“Hmhmhmmm, hmhm, hmhmhmmm.”
“Someone’s in a good mood.”
“Of course I am. Look, the weather is great, after all.”
“Nn, well, I get that.”

Somehow, you did feel pretty great when the weather was as good as it was today. And it wasn’t too hot either. At least, not outside on the driver’s bench. The inside of the wagon was bound to be sweltering right now.

“And to top it all off, I don’t even have to drive the wagon!”
“... Somehow, I’m sorry for always making you do that, Lily.”
“It’s fine, no worries.”

Lily laughed, dismissing it casually.

“It’s great that Karen is such a quick learner. Makes it a lot easier on me.”
“Nn.”

Though the person in question was too focused on driving that she didn’t even have time to respond. Or maybe she hadn’t even listened to us in the first place. Who knows?

Either way, she was concentrating on the two beasts in front of her, occasionally pulling on the reins and correcting the course. At first, Lily had to point out every small thing but after barely an hour, there wasn’t much of a need for her to do it anymore. Which allowed her to lean back and enjoy the ride.

“How long does it usually take to learn?”
“If you just want to get moving, not that long. Depends a little on the waroxen, though. Some of them can be really stubborn.”
“Huh.”

Well, that’s how it was sometimes when you worked with animals like them.

“Experience usually teaches the rest after that.”
“Nn, so Sis just have to keep driving.”
“That’s correct. Did you hear that, Karen? We’re counting on you.”
“... Lily, please don’t disturb me now!”
“You can do it!”

A big grin came over Lily as she cheered Karen on. The latter clearly not amused by this distraction.

“Karen, go! Karen, go!”
“Shut up, Lily, or I’ll tell Rina all about the dumb stuff you said before!”
“Huh? Wait, which stuff? Which stuff do you mean?”
“...”
“Karen?!”

Wow, she actually managed to make Karen mad. That was a rare sight for sure.

“Okay, I’m sorry, Karen. I won’t bother you again, so please don’t tell Rina.”
“... I’ll think about it.”
“Karen!”
“Lalala.”

And now it was Karen who was grinning. How the tables turned.

“I’m a little surprised Rina didn’t wake up yet from all the commotion,” I said, looking at the girl sleeping in Lily’s lap.

Considering how loud those two were, I was sure I wouldn’t be able to sleep through that.

“Mh? Ahh, you’re right. Recently, she’s been sleeping like a rock.”
“Huh… Recently?”
“... She woke up pretty easily at first. Well… you know…”
“... Nn.”

Maybe it was a blessing that she could sleep so well now.

“Guess you did well then, Lily.”
“Huh? Me?”
“Well, she’s sleeping in your lap, after all.”
“But, I mean…”

Lily stared at Rina for several seconds, her expression one of uncertainty.

“Did I really do well?”
“Nn?”
“... Nothing. It’s fine.”
“...”

She shook her head, before gently patting Rina.

“I’ll just keep doing my best. If her sleeping better is a sign of progress, then I guess I really did at least something right.”
“... Nn, good luck, Lily.”
“Thanks.”

I was sure those two would be able to deal with anything that would come to them in the future.

“Mmm… Mna…”
“Oh?”
“Don’t tell me we woke her up now?”

Just then, the person we had talked about was stirring in Lily’s lap, moving a little, making a few questionable sounds. She nuzzled her head against Lily’s stomach, causing the latter’s ears to twitch a little. Before long, she settled back into Lily’s lap and continued to sleep peacefully.

“That surprised me.”
“Ahaha… Me too.”
“Nn, she is sleeping, right?”
“Pretty sure she is.”
“Nn…”

I stared at Rina but no matter how I looked at her, she was asleep. The only thing I noticed was that her face was a little red…

“... Hey, Lily.”
“Yes?”
“It’s really wonderful weather.”
“Huh? I mean, it is?”

Lily tilted her head, confused.

“And the sun is shining as well.”
“Yes?”
“I hope we won’t get a sunburn.”
“Right…”

I stared right at Rina and Lily’s gaze followed mine. She looked at Rina for a few seconds…

“Oh.”
“Nn.”

Basking in the sun was nice and all but getting a sunburn was no fun.

“Do we have anything to give some shade?”
“... Doesn’t seem so.”

The driver’s bench was amazingly empty, safe for its four passengers and the things they carried on their person.

“... No choice. Yumi, is there something in your wagon that could be used for some shade?”
“Huh? Err… I don’t know… There are some of our clothes but…”
“That would already be more than enough. Mind taking over for a moment?”
“Nn?”

Before I could reply, Lily had gently lifted Rina from her lap, making her squirm a little in search of her pillow. Then, she stood up, somehow managed to keep Rina stable, while standing on the driver’s bench. The whole spectacle happened so fast I couldn’t even react properly when Lily addressed me.

“Yumi, take my place.”
“Huh? Okay?”

I scooted over, switching places with Lily as she placed Rina in my lap before climbing over me.

“Then, just a moment.”

As if that wasn’t enough, Lily grabbed the edge of the wagon’s roof, leaving the driver’s bench and dangling from the roof.

“Lily?! What are you doing?!”
“Just fetching some of your stuff. Oh, I probably should have asked if it’s okay for me to take some?”
“Nevermind that, that’s fine but—”
“Great, one moment then!”

I peeked behind the corner, watching with dread as Lily was climbing to the door with astonishing confidence. And she reached it, opened the door and disappeared inside.

“... I am not sure if I should be amazed or appalled.”

I was still in the middle of processing the scene. Just now, Lily had left Rina with me and climbed into the wagon. A moving wagon. Sure, they weren’t incredibly fast—this wasn’t a car from my old world—but it would be dangerous nonetheless if she fell off. Like, really dangerous.

“Rina, do me a favour and tell her to have some common sense.”
“Yumi, that’s rich coming from you.”
“Thank you, Sis. I thought you were busy there.”

But apparently not enough, since she could still jab at me.

“You really think I can concentrate when I see Lily climbing all over us?”
“Point taken.”

That would have been amazing in a different way.

“Even if she were to fall off, she’d be able to handle it. Lily’s strong, after all.”
“Nn… I guess she would.”

Alas, that scene was just giving me goosebumps just from watching. Yes, thinking about it rationally, Lily was easily capable of feats like this.

“Yumi! Is it fine if I take this?”

I peeked behind the corner again, finding Lily with her upper body peeking out from the door. She was holding a long piece of cloth. It was swaying around so it was hard to make out what it was.

What even is that? That’s not one of my shirts nor the one-piece dress.

If it wasn’t from me, it was probably Karen’s.

“I think that belongs to Sis so I don’t know.”
“This is Karen’s?”
“I don’t know what you two are talking about but it’s fine if she wants to use it, if it’s mine,” said Karen.

Well, that made things easy.

“You heard that, Lily?”
“Sure did. Thanks, Karen! I’m coming back so make some space.”

I moved a little to the side, careful not to wake Rina, so that Lily could climb on the bench. A few seconds later, Lily reappeared, holding the mysterious piece of cloth under her arm.

“There we go. Yumi, I’ll take over again.”
“Ah, sure. Err, but…”
“Let me. Can you hold this?”
“Nn.”

I took the cloth from Lily and let her handle Rina. She cautiously lifted the sleeping girl, let me move away and then replaced me, taking back her spot as Rina’s pillow. For someone who hadn’t known earlier what to even do in that situation, she sure didn’t want to let go her spot.

“Okay, so what is this even?”
“Don’t know, I found them in some corner.”

She spread out the piece of cloth… It was around the length of my arm. Pink.

“Ah. I know what that is. But, huh?”
“Mh?”

This was… most definitely some of the cloth… or leather… that was made from my hair. But did we actually have some of this in the wagon?

“Guess there were some leftovers then? Nn…”

Not like it really mattered.

“So, can I use this?”
“I think so. But will that be enough? What can you even do with that?”

She wasn’t going to drape it over Rina’s face, was she? She was asleep, not dead.

“It’s fine. Watch.”

Lily spread out the cloth… leather piece and placed it on the sleeping Rina. Not on her face, of course.

What she did next, though, surprised me.

“... Lily, why are you picking up your sword?”
“Well, I need something to secure it to?”

The massive two-handed sword, placed securely beneath the driver’s bench in case of emergencies, was now used as a pole. For a curtain. She literally just attached it to the sword with a small strap she took from the scabbard and then held it up high.

“There we go. Now Rina is safe.”
“Nn, she is… But are you going to hold the sword like that the whole time?”
“It’s only until we take a break, so I’ll manage.”

That was definitely going to turn into a sore arm.

“It’s not that long anymore. After that, I’ll try to see if I can get something else from my wagon.”
“If you say so…”

Well, it was better than letting Rina get a sunburn. Still, it couldn’t be very comfortable.

“Nn, if we had a tarp we could put it over the driver’s bench for shade.”
“Over the bench? How do you mean?”
“I mean, securing it above us.”
“... Oh! Like you see in town sometimes?”
“Err, I guess?”

I hadn’t seen that in Larfas nor in Auria but there had to be places where those existed.

“That’s actually a great idea. I’ll have to tell Papa about that.”
“Nn.”

It wouldn’t only help against the sun either. If it rained, that would make it more comfortable as well. You stayed dry unless the wind was too strong.

“But how do you usually deal with the sun? I would have thought you had something against the sun.”
“Well, I rarely ever see someone get a sunburn?”
“Huh? You don’t?”
“Yes, I don’t.”

They rarely ever got sunburns? Seriously? Was this… common here?

“I didn’t even realise it was a sunburn. I wondered if Rina had caught something at first.”
“I see.”
“So, I’m thankful you told me.”
“Nn, no problem.”

She didn’t even realise, huh… So they really had to deal with that rarely. Was this because they were always outside anyway? Or… was this simply normal for everyone here? I knew that the people here were quite different from the people in my old world, but this was still a bit of a surprise.

“Oh well, at least Rina is protected now.”
“Mm…  But she’s still a little red.”
“It’ll go away after a while.”

Hopefully.

“If you say so.”

Lily patted Rina again, all the while holding the sword with the curtain in her other hand.

Just watching the two made me smile. It was nice to see how well they got along.

Still, I’m a little worried about Lily holding that sword all the time now…

Alas, I didn’t disturb her either… So I decided to simply watch Lily as she cared for Rina…

---

Not too long after Lily made the sunscreen-slash-sword for Rina, it was already time for our break. Just as Lily had said, it wouldn’t be that long until the break. However, at the time I hadn’t known the reason yet.

“Lily, what is that?”

I pointed to the buildings in front of us. I could only see a small part past the other wagons in front of us but what I could see were several small one-storey buildings. My first thought was that we were passing a village but there were no fields here. Also, there were far too few buildings for a village only four or five or so.

“That’s the border checkpoint.”
“The border checkpoint? Then, this is the border to Aldreigh?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”

We were already at the border… Incredible. It had been only a few hours or so at most. The sun was still up, too. Yet, we had gone from Auria to the border in that short span of time.

“We’ll take a break here while Papa talks with the border guards.”
“Ohh… Is that going to take long?”
“Should take a while, I think?”
“Nn…”

No wonder we’d take a break here then. But still… That we arrived at the border already is just too astonishing for me.

“That means Auria really is close to the Aldreighan. But I didn’t think it was this close.”
“Surprised?”
“Nn, I am.”

How couldn’t I?”

“Don’t be too surprised about just this. Or you’ll have trouble keeping up when we arrive in Melfin.”
“Oh? Is it something to be that surprised about?”
“If it is anything like the other Aldreighan cities, yes. Look forward to it.”

Well now, wasn’t she raising my expectations there.

“Lily, before you two keep going, what should I do now? Aren’t we going to stop?”
“Yes, we are.”
“Tell me what to do then!”

Lily giggled, seeing the slightly panicking Karen. Only now did I notice that the wagon in front of us was already slowing down.

“Don’t worry, Karen. You just have to pull it slightly like this. Right, that’s right. See, they’re slowing down.”
“Ohh… They’re really going slower.”
“Right? And even if you hadn’t done anything, they would have stopped on their own. They’re smart, after all. And nobody wants to walk into a wall, right.”
”Now that you mention it…”

Karen scowled as she watched the waroxen slowing down. Maybe she was a little annoyed that she had completely missed that?

“Seems we’ll come to a stop anytime soon now. Time to wake up Rina…”

Lily stared down at the sleeping girl in her lap, clearly reluctant to disturb that peaceful face. I couldn’t fault her for it, I’d feel bad too. I was only glad it wasn’t me who had to wake her up.

“Rina. Rina, wake up.”
“Mm…. Mmm…”

Lily gently shook her, calling out her name. After a few seconds, Rina’s eyes opened, groggily trying to take in the surroundings.

“Mmm… Pink… Lil’ Sis?”
“No, it’s not Yumi.”
“Mm… Lily’s voice? Lily… became Lil’ Sis?”
“That’s wrong too. I’m still me.”
“Mm? Then… Lil’ Sis was always Lily?”
“Do me a favour and wake up…”

Yes, at this point, one of us had to become the other… Worst case, we’d have to become one… and I’d firmly refuse that. Sorry.

“Mm…”

Maybe following Lily’s request, Rina sat up, looking around and rubbing her eyes.

“Mmm… Oh, it’s Lily. And there’s Lil’ Sis… Thank the Spirits, you’re not one.”

Rina smiled, but she was still a little wobbly. Seeing her like this, I had this sudden urge to mess with her a little.

“Yes, for now, we’re still separate, Rina. But if things keep going like this…”
“Ehh? Lil’ Sis… You’ll turn into Lily?”
“No, we’ll become one person.”
“... Oh, that’s fine.”
“What?”

How the hell was that fine?

“I like Lily and I like Lil’ Sis so I’ll like you even if you are one. Mm, then you’ll be Lil’ Lily? Or just Lil’ Sis Lily? Oh, Yumily?”

Ah, the last one sounded a little cute.

“Rina, I don’t think that’s what Yumi was trying to say there.”
“She wasn’t?”
“No… Just forget about it. She’s talking nonsense anyway.”
“Okay…”

It was nonsense, but why did I feel like I just made a fool out of myself? Probably because I did…

“You shouldn’t do things like that, Yumi,” scolded Karen.
“Nn, I learnt my lesson.”
“Good. Also, I’d be quite angry if something like that would happen for real. So don’t.”
“I think I’d be mad about it, too, so I’ll make sure it won’t.”

How the hell would that even be possible… But that would be inappropriate of me to say now, right?

“Oh, we’ve stopped.”
“Nn? YAh, you’re right.”

We had, indeed, come to a stop, finally.

“Rina, are you awake now?”
“Mm… I was always awake.”
“I’ll take that as a no. Can you get down on your own?”
“... Carry me.”

With a wry smile, Lily wordlessly lifted Rina into her arms and climbed down from the bench.

“... That looks nice.”
“Nn.”
“Maybe you will be able to carry me like that in the future, Yumi?”
“... I’ll try my best.”

But no high expectations, please. That wasn’t going to be easy…

“Well, let’s get down for now.”
“Nn.”

We climbed off the bench. Having solid ground under my feet was nice. The wagon wasn’t swaying terribly or anything but it was a little tiring. Especially on my behind. It was hard to complain though when next to me had been Lily, with Rina on her lap and holding up the curtain.

“Back on solid ground. But this was still a lot faster than I expected.”
“It was. I thought it would take at least until evening.”
“Nn.”

But, here we were.

We both moved a little off the road, taking a look at the checkpoint in front of us. Just as I had thought, it was only a few buildings. The road itself was barricaded by a few large logs, preventing us from going through. Several men and women dressed as guards were standing in front of it.

“Nn? Hey, Sis, are those demonkin over there?”
“Which ones?”
“The ones in the back.”
“Mh… I can’t quite see them well.”

I was pretty sure they were demonkin, though. They had horns, tails and one of them even had small wings. They all had different traits, though. None of them was the same as the other.

I heard that demonkin are… full of variety, in a sense. But I thought that there was at least a bit of similarity… I mean, Sis and Rina both have the same traits.

They both had cute tails.

“Ah, there’s Mr Greyward.”
“You’re right… Huh? He’s waving over to us.”
“I think he wants us to come over, Yumi.”

That… That wasn’t going to mean that our break was on-hold, right? Wonderful…

“... Do we have to?”
“Yes, we do. Lily, Mr Greyward wants us to come.”
“Papa is calling?! I’m coming!”

At least, we weren’t alone in losing our break. Rina and Lily would join us… How heartwarming.

The four of us walked past the other wagons, several of the mercenaries already relaxing, taking a walk or stretching their bodies. Only a few were doing the little bit of work they could do.

“Mr Greyward, you called for us?”
“I did. Mind accompanying me?”

He pointed towards the checkpoint.

“Nn, I don’t mind. Is there a reason?”
“Of course there is. It’s the first time for you three in Aldreigh, right? So there are a few things we’ll have to get out of the way before you can get in.”
“Huh…”

Was this like the time in Larfas, where they had to register us for that mana barrier so we could enter?

“You’ll see before long what I mean. I’d rather get this over with sooner than later, so let’s go.”

With Greyward in the lead, we approached the checkpoint. Several guards came out to meet us, while the others stayed behind. But even then, I could see they were all on alert. Little surprise, if an armed group approached the checkpoint…

“Good day to you. Coming to pass through?” asked the guard in front of their group.

The tone in his voice was steady and practised as if he had said those very same words hundreds of times already.

“Good day to you, too. We want to pass through, that’s correct.”
“Then, do you have anything to identify yourself with? And please tell us your purpose for entering the kingdom.”
“Of course. I’m Johnson Greyward, a mercenary of the Blach Gua— Excuse me, that’s not right anymore. We belong to the Lomerian Dragon Knights. Please take this. We’re intending to visit Melfin to look for supplies and workers.”

Greyward handed a small badge to the guard who took it. His eyes went wide in surprise upon seeing it.

“This is… I understand, Sir Greyward.”

He returned the badge to Greyward and straightened his back until he was as straight as a candle.

“I hope you will permit us to search your supply wagons. This is just a formality, so please don’t be alarmed.”
“Of course, that’s no problem. They’re the two wagons standing there.”

The guard turned around to his fellows and motioned something to them. Four of them saluted, split into pairs and headed to each wagon.

“Thank you very much, Sir Greyward. I assure you, it will not take long.”
“That’s fine. If I may ask, I heard the last time I was in Aldreigh they would set up a registration tool at the border…”
“Ahh… They have indeed begun that but I fear our checkpoint has not yet been outfitted with such a tool. We are rather remote.”

The guard looked a little apologetic as he said that, glancing back behind him at the few buildings.

“Ahh, that’s unfortunate. Then we’ll need to register them in Melfin.”
“Is this about the young ladies behind you?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Hmm…”

The guard looked over the four of us. However, his gaze rested on Kare and Rina for a while. Before someone could speak up if there was anything wrong, though, he returned his attention to Greyward.

“If I may, Sir Greyward, Melfin is in a rather difficult situation right now.”
“A difficult situation?”
“Yes. If you have heard of the border refits, then you probably have also heard about the expansion projects. However, it has come to a halt in Melfin due to an accident. The city is in a rather difficult state right now.”
“An accident?”

Greyward’s eyes widened in surprise at the news.

“A magical tool has gone berserk and laid waste to the development area as far as the news went. It was rather recent so none of us has seen it in person yet.”
“That’s terrible…”
“Fortunately, they evacuated the area before it blew up, so there were only few injuries. But the damage to the town is rather high. It might be difficult to find supplies or workers in this situation.”
“That’s true.”

Greyward closed his eyes, lost in thought.

“I understand. Thank you very much for the information. Still, we’ll at least take a look at Melfin. At the very least, I want to get these girls’ registrations out of the way.”
“I wish you well in that endeavour, Sir Greyward.”
“Thank you.”

Right at that moment, the four guards he had sent out returned to us.

“All clear, Sir!”
“Nothing of note was found, Sir!”
“Well done. Return to your posts.”
“”Yessir!””

Not like there was much to see in them except for food.

“Very well. Sir Greyward, you’re free to pass. We’ll remove the barricade. Please proceed through as soon as possible.”
“Will do. Thank you for your assistance.”
“You’re welcome.”

The guard bowed, then returned with the guards, likely to get the barricade out of the way.

“That went a lot smoother than I expected.”
“The power of connections, Yumi. Under normal circumstances, we would have been kept here for at least an hour, interrogated and the wagons searched from top to bottom.”
“That… would have been a problem.”
“Yes, it would. But thanks to this little thing, we won’t have to worry about it.”

He flashed the small badge at us, grinning broadly.

“Is that something important?”
“You could say it is. Identifies me as someone of status, at least. Did you notice how his demeanour shifted after he saw the badge?”
“Nn, I did.”

It was hard not to. He went from his monotone, eternally repeated lines to calling him ‘Sir Greyward’ and even went so far as to provide us with some information.

“So, if you run into problems, come to me. I can solve most issues. Or let Lily handle it.”
“Huh?”

Our eyes turned to Lily, who awkwardly laughed.

“Well, I have one of those as well.”
“... Seriously?”
“Yes…”

Someone of status… Now I was a little curious as to what exactly that meant. Did it just mean that their identity was guaranteed? Or that someone powerful stood behind them? I was fairly certain they weren’t aristocracy or anything. That would have come up by now for sure…

“Right, Yumi.”
“Nn?”
“That old coot Korwen said you would have a way of contacting him in a hurry…”
“Contacting?”

How was I supposed to… Oh, the tentacle door? That, technically, was contacting him, yes.

“I… guess so?”
“Is it difficult to do?”
“Err, well… Not quite. But… Actually, I’ll have to take a look but with some luck, it should be easy?”

If the small door was still working, of course. No idea if the movement had caused it to close or anything. At least, it didn’t explode so far. But if it was still open, we could use it to push a letter through it. Or, if we could somehow get Korwen to the other side, just talk with him.

“... I don’t really get it but it seems there are still some issues to work out. If you have the chance to, try contacting him and report the situation with Melfin to him. The stuff we just heard.”
“Nn, will do.”

That certainly sounded like something Korwen should hear, yes.

“Mr Greyward, what are we going to do if we can’t find supplies in Melfin?”
“Then that’s it and we’ll go back. No point in wasting time if half the town was turned into rubble. Might be just an over-exaggeration, so we’ll have to see how bad the situation is.”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“But for now, let’s get a move on. Don’t want the border guards to get annoyed with us because we dilly-dallied all day long in front of the checkpoint. Once we’ve crossed, we can take a break, too.”
“Ohh.”

That was music to my ears.

“Seems like someone’s already all ready for that break.”
“Nn, I am.”
“Yumi, that wasn’t praise…”
“Ahahaha! It’s fine. The young ones should appreciate their breaks. While they can.”

Yes, I would appreciate all my breaks to their fullest. Definitely.