To keep things simple… the remainder of the journey back was rather eventful. Not.

Karen was busy keeping the wagon moving and albeit she was more relaxed than the prior day, she was still directing most of her attention to it. To be honest, I was a little miffed about the situation but I knew in my head that she had to pay attention to them. But even though I knew, I couldn’t help but want some attention from her. Emotions were a troublesome thing, weren’t they?

Fortunately, I managed to hold back for the remainder of the trip. Apart from another short break during which we spent some time with Lily and Rina, nothing else happened. And soon enough, we could see Auria in the distance once again.

“We’re back already…”

I still couldn’t quite grasp how quickly we had returned. Though, even if we hadn’t gone back immediately, we probably would have only spent a day or two there. And most of that time we would’ve been busy securing supplies. As it was, we at least got a good look at an Aldreighan town. Which, honestly, had been quite an experience.

I hope we can get some of those useful gadgets the Aldreighans have. Those would make life really comfortable, after all.

Especially those waste processors. Those would be wonderful.

“Nn? What’s that?”

As I was staring into the distance, dreaming about the convenience our future life might have, something entered my view. A group of people was coming down the road, walking in our direction. No, marching would be a better word for it.

“Yumi? Did you see something?”
“Nn. There’s a group approaching us.”

Some of them wore familiar clothing so I was fairly sure that these people belonged to the mercenaries. However, they were still too far for me to say for sure. Despite my pretty good long-distance vision, too.

“Oh, we’re slowing down.”

Apparently, Greyward had spotted them as well and decided to slow down, maybe even stop to meet up with them.

“Nn, I can’t see them well…”
“Be careful not to fall off the bench.”
“I won’t, I won’t.”
“... That’s not very reassuring to hear.”

Rude. I wasn’t going to fall off that quickly. I knew my limit. Either way, without leaning to the side I wouldn’t be able to look past the wagons, so I kind of had to.

“... I think… that’s Merim? And, err… I don’t know the other people there… Oh, I can see a few women from Fenna’s squad, too. They’re carrying something…”
“I wonder what they are doing there?”
“Nn… Wait, I see Maya and the girls, too.”

Now I was really confused. Everyone, including the three little girls, was carrying large backpacks as they marched toward us. But… why?

“Maybe they’re going somewhere?”
“I could understand that with Merim but what about Maya, Emily and Sele?”
“I wonder…”

Karen didn’t have any clue either. Then again, no matter how much we thought about it, we wouldn’t know for sure until we asked them anyway. Something we’d be able to do pretty soon now. I could already make out the smiles of the girls as they waved in our direction.

Behind them were several young men, exhausted, with sweat running down their faces and their clothes so drenched I would have thought they jumped into the lake. A stark contrast to the energetic girls.

“Looks like we’re stopping,” said Karen.

She brought the wagon to a full stop and let out a small sigh, her body visibly relaxing. Just moments later, I could see a familiar man jump down from his wagon and come toward us.

“We’ll take a short break! Stay on your wagons, we’ll move again soon.”
“Nn, got it.”

The man passed us and relayed the message to Lily behind us as well. Meanwhile, the group approaching us was now within talking distance of the leading wagon in our caravan.

“Nn, too bad I can’t hear them.”
“I would be surprised if you could…”
“Me too.”

It would be convenient, though.

“Oh, I can see Mr Greyward now… He’s talking with Merim… Ah, the girls are coming.”
“They are?”

Karen sidled up to me to look past the wagon.

“Yumi! Big Sis Karen!”
“We came!”

Maya and Emily shouted, waving their hands wildly at us. Sele was quiet as usual but you could see her big happy smile as she ran to us with the other two.

“Yumi, Big Sis Karen, we came!” exclaimed Emily.
“Nn, glad to see you girls doing well. Has everything been well?”
“Everything was well!”
“That’s great.”

Well enough that they had too much energy left even, it seemed.

“So, what are you all doing here?” asked Karen.
“Training!”
“... Training?”

They were… training?

“Training! We carried the backpacks!”
“I see…”

I was confused for a moment… then it suddenly clicked. They were marching with filled backpacks, most likely. Those backpacks were sure to be heavy and marching for a long time was bound to be exhausting. At least, that’s what I assumed this was about.

“I see. Training, huh? Then, did it go well?”
“We are!”
“We’re still good!”

Emily and Maya asserted with vigour, while Sele nodded next to them.

“Ah, right, Yumi! Uncle Greyward called for you and Big Sis Karen. And for Lily!”
“Huh? He did?”

Well, what did he need us for?

“I guess we’ll go to him then. Are you going to call Lily?”
“We are!”
“Nn, I guess we shouldn’t keep him waiting then. We’ll go to Mr Greyward.”

Saying so, I jumped down from the bench. As if they had been waiting for this, the three girls immediately surrounded me and jumped into my arms.

“Woah?! Careful there!”
“Yumi!”
“Ehehe.”
“...”
“... Seriously.”

What should I do about this? Or rather, what could I do?

“Can’t be helped.”

I pulled them all into my arms and gave them all a good big squeeze. All three laughed happily as I hugged them back.

“Okay, that’s enough.”
““Ehhh?””

I pulled away from the girls, much to their disappointment.

“Don’t be so disappointed. We can hug all you want later.”
“Promise!”
“Nn, promise.”

Hopefully, they would show some restraint when the time came… Probably not.

“Then, we’ll go and fetch Lily!”
“Nn, I’ll leave it to you.”

With that, the three girls ran over to their next victim, shouting “Big Sis Lily! Rina!” all the while.

“Really, what a troublesome bunch.”
“You don’t look troubled to me, Yumi.”
“Nn… Well, I guess I don’t hate it.”

They were so upfront about their emotions. Just seeing those smiles was enough to make me smile as well.

“They do love you a lot.”
“They especially love to hug me.”
“I can relate to that. It does feel great.”

One day, I’d like to know how it’d feel to hug me… I didn’t hate it but it did make me a little jealous since I kept hearing it.

“Haa… Anyway, let’s go and see what Mr Greyward needs us for.”
“Hehe, sure, let’s do that.”
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. Hehehe.”

No, it definitely wasn’t just nothing if she was giggling.

“Oh well… Let’s go.”
“Okay.”

Shrugging my shoulders, I took Karen’s hand and we walked over to Greyward and the others. During the time we spoke with the girls, most of the group that came with them had sat down next to the road and were taking a rest. All of them were faces I had never seen before, too.

We approached Merim and Greyward who were talking with each other. The women from Fenna’s squad were off to the side, watching over the exhausted young men.

“Mr Greyward, you called for us?”
“Ah, there they are.”

Sounded like they were waiting for us.

“Yumi, Karen. Good to see you two are well.”

Merim, who had been talking with Greyward, greeted us as well.

“Nn, good to see you, too, Merim. I didn’t expect to see you here, though.”
“Ahaha, it was supposed to be a surprise, after all. Would defeat the point if you expected us, right?”
“Well, I guess it wouldn’t…”

It wouldn’t be much of a surprise then, that much was true. But it still confused me a little. They couldn’t have come for the sole purpose of surprising us, could they? And what was up with those men in the back?

“So, err, what’s going here? What’s up with those men there? The girls said you were here for training but…” I asked them, glancing toward that exhausted group.
“Well, calling it training… That’s certainly not wrong.”

Merim grinned, clearly amused for some reason or another. Apparently, it wasn’t just a training session.

“It’s more of an… exam.”
“An exam?”
“Yes. Those men are mostly hopefuls, wishing to join us.”
“Ohh.”

Now, that made sense. New recruits and an exam, huh? Had to be quite the harrowing experience from the looks of it.

“And? How did it go?”
“Well…”

Merim smiled bitterly. Guess it didn’t go well.

“Let’s leave the results for another time. It looks like Lily came as well now.”

When he mentioned it, I turned around and found Lily and Rina coming our way, accompanied by the three girls.

“Glad to see you two are well, too,” said Merim to them.
“It’s been only a few days. Not much could have happened. At most, the boredom was killing me.”
“Haha, that I can relate to.”

So could I.

“So? What did you need from us?”
“Mhm, well…”

Merim glanced meaningfully towards the group behind us.

“They are?”
“New hopefuls, for the most part.”
“Ahhh… I see. So you were hazing them.”
“Hey now, that’s not true. I just taught them a little bit about reality.”
“By forcing them to watch how these three girls can carry those backpacks without breaking a sweat?”
“Well, maybe a little.”

Wait, was that why Maya, Emily and Sele were here? Seriously?

“Jokes aside, we were testing them, that much is true. As for Maya and the girls, they wanted to come along and welcome you back.”

Oh, was that the case?

I turned to look at the girls and they all grinned at me. Really, these girls…

“I see. They look quite exhausted to me already.”
“Yeah. There’s no way they’re going to carry everything back.”
“Definitely not.”

Everyone looked toward the young men. Many of them were still sitting on the ground, catching their breath. They’d likely collapse if they had to carry those backpacks back. I agreed with that.

“So, I’d like you and Karen to collect the backpacks and store them in the empty wagon.”
“... I knew it was going to be something like that.”

Lily sighed, not looking surprised by the request at all. In contrast, Karen wasn’t quite sure what was going on.

“Nn… Isn’t that a little mean, Merim?”
“If that is enough to intimidate them, then they’d just die a pointless death anyway. Better for them to realise that sooner rather than later.”
“Well…”

That wasn’t wrong… I still felt it was quite mean to make a show of Karen and Lily carrying those backpacks.

“Well, no point in arguing about that. Karen, let’s get those backpacks. I want to get back soon.”
“Ah, yes. I’m coming. Yumi, I’ll help for a little bit.”
“Nn, sure.”

With that Karen and Lily approached the group of men. Quite a few of them finally spotted them, looking surprised to see these two young girls. I also spotted more than a few of them looking at Karen and Lily with more than just a curious gaze.

Shoo, you guys. Karen is mine. And Lily belongs to Rina. They’re both taken already!

I did restrain myself from saying that out loud, though. There wouldn’t be much of a point to it. I very much doubted I’d see most of them ever again, after all. Not after Merim’s hazing.

Though, I had to admit, it was incredibly amusing to watch their eyes go wide when Karen picked up several backpacks at once and carried them away. She was treating them like they weighed nothing. Which most likely wasn’t even that far from the truth for her.

It also stopped the other kind of gaze directed at them, for some reason.

“Haa… Merim, should I do something, too?”
“You?”

He looked at me for a few seconds, before shaking his head.

“There isn’t anything I’d need you for right now, no.”
“Wow… Not asking me to help with those backpacks?”
“I’m not expecting our luggage to solve its problems among itself.”
“...”

What? What the hell did that mean… Wait, did he just say I’m luggage in a roundabout way? Seriously? That’s what it meant, didn’t it?

“You’re in a good mood today, Merim,” commented Greyward.
“Of course I am. The captain dumped these wannabe mercenaries on me before running off into town. Couldn’t be in a better mood.”

Ah. I got it. He was in a bad mood. No wonder he was so mean today.

“Korwen ran off to town? Hope it’s nothing troublesome.”
“It sure seemed to be.”

Merim shrugged his shoulders while sighing.

“He got a letter from the governor earlier and then rushed off in a hurry.”
“Mmm… Well, we’ll hear from him soon enough, I guess.”
“I sure hope so.”

During the time they discussed Korwen’s possible reasons for meeting the governor, Karen and Lily had collected most of the backpacks and stored them in the wagon. 

“Nn, how heavy are those backpacks anyway?” I asked.
“Want to try lifting one?”
“I have a feeling that’d be pointless.”
“True. They’re filled to the brim with stones.”
“...”

Yeah, no way I was going to lift one of those.

“I’m more impressed they even managed to reach up to here with those backpacks.”
“We actually left behind quite a few along the road. These are the only ones that managed to keep up.”
“...”

My condolences.

“Mr Merim, we’re done.”
“Ohh, good work, Karen, Lily.”

Karen and Lily returned to us as if they had only just finished a minor errand. There was no sign of exhaustion on them or anything. They both treated the backpacks as if they weighed next to nothing. Especially Karen, who simply stacked several of them and carried them all at once. The hopefuls had watched on in pure horror.

“Are you sure any of them are going to stay with us?”
“Probably not.”
“...”

No juniors for me. Karen and I would remain the youngest mercenaries for a while, huh?

“Most of them weren’t truly serious about becoming a mercenary anyway. They only came to us lured in by our reputation, thinking that swinging a hoe and a sword is about the same. If they still wish to stay with us after this, we’re going to welcome them. But usually, not many are willing to do so.”
“Nn, I can see why.”

If they always did this, it was bound to scare them away.

“Either way, since you’re done we should continue on. I think everyone wants to get back as soon as possible,” suggested Greyward.
“Yes, that’s true. Haaa… Time to get those brats moving. Oh, right, Yumi.”
“Nn?”
“Can the girls go with you and Karen?”
“With us? Err, do we have enough space on the bench?”

I turned to Karen, not sure if we could manage that.

“I think that should be fine… just barely.”
“Nn… Then, I guess we can?”
“Great, I’ll leave them to you then.”
“Nn, sure.”

With the three girls now our responsibility, Merim went to rouse up the potential recruits.

“Well then, break time is over. Let’s get back home.”

---

The remaining trip home was just as uneventful as before. Half an hour later, we were already steering the wagon into its parking position.

“We’re back!”
“Back!”
“Back! Back!”
“...”

I raised my arms, shouting in joy. Emily, Maya and Sele joined me, despite having only left earlier this morning.

“It’s been some time, hasn’t it?”
“Nn. But honestly, I’m glad we’re back.”

Just seeing all the familiar wagons and the familiar faces was enough to make me feel that I was back home. It was amazing how quickly it had become the place I called home.

“Yumi, Big Sis Karen, what are you going to do now?” Maya asked us.
“What are you going to do now?” Emily parroted.
“Nn… I think we take a look whether the captain has returned already.”

For one, I was curious about what got him into such a hurry but most importantly, he was the one who usually gave us our orders. Without any orders… There was nothing to do for us.

“What will you girls do?”
“Go to aunty! She told us to visit her when we come back.”

Aunty? That was probably Mrs Korwen, right?

“I see. Then we’ll part here for now.”

Hearing that, the three girls immediately looked a little sad.

“Yumi, we’ll come and visit later!”
“Nn, that’s fine.”
“Then, then… Until later!”
“Until later.”

Having decided on their plans, the three rushed off with their usual energy.

“There they go… They’re so lively.”
“They really are. Hehe.”

Next to me, Karen chuckled as she watched them go.

“... Let’s go and look for the captain.”
“Okay.”

We leisurely walked through the camp, watching the mercenaries at their usual work. We saw a few familiar faces here and there and were greeted by a few others. Before long, we stood at Korwen’s usual tent. Only to find it empty.

“Guess he’s not back yet, huh…”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
“Nn… Not much we can do about.”

Without Korwen, there was nothing we could do but wait for him. Alas, before we could think about our next course of action, someone called out to us.

“Oh, if it isn’t the little brat and the girly.”
“Huh?”
“Ah, Wanda.”

And sure enough, there stood Wanda.

“I see, your group’s already back, huh?”
“Nn, we just came back.”
“And you already went to look for your captain? How diligent.”

Well, he was the one paying for our food so I’d rather make sure I did my work.

“What about you, Wanda? The captain’s not here.”
“I know. I was just going to leave these for him.”

She held up a small bundle of cloth, carefully rolled up and tied with a thin rope. I wasn’t sure if those were clothes or something else.

“What is that?”
“The flag they found in that fort. The old coot wanted me to take a look at it so I did.”
“At the flag?”

My eyes widened a little in surprise.

“Yes. He hoped I could find some clues on it.”
“Oh… So, did you?”
“Nothing much, really. I can guess how old it is and how long it stayed in that fort but that’s all.”

Wasn’t that plenty already?

“Apart from that, it’s just like any old flag. Nothing impressive about it.”
“Huh…”
“Anyway, let me drop these off quickly.”

Without waiting for a reply, Wanda entered Korwen’s tent, dropped the bundle on his desk and then returned to us.

“By the way, how are your clothes holding up? Everything all right?”
“Nn, I have no issues whatsoever. What about you, Sis?”
“It’s all good. Everything fits and it’s comfortable to wear.”

We really couldn’t complain. Wanda was good at what she did.

“Great, great, that’s what I like to hear. If there are any issues, let me know.”
“Nn, will do… Speaking of which, there’s something.”
“Oh?”
“We need another set of bed sheets and towels.”
“Bed sheets and towels, you say?”
“Nn.”

We really ought to prepare those, or we’d end up in a rather… delicate situation again. Speaking of which, we should hang up our wet bedsheets when we get back.

“Sure, that’s easy enough to prepare. The bed sheets are going to take a while but I should still have a number of towels around. I can give them to you now if you want.”
“Oh, that’d be great.”

I actually expected both of them to take a while so this was a pleasant surprise.

“Then come with me.”

She didn’t wait for a reply again and just walked off, simply expecting us to follow her. Karen and I hurried after her. It was so like her.

Really drives it home that we’re back, doesn’t it?

I smiled wryly at the thought. Really, seeing everyone so busy was relieving.

“Nn?”

As I watched the mercenaries, something caught my attention. A group of mercenaries were… making something.

“Wanda, what are they doing over there?”
“Mh? What? Oh, that… They’re preparing.”
“Preparing? For?”
“The inevitable storm that is Korwen’s daughter.”
“...”

Speaking of which, they were expecting her to come soon…

“And what are they preparing?”
“A net for capture.”
“...”

Why… would you need a net to capture something…

“They’re also digging over there?”

Wanda pointed to the edge of the camp. Sure enough, four or five mercenaries were gripping shovels and digging a trench. A little further two mercenaries were setting up a wooden barricade.

“It looks as if they were preparing for an attack…”
“Nn… Wanda, isn’t it the captain’s daughter that is coming to visit?”
“It is.”
“So, why are they doing all this? It really looks like they are building defences.”
“That’s exactly what they are doing.”
“...”

I was confused! What kind of girl was it that would require them to set up defences?

“Is she… violent?”
“One of the sweetest girls I know.”
“... Then why?”

Wanda watched the mercenaries for a moment. After a while, she smiled.

“Let’s say that they are all a little… too playful.”
“I… see?”

Playful… At least, that didn’t sound like something overly troublesome, if it was something they did for fun.

“But I doubt they’ll manage to finish everything in time.”
“They won’t?”

If I recalled correctly, they said she would be around a week after the letter arrived at the earliest. That was already three days ago so they should have at least four left.

“Yes. They’re all believing they still have time… Even though they don’t.”
“Nn… Are you saying that she’ll be here faster?”
“That’s right. I assume she’ll be here tomorrow or the day after. Maybe even today.”
“Err… That’s a lot faster than they assumed.”

It’d be like half the time they believed they had.

“Because they assumed she would travel by land.”
“She won’t?”
“Probably not. She’s in Krohmea, what do you think is the shortest route here.”

Krohmea… Recalling my mental map, it should be to the north of Lafria, on the other side of the Sleeping Forest and the Grand Spirit Lake…

“... She’ll cross the lake?”
“Most likely.”

Crossing the lake… That wasn’t impossible, I assumed. I had no idea how big the lake really was. It was hard to gauge having only seen a few maps. But I knew one thing for sure: It was massive.

“So, instead of walking around it, she’ll cross the lake…”
“That’s right, brat. Guess you do have some smarts about you.”
“...”

Gee, thanks.

“Either way, she’ll be here soon enough.”
“I see. Nn, I’m looking forward to meeting her.”
“Ha, you’ll like her, I think.”

Well, I hoped so. It’d be quite awkward if I couldn’t get along with my superior’s daughter.

“She’s a very sweet girl. Really makes you wonder if she’s really that old coot’s daughter.”
“Ahahaha…”

I’d refrain from commenting on that.

“Well, enough about her. You’ll see her soon enough anyway.”
“Nn. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Ha, I doubt you’ll be disappointed.”

Wanda laughed heartily.

“Haa, really, that girl’s a good girl. Completely different from her schemer father. Guess at least one thing he did right. Anyway, enough about that. Your towels, you wanted towels, right?”
“Nn, we did.”

Then let’s fetch you those. Also, I’ll need the size of your bed for the bed sheets.”
“Uhhh…”
“... If you don’t know it, I’ll need to take a look. Or you measure it.”
“I think it’ll be better if we measure it.”
“Fair enough.”

Wanda asked a few more things as we resumed walking to her tent. Once we arrived, she gave us what we needed and we went back to our wagon to measure the bed. After we delivered the measurements, she immediately threw us out so she could work on it… Typical.