“Okay, men, hold that log tight! Don’t you dare drop it on me!”
“What’s gonna happen if we drop it?”
“I’ll stuff it up your arse, dumbass! That’s what’s gonna— Holy crap, don’t you dare!”
“Gahahaha!”

The man jumped back, evading the log that his comrades had jokingly loosened up a little. It stopped right above where his head had been moments prior, so it really had been just a joke to scare him. The victim in question wasn’t so amused as the others laughed away at him.

“You spirits-be-damned fuckers! I’ll get you for this!”
“Gahahahaha! Come and try! I’ll be waiting!”
“I promise I’ll get you for that! Now, get that fucking log up there again!”
“Sure, sure!”

The men, still laughing their bottoms off, pulled the log up again, securing it in position. The other man who they had messed with threw a rope around it and secured the log to the rest of the structure.

“There we go! How’s it?”
“Looks good and all but… You think that’s gonna stop her?”
“Nope, not in the least!”
“Figured!”

And they shared another laugh.

“They’re really enjoying this, aren’t they?”
“They are. Ah, Yumi, a little more to the left.”
“Nn, one moment… Like this?”
“Yes.”

I turned back to Karen, who was similarly holding a log to put on top of the barricade. She laid it down and secured it with rope, making sure it would fit just right

“Okay, I think this one is done now?”
“Nn, looks like it.”

Karen jumped down from the barricade and looked at her handiwork. In front of us was a barricade, around twice as tall as Karen and around five or six steps wide. The thick logs were held together by pink rope, giving them a pretty weird appearance. However, if nothing else, I could vouch for the resilience of those ropes. After all, it was literally my own hair.

“Oh, that looks mighty fine, girlies!”
“Nn?”

Turning around, I saw one of the mercenaries from earlier, looking over our work and nodding approvingly.

“That’s gonna hold her up for sure! It might even survive a punch!”
“... Just one?”
“Gahahahaha!”

Just what kind of monster were we talking about? These logs were as thick as my waist. Could you call someone who could punch through that even human anymore?

“Oh well… Anything else you want us to do?”
“Whatever ya want, girl. Traps, barricades, do whatever tickles your fancy.”
“That sounds… Pretty random.”
“It’s just some fun anyway, no need to think hard about it. Ya can help others or build something on ya own. Whichever ya want.”
“Hmm…”

Whatever we wanted, huh? We only really helped out with the barricade because we had nothing else to do… and they seemed to be struggling with a few. Plus, it seemed interesting.

“Oh, right, girl, Yumi!”
“Nn?”
“Ya carry that banner, don’t ya?”
“Nn, I do.”
“How about it, wanna be our flag?”
“Huh?”

Their… flag?

“Yeah. Just carry the flag and protect it when the time for it comes. How about it?”
“Nn…”

Carrying the flag, he said…

I looked over the field where all the other mercenaries were busy building their things. Mostly barricades, trenches and a few traps made with rope. There were also a few where I had no idea what it was that they were doing though. But one thing I could say for sure: They all enjoyed their work.

“... If you’re fine with me, then sure.”
“Oh, great! Guys, listen up! Lil’ Yumi agreed to be our flag!”
“Woah, seriously?!”
“Oh, really? Awesome! We got a flag!”
“Time to get serious then!”

The mercenaries shouted in joy, happy about it.

“Don’t ya dare bring shame upon our flag! Get your asses in gear!”
“””Woooohhh!”””

All the mercenaries resumed their work with newly found gusto. It was amazing.

“Hahaha! Thanks, girl! This is going to be great!”
“... Nn, I hope so. Though, I don’t even really know what to expect.”
“That’s half the fun of it, isn’t it? Just enjoy the show! Build some stuff and watch things get messy!”
“I will.”
“That’s good!”

It certainly felt like this would get messy. Even before the actual event… Speaking of which.

“We don’t really know when she will come, do we? So, do we just wait for her here or how is this going to go?”
“Ya wanna know when things get starting? Whenever she comes, of course! Don’t ya worry, you will know when she comes.”

Why, that sounded just a little bit foreboding, didn’t it? What kind of ruckus would we have to look forward to?

“Man, don’t just flirt with the girls! Come back and help us out, damn it!”
“Yeah, yeah, no need to get cranky, I’m coming. Sheesh, ya heard the man. If ya need anything, just ask around.”
“Nn, got it.”

He went back to his complaining friends. Just for the record, he wasn’t flirting with us. And even if he was, we’d reject him.

“Yumi, are you really going to do that?”
“Nn? You mean the thing about the banner?”
“Yes.”
“Well, it sounds like fun so why not?”

It’s not like this was a matter of life or death. They were doing this just for fun. At least, I sincerely hoped so.

“If you’re worried, you just have to protect me when the time comes, my dear knight.”
“I will, I promise. My princess.”
“Hehehe.”

It would be fine to take it easy but… Well, being so serious at times like this was just like her.

“Now then, I might have a knight protecting me but I do need a castle as well. So, how about we help out some more?”
“Sure. But what should we do?”
“Nn… Good question.”

I looked over the area. Several barricades had already been finished, including the one Karen and I had worked on spontaneously. Apart from those, several mercenaries had dug trenches in front of or between these barricades. A few of them were also digging at places where there was… pretty much nothing. Why were they even digging there?

“Nn… I don’t think I can really help digging. And the only way I can help with the barricades is with my hair…”
“He mentioned we could also make some traps.”
“Traps, huh?”

Traps certainly were more my area of expertise.

“Nn, I could make some pitfalls, I guess? If I tell the tentacles to not hurt whoever falls in, that should work, no?”
“It would but… is it fine to use mana crystals for messing around?”
“Ahh… That’s a good point.”

This wasn’t a serious situation so using mana crystals just for this was… How to say it… a bit of a waste.

“If mana crystals are no good then… I don’t know. I don’t really know anything about traps.”

My knowledge of traps was limited to the things my tentacles could do. They were called pitfalls. Yes, this was my area of expertise: Pitfalls.

“Sis, do you know anything about traps?”
“Me? Mmm… I think I could manage to make a water bucket fall down?”

That was something I could probably manage, too… But…

“It’s a little simple and maybe a bit childish but that wouldn’t be so bad, would it? It’s not like we’re out to hurt someone.”

In fact, maybe that kind of trap was just right.

“Maybe the dolls could help, too. If they push down the bucket then we wouldn’t need some rope or something that pulls it down.”
“If they are willing to wait that long…”
“Nn, that’s also true.”

It would be a pretty boring job… Best just ask them.

“All free dolls, assemble!”

Mere moments later, they came from every possible direction. Was it just me or did their numbers increase yet again? No, better not think about it too deeply.

“... Is that all of them?”
“Doesn’t look like any others are coming.”
“Nn. Okay then, listen up, dolls. I have a job for you. We want to make a few simple traps and we’d like your help. It’s going to involve a lot of waiting but how about it?”

And… they crowded together as if they were discussing it. After a while, they dispersed, forming lines again and saluting to me.

“Err… I assume that means yes?”

They didn’t budge. This was a yes, right?

“Then, err, I’ll count on you all?”

Helpers secured… probably.

“Nn, but we still need to think about what kind of traps to make. The water bucket is a good one but where would we even set that up?”
“That’s… Maybe between the barricades?”

If we put it between the barricades, we’d probably need to make some kind of bridge connecting them and hide the bucket on top of it. That way, the dolls would just need to push it down when someone walked beneath it.

“Nn, that’s one trap we can do. Any other suggestions?”
“Mmm… Dig a pitfall and fill it with something?”
“Something… like what? More water?”
“Or mud.”
“That’d dry out, wouldn’t it?”
“It would.”

No good then.

“Also, I can’t really help with a pitfall digging. Mm, dolls, do you have any ideas?”

They were pretty smart, as weird as it was considering they were just some wood with mana. Still, they might have an idea.

“Oh, they were doing something… Nn…”

A few dolls ran to the pile of random materials the mercenaries had collected for this. There, they fetched a few ropes and a small box and brought them back.

Several dolls took the rope and stretched it, showing it off to me.

“A stretched-out rope? Err… Oh, do you want to make them trip?”

They nodded. Hey, I got it right.

“That does sound like an idea but I don’t think you guys can trip someone…”

They weighed far too little for that… Oh, one of the dolls beckoned me… to try it out?

“... Don’t come complaining to me.”

I did as they wanted and walked up to them. When I reached the rope, the dolls did their best to hold it up as I walked into it… and dragged them all over the ground.

“Sorry, that’s not going to work if even I can do this.”

The dolls all sumped onto the ground as realisation hit them. There were some things that were just impossible. Physically speaking.

“But maybe we can do something else… Nn… Aren’t there those rope traps that pull you up?”
“Are there?”
“I think…”

Okay, Karen didn’t know about them and I only knew a little about what they did. As for the dolls… They were actually doing something.

“Nn? Oh, they made a sling. That might work, yes. You’re great, you dolls”

The dolls all raised their arms in triumph. They liked the praise.

“By the way, you also brought a box, didn’t you? What’s in there?”
“Let me see… Oh, Yumi, look.”

Karen picked up the box and rummaged through it until she found a small stone-like thing.

“A mana crystal. Well, that’s a bit of a surprise.”

If it was among those materials, that meant we could use it, right?

“Hehehe, then we can make a tentacle pitfall, after all.”
“Looks like it. Maybe we can do other things with your tentacles, too?”
“Nn, probably.”

They were pretty versatile. As long as you could get past their appearance.

“Well then, let’s do this.”

Now that we had gotten a few ideas, we just had to try them out. Time to get to work.

---

“What the hell's going on here?”
“Oh, Cap! Ya back!”
“Ahh… So, mind telling me what you all are doing?”
“We’re making a fortress, obviously!”

Korwen stared at the wooden construction with doubt in his eyes. The man he was questioning didn’t seem to notice it, however, and puffed out his chest in pride.

“... I see. And why?”
“To defend, of course!”
“And where did you get all that wood?”
“From the trees we cut.”
Oh, these are trees from the forest? No wonder there’s so much wood to work with.

Unfortunately for the man, Korwen wasn’t all that amused by it. He stared at the weird construction that was surrounded by barricades and trenches. As he scrutinised it, he also spotted Karen and me as we watched the whole spectacle. He had a look of surprise on him for a second but quickly gathered himself before sighing at the man in front of him.

“Haaa… Next time you do this, at least inform me beforehand. Got that?”
“Well, we wanted to but, Cap, ya were gone the whole day.”
“... I see. I’ll overlook it this time.”
“Ya the best, Cap!”

Korwen shook his head in exasperation.

“Whatever, what’s done is done.”

He walked past the mercenary to take a look at all the things the mercenary had set up.

“I guess this is kind of good training,” he mused as he knocked on a barricade.

Before long, he walked up to Karen and me.

“And I see you two are just fine, too. Welcome back.”
“Nn, we’re back, Captain.”
“Greyward already informed me of everything that has happened so you’re free to do what you want. Though, from what I can see you’ve been doing that anyway.”
“Ahaha…”

In the past two or so hours, Karen and I had made several traps together with the dolls. Some worked just fine, others not so much. Overall, though, we had made a few tentacle pitfalls and some very simple traps with the dolls’ help.

“You even went so far as to make those pitfalls.”
“Nn, there were a few mana crystals among the things they had here so…”
“I see.”

Korwen stared down at the pitfall, scrutinising the tentacles within.

“By the way, what will happen if someone falls in?”
“Nn? Well, they’ll be either restrained or stripped of their equipment. We couldn’t quite decide what is better yet…”

It was hard to do so without knowing how effective either was. It would be nice if someone was willing to test it for us but…

“I see. That sounds like it could work.”

He eyed the pitfall with renewed interest, rubbing his chin as he walked around it.

“Did you only make these ones?”
“Nn. There weren’t many mana crystals there and we didn’t want to use the ones stocked up just like that. Not without permission.”
“How you use those is up to you. As long as you don’t go overboard, I won’t mind if you use up a few.”
“Huh? That’s really all right? I mean, this isn’t even work.”
“It’s good training, so it’s fine.”

I couldn’t deny that it was pretty good training. Well, if he allowed us to use them for things like this, we’d be able to make quite a few more traps. And maybe some other things, too.

“And what’s this up there? A bucket?”
“Nn? Ah, Captain, do—”

And then the water came crashing down.

“...”
“...”
“...”

The bucket that we had put up there had been pushed down by the dolls. The water crashed down, drenching Korwen and, as if to put the nail in the coffin, the bucket landed right on his head.

“It’s water.”
“... Nn.”
“...”

Korwen turned around, the bucket-slash-helmet concealing his expression. Water ran down his body, forming a puddle at his feet.

“Yumi.”
“Y— Yes?!”
“Kepp up the work.”
“I, I will!”
“I’ll get some dry clothes.”

With those words, he trotted off, still wearing the bucket over his head. The other mercenaries watched on with amusement, some barely managing to hold back their laughter.

“... Sis, I think we messed up.”
“I think so, too.”

I mean, he was a mercenary, he should have been able to evade it, right? Right? Yet, somehow he hadn’t even attempted to evade it, taking it head-on.

“Don’t ya worry, girl. His own fault for not evading it. Suits him just right!”
“That’s right. That’s what he gets for underestimating you.”
“To be fair, who would expect a bucket to just drop down on its own?”

Yeah, I wouldn’t, that’s for sure. Maybe we actually caught him by surprise…

Still, he won’t get mad, will he?

It didn’t look like he was mad, at least.

“Sis, let’s pretend that nothing happened here.”
“Okay…”

That would be for the best.

“Dolls, can you… Wait, we need a new bucket first.”

Korwen had taken ours with him… Fortunately, there were many buckets around to use.

“Oh well… Can you fetch a new bucket and fill it with water?”

The dolls saluted before running off to follow my command. After a short while, the dolls returned, carrying a bucket with them. It was pretty amusing seeing half a dozen dolls surrounding a bucket and carefully carrying it around.

“Thank you. Now, we just need to get it back up there. Sis, could you?”
“Sure.”

Karen took the bucket and put it in the spot at the top of the barricade. In the end, we had decided not to make and weird constructions between the barricades. Instead, we had simply placed a bucket at the corner and ordered the dolls to drop it down when someone passed by.

“Right, I should probably tell them not to drop it down for now…”

I didn’t want a repeat of this incident.

“Dolls, don’t drop it for now, just keep it up there, got it?”

They saluted. Good.

“That’s one worry taken care of for now.”

With the trap reinstated, it was time to do some new things.

“Sis, since the captain has given us permission, should we fetch a few mana crystals for the pitfalls?”
“I don’t mind. Want me to fetch them?”
“Nn, if you could.”
“Then, I’ll be back in a moment.”

And so, Karen left to fetch some crystals.

Hehe, this is going to be fun. I wonder what we should make.

I was a little surprised that I was enjoying this so much. We were just making some weird traps for no particular, thinking about where to place them and imagining the results. Like playing tricks on someone, even if it was just in the planning stage for now. It might have been a rather childish enjoyment but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Then again, seeing the result in front of you can be surprisingly scary…

In the end, it did depend on the person you tricked. And your boss wasn’t someone you wanted to play tricks on. Definitely not. I felt like my figurative heart had stopped right there for a second. It was one hell of a scare.

That said, once I thought calmly about it, Korwen wasn’t the kind to get angry over something like this. He’d take it in stride. But one couldn’t help that tiny speck of doubt…

“Haaa… What a shock, right?”

I turned to the dolls surrounding me and asked them, not really expecting an answer. And unsurprisingly, they just tilted their little wooden heads.

“Yumi. I brought the crystals.”
“Nn? Oh, that was fast.”
“The wagon’s only over there.”
“True.”

Karen handed me the small bag with mana crystals.

“Nn, we should be able to make quite a few with these.”
“Yes. But where should we make them?”
“Nn…”

We’d have to spread them around the site. But, honestly, I wasn’t really knowledgable about the… strategic placement of traps.

“Let’s just ask a few of the mercenaries where we could put them.”
“Okay.”

With the mana crystals in hand, we approached the nearest group that was currently digging a… trench? We approached one of the men. He spotted us, stopped his digging and turned around to us.

“Oh, can we help ya girls?”
“Nn. We wanted to make some pitfalls and wanted to ask if you have some good spots.”
“Pitfalls? Those squirmy ones you made?”
“Nn.”

The man leaned on his shovel looking around their work site.

“I think between the barricades would be good, no?”
“Probably. But if we do that everywhere, we won’t be able to walk around anymore.”
“Good point. But how about you just make a few for now? We can figure out how to get out afterwards. Can always put a plank on top of it”
“I guess you could… Okay then, we’ll make a few here as well.”

If we used one crystal per trap, we wouldn’t be able to cover every passage anyway.

“Sure, go right ahead. Oh, but… Can you conceal those somehow?”
“Conceal them… I can close them up and then we can put something atop it.”

That was about the only way we could conceal them.

“Well, sounds good enough. Though if you aren’t careful, they’ll be easy to spot. Leaves and all are fine but it’s easy to notice that something’s wrong then. ‘Specially since we cleaned up the area.”
“Ugh, that’s a good point.”

But I didn’t know any other way to conceal them.

“We can help ya out if ya fine with it. After we’re done with digging.”
“That would be great.”
“Got it.”

With the mercenaries helping us, it should be less obvious that they were trips. So that was a good thing.

Karen and I parted with the group of mercenaries and set out to create some pitfalls.

“How about here, Yumi?”
“Nn, looks fine to me.”

I squatted down at the spot between the barricades and placed a mana crystal on the ground. Then, I put my hand on top of it and began my work. I watched as the tentacles slowly covered the ground in front of me.

“Maybe we should just make a place where there are only tentacles on the ground? They could restrain her. Or at least try to.”
“That is assuming she would walk through it.”
“Good point.”

If I was faced with an area full of tentacles, I’d avoid it as well. Most people probably would. That said, I didn’t know how Korwen’s daughter might react. Would she avoid it? Or maybe storm right in? I still couldn’t quite picture what kind of person she was.

“Well, just covering an area should be easy enough…”

While we talked, I kept growing more tentacles. When I figured there were enough, I started to make them grow into the ground. Though they were really bending the space right above the ground. When the pitfall was a little deeper than I was tall I stopped them.

“Okay, looks good. That’s another one done. Off to the next one.”

I was a little looking forward to it. What would happen if someone fell into it?

“Yumi, how about you make one right behind it?”
“Behind it?”

I tilted my head at Karen’s unexpected suggestion.

“If we conceal the first one badly and the second one well, won’t they just jump straight into it?”
“... Sis, you’re surprisingly evil.”
“Eh?”

Then again, she was someone who grew up in the slums. Maybe a little bit of evil was just right for her.

“Let’s do it. Hehehe.”

If they jumped past it, thinking they’d be safe… Only to end up in a pitfall anyway. Just imagining it sounded like fun.

“Okay, about here, right?”

Once more, I squatted down and got to work. Karen watched me as I diligently set up another pitfall. I had grown pretty used to the procedure by now, so it didn’t take me all that long to make another.

“This good?”
“Yes. Now we only need to conceal it.”
“Nn…”

For now, I ordered the pitfalls to close up. If someone were to stand on them, they should give in but something like branches and leaves should stay atop.

“Okay, now we need some leaves, twigs and all that…”

Thankfully, that was something we could gather very quickly from the surroundings. We were right next to nature, after all.

After we gathered enough to cover up the pitfalls, we got to work.

“Nn…”
“It doesn’t look quite right.”
“It doesn’t.”

The mercenary from earlier had been right. This was easy enough to spot, even for us.

“Well, for now, let’s do the other one, too.”
“Okay.”

Then end result? They were both very easy to spot.

“… I think we should leave this to the mercenaries,” I said.
“Yes…”

Oh well, we tried.

“Let’s just go and make a few more pitfalls for now.”
“Okay.”
“By the way, Sis, is there anything in particular you want to make? We’ve only been doing things I can do so far.”

I’d feel a little bad if we only did things I wanted to do, after all.

“Me? Well… I can’t really think of anything right now.”
“If you think of something, just tell me.”
“Okay. I’ll do that.”

We had more than enough time, so she’d probably think of something in time. For now, it was time to make more pitfalls.

Hehehe, just watch out, girl-whose-name-I-still-don’t-know! We’re going to make plenty of pitfalls for you!

Maybe not the best way to welcome someone but… it was probably going to be fine. Surely.