With our report to Korwen finished, we went to look for Greyward to relay Korwen’s orders. Fortunately, it proved pretty easy to find him, as he was still talking with Lily in his tent.

“Mr Greyward?”
“Who? Oh, is that Yumi? One moment… Okay, you can come in.”
“Pardon the intrusion.”

Inside the tent, we found Greyward and Lily. Greyward was wearing a wry smile while lily had puffed her cheeks out in annoyance.

“Err… Maybe we should come back later?”
“No, don’t worry about her. She’s just sulking.”
“... Okay?”

… Was that really fine to ignore?

“I’m not sulking…” Lily muttered in a barely audible voice.
That looks to me like sulking, Lily…

I knew better than to say that, of course.

“Did you two need me for something?”
“Nn? Ah, yes. We just reported to the captain.”
“Oh? What did he say?”

Greyward immediately entered into work mode when he heard Korwen’s name, looking at us with narrowed eyes.

“Nn, well… He said we should return immediately.”
“Mhm… That’s about as much as I expected. What else?”
“And that he would send another group to a different town.”
“I see... Was that all?”
“No… Err… Nn… He said that you shouldn’t force yourself to solve everything and that it’s not your job anymore…”
“...”

Greyward’s narrowed eyes widened in surprise. A second later, he chuckled.

“Ha! I guess old habits die hard.”
“Nn?”

I tilted my head, a little confused by his reaction.

“To think Korwen would notice even when he’s not around… Seriously, I’m getting old.”

Greyward sighed deeply, before smiling self-deprecatingly.

“Really… I can’t win against him.”
“Haa…”

Greyward shook his head a few times, before returning to his work mode expression.

“Was that all you had to report?”
“Nn… We talked with him about the matter with the exile, as well.”
“Mm.”

Greyward nodded, urging me to continue.

“He said that there were some problems about the exile punishment for several years, which caused, err, the temple? To demand a stop to them. He didn’t know about the law but he said it would make sense if it was a result of that.”
“I see… I’ve been wondering about it but I didn’t know they called for a stop either.”

He closed his eyes, seemingly lost in thought.

“Well, it’s good to know, at least. Thank you for relaying that to me. You two should get ready for the return trip now.”
“Are we going to leave today already?”
“Yes. There’s… still a minor issue I have to sort out but after that, we’re going to leave.”

He glanced over to Lily when he said that. Guess it had something to do with the reason Lily was sulking?

“I just want you to write her a letter… That’s not so hard, is it? And she’d be happy…” muttered Lily.
“Lily… I told you, I can’t.”
“Of course, you can. You just don’t want to and you know it!”
“That’s…”
“Hmph!”
“Lily!”

Lily huffed at him, averting her gaze. This might be more serious than I thought.

“Haaa… As you can see, this might take some time… We’ll leave as soon as we can so please get ready.”
“Nn… We’ll do that.”
“Thank you.”

It was surely better to just leave these two to themselves so they could sort out their family problems… No need to get involved.

Karen and I left the bickering father-daughter-pair behind, exiting the tent.

“... I wonder what that was about.”
“Nn… I do, too.”

It was rare to see Lily so openly expressing her displeasure. No way I wouldn’t be curious. But, yeah, it clearly was a matter between the two of them so it was better not to butt in unnecessarily.

It seemed like Lily wanted him to write a letter… Maybe it’s someone they know in Aldreigh?

Right when I was thinking about what it might be, I heard Lily’s voice echoing outside.

“Papa, you idiot! Just write a letter to her or I’ll stay behind!”
“Lily! I told you it’s not that easy!”
“Of course it is! You just need to ask the temple to deliver it!”
“That’s not what the problem is!”

Ahh… Now they were really arguing And loud enough that some of the other mercenaries nearby already turned their head to the tent’s direction.

“Sis, what should we do?”
“... Can we even do anything?”
“...”

We couldn’t just barge in again… but maybe it was better if we stopped them? What should we do? Seriously, someone, tell me!

“Then tell me what the problem is! Is it that hard to just write a single letter to her?!”
“Lily! I will write to her but. Not. Now!”
“When are you going to do it then? When we all died of old age?!”
“When the time is right, I will—”
“And I want to know when that is!”

This was getting bad… they were getting more and more heated up. I exchanged a worried glance with Karen.

“What’s going on here?”

All of a sudden, a voice came from behind us, addressing us.

“Eh? Rina?”
“Rina, what are you doing here?”
“I came over to see what’s going on… Lily and her father?”
“Nn… They’re arguing.”
“Mmm...”

Rina stared at the tent with a surprisingly vacant look in her eyes as she listened to the ongoing bickering inside.

Then, without saying a further word, she passed by us and entered the tent.

“—n’t you do that? You always, always say the same, Papa! I can’t—”Lily!”—hear… Huh? Mmgh?”
“Huh?”

We heard a gasp of surprise and someone struggling from inside the tent, probably Greyward and Lily respectively. After a few seconds of silence, I heard someone desperately gasping for air.

“Ri, Rina?”
“Mmm, calmed down?”
“Uh… Well…”
“Good.”
“Y, yes…”

While I couldn’t see Rina inside, I could very well imagine her sporting a very scary smile right about now. Her tone didn’t allow any rebuttal.

“Go and wash your face. You look terrible.”
“... Okay.”

Then, a downcast Lily exited the tent, her fluffy ears dropping down, her face still sporting some remnants of her tears. She saw us standing nearby, immediately averting her gaze and rubbing her eyes with her sleeves before scurrying away.

“Mr Greyward. Lily only means well. Please don’t be so stubborn and think about how she feels as well.”
“... Okay.”
“Mh. I’ll go and make sure that Lily is okay.”

Rina emerged from the tent with a smile that seemed frozen on her face.

“Lil’ Sis, Big Sis, where did Lily go?”
“That way.”
“Thank you.”

And then she hurried after Lily.

“...”
“...”
“Sis.”
“Yes?”
“Rina is amazing.”
“She is.”

She walked straight into a family dispute and broke them up in a matter of seconds. I had only heard their voices but I never had heard Greyward answering in such a meek voice before.

Just as I was still in awe, the final person left the tent.

“Mr Greyward.”
“Ah, Yumi… Karen… Don’t tell me…”

With tired eyes, he looked around us, spotting several mercenaries that, all of a sudden, awakened to their love for work and fled from the scene.

“Haaa…”

He held his head as if he had a headache.

“This is not my day.”
“Err… cheer up?”
“Thank you, Yumi. But it’s all right. Haa…”

He sighed again, all downcast. The spitting image of Lily just before.

“Haa… Could you two do me a favour?”
“Nn? What is it?”
“Tell Wendl he is in charge for a while. I… apparently have a letter to write.”
“... Nn, will do.”
“Thank you.”

He smiled a little, before taking off. After a few steps, however, he stopped, turning around again.

“Karen.”
“Yes?”
“Your sister is scary.”
“...”
“Give her my thanks.”
“Yes, I will.”

With a final nod, he trotted off. The very image of a beaten man.

“...”
“...”
“Sis.”
“Yes?”
“Rina is amazing.”
“You already said that.”

But it was important so I had to repeat it. Seriously. I wanted those nerves.

---

Once we recovered from the shock of the situation, we tracked down Wendl and told him about what had happened. He wasn’t very surprised, so maybe this wasn’t the first time either… Either way, he was now in charge. Which also meant he had to organise our return now. He wasn’t happy. At all.

“This isn’t even my job! I’ll make sure to return that severalfold. I promise!”

Or so he said as he stomped away in a bad mood. Somehow, I had the feeling it would never come to that, though.

“Haa… This really has been quite a day.”

A day full of ups and downs… I’d like some calm once in a while.

“So, what should we do now… I want to check up on Lily but…”
“Mm…”

Rina was with her, so maybe it was better to leave her alone. Maybe Rina knew what the whole thing was about, too. But on the other hand, I really wanted to make sure Lily was all right.

“I want to look for Lily. She’s my friend and… I’m worried.”
“... Nn, me too. Let’s look for them.”

I smiled, glad that Karen felt the same way. I stretched out my hand to Karen, offering to hold her hand. With a smile, she grasped my hand, lightly squeezing it.

Holding hands like this, we set out to look for Rina and Lily. I hoped that we wouldn’t disturb the two but we both were really worried.

I mean, it’s the first time that I saw Lily so upset…

And the first time I saw Rina like that either. Really, my poor figurative heart.

“Where could they be? Yumi, do you have an idea?”
“Nn… I wonder…”

Rina told lily to wash her face… We didn’t have any decent bathing facilities while we were on our trip. We did, however, have water and washing utensils set aside somewhere. However, there were probably others there as well. I couldn’t imagine Lily going there in that state…

“But there isn’t any other place… Unless there’s a river or a pond or something? Sis, do you know any?”
“No…”
“Well… Then let’s first check the washing area.”

We made our way to the aforementioned place. And, just as I expected, neither hide nor hair of lily and Rina was to be found. We only saw a few buff mercenaries that were drying and washing their bodies, mostly in the nude.

At least cover yourself… We’re outside…

Alas, even when the mercenaries noticed our approach, they simply turned around and continued their business. Well, maybe it was for the better that way…

“Nn… They’re not here…”
“Yes…”
“Nn…”
What to do… Well, let’s ask someone.

I turned to a nearby mercenary, one who was still half dressed.

“Excuse me, have you seen Lily and Rina?”
“Lil’ Lily and her girl? No, haven’t seen them.”
“Nn, thank you… You wouldn’t happen to know of any other areas to, err, wash your face and things like that?”
“... Huh? Well, there’s a pond just outside the camp.”
“Oh?”

There really was one? Talk about surprising.

“It’s over there in that direction. You might need to walk a bit, though.”
“I see. Thank you very much.”
“Sure thing.”

The mercenary returned to his business, namely exposing all his muscles to the world. Time to leave before this got worse.

“Yumi, no need to pull me.”
“... Sorry, I wanted to get away from all the… muscle.”
“Ahaha… They were amazing, weren’t they?”
“... You could say that.”

It was yet another reminder of how not even one of the mercenaries was without at least some muscle. Even someone who was on the leaner side like Merim had well-defined muscles you could see beneath his clothes.

And then you had me… or Karen… or…

“Nn?”
“Yumi?”
“Hey, Sis.”
“Yes?”
“... Lily is pretty strong, isn’t she?”
“Well, yes.”
“But she doesn’t really have much muscle.”

If anyone took a look at her, they’d only see a sweet young girl. Not someone who could carry a two-handed sword and swing it around with a force strong enough to fell trees in a single strike.

And yet, there’s no muscle on her.

But continuing that train of thought… Fenna and the other mercenary women weren’t muscle-packed like the men either… There were a few among them with muscles but a few of them like Fenna or Sanna were nearly devoid of muscles as well. There was a lot more variance to be found among them.

“Why is that weird?”
“Nn? What?”
“I mean, why is it weird that she has no muscles?”
“Well, err, how to say it… Because muscles are a sign that you’re pretty strong?”
“Is that so?”
“... I think so.”

Karen only tilted her head in curiosity. I’d love to explain it to her but now wasn’t quite the time for that.

“Let’s talk about that later. For now, let’s find Lily and Rina.”
“Okay…”

Karen still looked at me, curious. We walked for a while towards the supposed pond until Karen broke the silence.

“Did you have muscles in your old world?”
“... That’s a sudden question.”
“Well, I was wondering… because you’re so curious about them. And I see you staring at the men’s muscles sometimes…”
“...”

That’s not exactly something I wanted to be caught doing.

“Well, I don’t think I did? Honestly, I can’t say for sure but… No, I don’t think I did.”
“Huh… And why do you stare at them?”
“... Because they’re impressive?”
“...”

Karen stared at me, doubt filling her eyes. Then her arms glanced towards her own arms.

“Yumi… I don’t think I can fulfil that…”
“... Sis, I can absolutely assure you that you got the wrong idea there. I have no interest in muscles in that way. Believe me.”
“...”
“They’re just… Err… How to say it? They’re cool. Nothing else. And I never had the chance to see big muscles like that before so I’m simply curious.”

Ahh, those were eyes that still didn’t trust me quite that much…

“...”
“Uhh…”
“...”
“Well, I might be a little jealous, too?”

She stared at my arms, her doubt slowly clearing…

“I wouldn’t like that.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want any either.”
“That’s not what you said.”
“Err, I mean, I’m a little jealous as a former male… you see? I’m sure I never had muscles as impressive as those so…”
“Hmmm…”
“Either way, I don’t want muscles like that now.”

Neverminding whether it was even possible for me to gain muscle in that sense, it simply wouldn’t suit me. Imagine lil’ ol’ me all buff? Terrible. Just the thought gave me shivers. I liked the way I was now.

“That’s good. I wouldn’t know what to do if you said you wanted muscles…”
“...”

Now I had another reason to stay the way I was.

“Really, you are fine with the tentacles but not if I got any muscles?”
“The tentacles aren’t muscly either.”
“That’s… true, I guess?”

What was I even supposed to say to that?

“Yumi, look. Over there.”
“Nn?

Karen pointed towards the direction we were walking to. A little bit further, there was the silhouette of two people. One had grey-silverish hair, the other black with a rainbow-like sheen to it.

“Seems we found them.”
“Nn.”

As we approached, we could clearly see what was going on. Rina sat on the ground and Lily was hugging her, burying her face in Rina’s stomach as she lay on the ground. And Rina was gently patting her head.

For a moment, I was wondering whether we should leave them alone after all, but Rina spotted us first and beckoned us over.

“Lil’ Sis, Big Sis, you’re here.”
“Nn… How is Lily?”
“She’s fine as you can see.”

The person in question twitched when she heard my voice, yet she made no moves to get up or anything. Simply staying in her position hugging Rina’s stomach, her ears flat down. By all means, this wasn’t how I interpreted someone being ‘fine.’

“Were you worried?”
“Nn.”
“We were.”
“Did you hear that Lily? They came for you.”
“...”

There was only an unintelligible mumble coming from Lily as she buried her face further into Rina’s stomach as if she was trying to hide.

Well, can’t blame her… I would too in her situation.

Rina patted the spot on the ground beside her, urging us to sit down. Since she offered already, we sat down next to her. As I sat down, I glanced at Lily and caught her glancing at me. When ur eyes met, she immediately panicked and turned her head around, hiding away. Seeing that, Rina giggled and stroked Lily’s head again.

“Come on, Lily. They came because they’re worried about you. Don’t hide.”
“... Don’t wanna.”
“Sheesh. I’ll get angry.”

Despite her threat, she was smiling and giggling. It was more like a mother consoling her sulking child… except Rina was the youngest of all of us.

“How troublesome.”
“It’s fine, Rina. Let her.”
“Mh… If you say so.”

She continued stroking Lily’s head, consoling the girl. She noticed me watching and lifted her hand suddenly. Almost immediately, Lily stirred, as if she was bothered by the lack of a hand on her head. Yet, Rina only looked at me with a smile.

“...”

I pointed at me and Rina nodded. Well… If she was offering I wasn’t going to say no.

With Rina urging me, I reached out to Lily’s head, gently touching her. Her hair was soft and a little fuzzy. It was pleasant to touch. Lily jolted when I started patting her, maybe because she noticed it wasn’t Rina who was patting her now. It surprised me a little as well. She didn’t move away however and soon enough, she let me pat her, her ears occasionally flicking. I wasn’t quite sure what that indicated but I hoped it meant she liked it.

Lily really has pretty hair…

It had always been on my mind with its light rainbow-coloured sheen. Depending on the angle you looked at it, it always appeared a little different. Of course, it was never so strong as to hide the black hair. It was always more like a gentle accent. It was mysterious.

“Mmm…”

Lily’s ears flicked again. I was pretty sure by now that it was a sign she was content.

Well… I guess it’s fine for her to act spoiled for today.

I couldn’t but giggle, thinking about it.

“...”

Meanwhile, Karen was staring at me. It was obvious she wanted her turn as well. Smiling to myself, I let go of Lily and left the rest to Karen.

Karen reached out for Lily’s head, touching it slowly. Lily again jolted up a little in surprise but didn’t move away. A few moments later, Karen was now the one patting Lily.

Really, what are we doing, taking turns patting her…

But this was just fine for us.

“Mhm… More….”

Lily’s ears were flicking again as she demanded more patting. Someone was quite spoiled, wasn’t she?

“Ehehe, sure, sure.”
“Mmm…”

Seriously… There was no trace left of the crying girl now. All I could see was a spoiled young girl. But it certainly was better than her still crying.

“Hehe, look how much you’re loved, Lily.”
“Mmmm…”

Ah, someone was trying to hide again. Probably from embarrassment.

“And I’m sure Mr Greyward loves you just as much.”
“... I know.”
“That’s good.”

Lily’s grip around Rina eased a little, revealing her face just a bit. There were still some traces of tears to be seen around the corner of her eyes.

“I know he does…”
“Mm.”
“Uhhh…”

And there she went hiding again… What a troublesome fellow.

Oh well…

I let myself fall back, lying in the grass right next to Lily. Though I didn’t have a comfortable pillow to rest on. From the corner of my eyes, I spotted lily looking at me. I smiled and she hid again immediately. Well… she was just embarrassed, right? Right…

No point in dwelling about it… I’m just glad Lily is doing well.

In the end, I was glad we had come here to check up on them. Seeing Lily doing halfway well relieved me a lot.

“Nn?”

Suddenly, I felt something tugging on my clothes. I looked to my side and saw a hand holding my clothes, and past it was Lily looking at me.

“... Thanks. For coming.”
“Nn.”
“... Was he angry?”
“No, he wasn’t..”
“...”

In fact, he might be more worried about Lily being angry at him.

“He left things to Wendl for now and went to write a letter.”
“... Huh?”

Lily’s eyes widened in surprise at my words. As the meaning of my words slowly sunk in a smile appeared on her lips… before she hid her face again in Rina’s stomach.

“I see… So he’s writing it.”
“Nn.”
“I see… Uhh…”
“Lily?!”

Was she crying again?! What should I do?

“Hehehe, isn’t that great news, Lily?” said Rina.
“Uhhh… Yes… Yes…”

So… she was crying because she was happy? Sheesh, that scared me for a moment. I was worried whether I had said something that made her cry. Well, technically I did, but it was out of happiness.

Lily kept sobbing for a while, hugging Rina. After a while, she finally calmed down a little.

“Yumi…”
“Nn?”
“Thanks for telling me.”
“Nn.”
“...”

I could see her glance at me, averting her gaze when I met her eyes and immediately looking at me again the moment I turned away. I had the feeling she wanted to say something but couldn’t.

Well, she can take her time.

Thankfully, neither I nor Karen really had anything to do to prepare for the return trip. I didn’t know about Rina and Lily but they had been with us most of the time, so there probably wasn’t anything for them to do either.

“Long ago…”
“Nn?”
“Long ago… there was someone travelling with us…”
“...”
“She was with us all the time… with me… Papa… and Mama…”

Lily spoke so quietly, that I had to lay completely still or else I might miss her words.

“But… something… Mmm… happened… between her and Mama… and she left… Papa was… very angry… at the time…”

… Did this maybe have to do… with that revenge matter we heard about?

“She left… the Black Guards… and returned to Aldreigh… and the temple…”
“...”
“I’m sure… Papa really liked her… That’s why he was so angry…”

Lily’s grip around Rina visibly tightened as she was holding back another wave of tears.

“They like each other… so much… Yet… Papa can’t even write her a letter… It made me angry…”
“I see.”

She just wanted the two of them to have contact with each other again, huh…

But just what the heck did that monster Yumias do that things ended up like this?

It might be better if I asked someone about this sometime…

“He… really is going to write her?”
“That’s what he said, at least.”
“I see… That’s great... That’s great…”
“Nn.”

Lily relaxed her grip around Rina. It must have been a big relief for her. I smiled inadvertently, simply glad to see her feeling better. Nobody liked to argue with their family.

I get that Mr Greyward is angry… and, well… I guess he simply doesn’t want to show the other side that. I can relate to that just a little. But that’s no excuse for making Lily worry so much.

Really, what a troublesome family they were. It made me want to give Greyward a piece of mind about this. But… he was already told off by Rina. Maybe I should leave it at that. He seemed really dejected by that.

“Seriously…”

I glanced at Lily, only to find her breathing quietly. Above her, Rina put a finger to her lips, urging me to be quiet.

Lily fell asleep.

Oh well… I mean, it is nice weather… and it might take a while until we’re going to leave anyway. After all, someone got a letter to write first.

I looked at Lily’s face. Even with the traces of her tears, it was clear she was sleeping peacefully. A tiny smile adorned her face.