“... up and get ready! All n! Wake up and get ready! We will move out in one hour! I repeat! Wake up and get ready!”
Stop shouting… Let
sleep…
Whoever it was that kept shouting outside, his shouts slowly disappeared into the distance.
“Nn…”
Still half asleep, I nuzzled against Karen’s body, enjoying her body heat that was trapped beneath our blanket. Everything would’ve been fine up to this point and I probably would’ve dozed back into my dreams again, if not for the hand that suddenly pat my head.
“Nn… Sis?
“Ah. Sorry, did I wake you up?”
“Nn… No…”
The one who woke
up was the guy shouting just a minute earlier, after all.
“Warm…”
Karen shifted her body a little, so she could pull
close and hug .
“Sis…”
“Yes?”
“Nn… I love you…”
Her embrace tightened, pressing my face into her chest. If she continued doing this… a different kind of warmth was going to rise.
“I love you too.”
This was bliss… I couldn’t help but giggle. If possible, I wanted to stay like this forever.
“Hehe, you’re so spoiled.”
With a giggle of her own, Karen nuzzled her face against my hair.
“Sis.”
“Yes, Yumi?”
“Nn… Just wanted… to call you…”
“I see.”
While we embraced each other, sothing suddenly wrapped around my leg. It wasn’t Karen’s leg, it was way too thin for that, like a rope. A little confused, I shifted my leg in an attempt to free it.
“Mya?!”
“... Nn?”
Why did… Karen shriek?
“Yumi, don’t… That one is…”
“...”
Ah… That… was her tail. The thing that wrapped around my leg was her tail...
“Sorry… Didn’t know… what it… was…”
“It’s okay. I didn’t notice it either, after all.”
How did she not notice her tail wrapping around my leg? Well, not that it really mattered…
Even so, she didn’t attempt to remove the tail from where it was…
Locked in our embrace, we silently laid in the bed for so more ti. Occasionally moving our bodies a little to make it more comfortable, but nothing more.
I wasn’t quite sure how long we stayed like this. Half asleep as I was I probably dozed off sowhere in the middle again. But,
just like all things, it had co to an end at so point.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
“Yumi! Karen! Wake up and get ready. We’ll move out soon and you’ll miss breakfast if you don’t co out soon.”
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The person in front of the door kept knocking and calling out to us, probably not going to give up until we responded.
“Noisy...”
“Ehehe, it is. Yumi. Wake up.”
“Nn… Don’t wanna…”
“I don’t want to either. But we have to. Co, up with you.”
Ignoring my complaints, Karen removed the blanket covering us. The cold air washed over our skin, startling .
“Cold...”
“It’ll help you wake u— Ah! Yumi! Stop that!”
In an attempt to get a little more warmth, I clung to Karen as tightly as possible. Unfortunately, no matter how warm and comfortable Karen was, without a blanket, parts of
were still cold. Lucky , that I only had to wrap us up in my hair for that. Who needed blankets anyway?
“Haaa… Do you hate getting up that much?”
“Nn.”
“Even though I was so impressed with you yesterday…”
“Ugh…”
“Haaa… I didn’t think you would forget that so soon...”
That… was unfair…
“Just a little… I’ll get up… But just a little more...”
“... But really only a little bit.”
“Nn.”
I was too easy, wasn’t I? I couldn’t even offer a small bit of resistance… Then again, even I understood that insisting on staying in bed was wrong. Not like we could anyway, with soone desperately knocking on the door.
“Yumi, can you at least let
open the window and tell them we’re awake?”
“Nn… If you have to…”
I loosened the grip around us, allowing Karen to open the window over the bed.
“We’re awake!”
“Ah, Karen! I was already wondering what to do…”
“Sorry. We had a small… problem to take care of. We’ll get ready.”
“Great. Breakfast is already prepared so once you grab so, you should go to rim.”
“Okay, we’ll do that. Thank you.”
“Then, good luck!”
The person outside disappeared. I felt like I had heard that voice before but whose was it… Oh well, not like it mattered.
“And that’s that... “
Karen closed the window again and returned to her original position. She wrapped her arm around my head and patted it gently.
“Seriously, you’re too spoiled.”
Said the person who was indulging .
If only this could last forever.
Soti later, Karen forced
to finally let go of her so that we could get dressed and prepared. After I put on my armour dress I helped her with her own armour. It was quite troubleso… And that hauberk… It was heavy. Incredibly heavy. I was utterly unable to lift it. Sure, I was weak, yes… But even then I would have expected that I could, at the very least, lift it. In reality, though? No chance… I was honestly in awe of how she could walk around with that thing completely unperturbed.
Then again, it didn’t seem like it was regular tal… It also looks kind of blueish...
I tried lifting the hem and… The pure weight was shocking. I was only lifting a small part and it felt like I was heaving up a pretty heavy rock.
Wormaz did say they had to balance practicality and appearance… Considering this hauberk isn’t noticeable when she wears it, maybe this is what really protects her?
Of course, that was just my assumption but I couldn’t explain any other reason why he made her wear this heavy thing. Unfortunately, he hadn’t said anything about the hauberk. Nor did Wanda, for that matter. Either way, Karen wasn’t really bothered by the extre weight. Even though the thing was probably heavier than she herself was… Probably.
Anyway, after we got dressed, we fetched breakfast and went on our way to look for rim.
“There he is. rim!”
“Mr Vice-captain.”
“Oh? Yumi, Karen. You sure took your sweet ti, didn’t you?”
Despite his little complaint, it didn’t look like he was actually all that busy. He was leaning against one of the few remaining wagons in the camp, watching the rcenaries getting ready to leave.
“Breakfast was delicious.”
“That’s not what I wanted to hear… Whatever. I heard from the Captain. So you actually accepted his suggestion, huh.”
“You knew about it?”
“Of course I did. I am the vice-captain around here, you know? I sure am surprised you accepted, though.”
Was it really that surprising?
“I do admit I am happy you did, though.”
“You are?”
“Of course I am. Now I have another person I can shove all that annoying work to.”
“...”
That wasn’t sothing he should say to the person in question… Did he even realise that?
“Uhm, Mr Vice-captain…”
“Yes, Karen?”
“I have heard the gist from Yumi already but I still have a few questions.”
“Oh? Let’s hear them. I can’t promise you an answer, though.”
“That’s okay.”
She still had questions?
“The captain said we’d be in Yumi’s care, Lily and I. Ah, and the Elder, temporarily. Does that make Yumi make my superior?”
Wait, that’s what you wanted to ask?!
“...”
rim froze as well, staring at her with dumbfounded eyes.
“Uhm… That’s not quite the kind of question I expected, I have to say.”
Neither did I…
“But, I think I get what you want to know. Well, let’s see, do you know the general hierarchy among us?”
“Uhm, the captain is at the top, then the vice-captain… the squad leaders and then the regular rcenaries?”
“That’s pretty close, yes. To be precise, we adopt a similar system compared to most armies. Of course, we’re not as large as a nation’s army so we took so liberties here and there but in general, we are divided between the regular rcenaries and the officers.”
rim directed his gaze to the front, back to the bustling camp where the rcenaries were still running all and about.
“The officers include the captain,
and several others. Everyone is responsible for various things among us. You two already know Taddick, right? He oversees the general combat groups. All the squad leaders report to him. He’s probably the busiest among us right now, excluding the captain himself.”
Taddick was responsible for the general combat groups?
“Does instructing us also fall into that kind of work?” I asked rim.
“Ahh, no, that’s a bit of a special case. Instruction is actually my work. Or, was my work before I beca the vice-captain.”
“Huh? You are an instructor?”
“Sure am. I actually went to an army school for a while—not the one in Lafria, mind you—and earned my qualifications there. The captain approved of my work later and well… Here I am now…”
That was quite surprising to hear…
“Now I am mostly overseeing others. Since we are lacking in instructors I am still doing that as well, though. Anyway, each of us usually has a few subordinates who work as our assistants. If we also go by technicality, Mrs Korwen also holds that officer rank, you know?”
“... Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously. We are a rcenary group and for formalities sake and all that… She is the one responsible for the families. Outside of our work, you could even say she’s the one who holds the most authority here. So, make sure you don’t get on her bad side. Although, I don’t think I need to worry about that happening.”
The more you knew.
“After that, the squad leaders report to us or our assistants. And last but not least, the regular rcenaries are under the squad leaders. This also includes the recruits, by the way. Actual combat experience is important so if we have the chance, we try to have them join early. Even today, most of the young ones are going to join.”
rim paused for a mont before he continued.
“The exception to the whole hierarchy are the magicians. They report directly to the captain and , with Ria at the top among them. So far that was never an issue but…”
His gaze suddenly landed on us and he frowned.
“Lily is the type that fights directly. And Karen will clearly end up similarly. Although, I do hope you don’t copy her battle maniac personality.”
“... I’ll try not to.”
“That would be great. One of those types is more than enough, really. And then we got Yumi…”
“Nn?”
“After I heard from the captain what happened in the forest, I honestly know even less where to place you. Right now, you are utterly useless in direct combat and… I don’t feel like that is going to change.”
“...”
Yes, yes, I already knew that too…
“To add on that, you aren’t like Ria and the others where you lock yourself into your room for days to co up with so weird magic stuff. Well, I think you’re better off like this. I never know what Ria is thinking but at least I understand your priorities pretty well…”
“... I feel like that wasn’t a complint.”
“Ahahaha, it was, though! No, really, I ant it. I have an easier ti understanding soone who is acting for their loved ones over soone whose only interest is so research that would cause smoke to co out of my ears.”
Yeah… That… Okay, that was pretty reasonable… I’d have an easier ti with the forr as well.
“So, to sum it up, all three of you have so peculiarities that make it a little hard to place you. Lily is clearly soone who needs to work in the field and Karen would eventually join her. But then, what? Placing them into a regular squad is… not going to work. We focus on group combat and not an individual’s strength. However, forcing you to give up on your strengths would be a waste. There would’ve been no point in having you girls join us then. So, the solution to this dilemma is this…”
“This?”
“Yes. The idea is to form a new squad with you girls. For jobs like this, we can have you work in the back. As long as you show your face, say so nice words and hold the banner up high, that’s already more than enough. Eventually, there might be more things to do but that’s sothing we can discuss in the future. For other kinds of jobs, we’ll have to decide based on your suitability with it. We’ll likely handle you similar to Fenna’s squad in that regard. A smaller one.”
They put quite a bit of thought into this, didn’t they? I… Honestly, it was quite surprising. I hadn’t thought about it that much at all…
“Well, when all’s said and done, most of these things are still in planning. We won’t know what the future will bring, after all. But I’m sure that you’ll find yourself with quite a variety of work. As for your position among us… Yumi would be the formal leader of your squad. And among our hierarchy, it would be among the officer positions. I’d like to say that your responsibilities will be less compared to the others but…”
“... But?”
“Well, you already got yourself into the secretary position and I don’t think you’ll ever get out of that either. Lucky
since it ans I won’t have to do it.”
“... The captain said if I can beat you he’ll let
go.”
“That’s why I said you won’t get out of that. You won’t beat
in this lifeti anyway.”
Woah, he sure was confident, wasn’t he?
“As for you, Karen, and Lily… Well, Yumi would be your superior, formally. I don’t think that will be an issue for you girls, right?”
“I don’t think so… I just wanted so clarification, so that helps a lot already.”
“Well, to be honest, this isn’t quite the right ti for that but… I guess I can see where you are coming from. There are many other things we’ll have to discuss as well after this job is over. But since we’re at it, there’s one thing I’d like to add.”
rim’s eyes narrowed suddenly when he finished the sentence.
“The three of you are directly under the captain and . You don’t take orders from anyone else unless we have permitted them to do so. In general, most of our n are pretty amiable so I doubt it will beco a frequent issue. So of the younger ones might still try to do sothing, though. The responsibilities you have aren’t small but with it also cos a little bit of authority. Yumi, your authority will only extend to Karen and Lily under normal circumstances. But in the case that soone was to try sothing that could harm either of you or the band as a whole, you have the right to do sothing about it. Including self-defence or even punishnt.”
“That’s…”
“It sounds heavy, I know. But that’s the kind of world you stumbled into, you know? With that said, this isn’t sothing that will co up anyti soon, I think. But it’s sothing that had to be said.”
“...”
I accepted a lot more responsibility than I thought… A lot more.
“To be honest, not much will change in that regard, so don’t worry about it. But if the need should ever arise, keep that in mind.”
“Nn, will do.”
“Great. Oh, and of course, I don’t need to remind you that abusing it will put you into a bad spot very quickly, right?”
“Nn.”
“Mh. Good. I don’t think I’ll need to worry about that with you but, you know, formality.”
He really liked the word formality today, didn’t he?
“So yeah, to sum it up: Nothing much will change for you girls. At least, not yet. Did that answer your question, Karen?”
“It did, and much more. Thank you.”
“No problem.”
With a small chuckle, he smiled at the two of us.
“Reminds
a little of the ti I got my instructor position, so I certainly understand you are worried about it. But trust , there’s not much to worry about.”
“... Understood, Mr Vice-captain.”
“Still so serious, aren’t you? Well, that’s good by itself.”
rim turned his gaze back to the busy rcenaries that he had been watching before.
“It should be about ti for us to get going as well. Ahh… Right...I heard the elves officially joined us as well?”
“Nn, the Elder talked with the captain about it yesterday.”
“I see. Honestly, that one surprised
way more than you girls did. Who’d ever think that elves would join up with a band of rcenaries... Anyway, we’ll have to move out soon. Let’s go.”
“Ah, yes.”
And where to? He hadn’t said anything. Actually, I had no idea what was going to happen now…
“rim, what is the plan… Uhm, the schedule for today?”
“You an, how things will go down?”
“Nn.”
“We’ll pick up the Elder and your banner. Then, the captain will give a departure speech and we’ll move out. Not much more to do until we arrive near the village.”
“And then?”
“That… will depend a little on what we will find.”
“Huh?”
What we will find?
“The worshippers are… not quite subtle in their thods. We will likely camp near the village and scout it out first. They could hold so villagers as hostages. In that case, we will have to determine whether it is possible to rescue them or not.”
“... And if not?”
“... Then there’s little choice but to ignore them. Our job is to eradicate the worshippers and not save the survivors. It sounds cruel but we have priorities. And hostages that are unrelated to us rank pretty low on that list.”
“... I see.”
“Well, if we can save them without endangering us more than necessary, we will do it, of course.”
That was a relief, even if only a small one.
“However, the chance that there are hostages is… quite low.”
“How so?”
“As I said, they are not quite subtle… If anything, it is more likely the entire village was already killed.”
“...”
Killed, huh…
“But yeah, we’ll see at the ti. After that, it will mostly depend on the captain’s orders so I can’t tell you what we will do then either.”
“Nn… I understand…”
But that was already quite a bit more that I knew now.
“Speaking of which…”
“Nn?”
“...”
“rim?”
“Hee, I have a nice idea.”
An… idea?
“Well, we need you to get used to your new work, right? And I think I know sothing you can do.”
“Sothing… that I can do?”
“Yes. Don’t worry, it’s not much.”
He smiled as if he had just thought of the best idea ever… Well, not that much, but he still seed pleased with himself.
I hope it’s not sothing problematic…
After talking a little more with rim, we fetched the banner and went to the eting point. We didn’t know where the Elder was so rim sent soone to fetch her and bring her over.
Right now, however, dozens of rcenaries were lined up right in front of . No, not just dozens… A total of nearly two hundred rcenaries. A small podium was erected next to
with the captain standing on top of it.
Two hundred rcenaries…
That was quite a large number… Although, only around half of them would apparently be the actual fighting force, from what I was told, and everyone else was backup. The king and Commander Ruben delivered small magic tools to protect against simple charm magic and other magic that could influence a person, but the supply was still limited.
“Yumi, you ready?”
“Nn… I think so…”
“Don’t worry. Just wait for my sign, okay?”
“Nn.”
I steadied myself and the banner that I was holding. With my back straight, I tried my best to keep a proper posture. rim showed
earlier how to do it but since it was on such short notice, I obviously had no practice with it. Still, he said it was fine like this for now.
Makes
wonder how I look to others, though… Oh, those n over there, aren’t they the first group we encountered in the forest yesterday… And those n over there look familiar too… Oh, we played gas with them after the battle with the trees… Are their injuries already healed?
It was quite a sight to see all those rcenaries lined up in front of us. And the more I looked around, the more I saw so familiar faces here and there. And although there was nobody I was really close with, I was still a little surprised how many of them were familiar faces to
already.
Nn… But Fenna and her squad really aren’t here. Well, they did say that they would stay behind to protect El and Nel. Together with Lily.
I had the subtle feeling Lily would’ve loved to join us, though. Not much I could do about. El and Nel barely knew anyone apart from us and Lily was by far the strongest among us. She was pretty much the only choice there was as a guard.
“Mhm… Now’s as good a ti as any. Yumi, if you would.”
“Nn…”
Finally… It was now my turn… I gathered a little mana around my throat and took a deep breath.
You can do this. You can do this!
I exhaled to calm myself… Then, I faced forward, taking another deep breath and opening my mouth.
“Attention, n! The captain will speak now!”
I shouted with all my might. In an instant, the rowdy rcenaries fell silent, directing their eyes towards Korwen. I didn’t know how effective the Charm magic was for sothing like this but it seed to work out fine. Everyone was paying attention to Korwen.
And with that, my job was already over here. This was all I had to do. Now, it was Korwen’s turn.
“We will now depart towards a village north of here! The worshippers have likely taken over the village. We will set up camp around half an hour away from the village and from there conduct our operation. This ans we will scout the village and, if the situation permits, engage them in combat.”
In other words, today was going to be really busy.
“There’s not much else to discuss at this point apart from that. Keep in mind to be alert at all tis! Don’t forget your training and this will be a simple job!”
A simple job, he said…
“Now, for this job, we have been supplied with magic tools by the Lafrian army. I will now explain how to use this tool.”
From the corner of my eyes, I could see Korwen moving, most likely showing them the magic tool. I barely managed to hold back turning around and taking a look. rim stressed that it was important to face forwards the entire ti. Easier said than done when your curiosity was at work…
“These tools are in the form of bracelets. Wear them on your left arm, supply them with magic like you would with other tools and elental stones. When it activates, you will feel it warm up. At that point, the tool will be active for several hours.”
Several hours… If they activated it now, it might not last until we arrived at the village, huh…
“The worshippers have magicians among them that are capable of simple mind manipulation. If these tools are not active, you will be susceptible to their magic. Those of you who have not received a tool are not to engage the worshippers directly until the magicians have been eliminated. Did I make myself clear?”
“””Yes, sir!”””
“Mm. Do not forget to wear the tool. And don't forget how to activate it either. We do not know what awaits us. The job might end today or in a week. Be ready for anything!”
A week was… probably not going to happen, right? Right?
“That’s all. We will depart shortly. This is your last chance to check your gear. Make it quick and get ready! Dismissed!”
Korwen turned around and jumped off the podium, disappearing from my sight. The rcenaries in front of
did their last-minute checks on their gear now. As for … Well, I was told to keep this position until told otherwise, so…
“Yumi.”
“Nn, Captain?”
Thankfully, it seed that I didn’t need to wait long.
“That was pretty good for the first ti. You did well.”
“Thank you.”
“Mm. Hand the banner to Karen and co with .”
“Ah, okay.”
He faced away from
and left already, being replaced by Karen almost imdiately.
“Good job, Yumi.”
“Nn, thank you. And here you go.”
I stepped a little to the side so that Karen could retrieve the banner. It was still too heavy for
so Karen would be carrying it whenever it wasn’t needed. It probably was nothing compared to that super-heavy hauberk but… I really wanted to know now how much Karen could actually lift…
“I got it.”
“Nn, thanks. I’ll go to the captain then.”
“Take care. Oh and, the Elder has co.”
“Oh? Where was she?”
“Seems she fell asleep after she got her equipnt and was outside the camp.”
“...”
Heck, glad she was fine.
“Mr Vice-captain already scolded her for it. Though, she seed rather happy about it…”
“Haaa…”
That one was also quite the oddball.
“Anyway, I’ll wait with the Elder for you.”
“Nn. I’ll co when I’m done.”
We parted ways and I made my way towards Korwen. The departure was imminent so I was wondering a little what he wanted to talk about. Well, I’d see it soon.
Reviews
All reviews (0)