Chapter of Magic Growth: Mercenary’s Life

The sun was soon reaching its zenith. Despite what should be a busy time 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 mercenary 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? Mercenaries are also not the most savoury type. Some groups are nothing more than bandits."

"So, they would clash?"

"Rather than clash, the mercenaries 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 me.

"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 experiment with magic all day. It's a rather famous story among the mercenaries how they regularly blow themselves up. Due to that, they were banned from camping with their own group."

Were these the crazy professor type of magician? 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 mercenaries 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 mercenaries, it's a necessity, as is being able to read. But for them, the only things that matter are their combat skills."

Lily gave me a vague smile, seemingly reminiscing about something.

"This band is also mostly 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 behind. That must have been the mercenary camp.

We walked through the buildings and entered the plains. In front of me was a large camp with dozens of tents, surrounded by a simple wooden wall.

"Halt! Who are you bastards? This is the camp of the Lomerian 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 me. 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 resumed 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 time 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 may have not even notified Korwen in the first place then. Many people are trying to beg for help after all. But those don't pay and ruin your reputation."

"Ruin your reputation?"

"A mercenary who acts out of goodwill cannot be deemed reputable. Mercenary work is based on trust and work contracts, ethics don't have a place in this job. A mercenary personally may not like a particular job, but he cannot voice his feelings nor act on them. That's how a mercenary should be, in my opinion. All others are either bandits or the church's dogs."

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 in the middle of the camp. I felt really nervous. The camp was massive. This wasn't a small group like I thought. We weren't talking about some 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 me 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 frame 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 equipment 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 time 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 time Lily-girl."

"My name is just Lily. Please remember 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 stormed at the man, who I presumed 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."

"You lowly mercenary! You have to obey the church! You can't defy the lord!"

"Oh, I can and I will. And you are slowly pissing me 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 me 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, Jockson, tried to persuade the priest. Alas, said priest didn't even try to listen.

I want to go home. They look like they are going to rip each other's throat out as soon as they get the signal. Please. I did not sign up for this! Sis! Help meeee!

Lily, pushed me to her back so she could protect me. She turned to Korwen and whispered in a low voice.

"Korwen. I wanted to talk with you and not get embroiled into your brawl with the church."

"Lily-girl, it's not like you really like these fuckers either, right? Otherwise, you weren't 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 come 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 drawing your sword against the church?! Do you have no idea what will happen to you?!"

"Oh, well. Nothing much? Outside of some 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 mercenaries 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 me."

"..."

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 formed a full circle around the priest, subtly forcing him to move. The mercenaries still held their weapons ready, but none of them attempted to charge and attack. They were still vigilant.

"It was a pleasure to meet 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 moment the tension left me, my knees gave in and I fell down to the ground.

"Waaahhhh...."

"Yu, Yumi?! Are you alright?"

"Lilyyyyy... 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 me up again, but she had to hold me because my knees were still wobbly.

"Don't scare me like that."

"I'm sorry... Just... So relieved..."

Lily stared at me dumbfounded for a moment. In the meantime, Korwen had talked with the guards and they all left the tent, leaving only us three.

"Hmm, you're someone else."

Korwen scrutinized me. At some point, my hood had fallen off.

"Huh? Someone else?"

"Ahh, I only heard that Lily came with a little girl with pink hair so I thought you were someone else. I'm sorry, we showed you something scary, didn't we?"

I tilted my head at that. Did he maybe talk about that person Lily mentioned?

"Still weird. Are you perhaps related to her? Your names are similar and you share the same hair colour... But that's also all..."

"Similar names?"

I turned to Lily who looked a bit awkward.

"Well, yes. Her name was... Yumias... Yumias la Freyr."

That was indeed a similar name. Quite the coincidence. I wondered whether names like this were common, so I asked Lily.

"Well, it is the name of the Grand Witch, so having a similar name isn't quite rare. Some countries do worship her after all. But using the full name of the Grand Witch is quite... uncommon. Ironically she didn't like being called by her full name."

Lily gave a sigh as she told me 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 anytime soon anyway."

"Lily-girl, but I heard she returned a few days ago? That's why I thought she came along in the first place."

"She did, yes... She returned two weeks ago all of a sudden. Apparently, there was something she wanted to investigate in the area west from here. And then she vanished again just a day before the... request came."

"So, she's gone again? Damn, I hoped I could get her to rough up the church fuckers."

"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, Lily-girl. 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 time 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 me, Lily-girl."

"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 come 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 Lily-girl. 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..."

"Hmpf! That's just some stupid guy from the church. He won't be able to do much to us without getting consent from the council. And you saw him, he's screaming a lot. No idea how someone 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 is 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."

They had been arguing like this for quite a while now. Korwen was fundamentally 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 many inside the church that want us gone."

"But if only the suspicion is enough, won't they just try to blame you regardless whether you were involved or not?"

"... They might try that, yes. But how would you even do this operation 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 some 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 comes from."

"You will just make it worse for you all if you do that. Even if you succeed with 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 me 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 me 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 blame 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 something. 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 someone. 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. Comes with experience."

"Korwen, what is your intention."

"Well, Lily-girl. Let me 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-girl, 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.

Mercenary? Me? No, no, no. No way in hell that's going to happen! Didn't he see me earlier? There's no way I can do this! Not to mention that I'm... not even human...

"I'm sorry, Korwen...But that's something we can't accept."

"And why? Because you feel still loyal to the Black Guards?"

"That's... not the issue. There are some... 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 lord is deeply involved in this and he is also quite the troublesome personage. 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 welcome anywhere, 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 some favourable terms if I may say so myself."

I pulled Lily's sleeves.

Lily glanced over to me and then faced Korwen again.

"Could we talk about this for a moment?"

"Go right ahead."

He grinned, stood up and went outside the tent, leaving Lily and me 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 me."

"... I don't think he will do something 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 a 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 moment we decided on our course of action, some shouting could be heard from the outside. For a moment I feared that hysterical priest had returned, but the voice was from a woman. With some 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 apologising repeatedly.

"What... happened here?"

"Oh, are you done?"

A man approached us from the side. If I remembered right, this was the guard from earlier.

"You were... Jockson?"

"What an honour to be remembered by two cute ladies. That's right. Merim Jockson. I'm just a bottom-ranked guard, so no need to stand on ceremony with me, 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 time. Did he do something to you girls?"

"Well... nothing I know that would make his wife mad, I think?"

At that moment the woman spotted us and walked over, leaving her poor husband on the ground.

"Oh my, are you two cute. 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 me.

"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 something. I had no mirror so I didn't know the state my hair was in. This woman was lost in her own pace.

"Come! We're going to make you presentable! There's no way those stupid men would refuse the request of a cutie like you."

"Dear, wait. You can't just-"

"Did you say something?!"

"No. I'm sorry."

"Then it's good."

And with those words, I was abducted by an unknown woman once again.

Is this a pastime of women to dress me up? Help me, Lily!

But Lily just waved me goodbye, while the guard, Jockson, saluted. I didn't think that it was appropriate for him to salute to me.

Around an hour later, I was set free.

Surprisingly she didn't make me into a dress-up doll like Wanda did, but she did drag me into the woman's quarter to wash me up. I was surprised to see that they had set up a warm bath in a large tent. Apparently, it was powered by elemental  fire stones, as they could be used by just about anyone.

I was also surprised to see that it was currently bathing time. They had all finished their morning work and then went to take a bath. The ratio of women to men was quite onesided as only a few women were brave enough to either marry a mercenary or become a mercenary themselves. But with a camp this large there were still quite a lot. 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 me and led me into the bath without giving me any time to do so.

There were women of various ages around. From little girls, probably the daughters of the soldiers, over to the older generation, mostly the wives of said soldiers.

Some of the younger girls had approached me, wondering who I was. I was so overwhelmed that I had some troubles 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 me 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 women had to keep their hair short and to a reasonable length, as it was hard to take care of it. And then they saw me whose hair was so long that it reached the ground.

I was made the women's plaything. They touched me all over and wouldn't let me go until I was properly cleaned up. Then they gave me 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 me stand in front of a mirror.

Reflected was a small girl in a white one-piece dress with extremely long hair. She was incredibly cute and would have definitely stolen my gaze if I were to meet her on the streets. Too bad that the girl in question was none other than myself. I didn't want to be a narcist, 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 me. But not without all accompanying me back to the large tent where we discussed things with Korwen. Some of the young girls took my hands and pulled me into the tent.

"Mr Captain! Mr Captain! Look here!"

Seated on the table were Korwen, Lily and three unkown people. Two scrawny  men and a lethargic looking woman. Upon seeing me Lily smiled wryly while Korwen gave me 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 me. 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, he was trying to use these innocent girls to trap me with guilt. The girls, of course, brightened up after hearing that and surrounded me, some begging me to stay and others asking me to play with them.

Korwen gave a hearty laugh.

"Now, now, girls. I'm sorry, but you will have to postpone this until later, we still have some things to discuss. I promise, when we are done you can play with her, okay?"

The girls looked down again for a moment but they obetiently let me 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 something, but in the end, she said nothing and led everyone out of the tent, leaving us alone.

Once I confirmed that they were all gone I turned towards Korwen.

"You're the worst."

"Ahahaha! You're great, kiddo. No, Yumi, was it, right? Forgive me, but those girls don't really have the chance to interact with others their age that often. And all those who do come are usually related to our current job, so they are all only around for a short time. It's sad seeing them already accustomed to saying goodbye."

"Even if you try to trap me in guilt, I won't yield that quickly."

That didn't mean that it wasn't effective, though. But Karen had a higher priority for me. If he wanted me to stay, he had to get Karen to stay first. No way around that.

Unfortunately, he did seem to plan doing exactly that.

"Well, we'll see about that. But for now, there's other things to do, aren't there?"

Korwen motioned towards the three unkown people. They men 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 meet you."

"... Hello..."

"..."

They gave their greetings, except the woman, but they didn't give their names.

"Ahh, geez. From the right. Wenners, Krutz, Ria."

The two men 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 moment. 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 meant 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 me and Lily occasionally, only to avert their gaze immediately 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 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 with teamwork. She also has some reputation. 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, your sister can be trained into a magician 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 seemed to be unable to take it anymore, though.

"C-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 men carried out the sleeping woman.

"I'm sorry, they aren't used to women."

"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 woman here in the camp. It got so bad that they even camp outside."

"So... They weren't thrown out because of experiments but instead left on their own because they couldn't deal with women?"

"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 something one could deal with easily. They still should work on getting comfortable around women, though. In any case, it might have saved us right now. I wasn't found out so far.

"Well then. Should I summarise, Lily-girl?"

"Yes, that would be good."

"Okay, here's what we decided on so far. First of all, we're agreeing to help for the materials you provide us. But it won't be an official request. Therefore, we cannot use our main unit. Well, I will tell some of our more rowdy types to help making 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 meantime, Lily, your sister, me and some others will infiltrate their hideout in an attempt 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 me.

"The Black Guards were forced into this job by the lord of this city. They couldn't refuse it. Your friend here couldn't deal with this kind of job and ran away."

"You make me sound like a coward."

"In a way, you are."

"Ugh..."

"But you did the right thing, if you ask me. The church has been trying to force us as well. Twenty years ago, Greyward might have been able to do something 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. The group might have fallen apart because they have so many believers."

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 me?"

"Because you are kind?"

"... You should say those things to Karen."

"I do."

"..."

Lily went a bit red and coughed once.

"Anyway! There's something 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 men."

"Huh?"

"What? If they think the request comes from us, they won't make trouble. Also, don't offer those materials. I'll prepare some appropriate reward. I expect that to be paid back in full, though. Whether in those materials or something 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 something 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 armed with a small knife."

"Ohoo, 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 investment."

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 melee combat, it slipped my mind.

Lily held up a small but long weapon.

A matchlock pistol.