The next morning after breakfast, Korwen gathered all of us to determine our next course of action.

“Listen up, everyone. Today, we will continue exploring the premises first and foremost. Furthermore, we will begin carrying some supplies from the camp to the fort.”

His booming voice echoed through the mostly empty fort.

“We’ll mostly keep the groups from yesterday. However, the Dragon Knights and Sanna will join Taddick’s group and Ria, Yumi and Karen will join mine. Keep that in mind when I give everyone their tasks. Understood?”
“”“Yes, captain!”””
“Good. Then, first: Fenna, Merim, your groups are going to explore the fort. I also want you to start comparing the buildings with the blueprints we have received. Make notes of everything that is different, especially of places that are inaccessible or damaged. Taddick. Your group will check the perimeter around the fort. Check for any possible remnants of traps, traces of monsters or animals or anything else of interest. I want Sanna to make a rudimentary map of the surroundings, too. Be careful out there. As for my group, we will be bringing in the supplies. That’s all. Everyone knows what they should do?”
“””Yes, captain!”””
“Then, get to work!”

He clapped his hands twice and everyone set out to start with the work. That, of course, included Karen and me.

“So, we’re now with the Captain’s group?”
“Seems like it.”

Korwen’s group was going to bring in supplies… which made me wonder what he wanted with us. Or rather, with me specifically. I was very far from being a proficient supply carrier. Assuming I managed to carry anything at all.

Actually, that’s not quite true. Since we’re probably going to use the tentacle door, maybe he has something he wants me to do with that one?

Either way, the two of us joined the small crowd forming in front of Korwen, waiting for his next instructions. He’d tell us what to do in a minute.

“Everyone present?”
“””Yes, captain!”””
“Good. Follow me.”

Korwen led us down the basement, to the hall with the tentacle door. Getting everyone down there took a while since there was only one rope and some people—myself included—took a while to get down there. Much to my delight, I wasn’t the only one who had some trouble getting down, at least.

Seems the door is holding up as well.

The door in the otherwise empty hall stood unchanged, connecting to places. If I looked closely, I could see the flow of mana around the door as it was slowly absorbed to maintain the connection.

“Okay. Now then. First, we’re going to gather the supplies we can already bring over and collect them in this hall. This includes most of our equipment, like arms, armour and everything else. Anything non-essential like books, too. You’re free to bring your personal effects over as well, as long as you keep in mind that you can’t use this place without permission. If you accidentally leave your money here, that’s your problem, got that?”
“””Yes, captain!”””

After everyone saluted, Korwen divided the group into smaller ones, with each group taking care of other things. The only ones not included in any group were Ria and me. In other words…

“Eh? Ehh?”

Karen was. And now, she looked to me, then to Korwen and back to me, clearly unsure of what she should do. I was pretty sure that Korwen had noticed but he completely ignored her confusion for now.

I guess… It has been a while.

Since the incident with Yumelia, Karen had been at my side for nearly the entire time, only leaving me for very short amounts of time, if at all. She was worried and didn’t want to leave me alone, that much I knew…

“Sis. I’ll be fine here.”
“But…”
“There’s nothing that could happen here, right? Above, the other mercenaries including Fenna are there, right? And outside, there’s the entire camp and you.”

Karen fell silent, furrowing her brows. Her eyes were still occasionally darting between me and Korwen. I waited for a while until Karen finally replied.

“... I guess so.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
“... If something happens, I’ll be there immediately, okay?”
“Nn, I’ll count on you.”

I ushered Karen to join her group since I worried she might take so long they’d leave without her. And neither of us wanted to make Korwen angry over this. Still, seeing Karen periodically throwing glances at me as she left with the others was quite… Well, adorable. Maybe it was weird of me to think of it like that but I really thought it was endearing how reluctant she was to leave my side. I waved toward her, just before she left my line of sight.

“... Glad there was no uproar.”
“Nn? Oh, Captain… Did you expect an uproar?”
“No, I didn’t. But I could’ve been wrong. So I’m glad I wasn’t.”
“It’s fine. But… was it maybe on purpose?”

I tilted my head as I mulled over my own question. There… were more than enough reasons he could have done this, after all.

“Not really. It’s simply that Karen’s strength is useful for tasks like this. And I need you over here. That’s all. I honestly didn’t expect her to be so reluctant.”
“Ahhh… Well…”
“Guess I should have expected it, huh… Anyway, it’d be a problem for me as well if you two can’t act independently from time to time. You should keep that in mind.”
“Nn, will do.”

He was right. That would be a problem. Thinking about it, he was right that Karen’s strength was a boon for work like this. She could carry things that would usually require several men to carry, after all. The Average Joe kind of man. I honestly didn’t know how most of the mercenaries compared in strength to Karen, but knowing of Korwen’s feats, I wouldn’t be surprised if some had a similar level of strength.

“That aside, Yumi. Is it possible to enlarge the door?”
“... Nn?”

Korwen’s voice dragged me back to reality and I turned around to face him.

“Enlarge it?”
“Yes. At this size, it’d be troublesome to get larger crates through. We’d have to empty them and disassemble the crates, then carry them piece by piece over. Frankly, that’d still be faster than moving them the whole way through the forest but you can see my point, right?”
“Nn.”

It’d be quite the time waster if they had to disassemble everything. But, enlarging the door, he said. It should be possible, in theory… Probably. I was sure I could make a larger one from scratch but… Enlarging it was a bit different.

“I don’t know… I’ll have to try.”
“Mm, if you could. Ria, help Yumi out and make sure she doesn’t end up as a dried-up weed.”
“Rude, that won’t happen. As long as I got mana crystals.”
“Figures. Do you think the ones you have on hand are enough?”
“Nn…”

The ones I had on hand… That implied I had any left after yesterday’s affair. Well, I had but… When I checked my pouch, quite a few of the mana orbs had gone into the door, yesterday.

“I don’t know if they’re enough, to be honest.”
“Mm, what about the ones we brought in yesterday?”
“... Yesterday?”

When did they bring mana crystals?

“The ones next to the door.”

Korwen pointed at a small wooden box that was sitting next to the door. That box hadn’t been there yesterday…

“Oh, weren’t they supposed to power the door, though?
“Yes, but it seems that your door consumes less than we initially expected, so you can use them without worries.”
“Really?”

Now, that was pleasant news. Would have been nice if Ria had told us that yesterday… That’s exactly the kind of thing that I had wanted to know when I asked her.

“Yes. Though, if you want the specifics, ask Ria. Her speciality, not mine.”
“Nn…”

Anyway, the matter of Ria aside, I should probably check first how many mana crystals were in that box. With that in mind, I strode to the door and checked its contents.

“Oh? There are quite a few big ones here.”
“They’re crystals we usually use for magic tools.”
“... Is it really fine to use these? We still have some orbs in the camp.”
“It is. In exchange, lend us a few of those orbs later.”
“Nn? Sure, but why do you need them?”

They weren’t running out of crystals… were they?

“Wenners and Krutz asked for them. They want to see how well they work with magic tools and if we can replace the regular crystals we use with them.”
“Oh.”

That was indeed a good question.

“Say, Yumi. Can you make crystals that aren’t attributed as well?”
“...”

Wait, could I? Did I ever even try that? No, didn’t I do that, like, really early on? I did… I totally forgot, huh…

“... I think I can, yes.”
“Well, that might be needed in case it doesn’t work out with the orbs you have right now.”
“Ahhh…”

Either way, I should try it out later once to make sure I really could still do that.

“We strayed a little from the topic. Are those enough crystals?”
“Nn…”

I peered again into the box at my feet. The crystals inside were all quite big. At least, compared to the tiny pebbles we used for the orbs. And it was noticeable that they contained much more mana than said pebbles. Incomparably much more.

“I think these should be enough.”
“Good. Then, I won’t bother you any longer now. If you work on the door, feel free to stop the others from passing through.”
“Nn. Got it.”

Now then… With Korwen gone, that left me and Ria… And Ria was…

“Nn? Ria?”
“... Yes?”
“Woah?!”

Behind me…

“Everything… okay?”
“Yes… Sorry, I didn’t see you there so it surprised me a little.”
“Mmm… It’s fine…”

When had she even gotten behind me anyway… No, around the time Karen left and I talked with Korwen, right? That was embarrassing…

“Err, anyway. Should we get started?”
“Mmm… Is there… anything… you need… my help with?”
“Well… Let me think…”

There wasn’t really anything I could think of right now… It wasn’t like she could influence the tentacles, after all.

“Uhh…”
“If there’s… nothing… then… I’ll observe…”
“Nn, that’s okay.”

That was probably for the better. Actually, that wasn’t so bad. If Ria observed, then she might notice if things would go awry. Which, hopefully, wouldn’t happen, of course. But it was still reassuring to know she was there to help.

“Well then…”

I sat down next to the door, making sure not to sit in the way of the mercenaries that went through the door. Some of them looked at me and Ria, curious about what we were doing but nobody stopped to ask.

Well then… Let’s start.

I held my hand towards the door, concentrating on the tentacles and the door. Once I had them and their mana in my grasp, I first checked if there was anything unusual about them. Then again, I didn’t even know what their usual state really was so it probably didn’t really make a difference. I wouldn’t notice anything out of ordinary anyway. For now, I could only hope this was their normal state.

“Ria, did anything change compared to yesterday?”
“No… They’re still… the same…”
“Nn… But the captain mentioned that they use less mana than we thought?”
“Ahh… They settled… quite quickly…”
“I see…”

Good to know.

“But other than that, there was no other change?”
“No…”
“... Really?”
“Yes… Is something… wrong?”
“No, just wanted to make sure.”

It’d be everything but funny if there had been a change… That said, Ria knew more about this than me, so there probably really hadn’t been any change… other than the mana consumption that had ‘settled’ now…

Okay… But if this is their normal state then… I guess they really don’t use as much as we feared at first.

This was a bit of a relief, frankly. But even though it wasn’t as much as we originally feared, the consumption was still considerable. In fact, now that I was looking closer, it still felt like it absorbed quite a bit of mana…

“Let me check something.”

I stood up and then walked through the tentacle door to the other side. From one moment to another, the hard, cold stone floor had been replaced with the soft grass of the outside. It was truly a magical situation. A little disturbing, too, though.

“Nn…”

I checked the tentacle door on this side and, sure enough, I could feel the door consuming quite a bit of mana but, from the outside, it didn’t quite look like it did…

“Ria. When I just checked the tentacles, I have the feeling they consume much more than it looks like from the outside.”
“Mm… Is that… so?”
“Yes.”
“Mmm… That’s… weird… But I… have no idea… either…”

Well, great… In that case, maybe I could figure out where that mana came from.

Nn… Somewhere… around… there? Oh? Oh… Ohhhh…

It didn’t take me long to find the source. Unsurprisingly. After all…

“It’s a mana orb…”

On this side, I had given the tentacles a mana orb, so they wouldn’t wither by the time we would connect the two sides. The other one on the fort’s side didn’t have an orb. Something I probably should rectify as well.

“Ria, I forgot that I gave this side a mana orb. It seems the door has been feeding mostly off it.
“I see… That is… intriguing… Mmm… Can you… remove… the orb?”
“... I probably can but… I don’t know if the door will stay open if I do.”

And I’d rather not do something that had a chance to mess this up. I could already imagine Korwen’s face of utter disappointment. Not that he had ever shown me such an expression, even when I messed up.

“Then… it’s better… not to… do it.”
“Nn. I agree.”
“Then… the consumption… we saw… in the… beginning… might have… been the… correct one… No… it might be… even more… Mm…”

Even more, huh… Quite possible. That… definitely wasn’t something Korwen would like to hear.

“Huh… Anyway, I should add a mana orb later on that side, too. For now…”

There was another problem I had to tackle. It wasn’t quite as obvious from the underground side but… The board where this door was placed was… not exactly large. Even if I expanded the door, the size difference wouldn’t be very large. I was sure that it’d still help but there definitely were things that wouldn’t fit through even then.

“I wonder if we could make the board bigger…”

That’d be convenient. But I’d need to consult with Korwen for that. But before I’d consult with him, I first had to mana to expand it at all. 

“Ria, I’ll do it from this side, okay?”
“Mm… Sure…”

After hearing my words, Ria came over to this side as well.

“Now then… Ah, the crystals.”

I’d need those. And there was no point in leaving them over on the other side if I worked here. And so, I fetched the small box with the mana crystals. Only to find out that it was seriously heavy.

“Ria… Can you help me?”
“Mm…”

Ria took the other side of the box and together, we carried it to the other side.

Okay, but now we’re ready.

Nonetheless, I confirmed once more that I had everything. Once I had done so, I asked Ria if she could stop people from working through the door for now while I worked.

First, the tentacles… Got you.

After having done it so many times, connecting to the tentacles had become quite easy. Admittedly, most of it had been caused by my own reluctance but… Anyway, it wasn’t much of a problem anymore.

Nn, next is… How do I do this…

For now, I prodded the tentacles to grow in a certain direction, enough to cover the board. Simultaneously, I grew the ones on the underground side as well for the same amount. I was a little worried for a second if it’d work without direct sight but when I checked them, the tentacle growth had expanded perfectly in sync. As expected of the almighty tentacles.

Okay… But the door… That might be tricky.

I didn’t want to close the door if possible. Reestablishing would consume without a doubt nearly all my remaining mana orbs. It wasn’t an option unless I wanted to waste a lot of mana. And, as a consequence of that, a lot of money.

Even so, in the worst case, the orbs I have left and the crystals the captain left me should be enough to renew the connection.

As long as the door was still the same size, of course.

Now then… Let’s see.

I prodded the tentacles once more, but this time with the goal of expanding the door. Very slowly and, most importantly, cautiously. The tentacles stirred, slowly receding into the tentacle growth and forming a smooth surface. The door itself seemed to close its lid—without actually closing the connection—and then fused with the newly formed door part.

“So far, so good… The door seems to… Nn? Woah!”

Then, the mana consumption immediately spiked, and the orbs in my hand crumbled to dust, followed by the ones in my pouch. I stumbled backwards, surprised by the sudden feeling of mana being drained away. It didn’t affect me directly, but I still held control of the mana in the orb. Having that control robbed from me was everything but pleasant. But by the time I could check what was even going on, it was already over.

“... Is it done?” I murmured in a quiet voice.

The door’s surface was still closed but the mana drain had stopped completely. Or rather, it was about the same as before I started.

I poked the door, prompting it to open. In its entirety. The tunnel was still there. Only larger.

It worked! It worked…

Like weight being lifted from my shoulders.

“Mm… It worked… It looks… just like… before…”
“Nn… but…”

I checked the contents of my pouch. Quite a few of the remaining orbs had crumbled to dust. Just making a single door of this size had exhausted so many of the orbs we had prepared. It really drove home how much mana this door consumed.

Guess that shouldn’t be too surprising, considering how ridiculous it is.

Anyway, it was done now. It had worked.

“I guess we should report this to the captain. And if this is big enough.”

The door was now large enough to allow two grown men to walk side by side through it. That might still be a little tough if they wanted to carry something through that required several people but it should be fine for most stuff.

“Mm… In the… meantime… I will… take… another look…”
“Nn, sure. Ahh, but first… Before I forget it again.”

I went to the other side with one of the remaining few mana orbs in hand and gave it to the surrounding tentacle growth.

“This should last them a good while, probably.”

I might need to gauge the consumption sometime but, right now, it should last them long enough. Probably a few days, at least.

“Okay, that’s it..”

With that, I let Ria step forward so that she could do… whatever she wanted to. In the meantime, well… It was probably not a good idea for me to just walk around the camp and look for Korwen, was it? In that case, it was probably better if I waited here. Or should I ask someone to tell Korwen we were done, more or less?

Anyway, for now, let’s sit down a moment…

Good thing that there was a chair here.

“Excuse me, Miss Yumi.”
“Nn?”

Before I could even sit down, though, a man called out to me from behind.

“Yes?”
“Can we pass again or is it still blocked?”
“Nn? Ah, no, you can go ahead.”
“Thank you very much. Guys, we can continue.”

The man returned outside the tent and a few seconds later, he returned with others, carrying crates, armours, things wrapped in cloth and all other kinds of stuff. The whole procession of mercenaries carried these supplies into the hall, where they dropped them off in the corner.

“It makes things quite easy, huh…”

If not for this door, they would have to carry all of this through the forest… or wait until the road was done and go with the wagons. Either way, it would take a long time until that would have been possible.

Well, for now, let’s watch them for a bit…

The mercenaries came and went, carrying all manners of things into the underground hall. It didn’t take long until the once empty hall started to fill out a little.

“Ah, they were right, she’s here!”
“Nn?”

Once more, someone called out to me. But this time, by a high-pitched voice. One I was quite familiar with. Through the tent’s curtain peeked a face framed by black hair with a distinct rainbow sheen.

“Lily?”
“In the flesh.”
“You’re helping out as well?”
“The captain’s been going around gathering some more help. So, yes, here I am.”

Huh… He really was going to make use of it now, wasn’t he? Not that I minded.

“So, this is the rumoured door?”
“Nn. There are always rumours going on?”
“Yes. Hard not to, when a whole group walks into a tiny tent at night and disappears.”
“...”

So much to this place being out of sight.

“You think the captain’s going to get angry if I explore a little?”
“Probably. And if he isn’t, wouldn’t Greyward get angry?”
“Ahh… He might…”
“Also, that place is underground. There’s nothing to see there unless you go up.”

Mostly empty rooms, except for the one part in the back with the Worshipper’s area.

“Wait, that’s below the ground?”
“Nn, it is.”
“... It doesn’t feel like it is.”
“... It doesn’t, does it?”

No matter how dark and all that it looked like, considering we were standing in a tent on a meadow, it felt more like this was a cave, at most.

“Hey, whoever’s there, you’re blocking the way!”
“Oh, oops. One moment.”
“...”

Lily dashed outside when a loud voice complained to us. Did she leave the stuff she was supposed to carry outside, blocking the way?

“Go on, go on.”
“Nn?”

Instead of the expected Lily carrying something, I was greeted by the sight of her back as she walked backward into the tent, holding open the curtain. A large crate followed her. Yes, a crate. No other person in sight.

“What the heck am I looking at?”

It was a walking crate. This was certainly not what I expected to see.

“Mh? Yumi, why are you surprised? They’re yours.”
“Huh? Mine?”

Instead of replying, Lily pointed to the ground. Following her direction, I gazed to the bottom of the crate… and found dozens of small dolls carrying the crate.

“...”
“They’re helping out quite a lot.”
“That’s… great.”

Lily ushered the dolls through the door and into the hall, where they put down the crate next to the other supplies. Once they had finished their work, they followed Lily back to the tent.

“I’ll get going before someone says I’m slacking.”
“Nn… Good luck. Ah, and, if you see the captain, can you tell him that we’re done?”
“Sure can. Until later.”

Lily waved and left, the group of dolls following her obediently.

Never did I expect them to be able to carry the crates, though…

An individual doll wasn’t particularly strong. Well, they were quite strong considering their diminutive size but certainly not to the extent that I would have expected this. It sure surprised me.

“Well… Whatever, time to wait.”

With some luck, it wouldn’t take too long for Korwen to come back. Until then, I didn’t have anything to do, except maybe monitoring the door.

That reminds me, I’ve seen quite a lot of people coming through but… No sign of Sis.

I wasn’t particularly worried but it did make me wonder. Just what were they trying to transport. I couldn’t quite recall anymore what Korwen had said when he divided the groups but… I couldn’t recall any others of her group coming through either.

Well, they’ll show up sooner or later.