Chapter 118: of Grim Reality: Near the Village

“We’ve finally arrived!”

The carriage stopped next to the field and our driver hopped off to take care of the warox.

“It’s already late again… This took quite some time.”

“Nn. But now we’re finally here.”

Just like Karen said, noon had passed quite a while ago already and the sun was already hanging a little lower in the sky. It wasn’t like it was going to be dark in an hour or so, but most of the day had passed by now.

“But, I wonder if it is okay to camp here…”

I surveyed our surroundings with worry. The village we were aiming for wasn’t yet in sight, likely hidden behind some hills and trees. But considering that we were camping near the fields of the village, it couldn’t be far anymore.

“I think it’ll be fine… I mean, that village probably has completely different problems right now.”

“Well… Guess that’s true.”

It’d be quite funny if a villager came up to complain to us about it. What, with their village being occupied by fanatics.

“More importantly, should we go to Mr Captain?”

“Nn. Let’s do that.”

After I set down the banner, the two of us hopped down from the carriage, thanked the driver for his work and walked up to the only other carriage. Korwen and Merim were already busy giving out orders again. Keeping a bit of distance, we waited for the two to finish.

“... teams to the village. One to the west, one to the east and the last one from the south. Left, right, front. That clear?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Good. Get going, we don’t have all day.”

“Understood, sir!”

The man Korwen was talking to saluted and promptly left in a hurry.

“Captain.”

“Mh? Ah, Yumi, Karen. Had a comfortable ride?”

“... That a joke?”

“Half. Better get used to it because you will need to do that more often.”

“My legs will die.”

“They won’t, that’s the problem.”

Korwen gave us a strained smile, clearly knowing the troubles we had to endure.

“How’s the Elder? Is she feeling better now?”

“We haven’t checked up on her yet… Actually, I don’t even know which wagon she is resting in...”

“I see. Well, you can do that later. Merim probably knows which wagon she is in. I doubt she collapsed again but come back and tell me if she feels better.”

“Nn, will do.”

He was worried as well, huh… Well, I’d worry as well when someone suddenly falls to the ground in front of you... 

But, hey, another person with no endurance. Rina and I won’t be alone anymore!

It was probably not exactly nice to say, but I did feel a little happy about it… Of course, her collapsing wasn’t anything to feel happy about and we sure could do without.

“So, Mr Captain… What will happen now?”

“Not much. I’ve sent some squads out to scout the village. Until then, we’ll wait and rest. Not much else we can do anyway.”

“Nn… But aren’t we setting up camp?”

That’d require us to set up tents and all that as well, after all.

“Mm… Yes and no.”

“Huh?”

“We’re not setting up camp in the way you might think. We’ll sleep in the wagons today. In case the situation changes, we need to be ready to move at any time.”

“Ahh…”

No comfortable bed today… Well, our wagon wasn’t here so we’d have no bed either way.

“Oh, right, before I forget...”

“Nn?”

“You two, that forest over there. Is that the one you were in?”

He pointed at the other side of the large field. Right behind it was the road to the village and then yet another field. And behind that started the forest…

“Nn, that’s the one. I think. Sis?”

“Should be the right one, yes.”

“I see. Thanks, you two.”

Korwen suddenly turned away from us and called over another mercenary.

“Yes, captain?”

“Get together a squad and scout that forest over there. Look for anything that looks like the trails of a large monster or an army.”

“Understood!”

With a salute, the man left.

“I think that is all we need to do for now. Time to take a break. You two should rest as well.”

“Nn, okay.”

“Understood.”

We were already half turning around when I remembered something.

“Ah, captain.”

“Mh? Still have something?”

“Well, it’s about that assignment you gave me.”

“...”

He stared at me, blinking a few times.

“Remind me again, what assignment?”

“... You told me to think about what to do in situations like this.”

“Situations like this? Mh? Mh… Ah! What we talked about this morning?”

“... Nn.”

He forgot. He completely forgot…

“Right, right. We can talk about that now if you want. A good way to kill time. But first, let’s fetch some dinner.”

“Nn, that’s okay…”

Fetching dinner? But someone had to make it first. Did they cook on the way?

“Then, let’s go.”

Dinner was served. A cold dinner. Bread and preserved meat.

“This is…”

“Dinner. What, expected something warm?”

“Nn.”

“You think anyone here can cook?”

“...”

At the very least, you should be able to warm up something. Or grill meat. That’s not even that hard.

“A fire is no good anyway. It might give us away. So, cold dinner it is.”

“Haaa…”

A little sad, I bit into the bread. It was hard… But better than nothing. Korwen sat down on the ground, leaning against the wagon behind him and started eating as well. We continued in silence until each of us had finished our food.

“Mh. Now then, let’s listen to what you managed to think of, Yumi.”

“Ahh… Uhm…”

“What, is there some problem?”

“No…”

Simply didn’t know how to start with it. He just unceremoniously asked me the moment I finished my last piece of bread. He couldn’t blame me for being a little stumped, okay?

“Then… I had a few ideas so…”

“Just give me one after another and I’ll give my opinion about it.”

“Nn. Okay. Then…”

Which one should I start with? The one where I suggested being the bait? Though, we already kind of rejected that one already… In that case, the idea with poison first. Having decided which one to go with first, I gave him a rundown of it, including what the Elder had told me about it.

“Poison… Mhm… The Elder is right about that. It’s a difficult approach. The only person who even remotely knows anything about poisons among us is Ria. Well, maybe one or two others know a little from their hunting career but that’s it.”

“So, we have nobody who could make that work…”

“That’s how it is. But by itself, it’s not a bad idea.”

That still didn’t change that it wasn’t an option.

“I admit I am, however, more than just a little surprised.”

“Huh?”

“That the first thing you’d suggest would be something that savage.”

“Well…”

What else did he expect me to suggest then…

“Not many would even think about that. It’s cruel but also extremely effective if done right. Maybe you’re more suited to this than you think.”

“... I don’t know how to feel about that.”

“Hahaha! Well, what else did you expect from such a suggestion?”

Good point.

“But let’s be serious. There are indeed times when a poison is used to… great effectiveness. Poisoned weapons are especially dangerous. The problem is that you need people who know how to handle poison and, of course, a poison that works well enough.”

“I see…”

“However, poison is almost exclusively used against humanoids. It has little effect on monsters. You can count the poisons that work on them on one hand. And we also have monsters to deal with this time.”

But at least, with that approach, it would be only monsters that were left.

“Well then, from the way you spoke, you have more than just this, right?”

“Nn.”

The next one, huh… The next one… the night assault. Once again, I told him what I had thought of.

“Mh. That’s a pretty good idea, overall.”

He nodded in approvement of my idea.

“In fact, it’s not unlikely that we will attack them tonight. Depending on the report of the scouting squads.”

“Huh…”

How surprising… I had thought of the right one? To be honest, that surprised me quite a bit.

“There’s not much to say about night assaults. The attacker pretty much always has the advantage. Even if they wake up from an alarm, they are not yet in position and they are tired. On the other hand, we could rest in advance and prepare. But it only gives an advantage, it doesn’t mean you win because of it. They could set up traps and the like that are hard to see at night. It probably won’t be relevant this time, but keep that in mind. When you attack a well-prepared force at night, the night assault can come biting back hard. Especially when they are fortified.”

“Nn, I’ll remember that.”

Traps, huh… Those were a thing as well…

“Now then, what else?”

“Nn… The last one is… Well…”

“What about it?”

“Nn… I can’t say I really thought it out… that one…”

“Just tell me anyway.”

Well, if he wanted to hear it…

“The last one I thought of was, well… overwhelming them with a single person’s magic.”

“Mhm. Elaborate.”

“Well, for example, if Ria were to cast that magic again. That could deal with quite a lot of them all at once.”

“Hm…”

Korwen didn’t say anything, just sitting there and thinking. After a short while, he spoke again.

“That certainly is a possibility. Ria could probably burn down half the village on her own.”

“...”

“But you already know yourself that there are problems with that, right?”

“Well… Ria can only do it once, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Well, if she were to miss…”

We’d be screwed.

“Using a single person’s skills is certainly not a bad idea. Ria could certainly make it easy. And if Ria were to miss, Wenners and Krutz are also around. As well as Wendl from the Black Guards. You, Yumi, are also among those.”

“... Huh? What?”

“Think about it, if you were to use those exploding mana crystals, you could decimate that village relatively quickly.”

That… was true…

“And not only those. It might take a little longer but you could also use those growing tentacles to slowly take over the village. If you surround the entire village and then grow them inwards, there’d be no escape.”

“... That would take a lot of mana crystals.”

“Mana crystals are cheap. That approach however would almost guarantee us to get through this without casualties. Life cannot be returned, no matter how much money you have.”

“That’s…”

I furrowed my brows a little…

“Uhm, Mr Captain…”

“Yes, Karen?”

“I… have been thinking for a while… but… you always put safety first, so… why are you all working as mercenaries? Isn’t that a little contradicting?”

Now that she mentioned it…

“There’s a difference between throwing away your life and risking your life.”

“...”

“We do jobs nobody else wants to do and our primary means of solving things is through violence. But we don’t foolishly risk our lives. Money is useless once you are dead, right? So, if we have a way of doing it without risking our lives, we’d be stupid not to take it. That doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous. Things can always go wrong. Take what we just mentioned as an example.”

What he just mentioned? About me surrounding the village with the tentacle growth?

“Yumi growing that stuff, how long would that take? Days. Days we don’t have. We are at risk here and the longer we stay, the worse it gets. We could be attacked by the army or by that roper. That means we have to solve this as fast as we can. Preferably within the day. Tomorrow latest.”

“Is that… so…”

“It is. We are mercenaries. We fight and kill for our own sake. Some to survive, some because they enjoy combat, and some because they simply don’t have any other choice. But all of those require us to be alive. We aren’t battle fanatics that don’t care about or own lives and want to die in glorious combat. In fact, if there is anyone like that, I’d throw them out without hesitation. A suicidal man is only a danger for everyone.”

I glanced between Karen and Korwen as he explained it to her. He had quite a serious, stiff expression on his face right now.

“Do you understand?”

“... I think.”

“... Just remember why you two are here. You don’t want to die either, right?”

“Of course not!”

“Then, where’s the problem?”

“... There’s none.”

“See?”

He grinned at her now, showing the white of his teeth.

“You’re by far not the first one to ask me that, don’t worry about it.”

“... Okay.”

“Now, back to what we were talking about… Er, where did we stop.”

“... About Yumi using the tentacles.”

“Ah, right.”

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With the short interrupting solved, he returned to our previous talk.

“Mhm, well, to sum it up, using a single person’s skills, especially magic, is a very effective means for an attack. As long as you can ensure that it hits and does enough damage to give you a deciding advantage. On the other hand, if they manage to prevent it, you are screwed.”

So even that approach had issues…

“Was that the last one?”

“Nn, it was…”

“I see. Well, you sure surprised me. I didn’t expect you to think of more than one solution. And even less that all three were reasonable.”

“...”

Rude as always, wasn’t he?

“So, uhm… What will we be doing?”

“Mhm… I said it earlier but it depends on the result of our scouting team. If they don’t have any defences in place, which is quite likely, then we will attack tonight. Speed is of essence. Also, our most important task is to eliminate the three magicians, including Yumelia. In a way, they’re the deciding factor.”

“The deciding factor?”

I tilted my head, pondering those words.

“The worshippers are known for using very… unconventional means of attack. Exploding puppets and traps especially. These are controlled and maintained by their magicians. Remove the magicians from the picture and the worshippers are nothing more but poorly trained fanatics.”

“Ah, I read about that.”

“Oh, you did?”

“Nn. In a book that I got from Wendl.”

It had been a while since I read that book but I did remember reading about those exploding puppets in it.

“But, how are we even going to find those magicians then?”

“There are a few ways. The easiest is seeing them use magic, of course. For example, when they do maintenance on the puppets or the traps.”

“Maintenance? Do they even need that?”

“They do. Their puppets aren’t as smart as your dolls are, they cannot replicate on their own nor do the maintenance themselves.”

Wait, my dolls were doing maintenance on themselves?!

“So, a magician has to do it. However, I don’t know how often they have to do that. In the worst case, they might be fine going several days without.”

“And what will we do then?”

“Hoping we get them right based on other things. Magicians usually have a higher position than others, right? So we have to look for individuals that seem to have a higher position.”

“Nn…”

But that still had room for error…

“In the first place, we don’t know how many magicians there are. Ruben told us there are three, but there might be more. Or less, which is also annoying.”

“Isn’t less good?”

“It begs to question where the others are, though. Of course, it makes things easier, but you have to deal with this unpleasant feeling of not knowing where the last one is. Being alert is of course a good thing... It’s simply annoying.”

Ahh, yeah… That could be annoying.

“Mr Captain, how are they going to find that out? I don’t think they can just walk into the village, right?”

“Of course not. They have to observe from a distance. That makes things pretty hard but it’s doable.”

Hard, huh…

“There are also Yumi’s dolls that we sent alongside the scouting teams. They probably have an easier time getting closer. Wish we could communicate better, though…”

“Ahahaha…”

It surprised me more that they actually could communicate… Well, it used to surprise me. By now, I had already gotten a little used to them… And they could draw astonishingly well so they likely would make portraits of every suspicious person they found.

At that moment, someone approached us from the side. Turning around, I saw Merim, an exasperated expression adorning his face.

“And here he is, our slacking captain, playing around with two pretty girls…”

“Slacking, he says. Do you know how much I worked the past two days? Give me a break!”

“I worked as well! Haa… Whatever…”

“Well, did you just come here to complain or got something?”

“Ah, right. I wanted to ask Yumi and Karen if they could help out a little and hand out dinner and refreshments. The men would surely perk up more getting it from them over another burly man.”

That was relatable. I’d prefer that too. Wait...

“Sure, we just finished our talk anyway. Ah, when you two are done, go and take a rest. If you can, try to get some sleep.”

“Understood, captain.”

“Understood, Mr Captain.”

“Mh. Now then. I’ll take a break as well. Merim, don’t forget to send the men to rest as well. Whoever finished with their work. No partying or other stupid things.”

“Got it.”

Korwen stood up and stretched his arms and back. You could hear the bones beneath his muscles creak a little… He waved with his hand once more and took his leave.

“Then, Yumi, Karen. Come with me.”

“Nn, got it, Merim.”

“... You know, when will you call me vice-captain?”

“...”

“...”

Maybe, someday?

“Not answering, huh…”

“Well… I’m sure I’ll remember it someday.”

“... I wonder why so many just call me by my name.”

No, that was… He didn’t feel all that much like a vice-captain so… Especially next to Korwen, the captain… I sure couldn’t blame them.

“Anyway, let’s get going.”

“Nn.”

“Okay.”

Karen and I helped out with serving dinner and refreshments for the mercenaries at work. It’s simple work but you always get thanked for it, so I kind of liked doing this. Just a little.

After we had finished, most mercenaries were already done with their preparations and work. It wasn’t like there was much left to do anyway. Almost everyone went to take a break, except for a few poor souls condemned to guard duty and the like. Of course, that included us. Taking a break, that was.

“I wonder if it’s really fine that we get the entire wagon…”

“Merim said it’s fine so it’s fine.”

We closed the door behind us and locked it. The only other person inside was the Elder, who was currently sleeping. Her complexion had been really bad at the time she collapsed, but her face had already recovered it’s usual pink colour.

“We shouldn’t be too loud…”

“Nn.”

There was no need to wake her up. She should just rest until we were needed again. Merim told us that we’d likely get a report within the next hour. Depending on the captain’s decision, we had less than an hour and a half at most to rest. Or three earth hours. The time to rest wasn’t long but it was better than nothing. With that in mind, the Elder had it better than us. She could properly rest.

“Yumi, come here.”

“Nn.”

With a blanket covering us, we cuddled up together on the other side of the wagon.

“Nn… I love this…”

“You say that every time…”

“And I’ll say it in the future as well.”

I wanted Karen to know how much I loved her and how much I loved being by her side. Sure, my vocabulary wasn’t the most extensive but it was better than just keeping quiet. There were some things you just had to say.

“No wonder we get teased by everyone.”

“Ugh… Don’t remind me. And that was mostly your fault, Sis.”

“I know. Sorry.”

“... I didn’t want an apology.”

I hugged her arm and leaned my head on her shoulder.

“Let’s just forget about that.”

“... Okay. If you say so, Yumi.”

I said so. Everyone had moments like that and there was no point in digging it out. That was totally my fault for digging it out…

“We should try and sleep a little.”

“Nn… I don’t know if I can sleep like this. I mean, I’m tired as hell but…”

It’d be a little hard to sleep like this. One part because it was still bright outside, two parts because of nervousness and seven parts because I wanted to enjoy the moment with Karen. At least, that’s what I told myself.

“Still, even if we can’t fall asleep, we should try to.”

“You’re right, but…”

“No buts…”

In response, Karen pulled me a little closer.

“Sis.”

“Yes?”

“... The armour is in the way.”

“Deal with it.”

“Uhh…”

I didn’t want to deal with it, though.

“You know how long it takes to wear it again and we might need to move immediately. Remember, that’s what Merim told us as well.”

“I know, but it’s still in the way…”

“... I’d like to do it without it, as well. But there’s no choice except enduring right now.”

Karen let out a small sigh and then nuzzled her nose against my hair. Her breath was tickling me as she rubbed her nose and cheek against my scalp.

“Remember what I told you yesterday evening? When this is over, let’s ask for a few days off.”

“... Nn.”

“And then we can do lots of things. Going into town again, for example. That was fun.”

“Nn, it was.”

“We could also visit Lefa at the Academy again. Or Lady Karker.”

Karen began stroking the back of my head with her hand.

“But will Lefa even be there? I heard many students were evacuating the town.”

“Lefa too?”

“I think so? Didn’t she say something like that?”

“Did she?”

Now I wasn’t sure about it anymore either…

“Well, we’ll see if she is still around. Right, Sis?”

“I guess so.”

If she wasn’t we might be able to find out where she went, though. If she wasn’t in the capital anymore, I’d at least wanted to send her a letter…

“Hey, Sis… How do people send letters?”

“Letters?”

“Nn.”

“Well, that depends…”

She stopped stroking for a moment, seemingly thinking about my question.

“... Uhm, sorry.”

“Huh? What’s the matter?”

Why did she apologise, suddenly?

“I actually don’t know if you can send a letter here…”

“... What do you mean?”

“Well… in Arkesta, I heard you could pay a courier to take along your post… It’s really expensive, though, so I never did that. Not that I even had someone to send letters to.”

“I see…”

Expensive, huh…

“Well, and in Aldreigh… I am not sure how it worked but there was some way of sending letters. When I was still small, I remember seeing my father receiving mail… I have no idea how that system over there works, though.”

“Nn? Wait, you mean, the postal services depend on the country?”

“Yes…”

“Ah…”

No wonder she had no idea. No, rather, I completely missed that… It was obvious…

“Ugh… I see…”

“Was it different in your wo— where you came from?”

“Well… There were postal services and you just had to write a letter, put it in an envelope and buy a postage stamp and give it to the postman.”

“What is a postage stamp?”

“Nn? It’s a small piece of paper that is glued to the envelope. It shows that you already paid the delivery fee. It wasn’t even much. It was easily affordable for everyone to send a letter.”

It was quite convenient. Furthermore, with technology advancing, letters became slowly more obsolete.

“That sounds nice…”

“Nn… Is there no way to send letters with the help of magic?”

“I think there is… But it’s probably even more expensive than regular mail.”

“Hm…”

Thinking about it, there was space magic… That could make it easier to send along letters. But apparently, their users were a rarity and the ones that existed probably had other things to do over sending letters…

Oh, but if I really manage to make those tentacles connect to other places, it would make it easier to send letters as well… Or, well, visit someone.

There were many benefits to space magic… It was little wonder that Korwen wanted me to get that working…

“Nn… Wait…”

“Yumi?”

“... The free days off might get delayed.”

“What?”

Karen stiffened up when she heard my words.

“Well, remember the… pitfall?”

“Of course I do.”

“... The captain wanted me to work on that stuff, right? And he wanted me to do it fast.”

“... Ah.”

There was no way he was going to give us days off when that wasn’t resolved. After all, he really needed to know if I could make that work or not. It would apparently decide his course of actions after this job. The wish, whether he would get that abandoned castle or some other place… and so on.

“Yumi.”

“Sis?”

“When we get back, let’s work on that and get it done as fast as possible so we can take some time off.”

“... Nn.”

A wry smile appeared on my lips. She didn’t even try to hide what she wanted. And that made me feel all warm inside.

“We have lots of things to do, don’t we, Yumi?”

“Nn.”

“... But first, let’s rest. And let’s ask Mr Captain about the letters later.”

“Let’s do that.

Once again, we pulled a little to each other. We didn’t say another word, simply letting silence fall over us. Closing my eyes, I spent my time half-awake, half-asleep. Once in a while, one of us moved a little, to make it a little more comfortable but outside of that, nothing else happened.

Who knew how long we spent our time like that until someone knocked full force on our door.

The scouts had returned.

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