“Nn… It’s heavy…”
“No, Yumi. You’re just weak.”
“Thanks for the heads up, Sis.”
“You’re welcome.”
“...”

I sighed internally, lamenting my lack of strength once more. I could barely lift the flag when it was flat on the ground. And setting it upright was pretty much impossible for me. The top-heavy flag was more likely to raise me than the other way around.

“Why did you get the flag first… Come, Yumi, I’ll carry it.”
“Nn… Sorry, Sis.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Karen took the flag from me, lifting it with only one hand and leaning it against the wagon. Really, seeing the difference in strength could only make you feel depressed. It was that bad.

“One day…. I’ll figure out how to get stronger.”
“Good luck.”

I already had a few ideas as to what the cause was, after all. Now I only needed to actually solve it… Preferably on a more permanent basis.

It’d be nice if working out could solve this issue… but so far, none of the training showed any effect…

It only served as a reminder of how bad my lack of strength really was.

Well, at least, I won’t have to run around this time…

Not that I even could run with the flag.

“Oh well… After putting on the armour, what else do we need? I… don’t need to bring any mana crystals, do I?”
“I wonder…”
“Nn…”

Throwing them for the explosions was definitely a no-go. We weren’t trying to kill her. Other than that, the only option would be to make more dolls or tentacles. While that could be useful, it wasn’t something I could do in the spur of the moment.

Then again, I guess I could try it out? It’s not like this is a serious battle.

The chance of an accident was… low. It was low, right?

“Sis, do you think it would work out if I tried to use the tentacles spontaneously?”
“Spontaneously? What do you mean?”

Karen tilted her head in response.

“Nn, how to explain it. Like, in a scuffle. If I tried to grow tentacles in the spur of a moment.”
“... I don’t know if that would work…”
“I see…”
“... But I think it would be worth a try.”

Worth a try, huh?

“It’s not going to… cause an accident, will it?”
“Well, it might… but if you’re careful, it should be fine?”
“Nn…”

I pondered for a while, unsure whether I should try it or not.

“If you are doubtful, why not ask Mr Merim or Mr Captain? Or Miss Ria.”
“... I guess that would be better.”

If I informed them, at least they would know in advance that something might happen. That should lower the risks a little. Well, the risks if an accident actually occurred. Preferably, I didn’t want that… but considering my track record, I should plan ahead for that.

“I’ll let them know when we get back then. For now…”
“We’ll have to get our armour.”
“Nn.”

I wondered if we really needed to put all our gear on but it was probably better if we did. If that girl was even half as strong as her father was then we would definitely need it to protect ourselves. Well, seeing how the tiny boat had sped over the water, there was little doubt left in regard to her strength…

And everyone was convinced it was her… Just from seeing a tiny boat speeding over the water.

Seriously, I wanted to know just what the hell she did to get that kind of reputation.

“Yumi, stop dozing and come.”
“Ah, sorry.”

Karen had already gone into the wagon and called for me. I quickly followed after her, before she would start dragging me inside. Karen was already in the middle of putting on the clothes she wore beneath her armour.

“Nn, where are my things… Ah, there.”

I got out of my clothes, picked up the armour dress and slipped right into it. At least, this much I could do easily on my own. The breastplate was a little trickier, though…

“Yumi, do you need help?”
“No, I’ll do it myself.”
“... Are you sure.?”
“Nn.”

While I greatly enjoyed being spoiled by Karen, I was going to turn useless if I let her do it every time. At least when she had to put on her own armour, I should do it myself.

Still, this isn’t easy…  Ah, there we go.

After fiddling with it for a while, I managed to put on the breastplate. After that, I only had to slip into my boots and put on the gloves and I was done.

“Sis, I did it!”
“Ohh, you did well, Yumi!”

Karen still wasn’t done, though. Compared to me, the armour she wore was a little complicated, though, so it wasn’t all that surprising. Her greaves alone looked like a pain to put on… and the gauntlets, too.

“Nn? Hey, Sis.”
“Yes?”
“... You didn’t bring the gauntlets to Wormaz yet?”
“I didn’t find the time to do so.”

Really? I was pretty sure we had plenty of free time here and there. But she was always with me… since that day when Yumelia ambushed me, she rarely left my side… Korwen already told me that this was something that needed to be fixed, too.

“... Hey, Sis.”
“Mm?”
“You know it’s…”

I stopped… What should I say? How should I say it? And… would it hurt her? It would…

“No, it’s nothing. Nevermind.”
“Okay?”

Karen raised an eyebrow in confusion.

This is difficult…

I was at a loss for words, literally. I didn’t want to hurt her. But I also wanted her to live her own life and not follow behind me all the time…

I should ask for some advice.

That probably wasn’t going to be easy, though. Exactly because she was always with me.

“Haa… Let’s go to Wormaz after this and have him look at the gauntlets.”
“Huh? But aren’t we going to the others?”
“We are. After he looked at the gauntlets.”

Considering the state they were in, there was a chance she could injure herself. Little wonder, she did punch a solid wall with them back in the fort after all. The small metal plates were all bent out of shape and when she put the gauntlets on, I could hear them screech in protest. There was definitely something wrong with them. No way I was going to let her wear those any longer.

“But…”
“No buts. We’ll go.”
“Okay…”

Since Karen was done with everything else as well, we left the wagon and went straight to Wormaz’s place. Thankfully, he was already wide awake, hammering away on some stuff outside.

“Mr Wormaz.”
“Those voices… The girlies?”

He stopped hammering, glancing behind him and looking at us.

“You’re up early. Did you stand guard?”
“No. We were called because of that commotion.”
“Oh, that. What even happened there?”
“Something happened at the lake. A Phantom Ship chased a small boat and we think that it’s the captain’s daughter who is on that boat.”

Wormaz only raised his eyebrows in response.

“The captain’s… You mean the Dragon Captain’s daughter?”
“Nn.”
“... Quite the ruckus they make for that. What a pain in the ass this early.”

It certainly was a ruckus.

“Ha, then again, the Guards would make a fucking ruckus as well if it was Lil’ Lily.”
“Nn, I certainly can see that.”

Or rather, wouldn’t they be even worse? They all doted on Lily, after all.

“So, you girlies sure didn’t come just to tell me that, did you? What are you here for?”
“We wanted you to take a look at Sis’ gauntlets. They… got damaged.”
“Damaged, eh? Come here and lemme take a look.”

Karen stepped forward, showing him the gauntlet that was damaged. He scowled as he took the gauntlet, inspecting it from top to bottom.

“The hell did you punch with this? A dragon?”
“... The ground.”
“... Girl.”

Wormaz looked up from the gauntlet and straight at Karen, pity in his eyes.

“If you got problems, it’s better to talk it out.”
“Miss Ria told me to!”
“...”

His gaze wandered to me, so I nodded to confirm it.

“Maybe I should have a talk with that Dragon Captain about your magicians. Still, you sure ruined these.”
“Uhh… I’m sorry.”

Wormaz put the gauntlet on his workbench fiddling with the metal plates. After a series of tiny snaps, the metal plates fell off and revealed the leather beneath. There were numerous cuts in the leather where the bent metal plates had stabbed through.

“Yeah, no way we can salvage this… Girl, give me the other one.”
“Huh? But this one is fi—”
“Give it to me.”
“... Okay.”

A little reluctant, Karen took off the other gauntlet and handed it over to him. He did the same as with the other one: First, he inspected it and then he unclasped the metal plates.

“Mh, this sure looks better but… Girl, why did you not come to me?”
“Err, what do you mean?”
“Look at this.”

Wormaz held up a few of the metal plates from the presumably intact gauntlet. While they weren’t completely bent out of shape, they didn’t quite retain their shape anymore. They probably were supposed to retain similar shapes so they could fit neatly on the gauntlet… However, they were all slightly bent and when he tried to put them next to each other, you could clearly see that they were not fine anymore.

“You see this? The metal’s all bent. I can get these back into shape, no problem, but we're just going to fucking repeat everything.”
“Then… what are we going to do?” I asked.

Wormaz crossed his arms and stared at the gauntlets. After several seconds, he turned back to us.

“We’ll have to make a better pair, simple as that.”
“I see…”

That’s… not quite the answer I expected, to be honest.

“We’ll need better leather and better metal. Also, girl, strip those greaves.”
“Huh? Those too?”
“Yes. And while we’re at it, everything else, too.”
“...”

And now we went from just showing him the gauntlet to inspecting everything?

“Come on, I don’t have all fucking day. Chop chop.”
“Ah, yes. I’ll do it.”

Karne immediately took off her chest and back armour, followed by the greaves. It had taken her quite a while to get in and now she had to take them off already…

“Girl… You’re not wearing footwraps or socks?”
“Huh? I don’t… We don’t have any.”
“Seriously?”

Wormaz scowled before he turned around and disappeared into his wagon. A few moments later, he came back, carrying several pieces of linen.

“Take these. Ask Lily to teach you how to put them on. Always wear footwraps or socks with greaves. And boots too. So…”

He glanced towards me.”

“Nn, I’ll do it.”
“Good.”

Footwraps, huh? I didn’t know those were a thing.

“Never wear greaves and boots without. You’re just in for a bad time. Got that?”
“Nn.”
“Yes!”
”Good. Seriously, what are those fucking idiots doing? They should teach you these things.”

Well… We were busy with… a lot of things. They probably just forgot.

“Anyway, let me take a look now.”

Wormaz took the greaves and inspected them, much like the gauntlets earlier.

“Better shape than the gauntlets but… What the heck’s up with this?”

He frowned when he looked at the sole.

“Girl, you’re a nightmare to your equipment.”
“Huh?”
“It’s all bent and out of shape. Spirits, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone demolish their equipment this quickly.”

Karen twitched and looked away. She was feeling guilty…

“Haa… We’re going to need something really sturdy. Magic Iron would be… Probably not good enough. In that case… Mhm…”

He mumbled quietly as he stared at the “demolished” equipment.

“I’ll need to talk with Konno and the others, but the standard equipment’s not going to cut it for you. You’ll just produce a pile of scrap. We’ll have to make something sturdier… Mhm… Girl.”
“Yes?”
“Do you have anything to do today?”
“Huh? Well… We were going to help with the… welcome of Mr Captain’s daughter.”
“Anything else? And do you need the equipment today?”
“... Nothing else but I do need the equipment.”

Without the equipment, it’d be a little… problematic.

“Got it. I’ll repair what I can, then you can get your equipment back. Once you’re done with that welcome or whatever, come here immediately.”
“Err… May I ask why?”
“To make your equipment, of fucking course! I need measurements, I have to know how strong you are and all kinds of other stuff. Can’t conjure it out of nowhere, you know?”
“... Understood.”
“Good. Now, let me fix this stuff. Won’t take long.”

Without further ado, he removed the metal from the greaves as well, beginning his work. Even if we tried to stop him now it would be too late…

“Yumi, what do we do now?”
“Nn, well… Good question.”

We didn’t have anything to do until Wormaz finished his work. It wasn’t like we were in a hurry but there was also the issue of Korwen’s daughter coming… at some point in time. We couldn’t idle away forever.

While I wondered what to do, Wormaz had already finished removing all the metal and began to hammer the bents out. He was also quite quick about it… As expected of a dwarf. Even though he wasn’t one.

“Maybe it won’t take too long… Let’s just wait for now.”
“Mm…”

I wondered for a moment if I should just go ahead alone first. It would give her some time for herself, even if it was just waiting for her gear. However, I quickly discarded that thought. For one, it was my suggestion to come here in the first place… Leaving her here would be just… not nice. Second, I could already imagine that she would object to it and feel hurt.

This really is going to be a hard piece of work…

My own problems, Karen’s problems… We got out of the slums and managed to find a life and place where we belonged. But with one problem solved, others came up instead.

“Hey, Sis.”
“Yes?”
“Nn… Is there anything you would like to do?”
“Huh? That’s a pretty sudden question…”
“I guess it is… So, is there?”
“... I guess you aren’t asking about future plans, are you?”
“Nn. I’m asking about right now.”

Karen sank into thought, her expression pretty serious.

“... There is something.”
“Oh?”
“I’d like… something to eat.”
“...”

Speaking of which, we didn’t have breakfast yet, did we?

“That’s not quite what I was thinking of…”
“Huh?”
“Nothing. Should we go and get something to eat then?”
“You’re acting a little weird… I guess we can.”

Rude, I was only worried about her. I wasn’t acting weird. Well, maybe a little.

“Mr Wormaz, we’ll get something to eat and come back after that.”
“Yeah, yeah, get going.”
“Nn. Let’s go, Sis.”
“Haaa…”

Pulling Sis’ hand, we left Wormaz behind to get some breakfast. This wasn’t quite what I had in mind but… Maybe I’d have to take it slowly.

And, doing our “welcome party” on an empty stomach wasn’t going to end well anyway. So, off to get food.

---

A good while later, we had eaten breakfast. It took a little time because it was just too early. None of the women on duty had made any preparations for breakfast yet so we had to make our own food. Well, I had gotten a little better at cooking with this world’s ingredients so it wasn’t too bad. At least, I hoped it wasn’t.

That aside, after we finished eating, Karen and I returned to Wormaz to pick up our gear.

“Mr Wormaz, we’re back.”
“Oh, there you are.”
“Nn. How is it going?”
“Finished a while ago already. Girl, come here and put this on.”

He wasted no time to pull Karen over and force the fixed equipment into her arms. Excluding the one damaged gauntlet.

“Make sure everything sits well. If anything feels even slightly off, tell me right now, you got that? Don’t just sit there thinking you can deal with it. That’s going to get you killed.”
“O— Okay… I will…”

Karen inched away from him a little, intimidated by his glare. Frankly, even I felt pressured and I wasn’t even the one he was talking to.

“Then get to it. Don’t have all day.”

With no other choice left, Karen put on her gear. Just like before, it took a good while just to put on a single thing. Once she had managed to get everything on, she stood up and stretched left and right a few times to check her range of motion.

“It feels a lot more comfortable than before.”
“I better damn hope it does! So, any discomfort? Anything loose?”
“... The chest armour feels a little loose.”
“Let me see that.”

Wormaz walked up to her and checked the clasp on the armour. He fiddled with some straps, pulling on them.

“That better?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Good. Run a few rounds here then. Just around the wagon is enough.”
“Eh? Okay…”

Following up on his request, Karen jogged a few rounds around the wagon. Wormaz watched her for a while until he stopped her.

“That’s enough.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Mm… Still everything fitting fine?”
“Err, one moment…”

And once again, Karen stretched left and right, moved her arms and so on. After doing all kinds of strange movements, she nodded to Wormaz, satisfied.

“Everything’s good.”
“That’s good. If you feel any discomfort again, come to me immediately, got that? Well, we’ll have to make decent equipment for you first, though. I can guarantee you that by the end of your welcoming thing or whatever, you’ll have those trashed again.”
“That’s…”
“Inevitable. Unless you learn how to pull your punches your gauntlets are just going to deform from your strength. And unless you learn how to fly, the greaves are just going to buckle under your weight.”
“Bu— buckle?!”

That was pretty rude… I couldn’t judge whether she was heavy or light but at the very least she wasn’t incredibly heavy… Probably.

“How else do you think you broke those greaves in? If you stomp the floor like a warox, of course, they’re not going to hold up.”
“...”

Karen’s mouth gaped open, shocked by the revelation.

“Whatever. Don’t forget to come back later.”

Not even waiting for a reply, he packed his things—including the damaged gauntlet—and disappeared into his wagon. He sure had his… well… own pace.

“So… I only have one gauntlet now?”
“Nn, looks like it.”

Thankfully, it wasn’t a big problem this time. Well, if it was, he probably would have given her a replacement.

“Well, it’s fine, isn’t it?”

In the first place, Karen’s body was, in a way, the exact opposite of mine. She was sturdy and strong. Even without a gauntlet, I wondered if she could even get injured in the first place… Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen her getting even a scratch so far, did I?

“Mm… I guess it’s fine but it feels a little weird wearing a gauntlet only on one hand.”
“Nn, I guess it would.”

But that wasn’t something we could fix for now. Not until he decided to make her new armour.

“I wonder what kind of armour you’ll get.”
“Uhhh… Was he serious about that?””
”Why wouldn’t he? I mean… He probably doesn’t want to fix your equipment every time.”
“Ugh…”

Karen groaned at my words. Well, I could understand that she didn’t like it either. It was true. Although, I had to admit that I didn’t expect it to be this bad.

“Hey, Sis, show me your hand.”
“Okay?”

Despite her confusion, she showed me her hand. I took a good look at her hand.

“Nn… Looks like you aren’t hurt anywhere.”
“Why would I be?”
“Because the leather inside the gauntlet was already torn. The metal plates might have cut you.”
“Ahhh… They didn’t.”
“Nn… Well, that’s good then.”

If she wasn’t hurt, that was fine. Still, I hoped that she would take it to heart to tell us about these things.

“And everything else is fine, too?”
“Yes. Like I said earlier, everything feels fine. It’s amazing how fast he did this…”
“Nn, I agree.”

We did take a while to get breakfast but it wasn’t like we spent hours on it. Yet, when we returned he had already finished everything properly.

“Still, we should probably get back to the others, no?”
“Ah, you’re right. That would be good.”

While it was nice that things were fixed now, we had been gone for a while already. If we wanted to set up everything, then we should get back soon.

“Let’s get your flag then.”
“Nn.”

We returned to our wagon and picked up the flag we left there. After that, we went to the… welcoming area.

“Oh, they’re already getting ready.”

We found quite a few mercenaries running around, checking the traps, the barricades and the small wooden fort. Oh, there was one who fell into my pitfall, too… A few others were pulling him out.

“Ah, our flag girl has come!”
“Nn?”

I turned towards the voice only to find…

“Oh, the vice-captain? You’re here, too?”
“I am. Not by choice, mind you.”
“What wonderful motivation.”
“Spare me the sarcasm.”

Oh? I was just starting to get into it, though.

“If you’re not here by choice, then… Why?”
“Because the captain forced me to.”
“Ah.”

My condolences.

“Well, it’s not like I am against it. It’ll be interesting to see her again… Though I can’t say I am thrilled to be on the opposing side for this…”

Merim sighed as he scratched the back of his head.

“Whatever. Can’t change it anymore. More importantly, do you two have everything?”
“Nn, I think so… Oh right, before I forget it, there’s something I wanted to ask about… or rather inform you about?”
“I feel like it can’t be good if you have to inform me but shoot.”
“Well, I was wondering whether I could use the mana crystals to grow tentacles spontaneously in the midst of… battle? I don’t think that would cause any accidents but I figured I should tell you anyway.”

His eyes widened a little in surprise before he broke out in a smile.

“What, that’s all? I already worried for a moment you were going to make all the tentacle pitfalls strip us.”
“... They won’t.”

I had properly told them to only restrain their victims. No stripping. Did he hear about yesterday’s incident from somewhere?

“That’s good. Nobody here needs the old men getting stripped down to their underwear. Or worse.”
“Ahahaha…”

Well, there might be demand for that with certain people. But I wasn’t one of them so I could understand his apprehension.

“Well, I’ll inform the captain about your tentacle matter, don’t worry about it.”
”Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. But for now, let’s get you situated up there.”

Merim pointed at the wooden mini-fort.

“You want me to stand there?”
”Yes. You’ll stay there for most of the time.”
“I see… How is this going to… play out anyway? I mean, how does it end.”
“Well, either we restrain her successfully or she captures your flag.”
“I see.”

That was simple enough.

“Wait, doesn’t that mean I’m the goal?”
“Pretty much.”

Now I was getting worried again…

“She won’t do anything to me, will she?”
“She wants the flag, not you.”

Yeah, I’d be worried if she wanted me instead.

“Whatever, just get up there. We don’t know when she arrives so you might need to wait for a while.”
“Nn, got it.”

Since Korwen had refrained from picking her up, it could take quite a while. Worst case, she might not even come today…

“Hey, what’s going to happen if they detain her and she doesn’t come?”
“Let’s hope they don’t.”

Ahhh… Was she that bad?

”The captain would be livid.”

Apparently, she wasn’t the problem.

“Besides, they wouldn’t be able to keep her detained for long. That girl somehow always manages to get out… It’s a mystery.”
“That sounds like she gets captured a lot.”
“... You’ll understand after meeting her.”

Great… There were a lot of things I’d understand only after meeting her.

“Mr Vice-Captain, I have a question.”
“Yeah?”
“Yumi is going to hold the flag up there. What should I do then? Protect her?”
“Pretty much. Just do your best to keep her away from the flag. Though, if she already reached that far there’s no hope in stopping her.”

Right… Not to disparage Karen but the mercenaries surrounding us were all quite strong. If that girl broke through them and all the traps, then I couldn’t see Karen or me having even a remote chance of stopping her. Maybe Lily could but it didn’t seem like she was participating.

“Any other questions?”
“I don’t have any.”
“Nn, I’m good, too.””
“Great. I’ll get back to coordinating things then. Oh, and Yumi. We took the liberty of bringing your dolls here. The ones that you didn’t already give orders.”
“You did?”

That was a bit of a surprise. The dolls prioritised my orders but if I didn’t give them any, they only listened to Korwen and Merim. And Fenna, maybe? Maybe Ria, too. I wasn’t sure if we ever tried that out.

“Yeah. We figured there might be a use for them.”
“I see… Well, that’s fine by me.”
“Glad to have your consent then.”

My consent, huh?

“Okay, I’ll be gone now. If you need anything just call me.”
“Nn, will do.”

Now then, with Merim gone, we probably should get ourselves set up.

“Sis, let’s go to that… miniature fort.”

Karen smiled wryly at my word choice but nodded nonetheless.

We went up the small ramp and stood on the wooden structure. It wasn’t really tall but it was large enough to oversee the area. It was amazing how little time it took them to build this. They sure were experienced with this type of work.

“Okay, I guess standing in the middle would be fine? Or maybe a little to the back?”
“I think it’s better if you stand back a little.”
“I guess… but which direction is back?”
“The front should be facing the town, no? She’ll come from there.”
“Good point.”

We moved to the back of the small platform. Though we called it the back, the who platform was maybe large enough to walk five or six steps at most. It really wasn’t big.

Still, Karen put the flag on the ground and presented me with its grip.

“Nn, thanks, Sis. How do I look?”
“Great.”

I posed a little for Karen, trying to look like a proper flag bearer… only to nearly lose grip of the flag.

“Woah!”
“Yumi?!”
“I’m fine. Safe. We’re safe.”

No experiments and no unnecessary posing…

“Haa… Okay, I guess this is good enough?”
“It should be.”

Well, that was good then.

“Mhm, you’re looking great, Yumi.”
“... Thanks.”

I felt a little embarrassed… Even if it was my job, more or less.

“Well, since we’re good now… I guess it’s time to wait, huh?”
“It is.”

Let’s hope she comes sooner rather than later.

Please hurry up. If I relax, the flag’s going to come down.