Chapter 43: of Heart Resonance: Armour Fitting

Around ten minutes later at Kohno's wagon.

Karen, Sele and Emily were sitting outside at a table with benches. And sitting together with them was Greyward.

"Papa!"

"Oh? Lily? What's the matter?"

With a slightly irritated voice, Lily stormed ahead of us, towards her adoptive father. Greyward turned around, looking at Lily with wide eyes.

"Did you really dig out that armour for Yumi?"

"That armour? I gave her your old armour, yes."

"Papa! I thought you promised never to bring that out again!"

"Huh? Did I?"

Greyward stroke his chin, his eyes narrowing.

"Did I? Mh... I'm sure I'd remember such a promise, Lily."

"You did! "

Greyward scratched his head, trying to remember the apparent promise.

In the meantime, I walked over to Karen, Sele and Emily.

"Sis."

"Yumi. Where were you? And... what is going on with Lily?"

"Nn, not quite sure. It's about the armour Mr Greyward gave me, apparently."

"The armour?"

"Nn..."

I sat down next to Karen. Emily and Sele seemed to be busy talking about something, they hadn't even noticed our arrival.

"What kind of armour is it, that Lily is so upset?"

"Nn, some kind of, well, dress armour? I was told that Lily used to wear it when she was smaller."

"Dress armour? What is that?"

I smiled wryly at her confusion. I understood it only all too well. After a short description of the armour, Karen seemed to be a little upset herself.

"So, you're saying, that it was made to draw attention?"

"Nn."

"Yumi... Are you fine with that? Isn't that even worse than not wearing armour?"

"Ahaha... I don't think it's that bad... but..."

Just as Karen wanted to protect me, I also wanted to protect her. But, my options were limited, to do that. Well, her own options weren't exactly the most varied either, but... Greyward gave me the chance to do my part.

"If I draw attention to myself, that means it's safer for everyone else, right?"

"... That's true, but..."

"Sis. If this is something I can do, then I want to do it."

"... I see. "

Karen sighed deeply.

"I understand. But, only if I stay by your side. Got it?"

"... Nn."

"Haa, you're really quite a piece of work. I really don't know at times whether you are determined or just going along with the flow."

"Nn, maybe both?"

"... Can't you decide on one?"

"It's not really that easy..."

Going with the flow was easy. And it was easy to get caught up in it. But, in the end, my decisions should be my own. I already decided to protect them back then. And I wanted to do my part. I was unable to do everything on my own, not now, and probably not even in the far future. That was simply how things were.

"Oh, Yumi! Yumi!"

"Nn?"

Emily and Sele finally noticed me as well, they turned around to me. If their eyes could sparkle, they'd surely do it about now, that's how excited they were. A stark contrast to the bickering father-daughter pair on the side or my slightly more serious discussion with Karen.

"Yumi! Look!"

Emily held up a small piece of leather up in front of my eyes. A pair of needles and yarn were hanging down from it.

"What's that? Is that... embroidery?"

"It is! The nice Uncle Kohno gave it to us and Uncle Greyward showed us how to do it!"

"Oh?"

Embroidery, huh. It seemed really time-intensive but the embroidery on the dress armour really looked good. You could do amazing things with it. Well, Emily and Sele both needed to practise a little more. Just... a little. That was probably why they got some small patches of old leather for it, to practise.

"Yumi, Yumi! If we practise a lot, can we make one on your armour?"

"..."

Sele and Emily both stared at me with excitement. At least they both understood that they needed more practice so it might actually be fine, right?

"Nn, if you can do it well, I don't see a reason why not. Ah, but first get permission from Mr Greyward and Lily, okay? It was originally Lily's armour."

"Will do! We're going to practise a lot and get really good! You'll be surprised!"

"Nn, I'm looking forward to it."

Emily and Sele both turned back to their leather patches, practising with newfound gusto.

"Sis, where is Maya?"

"She's inside the wagon with Kohno, getting the breastplate adjusted. Seems those three did grow a little, after all."

"Huh."

They probably got those quite a while ago, so I wasn't too surprised. Children their age were growing quickly, after all. At least, humans did. And probably the other humanoids too.

"Ehh?!"

"Nn?"

A loud shout came from the side where Lily and Greyward had been arguing. Lily was crouching down on the ground, holding her head, while Greyward just shook his head in visible exasperation.

"Ahh! I'm an idiot! Forget it! Forget it all!" she shouted.

"What's going on now?"

"Who knows."

Karen shrugged her shoulders.

"Mr Greyward, Lily. Did you clear up your, uh, matters?"

"... We did, Miss Yumi. It was just a little misunderstanding."

"... Misunderstanding?"

"Don't! Don't tell them, Papa!"

Greyward smiled wryly.

Now I was even more curious. Apparently, I wasn't the only one, though.

"Lily, I'm curious! I wanna see it!"

"Eh? Rina... Did you... Listen?"

With wide, shocked eyes, Lily was staring at the person standing behind her. That person, Rina, was quite excited, just like Emily and Sele about their embroidery. Lily had totally forgotten that Rina had been standing behind her the entire time, listening to the father-daughter argument.

"I did! I want to see Lily wearing it!"

"No, Rina. No matter how you look at it, it won't even fit me anymore. And I don't want to wear it anyway!"

"Ehh... Is that so..."

Unfortunately for Rina, her excitement died as quickly as it was born.

"Now, now, Lily. Wouldn't it be big enough for herself to wear?"

"Papa!"

"Ohh? But, I really wanted to see Lily wearing it, not me..."

Rina's shoulders slumped in disappointment.

"Well, we can't really do much since it's too small for her. And Lily never liked to wear it anyway."

"Obviously I didn't!"

"It's such a shame, we went through quite a lot for it."

Greyward broke out in loud laughter. Lily only grimaced and averted her eyes. There was a faint red visible on her cheeks.

"Now, I still promised her not to bring it out without her permission, Rina. You'll have to persuade her first."

"Is that so... How unfortunate..."

So, if I had to guess, there was probably some other armour Lily used to wear that she didn't want to bring out. And judging from those reactions... Maybe it was even more of a dress than actual armour. Or maybe something sexy? Probably not, I couldn't imagine Greyward making her wear something like that...

Now I really wanted to see it. But we'd have to get permission from Lily first. How troublesome.

At that moment, the door from the wagon opened and Maya appeared, together with Kohno. She was wearing a small breastplate. Well, it was actually more like a small cuirass made of leather, since it also had a backplate. It was a reddish-brown and looked quite out-of-place on her, but most armours weren't made to look good anyway. Most...

"Maya! Maya!"

Emily turned around and immediately beckoned Maya over.

"Yumi said we can do it when we get better!"

"Eh? Really?!"

"Really!"

Maya rushed over to us, staring at me.

"Yumi! Is it really fine?"

"Nn. But first ask Mr Greyward and Lily if it's fine, okay?"

"Yay!"

Maya threw up her arms in excitement with a bright grin.

"Yumi, maybe I should tell you, but it was Mr Greyward's idea in the first place. And I don't think Lily is going to say no, either."

"Nn, I figured it'd be like that. But I really don't mind."

I actually felt a little happy. Seeing the embroidery Greyward made for Lily, I actually felt... a little jealous. But now, seeing that these three wanted to put in that effort for me... It certainly brought a smile to my face.

"Huh, maybe I should practice embroidery as well, then."

"... Just saying, but there's only so much space on that armour."

"It'll be fine. I'll think of something."

Karen grinned at me and pulled me into a hug.

The three girls were discussing already what they should make when they get better. Rina was still trying to coerce Lily while Greyward was watching it, grinning.

"Oh, Yumi. Good, you're here, could you come for a moment? I want to make sure if I have to make adjustments."

"Nn? Okay. In a bit."

I was currently enjoying Karen's warmth. Kohno had to wait. I had my priorities.

"Yumi, it's not good letting him wait.

Alas, Karen herself didn't allow me to. She grabbed my shoulders and forced me to leave her embrace.

"Uhh..."

"Don't sulk, it's only for a bit, right?"

"Nn..."

Slightly disappointed, I stood up and walked past Kohno, entering the wagon.

"Ehh... I'm sorry?"

Kohno apologised for some reason, probably cause he felt bad.

"It's fine. Let's get this done with quickly."

"Ahaha..."

The faster we got this finished, the faster I could hug Karen again.

"Mh, looks good so far. But the waist needs to be widened as well, huh."

I once more donned the dress armour and let Kohno look over it. He had actually opened up the entire dress and it was currently only holding together with multiple needles replacing the seam. I had only expected him to work on the breastplate and the other leather plates, not on the entire dress as well.

"Are you sure you got enough time for the dress as well?"

"Mh? Ah, no worries about that. We got plenty of time. The amount of leather and clothing equipment is rather limited and most of our mercenaries know basic maintenance themselves. Wormaz is a lot busier, probably. Ah, did you meet Wormaz before? He's the smith."

"No, I didn't."

"Then you should definitely pay him a visit sometime. He's a pretty nice guy, you know. And he really knows his stuff around weapons and armour. He actually wanted to come by later, so you might meet him then anyway."

The smith, was it? It was easy to imagine the smith of all people to be busy right now. After all, he was probably the one responsible for most weapons and armour. Actually, was it fine to let a single person handle this? Well, maybe he had an apprentice or someone else to help out.

"Okay, I think I got it all. I'll probably get it ready tomorrow morning, just like planned. Just come in the morning to me so we can do a final check, okay?"

"Nn. Thank you."

"No need to thank me, it's my job anyway."

He walked out, so I could change clothes undisturbed. Well, this time I was wearing the other clothes below anyway, so there wasn't really much to change, but after his initial screwup, he was a little more cautious. I removed the dress armour and left the wagon as well.

"Ah, Yumi."

Karen beckoned me over with her hand. I thanked Kohno once more and walked over to her and the others. Lily had sat down as well, after the argument was over.

"Yumi. Heard you went to Wendl on your own?" asked Greyward, turning around to face me.

"Nn. He couldn't really teach me magic but I still learnt quite a bit."

"He couldn't? That's... a surprise."

"I have to try out things myself, it seems. But I got a few ideas on that."

"It's something, then."

I sat down on Karen's other side and moved close to her. It didn't take long until her arm moved around me and held me close. Bliss had been acquired once more.

"Who is Wendl?" asked Karen.

"Our Chief Mage."

"Chief Mage? So, he's leading the magicians of the Black Guards?"

"... No, there aren't any other magicians to lead."

Greyward paused awkwardly before answering her.

"He's the Chief Mage even though you only have one mage?"

"... Yes."

"..."

Karen was at loss for words. Next to her, Lily turned away to hide a wide grin. Taking a good look, she seemed to hold back a giggle or so, with her shoulders slightly twitching.

"Is there any reason for the... Chief Mage title?"

"..."

"..."

He didn't answer. He only stared forward for a while before closing his eyes.

"Karen."

Lily, having successfully suppressed her laughter, turned to Karen. She couldn't suppress her grin though.

"There's no real reason other than it sounding cool."

"... Cool?"

"Yes. Cool."

"Why cool?"

"Don't ask me."

Well, it was a pretty cool sounding title. But Karen and Lily both only stared at each other, Karen furrowing her brows and Lily just shrugging her shoulders. Opposite from us, Greyward was now averting his gaze, staring towards the sky as if he wanted to escape reality. I felt a little bad for him. Especially since I agreed that it sounded a little cool...

Maybe I should help him out a little.

"That reminds me, Sis, Lily. How did it go at the Academy?"

Their expressions instantly turned into a grimace. Seemed that it didn't go well. Maybe I should've asked something else.

"That's... You see... We did get their cooperation... but..." told me Lily.

"Nn? But?"

"I don't really feel like going there again," commented Karen.

"Indeed. It was horrible."

"Horrible?"

Karen sighed and Lily was rubbing her temples, her ears quivering.

"It took us an entire hour trying to find the headmaster's office," said Lily.

"Nobody would really give us directions. And the ones that did..."

"Were trying to sexually harass us. The worst."

"They were students, so it wasn't that bad. They're just children."

"That's not making it fine, Karen. If you forgive them like that, they'll do it as adults too!"

They were sexually harassed? Seriously? That wasn't good. And Lily was quite upset at it, too. I really should've asked something else. But then I wouldn't have known about this. I had to teach those brats a lesson sometime. One they'd never forget.

"Thankfully, we found Lefa. Afterwards, everything went smoothly. We brought the letter and explained the circumstances. They also agreed to send someone our way who could help."

"And Lefa was volunteering for some reason."

"Ahh... So she'll probably come by tomorrow."

Lefa would come here again? I liked her, so that was fine by itself but... she was a little tiring to be around with. And she couldn't even use magic... Was that really fine?

"Mh, the military school will also send someone tomorrow morning to us. I also got through to an army officer who was more... amiable. I'm not counting on it, but with some luck, we might get some support after all," interjected Greyward.

"From the army? That would be reassuring... Speaking of, Papa, did you also find other mercenaries?"

"I send out a few men to look around and get whoever they can. A more well-known, small mercenary band seems to be in the capital at the moment, but all others are just hoodlums and other riffraff at most..."

"A more well-known one?"

Lily's ears perked up at that mention.

"Papa, do you mean the Flower Brigade?"

"The Flower Brigade? No, I meant the Little Company. But the Flower Brigade, huh. I completely forgot about them. Maybe they are still in this city as well."

"The Little Company? That group of men?"

"Most mercenary bands are groups of men, you know."

"The Flower Brigade isn't," rebuked Lily with a smug smile.

Greyward's expression became quite irritated. He stretched out his arm towards Lily and...

"Ouch!"

Flicked her forehead.

"Why did you do that?!"

"Lily, the Flower Brigade is an exception. They are all demonkin or other long-lived races anyway. The Little Company is a group of young men, yes, but they were starting to make a name for themselves, you know."

"You still didn't answer my question, Papa."

"Because your smug smile annoyed me."

Lily's mouth fell wide open.

"Just because of that? Maybe I should ask Wendl to teach me a spell that gives you more wrinkles, after all."

"I already have enough of them, stop that."

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"Then don't go flicking my forehead!"

"I refuse."

"Then I refuse as well."

Suddenly they started their bickering again. I was a bit jealous of their frank behaviour with each...

"Yumi."

"Nn?"

Karen nonchalantly ignored that pair and turned her head to me.

"After dinner, want to go into the city again?"

"The city? I actually wanted to try out some magic after dinner..."

"Then, how about after that?"

"... I think that might be fine, why?"

"Mh, a secret."

Karen smiled mischievously.

"Do I need to be worried?"

"No, I won't do anything bad."

"Really?"

"Really. I just want some time for us."

"Nn, then fine."

I was quite fine with that. Really fine, in fact. I leaned a little more towards Karen. In turn, her arm tightened around me a little more, too. I couldn't help but grin like an idiot.

Then, the door of the wagon opened again and Kohno and Sele walked out. I hadn't even noticed they went inside. Sele was also wearing the cuirass-like leather armour now, similar to Maya.

"Now, only you are left. Ehh, Emily, was that right?"

"Yes! Yes! I'm coming, one moment!"

Emily hurriedly finished whatever she was doing on her leather patch and then stormed past Kohno into the wagon.

"After Emily, they're done, aren't they?"

"Nn... No, wait. What about Rina? Actually, where is she?"

"Next to Lily."

"Nn?"

I turned my head and tried to look past Karen and Lily. And indeed, next to Lily sat Rina, watching Lily and Greyward arguing about... something inane. But all the while smiling or laughing, as if she was enjoying herself.

"So, what about Rina?"

"She already was here earlier. Mr Kohno has to make a new plate for her. And for me, they actually had one in my size, so he only has to make some minor adjustments."

"... They had one in your size? How come?"

"Well..."

Karen glanced to her side, at Lily.

"I'll tell you later, okay?"

"... Nn."

So it was also some old armour for Lily? But, Lily was actually a little smaller than Karen, wasn't she?

Speaking of which, Karen and Lily were both already on the short side. Rina as well. On the other side, Wanda and Fenna were both quite a bit taller than them. Was that the difference between the races? Or were they just, well...

Actually, who cared. They were cute like this. They should stay like this. Not that I expected either of them to grow much anymore. And Rina already stopped growing anyway, didn't she?

"Nn? Sis."

"Yes?"

"Just thought about it, but... When do demonkin actually stop growing?"

"That actually differs on the individual. But usually somewhere between fifteen and eighteen years."

"I see. And how do you even know when you do?"

That was something I had been wondering about before already. Wouldn't you only notice after quite some time that you stopped growing? Even most humans didn't know the exact point where they stopped and I heard stories of people suddenly growing a bit more after some time.

"When we know? That's... Maybe you could ask that Rina?"

"Nn? Sis? Are you still growing?"

"I don't think so, no."

"But you don't know about this?"

"... No, I don't."

So, maybe they didn't know about it either? Were they just deciding it on feel then? But, from my understanding, the demonkin seemed to deem it like a coming-of-age, don't they? Like with their childhood names... Childhood names?

"Sis."

"Yes?"

"Your childhood name."

"..."

She averted her eyes.

"... Sis?"

"..."

"..."

Silence. She was ignoring me. Or rather, she didn't want to say it.

"I see. And here I hoped you would have a cute childhood name."

"... No, Yumi..."

"Nn."

"... I'm still using it..."

"... Eh?"

Karen turned back to me, slightly blushing.

"You see... 'Karen' is my childhood name... I never changed it. I never had a reason to."

"Ohh..."

No reason to, huh... Well, she wasn't at her home anymore, and it was probably more of a bother to change the name while living in the slums... Telling everyone to change their way of calling her.

"I see. Then, what would have been your adult name?"

"I don't know. I probably knew once, but it's been so long... I was actually surprised that Rina remembered hers."

Karen lowered her head towards me and buried her face in my hair.

"Even if I knew... I don't want anything to do with that place anymore. I am my own person. I am here, with you all. And my name is 'Karen' and not any other. Just 'Karen'."

"Nn."

A little worried, I wrapped my arms around her, embracing her. I could feel Karen returning my embrace by tightening her arms around me.

"Sis is Sis. If you weren't, I'd be troubled."

"... I see, what a troublesome little sister I have here."

"Isn't it a little sister's job to trouble her older sister?"

"That's true, isn't it..."

A chuckle escaped Karen, and it didn't take long for me to join in.

Who cares about such things? We have each other and that's all we need.

Karen nuzzled her face against my nape and gently kissed it.

"Thank you, Yumi."

"Nn."

She didn't part from my nape, hugging me and holding me as close as she could. I could her heart beating from this close and a comfortable, pleasant smell entered my nose. I really wanted to stay like this for as long as I could, but...

"I don't want to interrupt you two, but if you openly flirt like that you'll trouble everyone..." said someone suddenly.

"... Nn?"

Karen and I both separated a little, looking towards the others. They all were staring. Even Kohno was already back with Emily and staring at us, mouth agape.

"I'm glad you two are happy, but please leave the intimate play out of sight, yes?" said Greyward.

They had been watching. Realising that, my face became hot. Karen was blushing furiously as well, averting her face from the others.

"Eh, Captain, you mean... those two..."

Kohno turned to Greyward, mouth still agape in surprise.

"That's right, Kohno."

"But aren't they... Uhm... both girls?"

"They are."

"I... see..."

Kohno stared at us with wide eyes. It was a little uncomfortable.

"We're not a show to gawk at, Kohno."

"... Ah, sorry! Sorry! That was rude of me! Sorry! It's just, uhm... I've never seen that... before..."

He started fidgeting towards the end, then turned around and...

"Excuse meeee!"

Ran off into his wagon.

"That was too much for the poor guy, huh... Well, he'll get over it..."

Greyward stared at the now-closed door of the wagon.

"Get over it?"

"Well, I think he took a little interest in your big sister there... Probably came at a shock for him."

"Ah, was that why he kept staring in my direction earlier?"

"Yes..."

So Karen just broke the poor man's heart. Well, he reaped what he sowed. Karen was mine. No mercy for anyone who dared to approach her. Actually, he hadn't even approached her yet, but nobody cared about such a small detail. At least I didn't.

"Haa... Well, all of you girls are done now, right? It's almost time for dinner. You can eat here with everyone or you can also go into the city. There are a few nice eateries around. You should avoid the taverns, though."

"Nn, I don't care either way. I thought we'd eat here."

"I was thinking that too... Lily, Rina what about you?"

"Why don't we eat here and go to the city in a few days, when we're back?" suggested Lily.

That certainly was an option.

"I'm fine with that."

"Nn."

Rina and the three little ones also agreed and so we decided to eat with everyone else again.

I wonder what dinner will be.

"Ahh, that was good. So good."

"I agree."

"Nn."

Lily threw up her arms and leaned back as far as she could. Which was actually to the point where she was in parallel to the ground. How was she not falling down like that?

"Lily, you'll fall."

"It's fine, Karen, it's fine. Don't worry."

"Don't come to me when you hurt yourself."

Lily straightened herself up again.

"Still, I haven't had such a good meal in who knows how long."

"You're right..."

Karen stared at her empty plate. Lily might have said it jokingly, but for Karen, it probably really had been an incredibly long time.

The ones responsible for dinner had gone into the city as well and bought plenty of fresh ingredients. The past days they had mainly made various types of stew with dried or pickled meat, some vegetables and herbs. It was pretty delicious too, but it was very simplistic. But today everyone got fresh meat and fresh vegetables and instead of a stew, they roasted the meat and the vegetables. In the end, it was more like a barbecue.

Actually, barbecue is pretty simple too... But it's really a difference when it's dried or pickled meat or when it's fresh.

I already ate quite a lot but the smell of roasted meat was still incredibly tempting. Well, I ate a lot for my standard. I never felt as much regret as now that I couldn't eat that much anymore. But my stomach simply refused to accept more food.

"Yumi, are you still hungry?"

"No... Unfortunately not."

I was lying on the table with my eyes still fixated on the nearby fireplace. A few mercenaries were still surrounding it, holding meat skewers and other things over the fire to roast it. They all had quite the appetite...

Nn? Emily, what are you doing there?

In between all the mercenaries was a certain young girl, squatting next to the fire and watching her meat skewer with glee. Her ears were twitching... And she was drooling.

"When did Emily get over there? Oh... She's roasting another skewer..."

"Eh? Oh, you're right... Where does all that food disappear to... Didn't she already eat quite a few?"

Karen was just as perplexed as I was.

I always thought that elves and the like were more interested in vegetables and fruits, but Emily didn't even touch most of those. She pretty much only ate the meat. In contrast, Maya had barely touched the meat.

The elf is indulging in meat and the cat is eating the vegetables. That's not how I imagined this...

I had subtly asked Lily whether the different races had any food preferences but she only returned a confused stare.

Everyone has different likes and dislikes, even when they are of different races, huh.

Either way, watching Emily eat with such joy was quite fun. Although, I was a bit worried that she might get a stomachache later on...

Her skewer was done now and she came back, sitting down opposite of me.

"Emily, don't eat too much. You'll get a stomachache."

"I'll be fine, Yumi!"

"... If you say so."

Emily blew onto her skewer until it was cold enough that she could eat it. Within a few seconds, she broke out into a smile. Watching her really gave you a happy feeling, as if she was spreading her happiness to everyone around her.

"Ahh, I wish I could eat more as well... But my stomach..."

"Lily, you'll grow fat if you do."

"I won't! I work out so I'm safe!"

Well, even if she did eat more, as long as it was only today it was okay. Anyway, after eating so much, I really wanted to laze around...

"Yumi, don't fall asleep here."

"It's fine... Sis..."

"Didn't you want to experiment with some magic after dinner?"

"Ugh... Right..."

I also hadn't read those books yet... I'd do that tomorrow. Karen had invited me to go into the city later too. There simply wasn't enough time for the books today. In any case, reading those books would probably take quite some time either way.

"Trying some magic, huh..." murmured Lily.

"Nn. It might come in handy."

"I guess it might. So, you two are going to do that now?"

"Nn, but... No, nevermind."

"Mh?"

Lily tilted her. I had actually wanted Lily to come along as well but... Seeing Rina next to her dozing off made me decide against it. Those two needed some time as well. If they had more time together, maybe they would finally take the next step?

"Sis, should we get going?"

"Ah, yes, but... Lily, is it fine to leave you alone with the others?"

"No worries, I'll take care of them. Half of them are already dozing off anyway."

Yes, not only Rina but Sele and Maya as well were dozing off already. It was only in the late afternoon but they probably hadn't gotten a lot of sleep yesterday.

Wait. I also didn't sleep a lot... And Lily didn't sleep at all since yesterday...

I glanced over to Lily who was trying to shake Rina awake. There were no signs of her being tired or anything but...

"Lily."

"Yes?"

"It's fine if you go and sleep a little as well, you know."

"... Ahh, I'm still fine, don't worry. It's just one day."

"You should still sleep a little if you can."

"... I'll keep it in mind."

With a wry smile, Lily turned back to Rina. Instead of trying to wake her up she heaved her onto her back now.

"Emily, take care of those two until I come back, yes?"

"Will do!"

Lily raised her hand and waved a little before walking away with Rina on her back.

Hopefully, she could get a little sleep as well.

"Then, Emily, we're going as well, okay? Take care of them!"

"Yes, Yumi! Don't worry about them!"

"Until later!"

"Bye, Emily"

We waved and left as well.

The mercenaries around us were all still making merry, drinking alcohol, eating, and laughing out loud. It was only the Black Guards right now, so the group was significantly smaller. A little ways off was a significantly larger group eating their dinner. The mercenaries' families.

I wonder if Helma is over there as well.

"Yumi?"

"Nn?"

"You said you wanted to experiment but... where exactly do you want to do that?"

"Nn... I guess wherever we got a little bit of space?"

"Then, a little away from the camp should be fine, right?"

"Nn."

It was unlikely anyone would disturb us there. Just walking a little and nobody was around anymore. Although we could still hear them behind us. Seeing the chance, I grabbed Karen's hand. Nobody was around this time so it was fine to flirt right?

"Ehehe."

"Geez, Yumi. Can't be helped."

Karen squeezed my hand in return and moved just a little bit closer.

Yeah, it was fine to flirt a little and enjoy our time together, right?

Rinne

If you enjoy this story, please take a look at my Patreon! One of the additional chapters chapters went up this week, and once I get the second one ready next week, there'll be 3 chapters to read for either tier!

Unfortunately, I can't really think of many things on the spot that cost around $5 so just imagine something suitable. Going with a few cups of coffee everytime gets old. I prefer cocoa anyway.

Thank you for reading!

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