Year 284 of the Imperial Calendar
Golden Suns' Day, Faithweek, Third Month of Spring
Borderlands of Krohmea, A nameless forest

The suns were blazing down on the camp, making it even hotter than the day before. As I woke up I was greeted with a pile of documents right in front of me. Yes, in front of my eyes. Why were these in front of me?
Confused as I was I scanned the surroundings.

I wasn't in my bed. I had fallen asleep at this desk, in the middle of my work. And that wasn't all. Two girls were sleeping peacefully in my bed. Slowly, the memories came back to me... Yesterday we had picked up these girls in the forest. After the Priest Maiden had convinced them to stay with us they had occupied my bed and slept nearly the entire time, likely exhausted from surviving in the forest.
They only woke up once for dinner, though the Priest Maiden had to eat together with them away from everyone else.

"Right... We picked up those two... Haa... And I haven't finished these at all, have I?"

At the very least, I had finished the letter and sent off the carrier bird yesterday night. That had been the most important thing anyway.

"I'll bother with these later..."

Luckily, documents weren't that good at escaping.
I stood up from the desk and stretched myself, the bones in my arms and neck making cracking sounds. After I shot a quick glance at the two children in my bed, I left the tent. Into the blazing suns.

"Hot..."
"Oh! Captain! Good Morning!"
"""Good Morning!"""

Some of my men were already up and exercising again, sweat glistening on their bare bodies.

"Good Morning you all."

I nodded to them, indicating for them to continue. Barely a second later, they continued, shouting full of energy. Walking through the camp, I approached the Priest Maiden's place. Even when standing outside, you could still hear the groans from the injured.

"Priest Maiden?"
"Mh? Oh, Captain. Have you had a good night?"
"As good as the wooden pillow could bring me."
"The desk again? Haa... What about the two girls?"
"Asleep."

The Priest Maiden was crouching down next to one the lighter injured man, from the orc's raid yesterday. She was applying something on the wounds on his arm, making the man groan in pain.

"Captain, you shouldn't leave sleeping children alone, you know? What if they wake up now? They'll be scared."
"... Is that so?"

She brought out a cloth roll from her small medicine bag and bandaged the man's arm.

"It is. You should get back. Did you even finish your desk work?"
"..."
"See?"
"... How are the injured?"
"Please don't try to divert the topic, Captain. They're injured. Same as yesterday."
"I see. Then, I'll get back."
"Ah, Captain."

The Priest Maiden, having remembered something, rushed to a small shelf in the corner of the tent. Once she retrieved something, she returned and handed it to me.

"Candy?"
"Good children get candy, Captain. But only after breakfast."
"Candy, huh..."
"Also, don't smoke in front of them. The smoke is bad for their health."

Was there something else I had to remember? And now she didn't even want me to smoke?

"Then, good luck."
"Thank you."

I might need it. With the candies in hand, I returned to my tent. The two children were still fast asleep.

"Children, huh..."

A good friend of mine, a vice-captain from a different mercenary band, had married his childhood love years ago. They already had four children of their own and yet he was still travelling around, working as a mercenary. So, it was definitely doable, bringing family and work together.

"Haa... Wonder if that's her aim, making me think about this."

The Priest Maiden could be sly at times... It certainly wouldn't surprise me if she was trying to make me think about it on purpose.
But that wasn't important, really. For now, we had to think about what to do with these children.

"Mh... If I remember, that idiot Korwen said there was a well-known orphanage in Lafria's capital. Maybe that's a start. Or we look for one in Kroh— No, I can't imagine that being a good idea. Haa..."

This country, Krohmea, was by far not a bad country. It was an odd one, putting more importance on the individual cities' independence. There were even skirmishes between their own lords. For mercenaries, it was a great place to earn money. Assuming the nobles actually paid you.

"Mmm..."

The young wolf beastkin girl—if I recalled right her name was Lily—stirred, rolling over and hugging the pink-haired girl. It was an adorable sight. A small smile floated on my face, while I kept watching them for a little.

"Children... Huh... Haa..."

Better get back to work before I started thinking about it for real...

I sat down at my desk and began working. It wasn't actually that much, most of my time had been occupied with writing that stupid letter. Nobles put a lot of emphasis on formalities, even a single wrong word could send you on their bad side. Even more important was it when you requested for something, like reinforcements in this case. The worst was, that every noble was different. And etiquette in different countries could vastly differ as well. In one country it was seen as unbecoming to be seen eating, in the next it was an insult if you didn't heartily eat the dishes. It was beyond me, at times.

"Mm... Mmm?"

A little while later, the beastkin girl stirred again, but this time she was clearly waking up. A pair of sleepy eyes scanned the room and spotted me.

"Good Morning."
"Mh? Mhm... Mm! Eh?!"

It took her quite a few seconds before she realised where she was, and who she was staring at. In a flash, she grabbed the blanket and hid in the corner of the bed.
I had no words. Was... Was I that scary? I had to admit, I was probably quite sturdily built compared to most men, but that should've been all. Was it my face? Was my face that bad... I felt a little hurt.
Unfortunately, feeling hurt wouldn't solve this solution.

"Mm, what to do... Ah."

I had those candies I got from the Priest Maiden. She said they were for after breakfast, but maybe...

"Lily... right? Look here."

I held out the candy, waiting for the girl to peek in my direction from behind the blanket. Which she did, after a few seconds.

"It's the same candy you had yesterday. Mmh, the Priest Maiden said I should only give it to you when you're a good girl until after breakfast. But if you keep it a secret, I can give you one now already. How about it?"

Hopefully, she'd bite.

And... she didn't. She kept staring at it, but she wasn't actually approaching me, or even moving in the first place. That was... disappointing. Just how had the Priest Maiden managed to convince her?

"No luck, huh. Mh. What to do..."

I scratched my head, unable to think of any solution. The only options I could think of... were dragging her out, shouting and similar things. But that was definitely going to make the poor girl even warier... I just wasn't suited to this...

"This is awkward... Ahh... Seriously... What do I do now?" I cursed quietly to myself.

Lily and I simply continued to stare at each other. I needed help. I desperately needed help.

"..."
"..."
"Mm..."

A third voice echoed through the room. With very welcome, or maybe unwelcome timing. I didn't know yet. The pink-haired girl, Yumias, rose up. Similar to Lily earlier, she glanced sleepily through the room first, maybe trying to remember where she was or what was going on.

"Mm... Good Morning."
"Good Morning."

She took a good, long look at me, then turned to Lily right behind her. After a short while, her attention returned back to me.

"When is breakfast?"
"... As soon as you two get up."

That question actually threw me through a loop for a second. This girl clearly didn't care about my—and possibly Lily's—predicament. Or... maybe she didn't understand it. They were just children.

"Mh... Come, Lily."
"Ah."

The girl took Lily's hand and pulled her out of the corner of the bed. Together with Lily, she walked up to me. The two had slept in some makeshift clothes that the Priest Maiden had lent them apparently. At least, they weren't wearing the rags from yesterday anymore.

"Then, let's grab breakfast, yes?"

A wry smile on my face, I returned the candy I had taken out into the small bag and led the two girls out of the tent. Neither of the two said anything to me, only following behind me. Yumias hadn't said anything at all the day before, but now she was pulling Lily along. I was kind of grateful for that. Who knew how long we would've simply stared at each other...

"Over there. We only got some bread, dried meat and fruits. Mh... Water is in that barrel, just take a mug from the table next to it."

The men that had been responsible for the last night watch already prepared everything. None of us could cook anything beyond roasting meat over a fire, so this was all we had for breakfast. Usually, everyone only got a certain amount of food, since we only had limited supplies, but I kept quiet about that for now. They should just eat for now. Who knew how long they haven't had anything decent to eat.

"Captain! Good Morning!"
"Good Morning."

Some men were sitting around the tables having their breakfast, watching how I told the two where everything was.

"Captain."
"Mh? Ah, Rolan, you're already back again?"
"Yes, we returned just earlier."

Rolan and his squad were sitting here as well, eating their breakfast. They had kept track, or tried to, of the orc's movements. Those beasts weren't really active overnight either, but they knew just as well as us how much a successful night ambush was worth. That's why we needed to take be careful.

"Captain, behind you are... Oh, the two girls. Hello!"

Rolan, sporting a smile, greeted the girls behind me.

"..."
"..."

And was subsequently ignored. Or well, Yumias didn't even give him the time of the day and Lily hid behind me. It made me feel somehow happy that she chose to hide behind me if only she wouldn't do so with a distance of two steps between us...

"No luck, huh... Haa... not even kids look at me, huh."
"Rolan... What about your report?"
"Report? Oh, right, we wanted to go after breakfast."
"Shouldn't you first give the report and then eat breakfast?"
"Ahahaha!"

He just laughed it off. Maybe the long night got to him.
Either way... If he hadn't come immediately to me they probably didn't find anything. That meant I could concentrate on my more immediate problem. Except...

I had no idea what to do about the girls. None at all. I walked over to the food and put something on a plate, in the hopes they would come and get something themselves too. They didn't. Yumias was grinning behind Lily. And Lily herself was warily keeping track of what I was doing, occasionally glancing to the side where the other men were.

"Ahh, if you're not getting something for yourself!"

I was at my wit's end. I walked over to the girls, making Lily flinch back a little. Then I pushed the plate with food into her hands and pointed at the table.

"Sit down and eat."

I walked back to the food and filled two more plates. When I turned around I saw that the girls had, in fact, sat down finally. Lily seemed even warier now, though. With the plates in hand, I sat down next to them and gave one plate to Yumias. Not waiting for another second, I ate my own breakfast.

"So, Rolan, give me your report now."
"Eh? Are you... sure?"
"Yes."

No need to delay it any further, after all. I also needed something to keep my mind busy.

"I understand, Captain. Then..."

He cleared his throat, expression turning serious.

"We found multiple signs of orc scouts, but the main force seems to have left, moving in the opposite direction. I doubt they could fake it. They didn't even have time to erase their tracks. Whatever it is they're looking for, they found it over there, I guess."
"Mh."

They found what they were looking for, huh...
The question was.... should we rejoice about this or not... I had no idea. We might find out, though...
I continued listening to his remaining report while we ate our breakfast.

---

Around two hours later, I was back in my tent. I had finally finished my own work with the documents, and after having handed them to Griess, I gained some unexpected but welcome free time.

"Yes, yes, you place them like that."
"Mh... Like... this?"
"Yes, just like that! Hehe, you're good!"
"... Haa. What am I doing?"

After breakfast, the Priest Maiden had taken off the two girls from me, much to my delight. Yet, now she was in my tent, together with the girls, playing a game. It was a simple board game that children and adults alike used to play. Wooden blocks needed to be placed on three square rings and you had to catch your opponents blocks. The Mill Game. It was a game that even I knew the rules of. And now I was forced to play with them...

"Oh my, Captain, you don't like playing with us? You're free right now anyway, right?"
"I am, but you know, I too have thi—"Nothing to do, right?"

A wide smile was directed at me. A smile that told me not to say another word...

"... Haa, whatever."
"Hehe, Captain, it's your turn now."
"... Here."

I placed my block on a free corner, ending my turn. Since the game was only designed for two players, I was playing against the Priest Maiden and Lily and Yumias were playing against each other. Although... Both games were surprisingly one-sided.

"Then, I'll go here."
"... Here."
"Ah."
"And that marks my sixth win..."

She was bad at it. Incredibly bad. Prove enough that age didn't necessarily equal more wisdom or knowledge or insight.
I took a glance to my side and... saw a very similar, one-sided match. Much to my surprise, Yumias was... good. Really good. Lily didn't even stand a chance. Heck, I wasn't sure I could win against her either.

"Uhh... Lily, play with me! This old man is mean to this poor maiden!"
"Eh? Uhhh..."

'Maiden'? She was probably three or four times as old as I was. I very much doubted you could call that a maiden...

"Ah, you don't believe me, Captain?"
"..."
"It's not a lie! I'm really a... Mai! Den!"

She put her finger to her lips and threw me a wink.

"... You shouldn't do such crude jokes in the presence of children."
"Rude, that wasn't a joke you know?"
"Haa..."

Lily stared in wonder at the Priest Maiden, probably not understanding the hidden meaning. In the meantime... Yumias did her last turn and caused Lily to lose...

"Well then, should we change now? Lily, come play with me! Here, here!"

The Priest Maiden grabbed Lily's hands and turned her around, so they were facing each other.

"Seriously, now you're trying to win against a child? Haa..."

I could only shake my head in exasperation. Did she really want to put herself on that level? Well, if she wanted to...
But that meant... I'd have an opponent who didn't seem so easy to beat. I kind of looked forward to it a little.

"Okay then, I hope you are ready, Yumias, I won't hold back," I declared.

Maybe, I too wasn't the most mature right now... Getting serious against a child. Yumias nodded and we prepared the board. Next to us, Lily and the Priest Maiden did the same. And so, it was time to try again, this time with a new opponent.

"..."
"..."

And time passed.

"..."
"..."

And passed...

"..."
"... Are you serious?"

And... passed...

"..."
"This is impossible."
"That makes... my ninth win."

I had lost. Nine times in a row. Overwhelmingly to boot. I did think I was pretty good at this game, but... To be beaten so one-sidedly was... A new experience.

"Hahaha! That's what you get for bullying me, Captain!"
"... You don't have the right to laugh, Priest Maiden."

After all, she had lost four of her eight games with Lily and she was well in the process of losing the ninth one too... She was on the level as a child who just played the game for the first time. Then again... I had lost against a child who played for the first time... This was ridiculous...

"Here..."
"Ah!"

And she lost the ninth game.

"Ahh! Revenge! I'll get my revenge! Let's play again!"
"Mm..."

A small smile was on Lily's face.

They finally opened up a little to us. Guess that's a step forward.

---

Year 284 of the Imperial Calendar
Dying Night's Day, Spiritweek, Third Month of Spring
Borderlands of Krohmea, A nameless forest

Several days have passed since we picked up those two girls. Lily had finally warmed up to us, or more specifically, to the Priest Maiden and me. She was still hiding when someone else tried to approach her. Yumias was mostly indifferent like before, barely speaking, only smiling in the back. Still, the two girls even approached me or the Priest Maiden on their own now, sometimes asking if we would play with them. The Priest Maiden had taught them several games by now, so the games we were playing differed each time.

Still, seeing their Captain playing games with two little girls was surely an odd sight for my men... Some of them cracked a few, mostly harmless, jokes about it. In fact, some of the men wanted to play too but they were always rejected, so they had to play amongst themselves with dice or so. Griess told me later that some of them had already bet their entire salary for the next two months away...

Be that as it may, today was a little bit of a bad day... For me, for most of my men. The Priest Maiden stood in front of me, staring straight into my eyes.

"Captain. Marim won't make it."
"... I see."
"I'm sorry."
"... No. You did all you could. Thank you."
"..."

Only a few hours after she told me, Marim passed away, silently. His body had lost too much blood, grown too weak to recover.
Cigar in hand, I was taking a little break in a corner of the camp, next to the barricade. The Priest Maiden was with me and little further away were Lily and Yumias. Probably sensing that something was amiss, they kept their distance today.

"Captain, smoking is bad for your health."
"It's only one."
"I see."

I puffed some smoke into the air and watched it rise into the sky.

"Captain, I heard you got a reply from our employer."
"Mh. I did."
"... May I ask what they said?"
"No reinforcements. Job is a failure. No payment."
"..."
"Also, implied that there'd be consequences for the failure of the job."

The letter was long, unnecessarily so. Most of it was just insults hidden behind flowery words. It was easy to sum it up, at least.

"What are we going to do now?"
"..."
"Going to give them a piece of mind?"
"... No."

There wasn't anything to gain by doing that. Only more to lose. No matter how much I wanted to punch that asshole... It just wasn't worth it.

"We'll return to the former Northerlands."
"I see."

The men that had gone missing never returned. We kept looking for them after we ensured the orcs were gone. Together with Marim... We had lost five men. Our band wasn't large, not even a hundred men. Losing five was... an incredibly heavy blow. To the band itself, but also to our hearts.

"What are we going to do about those two?"

The Priest Maiden looked towards the children. They were... apparently trying to climb the barricade. They sure weren't good at it, though.

"... I don't know. We'll pass through Lafria, so maybe the orphanage there could take them."
"Lafria, huh. Well, definitely a better place than here."
"Mhm."
"Captain."
"What?"
"Give me that for a moment."

She took the cigar out of my hands. For a moment I thought she might throw it away or so but... instead, she took a drag on her own.

"Now, that surprises me."
"Ehehe, I used to smoke quite a lot too in the past."
"And yet you still try to make me quit."
"It's not good for your health, really. But, I do understand... sometimes needing one."

She took another drag and puffed the smoke into the air.

"Keep that a secret, Captain."
"... Not like anyone would believe me anyway."
"Ahaha, true."
"..."

I took out another cigar and lit it up. Now, both of us smoking, we silently watched the sky and occasionally threw a glance to the children to make sure they were fine.
The silence lasted for a long time, until my cigar was already nearing its end...

"Hey, Captain."
"What?"
"Can I come over later?"
"... Do what you want."
"I see. Will do."

A small, sad smile floated on her face.

"It's time to go back," I told her.
"Already, huh..."
"Ah. We have to bury him. And we should prepare to leave. There's no reason to stay here anymore."
"..."

I extinguished the little stump, the cigar's remains, and turned around, walking back to the camp. Behind me, I heard the Priest Maiden calling the two girls and following me.

---

A few hours later, we were burying Marim's body, together with his weapon, his armour and most of his personal effects. We only kept a small badge, inscribed with his name. His closest friends were the ones responsible for laying him down.
Everyone else, including me, was standing in two lines in front of the grave.
As the Captain, I had to take charge of the funerals too. I took a deep breath.

"Men! Salute!" I shouted.

In one fluid motion, we all saluted, paying our respects to our lost comrade. We remained in this position until they had finished burying him. His friends formed a line in front of us and saluted as well.
The Priest Maiden passed us and walked to the grave. She was holding a small piece of wood, embedded with a crystal. It was a charm, said to protect the soul of the warriors and lead them to the great halls of the Lord of War.
She kneeled down and buried the charm in the earth.

"May you find honour and peace. You fought and died for the things you believed in, but now it is time for you to rest. Thank you, for all you have done for us. Farewell, that we might meet again."

She stood up again and walked back the way she came from, passing us.

"Draw your weapons! Honour our comrade!"

Every man, every mercenary pulled their respective weapon. Spears, axes, halberds, crossbows, there was quite the variety. All the men slammed their weapons into the ground. A moment of silence, then, the first men stomped the ground. Slowly, everyone joined, stomping uniformly and then—

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

We screamed, shouted, with all our spirit.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

A primal, unintelligible scream. There was no reason behind it. We just screamed at the heavens, screamed out our anger, hate, sadness, all our emotions. In a long, simple scream. All the while, stomping the ground.

"WRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

My ears hurt, my throat hurt, my leg hurt, but we continued to scream and stomp the ground. We had to make sure that everyone knew, the Lord of War, our friends, our enemies, everyone.

That today, we lost a dear comrade.

---

"Good work out there."

We were back in the tent after the funeral ended. The other men were preparing for a funeral celebration. Or in other words, the drinking-until-you-passed-out party. Considering most of the men were quite good at holding their liquor, it was likely to last well into the night, maybe even into the morning.

"Mh, thank you..."
"Want something to drink?"
"... I do."

The Priest Maiden handed me a mug with water. A very welcome gesture, as my throat burnt like hell.

"Haaa... That hurts..."
"If you shout like that, no wonder."
"It was necessary."
"... I guess so. Feeling better?"
"Yes."

Shouting with all you could and letting your emotions out... definitely made you feel a lot better. As if something heavy pulling you down was simply gone all of a sudden.

"Want to join me for a drink?"
"My, an invitation by the Captain? Now... I'd really love to but..."

She glanced next to us. We weren't alone... We still had to take care of these two girls, especially since we were the only ones they were talking with. Especially Lily, who seemed confused. It seemed like she wanted to say something but couldn't. And I wasn't the only one who picked up on that.

"Lily, is there something you want to say?" the Priest Maiden asked her.
"Ah... Uhm... Uhh... Why were... Mister and the others... shouting?"
"Ahh. You see, because they lost someone important to them."
"Important? Lost?"

The Priest Maiden gently rubbed Lily's head.

"They cannot meet their friend anymore. And they're sad about it. When you're sad, you sometimes want to cry, right?"
"Ah... Un."
"This is quite similar. They were shouting because they are sad and frustrated. After all, they lost a dear friend, dear family."
"Family?"
"That's right, family."

The Priest Maiden pulled Lily over into her lap.

"Everyone here is a big family. That's why we're sad if we can't see them anymore."
"..."

Maybe that was a bit too hard for such a young girl to understand. Lily only looked back and forth between the Priest Maiden and me.
After a short while, she stopped, her gaze, stuck on me.

"Uhm..."
"Mh?"
"Me... too?"
"Too?"

What did she want to know?

"Ehehe, if you want to, then, yes. You too."
"Ohhh."

Her eyes went wide and a small smile appeared on her face. She was kicking her legs back and forth while sitting on the Priest Maiden's lap, clearly happy.
It took me a little to realise.

Oh. She means family, huh. Well... If she wants to be our family... I guess that'd be fine.