Chapter 35: of Soul Expansion: Evacuation

"Leaving the mercenaries? Fenna said that?"

"Nn..."

"She did, Karen..."

Shortly after Fenna left, Lily and I told Karen about our conversation with her.

"But... what would we even do then?"

"That's... I don't know either."

Karen furrowed her eyebrows.

"Even if we would do that, what about those three? I can't imagine them wanting to leave."

"Nn, probably."

Even if Emily, Maya and Sele had their own share of troubles, they still grew up here with the mercenaries. And they were quite attached to Korwen as well.

"Well, we have some time until we have to decide. So how about we just let it rest for a bit and decide later?"

"But Lily..."

"Karen, hurrying it won't help us either. And to be honest... I can see where Fenna was coming from..."

"Eh?"

Karen and I both looked at Lily in surprise. She surely was the last person I would have expected to agree with Fenna.

"You see, thinking about it for a bit... Fenna's worries are quite right. I've always been the youngest among the Black Guards so I never had to... experience that myself... But as the Black Guards are a small band we often worked with others."

Lily looked up, at the stars and the two moons shining brightly.

"Once we worked with another mercenary band... They were a reckless, young bunch. Papa tried to rein them in, but they only thought of him as annoying. The job was a monster subjugation and... More than half of them died on the job... And the ones that survived were..."

Lily shook her head as if chasing away the memories.

"I don't think it'd be that bad with the Dragon Knights here... But I certainly understand Fenna's worries... Death is common among the mercenaries... And..."

She turned around, flashing us a smile.

"I never had to worry about the Black Guards, they are strong, they know what they are doing. But now there are others dear to me that aren't as strong. You two might still be fine but..."

The others wouldn't... No, I had evaded the thought of it until now but... I wasn't sure I would be able to handle it either.

"A-, Anyway, we should think about it carefully. Alright?"

"Nn..."

Lily turned around, her back facing us now.

"Is this really alright, though? Lily, Yumi, what... what other choice do we even have?"

"Well, we'll have to find that out, Karen, don't we?"

"... I guess."

Karen seemed a little unsure about all of this. It was sudden. It really was. Even assuming we would leave the mercenaries, what options did we have? The slums were definitely not an option, we could just stay with the mercenaries then. That would be, in fact, safer. Quite ironic, but that's how it was.

"Rather than wondering about it right now, how about we talk about it later with everyone? It should only take a bit over half a day to the capital from here. But we can just discuss it tomorrow morning then," suggested Lily.

That wasn't really as long a trip as I expected. I kind of expected it to be quite a bit further away.

"I guess we should do that..."

"Nn."

"Great! With that out of the way, we should see what we can do to help with the evacuation."

"Nn... But Lily... How can we even help? I have no idea what we're supposed to do."

We weren't really told anything specific, were we?

"Well... The others are packing their own things for now. Most of my things are either in the wagon or with the Black Guards, so I don't have anything to pack I guess."

"Nn... My things are in the wagon as well."

Not like I even had many things though. Ah, I probably should look for the dolls, though.

"Same for me, so..."

"So, Karen as well... We all don't have anything, huh... That's somehow sad, you know."

"Lily... Anyway, I don't know where the dolls are, so maybe I should look for those."

It might be a bit troublesome if they would end up in the hands of others. Wait...

"Actually, can't I leave them here?"

"Yumi?"

"Well, the dolls don't really need me around, right? And maybe those dolls can... at least help them out here a bit."

"..."

Lily smiled and ruffled my hair a bit.

"Let's ask them, yes? But we have to look for them first anyway."

"Nn?"

"Well, they don't really listen to everyone, right? If you want them to help out here, you have to tell them whose orders they can listen to."

"Oh, that's right."

That was actually something I had wanted to do anyway. Korwen did tell me that before, after all.

"Then, let's look for them. Yumi, do you know where you saw them last?" asked Karen.

"I haven't really seen them since yesterday, but I was told Emily and the others had them. And I think they are in that crate they brought back from the fort's warehouse."

"Ah, that one. I know where it was last, so let's go."

It seemed that Lily knew where we had to go. She took the lead, evading the crowd of cheering and chanting mercenaries by a wide margin. I was actually impressed that they were still at it. It was a bit scary.

"Hey, Lily."

"Karen?"

"Is it... normal for mercenaries to be that... happy? About war?"

"Well..."

Lily slowed down a bit, allowing us to catch up with her.

"I guess, yes. The Black Guards were rather meticulous in their preparations and always went about them rather stoically, but even they were looking forward to it."

"... And what about you?"

"Eh?"

Karen stared at Lily's face, which had stiffened.

"Me? That is..."

She looked down to the ground, then to the sky and then to the side, as if she was troubled. Then she took a deep breath.

"War... is scary. To be honest, the Black Guards always avoided wars since they started taking care of me. I only know of it from their stories. If it's fighting then I'd say I do like it. But about war... I don't know."

"... I see."

Scary? That was... unexpected. Even Karen seemed surprised, judging from her widened eyes.

"Well, you see. If you fight someone you usually do it on equal terms. Both sides know they could die. But war... War is not like that."

"Huh?"

It wasn't like that? But... wasn't that what war was all about at its core?

"Lily, I'm not quite sure I follow?" said Karen, furrowing her brows.

"Ah, well, you see. Do you know how armies are made?"

"Made? From soldiers?"

"Yes, soldiers. And where do those soldiers come from?"

Where should they come from? Wasn't this their job?

Karen tilted her head as well.

"You see, not all soldiers are soldiers voluntarily. Many of them are drafted from villages. The actual standing army isn't that large. Even if they still make the majority of the fighting force, as they are trained."

"Wait, but, then... If they are drafted... But not even a significant part of the fighting force... Then, why?"

"You could call them a living meat wall."

"Wha-"

A living meat wall? Was she joking?

"Well, it's not really that bad, but it comes pretty close. Depending on the country it might be just that bad, though. In any case, many soldiers aren't there because they want to. They aren't prepared for that equal risk."

"..."

They didn't want to fight...

Yes, I could imagine that being scary. Of course, nobody wanted to die. Even if they were prepared for that risk, I was sure that most people would still take care. But if you were just thrown onto the middle of the battlefield... That was scary. I didn't want to imagine it. Nor did I want to imagine having to fight someone who was in that situation.

Maybe... Fenna was right... Maybe we're not suited to this...

"In any case, I don't think I could like war."

"Huh... I guess, that makes me feel a bit relieved."

"Relieved, huh. Well, I'd be worried too if you or Yumi had suddenly joined that war chanting."

No, I didn't want to have anything to do with that war chant. It was scary, oppressive. As if something was pressing down on you, suffocating you. Such an atmosphere was... uncomfortable.

"Ah, the crate was last around there, I think."

Lily pointed forwards at a wagon. If I recalled correctly, it was one of the wagons filled with supplies.

"Let's take a look."

Not hesitating in the least, Lily opened the door and entered the wagon.

I wondered for a bit whether it was really fine not checking if it wasn't occupied, but nobody screamed at Lily, so it was probably fine.

"Mh... Ah, isn't that the crate?"

"Nn? Maybe? The crates all look the same."

"Well, let's just open it and take a look."

Once again without any hesitation, she heaved the heavy lid up and revealed the crate's contents. And sure enough, the dolls were inside.

"Lily, you're impressive," praised Karen her.

"Ehehe, you're welcome!"

"Nn, you're great, Lily. Thank you."

"Ehehe!"

A wide grin was on her face. She clearly felt happy about being praised. Such an innocent reaction.

"Now then. Dolls, come here."

Responding to my call, the dolls stirred and sluggishly climbed out of the crate. I wasn't quite sure if they were so slow because they liked it inside or whether they were exhausted from being inside. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised at either being the case.

"Nn, ah. What are you... Stop!"

"Yumi... They like you, huh."

"I would prefer if they would stop climbing me, though."

The dolls all had walked to me and climbed up my legs and some even tried climbing my hair. I honestly wondered how they even managed to grip anything, much less climbing.

"Uhh... Off with you."

I plucked a few dolls off and threw them to the ground. Thankfully they didn't try climbing me once more. A minute later I got them all off me. Just what the heck was up with that?

"Well, now. We got the dolls so how about we go looking for either Fenna or someone else?" proposed Lily with an amused smile.

"Nn..."

I kept my eyes on the dolls, hoping they wouldn't do something weird now. I certainly didn't need that now.

"Mr Captain is probably still busy so... I don't know, maybe Mr Vice-Captain? Even if he is still ill technically..." suggested Karen.

"I guess he'd be our best choice, unless we find Fenna, huh..."

"Yes."

I ordered the dolls to follow us and we left the wagon. Karen closed the door and then we took off to the crowd. Even from a distance, I could still make out that they were hyped and energetic. Although the crowd itself had shrunk by quite a lot. Most likely some people left due to their orders.

"Mh, anyone seeing Merim or Fenna?"

"No, I don't..."

It was really hard to make out single faces in that mass of humans. Though...

"Actually, would he even stay in the crowd? I can't imagine him being able to stay in there for long."

I couldn't imagine someone who still wasn't feeling that well to be able to stay in that shouting crowd. It was loud and probably everything but good for your body if you weren't fully recovered.

"Mh, you're right, Yumi. Maybe we should look close by? Let's walk around a bit."

"Nn."

Keeping some distance to the mercenary crowd, we searched for Merim. I was wondering a little bit what Korwen was even telling them that they were still cheering.

"Oh? Yumi, isn't that..."

"Nn?"

Karen pointed at a small group in the distance. I couldn't quite make out who that was though.

"Isn't that girl who was with you earlier? The one that brought you back. Ah, Merim is there too. And the others."

Lily could make out who it was even better than Karen. My eyesight wasn't bad, right? I was sure it was fine... Surely...

"Well, let's take a look, shall we?"

"Nn."

Lily jogged over to them with us following behind.

"Even if you tell me that, what am I supposed to do? That's not in my hands."

"But isn't it awful?! It's awful!"

"Haa..."

Lefa, seemingly quite upset, was arguing with Merim for some reason. Lefa's back was facing us so she didn't see us, but Merim spotted us quickly.

"Ohh, you're here. Great!"

Immediately a smile formed on his face and he nonchalantly walked past Lefa, approaching us. She still looked like she wanted to say something but Merim really must have wanted to escape from her. He completely ignored her.

Too bad for him that we had already met Lefa. Since she had to turn around she noticed us as well.

"Oh! Yumi!"

And immediately dashed towards us, past Merim. She stopped right in front of me, so abruptly I feared she might crash into me for a second.

"N-, Nn... Lefa... Why are you here?"

"We were looking for the commotion!"

"Haa."

How did looking for the commotion end up in an argument with Merim? That was quite a jump, wasn't it?

"Ehh, Lefa, right? Why were you arguing with the vice-captain?" asked Lily.

"Eh? We weren't arguing?"

"Not? Then... What were you talking about?"

Lefa had clearly seemed upset, but now she claimed she wasn't arguing with Merim. Certainly seemed a bit weird.

"I was just talking about awful this is!"

"This? Do you mean the commotion? Or..."

"Those people! Doing something like hurting so many children and others!"

"Ahh."

So, she was just letting out her emotions? At Merim. Not quite a choice I expected. Weren't the other two boys with her? Or did they flee already?

"Certainly, it's awful, that's why we're evacuating the fort, aren't we?" said Merim who had finally caught up.

"Yes. But still!"

"Lefa, calm down."

She already wanted to continue, so I tried to stop her.

"Rather than that, what are you going to do? Will you leave as well?"

"Eh? Yes! Alf and Eward wanted to get the professor later!"

"Is he still in his room?"

"Yes."

She smiled for some reason. I got a bad feeling somehow.

"Alf and Eward are good at magic, though. So he'll be out quickly."

"..."

My condolences.

The poor man was already an emotional wreck. Being chased out of his only sanctuary surely wasn't great for him.

"Ah, Yumi!"

"Nn?"

"Can we leave with you all?"

"With us?"

I tilted my head. Didn't they have their own methods of travel?

"Yes, we were escorted by soldiers from the capital, but now there's nobody who can escort us. And Alf and Eward aren't good enough to fight any monsters we could encounter."

"Ohh... Well, I don't know."

I turned to look at Karen and then at Merim.

"We already said we'd bring them along with the mercenaries, so that's not really a problem," told me Merim.

"Ah, but I want to be with Yumi! I don't wanna be with some middle-aged old men."

"... We planned to leave you in the families' care, though."

Their care? But weren't they...

"Mr Vice-captain, are you sure that's a good idea? I mean..."

Karen, probably thinking the same thing I was, looked past Merim, towards the spot where he and Lefa had been arguing. There stood Wanda together with the other girls and also the two boys I had seen earlier.

"Well, what else are we supposed to do? If it's just about this girl, then it's fine if she stays with you but the boys and the professor are a different thing. If they are fine with staying with the escort, that'd be something different, though."

"Nn, did you ask them?"

"Not yet..."

He glanced at Lefa. Maybe she held him up for quite some time already.

"I guess I'll go over and ask them."

"Nn... Ah, Vice-captain."

"Yes?"

He stopped in his tracks and turned back to me.

"We wanted to ask you about these..."

"Mh?"

I pointed at the little crowd of dolls behind us.

"Ohh... What's with them?"

"Well, we wanted to ask if we should leave them behind so they can help here..."

"Mh... I guess that should be fine? Do they listen to others, though?"

"I think that should be fine if I tell them to."

I couldn't guarantee that they'd continue listening to others even if I was away, though. But I did hope they would.

"I guess then it should be fine then? I'm sure they can help out somehow."

"Nn. Then..."

I turned around to the dolls and squatted down.

"Listen to the Vice-captain and whoever else he says you should listen to, okay?"

The dolls hurriedly formed rows and all saluted at once. At this point, I wasn't even surprised about their odd behaviour anymore.

I stood up again and turned to Merim, who was rubbing his temples.

"They're all yours now, vice-captain."

"Yumi, you... Ah, whatever. I'll bother with this later. I'll go talk with those boys now."

He shook his head and turned around, walking away. Followed by the bunch of dolls. They all formed a long line and were following behind him.

Is he the Pied Piper of Hamelin? It looks funny... Speaking of which, I wonder what kind of tales and stories exist here.

Surely there were some stories and fairy tales that were well-known. Karen told me that the legend about the demons was told as a bedtime story in the Aldreigh Kingdom, albeit slightly changed.

"Yumi, what's the deal with those wooden puppets? Is that magic? Is it?"

Lefa was staring at the dolls following Merim. I was a bit surprised she hadn't cut in into our conversation asking what they were.

"Nn, I made them with magic."

"... You can use magic?"

Lefa stared at me with widened eyes.

Huh? Did I never tell her? I thought I did...

"Nn, I can."

"Yumi!"

"Ye-, Yes?"

Lefa grasped my hands and leaned forward, staring at me from close-up. A bit too close, if you asked me.

"Can you help me with my homework?!"

"... What?"

"My homework! I need someone's help!"

"Ehh... I think there are more pressing matters right now, aren't there?"

"Ah. You are right, sorry."

I didn't mind helping her out a bit, depending on what her homework actually was. But that wasn't a topic for now.

"Well, we can talk about that later, okay? Sis, is it fine if Lefa comes along with us in the wagon, or..."

"Mh? Well, it should be fine, I think?"

"Eh? Is it fine that I come with you? Really?"

"Merim and Sis both said it's fine, so... Why not?"

"Yay!"

She smiled brightly. I hoped she could get along well with Emily and co. A bit odd here and there but she was a good girl.

"Did you get everything, Yumi? Lily?"

"Nn."

"I have everything."

We were right now in the middle of the evacuation. Our group was among the last ones to leave, so we weren't in a particular hurry. The children from the refugees were given priority, followed by all the other soldiers that hadn't recovered yet from the curse and the accompanying disease. After them came the families and their escorts and lastly, whoever was left over. Namely us and a few other groups that were coming along.

"Ah, you girls didn't leave yet, that's great."

"Nn? Captain?"

In the middle of our last checks, we were approached by Korwen. Wasn't he supposed to be busy right now?

"Good thing I found you before you left. Here."

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He handed something to me. The metal sheets that Ria had earlier. And also a letter.

"Since we're helping with the defence, Ruben didn't even try to complain. But well, these should get you into the capital without problems."

"I see... Thank you, Captain."

"No problem. Also... I heard that Fenna talked with you."

"Ah..."

A wry smile formed on his face.

"Well, whatever you decide, make sure you don't regret it. That letter, give it to the headmaster at the academy. You're smart so I'm sure he'll have a job for you. Ah, but if you don't leave us, just burn the letter."

"Captain... Is this really fine with you?"

"I can't dictate what you do with your own life, Yumi. That's your own decision. Not mine. Sure, losing some promising talent hurts but..."

He took a long look over all of us. Lily and Karen, who were listening right next to us. Rina who was staring at the warox that was going to pull our wagon and Emily, Maya and Sele who were bothering Lefa. Especially at the last three, he stayed his gaze on them for a long time.

"Those three never had others that could get really close to them. Even towards me, they still put up a wall. I don't know if they simply felt some sort of companionship with you all, as your circumstances aren't all too dissimilar, or if there was some other reason. Whatever the case, they opened up to you."

"..."

"I told you about how they refused to be left behind at an orphanage, right? I always felt bad about it, because this is not a place where young girls should grow up. So, if they have the chance to grow up with a proper family, then I wanted to support them. And I'm sure I won't regret doing so either."

His wry smile turned into a large grin.

"Captain, you talk as if it's already decided what we do."

"Hahaha, isn't it already? You're smart, all of you are. So I'm sure you know what you should do, right? Well, I could always be wrong, of course. I'm not all-knowing either."

"Captain... Did you anticipate this to happen?"

"Ha! Who knows?"

So he did... I wasn't sure if that made feel any better or not, though.

"Now then, I still got work to do. You still have a job of protecting the caravan, so do it properly. No slacking off, you hear?"

"Nn, got it."

Lily and Karen both nodded as well, smiling.

Korwen turned around and attempted to leave.

"Ah, Captain? You won't tell the others goodbye?"

"... What, we'll see each other in a few days again. No need to make a big thing out of it."

He raised his hand waved, before disappearing out of our sight.

"He really is impressive, isn't he?" commented Lily.

"Nn, he is."

I took a look at the metal sheets and the letter in my hands. Not for long, though.

"Yumi!"

"Nn?"

I turned around to the person suddenly calling out to me. As expected, it was Lefa. Again.

"Yumi, I heard you can move your hair?!"

"Eh? Yes..."

Emily, Maya and Sele ran up to us as well. Or rather, Emily jumped at me.

"Yumi! Yumi!"

"Ahh. Emily, be careful."

"Ehehehe."

This wasn't the first time she jumped at me. But this time, I finally managed to catch her without being thrown over. Good job, me.

"Yumi! Show me how you move your hair!"

"Nn? Well... Even if you ask me that so suddenly... Mh... Hold out your hand."

"Mh? Like this?"

Lefa held her arm in front of me. I moved a few strands of my hair to her hand and wrapped it around her wrist.

"Ohh? Ohhh! It moved! It's coiling around my arm!"

She held up her arm in front of her face, looking at it from close up. Then she poked the hair wrapping around her wrist.

"How curious... How do you do this?"

"Well... I, uhh..."

How should I explain this? I couldn't just tell her I was moving it with my mana, could I? From what I heard, that wasn't really possible for humanoids after all.

"Oh? Is it maybe a secret?"

"Well, something like that?"

"Huh... How interesting!"

Interesting, huh.

"Yumi! Yumi! Me too!"

"Nn? What do you want too, Emily?"

"I want to be wrapped up!"

"Haa... Like this?"

I moved the remaining hair and wrapped it around Emily's waist.

"Waah, this feels so nice."

Immediately, Emily began patting the hair. Was I some kind of pillow or cushion now? Or a blanket?

"... While it's nice you get along, we don't have time to play around, you know?"

"Ah... Sorry, Sis."

I let go of Emily and Lefa who both looked a bit disappointed. Sele and Maya also looked disappointed. They had wanted to join, huh.

"If you girls are done, get into the wagon. We'll leave any minute."

"Okay, Big Sis Karen! Come, Big Sis Lefa!"

Emily pulled Lefa away into the wagon.

"Yumi, do you want to join me on the bench outside? I don't want to be all alone."

"Nn, well... I guess I can, Lily."

"Ahh..."

Maya let out a disappointed sound.

"Nn, Maya. I'll join you all later, yes?"

"Mh... Okay... Promise me!"

"Nn, I'll promise!"

"Good!"

Maya smiled again and then left together with Sele.

"I'll keep them company then. Take care of Yumi, Lily."

"Will do!"

"... Why am I being taken care of again?"

It wasn't really important, though. As long as Lily didn't die of boredom.

"Then, good luck."

"Nn, thank you."

Karen entered the Wagon as well, leaving me with Lily alone.

"Then, let's see. Yumi, can you get up there on your own."

"... I'll try. Nn? Wait, Lily."

"Mh?"

"There..."

"... Oh."

On the other side of the wagon stood Rina, still entranced with the magic beasts. I totally thought she was already inside, like everyone else.

"Rina? Are you getting in? We want to leave."

"Eh? Ah. Uhh... Can I join you here?"

"Well... If you want to. Yumi, tell Karen that Rina stays with us."

"Nn, got it."

I did as I was told and got the okay from Karen.

Lily already sat down on the bench with Rina. She helped me up, as I was having slight troubles... The bench was high...

"Then, off we go!"

"It's boring," I complained.

"It really is," agreed Lily.

"Nn..."

Much to my surprise, Lily proved to be a pretty good driver. I didn't know anything about how one had to stir those waroxen, or anything really. But it proved to be a rather smooth ride.

"Ahh... I wish I wouldn't have to do this."

"Well, they didn't have anyone to spare, Lily..."

As most of the combat-capable mercenaries were now preparing to defend, that also meant a severe lack of drivers. And since Lily was able to...

"Still... At least it's warm with this Yumi blanket."

"I'm not a blanket..."

I had wrapped my hair around all three of us, similar to how I did it with Emily earlier. It was in the middle of the night and it proved to be rather cold by now. Despite it being considerably warm earlier today.

"Is Rina still awake?"

"Nn, I don't think so."

"How carefree."

It didn't take long for Rina to doze off and sleep. Thanks to my hair blanket she wasn't in any immediate danger of falling down, so we let her sleep.

"Lily, can you even see anything in this darkness?"

"Mh, it's bright enough for me to see the road. Waroxen also have good night sight, so there's no need to worry about them either."

"Huh... I can barely see anything."

It was dark and despite the starlit night sky, I couldn't see really that far ahead. At most just past the magic beasts.

"Mh, I heard that pretty much all monsters are good with the dark, though."

"Is that so? I still can't see anything..."

"Maybe you need to grow a tentacle arm with an eyeball to see anything."

"Lily... Please don't joke about something like that... It feels like that might really happen."

I already kind of disliked the tentacles that I could transform my limbs into. There was no need to further my dislike of them.

"That reminds me, we never actually saw those tentacles, did we?"

"That's..."

"Do you dislike them that much or why?"

"Well..."

I looked up at the night sky.

"I don't know, but... I feel like my human side disappears the more I see them."

"Your human side, huh..."

"Nn."

I felt like I would lose something important to me if I transformed myself. I did it in the beginning by accident, since I didn't know what was even going on. But afterwards... I never did it again. And now that I knew even more about them, courtesy to Yumias, I wanted to use them even less. Well, they were pretty weak anyway.

"Yumi, you still see yourself as a human, right?"

"Well, yes. As much as this situation allows me to."

"Mh... Did you ever wish to be fully human again?"

"Fully human?"

Did she mean my previous self?

"Well, I mean, not returning to your previous body or anything. But, as you are right now."

"As I am right now... I... don't think I ever really thought about that."

"Huh..."

I did think about returning to my previous self, my previous world again. Especially in the beginning, but also later. Maybe I still might think about it in the future. Even if I told myself that I got over it now, it would likely still come back at times.

But being a human, a person again, as I was right now. The thought actually never crossed my mind. But...

"Honestly, I don't think I really mind it that much."

"You don't?"

"Nn. Sure, there are a few inconveniences but... Sis... She will live for a long time, right?"

"Well, she's a demonkin."

"If I were human again, I would grow old and die way earlier. I heard that even beastkin live quite a bit longer, so you would outlive me as well."

It was probably even Lily herself who taught me that on our little journey to the Hollow.

"I see... But as a monster you don't have to worry about that, do you."

"Well, I don't know how long I would live like this. But it's likely longer than a human's lifespan, right?"

"I don't think monsters can even die of old age."

"Ahaha, that'd be even better. If that's really the case.

Those people that were experimenting on Rina and the other girls, they certainly believed it would save them from old age. Well, I had no idea whether that was truly the case though.

"Do you think Mama might know about that?"

"Nn? Yumias? Well... Maybe? I wouldn't be surprised."

"Let's ask her next time."

"Nn..."

If she could give us some certainty, that'd be great. I somehow could imagine her withholding the answer, though. Because it might be fun. I did feel a little anxious about that, though... I didn't want to rely too much on her.

"And, Yumi."

"Nn?"

"What about Rina?"

"What about her?"

"Well, she has a mana crystal as well now, right? Is she still a demonkin or is she a monster now?"

That... was a question I had been wondering about as well.

I scratched the back of my hand and looked over to Rina, on Lily's other side.

"I don't know?"

"Mh... Does the mana crystal even affect her in any way?"

"I don't know that either? You're asking quite a bit today..."

"I've been wondering for a while about those things. I just never had the chance to ask. And we're alone now with nothing else to do."

That was understandable. There really wasn't anything else to do other than talking, after all.

"Well, in regards to Rina. I honestly have no idea. But... there's one thing I noticed."

"Noticed?"

"Nn... Her mana feels... a bit similar to my own."

"Eh?"

Lily turned around, staring at me.

"Your own?"

"Nn. I think that mana crystal is at fault for that. Since I transformed it, it is similar to the ones in the dolls, you see."

"Huh... That sounds as if she was your familiar. Maybe she might listen to your orders."

"Ahh... Maybe. I don't know."

"... Yumi. Does that mean you could turn other people into monsters?"

Turning other people into monsters? That... was also something I had never thought about.

"I don't know."

"You don't know a lot."

"Maybe you're just asking the wrong questions. But really, I don't know. I'm not sure I want to either."

"Huh..."

Lily returned her gaze to the front, not saying anything for a while.

"Yumi."

"Nn?"

"Monsters are pretty resilient, you know."

"Well, I do know."

I've already seen how quickly my wounds were healing after all.

"I have a request, Yumi."

"Request?"

"Yes. If there ever is a situation where I or the other girls are likely to die. Don't hesitate to try. If turning us can save us, do it."

"Wha-"

Once more, Lily turned towards me, with a serious expression.

"I don't want to lose any of you. And I don't think the others would mind either. That's why, I don't want you to hesitate.

"... Are you serious about that?"

"Yes. Quite. In fact, I'm so serious I was even considering that you do so immediately for me."

"Wha-, What are you talking about, Lily! That's no joke."

"That's right. It isn't."

I was taken aback a little.

Lily smiled and turned around, looking at the sleeping Rina.

"I won't ask you that for now, though. That would be just premature of me. Well, Karen scolded me quite a bit, too."

"You talked with Karen about this?"

"I did. Only with her though. She did say she wouldn't mind either if it came to it."

"... You're both idiots."

Lily burst out in lively laughter in response.

"You're right, we're idiots! But you see..."

Lily freed one hand from the reigns and caressed Rina's head.

"When we rescued those girls... Rina was really... Well... Impressed?"

"Nn?"

"She thanked me a lot and followed me quite a bit over the recent days. Well, you know how Karen thought of that, though."

"Ah... When she was worried that Rina was barely talking with her..."

That was when Rina was talking with everyone but kind of ignored Karen. Although it only ended up being a misunderstanding. Rina probably never even noticed it.

"Yes. According to herself, I was like a prince saving her."

"... A prince?"

"Yes. Weird, right?"

Now, I certainly couldn't imagine Lily being a prince.

"Like in those stories, you know. Where a handsome prince comes to save the poor heroine."

"Ahh..."

So those kinds of stories were a thing here too.

"Rina really took it seriously, though... She even... well..."

"Nn? She even what?"

Lily stopped caressing Rina's head and instead held up her hand in front of her face, looking awkwardly away. As if she was hiding something in her face. Like...

"Wait. Lily. Did Rina... Maybe..."

"..."

Lily nodded, awkwardly.

That... would explain a lot of things. Rina being attached to Lily, who was her saviour, was something that wasn't all too surprising. But I had been wondering why Lily got along so well with Rina, despite them only knowing each other for a few days. And even though it was like this since near the beginning.

Alas, there was one thing that could have made Lily so conscious of Rina.

"She kissed you?"

"... Yes."

"The mouth?"

"..."

Lily awkwardly nodded again. I couldn't see it with the dim light, but most likely she was as red as a tomato right now.

Well, that's one unique way of thanking someone.

"Good luck, Lily."

"... Why do you react the same way Karen did?"

"Well..."

Obviously, because we were rooting for you?

"Ahh, I shouldn't have told you..."

"Is that so? I'm glad you did though. I really wish you luck, after all."

"Uhh..."

"If you need help, just call me. Or Sis. You helped us too, after all."

She had been messing around with us a bit, but without Lily's intervention, who knows how it would've gone. Maybe Karen and I wouldn't be together then. And even if she hadn't helped us, I still would like to help her. Because I liked both of them.

Still, when I met her the first time, Lily had been so proudly declaring how much she liked cute girls, but now... She was acting all embarrassed.

"I'm rooting for you, Lily."

"... Thank you."

Maybe she got over her embarrassment a bit, but a little smile was back on her face.

Well, I'm sure it'll go well. After all, if those prince stories go like the ones in my world, then the heroine would end up marrying the prince, right?

When we talked about marriage, Rina did suggest herself with Lily after all. Maybe she had been aiming for this from the start and we just thought it was an innocent suggestion by her. Maybe we had been deceived a little bit.

Whatever the case, if she truly thought of Lily as her prince, then there wasn't really anything to worry about. Wasn't that already as good as a confession? Even more so with a kiss. Actually, Rina was really bold, wasn't she...

I wish you all the best, Rina, Lily.

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