After our most immediate worries had been taken care of, our small group returned to playing the game. Maya, Emily and Alma returned after some time as well, bringing some fruits. Mrs Korwen swiftly turned them into juice and we continued our little games.

It was a pretty fun way to while away the day. In fact, it was probably the most fun I had in quite some time. Playing with a large group like this, solely for the purpose of enjoying the time, was something we couldn’t do most of the time.

“And… I win!”
“Ahh! She won again!”
“Hahaha! You’re a few centuries too early to beat me, my little ones! Haaahahaha!”

With her hands on her hips, Alma laughed triumphantly, having won yet another game. Yeah, that smug face, she definitely got that from Korwen.

“That can’t be real…. Is she cheating?”
“No, Sis, she isn’t.”

Alma was just overwhelmingly good at this game. That was all. The simple proof was that she wasn’t winning all the time anymore, once we got more familiar with the game. Though, the only others who managed to win were Lily, me and, much to my surprise, Emily.

“You just need to get better, Sis.”
“Ugh…”

I grinned, watching Karen as she ground her teeth in frustration. In a way, she was the most impressive one of us all as she placed last in most of our games. She wasn’t even that bad per se. She just couldn’t control her greed all that well and more often than not, that was her downfall. It was amazing.

“Well, there’s always a next time, Sis.”
“Next time is not this time.”
“That’s… err, true, I guess. Yeah.”

Karen stared at the board, then at Alma, who was still bragging about her win to the others.

“I’ll win next time.”
“Nn, good luck.”

She would definitely need it.

“That aside, we’ve been playing for an awfully long time, haven’t we?”
“Mmm… We have.”

Time flies, as they say. Especially when you had fun. We had in fact so much fun, that it half the day was already over.

“Maybe a break would be good,” I muttered.

We played for so long and, while it was fun, it was pretty exhausting. The little girls were as lively and spirited as you would expect from them. They showed no signs of tiring and were already bothering Alma for another round.

Of course, that included Sele. I had no idea what she thought about the whole thing, but it was heartening to see that she hadn’t taken the situation well.

“What about you, Sis?”
“Are you going to take a break?”
“Nn, I think so.”
“Mmm…”
“You can play more if you want to.”

I could tell from the way her gaze wandered between me and the board that she was conflicted about what to do.

“... No, I think I’ll take a break as well.”
“Are you sure? You don’t have to join me.”
“But I want to. And I need some time to think.”
“Nn… Well, if you say so.”

Then it wasn’t my place to stop her.

“Alma, Sis and I are going to take a short break.”
“Oh, is that so? You coming back later?”
“Nn, if you’re still playing by then.”
“Hahaha, you really think we won’t be playing until night comes?”

I smiled wryly when Alma declared with confidence that they would continue playing. At least, it seemed like I didn’t have to worry about them stopping while we were taking a break. It’d be a shame if we came back only to find out that they stopped right after we left.

“By the way, where are Mrs Korwen and Mr Captain?” asked Karen.

Unbeknownst to us, they had left at some point. Not all that surprising, considering they both had their respective jobs and Korwen even said he still had work to do.

“Mrs Korwen went to help out with chores, I think. No idea where the captain disappeared to,” answered Lily.
“I see.”

Probably also doing some work somewhere, as usual. Workaholic that he was.

“Sis, let’s avoid the captain, or he’ll rope us into work.”
“Yumi, I don’t think that’s something you should say.”
“So you’re fine with that? If he makes us do work now when we just wanted to take a breather?”
“... Do we avoid the places where he usually is?”
“Nn, that’s probably the best.”

Glad to see someone was on board.

“You two, don’t let him hear that,” commented Lily with a frown.
“He won’t.”

Even if he did, I had the feeling he was just going to laugh about it. Not that I was going to challenge that.

“Anyway, want to take a walk then, Sis?”
“Sure.”
“Nn. Then, we’ll be back in a while.”
“Yes, yes, have fun.”

Lily waved before turning back to the board game. Alma had already set up a new game and they were just about to start.

“Nn, let’s go, Sis.”
“Sure. But do you have any plans?”
“Well…”

Any plans, huh?

“I’ve been curious how things are going with the fort. Not really a scenic place, though, and it’s a bit of a long walk.”
“That’s fine with me.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I’m curious as well. And I think it is a pretty scenic place.”

Was it? It was mostly just stone, though. Well, with a lot of shrubbery and greenery around, since nature had claimed most of it. When I thought about it like that, it did sound actually quite scenic.

“Nn, then, we have our destination.”
“Mm.”

Karen held out her outstretched hand to me, which I took in my own. Then, the two of us walked around the camp towards the portal that was hidden in one of the tents. As we walked, I took a look around the camp. It was just the usual scenery of mercenaries going about their work. Seeing them working had, by now, become a part of my everyday life.

I felt a little bad for them, though. After all, we had been playing around the whole day, while they slaved the day away. Okay, not really. I wasn’t feeling that bad about it.

It’s not like we’re slacking off. We do our share of work.

I kept watching the mercenaries working while we walked around. The closer we got to the tent with the portal, the more mercenaries we encountered. Not all that surprising.

“Looks like they’re still busy here. Are there still that many supplies that need to be carried over?”
“I wonder.”

Honestly, the last time I was down there, the hall was filled to the brim with all kinds of stuff. If they brought in even more…

“Look, Yumi. Miss Fenna is over there.”
“Nn? Ah, you’re right.”

Right in front of the tent was Fenna, giving instructions to some men and women. As we got closer, we could slowly hear what she was telling them.

“... the floor and the walls. Those take priority. After you are done, report to the vice-captain for further instructions. All clear?”
“””Yes, ma’am!”””
“Then, you have your tasks.”

The group in front of Fenna saluted and then went into the tent. Fenna watched as they all walked away, before picking up something that seemed to be a notebook.

“And that marks another one done. Mm?”

As we approached, Fenna spotted us and gave us a small wave.

“Hey, Yumi, Karen. Surprised to see you here. I thought you had the day off?”
“Huh? We do?”
“Err, I think so? That’s what the captain told me? Why are you the one who is not sure about this…”

Because I didn’t know either. But a day off, huh? Well, we had been playing around. Korwen knew about that and made no attempts to stop us or give us any work. Still, I would have preferred it if he informed us about that.

“Anyway, what brings you two here?”
“We were just taking a break and walking around. We were thinking of taking a look at the fort.”
“The fort, you say… Well, as long as you don’t get in anyone’s way. Not that I need to tell you that.”
“Nn, we’ll be careful.”
“Much appreciated.”

Yeah, getting in the way was definitely not something I wanted to do, after all.

“So, what are they doing over there anyway? I thought we brought all the supplies over but when I look around here…”
“We did bring most of the important stuff over, that’s right. We’re now mostly sending people over to do basic repairs. Filling cracks or plugging holes with wooden boards and all that kind of stuff.”
“Those sound… very basic.”

Plugging the holes in the floors was very important, though. Nobody wanted to take an accidental tumble downstairs.

“Yeah, they’re only temporary measures so that we can make use of the facilities. Proper repairs come later when we have a normal road to the fort.”
“I see... And how are they coming along with the road?”
“They’re… making progress, last I heard.”
“... I see.”

I guess that’s better than no progress at all. But the pause… The progress wasn’t all that much, huh?

“Anyway, things are moving along well enough. Can’t complain. I think the captain’s pretty happy with the progress, too. You really made our lives a lot easier, Yumi.”

Fenna glanced at the tent behind, then at me again.

“Nn, always happy to help.”
“Ha! Expected nothing less.”

I knew that the portal was incredibly convenient, yeah. But hearing that it helped them really made me happy.

“But seriously, it helps a ton. Now we can do all that work we would have delayed otherwise until the road is clear. I doubt we’ll have to worry about the winter at this rate.”
“That’s good news.”

That’d be a major worry less, after all.

“It is. Would have been a little depressing if we had to— Oh.”
“Nn?”

Fenna suddenly interrupted her sentence and looked behind us. Then she promptly saluted. When I followed her gaze, I found the one person I didn’t want to see right now.

“Captain!”
“Fenna, good work. And I see you have Yumi and Karen here as well. Did you finish up already?”

Korwen raised an eyebrow at us. It seemed that he was genuinely surprised to see us. Still, now we had to explain ourselves…

“Yumi and I were taking a short break. The others are playing a round without us.”
“Ahh, I see. A breather, eh?”
“Nn, a breather.”
“Well, that’s fine.”

Oh, he was going to let it slide. Lucky us.

“More importantly, you two aren’t why I’m here this time. Fenna, I assume everything is going well?”
“Yes, captain! There were no problems of note.”
“That’s good. Keep up the work.”

He nodded at Fenna, then once towards Karen and me, before walking into the tent. He was headed for the fort, as well, as it seemed.

“Wonder what he is doing there now…”
“Probably making sure that everything is in order. Either that, or he needs someone,” answered Fenna.
“Nn…”

Well, not our problem. We were… on our ‘day off,’ after all. Ha!

“Okay, we should get going as well. Don’t want to bother you too much, Fenna.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. But I should get back to work as well. Still much to be done.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks.”

Karen and I continued into the tent and the portal came into view. The wriggly frame was still lively and there didn’t seem to be any signs of them running out of mana. Though, that might be because of the small box with mana crystals that I could spot in the corner. The tentacles most likely refilled their mana with those.

After taking a quick look, we went through the portal, arriving at the large hall in the fort’s basement.

“... Hey, Sis.”
“Yes?”
“I don’t remember it being this messy before.”
“... Neither do I.”
“Wonderful.”

Wooden boards, tools for construction, stones, buckets of gravel and all other kinds of things were all over the place. The floor was full of gravel and pebbles that had likely spilt over thanks to some careless mercenaries. In other words, it was a mess.

“I know they’re doing repairs since Fenna just told us but… this is messy.”

We carefully navigated through the mess, passing by more than a few men that cared little for the chaos. At the end of the hall stood Korwen, looking over the place with a frown on his face.

“Captain.”
“Hey, short time no see.”
“Nn.”

Short was certainly right. It had been barely a minute…

“You two already done talking with Fenna?”
“Nn. We didn’t want to bother her too much.”
“Well, that’s certainly good.”

He nodded, before returning his gaze to the hall behind us.

“Haaa… We should have done the repairs first and brought the supplies later. This is a mess.”
“It is.”

But, to be honest, it was probably inevitable. They were doing what amounted to construction work. Even if someone cleaned this up, it’d be back to this state in no time at all. Though, that didn’t lessen the frustration of seeing it. It also made me worry I’d get pebbles in my shoes. That would be absolutely horrible.

“Still, Fenna was right, work proceeds apace. That’s good. Say, Yumi, Karen.”
“Nn?”
“Yes?”
“It’s nearly time for the scheduled report. Since you’re already here, why not come along?”

The scheduled report? The one from the group we sent out this morning?

“... Is it that late already?”
“Ha! You certainly enjoyed yourself, haven’t you?”
“...”

I couldn’t deny that. All we did today was play around. And it had been very enjoyable.

“So, you coming or not?”
“Nn… I’d like to see if it works. Sis, is that okay with you?”
“Of course.”
“Sorry, that deviates a little from what we planned.”
“Hehe, it’s fine. And I want to see it as well if I am being honest.”

Karen smiled and gently squeezed my hand.

“Ah, yes, youth.”

And Korwen was watching with a grin.

“Captain, that’s rude.”
“What, you’re literally flirting in front of me. Let me have that.”

I’d rather not.

“But let’s put that aside for now. Come with me.”

Korwen beckoned us to follow him. We walked through the underground hallways for a while until we stopped in front of one door. With Korwen in the lead, we entered the room and were… greeted by a pink wall.

“That looks pretty… amazing.”
“That’s one way to put it, Yumi.”

Dozens of small portals—all closed, of course—filled the wall. It was a pretty disturbing sight. Even though each portal was so small that I could barely push my tiny hand through, the sheer number was making me uncomfortable. The only saving grace was, that they were closed. I didn’t want to imagine how this wall would look like if it was littered with those holes-slash-portals.

“Mm, good, we still have a bit of time before the scheduled time it seems.”

Korwen looked over the wall, confirming none of the portals was open, before leaning against the wall and waiting.

“By the way, my wife talked with me about Sele.”
“Nn?”
“Oh?”

Those words drew our attention. After all, Mrs korwen hadn’t told us anything, most likely because she didn’t want to burden Sele any more than necessary.

“It seems that our suspicions were right… but also a little wrong.”
“Right but also wrong?”

In simpler words, they were right, just not completely, right?

“We were right that Sele hid from us that she once in a while took Maya’s or Emily’s blood. However, she only did that whenever either of them was injured. It’s not a regular thing or anything.”
“Huh. That’s good, isn’t it?”
“Pretty much. Apparently, it’s just that whenever she sees blood, or rather when she smells it, she wants to lick it up.”
“Smell…”

So that really was why she woke up when someone cut their finger. She smelled it.

“There’s the possibility, of course, that she just needs a very small amount of blood and those occasional injuries were enough to keep her fed. We don’t know for sure.”
“Nn, it could happen. The three are… pretty wild. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have the occasional scratch.”
“Ha! They already calmed down a lot.”
“Did they?”

I could barely imagine them being even wilder, though.

“It wasn’t that long ago when they were still chasing Merim away, you know? They only calmed down around the time you two joined us. And… as much as it shames me to say, they got a lot less rebellious after we threw out the troublemakers.”
“Troublemakers? Trouble… Oh, the bullies.”

I already forgot about their existence. The idiot boy who bullied the three girls.

“Yeah, the bullies. Ha, that’s true. They were bullies. Haaa… We should have put down our foot way earlier. It was a big mistake of mine to let things be for so long.”
“Well…”

Korwen sighed, his arms crossed, with a look of regret.

“Let’s not talk about them. They’re gone now and that’s it. Point is, the girls got a lot more sociable recently. They’re also helping out a lot more around the camp. I’ve even seen them talking with some of the other children a while ago.”
“The other children…”

I was aware that there were others apart from Maya, Emily and Sele, but I had rarely seen them. The only times I had were when I was helping out with the chores. And, of course, the time I saw the girls get bullied.

“It’s a good thing if they can get along with some other kids. They’re always around us adults, after all. Though…”

Korwen looked at me and grinned.

“I doubt they think of you as an adult.”
“Rude. I’m a proper adult.”

Not that I could deny that the three girls weren’t really treating me like one. I had that suspicion as well, already.

“Relax, I’m joking. Those three are smart, so I’m sure they actually know.”
“Nn… I wonder about that.”
“They do, I’m sure. But let’s get back to Sele. As you said, there are enough instances where they get small scratches and the like. Also, we simply don’t know whether things will remain as they are or if it changes when she grows older. We’ll have to watch out for her.”
“Nn.”

We didn’t want a repeat of today, after all.

“As long as we know what’s going on, that’s good. That said, I’m also going to look into the matter when we can. The demonkin in Aldreigh seem to know something about it. At least, more than Irwin does… His descriptions are little… too abstract for my liking.”
“Ahhh…”

They sure were a little unique.

“I’m also going to ask the friend of Greyward’s. We received a messenger bird earlier from them and they’re already on their way.”
“Ohh? They are?”
“Yes. It’s quite likely they’ll arrive tomorrow already.”
“That fast? We received the letter only yesterday.”

Wasn’t that a little too fast?

“They most likely left right after sending off the letter. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they arrived today, to be honest, but they weren’t quite that fast yet.”
“Oh, I see…”

The letter itself would need time to arrive here as well. If there had been issues with the delivery, it might have come only after they already arrived.

“It’ll be interesting to hear what they can tell us. Greyward told me that she is part of the temple’s clergy. She might even know a thing or two about you, Yumi.”
“Me?”

I turned to Korwen in surprise. I didn’t quite expect to become the centre of the topic right now.

“Yes. Demonkin live a long time and from what I understand, you’re not the first… victim of Yumias.”
“Nn… The Elder did mention that there were others.”
“Right. And Greyward’s friend is someone who travelled a lot. She might be more knowledgeable about the topic than the Elder. Though, she might just as well know nothing.”
“Ugh…”

That was all too likely…  Still, if she knew something, even if it was only a little bit, I’d consider that a success.

“Either way, they should know something about Sele’s situation. And, of course, about Karen’s, too.”

I glanced towards Karen, watching her reaction. She… furrowed her brows a little but that was all.

“We’ll see how things go. First and foremost, though, I am worried about what is going on in Aldreigh. So, how about we listen to them?”
“Nn?”

Korwen suddenly stood up and walked to the portal-riddled wall, stopping in front of one portal. It was quivering and something was clearly happening to it. Only moments later, the portal connected and opened up.

“Woah, crap, is that it?”
“I think that’s it, yeah.”
“Guys, it’s already up!”
“Huh?”
“Wha?”

And we could hear the mercenaries on the other side. Yeah.

“Oh, shit, you’re right! Wait… Captain?!”
“Took you long enough.”

Something dropped to the ground on the other side, likely a wooden mug or something.

“Ca— Captain! We’re ready to give our report!”
“... Haaa, seriously. Go ahead.”
“Yes!”

I could vividly imagine the mercenary on the other side saluting in a frantic manner.

“We’ve arrived at the Aldreighan border earlier, Captain! We passed just earlier and are now making our way deeper into Aldreigh!”
“That’s something. Any troubles?”
“None, sir!”
“Good. Keep up the work.”
“Yes, sir!”

Things were going well by the looks of it.

“Report tomorrow morning and tomorrow evening at this time. Someone else will take your reports from tomorrow onward. Also, make sure you keep out of sight.”
“Understood, sir!”
“Mm. I will leave someone to guard this place. If there is an emergency, do not hesitate to use the portal. That’s all, you’re dismissed.”
“””Yes, captain, sir!”

Yeah, they definitely were saluting right now.

Moments later, the small portal closed again, severing the connection.

“Well then, that’s a wrap for today. What are you two going to do now?”
“Us? Well…”

We only wanted to take a short walk, to be honest. We wanted to take a look around the fort but we hadn’t even made it out of the basement yet.

“I wonder. Sis, want to go upstairs and look around for some more or go back?”
“Mmm… They should be about to finish the game, I think. We should probably go back, or we’ll need to wait a while.”
“That’s a pretty good point.”

A single round took quite a while. If we went up and looked around, it was quite possible we would return only to find them having just started another round. Waiting for that to end could take a good while.

“Nn, then I guess we’ll make our way back now.”
“I see. Then, have fun with the remaining day off.”
“... We will.”

If he was already giving us a day off for free, I wasn’t going to refuse.

“Mr Captain, are you returning to work?”
“Ha, still got some stuff to do. But I think I’ll do that tomorrow. You know, maybe I should join you youngsters and show you how the game is played, eh?”
“...”

Wow, someone was sure confident in his skills.

“Is what I would like to say, but I, unfortunately, have a prior appointment.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. With my wife.”
“...”

I see. A nighttime appointment, huh?

“I mean, I have to make up for all the time I have to endure you two flirting in front of the whole world. Or Lily, for that matter.”
“Nn, is that so... Then, captain… Please try to keep the noise down, we’re playing right next to your wagon and I don’t think that would be good for Emily, Maya and Sele. But apart from that, we’re cheering for you. Alma is already looking forward to it.”
“... Hey.”

Korwen’s eyes narrowed.

“Is it just me or do you know…”
“We know.”
“... How.”
“Mrs Korwen told us earlier.
“...”
“Also, I vaguely remember that the topic came up when we helped Ria out with the examinations.”

He covered his face with his hand as if he was trying to hide.

“... Are you kidding me? The examination thing aside… Why did she have to declare it to the whole world in public…”

Well, that was a good question that I couldn’t answer.

“Good luck. We’re cheering for you.”
“... Thanks.”