"That's a lot of smoke."
"Nn."

Peeking through the door of the wagon we saw the fort in the distance. There was a large cloud of smoke and dust floating right over it. A few familiar wagons were parked outside, right in front of the bridge to the fort, on this side of the Hollow.

"Hopefully they are all safe."
"Nn."

The Black Guard's small caravan steadily approached the fort. A few silhouettes were now discernable, walking among the wagons.

"Brats, don't fall out there, get back in. We'll be there in a few minutes, so you better clean up now."
"Ah, will do."

We closed the door, albeit with some reluctance. That there were mercenaries outside and walking around made me breath a small sigh of relief. That meant it hadn't been the worst case.

"Yumi, is everyone fine?"
"Emily... I'm sure they are. We saw a few of their wagons and some of them walking around."

I pat Emily's head. After a short while, she smiled again. It wasn't as bright as her usual smile, but better than none.

Still, I hope they are alright... I guess... that large rumble in the morning really came from here...

We hadn't seen anything in the forest that could've caused such a deafening sound. Nor did the elves say anything in regards to it either. Well, at least I didn't know about anything. Maybe they did, I hadn't talked with them. That reminded me...

"Hey, Emily, what did the elves even want from you?"
"The elves? They wanted me to come with them. They said I shouldn't be with humans."
"You shouldn't be with humans?"
"Yes. They were really mean to Uncle Greyward and the others. So I said no."

She puffed her cheeks in annoyance.

"I see... Did they say anything else?"
"Mh? They didn't."

So they hadn't stopped the caravan because of that rumbling, but only because they wanted to speak with Emily? Or rather, they wanted her to come with them. But they hadn't stopped us on the way to the capital. Then, why did they stop us this time?

Don't tell me... They had planned to use force from the very beginning?

I couldn't think of any other reason, at least... If they had planned to use force from the very beginning, then a smaller caravan was obviously the better choice. But... Did they know we'd return? No, that was unlikely... I couldn't understand it...

"Yumi, do you have everything?"
"Eh? Nn, I should."

Karen had walked over and brought me back to the present with her question. I had enough time later to mull over this. Right now, the fort was more important.

"Then, the only thing left for us is to wait, huh."
"Nn."

It would only take a few more minutes anyway, probably. The wagons were already slowing down a little.

"Karen, how did your training with the device go?"
"That... mana thing? I'm not sure, to be honest."
"Not sure?"
"Mm... I feel like nothing really changed? I tried all kinds of mana that the device could do, but most of them were... disgusting."

Her shoulders shook a little. It had been hard on her, huh...

"So, some weren't?"
"Mm... Well, my own attributes obviously weren't. There were also some other... metals, those weren't too uncomfortable. Oh, and the device also had Life mana, which wasn't uncomfortable either."

Lily raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Metals I already knew but... Life mana too?"
"Apparently, yes."
"But... your attributes have nothing to do with life, do they?"
"That's right..."

Karen's attributes... If I recalled correctly, those were... Steel, Iron, and Diamond. Well, or rather, carbon. And carbon...

"Lily, Sis. Diamond actually does have a relation. The material diamond is made of is also present in living beings."
"Eh? Are you serious, Yumi?"
"Oh, is it that... Uhm... coal thing you told me about before?"

I nodded to their questions.

"That's certainly not something I would have expected. Hey, Yumi, does that mean, you could make a living being into a diamond?"
"Lily... Please don't try that out, yes?"
"But Karen, imagine how much money you could make!"
"Money..."

This wasn't good. In a flash, their faces were painted with greed.

"Sis, Lily, it wouldn't be possible to make money like that. The resulting diamond would be minuscule and impure."
"So it is possible."
"... Nn."

Lily was grinning, a very dangerous grin. Maybe I should've just said it wasn't possible...

"If they don't know it is impure it's fine."
"..."
"Brats, sorry to rain on your parade, but the sale of all gems is heavily restricted. You'd get a free ticket to the execution block."
"... Ahhh, right. The Trade Union..."
"Better don't try something funny, okay?"
"... Yes."

Wendl was once again looking through the small window in the front.

"Anyway, we're on the bridge right now. You girls can leave as soon as the wagon stops."
"Ah, okay."

And he closed it again.
So we'd soon arrive. I prayed that everyone was alright. The waiting was unbearable...

"Guess that means it's safe right now, huh..." mumbled Lily.
"Safe? Ah, because we didn't wait outside?"
"Yeah, exactly."

That certainly was some good news. There was no fighting right now.
The wagon was slowing down a lot now and eventually came to a halt.

"Time to see what is going on."

I took a deep breath and braced myself. Whatever had happened here, we'd find out now.

---

"What the actual..."
"This is...
"..."

There was a large cloud rising up in front of us.

"How did this happen?"
"I'd like to know that too."
"Nn..."
"Yumi! Yumi!"

Emily ran to the front, looking up at the cloud. She was full of excitement, watching the cloud sway in the wind.

"Emily, be careful! Don't fall down!"

Karen immediately ran after her and caught the little girl in her arms, before she could run into her own doom.

"Yumi! Yumi, look how big it is."
"Nn, I can see it."

I walked up to them, past the rubble and looked at the spectacle in front of me.
It was a hole. A gigantic hole. The cloud rising up wasn't smoke from a fire. No, it was a dust cloud. A humongous dust cloud.

"Just what the fuck..."

We were standing at the former main gate, the one that was demolished by the high magician traitor. There was no bridge. Not anymore. The entire bridge had collapsed. No, not only the bridge. The opposite cliff had collapsed as well. As if a giant had gouged out the cliff.

"Kid, you really missed the spectacle when it happened. Thought my ears would bleed from all the noise."

I turned around to the voice, to the person who had led us here with a grin on her face.

"Wanda, just... how did this happen."
"How did this happen, huh. That's a bit of a long story... Just to tell you, though, half of this is your fault."
"... Excuse me?"

I turned back to the demolished bridge, or where the bridge had been.

"Wanda... I don't think, no matter what, that I had a hand in this."
"Oh, believe me, you did."
"..."

There was a gigantic hole. If I was able to such a thing, I really wanted to know how to. With that said, I hadn't even been here. There had been no way for me to cause this, even if only half.

Wait... If I'm half responsible, who is the other half?

I took another look at Wanda, who was only smiling wryly.

"Just what happened, Wanda?"
"The Akkians tried to cross the bridge, so they blew it up."
"... I do not see how that relates to me?"

Although, it was good to know that they blew it up themselves.

"It was only possible like this because of the dolls you left here."
"Eh?"
"They carried magical explosives to the cliffside. The explosion collapsed a large part of the cliff and the bridge as well."
"..."

Okay. It really had been partly my fault. Sorry.

"Kid, without that help it wouldn't have gone so well. Like that they managed to bury quite a few Akkians."
"..."
Once again, I indirectly killed people. With the dolls. While I wasn't even present.

Not that I wanted to be present. I really didn't want to if I had the choice.

"But Wanda, was it really fine to collapse the bridge?"
"... Kid, do you know why they even built a fort and a bridge here?"
"Huh?"
"Because it is easy to defend and even in the worst case they can just collapse the bridge. That's why the Akkians tried to weaken the fort and take it over in a flash. If things had gone their way it really might have worked, too."
"I see."

But it didn't work out and now they were unable to cross the Hollow, stuck on the other side of the cliff with only casualties to show for it.
There were dozens of tents on the other side, even a small wooden barricade was already placed around their camp. It was hard to make out from the distance, but I thought I could see a few people running through the camp.

They probably hadn't planned for this turn of events either... But at least they aren't going to come over anymore, now... Wait... They... can't come over?
"Wanda."
"What, Kid?"
"Does this mean... we came here for nothing?"
"Well. You could say, that's indeed the case."
"..."

I squatted down and held my head. It had been for nothing. All the serious thoughts and worries, they had been meaningless.

"Now, Kid, I'm sure the others still appreciate you girls coming over."
"..."
"Even if you basically came for nothing."

She broke out in laughter as if she wanted to drive in the last nail into the coffin.

"Well, regardless of how useful or not you girls are, you're here already. Which surprises me anyway. Mind telling me why you girls came back?"
"Why we came back? That's..."

'Because we were worried about you all...' wasn't something I could say, could I? But, that was basically it. Saying it actually to the people in question was... hard.

"Mh... If you don't want to say it that's fine, but... If you have already trouble, telling me about it, I wonder how the others will take that. Fenna was quite down you know, that she had to be so harsh. She only wanted the best for you."
"Uhh..."

She walked past me to the edge of the cliff to peer down. The dust cloud was still raising up ever so slowly.

"Yumi! Yumi!"

With her usual energy, Emily ran over, nimbly avoiding all the rubble that was still around.

"Yumi! I saw Uncle over there! Come!"
"Eh, wait, Emily?"

She pulled my hand and dragged me away, in whichever direction she had spotted Korwen. Right when I was reminded that I had to explain this to him. Life was cruel.
Wanda, having noticed I was being pulled away, put on a mean grin and waved to me.

Emily, don't. At least let me prepare myself mentally. Stop. Please!

---

"Uncle! Uncle!"
"Mh? Emily, huh... So you girls are really back."

Shortly after Emily kidnapped me I found myself in front of a sour-faced Korwen. It had barely been a day but he looked a lot more worn out than yesterday.

"And Yumi too. Haa... Give me a moment..."

Korwen heaved up his mug and gulped down its contents audibly.

"Uncle, Uncle! You're fine!"
"Of course, I'm fine. What did you think I would be? I'm only being overworked to death, but I'm fine. Believe me."
"You can die from overwork?"
"Yes, Emily. You can."

His mood was... bad. He grumpily refilled his mug and downed it immediately again.

"Emily, do me a favour and bring Maya and Sele over, yes?"
"I can do that! I'll bring them right over!"

And then she dashed away at his request.

"Energetic as always, makes me jealous."
"..."

He refilled his mug yet again. At least, this time he wasn't downing it immediately, but instead prepared a second mug and handed it to me.

"Join me for a little."
"Nn..."

He pushed the mug into my hands, not allowing me to refuse.
I took a small sip... and winced. Whatever this was, it burnt like hell. My throat hurt.

"Heh, not used to it, eh? Can't blame you, it's a pretty strong one."
"The heck... is this..."
"It's called Forest Fire. Ale from beyond the wooden sea. Said to be some of the strongest stuff around."

A wildfire. A literal wildfire. I quite liked alcohol but this... this was too much for me to handle.
I put the mug on the nearby table and pretended it didn't exist. Maybe some poor sod would later find this and attempt to drink it, but that wasn't any of my concern. Korwen just watched me, not saying anything. A short silence followed before he directed his attention to me.

"So?"
"Nn?"
"Why are you girls back?"
"..."

Of course, he'd ask. For all intents and purposes, none of us really thought we'd come back. So, asking why was only the natural course of events. And... I probably should tell him properly... Sending Emily away was likely for this too...

"Can't tell me?"
"No, that's not..."

It really was hard to tell it to his face... But I had to... I braced myself, taking a deep breath, and told him everything. Well, everything important. That we had gone to the capital, that we had a talk, about the incident with the three girls and the following preparations, what Greyward had told us... pretty much everything. Well, I did exclude my little trip to the festival with Karen.
Korwen silently listened to it all, not interrupting me a single time.

"... and that's about it."
"... I see."

He didn't say anything else. Instead, he took out one of his cigars, lit it, and began smoking.

"Yumi."
"N— Nn?"
"I thought you're naive."

Oh, did the whole thing better his view of me? I couldn't quite understand how that would happen, but I wholeheartedly welcomed it.

"Turns out you're incredibly stupid as well."
"..."

Apparently, he wasn't going to praise me.

"I am fairly certain we talked about this in the very beginning in Arkesta. You girls have no training, you can barely fight. There are things you can do, yes. But you're still mostly useless. Even the three little ones can at most defend themselves."
"..."

That hurt. That really hurt. Even if it was true.

"You girls worrying about us, that's an insult."
"Eh?"

An... insult?

"We're trained soldiers. Risking our lives is our living and most of us take pride in our work. It's not the most savoury work, but it is our work. Having you girls worry about us and coming here out of worry is a slap in the face. You're nothing but amateurs."

He puffed out the smoke of his cigar and pointed at me with the tip.

"Not to mention, you came here because the little ones threw a tantrum? Are you making fun of me? I sent you all away to get to safety and you came here because you gave in to a temper tantrum? Are you stupid? Are you a complete moron?"

He shook his head in exasperation.

"Seems I gave you too much credit. That was my mistake. I didn't expect the girls to throw a tantrum but neither did I expect you to give in to them either."
"..."

I... didn't know what to say. I really didn't. It felt like I was a little kid being scolded. But... that's basically what it was. Even though I wasn't a little kid... He was scolding me.
I could only blankly stare at him, letting the words slowly set in.

And... he's not wrong... is he...

I really hadn't thought this through, about how they were feeling, about their intentions... I... did something bad... apparently...

"Haa... What's done is done now. Still, I'm pretty angry, just so you know."
"... I'm sorry."
"You better be. You're the oldest one of your little group. If you can't get a grip, you're just going to make things worse. Not knowing anything or not being familiar with things, that excuse isn't going to fly. What would have happened if there was a serious battle here? Could you take responsibility? Could you take responsibility when one of the girls you want to protect so much dies? What you're doing is pure hypocrisy, Yumi."

He took another drag from his cigar.

"You're an adult, then act like one. This world isn't forgiving and that attitude is going to get someone killed sooner or later. Understood?"
"..."
"I asked if you understood!"
"Nn..."
"Answer properly!"
"Y, yes!"
"No stuttering!"
"Yes!"
"Answer with 'Yes, Captain!' or 'Understood, Captain!'"
"Yes, Captain!"

He raised his voice, literally shouted. The forceful order made me stand as straight as a candle out of reflex.

"Mh, that's good enough for now. Have Merim teach you how to properly salute later. You chose this path, so I will treat you like you did. That's what you wanted after all. And since you ignored my order to carefully think about the future, I'll have to punish you."
"P, punish?"
"Let's see... Until you can manage to at least beat Merim in a physical fight—no magic nor weapons—you'll have to work as my secretary and accountant. Yes, that's a good idea."

He put on a cruel grin before extinguishing the stump of his cigar.

"I won't be so soft anymore. You're the kind that needs to be put on a leash and hit with a stick to understand. Don't expect me to be nice anymore. You lost that chance."
"Uhm, I'd prefer no stick..."
"Did you say something?"
"N, no..."
"Where's the 'Captain'? Do it again!"
"N, no, Captain."
"No stuttering! Again!"
"No, Captain!"

The way he glared down at me was scary. I had made him really angry,  didn't I...

"Mh, good enough. Then let's get to work."

He downed the remaining contents of his mug and slammed it onto the nearby table.

"I'll scold the others later. There are unfortunately more important things for now. Come."

He didn't even look at me as he passed me.

I... I've really done it now...

---

The spot he led me to was actually only a few meters away, near a small tent they had erected. But what awaited me there was hell. No wonder he had been in a bad mood even before I had told him everything. A table covered with dozens of documents and even more notes with calculations. There were also some that seemed to be letters with orders, requests and the like.
He handed me a small stack of papers with calculations. At first, I thought this was a supply list or something, similar to what I had to go through back in the warehouse. Unfortunately, though, it wasn't quite the same.

"Captain, these are... damages from the fort and a request form?"
"Correct. Sum up the damages, especially the material damage. Then, go confirm with the person in charge from the army about the materials that need to be requested, fill out the order form, calculate the expected total cost. Don't mind things like transport costs, for now, only sum up the materials."
"Haa..."
"Your answer?"
"... U, Understood, Captain."
"..."
"Understood, Captain!"

The sudden glare he shot me terrified me. I really had to be careful from now on...

"Yumi! Uncle!"

From the distance, Emily approached, together with Maya and Sele. They were in a good mood. For now, they still were. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Korwen turning to them, looking completely unamused. This wasn't going to end well. This definitely wasn't going to end well for them.

"I'll... go do my work..."

It was high time to escape. I felt sorry for the three since I knew what was coming to them now but I didn't want to get roped in another time. Korwen didn't answer and just let me leave. Maybe he hadn't even heard it. Meanwhile, Emily was shouting after me, most likely wondering why I was running away, but I didn't dare to turn around now.

I'm sorry, Emily, Maya, Sele. I wish you good luck. May we meet again, preferably alive.

It didn't take long for me to find a small, unoccupied table where I could work on these documents.

"Haa..."

I sat on the bench and slumped down onto the table. Finally alone again.

Responsibility...

Who would take responsibility if someone had died... Getting ourselves killed would be the opposite of what we had wanted to achieve... He was so correct that it hurt. I really was doing a horrible job of being the eldest of our small group. I should've properly listened to Karen when she refused to return at first.

"My, my, all down from being scolded? Dear, must've hit close to home."
"..."

Something appeared. Something I didn't want to talk with, right now. I had completely forgotten she was still here at the fort too. Even so, she was probably the last person I wanted to see at the moment. Just listening to her devil-may-care tone already irritated me.

"Not going to answer? You make me sad, dear. I'll cry."
"..."
"Dear? I'll really cry, you know. I'll bawl loud enough for the entire fort to hear and I'll scream that this child of mine was at fault."
"..."
"..."

I didn't feel like humouring her. For all I cared, she could bawl and tell everyone if she wanted to.

"My, my... Seems you're not in a good mood."

Suddenly she dropped her flippant attitude and sat down opposite of me. She circled her finger in the air, making a drinking glass appear together with a glass bottle. Without saying another word she filled her glass and enjoyed her drink. I kind of wanted to know what magic could even make things appear out of thin air but...

Yumias never tells the full truth. That's what Greyward said.

Seeing her being silent, she really only gave the impression of a little girl enjoying her drink. But she was more than that...

"Aren't you going to do your work? He'll scold you again."
"..."

A little irritated at her attitude, I turned my attention to the documents in front of me. As much as I hated to admit it, her words were correct... I should go through these before he'd scold me again. Leaving myself to fate, I took the first sheet and took a good look at it. There were dozens of various things listed, from the damage to the gate and the wall to minor injuries and the aftermath of the curse. All of them were listed with the estimated costs up to this day.

Props to whoever listed these. They really went into detail, huh... Nn? Wait...

My gratitude disappeared as quickly as it had come. They hadn't gone into detail. There were prices listed and the amount of material damage. But the prices weren't the total of the related material... but the expected price of a small amount of this material. It was like telling me what one bottle of water would cost while I had to know the price for dozens of bottles...

Oh great, this will take time. Actually... How much is a Centner? Actually, what is a Centner? Or what is a Klafter? Help!

This had never been important to me but... they didn't use a system of measurements I was familiar with. I knew they calculated the time a little different but... Yeah, of course, everything else would be different too...

What do I do now... I don't know how much these units are and how I calculate with them... Like, which one is even for weight and which for length...

I'd have to ask someone... Someone who wasn't this person sitting opposite me and was leisurely drinking soda. Soda...

"Is something the matter? Do you want some?"
"..."

She lifted the glass with the black soda, shaking it a little to draw my attention. The soda looked incredibly familiar.
Truth be told, that offer was incredibly tempting. Who knew when I'd have the next chance for this. Probably never. Or at least, not without going through her...

"... No."
"Oh?"

Still, I wasn't in the mood for it at all. I envied people who could just let things go. With a sigh, I turned back to the papers. I really needed someone to teach me first... Better go and look for someone. I sorted them back into a stack and left the table.

"Hey, you leaving me alone?"
"..."

No energy to deal with her, even if she dropped her annoying attitude for once. What was the deal with her anyway... Every time I see her she behaved differently. Or was she just moody? I didn't understand it in the least...

No, that doesn't really matter now... I need someone to teach me the measurement units...

I shook my head and chased the thoughts away. It was time to look for someone...

---

"Measurement units?"
"Nn."
"You mean, like weight or length of something?"
"Nn."

It took some time but I found Lily, who had stayed behind with Greyward. She had already heard of the story with the bridge too, albeit she hadn't gone to take a loot yet.

"Mh, give me a paper, I'll write them out."
"Ohh, thank you, Lily."

I handed her one of the papers, with the empty backside up. I didn't have any empty sheets so that would have to do.

"Ehh, do you have a pen?"
"..."
"Give me one moment."

With a wry smile, Lily disappeared around a corner and came back a minute later, pen in hand. It was a little embarrassing that I had forgotten such a vital thing... When it rains, it pours...

"You can take this one, it's one of Papa's. He never uses them anyway."
"Nn, thank you. Should I return it later?"
"Mh, might be better, yes. You can ask him if you can keep it too, though. Like I said, he never uses them, he still uses a feather pen."
"Okay."

A feather pen, huh. That sounded interesting. But also like a pain to use.
Lily took the sheet and swiftly wrote a few words on it. Apparently, a Centner was a weight unit and a Klafter was for distance. I asked her how much a Klafter actually was but... half a dozen grown men's feet... was incredibly vague.
She finished writing up all the important units and how much each unit was compared to the higher or lower denominations. Surprisingly detailed considering how quick she did this. Then again, these units were probably normal for everyone...

"Ah, right, Yumi. I saw the three little ones just now with the captain."
"..."
"They were crying and the Captain seemed quite angry with them."
"..."

Lily tilted her head on confusion. At least she hadn't gone to ask them what was going on. Would have expected her to do that, though.

"Yumi. Do you know anything about that."
"... It was hell. He is angry at us."
"... Why?"

Should I tell her? I probably should. But on the other side, she also hadn't thought things through, just like me, and she was technically the next oldest one. The only one who had tried to protest was Karen. Maybe it was better to just let her get scolded as well. She should share my suffering. Yes, that was a good idea. Share the pain.

"I'm sure you'll find out."
"... I think I'll try to avoid him for the day."
"Good luck."

I very much doubted that she could avoid him all day. And I doubted even more that he wouldn't scold her tomorrow. Albeit he might be in a slightly better mood.

"Then, I'll get back to help Papa. Good luck with your work."
"Thank you."

The very moment Lily spotted her adoptive father in the distance, she dashed away, as if the previous discussion had never happened.

Oh well... I guess I'll have to comfort the three little ones later... Although I'd like to get comforted as well...

I sat down on the next nearest table and spread the documents out in front of me.

Time to get this done...