After removing the portal in Lily’s wagon, the two of us made our way to Karen and my wagon to meet up with Karen and Rina. The four of us then made our way to report to Korwen about our progress. As for Ria, she left the report to us and stayed behind at the wagon. She wanted to make a few more tests on the tentacles in general, apparently. Just to make sure, I also told the tentacles to cooperate with her. Unless she tried something weird, things should be fine over there.

Still, that left me to report everything to Korwen. Not that I minded this time. After all, we had good news to report to him.

“So, you actually managed to turn those balls into portals?”
“Yes, Captain. We did.”

His reaction was one of surprise.

“That’s surprisingly fast. I expected this to take longer.”
“You told us to hurry up, so…”
“Still, I thought you would have to work the night through at best.”
“...”

He expected us to forego sleep, huh? I shouldn’t be surprised to hear that, considering he made it clear that it was important, but it still unnerved me a little. I liked my sleep, you know?

“That said, I won’t complain that you’re faster than I expected. I wholeheartedly welcome it. Knowing that we can make use of them makes planning things easier for me as well.”
“Nn, that’s great but there’s one problem.”
“Oh? Do tell.”
“They seem to use way more mana when someone else uses them. We don’t really know why, though.”
“... I see. I guess you can’t have everything.”

Unfortunate as it was, that’s how things stood. The portals could connect but it used up tons of mana.

“There’s the possibility it might get worse the further apart the portals are. It’s a little hard to test that out right now…”
“Distance, huh?”

According to Yumias, the consumption of the portals shouldn’t change much even if the distance grew, so that was probably not something we had to worry about. However, whatever it was that caused the consumption to skyrocket, might be different.

“If it increases too much, the portals might become impossible to use.”
“Nn…”
“They can draw mana from mana crystals, right?”
“They can.”
“Then we’ll need to prepare enough crystals.”

Korwen crossed his arms in front of his chest as he sunk into thought.

“Yumi, how many mana orbs do you still have?”
“Huh? Uhhh… A lot, I guess? We barely even made a dent…”

At least, more than enough that I wouldn’t have to worry about running out anytime soon, even if I used them very generously.

“Fill a small bag with them. Considering their potency, that should hopefully be enough even at a distance.”
“Eh? Are you sure, Captain?”

A single orb already held a massive amount of mana. Filling a small bag with them was pretty extreme, to be honest.

“Yes, I am.”
“... Got it. Will do.”

He was serious about it… Then, all I could do was follow his orders and do as he wished.

“Anything else I should know about?”
“Nn…”

We told him about the spheres and about the remaining problem with mana… Oh, right, there was one other thing.

“Ria was concerned about the spheres getting detected if someone tries to enter a town with them. They would be easily detected by the barrier, she said.”
“That’s already accounted for, no worries.”
“Oh.”

Right, I should’ve expected that. Well, at least I confirmed it.

“There are other tools that we don’t want to be found, so that’s something we always take into account.”
“Other tools?”

Korwen grinned mischievously at my question.

“That’s a secret.”
“... Huh.”

If it was about my tentacles, then it was pretty obvious why we didn’t want them to be found. But other tools, too? That could only mean… either they were incredibly rare or… they were illegal. I wonder which one it was.

“You’ll find out in due time. Either way, the explanation would take too long and I’m still busy.”
“Ah. Nn, got it.”

True… To be honest, I had gotten a little used to it that he was always willing to answer our questions. Guess this time, things really had gotten serious.

“And with that said, do you have anything else you should tell me?”
“I don’t think so.”

I turned around to face the other three. They all shook their heads.

“Nn, we don’t.”
“Mm. Then, prepare a bag with a few of these spheres by tomorrow morning. That’ll be all for the day. Take a break. We’ll have an early morning.”
“Okay.”

An early morning… In other words, we had to wake up early as well.

“Then… A good night, Captain.”
“Ahh. Good night.”

The four of us left Korwen’s tent. The moment we left, I could already hear paper shuffling again.

“And work’s over,” said Lily.
“Nn, it is.”

It was time for our well-earned break. But first…

“I’m hungry.”

My stomach was suspiciously empty. Really empty. It might be possible for me to survive without food, but it was way too uncomfortable to go hungry. My stomach demanded food—whatever it needed the food for.

Still, it was already quite late. The experiments with the spheres had taken a while and the sun had long been replaced by the moon and the stars. The lamps hanging from the tents and the wagons were also illuminating the ground, allowing us to wander around at this time. I could see in the dark so I didn’t really need the light, but it was different for the other three.

“Right, we didn’t have dinner yet. But dinner’s over already, isn’t it?” asked Karen, looking at the dark sky.
“It is. Doesn’t mean we’ll have to go hungry, though. We should be able to get something if we ask,” answered Lily.
“Really?”
”Yeah. They should have something prepared in advance for everyone who missed dinner because of work.”

That’s good. It was probably going to be a cold dinner today, which was a bit of a shame, but it was still better than nothing.

“Nn, let’s go and take a look. Err, who do we ask, though? The ones in charge of cooking?”
“Should be our best bet, yeah.”
“Okay. Then, time to get food.”

---

We were quite lucky. Actually, we were really lucky. Contrary to my expectations, we had been able to get a warm dinner. It hadn’t been all that long since the last ones finished and the fire was still burning. They warmed up the food for us. Really, they were way too kind.

“Ahh, I’m stuffed, I’m stuffed..”

While we were walking back to our wagon, I patted my stomach which was now full to the brim. Hungry as I was, I had eaten more than usual. My portion was still pretty small, though, compared to the others.

Still, I’m happy now…

My stomach was satisfied and that’s all that mattered.

“So, Lily, Rina, what are you going to do now?”
“Mmm… Don’t know. I guess we could head back? What do you say, Rina?”
“I want to have a sleepover!”
“Huh?”

A sleepover? Rina wanted to have a sleepover? That was, err… How should I say this…? Not the best timing. I was looking forward to spending the night with Karen, after all…

“And how are you imagining that, Rina? There’s not enough space in Karen’s and Yumi’s wagon for all of us.”
“Ehhh? Can’t we all squeeze together?”
“That’s no good. We need to get up early tomorrow, so we should make sure we’re well-rested.”

Wow, Lily was actually making good points.

“Then what about your wagon?”
“Do you really think there’s any space to squeeze in two more people? We’re already stretching it with just the two of us.”
“Uhh, and here I was hoping to spend more time together…”
“... We can do that some other time if Karen and Yumi say that they’re fine with it.”

Lily threw a glance towards us.

“I don’t mind.”
“Nn… Well, I guess it’s fine?”

Having everyone together once in a while was fine with me. As long as it wasn’t today.

“See? And then we can plan for it next time. We can probably find some blankets and other things if we ask around so we wouldn’t have to squeeze together on one bed.”
“Mmm…”

Rina was clearly disappointed. I felt a little bad about it but, apart from my personal emotions, Lily had made a few good points.

“Okay… Next time then! It’s a promise.”
“Yes, yes. But you should ask Karen and Yumi about that.”
“Lil’ Sis, Big Sis!”

Rina looked at us with expectant eyes. I exchanged a quick glance with Karen and we couldn’t help but smile wryly.

“Nn, that’s fine with me.”
“We can do that next time.”
“Yay!”

That got her mood back, at least.

“Hehehe, I’m looking forward to it!”
“It’ll still take a while until then. We won’t know how the next few days are going to be.”
“It’ll be fine! I’m sure of it!”
“You sure are optimistic…”

The next few days, huh?

“Lily, do you think the next few days will be problematic?”
“Mmm… I’m not sure. I think it won’t be too bad in the next few days yet. Though, I don’t know what the captain is planning to do. He probably has some kind of plan.”
“I see.”
“If it doesn’t involve us, I don’t think we’ll have much to do until we hear back from the group the captain sends out.”

That was going to take a while, though, wasn’t it? I had no idea how far they would have to go to collect information. And even then, we weren’t sure if the spheres were going to work at that distance.

“Yumi, we’re here.”
“Nn? Ah.”

Before long, we had already arrived at our wagon.

“I wonder if Ria is still there.”
“Probably.”
“Nn…”

Hopefully, she wasn’t planning on staying the entire night. I appreciated her work but I wanted my alone time with Karen. I needed to recharge.

“Rina, Lily, are you going back now? Or do you want to come in for a little?”
“I don’t mind either way. Wouldn’t we be a bother, though?”
“Nn, I still have to make the spheres for the captain first. And Ria is probably still here as well.”

I had to hold out a little longer either way so it didn’t really matter.

“Then, should we stay for a little, Rina? It’s not a sleepover but, well…”
“Yes!”
“You heard her.”
“Nn.”

With that decided, I opened the door and entered.

“Ria, you still here?”

I peeked through past the door and into the tentacle room. Just as expected, Ria was there, working with her magic tools.

“Mm…? Ahh… Welcome back…”
“Nn, we’re back.”
“Did you… report to… the captain?”
“We did. He told us to prepare a bag with the spheres.”
“Mm…”

I entered the tentacle room, curious about what Ria was doing there.

“So, did you figure out anything new?”
“Mmm… I wonder… I still need… to check… a few things…”
“I see…”

So she wasn’t done yet…

“Don’t worry… I won’t need… long anymore…”
“... Ah, don’t worry, it’s fine. If you need anything, tell me.”
“Will do…”
“Nn.”

It was probably better to leave her to her devices for now. 

I returned to the bedroom, where Rina, Lily and Karen had made themselves comfortable already, With Rina and Lily sitting on the bed and Karen on the chair.

“Ria is going to take a little longer.”
“Is that so?”
“Nn. I’ll prepare everything for tomorrow for now.”
“Okay.”

First, I’d have to make a few spheres. I went to the crate with our mana orbs and fished out a few of them. Then, I returned back to the tentacle room.

Well then… How many should I make, though? He said a bag full of them…

A bag, huh? Oh, I still had the bag we put in the first few spheres. If I filled that bag, that should probably be good enough.

Okay… let’s do this!

With mana orbs in hand, I began making the portals. Grow a portal, turn it into a sphere, and give it the appropriate orders so that others could use it. I also had to make a matching sphere that it would connect to. And then, rinse and repeat. A single sphere didn’t take all that long, fortunately. Still, filling the bag took me quite a while… What, with having to make basically twice as many…

“Okay… That should be good enough.”

I sighed in relief, watching my handiwork. The bag was full to the brim with spheres.

“Now… There’s one problem remaining…”

Right next to me was another pile of spheres. These were all the ones that were forming a pair with one of the spheres in the bag.

There’s no real way to distinguish which sphere connects to which one…

This was a problem I hadn’t thought about before. It was a good thing that I made them in pairs and separated them right from the start. Still, there were so many of these now and we would need to find a place where we could, well, make them grow on top of. Most likely, we’d use one of the rooms in the fort’s basement again. At least, this room didn’t have enough space for all of them.

“Yeah, this is a problem…”
“Is something… the matter… Yumi…?”
“Nn? Ah, Ria… Are you done?”
“Mm… Mostly… So… Did a problem… occur…?”
“Nn, kind of…”

I relayed the situation to Ria. Maybe she had an idea on how to solve this.

“Mmmm… There is not… much you can… do about it… for now…”
“Thought so…”
“Next time… you should… mark them…”
“Mark, huh? I guess writing numbers on them or something would work.”

That way, we’d know which ones belonged to which.

“Numbers… or colours…”
“Nn…”
“Also… We should… find out… if multiple… portals can… connect to… the same one…”
“Huh?”

Connect to the same portal? How would that even work?

“Not at… the same time… of course…”
“... Ahh. You mean, that they can connect as long as it isn’t connected to a different one already?”
“… Exactly…”

That could work. Somehow, this reminded me a little of a telephone… Just a little weirder. Okay, much weirder but the point still stood.

“I guess that might work… but that’s something for next time.”
“Mm… It is…”

Well, at least now I knew.

“So, Ria, did you finish?”
“I did…”
“And? Did you learn anything?”
“I wonder… I have… a few… interesting… numbers… but I don’t… know yet… what they… mean… I will… need to… study them… first…”
“I see.”

Well, that was probably to be expected. Still, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

“Nn? But aren’t you busy with the large crystal? Will you have time to study this?”
“... I’ll make… time…”
“...”

She absolutely didn’t have the time, did she?

“Well, err, don’t overdo it.”
“I won’t…”

… We’d see if she would stay true to that.

“Anyway… I am… finished here… so I… will go back…”
“Ah, okay. A good night to you, Ria.”
“Mm… Good night…”

Ria lifted the bag with her magic tools and left the tentacle room.

“Karen… Lily… rina… I will... take my… leave… I wish you… a good night…”
“Good night, Miss Ria.”
“Good night.”
“Good night! And thank you for earlier.”

And with that, Ria left.

“Yumi, are you done?” asked Karen.
“With the spheres, yes.”
“That’s good. I already prepared a bag with mana orbs.”
“Oh?”

Karen pointed at a small bag—or rather, a pouch—that was bulging a bit.

“Nn… Well, I guess we’re done then. For real, this time.”
“Good work, Yumi. You did well. Come here.”

Karen beckoned me over and spread her arms wide, inviting me in.

“Don’t mind if I do.”

If she was already inviting me to sit on her lap, then I would. Not like there was any other place to sit, with Rina and Lily occupying the bed.

“Nn… Finally, it’s over…”
“You did well, Yumi.”
“Nn…”

Karen praised me again, gently patting my head. Yes, this was what I lived for. Exactly this.

“And they’re flirting again. Took them no time at all.”
“It’s amazing.”
“That it sure is.”

The peanut gallery was just jealous. I was sure about that.

“You can’t have Sis.”
“I never wanted her…”
“Lily has me already! She can sit in my lap”
“Woah?!”

Rina pulled on Lily’s arm and hugged it close.

“Rina, I don’t think Lily sitting in your lap is going to work out.”

For better or worse, their height difference was pretty negligible. It wasn’t like with us.

“Then… I’ll sit in Lily’s lap?”
“... That’s not going to change much I think.”
“Uhh… This is hard. I’ll just have to grow taller then!”

Yeah, that might work out then. She’d have to grow quite a bit then, though. And, honestly speaking, I had my doubts she’d grow much anymore. She could overtake Lily but she probably wasn’t going to grow much larger than Karen… assuming she was still growing at all. She wasn’t a child expecting her growth spurt, after all. Then again, maybe she would actually hit a growth spurt, now that her living circumstances had improved? I vaguely recalled having heard of things like that before but I had no idea how much truth was behind that.

Either way… All I could do was…

“Nn, good luck with that.”

… wish her luck.

“Hey, I might still grow as well, though?”
“Lily…”

We all looked at Lily. I nearly forgot about it but this girl… wanted to grow taller. So much so that she tried to pretend she was taller. However… she was the second oldest among us.

“... Good luck.”
“Good luck, Lily.”
“Hope dies last.”
“Hey, you three. Why do you sound so sceptical? And Yumi, what’s that about hope dying last? Are you saying that I won’t grow anymore?”

Yes, that’s exactly what I was implying.

“Don’t worry, Lily. You’re adorable the way you are,” said Karen.
“I don’t just want to be adorable, though!”
“Give it up.”
“I won’t!”

No, no matter how you looked at it, that was a vain hope. Even Rina growing tall enough that Lily could sit in her lap was more likely to happen.

“Hey, Lily.”
“What, Yumi?”
“Why do you even want to be tall?”
“Huh? Well… Because…”

Lily fidgeted a little, looking away from us.

“Because… aren’t tall women cool?”
“...”

That was a surprisingly normal reason.

“I mean, I guess, yeah.”

It depended on the person but, generally speaking, I could agree with that. Wanda was pretty tall, for example. And, in a way, she was quite cool.

“I think you’re plenty cool already, though. You saved me! There’s no one cooler than Lily!”
“Eh? Uhh, thank you?”

And there she went, blushing from Rina’s compliment.

“Aren’t you glad, Lily?”
“Shut up, Yumi.”
“Hehe.”

Well then, I would shut up if she wanted me to. Wouldn’t stop me from enjoying her reaction though. And it was quite a treat for the eyes for sure.

“A— Anyway! Enough about me! What about you, Yumi? Don’t you want to get taller?”
“Me? No, not in particular?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, if I got taller, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy this, would I?”

I leaned back, settling into Karen’s arms.

“Right, I feel like you mentioned that before…”
“Did I?”

I might have. Wouldn’t surprise me, at least.

“Haaa… I asked the wrong person.”
“Nn, you did.”

Right, my height was fine the way it was. This was my spot, right in Karen’s arms. I closed my eyes, enjoying the warmth enveloping me.

“Don’t fall asleep, Yumi.”
“Nn, I won’t. Not yet.”

Even if it was pretty tempting. Today had been a long day.

“Either way, we should probably go back now.”
“Nn? Already?”

I opened my eyes again, looking at Lily in surprise. I had barely been back from my work with the spheres and she wanted to leave already?

“Yes. We have to get up early tomorrow, remember?”
“Ahh… Right…”

Not that I wanted to get up early.

“So, yeah… And it’s late already.”
“I guess so…”

Oh well, it couldn’t be helped. It was a little sad, but we could always do this again.

“Oh, are you feeling lonely, Yumi?”

Lily grinned, having found an opportunity to get back at me for teasing her.

“Yes, I am.”
“Huh?”

Her eyes went wide in surprise at my unexpected reply. Sorry, but I was mature enough that I could answer something like that honestly! Or something like that…

“Uhhh… Well… It’s only for a little while. We’ll see each other in the morning again so…”
“Hehe. You’re a nice girl, Lily.”
“... Are you messing with me again?”
“No, I’m serious.”

That she replied seriously was more than enough proof for me that she was kind. I wasn’t messing with her, those were my honest thoughts.

“Uhhh… Come, Rina! We should get back!”
”Okay!”

Lily hurriedly got up and hurried to the door, a smiling Rina following right behind her.

”Nn, good night, Lily, Rina.”
“Good night, you two.”
“Good night, Lil’ Sis, Big Sis!”
“... Night. See you tomorrow.”
“Nn.”

Without turning around, Lily left the wagon. Even if I could only see her from behind, I could still spot her blushing red cheeks before she disappeared outside. Rina turned around a last time, grinning and waving at us before jumping out as well.

“And there they go.”
“Nn.”
“You shouldn’t tease Lily too much.”
“But I only spoke the truth.”
“But you knew she would get embarrassed.”
“Nn, I did.”
“That’s what we call teasing.”

Yeah… Hard to argue against that.

“I’ll keep that in mind next time. Lily was just too cute so I couldn’t help it.”

Her face betrayed all her emotions. It was heartwarming to watch. Especially when she got embarrassed. You could say it was a bit of a guilty pleasure.

“Really, don’t overdo it.”
“Nn, I’ll try not to.”

I closed my eyes again and sunk back into Karen’s arms.

“Sleepy?”
“Nn, a little.”
“Want to get into bed?”
“Nn.”

A moment later, I could feel my body being lifted up in Karen’s arms. She carried me to the bed before letting me down again.

“Raise your arms.”
“Nn.”

I did as I was told and Karen proceeded to swiftly undress me. It didn’t take her long either. When she finished, I opened my eyes again and found her undressing now. Watching her strip never got old. She did notice me staring, though.

“Mh? I something the matter, Yumi?”
“No. I’m just watching.”
“Haa…”

When she finished, she came over to the bed.

“Scoot over a little, Yumi.”
“Nn.”

Once we were settled into bed, Karen pulled me into her arms before pulling a blanket over us.

“There we go. Comfortable?”
“Nn. Very.”

Karen put her arms around me, hugging me close to her chest.

“Nn… I love this.”
“Hehe, I’m glad to hear that.”
“What about you?”
“Me? I love this, too, of course.”

Hearing that made me happy. If we both were happy, what else could we ask for?

Suddenly, I could feel a hand stroking my head.

“Nn, more.”
“Yes, yes. There you go.”

Karen continued to gently pat my head, stroking my hair.

“Nn…”
“Good girl, good girl. You did well, today. My little Yumi.”

This wasn’t quite what I thought of when I wanted to get spoiled but it sure was fine with me.

“You worked hard and you did everything you had to. You did really well today.”

Karen kept stroking my head in a slow and gentle manner, praising me and calling me a good girl. It was… surprisingly nice, being praised like this. Like, all the effort you put in was rewarded and acknowledged by the person most important to me.

“Nn… More…”
“Hehe, sure. Good girl, good girl. You’re a really good girl, my little Yumi.”

I nuzzled against Karen, listening to her voice and enjoying the gentle touch of her hand as I slowly… slowly drifted into sleep. A very, very comfortable and happy sleep.