“Well then, the old coot is gone now. So, shoot. What did the two of you bring here? Or did you want to work so much you came looking for something to do?”
“No, we weren’t…”
“You weren’t, eh?”

Hearing my reply, Korwen chuckled in amusement. It only came to my mind a few seconds later but… that was probably not something you should tell your boss. At least, he thought it amusing so all’s well?

“Then, what brought you here?”
“Nn, well…”

I exchanged a quick glance with Karen. It was something related to her, so it was maybe better if she was the one to talk about it. Sensing my intent, Karen nodded and stepped forward to take my place.

“We were talking with Miss Aryn and Mr Irwin, the couple that accompanied Miss Alma.”
“Ahh, those two. I only had a short chat with them so far…”

Korwen stroke his chin as he listened to Karen.

“They did seem amiable, though.”
“They were very nice to us.”
“That so? In that case, it’s not because they did something or another, right?”

His eyes narrowed for a moment.

“No. We asked them about Irwin’s home.”
“His home? That’s not quite what I…  Wait, where is he from?”
“The Beyond.”

At this revelation, his previously narrowed eyes widened in surprise.

“The Beyond?! Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“That’s… Really. I didn’t expect to hear that.”

Yeah, neither had we. He was pretty unassuming, after all.

“In that case… is this about the Beyond?”
“Well… indirectly…”

Korwen’s gaze only intensified. It was obvious how much he wanted to hear about the Beyond, the place of his dreams. It was so intense that Karen backed off a little, intimidated, and glanced at me for help.

“Captain, you’re scaring Sis.”
“What? Oh? Ohh… Sorry, I got a little excited there. Hahaha!”

He awkwardly laughed when I called him out. At least, he was feeling embarrassed about it. But well… I couldn’t really blame him for getting excited, could I?

“So? What did you talk about with him?”
“We asked him about the demonkin in his home country,” answered Karen, taking up the explanation again.
“The… demonkin?”
“Yes… About the… particular kind of demonkin…”
“... The cause of your exile, huh?
“... Yes.”

Karen nodded in confirmation.

“I see. So, in the hopes of finding something you asked someone who has no relation to Aldreigh. That’s surprisingly smart.”
“Well… We only asked him because Alma… Miss Alma mentioned to us that he might know something.”
“Ahh, I see… ”

Without her, we wouldn’t even know where he came from.

“I assume you learnt something?”
“We… did?”
“... Why a question?”
“Err… What he told us was… How do I say it…”

Karen was fumbling around, trying to find the right words to describe it. Watching her fumble around was cute but we didn’t want to bother Korwen, who was clearly impatient, too much. With that in mind, I decided to help her out a little.

“What he told us was about the traditions and customs of his home country. It was interesting but… I don’t know how much of it is true and how much of it is just superstition,” I explained.
“Mmm… So you’re saying it’s unreliable information?”
“For the most part. Especially since we can’t just go there and ask them.”

After all, while traditions and customs tended to have a hint of truth in them, they also were prone to superstition. It was hard to say what part of those customs was true and which ones were not.

“Well, it’s only the words of one person. And I assume, he doesn’t happen to be an expert on that topic anyway, right?”
“Nn.”
“In that case, it’s only to be expected that it isn’t necessarily correct.”
“It’s… to be expected?

That’s not the reaction I expected.

“Yes. In fact, you would do well to take this as a lesson. In our line of work, we rely heavily on information others provide us, right?”
“Nn.”

That’s the basis of our work, after all. Mercenaries existed to… solve the problems of other people. With force. A lot of force, in fact.

“Whether it is information a client provides us or the one we get from local informants, there’s always the question hanging over it how trustworthy the information is. Wrong information can make the difference between life and death. Imagine someone saying that there are no traps but when you reach the location of your job, you step on a trap.”
“That… would suck.”
“Ha! Sure it would. Especially if it kills you. So, you see? It’s important to discern how truthful information is. That’s why you should always be at least a little suspect about the information provided to you. Ahh… but we strayed from the topic, didn’t we? Sorry for the impromptu lesson.”
“Uh-uh, it’s fine.”

It was a pretty important one, so it was all right. And with Irwin just being a regular person, the reliable information he could provide us wasn’t much.

“Let’s put that aside for now. Since you’re already unsure about the truthfulness, it might be just needless meddling from me either. So, hit me. What did he tell you?”
“… He told us about demonkin that are called Children of Dreams. They seem to be able to influence others’ emotions, especially when it comes to… soothing a person. Or, at least that’s what he told us,” continued Karen.
“Similar to Yumi’s Charm magic then?”
“I think so.”
“Mmm…”

Korwen crossed his arms and closed his eyes, lost in thought.

“Karen, can you influence others’ emotions?”
“Not that I know of…”
“I see… No wonder you were suspicious. But if that’s all, you wouldn’t have sought me out, would you?”
“... He talked about how the Children of Dreams require certain… Err… They have to do some things to be able to use those spells. They seem to be quite varied but among the examples he listed was one that stood out to us. He said that some of them consumed blood.”
“Blood? That sounds scary.”

Well, it sure did sound scary.

“But if it’s just that… Wait…”

He froze for a second.

“You couldn’t mean… You’re thinking of Sele, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Nn.”
“Well… Screw me sideways.”

Now he held his head and groaned as if he had a headache.

“You think Sele could be one of those… what is it, Children of Dreams?”
“We’re not sure either. Some of them did sound… similar to things that happened to me, except for the part about influencing emotions. But at the very least, if it’s related then it might be that Sele really needs to suck blood.”
“I see…”

Probably not the best news he heard today… Then again, maybe not the worst either.

“... So it’s not just a weird habit of hers.”
“...”

Oh, so he had thought so as well…

“You two know about how Sele ended up with us, right?”
“Nn… Her family abandoned her, right?”
“Abandoned is… Well, it’s not wrong, really. They weren’t treating her well. Or rather, they were blatantly pretending she didn’t exist in the first place. I don’t know the details since we didn’t ask them. Or Sele, for that matter.”

Pretending she didn’t exist… Sele was still a child so… she had to be even smaller at the time…

“Come, I’ll show you something.”
“Nn?”

Korwen suddenly stood up from his seat and walked off, without even waiting for our reply. We hurried after him, unsure of what to expect.

After a few minutes of walking, we arrived at a wagon. I first expected him to lead us to his office but…

Then, he knocked on the door of the wagon. Another thing I didn’t expect to see. Though, the reason became clear a moment later, when the door opened.

“Oh, dear, it’s you. Oh my, and you brought guests with you!”

Greeting us was Mrs Korwen. Then this was… their personal quarters? As expected of the captain…

“Don’t tell me… Dear, are you frustrated you couldn’t spend time with Alma? I wouldn’t mind but these girls aren’t our children.”
“Wrong! That’s wrong! That’s not what I’m doing here!”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that…”

Korwen held his head again… Hopefully, the stress wasn’t getting to him.

“Hehe, I’m just teasing you, dear. Though, I wouldn’t mind such cute daughters! How about it?”
“Err… I think we’re good.”
“Nn…”
“Is that so? Too bad. Dear, they refused you.”
“Don’t make it sound like I asked them… Haa…”

Mrs Korwen chuckled when she saw her husband sighed.

“If you don’t want to adopt those two, then what do you need from here?”
“... The documents from the time Sele joined us.”
“Ohh, I see. Did something happen?”
“A little.”

Mrs Korwen’s expression soured when she heard the reason we came. I had no idea what kind of documents Korwen wanted to show us but… they couldn’t be good.

“Is that so. Well, how about you come in first?”
“No need, we just need the documents.”
“Dear. Show a little hospitality, will you? Now, come in. That’s not a topic to be discussed in broad daylight anyway. What will you do if the children hear of this?”
“Ugh…”

He winced at the sound argument. It really wouldn’t be good if they heard of it if the documents were… troublesome.

“Haa… You heard her. Come in.”
“Err… Okay?”

I still had no idea what was happening but… Mrs Korwen already held the door open and ushered us in.

“Come in, come in. It’s small but have a seat.”

We entered the wagon upon Mrs Korwen’s insistence. Korwen followed closely behind us.

“So, this is…”

I couldn’t help but glance around… only to find a surprisingly normal place. In fact, it was like… well… like a mobile home? A camper van? Basically, it had a small table with seats surrounding it, a desk, drawers, cupboards and so on. I could even spot a small kitchen. There was a door on one end which I assumed was likely leading to their bedroom. It was small and a little cramped but it sure seemed cosy. In fact, this was probably the most… normal home I had seen since coming into this world. Even though it was inside a wagon.

“I don’t think there’s much to look at, though?”

Korwen raised an eyebrow when he saw Karen and me looking around. Mrs Korwen just chuckled.

“Nn, it’s normal.”
“See?”
“It’s the most normal place I have seen in a long time.”

At that, Korwen froze again. Realisation seemed to hit him.

“I see… I guess that’s not wrong.”
“Nn.”
“... Make yourselves comfortable. I’ll get the documents.”

Korwen walked to the desk and began to rummage through it. In the meantime, Mrs Korwen told us to sit down and relax.

“Ah, there they are.”

After a short while of searching, Korwen retrieved a few papers from his desk. With the papers in hand, he sat down opposite us.

“So… What are those?”
“When we took in Sele, we brought her to a healer to give her a checkup. In another town, mind you.  This is the report we asked him to put together.”
“A report, you say?”
“Yes.”

If it was from a medical checkup… and he thought it’d be important…

“I’ll just say it in advance but she was in pretty good health, despite the circumstances. She was malnourished but that was all. No physical wounds or… anything else.”
“I see….”

But then…

“There was, however, something of a problem at the time.”
“Problem?”
“When we took in Sele… she was sometimes biting people. Completely at random. She would sit next to you, not react at all but then the next moment her teeth were sinking into your arm. That scared more than just a few people. It didn’t actually hurt much but it was… not quite what we expected.”
“I can imagine…”

Good thing she wasn’t doing that anymore. Or, at least not to my knowledge.

“Since we visited a doctor in a different town, it took us a few days after taking her in. One thing that was notable was, that the frequency of her biting someone increased with each day. The doctor noted the same. However, he also noticed something else.”

Korwen singled out a sheet and handed it over to us.

“This is…”

‘A report on the behaviour of Selenia Korwen,’ it read. I skimmed through it and… it was detailing Sele’s behaviour. Most notably, that she tried to bite the doctor a whole twenty-seven times. Succeeding twenty-six times.

That doctor sure sounds like he’s bad at dodging…

But halfway through the examination, a ceramic tool broke and the doctor cut himself. Sele tried to latch on that wound, he wrote, as if possessed. Like a drug addict. He assumed that the act of biting people was solely for the purpose of drawing blood. In fact, after she successfully latched onto him and sucked on the wound, she notably calmed down.

“... That’s… quite something to take in.”
“It sure is, right?”

You could say that again.

“As you can see, we had quite a few problems with our little quiet girl. It’s also thanks to the doctor’s recommendations that we could break that habit of hers.”
“So, she stopped doing that?”
“Yes. Pretty quickly even. We thought it was just a weird habit she picked up somewhere. And that this habit was the cause of the alienation she had to go through. But with what you told us, there might be more to it.”

Probably there was. To think that it had been even worse than now.

“By the way, Captain. There’s something I want to ask.”
“What?”
“... Selenia Korwen?”
“...”
“...”

That’s what was written on the document. I mean, Selenia? Okay, that was probably her full name? Sele was likely just a nickname then… Probably. Not that I had anyone ever seen calling her something other than ‘Sele’ so… Probably not relevant to her anymore. However, the second part was what drew my attention.

“... Ahhh… right… Strictly speaking, we adopted her when we took her in…”
“... That’s news to me.”
“Well, we usually let her do what she wants. At first, she also slept here, together with Emily and Alma.”
“Emily too?”

Korwen nodded.

“Right. We picked up Emily in a forest, after all. We thought she was abandoned as well. Though, from what the Elder told me, that is probably not the case. She probably doesn’t even have parents like we do.”

Now that he mentioned it, the Elder did tell us that the elves are children of the forest and the trees. Literally, even.

“That’s why, strictly speaking, we adopted the two of them. We even have official documentation and all that.”

He patted the stack of papers in front of him. Those documents might be among that stack.

“That’s… quite surprising.”
“Is it?”

Yes, it was.

“Don’t let him fool you. Those documents wouldn’t be necessary if he hadn’t planned to let them live in Larfas. You see, he hoped they could live in Larfas and learn a trade or enter the Academy. Having a family, even if it’s just on paper, would have helped them.”
“Huh?”
“Oh, shut it.”

Korwen averted his gaze when Mrs Korwen revealed the truth to us. I did remember that Korwen tried to make the three leave the mercenaries. He tried it when Karen and I had just joined the mercenaries, after all. But… from the looks of it, he might have tried more than once. At the very least, those documents weren’t something he could just whisk up in a day so it was something he had prepared long in advance.

“Captain.”
“What? Got something to say?”
“... Nothing.”

I smiled. Honestly, I was amazed and a little happy. After all, we had such an amazing and caring captain. We really got lucky meeting him.

“Sheesh, you’re acting weird. Whatever. Those documents are pretty worthless now anyway.”
“Well, they did decide to stay here… By the way, what about Maya?”
“Maya’s parents were mercenaries of our group. They passed away on a job long ago, when Maya was still small. She still remembers them, though. She might not say it out of worry for the other two but she loves her parents even now.”
“I see…”

So, she remained her parents’ daughter.

“Anyway. That’s enough about that. We were talking about Sele’s condition.”
“Nn, little Selenia.”
“Don’t call her that. She’ll bite you.”
“... I doubt it.”
“...”
“Err, she won’t, right?”

Now I was getting worried…

“Biting aside, I don’t think she’ll like getting called that.”
“Duly noted.”

I wasn’t going to try it out and test whether she was going to bite me.

“Let’s finally get back to the topic, shall we? Sheesh, we got so off-track that I don’t remember where we left off…”
“Err… We were talking about her weird habit that might not be a habit.”
“Ahh, right…”

But I did learn something new about the girls, so that was nice. If Emily was also adopted… did that make her Emily Korwen? That didn’t sound bad. To think Alma already had two little sisters.

“If it wasn’t a habit but something she has to do to… Mmm… Was it bad that we stopped her from doing it?”
“She didn’t have any problems so far, did she?”

She always seemed healthy to me. Not as energetic as Emily, sure, but that would have been a tall order anyway.

“No. She’s as healthy as can be. At most, she caught a fever here and there but she’s healthier than Maya.”
“Huh? Is Maya sickly?”
“Wouldn’t call it that, but she did worry us a few times.”
“We had to bring her to healer once. That really worried me,” added Mrs Korwen.
“Yes, but that’s not something to talk about now.”

Right, no need to get off-topic again. Even if I had to admit that it made me curious now.

“At least, Sele never got seriously ill or anything. So, I don’t think it is really affecting her. She’s properly growing, too.”
“Nn… Then, it might not really affect her?”
“I sure hope so.”

That would be for the best.

“Well, she still is attracted to blood to the point it worries me.”
“Right…”

But it could wake her up while preserving her decency. Not that Sele seemed to care much. Well, she was still a child for now but… she should probably stop that. Soon.

“Nn, I only saw it when we woke her up… but is it always like that?”
“It draws her attention, to say the least. But she doesn’t say anything. It’s still obvious, though.”
“Oh, that reminds me…”

All eyes went to Mrs Korwen who was starting to say something.

“When Maya cut her finger, Sele was sucking on it. It seemed to be something they’re used to, too.”
“Huh?”
“What?”

That’s… unexpected.

“And when, my love, did you deem it necessary to tell me that?”
“I told them off at the time and they both apologised. I didn’t think it was important enough to bother them since they seemed sorry. Also, that was a few months ago when I first had them help out with cooking. I haven’t seen them doing that again.”
“I see…”

Korwen rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“I guess there’s no choice.”
“Nn?”
“We’ll have to ask her directly. If they are used to that, then they might have been doing that behind our backs… Though, I sure hope I am wrong about that.”

Just because Mrs Korwen saw it once, didn’t mean they had been doing it all the time…

“Nn, we spent a lot of time with them and I never saw them doing anything like that. Sis, what about you?”
“I didn’t see anything either.”
“Right? I don’t think it would be easy to hide considering how much time we spent… Oh, but Sele did suck your blood once, Sis.”
“When we woke her up, right…”

If that was her usual behaviour in the early morning she might actually get her snack every day. Surprisingly enough.

“Ahh, enough about that theorising. I don’t want to hear it anymore. We’re just going to ask her directly.”
“But not with that face, dear! You’ll scare her to death.”
“Ugh…”

Mrs Korwen immediately scolded him. He really couldn’t go against her, could he?

“First, try to calm down. There’s no point in worrying. If anything, if she had to do that behind our backs, then that’s our fault, isn’t it?”
“That’s…”
“Even if it is just on paper, she’s still our family. If she needs it, then we have to find a solution together.”
“...”

Korwen averted his eyes, unable to refute her.

“You’re right… Haa… What a mess this is…”

It really was.

“Either way… First, we need to figure out the situation. After that, we can try to come up with a solution. Whether she actually needs it or not.”

He sighed again, his expression weary.

“What a day this was… One mess after another.”
“But Alma came back. Isn’t that great?”
“Half the problems come from her, though.”

Poor Korwen… Not only his adopted daughter, but even his actual daughter was also a troublemaker.

“Captain, hang in there.”
“Thanks, Yumi… I’ll try my best.”
“You make it sound like you’re not happy. But I know how much you were grinning earlier when we spoke with Alma.”

Which wasn’t surprising. Seriously, I would be happy as well in his situation.

“Sure, only to be called by the governor and now? Where is she now?”

His eyes wandered over to us, seeking an answer.

“Err, last we saw her she was with Fenna and a few others.”
“Fenna, huh? Maybe I should give her some extra work tomorrow.”
“Dear, don’t be jealous. They’re friends, so isn’t it normal for them to want to catch up with each other?”
“And I’m her father!”
“Stop being so overbearing. Here, drink something.”

Mrs Korwne put down a small cup in front of Korwen, then another two in front of me and Karen.

“It’s just juice, but please help yourself.”
“Ah, thank you.”
“Thank you, Mrs Korwen.”

I didn’t expect to get treated as well now. Though, hearing those family complaints was getting a little, well, uncomfortable so I was hoping to get out soon.

“Nn?”
“Something wrong, Yumi?”
“Well… the cups…”

These were… cups. As in, ceramic cups. It didn’t seem to be porcelain but still…

“Something wrong with them?”
“... No, nothing. Just a little surprised since we usually use wood everywhere.”

I simply didn’t expect to see this.

“Because wood is convenient and easily replaceable. It is also easier for Ria and the others to cast spells on wood.”
“Is it?”
“Yes. Ceramic tools are convenient but they don’t take well to spells. It’s also harder to replace if something breaks. But it does look nicer than wood, so for private use we have them.”

That it did. But private use, huh? I nearly forgot because of our conversation, but we were inside the equivalent of Korwen’s home.

I picked up the cup and looked at the juice. This... wasn’t Apram juice. That super sour abomination that korwen apparently drank once in a while. Still, I was a little cautious while taking a sip.

“Nn? Sweet.”
“Of course it is. It’s juice.”

Korwen looked at me, exasperated as if I just stated the obvious.

“It’s delicious,” commented Karen.
“I’m glad to hear that,” said Mrs Korwen.

Yeah, it was. Honestly, this alone made it worth coming here… It was really good.

At that moment, knocks came from the door.

“Oh my, we got a lot of guests today.”

Saying so, Mrs Korwen went to open the door. And there appeared…

“Mom! I’m back!”
“Oh! Alma! Welcome back!”

With an energetic greeting, the young woman entered the wagon.

“Dad, you’re back, too! And…”

Alma’s eyes wandered to us… then back to Korwen.

“Dad, you should decide if they’re going to be my little sisters or not. Don’t leave them hanging like that.”
“Why, in the Great Spirit’s name, does everyone assume that we’re going to adopt them?! We are not!”
“Not? Why else would they be here? And you even got all those formal-looking papers there…”
“That’s because we talked about… something else. Haaa…”

He really didn’t have it easy…

“Err… I think Sis and I are going to take our leave. Thanks for the juice. It was delicious.”

Time to escape.

“You two… Whatever… Do you want to be there when we talk with Sele?”
“Nn? If it’s okay with her if we’re there…”
“She’ll probably prefer that. I’ll call for you.”
“Nn, got it. Then, Mrs Korwen, Alma, see you.”
“Come by again. You’re always welcome.”
“Oh, leaving already? I wouldn’t have minded if you stayed.”

No, this was their family reunion. We’d be only in the way.

Karen and I left the three of them alone. They would need their time, together as a family. I was a little jealous… but also happy for them.

Well, I got my own little family right here.

I took a step closer to Karen and took her hand in mine.

“Yumi?”
“Nn, just wanted to.
“I see.”

Karen’s hand lightly squeezed mine.

Yeah, I was pretty happy with my family.