Getting the tents ready for Aryn and Irwin didn't take all that long. Finding a tent the right size took longer than setting it up… But, well, we had it done now so that was that.

“Thank you, Miss Yumi, Miss Karen. This helps us a lot.”
“Nn, you’re welcome.”

Aryn thanked us and behind her, Irwin also nodded, conveying his gratitude. The tent was just barely large enough for people to sleep in and store their belongings simultaneously.

“Nn… You don’t have a lot on you, do you?”
“We left most of our possessions behind. They would have only gotten in the way.”
“Ohh… I see…”

Right, they were, technically speaking, on the run. They must have left in a hurry.

“That must be hard…”
“It wasn’t easy but thanks to Alma, we managed.”

Alma really saved their skin, didn’t she? Not hard to imagine how they would have ended up without her. I mean, the matter of the Phantom Ship made it clear just how powerful a person Aryn’s father was.

“It’s only thanks to her that I can now spend my life with Irwin, hehe!”
“...”

Behind Aryn, Irwin blushed and averted his gaze in an awkward manner. They sure got along, huh?

“I see. Alma sure is amazing.”

Not that I had any doubt about that, after she nearly wiped out our welcome party.

“Speaking of which, how did you meet her?” I asked.
“Alma? She was in the service of my father. She worked as my personal bodyguard.”
“Wait, seriously?”

That’s not quite what I imagined. I mean, setting aside that she was basically a mercenary, she was also travelling all over the place, wasn’t she? That meant, she couldn’t have been her bodyguard for long.

“Yes! Amazing, right?”
“Uh-huh. Sure is.”

Well, putting it another way, if she hadn’t been working with them for long, she also wouldn’t have much in the way of loyalty to her father. Probably the reason why she was helping these two so readily. At least, I hoped that was the case…

“How did she even end up as your bodyguard?” Karen asked her.
“Err, I am not sure about the specifics… but Father wanted to increase the number of bodyguards. Unfortunately, I am not aware of the reason.”
“Ahh…”

Probably for a good reason if it necessitated more bodyguards… Surely not because he just wanted to keep these two from meeting, right?

“So, she became your bodyguard and then she helped you escape? That’s… probably not what a bodyguard is supposed to do.”
“Oh? What are you talking about? A bodyguard is there to keep me safe and as you can see, I am safe.”
“I mean, yes…”

But that wasn’t quite all there was to it… Oh well, not my problem.

“But I understand your concern. Truth be told, it was difficult to escape my father’s notice. She shouldn’t return to his territory anymore after the ruckus she made, lest he captures her. Really, what a troublesome father I have.”

Aryn put her hand on her cheek and sighed.

I was a little curious just what kind of ruckus she had made that it alone would make her father want to capture Alma, though.

“Sounds pretty troublesome.”
“It is. It truly is.”

While she complained, Irwin walked up to her from behind and patted her shoulder.

“Mh, what is it, darling? Oh? Ahh, right, we should do that.”

Irwin was talking in a hushed voice… probably. Because I couldn’t even hear him.

“Excuse me, Miss Yumi. Irwin and I would like to take a short rest, if that is acceptable.”
“Nn? Of course, it is. Sorry for keeping you.”
“No, no, it was pleasant to talk with someone about this.”

Yeah, I couldn’t imagine there were many you could talk about your eloping. Especially not, when you were still right in the middle of it, so to speak.

“Then, we’ll let you rest. If there is anything, don’t hesitate to speak with one of the mercenaries.”
“We will. Thank you, Miss Yumi, Miss Karen.”
“Nn, no problem.”
“You’re welcome.”

We left behind the couple with their tent. They would need some time to adjust, most likely.

“Well then… that’s that.”
“They are a nice couple.”
“Nn, they are.”

Though, we only really spoke with Aryn… Irwin hadn’t spoken a single word.

“So, what do we do now, Sis? Go to Wormaz?”
“I think that would be the best.”
“Nn, thought so. Then, let’s get going.”
“Sure.”

The sooner we had that dealt with, the better.

---

A short while later, we found ourselves in front of Wormaz’ wagon once more. The person we were looking for wasn’t in sight, though-

“Mr Wormaz? Are you here?”

No response.

“Nn… Weird.”

I walked up to the wagon’s door and knocked on it a few times, calling for him. I got no response, however.

“Maybe he’s eating breakfast?”
“Oh, that might be… We’ll have to wait then, huh?”

Assuming, he really was eating breakfast… Actually, that was quite likely. Korwen and his family were there as well, right now.

Thinking about it, we waited quite a while for Alma… It should be past the usual time for breakfast, no? Mhm…

We woke up so early it messed with my perception a little. I looked at the sun’s position to determine the time. It should still be pretty early, though it didn’t feel like it at all… They’d have a late breakfast maybe, but it should still be fine.

“Mm? Oh, it’s the girlies again.”
“Nn?”

We turned around and found Wormaz, carrying a bucket of water in each hand.

“Good to see you actually came. Give me one moment.”

He walked past us with his water buckets and entered his wagon. I could hear water splashing for a while before he came back out. Without buckets, of course.

“What are you standing around for? Get that armour off you.”
“Huh? Ah, yes, one moment.”

Karen hurriedly stripped off her armour. While she was busy doing so, Wormaz picked up the first few pieces to inspect them. Unsurprisingly, he started with the remaining gauntlet.

“Mh, already bent again. As I thought, these are just no good.”

Bent already? That was… fast. He did tell us that this would be the case after the welcome party but… to see he was right is a little surprising.

“The greaves… better shape than expected but you can already see some damage… As for this… Hey, girly.”
“Yes?”
“The hell did you do with this?”

He picked up the breastplate Karen had been wearing. There was a deep depression on the side of it.

“Err, Miss Alma hit me with her weapon.”
“What kind of weapon?”
“A… halberd, I think it was called. She hit me with the flat side.”
“Ah, that explains the odd shape. But the hit must have hurt, no?”
“... Not really.”
“Damn.”

Yeah, agreed. She got hit so hard it left a mark on the breastplate, yet it hadn’t even hurt her…

“You two are the oddest girls I ever met in my life. One girl feels like she has no bones whatsoever, and the other girl like she can turn into a rock. You sure got both sides covered. Guess you really are sisters, ha!”

Not on purpose. And honestly, it was more of a coincidence. I couldn’t blame him for thinking otherwise, though. Seriously, it was too fitting. But if it made us look more like sisters, I definitely didn’t mind.

“Now then… Mind explaining what happened here?”

Now he picked up… the backside of the breastplate. Or backplate? However you called the part of the armour you put on your back. Either way, just like with the breastplate, there were depressions on it. Several ones. And while each one wasn’t as bad individually, there were a lot of them.

“I think… that’s from when Alma threw me.”
“She threw you?”
“Yes.”

Wormaz furrowed his brows in doubt.

“Nn, Sis broke through the platform we were standing on…” I added.
“She broke through? What the hell? From a throw?”
“Nn.”

It was amazing to see from close-up.

“But that would explain why this turned into such a mess. Mmm… But just from a throw? Seems a little odd.”
“You think so?”
“Ah, I do. Wood’s fucking durable, girl. No wonder someone of your meagre weight could crash through that, even wearing armour, even with a throw. Sounds pretty damn weird to me.”

Karen looked at him, confused. Then she glanced over at me but I could also lny shrug my shoulders. No idea what was going on there.

“Whatever, this shit’s not salvageable anymore. The girly just needs to grip something and the gauntlet’s a hot mess. All my hammering for nothing.”
“Uhh, sorry.”
“Don’t mind it. It’s my job.”

Still, even if it was his job, it had to be pretty frustrating to see the work from a few hours prior being reduced to this…

“Anyway, no wearing this anymore. We’ll make you new stuff from scratch, you got that?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now then, let’s first do some measurements.”

Wormaz put down the armour and returned to his wagon. A short while later, he came out again, carrying what seemed to be a few magic tools. He put them down on the nearby work table and then beckoned us to come closer.

“Excuse the dust on some of them, haven’t used these in a while. Hope they still work. Mm, looks good. Okay, girl, grip this.”

He presented a small… ball? It was a ball? Either way, he presented this ball to Karen.

“Grip it with all your might. Don’t hold back.”
“Eh? Okay…”

Karen, slightly confused as she was, took the ball. She held it up in front of her… and gripped it with all her strength until her fingers sank into it.

“Don’t ever try gripping someone’s hand like that. You’re going to smash it for sure. Spirits, there won’t even be a hand left. That’s a solid iron ball, girly.”
“Eh? It is?”
“Sure fucking is.”

Karen released her grip in surprise, revealing the deep depressions in the metal ball.

“Didn’t expect you to have that much strength. Has it always been like that?”
“I… don’t know. I don’t think it was.”

She stared at the ball in her hands for a while.

“You lived in the slums, didn’t you? Might be ‘cause you’re not starving anymore, eh?”
“It might be…”

Well, at the very least I could confirm that Karen was filling out a little. No comparison to the time in the slums. And I very much approved of it.

“Either way, you can guess yourself that normal metal won’t hold up to that power.”
“...”

Well, we had the proof right in front of us, after all.

“Magic iron’s better but it wouldn’t match up either. Silver Moon metal is durable but funny enough, it won’t be enough either.”
“But, if those aren’t options…”
“Yeah, we might need to look for something else.”

Despite the problematic situation, Wormaz grinned at Karen, as if he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

“I wonder what would be good. Since it’s only one set, we might get some magic metal from Aldreigh. Mm, but it’d be an issue if she grows…”

I doubted that’d be a big issue. According to Wanda, Karen hadn’t grown at all over the past year. But that could still change… I heard that some people were still growing in their twenties. Then again, that was something I heard in my old world. No idea where and when I did… and it might be different in this world anyway.

Hell, they might still grow in their thirties here. I mean, Korwen was in his seventies. If I hadn’t heard that, I would have thought he’d be in his forties. With that in mind, if people simply grew at a slower rate, then Karen might still grow a bit…

Though, if you ask me, she’s perfectly fine as is. If anything, she could maybe fill out a little more. A bit softer and rounder. But nothing more.

And I wasn’t thinking that because I didn’t want our height difference to increase… Definitely not.

In the meantime, Wormaz was still talking to himself.

“Err, Mr Wormaz?” Karen interrupted him after a while.
“... Mhm? What, girly?”
“What should I do with this?”
“... Ah, sorry, I was lost in thought. Give me that ball… Good, let’s first do some more tests.”

Wormaz snapped out of it and thankfully resumed his tests. The next thing he handed to Karen was an odd-looking contraption. That’s really the best way I could describe it. There was a small metal stick attached to it with a… cable? Pipe? Something like that. He handed the stick to Karen.

“Hold this and infuse it with mana. Same way you’d do an elemental stone but use as much as you can.”
“Okay.”

Karen promptly did as she was told, infusing the metal stick. The contraption attached to it suddenly made small noises. It sounded a little like the whirring of an engine.

“Mm… Okay, good, you can stop.”
“Okay.”
“Looks like there’s no problem there.”
“Err… what was that for a tool? It reminds me of the measurement tool Mr Wendl had.”

Oh, the one that measured your mana capacity or something? Yeah, that was kind of similar, now that she mentioned it.

“You’re close. It’s indeed a tool to measure mana. But this one measures how much mana you can use at once.”
“I see… What is that for?”
“There are some magic metals that can absorb mana. A magic craftsman can turn those into a magic tool. But no point in turning the armour into a magic tool if you got not enough fucking mana to feed them, you see?”

Wait, that was possible?

“You can turn armour into magic tools?” I asked for confirmation.
“Of course, you can. Why shouldn’t you?”

That… was a surprisingly good point.

“Granted, since it’s armour it takes a beating so you can’t do anything complex or it’ll stop working after you get hit. But you can do some simple stuff like increasing its weight.”
“Nn? Increase? Not decrease?”
“You could do that but why would you?”
“Err, so that it’s not so heavy?”

Wormaz looked at me and shook his head.

“Listen up. Weight is important. If you are too light, a heavy weapon will just swing you around and if you hit something, you can lose your footing in the worst case. Same for getting hit. If you are too light, you’re just going to be thrown around.”
“Ohh…”
“In addition, a heavy weapon packs more punch than a light one.”

Now that he mentioned it… Many of the mercenaries carried weapons that were surprisingly heavy and large. Alma had a halberd, Korwen carried an axe and Lily a Zweihänder. Many of the others carried similar weapons, as well as spears. Technically, my flag could be used as a spear as well. And everyone who didn’t carry a large two-handed weapon had a shield instead. Or used a crossbow or similar.

“Speaking of which, girly, you still never decided on a weapon, did you?”
“... I didn’t.”
“Fighting with just your fists is going to be hard. You sure can hit hard but there’s no point if you never get in range. With your strength, you could carry some of the heaviest weapons we have. But that would require a similarly heavy armour. Might be good to test some stuff we have.”
“Mmm…”

Judging from Karen’s expression, she didn’t quite know what to make of that suggestion.

“Think about it. For now, stand here.”
“Eh?”
“Come on, right here.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Good, good. Now spread your arms wide and your feet a little apart.”

I watched as Karen followed his instructions. Wormaz held a few wooden sticks in his hands that seemed a little familiar… Oh, they were measurement pieces.

“Now, hold still while I am taking your measurements. Might get a little uncomfortable but bear with it.”
“Okay.”

With the measurement sticks in his hand, Wormaz began measuring Karen and writing everything down. From her legs and feet to her arms and hands. He measured everything he could.

It took him quite some time to get all the numbers he needed. I was worried a little if Karen’s arms would tire out but fortunately that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Great, I got everything. You can relax.”
“Okay… Haa…”

Karen swung her arms and her shoulder around a little. Guess she did tire them out a little, after all.

“Good now… Mhm… Girly, there’s something I’d like to know.”
“Yes?”
“Can you change your weight?”
“.... What?”
“Can you change your weight?”
“... I don’t think so?”
“I see… You sure about that?”
“Yes… Why?”
“Because of the damage in your greaves. And you told me you broke through that wooden platform. But I don’t get the impression you are particularly heavy… though I might be wrong.”

Changing her weight? That… could explain a few things, at least. Honestly, after he explained the importance of weight to us, I did wonder how she managed to remain standing after being hit by Alma’s halberd. The other mercenaries had been thrown around by her, after all.

“Yumi… am I heavy?”
“Nn… I don’t think so. But honestly, I don’t know.”

We slept together every day and I was fairly sure her weight was normal. But I might not realise she was heavier than she looked because of my constitution. It wasn’t like she could break my bones with her weight. There weren’t any.

“Then, the girly changing her weight would make the most sense. Might be doing it on instinct.”

Instinct, huh…

“We could do some tests but I don’t think they’d say much. Might have to ask Wendl. Or one of the Dragon Knights’ magicians to help with that. Either way, we should figure out what the cause is before I make any plans for armour. If you really can change your weight, we definitely should make use of it.”

Changing your weight sounded pretty convenient, at least.

“Okay, I got all the measurements I need for now. Now, girly, how about we do some weapon testing?”
“Weapon testing?”
“Yeah. I got a bunch lying around. We can’t have you swing just your fists all the time, can we?”
“Mmm…”

A weapon for Karen, huh? I wondered what would be good for her.

“Anyway, it’s not like you got any other plans, do you?”
“We don’t but…”
“Good, then wait here. I’ll get some weapons.”
“Eh?”

Without waiting for a reply, Wormaz turned around and disappeared into his wagon.

“Yumi… what should we do?”
“Nn, why not humour him? I mean, we should probably find a weapon for you…”
“... I guess so.”
“Don’t think too much about it. Just try out whatever he brings and say what you think. Wormaz knows what he’s doing… probably.”

Honestly, maybe it would be better to ask Merim to join us? He was basically our instructor. I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew how to decide on a weapon.

“Or is there a reason you don’t want to?”
“It’s not like I don’t want to but…”
“But?”
“I don’t know… It’s hard to describe… Like… Deciding on a weapon feels… important.”
“Well, I guess it is important.”

It definitely was… If she chose a weapon, she’d train with that weapon and use it in the future.

“Don’t worry too much about choosing it.”
“Nn?”

While we were talking, Wormaz came back, carrying a few weapons. They seemed to be a hammer and some kinds of axes.

“The Dragon Knights are going to train you in a few of them anyway. You are going to need to know your way around most of the simple ones, most importantly spears, shields and swords.”
“I see… Why those three?”
“Spears are the easiest to use on the battlefield. Swords are useful side weapons that you can bring into town. They’re mostly for self-defence but nonetheless useful. Shields are important for defence. You can use them with many different kinds of weapons and knowing how to use a shield effectively can save your life. They can also serve as weapons, too. Also, you need to know your way around these if you fight in a formation.”

In a formation… It reminded me of the time when we… attacked that village that the Worshippers had occupied. When we advanced, the mercenaries were in formation, holding up shields and protecting those behind them as well. But when we fought the mother roper, we weren’t fighting in a formation anymore. I hadn’t paid attention to the weapons the mercenaries were carrying at the time, but I couldn’t remember anyone holding a shield at the time.

“Nn… I guess I’ll have to learn how to use those as well then,” I muttered.
“Of course, you do. Though, in your case it isn’t quite as important. I bet they’re going to train you in the use of spears, since your flag can be modified to serve as one.”
“Nn? It can’t yet?”
“Of course not, did you see a spearhead?”

Good point. I didn’t.

“But why does it not have one?”
“Using a banner as a spear isn’t quite so simple. It’s far more difficult to handle because of the unbalanced weight. If we let someone with jelly arms like yours handle that, you’ll just get someone injured. Yourself or someone else.”

Another good point.

“Anyway, we’re not here to talk about you. I’ll bring some more weapons, wait here.”
“Nn.”
“Okay.”
“Feel free to try some of them out already.”

Leaving those words behind, Wormaz left to bring more weapons. This time, he wasn’t going to his wagon, though, but somewhere else. Probably the wagons serving as our armoury.

“Mm… Yumi, what do you think?”
“Nn?”

While I was watching Wormaz leave, Karen had picked up one of the axes and swung it around a little.

“I don’t know. How does it feel?”
“...”

Karen swung the axe a few more times but… I could already see from her expression that this wasn’t her weapon of choice.

“Not good?”
“I don’t know… It’s… How to say it…”
“Nn?”
“It’s… light…”
“...”

Seriously?

“Err, can I try?”
“Sure.”

Karen handed me the axe and…

“Woah?!”

I nearly dropped it. Okay, no, technically, I did drop it. The axehead swung around and buried itself into the ground. I was still holding onto the handle but… Yeah… I dropped it.

“...”
“...”
“... This is light?”
“... It is light.”

That was… not something I could relate to.

“To be honest, I am not sure if it’s just because you are too strong, Sis, or if I am too weak…”

I really had no idea what to say about this…

“Well, err, how about you try some of the others?”
“Okay.”

Karen picked up the axe and put it away. Was it just me or could I spy a small smile on Karen’s lips… it seemed like she was trying to hold it back, too.

“Hey, Sis…”
“Yes?”
“... You’re not laughing at me for dropping it, are you?”
“... I’m not.”

She definitely was!

“... Okay, maybe a little.”
“...”

Hey, I didn’t drop it because I wanted to, just so you know…

“Meanie.”

I hit Karen on the side a little as revenge. Not like my weak punches would hurt her. Well, and it only made her smile.

“Really, what a mean sister I have.”
“Hehehe, sorry, sorry.”

Karen’s hand landed on my head, ruffling my hair. It was nice but… I spread my arms, looking at Karen in silence. Seeing me like that, Karen’s eyes widened a little before she smiled. And this time it wasn’t a smile that she held back.

Without saying a word, she put her arms around me and pulled me into a hug. Her hand patted my head again.

“Sorry for being mean to you.”
“Nn, maybe I can forgive you.”
“Thank you.”

Karen giggled as she held me in her arms.

“Yumi.”
“Nn?”

Karen pulled away a little from me, breaking our hug apart. Then she squatted down a little to be on eye level with me. A second later, my view was filled with Karen and my lips were stolen. Several moments later, her lips parted from mine and she smiled at me.

“Will you forgive me?”
“Nn… but only if you do it one more time.”
“As often as you wish, my princess.”

And I wished for a lot of them.