Chapter 167: of Unknown Promise: A Busy Evening

After a while, the mercenaries finished cleaning up for the day and our group made its way back to the camp. This signalled the end of the day’s work. The merry mercenaries around us showed no sign of fatigue, talking with each other, wondering what we’d have for dinner and all that stuff.

“I wish they’d share some of that energy with me. I’m tired.”

Seriously, they did a whole day’s worth of manual labor. They were drenched in sweat. And yet, they showed no signs of exhausting their energy.

“Yumi, we only sat around.”

“I’m still tired.”

It was probably more a kind of mental fatigue, though.

“I blame it on those craftsmen.”

“Yumi…”

Hey, if they hadn’t come, I probably wouldn’t be quite as tired as I was right now. That wasn’t my fault.

“But really, I wonder what they did after that. They didn’t wait around for the captain, after all.”

“Maybe they’ll come back tomorrow?”

“That might be.”

That wasn’t going to be fun… Oh, wait…

“Right, I won’t have to do this again tomorrow. Ohh, then it’s not my problem anymore.”

What a wonderful coincidence.

“Even if they had come, couldn’t you just repeat what Mr Captain told us to them?”

“Well, yes… But what if they aren’t satisfied with that or there’s something else?”

“... That’d be a problem.”

“Nn.”

“But I don’t think that’d happen. And even if it did, you could just defer to Mr Captain again.”

“...”

Well, yes, but that was exactly what I didn’t like about the whole thing.

“Anyway. It’s not my problem anymore. Someone else will have to deal with them. We have other things to do tomorrow.”

“Like getting the Space magic to work?”

“... Yes.”

Just thinking about that made me nervous… I know he tried to calm me by saying that it wasn’t too important… But I knew that he was counting on me and that it would make things much simpler.

“By the way, Yumi…”

“Nn?”

“Maybe we could ask Yumias for help?”

“...”

Asking Yumias for help? That was…

“Uhhh… I mean we could but…”

I did have my doubts whether she’d answer that…

“I don’t think asking her would hurt. At worst, she’ll just keep quiet about it.”

Well… That was probably right. I doubted that she wanted to harm me so she probably wouldn’t mislead us by saying something wrong. Probably...

“... I guess we can ask her.”

“You sound really reluctant.”

Of course, I was reluctant. But I had told myself to be a little nicer to her just earlier. With that in mind, I wasn’t going to immediately dismiss her.

“We’ll have to find her first, anyway.”

“That’s… true. But I think she’ll be quite easy to find.”

“... Really?”

How did she come to that conclusion?

“I mean, she’s probably with Lily.”

“She did say she wanted to go to her earlier.”

“Yes.”

But we’d have to find Lily first for that. So, in the end, it only changed the target of our search… Then again, knowing Lily, she wouldn’t skip out on dinner. We’d just have to look for them at that time.

“We’ll have to see how it turns out, huh.”

If they weren’t there at dinner, we’d have a problem. Either way, that meant we still hadn’t finished our work for today…

That reminds me, being a mercenary is basically a job you do all day long, isn’t it?

No labor laws that limited the time you spent on work. In other words, nobody would care if you worked the entire time from morning to evening. That was… pretty bad, wasn’t it? Well, there wasn’t exactly much in the way of proper work most of the time for mercenaries.

“Yumi.”

“... Sis?”

“There are people at the camp?”

“Nn?”

Without my noticing, the camp had come into view as we trotted along the town’s walls. And just as Karen said, I could see people at the camp. Unfamiliar people, of course. It seemed that there was a commotion.

“You’re right… Wonder what’s going on. Maybe Yumias did something again.”

Unfortunately, I had to dismiss that possibility quite quickly. Thanks to my eyes, I could see quite far, so I could make out the odd people. And unfortunately…

“Sis, I know who that is.”

“Oh?”

“... The craftsmen from earlier.”

“... Really?”

Karen’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Nn… And… I think the one they’re talking with is Merim…”

“I see.”

Much to our surprise, they had actually heeded our words and come here.

They don’t seem like they’re very happy, though…

This might be a little…

“Sis, let’s catch up to the captain.”

“Okay.”

We quickened our steps to catch up with Korwen, who was taking the lead of our group. By the time we reached him, the other mercenaries, Korwen included, realised that something was wrong at the camp.

“Captain.”

“Mh? You two, what’s wrong?”

“Well, we saw the commotion at the camp…”

“Ahhh… Right, Yumi had good eyes. So it really is a commotion?”

“Nn.”

I nodded in confirmation.

“Can you see what’s happening?”

“Merim is arguing with the craftsmen.”

“Craftsmen? You mean, the ones you mentioned earlier?”

“Yes.”

“I see... How do they look to you?”

“Huh? How they look?”

I tilted my head in confusion.

“I mean, are they calm, upset or whatever.

“... Oh.”

Yes, of course, that’s what he meant.

“They seem upset.”

“Great… Just what I needed.”

Korwen sighed in resignation, slumping his shoulders.

“Couldn’t they come some other time?”

“Probably not…”

“Seriously… Guess dinner will be delayed a little. Okay, let’s go.”

“NN… Nn? Wait, us, too?””

“Of course. You two were the ones who talked with them first.”

Oh, seriously? Just when I was happy that I didn’t have to...

“I… see…”

From the corner of my eye, I could see Karen smirking, stifling a laugh. Good thing that at least one person had her fun here.

“Oh well…”

So much to that.

A little later, Korwen, Karen and I had finally arrived at the camp. After Korwen dismissed everyone else, we made a beeline straight to the commotion. There we found Merim, a few mercenaries I wasn’t familiar with and the craftsmen from earlier.

“Jockson, what’s going on here?”

“Captain!”

Merim and the other mercenaries turned around immediately and saluted the moment Korwen called out to them. It took me a moment to remember that Jockson was Merim’s last name. Korwen never used it usually, after all. Was it because this wasn’t a private situation?

“Captain, these men are from the Craftsmen’s Guild. They want to work on the road to the fort.”

“I see. Then, where’s the problem?”

“That’s…”

Before Merim could continue, one of the craftsmen stepped forward. Old, white hair and so on. The one we had talked with this noon.

“You the boss here?”

“I’m the captain of this band, yes.”

“We’re here about the road. The Craftsmen’s Guild is here to take over freeing up the road. That’s what the lord wants.”

“The lord, huh… The lord said nothing about this to us, though.”

“Are you doubting me?”

The old man narrowed his eyes at Korwen.

“No, not in the least. I’m just surprised. After all, he told us that if we required help from the citizens, we’d have to get it ourselves.”

“Guess he changed his mind then.”

“Hmmm… Then, I hope you understand that I’d like to confirm this with him first before making any kind of decision on this.”

“... Do as you want.”

The old man turned around without saying another word and walked away. He beckoned his fellows to follow him and within a moment, the whole group left.

“What was up with that?” I asked, watching them disappear into town.

“… There seems to be something wrong here.”

Yes, that’s something even I noticed.

At least, the other mercenaries were just as bewildered, with looks of confusion on them.

“Merim, how long did they stay here?”

“For a good while. Enough to make me feel rather annoyed.”

“I see… I don’t think this’ll be the last we saw of them.”

It’d surprise me if not.

“Mr Captain, will you go to the governor to confirm things?”

“... It didn’t seem to me that they were on order of the governor here,” I added.

Korwen nodded promptly, confirming.

“Ahh… I think they’re not on the order of the governor here either. But that does beg the question why they would want to work on the road. There’s no benefit of it if they aren’t being paid… That means there’s something else… Either there’s something that they can turn into profit or something personal… Something they might want to hide…”

He stroked his chin as he narrowed his eyes, still gazing at the town’s gate, through which the craftsmen disappeared.

“It’s fairly odd. Merim.”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Go to the governor’s place and inquire about this.”

“Under— Wait, captain… Do you mean now?”

“Well, now…”

Holding up a hand above his eyes to shield his eyes from the sun, Korwen directed his eyes away from the gate and to the sky.

“Sun’s still up. Better move your behind if you want to have dinner.”

“Oh, come on… Captain...”

“Did you say something, Mr I-barely-had-any-work-today?”

“... I’m going.”

With a sigh, Merim passed us and went back into the midst of the camp. He probably went to get ready and presentable for that visit.

“We’ll see soon enough if the craftsmen really came on order of the governor.”

“... Mr Captain, couldn’t he have gone tomorrow?”

“And give those guys a chance to strike a deal with the governor?”

“... Ah.”

Did he suspect they’d do that? Well, they might… Actually, it probably was their only way of doing this, wasn’t it? They already knew that Korwen wanted to check up with the governor. They’d have to discuss this with him, unless they gave up on working on the road and giving a bad impression to us. Which, honestly, didn’t seem like a very likely scenario.

“This might be some unexpected trouble… If we knew what they were after, at least.”

Their goal, huh… It was just getting the road ready, was it not? What point was there in taking over that work? Maybe there was some benefit we didn’t know about… That really didn’t seem likely. It’s just a road.

Maybe they have something to hide?

That could be it… Maybe they were required to maintain the road and didn’t want to get into trouble? Could be…

“Well, for now, let’s get some dinner. And while we do that, Yumi, you’ll tell me again what happened at noon. Every little detail.”

“... Understood, captain.”

So much to our plans for dinner…

“Did you already have plans for dinner?”

“Nn? Well… We wanted to look for Yumias and Lily…”

“Oh? Lily is one thing but I’m surprised you’d want to eat dinner with Yumias.”

“... We wanted to ask her about tomorrow. Maybe she could help.”

“Ahhh… I see… Mm...”

Korwen closed his eyes for a moment, thinking about something.

“Well, there’s no hurry with this. Go and look for them.”

“Huh? Is that fine?”

“We can talk after dinner or tomorrow. We won’t be able to do anything either way. For now, that is.”

“For now, huh…”

“Depends on what information Merim brings back. If it’s urgent, I can still call for you two.”

Guess that was an advantage, huh… He really was flexible in times like this.

“Now then… I better get going before my wife gets angry.”

“Huh?”

Why would his wife get angry?

“Don’t forget to sleep early. It’s going to be an early start tomorrow.”

Before I could ask him what he meant, he was already on his way, giving us a quick wave as a goodbye. Alas, I didn’t even need to ask what he meant anymore… since he was walking towards Mrs Korwen. Apparently, she had been waiting for him a little ways off.

“Yumi, do you think he’ll help with cooking again?”

“... That might be it.”

Would we see him in an apron again? That’d be interesting…

“Yumi, you haven’t helped out with cooking in a while either, have you?”

“Nn, mostly because we were busy. I’m guessing I’ll soon help out again.”

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In a way, we… skipped our regular work for a good while, haven’t we? Mostly because we just slept through the whole journey. And now we had come to Auria and there was the stuff with the fort and the road. Well, it was quite welcome that we were exempted from these duties if other work conflicted with it.

But helping out with the cooking was actually quite nice… The women there were all friendly and taught me patiently about this world’s cooking.

“Nn?”

“Yumi?”

“Sis, I just thought about it but… We’re going to be living in the fort, right?”

“Yes.”

“But we’ll also move out for jobs and the like.”

“Yes.”

“Who is going to cook?”

After all, bringing all the families along the trip would more or less defeat the fort’s purpose.

“... I hope some mercenaries know how to cook.”

“... I vaguely remember Lily saying that nobody among the Black Guards could, at least.”

This didn’t bode well… Not at all…

“So, either we will have roasted meat every day, preservatives or… We’ll be forced to cook. Either everyone for themselves or for the group as a whole...”

“... I don’t really feel like eating preservatives.”

“Nn, neither do I.”

There was a world difference between preserved food and food fresh from the pot. It wasn’t surprising that Karen didn’t want them either. She probably had more than her fair share of that stuff, already.

“We should bring this up with the captain. At least, it’ll still be a good while before this is going to happen...”

“Yes…”

There were several factors that might change everything anyway… If I could make the space magic work relatively reliably, the issue of fresh food probably wouldn't be that big. Then again, it’d also depend on how much Korwen wanted to reveal.

Well, he did say it’d be impossible to keep my abilities under wraps for long if we were to make use of them…

Either way, if we made it work, it could only improve the situation.

“Guess I really have to make it work now if I don’t want to eat preserved food.”

“I feel like that motivation is a little odd…”

“At least I am motivated.”

The source didn’t matter as long as the motivation was there. Well, though I said that, it wasn’t like food was my only motivation. Instantly travelling around was more than just convenient.

“I just hope it doesn’t consume a ridiculous amount of mana every single time…”

“That… might be a little much to ask for.”

“Nn…”

It was to be expected that such amazing magic required an appropriate amount of mana, right? Unfortunately… Even that tiny gate I made nearly messed things up badly.

“It’d be nice if we could use the mana from that huge crystal. But I think Ria hasn't made much progress yet…”

With such an obscene amount of mana, it’d probably take a really long time until we exhausted it. That’d be nice.

“Anyway, we should… probably stop standing around here.”

“... Probably.”

The mercenaries that had been with Merim had left already as well. We were the only ones left standing around here.

“We could look for Yumias while we wait for dinner.”

“Nn, sounds good to me.”

With that decided, we turned around, only to see someone running in our direction. 

“Mr Vice-captain?”

“Oh, Yumi, Karen. You’re still here?”

“Nn. Are you leaving now?”

“Yes… I’ll have to hurry if I want dinner… Ah, but… You wouldn’t be so nice and set something aside for me?”

“... We’ll relay it to Helma.”

“... That’s fine, too.”

Merim smiled wryly at me. I didn’t actually mind doing that for him since he always helped out but we were probably busy as well. And Helma surely would do it for him as well.

“Anyway, I’ll be on my way. I’m counting on you!”

“Sure. Good luck.”

Merim hurried past us, making his way to the gate. He really didn’t have it easy, did he? He even went and made himself quite presentable, changing into better clothes.

“Well, let’s hope he brings good news back.”

“I’m sure he can do it.”

He knew what he was doing so I didn’t doubt that.

“Okay, now we should go and look, shouldn’t we?”

“Yes.”

Time to look for that little gremlin.

“So… What happened here?”

“Things got a little heated.”

“A little heated?”

“Heated. A little.”

“...”

“Just a little.”

In front of me was a battlefield. A veritable battlefield. Several corpses were in front of me sprawled across the tables. The culprit? Several bottles provided by a certain someone. Emptied by the unsuspecting victims. Never did they suspect that it’d be the last thing they’d drink.

“What’s this… Is this… a plastic bottle?”

“Oh, yes, it is.”

“I can’t read it.”

“Well, it’s not from your place. I mean, it is from your place. But a slightly different place.”

“Uh-huh.”

I put the bottle back on the table. This was… Well… Quite something, you could say.

“Okay… I can’t pretend that I didn’t see anything, can I?”

“That wouldn’t be good, I believe,” replied Karen.

“Figured…”

I really didn’t want to get involved in this mess. It was definitely going to be bad for my mental health.

“But what do we do with these bodies? Bury them?”

“Yumi…”

“Nn?”

“They’re not dead.”

“... Oh.”

Well, they sure were going to wish they were dead, though. Tomorrow morning.

“So, Yumias, I’m going to guess that this was either a drinking competition or something similar?”

“My, you’re close. We played dice and the loser had to take a shot.”

“...”

Drinking games. No wonder they were passed out.

“You’re looking too sober for that, though… Did you cheat?”

“How rude! I’d never cheat, Yumi dear.”

Was that really the case, though?

“I really didn’t!”

As if this little gremlin had read my thoughts, she denied it once more, with her hands on her hips and her chest puffed out. Like a child trying to look all smug, which, admittedly, was quite cute. If only it wasn’t all about alcohol.

“Well, whether you did or didn’t, I guess it’s not like it matters… Still, what do we do about this now? We can’t just leave them here, can we?”

Actually, we probably could… But leaving someone dead-drunk outside wasn’t good. Even if it was warm right now.

“Let’s ask the captain. Maybe someone can carry them into their wagon.”

“My daughter’s really kind. You bring a tear to my eye.”

“...”

Maybe she needed some time for self-reflection… Though she clearly had no intention of doing that.

“Haaa… Seriously…”

Well, it wasn’t like it was completely her fault, since these men clearly were out to get her drunk as well. In a way, maybe it was good they passed out?

“Sis, can you call for the captain?”

“... Sure.”

“Thanks.”

I watched Karen hurry to fetch Korwen. Knowing her, she probably didn’t want to leave me alone for long.

“Well then… Let’s at least collect these bottles…”

We couldn’t exactly leave plastic bottles around in this world. Environmental hazard and such.

I picked up the bottles to my feet... 

“... Just where did you pick these up?”

“Oh, that one is also from your place.”

“I can’t read it, though?”

“Well, not that place. The other place.”

So, not where I was born.

“And this one?”

“That one is from a different place. Very refreshing one.”

That literally didn’t tell me anything. Except that it probably was a completely different world?

“You drank a lot, didn’t you?”

“Oh, we had a lot of fun. They make for good drinking buddies.”

“... Good for you.”

I raised my eyebrows, looking at the collapsed ‘buddies’ of hers. Wonder whether the thought was mutual.

“So, my dear, you two were looking for me, were you not?”

“... Nn.”

“What is it about?”

“Well…”

“Ah, let’s collect the bottles first?”

“Yes, that’d be better.”

Glad she was quick on the uptake.

We collected all the bottles that were scattered around, gathering them all on the table. Around the time we finished, Karen returned, a few mercenaries in tow. They quickly heaved up the collapsed men and carried them away. The whole thing went so smoothly it made me suspect that this was a regular occurence. It probably was.

“Great… That’s one thing dealt with.”

“Thanks for your help, Yumi, Karen. My, I was in quite a bind there, you saved me.”

“Sure…”

Yumias sat down at the table, beckoning us to join her. Fortunately, there wasn’t anybody else around anymore so we could probably talk here.

“So, my dear Yumi. What is it you needed me for? Did you finally come around and accept that you are my daughter? Oh, I see, that’s wonderful, indeed! Right, I’ll have to make a note.”

“No, that’s not what this is about…”

“Oh, it wasn’t? Unfortunate. So I have to be patient for a while longer.”

“...”

She could be as patient as she wanted…

“We wanted to ask you about the Space magic that the tentacles are using.”

“Ohh! Mh? Didn’t we talk about that before already? Or is my memory failing me again? Getting old is scary.”

“... We might have. But I wanted to ask anyway.”

“Well, then: Shoot.”

Yumias’ smile widened, as if she was actually pleased.

“The captain is planning to try it out tomorrow… And we wanted to ask if you could help out.”

“Help out? With the experiment.”

“Well, yes. Among other things.”

“I see, I see. No.”

“...”

Guess I wasn’t even surprised.

“Helping out sounds boring so I won’t. Answering questions is one thing but asking for my help is boring.”

“Figured it’d be like that.”

So much to that.”

“Uhm, Miss Yu—”

“No ‘Miss’ please!”

“... Yumias, asking questions is fine?”

“Sure is. A question costs nothing. Except your dignity, maybe.”

Nothing I had to lose then.

“Then, Mi— I mean, Yumias, if Yumi uses Space magic with the tentacles, it uses up a lot of mana. “

“Mm, it does.”

“Is there a way around that?”

“I assume you didn’t test it out all that much yet, then. It’s something you’d realise pretty quickly anyway so I’ll answer it for you. The magic your tentacles use would require magic to bend Space, connecting two different places. Once Space is bent, however, it only requires mana to maintain this state. Think of it like bending a wooden stick. Bending it requires more energy than keeping it in the bent position. However, the stronger the bent, the bigger the force pushing it back.”

From somewhere, Yumias conjured up a wooden stick just like in her example. A perfectly smooth piece of wood. Then, she pinched either end with her fingers and bent it a little.

“The same is true for this magic. The farther away the two end points, the stronger the bent required. As such, it would require more mana to set up and more mana to maintain.”

“As expected, huh…”

The farther away, the more mana I’d need… Depending on how much this difference was, it could very well turn out to be unfeasible.

“Oh, but, you probably won’t have much trouble at the distances you work at. If you prepare accordingly, it won’t kill you. Well, even if it would drain you dry, you won’t die from it.”

“Huh? I wouldn’t?”

“Mh? You won’t.”

“...”

“You’ll be as good as dead, though. After all, you might survive but you’d but you’d turn into a vegetable. Well, not forever, mind you, but surely for a few hundred years until you recover the lost mana.”

“...”

One more reason to bring as many of the mana crystals as we could. Korwen was strong, so he could surely carry them all through the forest.

“Anyway, prepare well and you shall not be disappointed. Probably.”

“I see.”

Honestly, this made me breathe a small sigh of relief. Knowing that it wasn’t something entirely impossible was… a weight off my shoulders.

“Well then, I answered your question. So I guess now it’s my turn.”

“Nn? You have a question?”

“Yes, yes. My dear Yumi, I have been wondering for a while now...”

She paused, leaving us hanging onto her words for a few seconds.

“... isn’t it inconvenient with your hair being that long?”

Seriously?

What did I expect…

“... You get used to it.”

People, after all, could get used to just about anything...

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