"Your leader! Where are they, human?!"

The small elf repeated her question towards the dumbfounded driver.

"Eh... Uhm... The... The Captain... isn't here?"
"Bring your leader here! Human!"
"Ehh..."

The driver was completely unsure how to deal with the pushy elf in front of the carriage.

"I demand to talk to your leader!"
"That's impossible, right now..."
"Bring them here!"
"Haa..."

The elf in question was apparently the same elf from earlier, the one they called 'Elder'. Behind her, hidden in the darkness, were dozens of other elves. Not just a few, but easily about a hundred or more.

"Sis, what is that elf doing?"
"Standing in the way."
"Well that's..."

Technically not wrong. Not exactly what I wanted to know, though.

"Nn, doesn't seem like she'd leave without talking to the Captain, huh..."

The sound of a door opening and closing came from behind us. Karen peeked through the window to take a look.

"Oh, someone is coming here."

A young man, his arm bandaged, had left the wagon behind us and walked towards us.

"Oh, Merim."
"Mh? Yumi, Karen. What's going on there?"
"The elves are blocking the road."
"The elves? I was asking a serious question, Karen."
"And I gave you a serious answer."

He furrowed his brows.

"You serious? This isn't the forest, you know? This is the open road... In the middle of a field!"
"But they're there."

Merim rubbed his temples.

"... How do I deal with elves?"
"How should we know?"
"You're magicians... But you don't... Oh great. I've never had to deal with elves before..."

And neither did we. Actually, we did. On the way here. But it had been mostly Greyward dealing with them.

"Good luck."
"Nn, good luck."

He shot us a small glare in response to our nonchalant reaction and then sighed.

"Will need it."

He gave us a small wave with his wand and then proceeded onwards.

"Bring your leader here, human! I will not repeat myself!"
"Like I said—
"Kravitz, that's enough."
"Ah, Vice-captain!"

The Elder turned to Merim, scrutinising him carefully.

"You are their leader? A young human leading older humans? How curious."
"I'm not exactly the leader but I will serve as a stand-in. Pray tell why you are blockading the road? We're in a little of a hurry."
"Human! We offer a trade to you!"
"... A trade? I am sorry, but as I said, we're in a hurry. You're free to come back later with your trade."

Merim shook his head and was already in the middle of turning back.

"Human! You do not wish to know what happened in our forest?"
"..."

Those words left everyone frozen. Proud of the effects of her words, the Elder was showing off a smug grin, her arms on her waist. Like a cheeky child happy about their prank.
With a sigh, Merim turned back to her.

"Go ahead, continue. Tell me about your trade."
"Hmpf! We will tell you what you want to know about what happened there! And you will help us find a new home!"
"... A new home? Why?"
"There is no need for you to know, human!"
"..."

A new home? Did that mean they were going to leave this forest?

"... I see. Unfortunately, I can't make that decision on the spot."
"Human, are you not their leader?"
"I am a stand-in for our Captain. He has to make such calls, not me."
"I see. Then we will wait until they come!"
"..."

And we were back at the beginning.

"Miss... Uhm... How should I call you?"
"I am the elder of the elves! For you human, it is sufficient to call me the Elder!"
"Miss Elder, I fear the trade won't come to fruition no matter what if you keep blocking our way... We really need to pass through here, we have injured that need to be treated."
"I cannot do that, human!"

She was still showing her smug smile to Merim, making her more seem like a defiant little kid. Or a stupid kid.

"Haa... What do I do now?"
"Oh my, little Merim, do you have problems? Should I help you with that lovely cute gi—
"GYAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
"WOA—

The elder ran, screaming. With a speed that completely belied her small stature. The sudden action of the Elder and the appearance of another problematic girl caused Merim to shout out in surprise as well. Poor guy.

"My, she fled. How odd."
"... Miss Yumias. Could you please not suddenly appear right behind me? You even scared the Elder away..."
"I don't think she ran because of surprise. Well, you'll get used to it."
"I don't want to get used to you appearing out of nowhere. Especially not behind me!"

Merim stared into the darkness where the Elder had run off to. Her screams were still audible...

"The Witch! The Witch is here! Run! Run!"

The moment she shouted those words, the screams multiplied. Every elf present started screaming and running away in every possible direction. Like scared animals running away from a natural disaster. There was no coordination o anything. They just... ran.

"Wait, there were more elves? Ahh... What do we do now?"
"What do you do? My, you know. The road is free now."
"..."
"Still, even I feel a little hurt like that. Whatever did I do to them? I've never even met these elves here before."

Her infamous reputation preceded her. By far.

"Whatever. Let's... just get going."

With an incredibly tired expression, Merim turned around, told our driver to continue on and left, back to the wagon behind us, not saying a single other word.

"... They ran."
"Nn, they sure ran."

In the distance, I could still see the various elves running away into the distance. Really hoped that wouldn't become troublesome...
I changed my eyes back to normal and returned into the wagon.

---

"Everyone, we should be soon back at the capital!"
"Ohh... Finally..."

I stared blankly at towards the driver's window at the front. It had been a considerable amount of time since the elves had stopped us. It didn't seem like they'd try again for now, which was quite welcome.

"This took quite some time."
"Nn."
"Gahaha, you girls, you should've just continued."
"No thanks."

The injured men had begun to play dice amongst themselves. At first, Karen and I had joined, curious about the game. It was just a simple game when you tried to get a higher total number of eyes than your opponent. One might think this game was just about luck but...
It was impossible. It wasn't that we didn't win at all but... I couldn't understand how we lost more than three fourth of the games... This was a game of luck, right? Right?

"You idiot, because you went serious they aren't going to play with us anymore!"
"Pah! As if you held back when it was your turn!"
"Of course not, when else do I get the chance to see a cute girl's frustrated face?!"

The girl in question was, by the way, Karen. The first games were fine but when she lost a few times in a row... Either way, they had quite some fun bullying us. I didn't even feel sorry about their injuries anymore at this point. They clearly deserved them. It must have been divine retribution or something.

"Jeez, then, let's play cards, yeah?"
"You're only suggesting cards 'cause you're good at it!"
"Then you suggest something!"
"How about the Mill Game?"
"We don't have a board for that, you genius!"

They started bickering about the games we should play... It was in the middle of the night. These were injured men. They were arguing like little children about what to play.

"Yumi."
"Nn?"
"The old woman in the slums once told me: 'Men—no matter their age—are always children.' Watching this I feel that's true."
"Nn..."

I probably shouldn't say that I was just slightly looking forward to playing... Games were always fun, especially with others.

"Yes! Cards it is!"
"Ahhh, damn, I lost!"
"Hey, girlies, join us!"
"Haaa... Yumi, shall we?"
"Nn."

We formed a small circle with the mercenaries. Obviously, there was a limit to the number of players we could have to keep it reasonable, so they formed multiple groups to play. They even had enough cards for each group. Each group consisted of five people, so it was me, Karen and three of the middle-aged mercenaries.
The man who suggested to play cards in the first place held up the stack of cards and shuffled it.

"Now, girls, do you know the rules of 'The Lying Pauper'?"
"Nn, I don't."
"Neither do I."
"Not? Mh, then let me explain."

He gave everyone nine cards and then placed the remaining three in the middle, face-down.

"But you do know how many cards there are and the colours, right?"
"No," I answered without hesitation.

There was no way it would be the same as in my world, after all.

"Girl, what kind of life did you live before? I worry for you."
"... I don't think that matters right now?"
"... Well, there are a total of forty-eight cards. Four colours with each colour having twelve cards respectively. Easy, four colours, each a dozen."
"Nn..."

That actually was easy to remember, yeah.

"Then, let's get into the rules—

It was an astonishingly simple game. Each player played a card face-down on their turn and called the value of the said card. The value had to be the same or higher than the previously played card. Any player who didn't believe them could call them out on it. If they were correct, the liar had to take the stack of already played cards. If they weren't, you had to take the cards yourself. The goal was to get rid of all your cards. That was it. The colour was by the way irrelevant. The game ended when only two players had cards left since it wasn't possible to play with only two. The one with more cards left placed last.

A game where you have to figure out whether your opponents lie or not... The rules sound familiar to a game I know, but they're still a little different... Actually, this is a lot simpler in terms of rules.

And with the rules explained, we began...

"Eight."
"Eleven."
"Twelve."
"Twelve."
"Twelve."
"Twelve."
"Twelve."
"Wait a second, there are only four 'Twelve's in the game!"
"Well, do you want to call it out, girly?"

The mercenary, whose turn was right before Karen's, grinned mischievously.

"... Twelve."
"That's a lie!"
"It's not."
"Gaaahhh!"

I wasn't sure if this planned by her but it sure had been effective. The mercenary took the stack with Karen's Twelve begrudgingly and the game continued.
We played for quite a while, often repeating similar situations like the previous one.  Until everyone finally got rid of their cards, except for the last two...

"No way, I lost to a little girl less than half my age..."
"Ahaha... Cheer up..."
"Can't read her expressions..."
"Ehehe, I won."

And quite one-sidedly too. It was a fun game. Although I felt a little like I was cheating. I hadn't been doing it on purpose but the three men were unable to read my expressions and... as a result had to take the stack quite often during my turn. As the end result, I had won. Karen nearly lost, placing barely second last, despite successfully tricking them a few times.
Much to our surprise, the man who had suggested the game came in last...

"Still, this was quite fun."
"Nn, it was."
"Ha! Wanna play another round? I'll get my revenge this time!"
"Let it, we got no time for another round."
"Tsk. Next time then! I'll win, next time!"
"Good luck."

He clutched his fist in frustration. He was really a bad loser, huh.

"Still, not only can you keep your liquor but you're even good at games, girly. You're perfect for the mercenary life! Wahaha!"
"... I'm not sure if those criteria are fine."
"They are! The most important thing in life is to have fun! Drinking and playing are all you need!"

The three men all laughed.

"Fun, huh..."
"What? Didn't have fun?"
"No, I had a lot of fun. Thank you for playing with us."

It was only for a short while but it had been really enjoyable.

"It really was... fun..."
"Nn? Sis?"

I turned to Karen who was quietly muttering to herself. I was interrupted by someone else first though.

"You guys, the heck you doing? You're injured! Get back below your blankets! We've arrived!"

The driver was peeking through the small window, watching the injured yet merry mercenaries.

"Ahh, too bad, huh. Well then, girls, we'll return to our alcohol and cheer for you while you have to work! Wahaha!"
"You're not going to the alcohol. You're going to your bed."
"Urgh, Wenners."

The usually quiet magician Wenners had appeared behind us, grabbing two of the men by their scruffs and pulling them away.

"Wait, Wenners! I'm sorry! Woah, shit! It hurts! My arm! My broken arm is hitting the floor!"
"... That guy's arm was broken?"
"... Let's not think too deeply about it, Yumi."
"Nn..."

Yeah, let's not wonder about why this guy was playing cards with a broken arm... How...

"Hey, Yumi."
"Nn?"
"Is it fine... to have so much fun?"
"Why shouldn't it? Isn't this quite normal?"
"Normal..."

Karen watched how the mercenaries got rounded up by Wenners and Krutz so they'd return to their beds and sleeping places. They had kept quiet during our games, probably out of kindness, but now they weren't giving in anymore. And they were quite violent about it at times... Regardless of whether the man was injured heavily or not. If he didn't behave they'd force him to.

"Normal, huh... You know, this was the first time I played cards... or dice."
"You never played with anyone else before?"
"No, I didn't. Back in Aldreigh, we didn't really have other children our age to play with. And in the slums, it wasn't really possible. Everyone was busy trying to survive."

Karen turned to me and put her hand on my head, rubbing it with a smile on her face.

"Playing leisurely like this with others... It's fun."
"... Nn."

---

The sun was already rising when the wagons arrived at the capital's gates, or rather the area in front of them. Unsurprisingly, said gates weren't even open yet. A bunch of guards could be seen on top of the wall, watching us curiously.

"It's morning already, huh..."

Karen watched the sunrise in the distance.

"Sis, we should help."
"Ah, I'm coming."

After the convoy had arrived and the wagons had stopped, we helped Wenners and Krutz with the injured. Especially the ones with broken bones needed help leaving the wagon.
In the meantime, a few healthy mercenaries were setting up a tent for the injured while some others went to the gate. Apparently the Academy had a number of healers and a small clinic, so they wanted to get someone here who could properly treat the men.

We joined the others in bringing the injured to the tent they had set up. The ones with slight injuries had to go by themselves so it was mostly those with leg injuries, mainly fractures.

"Nn, how do the mercenaries usually deal with... such heavy injuries?" I asked one of the men we played with earlier and now was helped by Karen and me.
"The little Miss Ria usually treats everyone. But since she's out cold that won't work."
"Nn? Because of that magic earlier?"
"Yeah. Well, in an emergency Wenners and Krutz can cast some magic too, but they're not particularly good at it. If it's only on this level it's better to wait and have someone with the proper skills look at it.

Only at this level? They had fractures, some of which were definitely beyond bad. And he called it 'only at this level'?

"... What would be an emergency for example?"
"Any fatal wound. Anything that kills you within a few minutes or faster. Heavy bleeding, head injuries or injuries to the intestines, the lungs or the heart. Those would be emergencies. As long as you're alive, you can recover with proper treatment, after all."

So anything non-fatal wasn't even treated as... a problem? I wasn't sure whether I should be scared about this or not. I certainly didn't want to imagine lying around with a fracture and have them say 'It won't kill you, we'll treat you later'. Or even worse injuries than a fracture.
Although, from the looks of it I wouldn't have to worry about fractures anymore anyway...

"Now, lie down here."
"Ah, thanks, girly."

We had arrived at the tent serving as a makeshift infirmary. Karen gently let the man lie down on the prepared blanket.

"Get well soon."
"No worries, girly, I'll be up in a few days again! Gahahaha!"
"I hope so."

We left the tent, walking back to the wagon with the injured.

"I really hope they'll get better..."
"They will, Yumi. It'd be one thing if there wasn't someone to treat them, but if a healer comes by, they won't have to worry."
"Are healers that good at treating them?"

I recalled Korwen telling me that healers, in general, were rare. Or had it been Ria who told me? Well, no matter who had, the point was, they were hard to come by. That was why they had been so curious whether I was able to heal as well. Or at least, that was how I understood it.
With that said, they had also told me that casting magic usually required an understanding of what you wanted to achieve. And that healers required knowledge about the body for treatment, except for spirit magicians.

"I'm not quite sure about it either, Yumi. But, I think I heard that an established healer can treat a dozen or more before running out of mana."
"A dozen or more..."

So, a few healers might actually be enough to treat these men. If you only accounted for the ones with heavy injuries like fractures, you wouldn't even get two dozen in total, after all. Most of them had only minor injuries or things like a sprain.

"Is something the matter, Yumi?"
"Nn? Ah, no, I was just thinking a little. That it's impressive that they can treat that many."
"Ahh. Yeah, it is impressive."

Still, the required knowledge to cast that magic must have been difficult to attain.

"Yumi."
"Nn?"
"Look over there, someone is running towards us."
"Nn? You're right. Oh? That's Helma."

Right, we had left the families and everyone here, so Helma was here too. Still, the sun was barely up, so the commotion must have woken them up.
Helma jogged over to us, looking clearly worried.

"Yumi, you are back!"
"Nn, hello Helma."
"Is everything okay? Why are you all back already?"
"Some... things happened..."

With a wry smile, I explained to her the things that had happened.

"I see. It's good that nothing bad happened."
"Nn."
"So, uhm..."
"Nn?"
"How... about Merim?"
"Ahh..."

She was worried about him, after all, huh. Fidgeting, she slightly averted her eyes. Even her cheeks went a little red... Watching her fidgeting around was pretty cute.
I would've loved to watch it more but I knew that teasing someone about this wasn't a nice thing to do, so I refrained. Even though I really wanted to.

"He's fine. I think he had some small injury on his arm but that's about it. He returned with everyone so you sho—
"He's back too?!"
"Ehh... Yes."
"... I'll go find him! Thank you, Yumi!"

Her expression turned serious and she dashed away, off to find her husband.

"... So that was Helma?"
"Nn. It was. Ahh, sorry, I forgot to introduce you properly."
"It's okay, it's okay. I'm sure I'll have another chance."
"You should've just said something."
"I didn't want to interrupt."

Karen ruffled my hair.

"But that girl really loves Merim, huh."
"Nn."
"Her expression was cute when she asked about him."
"Nn, it was."

Seemed that I hadn't been the only one who thought it was cute.

"Would you make such an expression too in a situation like this?"
"... Maybe."

Karen wrapped her arms around me from the back and hugged me.

"Sis?"
"Yes?"
"We still have to help."
"... Ah."

I really would've loved to continue but I knew... If I wasn't going to put a stop to it immediately I wouldn't be able to hold back either. And I honestly didn't want to make Korwen angry again.

"Haa... Then let's help. The sooner we are done, the better."
"Nn."

---

Thankfully, everything went by without any major incidents. All the injured were now in the large infirmary tent, so we could finally catch a small breather.

"Good work out there."
"Thank you, Merim. But are you sure you shouldn't be in the tent with the other injured?"
"It's fine, it's fine. I only got a scratch anyway. No need to waste space there."
"Haa..."

Merim took out a bag and handed Karen and me something.

"Here, have something to eat. You didn't eat anything yet, did you?"
"Ah, thank you."
"Nn, thank you."

It was bread filled with meat and something else. This was clearly not a ration since it wasn't hard. Oh, it was quite delicious too.

"By the way, where are Lily and the other girls?"

Merim looked around, eating his own bread while trying to find the other girls.

"Lily and Rina stayed with the three girls."
"Ahh... Right. Those three are still under house arrest too, I nearly forgot."
"... Oh, right."

I had forgotten, to be honest. That explained why they weren't running around everywhere.

"Yumi, look, the other wagons are coming too now."
"Nn? You're right."

Karen pointed at the road. The injured men had to be escorted back first, so it took a little before the others caught up. In the end, there hadn't been anything else happening except those trees. Maybe my guess had been wrong in the end. The elves couldn't tell us anymore either. Because they had run away from Yumias...

"Guess everyone is back together then."
"Nn."

The families, the Black Guards and a few others—namely us—had split up at the fort and come here. Then we left the families here and went to the fort to meet up with Korwen and the others again. Following that, we had returned again. That had been some serious back and forth...

"Back together, huh..."

Merim sighed for some reason, looking everything but happy about it.

"Something wrong about that?"
"Just something I heard from Helma earlier. Mh, did the Captain tell you about the plans we have from now on?"
"The plans?"
"With the families..."

Oh, he probably meant that downsizing?

"Do you mean the talk about... getting rid of the unnecessary people? Mr Greyward had talked to us about that."
"Oh, Greyward did? Well, that's okay too. But yes, exactly that plan."

He sighed once more.

"Honestly, I just want a break right now. First Arkesta, then this. And the question is still how much the Captain wants to get involved in this war. If we add our internal problems... Haa... And knowing the Captain he wants to finish that up as quickly as possible."
"But, isn't the war basically dealt with for now?" I asked, curious.
"'For now' fits well. Just because they can't cross the Hollow 'for now', doesn't mean we're safe. Effectively, this is still as good as a declaration of war."

So, they'd still wage war in the end? Even though they couldn't even meet each other? How was that supposed to work?

"Well, it also depends on how the empire and the kingdom each will act now. Personally, I don't want a repeat of the Triside war happening."

He finished his last bite and then stretched his arms.

"Oh well, it's useless to talk about it for now anyway. You girls should take a break too. After you reported to the Captain, of course."
"We'll do that, Mr Merim. Thank you."
"Nn."
"Good luck. I'm going to sleep as well. Helma is going to talk my ear off if I don't rest."

He waved and left us alone again.

"So, off to the Captain?"
"Nn. The sooner the better."

Karen grabbed my hand and we walked towards the newly arriving wagons.

---

"So, everyone is accounted for, the injured are together, the healers on their way. The first good news today."

Korwen crossed his arms in front of his chest, listening to our report, as well as the reports of a few others that had joined too.

"The elves are a little concerning, but we haven't seen hide nor hair from them on our way here. Who knows where they ran off to. Haa... Why did that nerve-racking girl have to scare them away?"

He shook his head in exasperation, complaining about Yumias.

"Whatever. Can't change what happened already. Good job reporting. Go and take a break. "
"Ah, yes, Captain."
"Understood, Captain."
"Ah, before you leave, Yumi, Karen. I'd like a word with you two."
"Nn?"

Karen and I exchanged glances, a little confused.

"It's nothing bad, no worries. It's about Emily, Maya and Sele."
"Those three? What's with them?"
"I might have talked about it before, but we got a small deal with the Academy. I talked with Merim about it a little, so I wanted to hear your opinions too. It's mostly about sending the three to the Academy for a while for education."

Oh, the thing Merim had told me about before? So they could help out here with the mercenaries.

"That sounds like a good idea? Where's the problem?"
"... You might not know, but we did try to send them to the orphanage or the Academy before. And with the recent... incident, I'm not sure whether they would even willingly do that."
"Ahh..."

They might think they were trying to shove them away again, huh. I hadn't even considered that...

"Mr Captain, do you want us to convince them?"
"Mh, that would be great, if possible."

He nodded in affirmation.

"I still want them to be somewhere where it is safe, but... I guess that won't be possible. So, the best compromise would be to at least get them away from the front lines."
"If you say it like that, they're definitely going to refuse," Karen commented.
"... I figured."
"Nn, but Captain... You are in desperate need for people who can do work behind the lines, right? Since you wanted me to be your secretary so much."

From what I remembered, there were only Korwen himself, Merim, the treasurer and the magicians who were involved in any way with the organisation. That was... incredibly lacking. More like a wonder that this group could even function, if someone asked me.

"I am. The Black Guards don't really have many who can do accounting and such things either, so we still need more."
"Then, wouldn't it be fine to just say that to them? They want to help after all."
"... I guess... I could do that."

The girls said they wanted to help as much as they could. The mercenaries didn't want them on the front lines. Both sides were worried. It wasn't the most perfect solution, sure, but it was better than the alternatives...

"And, I think it's better if you ask them, Captain."
"Ah, I agree. I think it's better if Mr Captain asks them himself too."

He was their precious 'Uncle' after all.
Korwen scratched the back of his head, clearly unsure. This man usually decided over the lives of hundreds of people, and yet here he was, agonising about three children.

"I can't run from it either, huh..."
"Nn?"
"Nothing. I'll talk to them. Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"Nn, no problem."

If this would help them out a little, then I'd always be glad to help.
Korwen thanked us once more and then sent us away, telling us to take a break.

Hand in hand, we returned to the camp.