever… Mh? Something’s weird…

Right as I thought that, Karen stirred a little. There was a sense of… not quite discomfort. Actually, it was quite comfortable but there was something out of place. At my lower body.

It’s like there’s something that doesn’t belong to me? It’s warm and… Wait, this isn’t…

I concentrated on my lower body, trying to get a feel of what was there. Something with a slightly wide shape… was inside. At that moment, I remembered just what we had been doing before we fell unconscious. And with that, what the foreign object there was…

It’s her tail! Her tail’s still inside me?!

Assuming we really had been asleep for days then… That sure explained all the erot— err, sensual dreams I had. Excluding that one really weird dream. Not like I could recall much of them. I only remembered that they had been… quite nice.

We— Well, it’s not like it’s hurting anyone. Rather, the opposite.

But this was still a bit of a problem… At this rate, I wouldn’t be able to contain myself… Fortunately for my sanity, Karen wasn’t really moving so it was just occasionally twitching. Alas, just knowing and feeling it inside me was already quite pleasant.

A— Anyway… I’m quite surprised I’m not feeling sore from that…

Not like I wanted to, really. I was quite happy like this. Only meant I could enjoy it for longer.

Let’s just hope it won’t be permanently lodged in there now because of this… That’d be… awkward. Very, very awkward.

I didn’t want to imagine that… Oh well, judging from how it was twitching once in a while, that didn’t seem to be the case anyway.

“Mmmhh…”

For now, I didn’t really have to worry about that. What was important for now, was to enjoy gazing at Karen’s sleeping face. Yes, that was important. Very much so.

“Ehehe.”

---

After I gazed at Karen for who knows how long, it was, unfortunately, time for her to wake up. Her sleepy eyes open just a little staring at me.

“Yu… mi?”
“Nn. Morning, Sis.”
“Mmm…”

Well, and back to sleep she went. Was it just me, or was she progressively getting worse with waking up?

“Yumi… Morning…”
“Nn, morning.”
“Mmm…”

Were we going to repeat this again?

“Mnn…”
“... Are you awake?”
“Mhm…”

At least, she wasn’t asleep again yet.

“Just… a moment…”
“... Can’t be helped.”

It wasn’t like we were in a hurry anyway. Though if we were going to take much longer, my sanity would be in danger. Awake as she was now, her tail also got a little more active down there.

“Mm… Yumi… Where?”
“Where? Where we are?”
“Mhm.”
“In… our wagon, I think?”
“Mm… It’s warm.”
“Nn.”

It was. I couldn’t even blame her for not wanting to wake up. I had been the same just a while earlier.

Maybe we could turn the eggshell into a bed or something? After all, this is really soft and nice.

But that’d be something for after we got out.

“Mmm… Yumi.”
“Nn?”
“Morning.”
“Morning. Awake?”
“Mhm… I’m awake.”

Her eyes opened, not quite as sleepy as earlier anymore. Yes, she was awake now.

“It’s dark.”
“I guess it is…”
“Is this… the shell?”
“I think so.”
“Mmm…”

Karen’s gaze darted around the interior. Not like there was much to see here.

“Sis, how are you feeling?”
“Warm. Really warm. I could go back to sleep immediately.”
“Ahhh…”
“Maybe we should just stay in here.”
“While I can totally relate to that…”
“It’d be a problem?”
“Nn.”

It wasn’t like we were in a hurry, sure. But there were people waiting for us, most likely.

“I see… Guess we’ll have to get up then.”
“Nn, as unfortunate as it is.”
“Unfortunate… By the way, Yumi.”
“Nn?”
“... My tail is stuck somewhere.”
“Not somewhere. Inside.”

Good she noticed it on her own.

“I see… So that’s why… Uhm… I can’t get it out like this…”
“... Let’s just get out of here first.”

We could worry about the tail afterwards.

“Okay. How?” she asked me.
“Err, I don’t know. Just break it open.”
“It feels a bit like a shame to break it...”
“We won’t be able to leave otherwise.”
“Then… I’ll just push, okay?”
“Okay.”

We were really close right now so I could immediately sense Karen’s muscles tense up and pushing against the shell. As expected of her strength, the shell gave in quickly, and a hole formed.

“Ah, light!”
“It’s binding!”

The first light in some time. And it sure hurt. After a while of getting used to it, Karen broke more parts of the shell, until we could finally stand up.

“Ah, freedom.”
“Nn.”
“... It does feel good to stretch again.”
“That so?”

It wasn’t that uncomfortable for me that I need to stretch… But I probably wasn’t really a good reference anyway with my squishy body.

“Yumi, I’ll take out my tail now.”
“... Nn. Please do.”

I looked down and sure enough found a black chord between my thighs, leading to Karen’s back. It wriggled a little, causing me to gasp.

“And… there.”
“Nn!”
“Are you fine, Yumi?”
“Kind… Kind of… Yes…”

It felt really empty now, though. As if something that should have been there wasn’t anymore. 

Even though it’s more the other way round… Guess that’s what happens if it is stuck there for so long. But it was nice...

Anyway… Shaking off my rather sensual thoughts, I returned to reality for now.

“Hey, Yumi.”
“Nn?”
“Are we really in the wagon?”
“...”

Said reality was still pink. Or rather, yes, there was the eggshell we were still standing in. But our surroundings—the walls, the floor, the ceiling—were also died pink, covered in some fleshy substance. Strands reached from the ceiling and the walls to the egg, making it look more like a cocoon than an egg.

“I think it is… Look, that’s our desk, no?”
“It’s pink, though.”
“It is. Err, and the crates there...”
“Are also pink.”
“...”

What in the hell had happened here? Everything had become pink. It was still better than yellow, though. I didn’t really feel like seeing anything yellow for a while.

“This is going to take a while to clean up.”
“Nn…”

An unexpected mess…

“But first. Yumi, do you feel… any different?”
“... Not really.”

The mana crystal… was still doing its thing. Same as usual. I really had some hopes but it didn’t seem like this was enough to make it happy. Maybe there were some other changes I wasn’t noticing right now, but at least in that department, nothing had changed.

“And how about you, Sis?”
“... I feel hungry.”
“... Oh.”
“But I mean, the real hungry. I want to eat something.”
“Oh. Wait, you do?”
“Yes.”

Now, that was a surprise. But how come she wanted to eat proper food now? I had expected it to go in the other direction again, not go backwards.

“Well, I guess that’s a good thing. Anything else?”
“Mm…”

She closed her eyes, ruminating for a while.

“Something… feels different, yes… But I can’t quite pinpoint it.”
“I see… Maybe Ria will know.”
“I hope so.”

Either Ria could find out, or she’d notice at some other point in time. But neither of us felt bad, at least, so there wasn’t really any sense of urgency, to be honest. I was much more interested in what was going on outside at the moment. After all, whatever had happened inside this wagon had probably not gone unnoticed...

“Yumi.”
“Nn?”
“Here.”

Karen threw something towards me. A shirt.

“Let’s get dressed and see how it is outside.”
“Ahh… Let’s do that.”

I smiled wryly. Truth be told, I was a little sad. While I couldn’t quite remember the time we had spent in there, I did know it had been one of the most comfortable times I had so far. Seeing it coming to an end was making me feel down.

Well, it already is over, though. Haa…

Slightly reluctant, I got dressed, shirt and everything else. Once I checked that I was good to go, I turned back to Karen, who had also finished getting dressed. She looked at me, a smile on her face, and reached out with her hand.

“Shall we?”
“Nn.”

Grasping her hand, we went to the door, opening it and returning to the outside world… not.

“Errr…”
“...”

The door… wasn’t moving.

“Sis… The door is stuck.”
“I can see that… wait, I’ll open it.”
“Don’t break it.”

Karen pushed against the door. Her enormous strength made the door creak but… it didn’t budge…

“I can’t! This isn’t funny… The door is not moving at all.”
“...”

We were trapped… inside our own wagon? But… Why?

Before I could continue that train of thought, someone knocked from the outside against the door.

“Hello? Miss Yumi, Miss Karen?”

Surprised at the sudden voice, Karen and I exchanged a glance. He knocked again, calling for us once more. Karen turned to the door and called out.

“Hello! We’re stuck in here.”
“Understood. Please wait a moment.”

The knocking stopped and the person likely went his way. The voice was vaguely familiar, too.

“I think that was one of the Dragon Knights, Sis.”
“Really?”
“I think so.”

The Dragon Knights were often guarding our wagon so I remembered a few of them by voice. I didn’t know any of their names, though. I should ask sometime.

We waited for a while until several voices appeared outside the wagon. The man from just earlier as well as another man’s voice. Wendl’s.

“One moment… Err, okay. There we go. Hey, you girls, you can come out.”

Karen pushed against the door and… it opened, just like it should usually.

“Good Morning, you sleepyheads. Or rather evening.”

Three men came into view, standing in front of the door. Wendl, a man in full armour as well as Korwen who greeted us with a smile.

“Captain. Good Evening.”
“Mr Captain.”
“Looks like you girls are fine.”
“Nn. We are.”
“That’s good. You had us worried for a while, you know?”

Worried?

“You slept for well over a week.”
“... Seriously?”
“Seriously.”

Wow… Last time it had only been a few days.

“But first things first, are you girls fine? Anything amiss?”
“Nn, I feel fine. Just hungry.”
“I’m fine, too. And hungry.”
“Well, if you got an appetite, that’s already a good thing. Let’s get you something to eat first. Wendl, can you lock it up again?”
“Sure thing.”

Wendl went right past us, closed the door of the wagon and… Actually, what was he doing? There was some weird thing drawn on our door. Like someone threw a bunch of geometrical figures together.

“We had to look your wagon up. Whatever was happening inside was trying to get outside.”
“...”

Despite his complaint, Korwen laughed and then beckoned us to follow him.

“So, feeling any different?” he asked, after a while of silence.
“I don’t know… Not really.”
“I see. What about Karen?”
“I… Something feels different but I don’t really know what…”
“Mh… Maybe it got something to do with that hair of yours?”
“Huh?”

Her hair? Sure, it had spread even more but that wasn’t much different from before. And he should know about that, right?

Still, out of confusion and curiosity, I turned my eyes towards Karen’s hair. Or rather the pink strand. Then, I finally understood why he pointed it out. In the dark wagon, it hadn’t been noticeable, but the pink strand had changed colour. It had become a slightly darker, silverish, or maybe even metallic looking pink.

“We should get Ria to take a look at that. Well, at the two of you. But first, let’s get you something to eat, right?”
“... Nn.”
“... Okay.”

We were quite hungry but… I also was curious about what was going on with Karen. But, we were also hungry...

---

As dinner had already passed, we had to wait for a little while before we could get any food. But once we did, well… We ate a lot. It really made you realise just how starved you were once you got the first bite into your mouth.

And so, once we had stuffed ourselves to the brim, it was time to talk about the important things. Without Ria, unfortunately. She was already asleep it seemed. In exchange, Wendl was here to take a look at us. Since we couldn’t do it out in the open, we were holed up in his wagon right now.

“Mm… This is… This is weird. Just what is this?”

Wendl was staring at Karen’s pink hair strand, utterly confused. After a while, he scratched his head and shook his head. We could only watch him anxiously as he tried to figure out what was going on. At some point, he threw up his hands in the air as if he was giving up.

“I don’t know!”
“You don’t know?” asked Korwen.
“I don’t! Hell, I doubt anyone would know. It’s like... Hell, it’s like the different types of attributed mana mixed. But what it is, Spirits take me, I don’t know!”
“...”
“Only thing I can say is she’s healthy. At least, as far as I could determine.”

If she was healthy that was at least one good discovery.

“Guess we’ll need to have Ria take a look then,” muttered Korwen.

Which would happen tomorrow, unless she’d wake up suddenly.

“Since that’s the case… Yumi, what about you? Want to let Wendl take a look at you?”
“Nn… Well… I guess it can’t hurt.”
“Hey, girl, that doesn’t sound very trusting.”

He was the one who had just failed to determine what was going on with Karen, so there was little reason to be hopeful. But he still might find something I wasn’t able to notice. Nobody had said anything but if, for example, my outward experience had changed, I wouldn’t be very quick to notice it. Unless, of course, if the change was impossible to miss.

“Well, whatever, lemme take a look, girl.”
“Nn, sure.”

Wendl went behind me and put his hand on my back. A moment later, I could feel a movement among the mana in my body. However, it wasn’t quite the same sensation as when the High Priest had examined me.

“Gee, for all the mana we saw being sucked up, I can barely sense any in you. Just where did you put all that stuff, girl?”
“I’d like to know myself.”
“Hmm. Anyway, can’t sense anything wrong with your mana. Same old stuff.”

So much to being hopeful.

“But what did you mean with mana being sucked up?”
“Mh? Ah, the Dragon Captain didn’t tell you yet? Seriously, you girls caused a huge commotion, you know?”
“Eh? We did?”

Eyes wide, Karen and I turned to Korwen for answers.

“I’m not a magician, better ask him what was going on.”

And back to Wendl.

“Over a week ago, guess the day when you did your thing? Don’t know what it was about, they didn’t tell me. So, anyway, something inside your wagon was sucking up huge amounts of mana from the surroundings. Some people even collapsed when they go close.”
“Wait, they collapsed?!”
“They’re fine, no worries. Just a fainting spell from getting mana sucked out.”
“I see…”

But still, people collapsed… That wasn’t good.

“Hell, nobody could have known that might happen. With that said, some hours later, those fleshy things started creeping out of your wagon. Dragon Captain here told us to seal it shut. So I shut it. Better at that than the Lady Ria.”
“Oh, so that was why we couldn’t open the door?”
“Sure was. I’d be heartbroken if you had managed to open that.”

Well, since Karen with all her strength hadn’t even managed to make it budge, it sure had been a good one. That said, I had mixed feelings about our wagon being literally sealed to prevent stuff from coming out… Although, it was understandable.

“Mr Captain, we’re sorry for the inconvenience we have caused.”
“No need to apologise, Karen. Nobody could have known what might happen. In the first place, I gave you permission to do it, knowing full well things might not go as smoothly as you thought.”
“Captain, you knew something might happen?”
“Considering your history, that’s only to be expected, right?”
“...”

As much as I hated to admit it, he was right…

“In that sense, what actually happened was on the tame side. Things never go smoothly anyway. It’s something you’ll have to learn as a mercenary. Or you won’t be a mercenary for long.”

He laughed, clearly not even minding the little trouble we caused.

“I’m more interested in what your experiment changed now. Since, clearly, something happened. So, I hope you’ll dedicate some time to find that out and keep us up to date.”
“Nn, will do.”
“Good, good.”

Korwen nodded, satisfied with my answer.

“That said, it’s late and you two only just got up as well. So you can just start tomorrow. Ria’ll surely help you two as well.”
“Understood.”

Tomorrow, huh… Honestly, I doubted I could wait until that long… In the first place, it was evening but… We just woke up. I wasn’t tired in the least. Rather, after having eaten something, I felt quite energetic.

“Dragon Captain, I absolutely hate to disturb you, but might you take your small talk elsewhere? This still is my place and I’d also like to rest.”
“Wendl… You know, technically, I’m your superior now.”
“My only boss is Captain Greyward.”
“...  I’m pretty sure I saw you taking the same attitude to Greyward. Haa… Whatever, we’ll get out of your hair. Yumi, Karen, I’m sure you want to hear what else happened, right?”
“Nn, we do.”

Since we had been asleep for so long, we surely weren’t that far from Auria anymore.

“Then, let’s get somewhere else. Wendl, good work.”
“Sure, sure.”

With that, we were, more or less, kicked out of Wendl’s place. He really had quite the attitude, didn’t he?

Korwen led us through the rows of wagons and the few mercenaries that were still up towards a table to sit down at. After telling us to sit down, he disappeared for a short while, coming back with a small barrel.

“Here, have something to drink.”
“Ohh, thank you.”
“Mr Captain, is this…”
“It’s not alcoholic. Fruit juice.”

Unsurprisingly, that made Karen recoil even more. We all knew Korwen’s weird obsession with that super sour Apram Juice.

“Hey, you hurt me. Even I know that not everyone likes it. It’s not Apram. It’s a local berry that some men collected today to press into juice. Don’t know the name but it’s quite good.”
“I see… Oh, it really is.”

It was rather sweet but not too sweet. It was a taste I didn’t know.

“A local berry?” asked Karen.
“That’s right. It’s not all that widespread apparently but this close to the lake they seem to be rather common.”
“Close to the lake… Then…”
“Yes. Welcome to the town of Auria. Or, well, in its vicinity. We’re about half a day from it. You woke up at just the right time.”

So the journey was nearly over already? That was a surprise. Actually, considering we had been out for over a week, didn’t it take longer than we had anticipated?

“We’re not there yet?”

Karen tilted her head, probably wondering about the same thing.

“We got delayed a little due to some incidents. We had, well…. An attempted robbery?”
“A… robbery?”

Why a question?

“Some people tried to sneak into our camp and snatch from our supplies. Obviously, they were caught. Children, boys, from a nearby village. Not really a big problem but the boys got hurt and then we got in some trouble with the village.”

Korwen shook his head as if he was exasperated.

“Then, we obviously had the incident with you two, which was thankfully solved rather quickly but still delayed us a little.”
“... We’re sorry.”
“Don’t be.”

I couldn’t help but feel sorry, knowing we inconvenienced them. Especially since I mostly did it out of pure selfishness.

“What else did we have… Oh right, we had to take a two day stop in one town. Things got a little… Well...”
“Nn?”

What the heck happened?

“You see, there was some family trouble.”
“Family trouble?”

Didn’t we solve the issues with the families?

“One of my men was caught going to the brothel by his wife while we stopped at a town.”
“Ah.”
“She didn’t take it lightly. Or rather, that woman used to be a mercenary as well before she retired when they married and she got pregnant. But, by the Spirits, she beat the poor man up. We had to stop for two days so that we could have a local healer take care of him.”
“...”

Honestly, I had no idea what to say to this. I was just… speechless.

“She beat him until he was black and blue, then strung him up on their communal wagon and had him hanging there for half the night. You don’t want to know my shock when I was woken up by the morning guards.”
“... I don’t think I want to.”

God, that was scary…

“Listen, Yumi, never cheat on Karen. Women are really scary when they get angry.”
“Nn, I won’t.”

Never intended to anyway.

“You know I’m listening? Also, Yumi is a woman, too…”

Right, I was. But I couldn’t imagine doling out that kind of punishment if Karen cheated on me. Or, just imagining it…

“Karen, if you ever cheat on me, I’ll never stop crying.”
“... I never intended to? Wait, why are you crying already?!”
“Just imagined it.”

Karen immediately hugged me, comforting me.

“I’d never do that, Yumi.”
“Good.”
“Really…”

Despite her seeming annoyance, she was giggling a little.

“I am most impressed at how easily you two begin flirting in public.”
“Ah.”
“Oh.”
“Oh, don’t mind me. Continue, continue.”
“”...””

No, even if he said that, there was no way we could continue like that. And he knew that!

“Back to the topic, that incident honestly delayed us the longest. So, no need to feel bad about the inconvenience you two caused. Others are worse. Hell, stuff like that wasn’t even the first time.”

A wonder this company of mercenaries hadn’t been destroyed yet by the rage of a betrayed wife.

“Do things like that really happen that often?” asked Karen, a worried look on her face.
“Once in a while. Thankfully, not too often. The two this time also made up after he recovered. Guess it was a lesson to him.”

Yes, I’d sure hope so…

“Well, thanks to those incidents, we took a little longer but we’re already nearly there. Auria isn’t far anymore and the fort is only a little further. As I said, you got great timing.”
“Nn, guess we do.”

Right before the journey ended. We wouldn’t miss out on seeing Auria as well as the fort for the first time.

“I’m looking forward to it,” I said.
“Haha! You definitely aren’t the only one. Quite a few men asked me to just travel through the night this one time, actually.”
“Ohh.”

Expectations were high, weren’t they?

“But, yes, we’re all excited. It’s a big thing for a company like ours to receive their very own base of operations, after all. It’s nothing short of a dream, a goal we all worked towards. Seeing it finally realised…”

Korwen grinned, like a little boy receiving a toy he always wanted.

“... is just the best.”

Rinne

I didn't get around to editing this chapter yet.
Some bad things happened this week. I hope things get resolved relatively fast but it might be taking a while... It shouldn't affect the public updates to the novel for now, though.

Thank you for reading! Stay safe and healthy!