We brought the cumbersome halberd-lookalike back to Wormaz wagon. Or rather, Karen did. Because that thing was just too heavy for any of us to lift it. Even Wormaz, who had considerable strength as a blacksmith, left it to her.

Actually, it’s more like she’s dragging it along than carrying it…

Even with all that said, the weapon was so hefty that even Karen had trouble carrying it. The worst part was that it was incredibly top-heavy, according to her. Said top part was now carving a beautiful line along the ground.

“Sis, are you okay?”
“I… Haa… I can manage…”
“Nn…”

Well, even if she wasn’t okay, the most we could do was take a rest.

“Mr Wormaz, how did you even transport this weapon in the first place?”
“Huh? If enough people help out, you can move just about anything.”
“... True.”

Yeah, if you had two or three or maybe even four people, you could probably move it. With that in mind, it only reinforced my amazement at Karen’s strength.

Thankfully, the distance from the storage to Wormaz’s wagon wasn’t all too far. We had to walk slowly because of Karen but despite that, it only took a few minutes at most.

“Finally… done!”

With a final act of strength, Karen pulled the halberd next to the table.

“Nn, good job, Sis.”
“Haa… Haa… Why is this… so heavy…”

Karen sat down on the ground, breathing heavily.

“Thanks, girly. Made the whole a lot easier.”
“You’re… welcome…”

Yeah, someone was beat.

“I don’t think I’ve never seen you so out of breath, Sis.”
“I… don’t think I’ve ever… carried something this heavy before…”

True that.

“Mr Wormaz… Just what is that?”
“Mm… I told you before, right? A failed creation. Haa, then I guess you want to know what exactly, eh?”
“Yes…”
“Well, where do I start…”

Mr Wormaz crossed his arms in front of his broad chest, staring down at the halberd.

“Something five years ago or so, I think, we got some great metal to work with by chance. Happened on a job in Krohmea. Cleaning out goblin infestation in the mines. Though really, it was more like a fucking orc infestation, really.”

His face contorted in displeasure as he recalled the job.

”Since the owners couldn’t pay in coin, they gave us some rare ore. Black iron. Turns out they just didn’t know what to do with it either since no local blacksmith could work on that shit. You could throw it into a fucking volcano and fish it out in one piece. Tell you what, the hell I’m supposed to do with that raw ore then? Do I look like I own a spirits-fucking mana smelter? Pah!”

It needed a mana smelter? One of those giant furnaces we saw in Melfin?

“But our dear captain, bless his ignorance, accepted that payment. He thought it might make for a good weapon or two. Spirits-be-damned, not every ore that has a ‘rare’ attached to it is useful for a weapon! But, alas, we got a whole boatload of that crap. So, cap thought, since we don’t have a mana smelter, let’s go to Aldreigh and see if we can make do. Thought he was fucking joking when he said that. Turned out he wasn’t. Not only that, he even managed to get us to one of those smelters.”

Oh, we were getting to the better part. He was grinning now.

“Best time I ever had, working with such a beast of a furnace and the fellows that helped us were damn good at their job. And so, cap wanted a set of weapons, including this halberd. We also made a few swords and other small arms, too, but those are fine. They’re heavy, too, but a trained merc can still carry them. This thing, however… Cap wanted a big weapon for monster hunting. Yeah, if you drop this on a monster, even a dragon’s scales would give in. No need to swing it at all. Assuming you can.”

Wormaz snorted again in displeasure once more, glaring at the halberd.

“There were a few capable of lifting it, mind you. But we completely fucked up the balance when we made it. Halberds usually don’t have a blade this large for good reason. That makes them less suitable for combating monsters, though. Might as well prick them with a toothpick. So we made it bigger. And thoroughly impossible to wield. We underestimated the weight and figured one of the men would somehow manage, surely. And you see where that got us.”
“To a weapon nobody uses.”
“Damn straight.”

He let out a deep sigh and scratched the back of his head.

“But the weapon’s done and all. And we were slowly overstaying our welcome so we never got to remake it. A damn shame, if you ask me.”

Well, with this much metal, you could probably make a bunch of good weapons instead.

“Nn? Wait, if you needed a mana smelter to work with this before then what are you going to do now?”

He just said it himself. He didn’t have the tools to process it.

“Hehehe, good thing you asked.”

Oh, that was quite the mean grin he had. Did he do something bad?

“See, we now work with the Dragon Knights, aye? And we got a fort. A fort! That means we can build larger facilities that we couldn’t before! The Dragon Knights’ smiths and I already told the Dragon Captain all we needed! Hahaha!”
“They’re… going to build a mana smelter?”
“If all goes well, yeah. Not counting my luck on that, though. But even an Aldreighan-made magic-powered furnace would be a big improvement to the piece of shite we use right now. Spirits, I’ve been borrowing Dragon Knights’ furnace recently because ours is just at its end. I can only repair it so much.”

Well, that was great but…

“Will that be enough?”
“I wonder. Can’t say without using one. At the time we worked on these, that metal was tough as shite.”

Well, if you could throw it into a volcano without it melting, then I would assume it was. If that was true and not just an exaggeration.

“But, eh, if it doesn’t work out, I got other options. I heard they were building mana smelters in Melfin. Though I also heard that they fucked it up and blew half the town to rubble.”
“Nn. Not quite half the town but it was a lot of damage in the surroundings.”
“Oh, right, you girls were there, too.”
“Nn.”
“Nearly forgot that. But anyway, if they actually set up those smelters, we should be able to borrow one before they start production. Should be no problem if we borrow that cap’s connections. And nobody is gonna complain if we do it before they properly start things. They might even thank us for testing them.”

That might be a little much… But if that could work out, it’d be pretty nice. Still, to think getting some equipment for Karen was going to be this hard. I never would have expected that.

“Just what kind of connections does Mr Greyward have…” muttered Karen in a quiet whisper. Wormaz still heard it, though.
“He knows someone high up in their temple… shrine, whatever it is. The daughter used to travel with us, you see. Something about feeling indebted to the cap and all that stuff. That said, the daughter got a huge thing for the cap, so that might be at play here, as well.”
“... The daughter? Is that going to be fine?”

I mean, that meant she had to be pretty young, no? That was quite the age gap.

“Just for the record, that woman is older than all three of us together. Demonkin and their never-changing appearances, I swear.”

Ah, right… I forgot the demonkin had a slightly different… lifespan.

“If anything, they used to joke about the cap being too young for her.”
“I mean, from her point of view it might as well be.”

I had no idea how old Wormaz was but I would guess he was about forty or so. Probably. My guesses had been seriously off the mark when it came to the age of people in this world so he might as well be seventy or something. If she was that much older, she might be over a hundred years old…

A hundred years… That should sound crazy…

If you had asked me a few months ago, I would have assumed an old lady with, pardon the phrasing, one foot in the grave. And then you had Yumias, who was millennia old and looked like a little child.

Actually, that was a bad example. She could change her outward age at will. No idea why she chose to look like a little girl…

“That’s as far as I know, though. Never really cared for it.”
“I see…”
“If you wanna know, either ask him yourself or ask Lil’ Lily.”

He shrugged his shoulders, showing how little he cared about it.

“That’s enough of that. Hey, girly, do an old man a favour and put that thing on the table, will you?”
“... Won’t the table break?”
“Don’t you worry, a horde of trolls could party on it and the table would hold.”
“Okay then…”

Karen’s eyebrows raised in doubt but she nonetheless stood up and walked over to the halberd.

“Okay… Here we go.”

She squatted down and grabbed the halberd near its overly weighty head part.

“Ugh! Heavy!”

Despite her outcry, she lifted the halberd from the ground and swiftly placed it on the table. One might also say she threw it, though. With a dull clank, the halberd hit the table… and the whole table shuddered. But it held. It held!

Might be just me but did the table just sink into the ground? Probably just me, right?

I decided to ignore that the table was a tiny bit smaller now…

“Thank you, girly.”
“You’re welcome. But, err, what are you going to do with it now?”
“Some tests, for one. Also need to measure it. I need to find out if I have to smelt the whole thing again or if we can adjust and fix it.”
“... And when you’re done.”
“I’m counting on you, girly.”
“...”

Ah, yeah, that was the face of someone who really didn’t want to do this. Sorry, but I was no help here.

“I’ll be busy now so you two can go and do whatever. I’ll call if I need anything.”
“Oh? Okay.”

Guess he didn’t want us bothering him while he did… whatever it was that he was going to do. Like, hitting it with a hammer… That served a purpose, right? Right?

“... Haa, well, guess that’s that. Sounds like you’ll be getting a lot of equipment, Sis.”
“Mmm… Is that really fine, though?”
“Probably?”

Wormaz wouldn’t do all this if he thought it’d be pointless, right? I mean, he had that huge weapon lying around already. I bet Greyward was going to be glad if we found a purpose for it.

“Only way to find out is to ask Greyward or the captain.”
“I guess so… Ah, right.”
“Nn?”

Karen turned around to Wormaz again.

“Mr Wormaz, what about the armour?”
“Leave it here. I can’t have you walk around with that pile of garbage.”
“Okay…”

Once upon a time, it wasn’t garbage. Before Karen trashed it. Better keep that to myself, though. She didn’t do it on purpose.

“Also, go and deal with that peeping tom for me if you got nothing else to do.”
“Huh?”

Wormaz pointed behind. When I turned around, I found someone watching us who I didn’t expect to be here.

“Alma?”
“Hey there.”

Right there stood Alma, Korwen’s daughter. Having been found out, she approached us, smiling at us.

“Sorry, I was watching for a while.”
“Nn, that’s fine. But weren’t you with the captain?”
“I was, I was. But some guy showed up and called dad. Someone from the town, I guess. And here I finally got to see him for the first time in so long.”
“Oh, that’s too bad.”
“Saved me from a scolding, though, so I’ll forgive it!”
“...”

Wasn’t he just going to scold her at a later time then?

“If he was from Auria, isn’t it about the… err… ruckus from this morning?” asked Karen.
“The ruckus? What ruckus?”
“... The Phantom Ship.”
“Oh, that!”

Had she really forgotten about that already? Amazing…

“Nah, don’t think it was. I mean, wouldn’t they call me too, then? They didn’t. I think it was something else. Dad had a pretty face, though. Wonder what it was.”
“Nn, maybe it’s about the matter from yesterday?”
“Yesterday?”
“Nn, he was called yesterday as well.”
“Oh. Maybe that’s it then, yeah.”

At least, I couldn’t think of anything else if it wasn’t the Phantom Ship. But… I would think the Phantom Ship was already a pretty big deal. But this one was even more important? Couldn’t be good, then.

“And now that you had nothing to do, you instead peeped at us?”
“More or less? I was taking a look around at the camp. You know, greeting everyone and all that. Everyone seems busy, though! It’s so boring!”
“...”

I mean, it was their work… and there was plenty to do. What, with the fort and all that…

“So, when I saw you all serious there, I got a bit curious, you know? Dad told me a little about how you joined so I wanted to know more about you two!”
“Oh, so that’s why…”
“Yeah! Also, I saw you were carrying that fancy-looking halberd there! Hey, are you also using one? Err, your name was Karen, right?”
“Eh? Ah, yes, it is. I mean, my name is Karen, yes. About the halberd… Well, I’m not quite sure yet. I never really wielded a weapon.”
“We were trying out what kind of weapons might suit, Sis,” I added.

Alma’s eyes went wide for some reason and she looked at me, then at Karen.

“Hey, hey, you two… are not really sisters, are you?”
“Huh? Err…”

What a sudden change in topic.

“We’re as good as,” answered Karen instead of me.
“Huh? Did you two grow up together?”
“... Something like that.”
“I see, I see. Must be nice. Wish I had a sister, too. I hope dad gives it his all!”
“...”

Was that something you should cheer your father on? Actually, how should I even react to this? Awkward…

“Oh, right, we were talking about the halberd, weren’t we? So, Karen, you might pick up the halberd?”
“... Maybe.”
“I see! If you do, I can teach you, you know?”
“... Is that fine? Aren’t you escorting Miss Aryn and Mr Irwin?”
“Ugh, forgot about that. Yeah, I am. Job’s only until they reach the western border, though. Once they get a guide through the Wooden Sea, my job ends there.”

Right, they mentioned that.

“Mm, and I wasn’t quite planning to stay for long anyway. Oh, but there’s the fort now, isn’t there? I kind of want to see it…”
“It’s in the forest on the other side of town, though.”
“The forest? What an odd place for a fort.”
“I heard it wasn’t always a forest when the fort was built.”
“Ah, that makes sense. The first came later, huh?”

Nature had a tendency to reclaim and expand, after all.

“Guess I’ll take a look later then! I hope the rooms aren’t all assigned yet. I’d like one. I might stay then.”
“Nn, I don’t know if they assigned everything by now, but when we talked about that the last time, there was still plenty of space. That was quite a while ago, though.”
“That means there’s still hope, though! Hehe, that’d be nice.”

Alma smiled, lost in her imagination. Guess having your own room had just that much of an appeal, huh? Especially for wanderers like they were.

“Yeah, I think that’s it. I’ll bother dad later about that! I want my own room. And I should talk with mom first, for insurance.”
“Err, good luck?”
“Thanks, I’ll need it! Got to wait until he’s back, though. What a bummer.”

Not much we could do about that. If the governor called, he couldn’t just ignore it, right?

“By the way, that smith over there…”
“Nn?”
“... Is he from the Black Guards?”
“Nn, he is.”
“I see.”
“Mhm, looks good. A little short, though.”
“Nn?”
“Ah, nothing, nothing. Oh right, since I’m already here.”

Leaving a confused Karen and me behind, Alma walked up to Wormaz and talked to him.

“Hey, excuse me!”
“Huh? Who are you?”
“I’m Alma! Dad’s daughter! I mean, the captain’s daughter.”
“The Dragon Captain’s?”

Wormaz eyed her from top to bottom and frowned.

“So, what does the captain’s lil’ one want from me?”
“Oh, I just wanted to introduce myself! I’m Alma!”
“Wormaz’s the name.”
“Wormaz, is it? Got it! Remembered it Hey, you’re a smith right? Could you take a look at my armour, too?”
“... Sure, just leave it here. But why ask me?”
“Nn? No particular reason. Just curious!”

Wormaz didn’t even bother to reply, only glancing at her armour for a moment and then disappearing into his wagon again. After seeing he was gone, Alma started taking off her armour. First her gloves, then the greaves, followed by the leg armour. Each piece removed revealed more of her slender arms and legs.

And then she took off her chest armour.

“...”
“...”

I exchanged a glance with Karen, then our eyes returned to the spectacle in front of us.

“”... Big.””
“Woah, that’s an amazing reaction, you two!”

Alma laughed, seeing our reaction. I mean, how couldn’t we? She was… very well-endowed, to say the least. It wasn’t apparent at all with the armour on but now that it was unrestrained, her… assets were displayed for all to see.

“You should look at your faces. They’re the exact same! You know, it’s rude to stare, right?”
“Ah.”
“... Sorry.”

Karen and I averted our gaze awkwardly. Yeah, staring like that was… quite rude. She was right.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I mean, you can look all you want! Here, aren’t they great? I’m quite proud of them, actually!”

Alma put her arms under her chest, lifting them up. Even through the thick shirt, it pronounced her large chest. Maybe it was a good thing she wore that shirt. The sight would have been quite something, otherwise.

“Oh my? Are you two embarrassed? You can look all you want, you know?”

Yeah, I was embarrassed. Alma was definitely a beautiful woman and her doing something like that was… bad for my heart. There were a few cute girls around me but someone like Alma, who was definitely more of a mature young woman, wasn’t something I was used to. Not to mention that even among the women, you could probably count on one hand the ones that could pull off such a move.

Right at that moment, the door to Wormaz’s wagon opened again and he came out, carrying something that seemed to be a bottle, a cloth and some other tools. The moment she heard the door open, Alma instantly removed her arms from under her chest and straightened her back, pretending as if nothing had ever happened. It all happened so fast, I asked myself if I had imagined the sight earlier.

“That one yours?”
“Yes.”
“Then, let me see… Mhm…”

Wormaz picked up the armour Alma had been wearing until moments earlier.

“You took good care of it, I’m surprised. Yeah, should be enough with some polishing and some minor repairs. It’ll take a bit, so come back later.”
“Sure, sure. Will do.”

Wormaz picked up the armour and carried it off to the wagon. I wondered for a moment why he didn’t do it outside but… his workspace here was occupied already.

“Haa… That was close. He didn’t see anything, did he?”
“... If you mean what you were doing right now, I don’t think so.”
“Great! That would have been bad.”
“... Maybe you shouldn’t do things like that then.”
“But I couldn’t help it! You were staring so blatantly that I just had to tease you!”
“”... Sorry.””

Karen and I apologised in sync.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. It was funny to see anyway. You two had the exact same expression. I guess it’s as they say, the same kind attracts each other?”

Alma hid a smirk behind her hand, glancing at the bracelets we were wearing. In other words… she knew that our gazes weren’t very wholesome.

“”Sorry.””
“Hahaha, it’s okay! Really, believe me. I mean, it’s not like I lose anything if you look. Ah, but touching is a little… I don’t swing that way.”
“We weren’t planning to.”
“Nn, we weren’t.”

Though, I had to admit it was a bit of a shame. Not that I had actually planned to. And in the first place, even if she swung that way, I already had Karen.

“That’s a relief. But then again, I guess you two already have each other anyway.”
“Nn, we do.”

I hugged Karen’s arm in response, showing off how close we were.

“You make me a little jealous here. I wish I had someone like that… Haa…”

That… wasn’t something we could help with.

Speaking of which, despite everything I heard, Alma seems to be really nice. And she’s pretty, too. Plus, her boobs are huge. Like, they’re huge! It’s a shame she said no touching!

Well, it wasn’t my place to say anything about her love life. Maybe she simply hadn’t found that certain someone yet. Love could be a fickle thing, after all.

“Well… Good luck.”
“Thanks… I’ll need it…”

Uhh, yeah…

“And Lil’ Lily found someone as well. Speaking of which, that girl with her looked a little familiar…”

Alma’s gaze trailed off to look at Karen.

“If you mean Rina, she’s my little sister.”
“... But blood-related, this time?”
“Yes.”
“That makes sense, then.”

She nodded in understanding.

“A lot of things changed while I wasn’t here. I guess I should have expected that.”
“How long were you away from the mercenaries?”
“Mm? Uhh… I think the last time I visited was two years ago?”

 Two years, huh? That was quite a long time.

“Ah, but I started travelling around ten years ago or so.”
“Ten years?”
“Yeah.”

And here I thought two years was long… But ten years wandering as a solo mercenary. That was pretty amazing in its own way.

“I did keep in contact through letters, though. Though, it’s a huge pain when we’re all travelling. I already had times when dad received the letter a whole year later…”
“That’s… quite the delay.”
“Right? The worst part was that I visited in between so the letter was pretty much pointless… Haa…”

Without a reliable postal service, that was pretty much the best they could manage, though.

“Oh, but it also had a few upsides. I met the Black Guards by chance, too. That was great.”

Alma grinned, her cheeks flushing a little. Then, without warning her eyes snapped open and she gasped.

“Ah! I nearly forgot!”
“Huh?”
“Nn?”
“I was looking for the Black Guards. Dad said they joined us, right?!”
“Eh, yes…”

I inched away a little at the sudden burst of enthusiasm. What the heck was going on? And wasn’t she just looking around the camp without a plan?

“Hehe, so they really did. I still can hardly believe it, but Lil’ Lily is here, too. Hey, that smith belongs to them, right? Does that mean their part of the camp is here?”
“Uhh…”

Was it? I roughly knew where the most important tents were and all that but…

“It might be?”
“I see, then I’ll have to look around here then.”
“Nn? Are you looking for someone?”
“Eh?! Wah?!”

At my question, Alma suddenly jumped back, nearly stumbling over and falling to the ground. I didn’t think my question was that… Wait, why was she so red in the… Oh? Ohh?

“So, who are you looking for?”

I couldn’t help but smirk a little, realising what this reaction might mean. There was someone she was interested in, after all.

“Eh… Err… Well…”

It was Alma’s turn now to awkwardly avert her gaze due to embarrassment.

“I’m…”
“Nn?”
“... looking for… Sir Greyward.”
“...”
“...”

Ah, so that’s why nobody had any hopes for her love life.