The sun was soon reaching its zenith. Despite what should be a busy ti for humans, these streets were mostly deserted.
"Is this really the right place?"
"Yes, it is."
"Why is there nobody on the streets?"
"This area is mostly deserted because the slum residents avoid the rcenary camps that are close, or so I heard.."
"But why do they avoid them?"
"Well, most here have a certain kind of criminal history, right? rcenaries are also not the most savoury type. So groups are nothing more than bandits."
"So, they would clash?"
"Rather than clash, the rcenaries are used to battle. The residents would just get killed if they get involved."
"... And you seriously want to negotiate with those kinds of people?"
Lily gave a chuckle when she heard .
"Don't worry, not all of them are that bad. We're going to the most reputable band first. And if I'm honest, since Lune refused to help, I'd like to leave you in their protection when I negotiate with the less... amiable ones. But that might necessitate that we reveal you to them, or at least to their leader."
Didn't that only happen because you forgot to ask her properly?
"Wouldn't they find out anyway with a magician?"
"They only have three magicians and they are all... a bit eccentric. You probably won't run into them."
"Eccentric?"
"Yes, they apparently hole themselves up and experint with magic all day. It's a rather famous story among the rcenaries how they regularly blow themselves up. Due to that, they were banned from camping with their own group."
Were they the crazy professor type of magicians? The ones that just cared for results and attempted the most ridiculous things for the sake of their research?
"Well, I don't know if they have any other mana seers, though. It's not a common skill for rcenaries in a band."
"Why not? It sounds useful."
"In a group, you are not the only one fighting. As long as one person can see mana, that's enough. For solitary rcenaries, it's a necessity, as is being able to read. But for them, the only things that matter are their combat skills."
Lily gave
a vague smile, seemingly reminiscing about sothing.
"This band is also fighting in actual wars and larger operations. There's not often a need for mana seers, so even their actual magicians are rather sloppy with it from what I heard."
"Huh. So, basically, there's most likely no need to worry?"
"Yes, hopefully. We're close, so we'll see how it'll work out."
Lily pointed forwards into a gap between the buildings. I could see a field with white tents through it. That must have been the rcenary camp.
We walked through the buildings and entered the plains. In front of
was a large camp with dozens of tents, surrounded by a simple wooden wall.
"Halt! Who are you? This is the camp of the Lorian Dragon Knights!"
A guard walked over to us and addressed us in an unfriendly voice.
Dragon Knights? Do they have dragons? That actually sounds exciting. As long as they are friendlier than this guy.
"I'm Lily from the Black Guards. I want to speak with Korwen."
The guard scrutinized first Lily and then . Then he turned back to the gate and talked with the other guard, who then promptly left and vanished inside the camp.
"You may wait. The Captain will be notified."
And with that, the Guard resud his post next to the entrance. Lily gave a wry smile and walked over to a spot close to the entrance, where the guard could still see us.
"I hope we won't have to wait too long. If Korwen is busy we could be stuck here for hours..."
"I don't think we have the ti to wait hours."
"We don't. In the worst case, we'll have to go without them."
"Can't you tell them we're in a hurry?"
"They don't particularly care about us being in a hurry. That would just make them more distrustful. They might not notify Korwen in the first place if we do that. Many people are trying to beg for help after all. But those don't pay and just damage your reputation."
"Your reputation?"
"A rcenary who acts out of goodwill cannot be deed reputable. rcenary work is based on trust and work contracts, ethics don't really have a place in this job. A rcenary personally may not like a particular job, but he cannot voice his feelings nor act on them once he accepted the job. That's how a rcenary should be, in my opinion. All others are either bandits or good-for-nothings."
Lily's expression turned gloomy for a second, only to return to her bright one again.
"Well, let's forget that. In any case, we can do nothing but wait for now."
"Nn."
Despite Lily's worries we only had to wait for a few more minutes. The guard returned and brought us into the camp. He led us to a huge tent, surrounded by many smaller ones. I felt really nervous. The camp was massive. This wasn't a small group like I thought. We weren't talking about just a few so dozens of people, but this camp was clearly housing hundreds. It felt like I marched straight into a military camp in the middle of war preparations.
"Yumi, don't worry too much. The man might be a sly fox but he is good at heart."
I'm fairly certain you were the one who told
a few minutes ago that ethics and emotions have no place in this line of work.
The guard led us into the tent. There was a long table with chairs around it. In the back two flags with an emblem showing soldiers fighting a large creature, probably a dragon.
"I will not stand for this! You are clearly violating the holy law! I will bring word of this to the council!"
What greeted us was a scene I didn't quite expect. A scrawny man in white and black robes with an overly fancy large cylindrical hat was hysterically shouting at a middle-aged muscular man with a massive fra and scars all over his body. Even seated he appeared to be a giant. And this man was clearly reaching his boiling point any minute now, he was moving around on his chair and tapping the table in visible annoyance. Many guards surrounded them, the left side had a row of soldiers with equipnt of varying quality, while the right one had a row of knights clad in shining white armour.
Just what did we walk into? During the ti I was left bewildered at the sight, the guard stepped forward and announced us.
"Captain! The guests from the Black Guards have arrived!"
The muscular man looked up and spotted us. He jumped up on his feet, shoved the loud priest aside and approached us.
"Yo! Been a long ti Lil' Lily."
"My na is just Lily. Please rember it."
"Ahaha. Don't mind the details. I'm sorry for the loud reception, though."
The priest that was shoved aside went so red that I feared he might explode any second. He stord at the man, who I presud was Korwen.
"You! This insolence! Do you dare defy the church?!"
"Oh geez, can't you ever shut up? This is why nobody likes you lot."
"You lowly rcenary! You have to obey the church! You can't defy the lord!"
"Oh, I can and I will. And you are slowly pissing
off. Jockson! The... honourable priest wants to take his leave. See him out."
"Understood, Captain!"
The guard who had accompanied us saluted. The knights in white armour stirred and prepared to draw their swords. Similarly, the soldiers on the other side readied themselves as well. The situation looked like it might escalate any second. They clearly had no intention to just... 'leave.'
"I will not stand for this! You cannot just tell
to leave! Do you not fear the wrath of the almighty lord?!"
"Honourable priest, the captain asked you to leave. May I accompany you outside?"
"I will not! Leave! You all have a responsibility to the church! Obey now!"
The guard that was called Jockson tried to persuade the priest. Alas, said priest didn't even attempt to listen.
I want to go ho. They look like they are going to rip each other's throats out as soon as they get the signal. Please. I did not sign up for this! Sis! Help eee!
Lily, pushed
to her back so she could protect . She turned to Korwen and whispered in a low voice.
"Korwen. I wanted to talk with you and not get embroiled in your brawl with the church. What in the Spirits' na are you thinking?"
"Lil' Lily, it's not like you really like these idiots either, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't be here in the first place. Let's see. The priest apparently doesn't want to leave... Mhm, I will owe you a favour if you help us out here a bit, deal?"
Lily perked up when she heard that. The favour he might owe her could co in handy in the negotiations, after all. I honestly wasn't sure whether it was clever to go against a religious organization, though. I wasn't going to be friendly with them anyway, so it was probably fine. Nonetheless, I prayed that nothing would happen.
"... I will have you keep your word on that."
"Then that's a deal. Perfect."
Korwen turned to the priest again who was still shouting at the poor guard.
"Dear priest. I already refused your request. So might I bother you to leave now? If you don't, we might need to do so a bit... forcefully."
"You! You dare draw your sword against the church?! Do you have no idea what will happen to you?!"
"Oh, well. Nothing much? Outside of so fanatics screaming at us?"
"I see... So you really intend to defy the church. In that case, there's only one thing for you left! To be judged by the swords serving the lord."
The priest finally had enough of the shouting as well. I might have preferred the shouting, though.
"Knights! Punish this heretic scum!"
The knights began drawing their swords and forming a semi-circle around the priest.
The rcenaries similarly drew their weapons, even Korwen procured a huge axe out of nowhere and was readying it. I froze at the sight.
"Yumi, stay right behind ."
"..."
Lily drew one of her swords, a long thin sword.
Both sides glared at each, but nobody moved. After what felt like an eternity, one of the knights spoke up.
"Your Eminence. Even if we were to fight, we are in the middle of their camp. Even we cannot fight hundreds of them at once. Our priority is Your Eminence's safety. Please allow us to withdraw."
"I ordered you to punish these peasants! Can't you obey your orders?!"
"I'm sorry, Your Eminence. But I have orders to protect you. We will retreat."
The knight motioned towards his subordinates. They sheathed their weapons and ford a full circle around the priest, subtly forcing him to move. The rcenaries still held their weapons ready, but none of them attempted to charge and attack. They were still vigilant.
"It was a pleasure to et you, Sir Korwen," said the knight and bowed in respect. Then they left in formation, with the priest still screaming hysterically about how he will punish them all.
Silence.
Nobody said a word for a whole minute until everyone was sure they were gone. The mont the tension left , my knees gave in and I fell down to the ground.
"Waaahhhh...."
"Yu— Yumi?! Are you alright?"
"Lilyyy... I'm not... alright..."
"Woah, are you crying?!"
"No... I'm not..."
"Eh... If you say so..."
I gave her a vague smile with tears in my eyes. I was incredibly relieved that nothing happened and they didn't start a fight. Lily helped
up again, but she had to hold
because my knees were still wobbly.
"Don't scare
like that."
"I'm sorry... Just... So relieved..."
Lily stared at
dumbfounded for a mont. In the anti, Korwen had talked with the guards and they all left the tent, leaving only us three.
"Hmm, you're soone else."
Korwen scrutinized . At so point, my hood had fallen off.
"Huh? Soone else?"
"Ahh, I only heard that Lily ca with a little girl with pink hair so I thought you were soone else. I'm sorry, we showed you sothing scary, didn't we?"
I tilted my head at that. Did he maybe talk about that person Lily ntioned?
"Still, it's weird. Are you perhaps related to her? Your nas are similar and you share the sa hair colour... But that's also all..."
"Similar nas?"
I turned to Lily who looked a bit awkward.
"Well, yes. Her na is... Yumias... Yumias la Freyr."
That was indeed a similar na. Quite the coincidence. I wondered whether nas like this were common, so I asked Lily.
"Well, it is the na of the Grand Witch, so having a similar na isn't quite rare. So people do worship her after all. But using the full na of the Grand Witch is quite... uncommon. Ironically she doesn't like being called by her full na."
Lily gave a sigh as she told
that. I already got the impression earlier, but that person must have been rather exhausting to them.
"Well, you don't need to worry much about it. We probably won't run across her anyti soon anyway."
"Lil' Lily, but I heard she returned a few days ago? That's why I thought she ca along in the first place."
"She did, yes... She returned two weeks ago all of a sudden. Apparently, there was sothing she wanted to investigate in the area west of here. And then she vanished again just a day before the... request ca."
"So, she's gone again? Damn, I hoped I could get her to rough up the church idiots."
"Please do not do that, Korwen. Who knows what she will do..."
"Ahaha, don't worry. Can't do anything now anyway."
Korwen gave us a hearty laugh. Then, his gaze turned serious as he faced Lily.
"But, Lil' Lily, I can guess the rough circumstances, but why are you here?"
"... To hire you."
"Hire? I don't think you have the funds and resources available to do so. But okay, I'll hear you out, at the least. It's about the job the Black Guards were forced into, right?"
A job they were forced into? That's the first ti I heard of this. Was this about Lily's personal matter?
"That too... But that's not all."
And so, Lily told Korwen about our situation, just like she told Lune earlier.
"Hmm... You're not making it easy on , Lil' Lily."
"I can't afford to make it easy for you, right now."
"Ha! You're right on that, aren't you."
After the explanation, Korwen and Lily started negotiating. Korwen was quite interested in Lily's offer.
"Monster materials aren't rare, but the good ones are difficult to co by in sufficient quantities. I am fairly certain that you can improve your troops substantially with this."
"Yes, we would be able to do that. But Lil' Lily. In the worst case, this country could exile us. That's quite the risk."
"From the looks of it, you are already very well on your way with that even without my help..."
"Ha, as if! That's just so stupid guy from the church. He won't be able to do much against us without getting consent from the council. And you saw him, he's screaming a lot. No idea how soone like that even got into such a high position. But if we were to help you, it will definitely turn into a situation where the council could decide against us. We would lose good job opportunities."
"So you intend to let this corrupt state continue? You might get forced into bad work like the Black Guards!"
"If they try that, we can leave. I feel sorry for them, but I have to keep my priorities. And whether the state is corrupt or not doesn't matter. In fact, a corrupt state brings more jobs. Even if they tend to be quite shitty."
They had been arguing like this for quite a while now. Korwen was fundantally not against the job, but he was too worried about the potential backlash. And it wasn't like Lily couldn't understand his point of view, that was exactly why she was so troubled.
"Uhm, I have a question..."
"What is it, Yumi?"
"Well, it's just... assuming they accept the job, how would the church even know that it was them who helped us?"
"There aren't really many organized groups that could stage this, kiddo. And as long as they only suspect us being involved, they will reach out to us. There are quite a few idiots inside the church that want us gone. Like the guy earlier."
"But if only the suspicion is enough, won't they just try to bla you regardless whether you were involved or not?"
"... They might try that, yes. But how would you even do this without us?"
"There are surely others who would want to take the job, right? We just need to offer them those materials and I'm sure so will jump at the opportunity."
Korwen directed his gaze towards Lily, suddenly looking furious.
"Did you intend to hire those other bands, as well?! Are you mad?! You know exactly what will happen if you march into their camp with that stuff!"
"There's not much choice, is there? We need all the help we can get, no matter where it cos from."
"You will just make it worse for you all if you do that. Even if you succeed in saving those girls from the slums, then you have to save them from those bandits as well! Aren't you getting your priorities backwards?!"
"Then tell
what else are we supposed to do, if you don't accept the job?"
Korwen groaned and held his head. The whole discussion suddenly took a turn for the worse.
"Really, you make it really hard on an old man. I understand. I will accept your request, with a few conditions."
"... Conditions?"
Korwen nodded and glanced over to
and then back to Lily.
"First of all, enough materials for every single man that helps you. Secondly, this is not an official work request. Like the kiddo said, the church will just go and bla us anyway, but if we can lower the risk of that happening, the better."
"Well, I can agree to those, right, Yumi?"
"Nn. It should be fine..."
I couldn't shake off the feeling that Korwen wasn't quite done yet, though. He paused, apparently thinking for a bit. Then he called towards the guard standing outside and motioned him to do sothing. Neither Lily nor I were quite sure what he wanted to do, but the guard gave him a salute and went away again.
"What did you do, Korwen?"
"I called soone. The kiddo is a mana seer, right?"
"Wha—"
"Eh?"
The man in front of us gave us a grin.
"So she really was."
"... How did you know."
"Trade secret. I've seen a lot more than you already. Cos with experience."
"Korwen, what is your intention."
"Well, Lil' Lily. Let
ask this straight. Are you giving us this request as a Black Guard or as a single person?"
"What...? Uhm... As a person, I'd say... I kind of left them, after all."
"Then giving you my last condition is not a problem, right? Lily, I want you and that kiddo to join us."
"What... did you say..."
Lily was visibly shaken at this request. But I was quite shocked, as well.
rcenary? ? No, no, no. No way in hell that's going to happen! Didn't he see
earlier? There's no way I can do this! Not to ntion that I'm... not even human...
"I'm sorry, Korwen...But that's sothing we can't accept."
"And why? Because you feel still loyal to the Black Guards?"
"That's... not the issue. There are so... circumstances."
"Hmm... I don't think you got much of a choice in this, though."
"And why do you think so?"
"Let's say you guys succeed in saving the girls and bringing down those people. What will happen then? Where will the saved girls go? And where will you guys go to? There's no way you can stay at this place. The whole city will be turning every single stone over for you. The nobles are deeply involved in this and they are more than just troubleso. Your only option would be to flee the country. But then, how will you live? Will you return the kiddo and her friends to the slums? Or will you sell your bodies and live as whores on the streets? Refugees aren't welco in many places, right now. You may be able to make a living for yourself, but can you support everyone you saved?"
"That's..."
"I'm offering you quite so favourable terms if I may say so myself."
I pulled Lily's sleeves.
Lily glanced over to
and then faced Korwen again.
"Could we talk about this for a mont?"
"Go right ahead."
He grinned, stood up and went outside the tent, leaving Lily and
alone.
"Lily, there's no way we can accept that..."
"I know we can't, but he's right, too. We should discuss this with Karen first..."
"But if we were to agree, what would happen to ."
"... I don't think he will do sothing problematic himself, but others might instead."
"Nn. This really is turning into an issue."
"Yes. But I really want them to help us, and it's a really good offer, if not for that last part..."
Lily sighed. She couldn't think of any other solution.
"Let's try to delay that decision. Best case we can make him give up on it, otherwise, we should at the very least delay it until we discussed it with Karen. If he doesn't agree, we have no choice but to refuse..."
"Nn, let's do it like that."
The mont we decided on our course of action, so shouting could be heard from the outside. For a mont I feared that the hysterical priest had returned, but the voice was from a woman. With so curiosity, we went outside. We had to call back Korwen anyway, so it couldn't be helped, right? So even if we saw him getting trashed by a middle-aged woman, it couldn't be helped, right? It was a rather surreal scene where a slender woman in her forties was hitting a muscular, tall man with a ladle and the man apologised repeatedly.
"What... happened here?"
"Oh, are you done?"
A man approached us from the side. If I rembered right, this was the guard from earlier.
"You were... Jockson?"
"What an honour to be rembered by such a cute lady. That's right. rim Jockson. I'm just a bottom-ranked guard, so no need to stand on ceremony with , okay?"
"Huh. So, then... What is happening there?"
"Oh, right. That? That's just the Captain getting beat up by his wife once again. It happens quite often. She's actually a nice woman, so it's a mystery how he gets her so mad every ti. Did he do sothing to you girls?"
"Well... nothing I know that would make his wife mad, I think?"
At that mont the woman spotted us and walked over, leaving her poor husband on the ground.
"Oh my, Lily and another adorable little lady. I apologise on my husband's behalf. He is such a rascal despite his age."
"Uhuh... Thank you?"
"My, you are a cute little one!"
The woman squatted down a bit to look at .
"Such a waste, you should take care of yourself more! You are so cute after all!"
Without delay she started fiddling with my hair, probably trying to straighten it or sothing. I had no mirror so I didn't know what state my hair was in. This woman was lost in her own pace.
"Co! We're going to make you presentable! There's no way those stupid n would refuse the request of a cutie like you."
"Dear, wait. You can't just—"
"Did you say sothing?!"
"No. I'm sorry."
"Then it's good."
And with those words, I was abducted by an unknown woman once again.
Is this a pasti of won to dress
up? Help , Lily!
But Lily just waved
goodbye, while the guard, Jockson, saluted. I didn't think that it was appropriate for him to salute .
Around an hour later, I was set free.
Surprisingly she didn't make
into a dress-up doll like Wanda did, but she did drag
into the woman's quarter to wash
up. I was surprised to see that they had set up a warm bath in a large tent. Apparently, it was powered by elental fire stones, as they could be used by just about anyone. What an amazing convenience.
I was also surprised to see that it was currently bathing ti. They had all finished their morning work and then went to take a bath. The ratio of won to n was quite one-sided as only a few won were brave enough to either marry a rcenary or beco a rcenary themselves. But with a camp this large there were still quite a lot of them. Or so I was told.
And so, I had intruded upon a holy land that I would have never seen when I was still a man. In a different situation, I might have taken a minute to appreciate the sight, but Korwen's wife stripped
and led
into the bath without giving
any ti to do so.
There were won of various ages around. From little girls, probably the daughters of the soldiers, over to the older generation, mostly the wives of said soldiers.
So of the younger girls had approached , wondering who I was. I was so overwheld that I had so trouble answering. Apparently, they thought I was around their age and I could be their new play partner, so they were rather sad when I told them I would leave again later.
Why did they have to look at
with those sad puppy eyes? Now I feel all guilty. It's not fair.
Another thing they were all curious about was my hair. Most won had to keep their hair short and to a reasonable length, as it was hard to take care of it. And then they saw
whose hair was so long that it reached the ground.
I was made the won's plaything. They touched
all over and wouldn't let
go until I was properly cleaned up. Then they gave
new clothes, rearranged my hair back into the half up pigtails and even put the flower back into my hair. At long last, they had
stand in front of a mirror.
Reflected was a small girl in a white one-piece dress with extrely long hair. She was incredibly cute and would have definitely stolen my gaze if I were to et her on the streets. Too bad that the girl in question was none other than myself. I didn't want to be a narcissist, but I really looked cute. The whole process was embarrassing and uncomfortable, but the result might have been very well worth it.
When they were done appreciating their handiwork, they decided to return . But not without them accompanying
back to the large tent where we discussed things with Korwen. So of the young girls took my hands and pulled
into the tent.
"Mr Captain! Mr Captain! Look here!"
Seated at the table were Korwen, Lily and three unknown people. Two scrawny n and a lethargic-looking woman. Upon seeing
Lily smiled wryly while Korwen gave
a large grin.
"Oho? Who is that cute guest there? Nearly didn't recognise you."
The girls on my sides grinned happily and started talking about . About how long my hair was or how fluffy it felt, or how squishy my arms were and other things. It was so embarrassing to listen that I wanted to dig myself into a hole. Lily obviously had to hold back a chuckle while the other three were looking uncomfortable.
"So you girls. I bet you want to play with her more, right?"
Korwen asked the girls a sudden question, upon which they looked a bit sad.
"We do, but she said she has to leave later. So we can't play with her."
They looked down but in contrast, Korwen grinned even wider. I had a bad feeling about this.
"You are right, girls. She's an important client and we are here to do a job for her. After the job is done, that would be it. But girls, if you want her to stay, you should just make her want to stay! She's free to join us, after all."
This guy... Was he seriously trying to use these innocent girls to trap ?. The girls, of course, brightened up after hearing that and surrounded , so begging
to stay and others asking
to play with them. Korwen gave a hearty laugh, watching us.
"Now, now, girls. I'm sorry, but you will have to postpone this until later, we still have so things to discuss. I promise, when we are done you can play with her, okay?"
The girls looked down again for a mont but they obediently let
go. After saying their goodbyes they left. I would have expected them to make more of a ruckus.
Korwen's wife looked like she wanted to say sothing, but in the end, she said nothing and led everyone out of the tent, leaving us alone.
Once I confird that they were all gone I turned towards Korwen.
"You're the worst."
"Ahahaha! You're great, kiddo. No, Yumi, was it, right? Forgive , but those girls don't really often have the chance to interact with others their age. And all those who do co are usually related to our work, so they are all only around for a short ti. It's sad seeing them already accustod to saying goodbye."
"Even if you try to trap
in guilt, I won't yield that quickly."
That didn't an that it wasn't effective, though. But Karen had a higher priority for . If he wanted
to stay, he had to get Karen to stay first. No way around that. Unfortunately, I could see him trying to do exactly that.
"Well, we'll see about that. But for now, there are other things to do, aren't there?"
Korwen motioned towards the three unknown people. The n looked even more nervous than before, having sweat running down their faces, while the woman looked in danger of falling asleep any second now.
"These are our magicians. They aren't the most sociable, but they are kind of capable."
"... Nice... to et you."
"... Hello..."
"..."
They gave their greetings, except the woman, but they didn't give their nas.
"Ahh, geez. From the right. Wenners, Krutz, Ria."
The two n nodded upon Korwen introducing them, while the woman finally closed her eyes and fell down on the table.
"God fucking... I know you idiots are tired, but can you at least attempt to keep up appearances?!"
Wait a second. Just wait a mont. Isn't this, like, super bad? Aren't they going to find out?
I glanced to Lily who just shook her head. I didn't know whether it ant that there was nothing we could do or that they hadn't found out yet. Or maybe both.
"Well, those three were talking with us about the plan, don't mind them. Just pretend they don't exist"
I walked over to Lily and sat down next to her, quite nervous. The two magicians glanced over to
and Lily occasionally, only to avert their gaze imdiately again. It was honestly a bit annoying.
"That sounds like you accepted, after all."
"... I had to."
The face of a miserable man with no choice left. I could only guess what happened, but it was most likely when his wife had beaten him up.
"My condolences."
"I don't know why you say that, but I'll accept it, for now, thanks."
He gave his thanks slightly bewildered.
"In any case, whether you guys join us will be put on hold for now, but you can be sure that I will convince you in the end."
"Why do you even want us in the first place..."
"Ha! Lily alone would be well worth it. She's a great fighter, though a bit lacking in teamwork. She also has a bit of a reputation, though half of it is only thanks to that old coot. Additionally, both of you are magicians. And we overwhelmingly lack those. Having only those three there is a bit lacking for a group our size. Also, according to Lily, we can train your sister to use magic as well? We would be doubling our magicians with one fell stroke."
He knew that I could use magic? I panicked a bit at those words.
"Yumi, I told him about the dolls. After all, they are part of the plan. I also told him that I taught Karen about mana perception."
"I see."
In other words, she hadn't told him anything else. That was good for now. But I still worried about those three magicians in front of us. They seed to be unable to take it anymore, though.
"Ca— Captain, might we take... our leave?"
"... You really are incorrigible. You may go."
And with those words, the three left. Or rather, the two n carried out the sleeping woman.
"I'm sorry, they aren't used to won."
"That sure didn't look like that was the case, though."
"They are used to Ria, but that's about it. Well, or not, but at the very least, they are comfortable around her. But they have trouble even talking to the other won here in the camp. It got so bad that they even camp outside."
"So... They weren't thrown out because of experints but instead left on their own because they couldn't deal with won?"
"Thrown out? Ah, those rumours, huh? Yeah, as pathetic as it may sound, that's the case."
The poor guys. I wondered what could make a man that nervous. Or maybe, they were scared? Whatever the case, it didn't seem like sothing one could deal with easily. They still should work on getting comfortable around won, though. In any case, it might have saved us right now. I wasn't found out so far.
"Well then. Should I summarise, Lil' Lily?"
"Yes, that would be good."
"Okay, here's what we decided on so far. First of all, we're agreeing to help, in return for the materials you provide us. But it won't be an official request. Therefore, we cannot use most of our n. Well, I will tell so of our more rowdy types to help make a ruckus. You and the slum residents that agree to help will be making a distraction to draw out as many thugs and Black Guards as possible. Kill the thugs but capture the Black Guards if possible. I will leave Jockson with you, he will have the details on what to do.
In the anti, Lily, your sister,
and so others will infiltrate their hideout to save the victims. Lily provided us with a rough inner layout, so that should be doable. Understood?"
"Nn... I guess... Wait, the Black Guards?"
I turned to Lily who averted her gaze in response. Korwen explained in her stead for .
"The Black Guards were forced into this job by the lord of this city. They couldn't refuse it due to so... circumstances. Your friend here couldn't deal with this kind of job and ran away."
"You make
sound like a coward."
"In a way, you are."
"Ugh..."
"But you did the right thing if you ask . The church has been trying to force us as well. Twenty years ago, Greyward might have been able to do sothing about it, but in the current state, there's nothing he could have done. It will hurt their reputation if they fail the request, but it is vastly better than making an enemy of the church for them."
So, that's why Lily wanted to fight them. She was there and saw it with her own eyes. I grabbed Lily's sleeve.
"Thank you."
"... Why are you thanking ?"
"Because you are kind?"
"... You should say those things to Karen."
"I do."
"..."
Lily went a bit red and coughed once.
"Anyway! There's sothing else I wanted to ask for!"
She tried to change the topic awkwardly. It made Korwen chuckle.
Lily pulled up the bag she got from Lune earlier.
"Two things. First, I want you to take care of Yumi for a while. I still want to rally as many people as possible."
"You sure about that?"
"Yes."
"... Guess there's no helping it. I'll lend you a few of my n."
"Huh?"
"What? If they think the request cos from us, they won't make trouble. Also, don't offer those materials. I'll prepare an appropriate reward. I expect that to be paid back in full, though. Whether in those materials or sothing else, I don't care. If you join us, I'll waive that fee, though."
"You don't give up... But thanks, I'll accept that."
This guy, he looked tough but he cared for Lily. He wasn't honest with himself, was he? Lily gave her thanks and then opened the bag, pulling sothing out.
"The other thing is, I want you to teach Yumi to protect herself. It might not be much, but it is better than having her run around only ard with a small knife."
"Oh, you pulled out quite the thing. Haven't seen those old ones in a while. We can do that, no problem. I'll just see it as a future investnt."
I froze. What Lily pulled out were two weapons. One was a small crossbow. The problem was the other one. No matter how I looked at it, it was that. Maybe I should have expected it, but seeing how I only encountered people using arms for lee combat, it slipped my mind.
Lily held up a small weapon with a unique shape. A grip and a small pipe-like extension.
A matchlock pistol.
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