“Dear.”
“Yes?”
“Tell me. What are we supposed to do with all of this?”
“Eat it?”
“Who will?”
“... Us?”
“And pray tell me one thing, dear… Who will prepare this?”
“Uhh…”
“That’s right. It’s us. It’s us, dear. And now, dear, do you know how to prepare a Red Devil?”
“... No.”
“Oh, is that so? Did you buy it knowing that the Red Devil has poison?”
“...”
“Dear.”
“... Yes?”
“You… are… a BIG IDIOT!”
“Wha— Ugrf!”

The large red-coloured fish flew from Mrs Korwen’s hands straight into our captain’s face, nearly knocking him over.

“And you three there! Why did you not stop him?!”
“Err…”
“Uhm…”
“...”
“Tell me, why did you not stop him?!”
“””...”””

The three of us could only awkwardly avert our gazes as Mrs Korwen glared at us.

“Did none of you think ahead? At all? We have food stored up as well that needs to be eaten! Who do you think manages our food?”

Without waiting for an answer, Mrs Korwen snatched the fish back from her husband’s hands.

“Be glad that I actually know how to prepare these. Next time, think who you are troubling with this, got it?”
“... Yes. I’m sorry.”
“Good.”

A sigh later, Mrs Korwen turned to us once more, or more accurately, towards Taddick.

“Follow me.”
“Eh?”

Taddick stared at her, unable to answer to the abrupt order.

“Do you want me to carry all that fish you bought?”
“No, err…”
“Then move!”
“Yes, ma’am!”

And so, Mrs Korwen with Taddick in tow left us alone…

Once they were out of sight, Korwen sighed in relief. He was freed from his wife’s scolding.

“... I don’t think we bought enough fish to bother our food supplies,” he whispered, barely audible.
“Captain?”
“Nothing. Gee, that was scary...”
“Ahh… It was.”

The first thing we did upon our return was presenting our spoils to Mrs Korwen and the other women in charge of cooking. This turned out to be met with many very unhappy stares. Because, well, they were in the middle of meal preparations and then some idiots, namely us, came around and told them there’d be food that’d need to get prepared. Yeah, that wasn’t a way to get popular. Maybe in the negative sense.

“She wasn’t wrong, though…” I muttered.
“That only makes it scarier.”

Korwen smiled wryly. Being unable to argue against it… didn’t make the scolding any better.

“So… What happens now?”
“To the fish or us?”
“... The fish.”

Not sure I wanted to know about the other thing… It sounded too ominous.

“She’ll cook it, from the looks of it. Well, I guess she’ll make it in the evening for dinner and not for lunch now. I didn’t know the Red Devil would be troublesome to prepare… And there might be other fish like that too…”

Right, there might be… Lesson learnt for the future.

At that moment, a voice called out from behind.

“Captain! The lecture’s done?”
“Merim, it sure is. It sure is. If you were here, you could have helped us, you know?”
“No way I’m going step willingly into the line of fire, Captain. I value my life.”
“This damn…”

Let’s be honest, I’d stay away as well… You’d have to be quite masochistic in nature to willingly get in the way.

“Whatever… Did something happen?”
“Not really. The men are just a little excited. They want to know what happened.”
“What are you? Little kids?”

Korwen shook his head in exasperation.

“Haa… Since you’re here, Merim. Call for Fenna and Greyward. And look for people who have experience with cutting trees. Former lumberjacks or whatever.”
“Cutting… trees?”
“Yes. Cutting trees. Removing underbrush. And whatever else could work in that regard.”
“Captain…”
“Don’t. Don’t say anything.”
“... Understood, I’ll gather them.”

Likely having understood what Korwen implied, Merim didn’t pursue it any further and made off to gather the people.

“Now then… Yumi, Karen, you come with me.”
“Nn. Understood.”
“Understood.”

We followed Korwen as he made his way through the provisional camp. Before we had left, there were only the wagons around but now, the mercenaries were busy setting up the tents and everything. And they were quick about it.

“Oh, they set up the big one already, that’s good. Now we just got to wait.”
“... Does Merim know we’re here?”
“He does. Not many other places we could meet up at.”

That so? Well, this was kind of his work tent so… The three of us went inside the tent, only to be greeted by… absolutely nothing.

“It’s empty.”
“Not like they had time to change that yet.”

True…

“It probably won’t be worth it to bring out the furniture anyway… Unless the fort is inhabitable…”
“Mr Captain, should you really be saying that?” asked Karen.
“After I heard that it’s literally in the middle of the forest, I’m expecting everything. Nature is quick when it’s about retaking its place.”
“... Is it even going to be still standing?”

That… was a legitimate concern…

“The fort was built by Earth magicians. Even if everything’s overgrown, the structure itself should be unharmed.”
“... Really?”

Karen cocked her head to the side a little, staring at the ceiling as if she was lost in thought.

“Really. Structures made by Earth magicians are incredibly durable. There are buildings from hundreds of years ago that are still standing, looking as if they were built just yesterday. If they weren’t, you’d have one hell of a time when a magician decides to bombard the place. Or a large-scale monster decides on its next meal.”
“... Oh.”
“Nn, that’s a good point…”

Didn’t want to imagine sitting in a brittle fortress waiting for some magician to dismantle it… Or imagining that mother roper ploughing through the building. That massive monster probably wouldn’t even notice any less firm structure in its way.

“There still is the possibility of some damage here and there, of course… Depending on the extent, we’ll need to hire a magician to fix it, I guess.”
“Are Earth magicians common, Captain?”
“I wish. They sure as hell aren’t. And they ask for a premium for their work, too.”

Great, more expenses. Were the mercenaries’ finances going to be okay at this rate? They did spend a whole lot on acquiring this fort…

“We’ll see how it’ll be… Mh? Oh, that was quick.”
“Nn?”
“Huh?”

We followed Korwen’s gaze towards the tent’s entrance. A second later, right after he had said that, the curtain was pulled to the side and Greyward and Fenna entered. For some reason, Lily followed behind them.

“Korwen, we came.”
“Captain.”
“Good, good. Take a… Ahh, no seats available.”
“Don’t mind it, we can stand.”

Greyward chuckled at Korwen’s little mishap, only to return immediately to his serious demeanour.

“So? You’re not calling us just for fun, are you? You came back from the governor, does that have anything to do with this?”
“That’s right, glad you’re quick on the uptake. Simply put, we confirmed the fort’s existence, at the very least. And informed the governor of our presence. During our talk, we stumbled upon a little problem.”
“A problem, you say… I can already guess it, but go ahead.”
“The forest has expanded and reclaimed the area around the fort.”

Hearing that, Greyward let out a deep sigh.

“Of course, that had to be it...What else could it have been?”
“Hahaha, things are never easy, Greyward!”
“Shut up, Korwen. So? What are we going to do about that?”
“First, we’ll need to know where the fort is exactly. I want Fenna to take a few from her squad and scout out the forest.”
“Will be done, Captain!”

Fenna saluted immediately upon receiving his order.

“Good. Greyward, do you have anyone with experience as a lumberjack or forest clearing in general?”
“Forest clearing, eh? We did some odd jobs before that required us to clear forest paths for ambushes and the like. That should be enough, right?”
“Sounds good to me. I want you to take command of the group that’ll clear the path once Fenna’s squad determined the location. I strongly suspect there are paths and roads leading towards the fort but…”
“Considering how long it has been, they might very well be buried beneath the underbrush and earth.”
“Yes.”

Greyward grimaced as he spoke. Clearly, this wasn’t the kind of news he enjoyed hearing.

“Can’t things be simple for once?”
“Life would be too easy then.”
“I don’t want it all the time, just once would be nice… Guess I’ll have to gather my men and get ready then. Ah, before I do, Korwen.”
“Yes?”
“Can we borrow some of your equipment?”

Equipment? Borrowing?

“... Greyward. I know that situation is a little new for everyone but our equipment is also your equipment, too. Take whatever you need.”
“... Right, just wanted to make sure.”

Oh, the two groups still had separate equipment… I forgot about that.

“Since we’re on the topic, Greyward. What should we do about your old band’s money?”
“The money, huh… That’s a good question... Why do you ask, though? Broke after overreaching yourself and buying a fort?”
“No, we aren’t. Not yet, at the very least. But it’d be good if we had some more leeway. Repairs might be in order, after all.”

Greyward closed his eyes for a few seconds, likely thinking about the money issue. After some seconds of silence, he opened his eyes and smiled a little.

“Well… Guess it’s my turn to say ‘Take what you need,’ huh?”
“That’ll help. Thanks.”
“No need. We’re the ones benefitting the most from this whole deal anyway.”
“Ha! That’s true. Look at you, getting a fort with no effort spent.”
“If I told my old man, may the Lord of War bless his soul, about that, he’d laugh at me all day for daydreaming.”

Right, since the Black Guards had been integrated into the Dragon Knights, they also got to live at the new fort now.

“Err, Captain, sir…”
“Fenna, what is it?”
“I hate to interrupt but, if possible, I’d like to gather the women and scout ahead.”
“Of course you can. Go.”
“Yes, sir!”

Fenna saluted and promptly left the tent.

“She’s a good woman,” commented Greyward after watching her leave.
“She is. But don’t you dare lust after her.”
“Korwen, you know I didn’t mean it like that…”
“Haha! I know, I know. I’d simply hate to lose her. She’s skilled and has a lot of experience already. Responsible and has a knack for taking command. Her squad is one of our best.”

If only Fenna could hear all this lavish praise.

“Speaking of which…”

Korwen turned his attention away from the tent’s entrance back to Greyward. Or rather, the person behind him, who had been uncharacteristically quiet.

“I guess you brought her here for a reason? Is this about what we discussed last time?”
“... Lily.”

Greyward stepped to the side and pushed Lily’s back. I could only wonder what was wrong since she looked really nervous.

“Eh… I… Uhm…”
“...”

Lily fumbled a little as she tried to articulate her words. And Korwen simply waited for her in silence.

“I… err...  I…. Nnnm! Captain!”
“Yes?”
“I will do it!”
“You thought it through?”
“Yes!”
“Then there’s nothing else for me to say. See Taddick first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, sir!”

Lily saluted, beaming from one ear to another.

“Good for you, Lily.”
“... Yes!”

Greyward smiled affectionately as he pat Lily on the head. I had no idea what was going on but it seemed something good had happened just now.

“Well then, Greyward, I’ll leave the forest clearing to you.”
“Sure thing, Korwen.”
“Merim has already gone around gathering people who might be of use.”
“Got it. Then, I’ll go and start preparing. Going to be a lot of work.”
“That it will. We’ll join you soon.”
“Mm, got it. Lily, let’s go.”
“Ah, I’m coming!”

Greyward and Lily left the tent together. Lily had been all smiles. I really wondered if she had even realised that Karen and I had been here. First, she had been super nervous and then super happy…

“Mr Captain… What was that about?”
“I’ll assume you mean with Lily?”
“Yes.”
“Mm… Well, let’s say I gave her an offer.”
“An offer?”
“Yes. But I think you should ask the rest herself, shouldn’t you?”

Korwen laughed heartily, enjoying the situation.

“All I can say is that it’s going to be quite something for sure. Look forward to it.”

Okay? I didn’t know what I was looking forward to, but I’d try to do that.

“Anyway, we have places to be as well, so let’s go.”
“Nn? Are we joining Greyward?”

He did mention we’d join him soon.

“We will, but first we got somewhere else to be.”
“Somewhere else?”
“The tamers.”

---

A short while later, the three of us were visiting a certain group among the mercenaries. These men were, different from most of the mercenaries, not quite as buff and intimidating. That probably didn’t make them any less intimidating if they told their pet to sic you. More to the contrary…

One of these men spotted us and came over in a hurry, saluting before Korwen.

“Cap! What’s the honour of yer visit for?”
“A little bit of business. Are the waroxen in good health?”
“They sure are. Healthy as can be, sir!”
“Good. We got some heavy work coming up. The fort is inside the forest and we’ll have to clear the path.”
“The forest?”

The man sounded rather perplexed as he listened to Korwen.

“Yes. The thing is, we’ll need to get rid of all the lumber, as well.”
“Ah, we gotta get it out?”
“That’s right. Can you do it?”
“No problem, sir. We just gotta get some carriage or whatever. Something that can withstand that weight.”
“Are the ones we have not enough?”
“If we don’t fill them too much, sure. But that’s gonna take days depending on how big of a pile ye want us to move.”

Korwen rubbed his chin as he thought about the words.

“Mm… The distance I’d like you to move them isn’t too far, only that they are out of the way. We haven’t quite decided yet what to do with the lumber.”
“If it’s just out of the way, then we wouldn’t need a large carriage. Or any carriage at all. Just need some rope.”
“Which we have more than enough of.”
“But if we gotta move it farther, I’d really appreciate some larger carriage. It’ll be easier on the animals.”

The man glanced behind his back, towards the large waroxen. Many of them had the harness removed and were left alone to allow them some freedom. Most of them either sat around or were grazing. It reminded me of cows… Then again, they probably weren’t too far away from cows.

“Got it. When it comes to that, we’ll contact the Trader’s Guild and rent an appropriate carriage.”
“Much appreciated, sir! I gotta say I’m surprised, though. They got a branch here?”
“Fishing business is profitable, after all.”
“I see. Where money is, there are the traders.”

Well, that was more or less the merchants’ job, wasn’t it?

“Traders aside, Cap, anything else?”
“No, that was all. Greyward is getting ready so that we can begin with clearing the forest path. Go to him and coordinate as necessary.”
“Yes, sir!”

The man saluted. Seeing that the order had been received, Korwen turned to us.

“Let’s go.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Yes, Mr Captain.”

We followed him away from the tamers. Behind us, I could hear the man from earlier shout orders to his fellows about getting the waroxen ready.

“Next, we’ll go visit the elves.”
“Huh? The elves?”
“Yes. Who better to talk about a forest than elves?”
“That’s…”

They were quite the forest people, I guess.

“So, we’ll meet with the Elder?”
“Mh? No…. Or maybe yes?”
“Huh?”
“The Elder isn’t their elder anymore, as far as I understood it. So, we’re not going to see her but the elf who replaced her.”
“Oh.”

Right, she did hand over that spot.

“But we’re still calling her the Elder…”
“She doesn’t really want us to tell her her name, after all. And everyone just refers to her as the Elder anyway. Even her fellow elves still do.”

Ahaha… Stuck with the title she had been using for so long.

“Mr Captain, I thought she didn’t remember her name?”
“Huh? You believed that?”
“Eh?”
“Nn?”

It took me a moment to understand why Karen even asked but then I remembered the talk we had. She did say she didn’t remember her name. So, why did Korwen say that, then?

“The Elder clearly remembers things from who knows how long ago but can’t remember her own name. No matter how you slice it, that’s not going to fool anyone.”
“But why would she even decide to hide it?”
“Because her name would give away her identity, obviously.”

And why would that even be a problem?

“The Elder knows the Witch. And she has clearly quite the history with the Witch. It may very well be that the Elder’s name can be found in history. There never were many elves active in humanoid society. Or more like fairykin in general. The few that are often left behind many traces. If we knew her name, it wouldn’t be impossible to track her past.”
“...”

I… had never even thought of that. She did tell us about how she used to travel with that monster, Yumias. And the story of Yumias, the witch, had been passed down even until today in the form of the Witch’s Tale. It could be, that the Elder’s name was even mentioned in that very tale.

“Still, I thought you noticed that. The Elder didn’t really make a secret out of it.”
“Ahaha…”

And here we were, not having noticed at all.

“Whatever. I assume her past isn’t something she wishes to be known to everyone. And honestly, it doesn’t really matter. Despite my first impression, she’s quite an honest hard worker. Whatever her past was, is, well, in the past.”
“Nn…”

Still, I was surprised he didn’t really care about her past… Then again, neither did he bother me about my past.

“So, don’t bother the Elder about it, got it?”
“Nn, we won’t. Right, Sis?”
“We won’t.”
“Good, good. I’d hate to get in trouble with the elves, after all. Speaking of the elves…”

Korwen came to a halt, looking at his surroundings.

“Where the hell are they?”
“...”

Korwen had walked with complete confidence so I never even questioned where were going. But the elves were obviously not here.

With a slightly annoyed expression, Korwen walked up to a nearby mercenary.

“Ah, Captain!”
“Weren’t the elves supposed to be here? Where did they go?”
“The elves, sir? They heard about the forest clearing from the Black Guard’s captain. They went to gather there.”
“... Got it. Go on.”
“Yes, sir!”

The mercenary saluted and resumed his work. In the meantime, Korwen rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Seriously? Well, I guess that saved me the trouble of explaining things to them but I just wish they could have told me… Haa… Okay, back to Greyward we go. Back to Greyward we go…”

Back to Greyward, it was.

Several minutes later, we found the elves together with Greyward, the other Black Guards and a few of the Dragon Knights’ mercenaries.

“Korwen. That was fast.”
“Not because I wanted it to be, mind you.”

Korwen glanced towards the elves. Over half of the people gathering were the fairykin… Or, in other words, all the elves had gathered here.

“So, why are the elves here?”
“That’s something I’d like to know myself.”
“... Then let’s talk with them.”

He marched over to the elves. Seeing the massive man among the diminutive girls was a… weird sight. Like a giant among the people.

“I’d like to speak with your elder.”

He announced to them, making sure not to speak too fast and pronouncing each word more clearly than usual. A moment later, one elf walked up to him, replying in slightly broken speech.

“Mister Human. How can. The forest children. Serve… Eh… Help? Help!”
“I’d like to know why you gathered here. Do you intend to help clearing the forest?”
“Forest children’s. New home. Maybe. Want to. See. Want to. Help. Help. Forest keep. Life… Life? Lively!”

The elf smiled, happy about something. The other elves seemed oddly happy as well. Maybe they were excited about seeing the forest?

Still, considering they couldn’t speak a word a few weeks ago... They learnt the language incredibly fast…

Honestly, it made me jealous. My lessons with Karen were going well but I couldn’t see myself holding a decent conversation that quick.

“I see, so you want to see the forest. And you want to help us.”
“Yes! We do!”
“Well, that’s fine. But what do you mean with lively?”
“Forest. Forest is. Living. Clearing. Hurts. Want to. Help. Hurt less. Trees. Move. Make way.”
“You can do that?”
“Try. Not good. Like ancestor. And Lady Elder. But help!”
“Mm. Well, we’ll appreciate any help we can get. That’s fine with me.”
“Yay!”

The elf happily shouted out of joy, and the other elves joined in. They really were all smiles. Was this how they usually were? Or did something happen in the two weeks we were out?

Considering everyone said nothing big happened, there sure seem to be some changes…

Though they seemed to be good changes.

“You’re quite excited.”

Even Korwen seemed a little surprised by their unbridled joy.

“New home! New place! New experience! Much water! So much! Lake… Lake, it was?”
“Yes, it’s a lake.”
“Lake is. Amazing.”
“Well, I guess it is.”
“Amazing!”
“Ahhh…”

Something was comical about watching the giant man among these girls being taken aback at their enthusiasm.

“A— Anyway, we’ll look forward to your help.”
“Yes!”

Korwen turned around, returning to us. His face was full of confusion.

“They’re like children…” he whispered once he was out of earshot.
“They were holed up in a forest all their life. What did you expect, Korwen?”
“I don’t know. The Elder is completely different.”
“But she’s also the only one who knew the outside, didn’t she say that?”
“That’s right…”

It was probably a little unfair to compare them to the Elder, Korwen seemed to understand that.

“Whatever… If they’re happy, that’s good. Better than them being depressed like before.”
“Nn? Were they not like this before?”
“At least not that cheerful.”

So it hadn’t happened during our sleep. In that case, it had to be the excitement that got to them. Even now, they were cheerful and noisy. It was like watching a school class before a school trip.

“Now then, since the elves already intend to help, that’s good for us.”
“It is.”
“Then, we should get going. The earlier the better.”
“Agreed.”

So it was time to make a path to our new home, huh…

“By the way, Korwen. You are coming along? What’s the point of me taking command?”
“Obviously, because we won’t stay with you all the time. As soon as Fenna’s squad comes back, we’ll survey the fort.”
“You… You just want to see it as soon as possible, don’t you?”
“Of course, I do! What else did you think?”
“If anyone’s the child here it’s you!”
“Men are just big children, according to my wife anyway.”

And why did Korwen think that was a valid argument? It wasn’t wrong but… Ehh…

“Haaa… Seriously, this damn idiot.”
“Greyward, so you don’t want to see it?”
“Of course, I do!”
“See?”
“Tsk.”

Did these two get along or were they actually arguing… I had no idea. But if this went on any longer it’d be bothersome…

“Once we figured out a path, you can just take a look when you take a break anyway.”
“... I guess I can. Haa… Let’s get a move on so we get this over with as soon as possible.”
“Greyward, I doubt we’ll be able to clear the path in one day.”
“I’ll take that as a challenge. Watch me.”
“... Just don’t let anyone get hurt.”

With newfound motivation, Greyward ordered everyone to move out.

“Let’s get this done with! Time to see our new home!”
“””Ohhhh!!!”””