Chapter of Soul Expansion: Little Crisis

The sun was shining and I could feel a comfortable warmth on my face from the rays.

It took until midday break to calm down Rina, Sele and everyone else. In the end, Lily had to point out to them that girls couldn't marry in most countries and she even explained what the concept of marriage was in the first place. Rina seemed to have some severe misunderstandings about it.

Rina was incredibly disappointed upon hearing that but she relented and all problems were solved, for now. She was slightly unsatisfied with the result but my mental health, and most likely Karen's and Lily's as well, were grateful.

In Sele's case, it took some more time but she eventually let go of me.

I don't understand this. Even now, I still don't. Rina is one thing but I don't understand what happened with Sele. At all.

A sigh escaped me.

"What's up, Yumi?"

"Nn? Ah... I just thought about the thing from earlier..."

"Ah..."

Currently, the caravan was on their break for breakfast and other things. Though I called it breakfast, it was already noon. Breakfast contained some dried meat and bread as well as some weird dried fruits. Apparently, only dinner was something warm to eat and all the other meals were generally cold.

"Ah, you got that one wrong."

"Nn? Oh..."

Right now, Karen was teaching me how to read and write in the Akkian language. The whole thing looked surprisingly simple because I pretty much only needed to learn the letters and how they were pronounced.

Spelling rules? Punctuation? Those were a myth and didn't exist. As long as people understood what you were writing, all was fine. That made it exceedingly simple to learn writing it but reading was quite frustrating. You had to guess half the words.

"Still, you are really learning quickly, Yumi. At this rate, you'll be fine in a few days.

"Hehe."

It wasn't much. After all, I wasn't learning an entire language. Since I was somehow already speaking this language from the beginning I only had to learn the writing and then I would be done. The alphabet was also rather simple with only 33 symbols. Every symbol represented a single sound so it was pretty easy to deal with.

Speaking of a new language...

"Sis, there's one thing I'm wondering about."

"Yes?"

"Does Lafria have its own language?"

"Ah... They kind of do and they kind of don't from what Lily told me..."

"Nn?"

They did and yet they didn't? How was that supposed to work?

"Aldreigh had a completely different language so I was expecting that for the Lafria Kingdom too, but Lily said that the language is so similar to the Akkian language, that there's no real need to learn it. Apparently, that's the case for quite a few of the surrounding countries. They have differences but are mostly the same."

"Ohh... So it's like that. That's good to hear."

I definitely wasn't looking forward to learning an entirely new language now.

"That said, Yumi. When we have time, I want to teach you the Aldreighan language."

"... Eh?"

"You did say you wanted to learn it too, after all."

Did I say that? When the heck did I say that?

I couldn't remember that at all. But if she said I did, I probably did.

"Ah, that is wrong again."

"..."

Slightly annoyed at myself, I corrected the mistake Karen pointed out.

"Still, maybe we should ask Sele for a book for you to read. Some actual reading practice might be good."

"Nn..."

I furrowed my brows. It wasn't that I disliked the idea but dealing with Sele right now...

Yet another sigh escaped me.

"Are you still worried about earlier?"

"Nn... A bit."

"It was just a misunderstanding by Rina and Sele is just a child. She'll understand with time."

I have a distinct feeling that won't happen anymore...

I looked towards Karen and furrowed my brows again. Somehow, I wanted her to feel at least a bit jealous. I knew it was just my own stupid wish but I couldn't help it.

"Yumi?"

"Nn?"

"You should stare at the letters, not at me."

"... Nn."

I turned back towards the paper and continued my practice. It was frankly rather boring but I had some time alone with Karen, which made me happy. I had no idea where the others were off to but I couldn't be bothered right now anyway.

"You wrote it wrong again..."

"Uhhh..."

"This one has the lines going through and this one doesn't."

"... Stupid letters."

"Yumi..."

I averted my gaze to the side. It wasn't my fault they looked so similar, was it?

"Oh well, let's take a break, okay? You won't remember everything with just one session anyway."

"Nn."

Karen leaned back and stretched herself.

"Lily wanted to practice magic with us later, right?"

"Nn, apparently so."

"Hmm. I wonder what it'll be... Hopefully not something like last time..."

Karen's expression turned dark on that mention. I could understand the feeling though. I didn't want t get chased by an ogre again.

"Maybe we should ask Ria to teach us instead."

"That... might be the better idea."

"Well... We have to wait for them anyway. Nothing we can do for now except waiting."

Karen put her arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. I turned upwards and met her gaze. She looked weirdly serious all of a sudden.

"Nn, Sis?"

"... I don't get it."

"Nn?"

"Why are you so popular with everyone?"

"... I don't know?"

"Lily is one thing, but how did you get so popular with those three girls."

"That is..."

Unfortunately, I didn't quite know the answer either. Actually, I could understand why they wanted me as a friend. Korwen told us about it, after all. But Sele's behaviour was an absolute mystery to me.

"Still, I guess I should talk with those three some time as well. Thanks to Mi-, Rina."

"Ahahaha..."

That girl certainly didn't hold back in making a mess out of everything. It did feel like she was overdoing it a little, in fact.

"I'm actually a bit worried about her..."

"About Rina?"

I tilted my head, wondering what she could mean.

"Yes... I don't know. It's like, she's in a hurry."

A hurry, was it... But why would she be in a hurry? I didn't know much about her, but she was doing well from my perspective. Even though she went through so much, I was really surprised she took everything so well. I wouldn't expect that normally.

Nn? She went through such an ordeal but is barely showing a sign of it bothering her, but maybe...

"... Maybe she is scared," I told Karen.

"Scared?"

"Nn. Sis, she did... spent a long time there, right? So... Maybe she is scared we'll disappear. Maybe that's why she is in such a hurry."

"That... might be..."

If I thought about it that way, it made a surprising lot of sense. She wanted to stay with us. She didn't want to return to that place. Maybe that's why she didn't inquire about what had happened at the hideout either. Maybe she was scared of hearing the possible truth, a truth that might be the end of everything here.

"Is she... putting up a front?" asked Karen, looking downwards to the ground.

"Nn, that could be."

"... What should I... do?"

"I don't know... Maybe we can't do anything, but... At least, we should stay with her, right?"

If she really was scared, then we should show her there was no reason to be.

That said, I have no idea how one should usually go about this either. Other than simply staying with her and making sure she has fun, I don't know anything else. In the first place, what if my assumption is wrong...

"You're right... Thank you, Yumi."

"Nn, you're welcome."

Karen smiled at me.

"Guess we will have to make sure she will enjoy herself, right? Will you help me, Yumi?"

"Of course."

"Is that so, thank you."

"You don't have to thank me for every little thing, Sis. It's only natural I'd help, right?"

"..."

Karen didn't answer but instead buried her face in my hair.

"Sis?"

"Your hair is nice."

"... That has nothing to do with what we were talking about..."

"That is fine."

With a wry smile, I took a small look at our surroundings. I figured I should just leave Karen be for a while. There was mostly grassland around the road but in the distance, I could make out a forest. Behind the forest, far at the horizon, I could also see a few mountains.

It's quite idyllic here, actually.

It was just a passing thought, but it did make a slight bit sad, that I could only enjoy such an idyllic view after my whole life was turned upside-down.

"Yumi! Karen!"

"Nn?"

"... Who?"

Karen and I turned towards the voice, only to see Wanda waving at us from a slight distance. She was jogging towards us.

"Wanda... Did something happen?"

"That it did, girly. We can't move forward right now."

"Nn? Why?"

"There's a group of refugees playing footpad on the road."

"Huh... What's 'footpad'?"

That was a quite unfamiliar term.

"Footpads are basically robbers, Yumi," explained Karen.

"..."

So in other words, brigands? What a weird word... But, we had a group of brigands blocking the road?

"Nn? But, are they seriously trying to pick a fight with mercenaries..."

That just sounded unrealistic. I couldn't imagine regular brigands being able to compare with these mercenaries. Especially not if Wanda already called them refugees.

"They are probably desperate, so they might actually do so, yes. Do you know where Lily and Ria are?"

"No, I don't."

"I don't know either. Sorry, Wanda."

"That's fine. I'll look for them. You two should go to the front and see if you can help. They are worried that they might have a magician. If that's the case, it could get ugly, after all."

And in what way would we even be able to help when there was one? Should we intimidate him with cute weak girls?

"Understood, let's go Yumi."

"N-, Nn..."

Karen stood, pulling me along.

"Take care, you two. Never know what desperate people might attempt."

"We will be careful, thank you, Wanda."

Was my opinion not important here?

We walked to the front of the caravan where we were greeted with a rather weird sight.

The road was blocked by wooden palisades. They were of poor quality and it was obvious they wouldn't hold against any assault for longer than a few minutes at most.

Some distance away from the palisades I could spot Merim, shouting towards the brigands. We were still too far away to hear what he said though.

"Oh, Miss Karen, Miss Yumi."

"Nn? Oh, Fenna. You're here too?"

"Yes, well. We have to be ready, after all."

"Is it fine that you're here in the back..."

I took a look at the surroundings and saw that most of the women mercenaries were in the back and looked rather relaxed.

"We're only backup for now. If it actually becomes a fight, we'll join, of course. But right now, only the old mercenaries stand at the front."

"Those old men? Why exactly them?"

"Because they look scary. They are good for intimidating them. If we stand at the front they might just underestimate us. Because we're women."

"Huh..."

"It's a bit annoying, but... Can't do anything about it."

She shrugged her shoulders. In the meantime, Karen had been staring intensely at the brigands.

"Sis?"

"Mh... Miss Fenna... Could it be, that those people are demonkin?"

"Ahh... You're right, they probably fled from the Kingdom of Aldreigh."

Fenna scratched the back of her head.

"The Captain wants to settle it peacefully but... It's not looking good."

"..."

I took a look at the brigands again. Even from the distance, I could see how tattered their clothes were and the weapons they were holding were just work tools. Hammers, axes, pitchforks and similar things. They looked more like an angry mob of farmers rather than brigands.

"Speaking of which, where's Korwen?"

"He's over there. But Miss Yumi, shouldn't you maybe start calling him 'Captain'? You joined us, right? He's your superior now."

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

It somehow didn't feel like that. He was more like... a friendly old man? Though he was pretty sly. I wasn't quite sure yet if he was simply soft-hearted or not, either.

"Well, I don't think the Captain will mind himself, but it might be good to show him his due respect in public."

"I will keep that in mind, sorry about that."

I honestly hadn't even thought about that, but it might look bad if I didn't treat him like a proper superior...

"Should I call him Mr Captain then..." murmured Karen next to me. Polite as ever.

"If you call him Captain or Mr Captain is not really important, as long as the meaning is clear."

"Mh..."

Karen nodded, understanding what she meant.

"Now, rather than loitering around with me you two should go and see if you can help out."

"Will do."

"Nn."

We said our goodbye to Fenna and walked over to Korwen. He was, once again, holding his head as if he was enduring a headache. Maybe he should get himself checked out by Ria.

"Kor-, Captain."

"Mr Captain."

Korwen looked up, pausing a moment looking rather confused, and then turned towards us.

"I was wondering for a moment who the heck would call me with such a cute voice, but it was just you two. What change of heart came over you?"

"Nn, well, Fenna said it'd be better to address you properly."

"She's not wrong, but it sure came suddenly."

He took a glance towards the refugees.

"Can you two see anything there that looks like it could be the work of a magician?"

"Nn?"

Karen and I looked over to them. There wasn't anything that looked particularly out of place though, but I was just a fledgeling magician, I had no idea what might look like the work of a magician.

"Mr Captain, I don't know what might be the work of a magician, but I don't see anything out of place..."

"Nn, I can't see anything weird either, so..."

"Mh... Is that so, but that's weird."

"Weird?" I asked curiously.

"Yes, the majority of those refugees are demonkin from the looks of it, and magicians aren't exactly rare among them. That's why I'm surprised, I'd expect at least a few there."

He shook his head a few times.

"We'll wait for Ria, she should know if there are any signs. If she can't see anything either... Then we can just force them out of the way in the worst case, though I prefer that won't happen."

"That would be... How many are there anyway?" asked Karen.

"We can only take a guess, right now, but probably at least a hundred."

"That's... a lot."

"Ahh..."

A hundred refugees. Hiding behind barricades, and turning to robbery. From our spot, we could still see Merim standing alone there trying to talk with them.

"What is Merim trying to do?"

"Trying to convince them to let us go through. But they refuse. They want food and quite a lot at that. They must be desperate. Unfortunately, our own supplies only last until the Hollow Bridge, where we planned to stock up. We don't have anything to spare."

"Can't they try to hunt down any animals?"

"Too dangerous. They aren't equipped for hunting, they'd get killed by any of the local monsters. Even more so without a magician. If they had one, they could probably survive on monster meat for a while."

So they basically had no food but over a hundred people to feed. No wonder they turned to robbery.

"But, Mr Ko-, Mr Captain, if they are that desperate, they probably won't let us go through, no matter what..."

Karen looked downcast, she knew how hard it was to live with barely any food, so she probably felt some sympathy towards them.

"That's indeed the case, but we don't really have any other options either. If they won't let us through, we'll force our way. If you have any other ideas, bring them out. I'm all ears."

"That's..."

"Nn, that's... not easy."

What could we do to help them? Korwen's first priority was obviously the mercenaries, so if we wanted to help them, it had to be without endangering them.

"Captain..." someone called out to Korwen from the side.

"Oh, Ria. Good timing. Could you take a look whether there is any hint of a magician among those."

"Mh... Will do...."

The sleepy looking Ria that had arrived turned around and took a look. We watched her curiously until she turned around again.

"I can't see anything... out of place..."

"So you can't either, huh... That's weird. Really weird."

Korwen furrowed his brows. It was understandable. If magicians weren't rare among the demonkin, then it was kind of weird that there were none among a whole hundred people. What were the chances of that happening?

"Let's still proceed carefully, If you see anything weird, immediately tell me, okay?"

He turned towards us with those words.

"Don't hold back in telling me. Every little thing might be important. If I'm not around, tell Merim, Fenna or Ria here. They know how to deal with things."

"Nn, will do."

"Understood."

"Now then, let's see how things are going."

He called over a nearby soldier and told him to call Merim back.

"So, uhm... Should we just wait and look?" asked Karen nervously.

"Just stay here and look, yes. You probably had some education, didn't you? And Yumi obviously did as well. There aren't many here who had one. And I'd prefer to have you nearby. If you notice anything or have any ideas, throw them in. Also, just ask Ria if you have any questions, she'll be responsible for you two for now."

"Best regards..."

Ria turned towards us and nodded. We hastily nodded back and said our regards. I felt a bit insecure with her as our direct superior if I were honest. She was, after all, frequently sleeping.

"Captain. You called?"

"Yes, how does it look like?"

"Not so good. They refuse to listen. They even shot an arrow at me when I tried to get closer. Please give me a raise."

"You earn enough, stop complaining."

"Haa... In any case, they still demand food. Food and medicinal supplies. They didn't specify anything in detail, they don't want to say anything."

"Medicinal supplies... So they have either injured or ill. Or both."

"Judging from their reactions I believe it's more likely that there's a disease going around them."

Merim took a nearby jug, filled it with water and took a large swig.

"One more reason to not get involved with them. Don't want to catch any disease."

"Ahh..."

"If we at least knew which disease. I'll call for someone from the infirmary. "

"Should I go?"

"No, go and try to figure out more information. We're willing to help out as much as we can, but we also aren't afraid to force our way through. You can tell them that if you think it does any good."

"Okay."

Merim took another large swig.

"Wish I had some fire wine."

"No alcohol for you until you reflect on the last time. You should learn from Yumi."

"..."

Oops, he found out, didn't he?

Karen stared at me with judging eyes. Time to avert my eyes and pretend I didn't know of anything. It was some good alcohol.

"Then, anything else, Captain? They are probably not going to like it if I stay... well... away for too long. It feels really volatile."

"Maybe you should say those things first... Whatever, go."

And with a 'shoo, shoo' he shooed him away. Merim turned around with an awkward smile and walked back, to his dialogue with the refugees.

"Geez, let's see how that ends."

Korwen complained, then called another soldier over and told them to bring some people from the infirmary over.

"Well, all we can do for now is wait. Wait, did that guy use my jug? This sneaky..."

"Ahahaha..."

With some grumbling Korwen had someone bring over a new jug which he promptly filled with something that was clearly not water. It had a slightly greenish colour.

"Is that alcohol?"

"Mhh? This? You don't know this? It's Apram Juice."

"Apram?"

"That's the name of a fruit from the north, Yumi," added Karen.

"So it's just fruit juice?"

"Pretty much, yes. Want to try?"

Korwen held the jug towards me.

"Nn, well I can try it I guess."

"Go ahead then."

I took the jug from him and stared into it. It was bright and green. It looked a bit intimidating. Rather than fruit juice, I had to think of vegetable juice.

"Don't stare, go and try."

"Don't hurry me..."

I heaved the jug up to my mouth and took a small sip.

And then froze for a moment.

"Yumi?"

"... Sis, want to try it too?"

"Well, I guess I can..."

She took the jug from me and sipped a bit as well.

Then, she grimaced.

"Sour! What is this, it's so sour! How can you drink this?!"

"Wahahahaha, it wakes you right up!"

Korwen laughed at us like an old grandpa that managed to fool his grandkids.

At least I wasn't the only one that had to suffer now. It was just so incredibly sour.

Karen quickly put the jug back on the nearby table. She was still grimacing.

"Water is over there if you wanna wash your mouth."

We quickly grabbed nearby small mugs, not one of the huge jugs Korwen used, filled them with water and drank it. It wasn't enough with just one mug so we refilled them a few times.

"Don't overdo it, we won't make a stop for you just because you need to relieve yourself."

"Ugh... You shouldn't say such things to a girl, Mr Captain. Your wife will hit you."

"She'll hit me anyway."

"You shouldn't give up immediately..."

A dark expression appeared on his face, one that told us more than enough about the hardships of a married man.

"Mr Kowen, just what is up with that... fruit. Aren't fruits usually sweet? I never had an Apram but I can't believe something this sour would be a fruit."

"It is, though. The actual fruit is even worse than the juice, believe me. But it prevents the sailor's disease apparently."

"Sailor's disease?"

He couldn't be talking about... that one, could he.

"Ahh... It's a common disease among sailor's, that's why it's called that. Fresh food and especially some fruits help in preventing it. It's troublesome because not even magic can help against it."

He lifted his jug up and stared at it for a while.

"It's not exactly a big threat to most people outside of sailors but it never hurts to be prepared. And the Apram can be stored for a long time so it's popular for supplies anyway. Believe me, that won't be the last time you see this."

"... I'm not looking forward to that."

"Ahahaha, true. Most children here hate that fruit. But the Apram isn't the only thing we have, the Kirm is pretty sweet and also prevents the sailor's disease from what I heard. But they are a lot more expensive because of its popularity, so we can't stock a lot."

"And so you stock more of this one..."

"Yeah, well, the sailor's disease really is just a minor threat for us, though. I think the last one we had was a few years back. Some idiot that refused to eat anything other than pickled meat. He first got the sailor's disease so we forced him to eat something else until he got better."

He sighed and put the jug back down.

"I will never understand why pickled meat..."

"Haa..."

To be honest, neither could I. But maybe he liked it so much?

"The bigger problems are things like Reaper's Disease. If those refugees have that one... Then we'll have to kill them all."

"Eh?"

Did I just hear right? Did he just say that he wanted to kill them because of a disease?

"What is the Reaper's Disease?" asked Karen.

For once it wasn't me who asked a question.

"A horrible disease. Believe me. It raged two decades ago through a few countries further away from here. Killed thousands, if not tens of thousands. Maybe even more, I don't know. We certainly didn't wait to find out."

He took a sip of his atrocious sour juice. How could he drink that without grimacing? It was a mystery to me.

"The neck starts to turn blue and black first, then the area around the eyes do and... Well, in any case, it's really grotesque. Many people died to it. And the only thing really that is known is, that it is highly contagious, completely ignoring the different races, even infecting animals. I heard it can be treated with magic, but..."

He turned to Ria.

"Would you be able to treat it?"

"Mh... I don't know... Maybe... I would need to have a patient... To find out..."

"That so... Then we won't take chances if they do. Can't have you get infected and die on us."

"Mhh..."

At that moment the people from the infirmary came over and asked for instructions from Korwen. He promptly sent them to Merim for assistance.

"Man, I hate it when you can do nothing but wait," he complained once they were gone from his sight.

"That reminds me, you two. Where's Lily?"

"Nn, we don't know either."

"Ah, she went somewhere together with my sister  and the three girls, Wanda wanted to look for them."

"Well, they'll appear again with time. Still, maybe I should cut that girls' wages already. She's not even here. She should waste her time here too."

If she would just waste time there wasn't really a problem that she wasn't here either, was there... But thinking about it, it was a problem when people were not available when you needed them, so maybe his complaint was right.

"Right, since we got some time, should we talk about your wages?"

"Eh?"

"Well, it's rare I got nothing to do, so it's better to do it now, right?"

He wasn't wrong, but still. I took a glance at Karen and she nodded.

"Nn, then I guess we might as well. But weren't we supposed to take a test?"

"Too bothersome. I got an account from Lily and Wanda already, that's good enough for now. Of course, if you don't live up to it, I'll cut it down. Simple as that. You will be largely judged on your magical ability anyway, rather than your physical prowess."

"Then, I guess we can. If it's fine like that."

"That's great, give me one moment."

He called, once again, a nearby soldier over and told them to fetch something. A few minutes later he came back with a thick book. Korwen took the book and opened it.

"Well then, let's see..."

"What's that? A ledger?"

"Oh? You know what this is, Yumi?"

"Well, I just took a guess..."

"Hmm... Can you do calculations?"

"I guess I can do simple ones..."

"Seven dozens."

"Eh?"

"How much? In actual numbers."

What the heck was he going on about this time?"

"84. Why?"

"Thirteen dozens?"

"Uhm... 156 I think?"

"... Do you want to take over accounting?"

"... No?"

"Damn..."

He looked down with a sad face.

"There are so few people who can calculate with actual numbers, especially past two dozens. The last three people who took over accounting ran away."

"... May I ask why?"

"Overworked."

And he seriously thought I wanted to take over then? Now I wanted to do so even less.

"But are there really so few who can calculate? Isn't this really basic stuff?"

"You call it basic stuff... But most people are happy when they can count their fingers. Sometimes they might add their toes. I would need to hire half a dozen accountants for this, but why should they work for us when they can just find work at a local shop..."

He started rubbing his temples.

"You really don't want to take over? I'll give you a raise."

"I didn't even have my first wages... And no."

"Damn... Well, we'll get by. Haaa..."

He sighed again. It must have been really bothering him.

"Still, you are a weird girl. You can calculate well and yet you are so naive and unworldly it astonishes me. Really, with a bit worse luck and you would have just been captured by some dirty noble as a high-quality slave. Worked to death and used as a toy. You got some serious luck."

I felt like complaining about my situation a slight bit when I was told that I was lucky, but he didn't know where I came from and what happened to me, so I refrained. It was enough when those close to me knew about it, and he didn't seem to particularly care about one's history anyway.

"Now then, back to the original topic. About your wages. Mh, you are pretty much magicians even if only fledgelings, so, let's see..."

He turned the pages a few times. Most likely he was comparing the wages of others to figure out what was appropriate.

"Let's see, do you want to be paid in Famiu or in some other currency?"

"Uhm..."

I had no idea what the differences in currency was, so even if he asked me I was at a loss. I turned towards Karen but she was similarly unsure what to do.

"Famiu is the most common currency in this region. If you ever need a different one you can just go to the treasurer and exchange it, assuming we have it."

"Well, I guess it's fine then, right, Sis?"

"If that's the case, yes."

"Good, then, it's two Famiu silver, are you fine with that, Karen?"

Was that a lot? I didn't know so I turned to Karen again. Alas, she looked utterly confused.

"Eh, Mr Captain, just to make sure. Are we talking about a monthly, weekly or daily wage?"

"Daily."

"..."

"Sis?!"

Karen suddenly collapsed on the ground. Then she held up her fingers and started to count them. It looked honestly weird.

"Yumi! What do I do?!"

"Sis, calm down what's wrong?"

"If we earn that much, that still gives us each a whole silver per day. Ah, well not quite if we add Lily. What do I do? That's so much money."

She was honestly completely out of it. I had no grasp of money, I knew that a copper coin could pay for a horrible but necessary meal. I didn't even know how much one silver coin amounted to in copper coins.

"Karen, you seem to have misunderstood something," commented Korwen, looking veritably astonished, his eyes wide.

"That's your own wage. Yumi and Lily get their own."

"..."

Ah, she fell over...

Don't expose your behind to everyone, Sis...

Around thirty minutes later Lily finally came around to us. She was greeted with a still shell-shocked Karen.

Karen went on an emotional rollercoaster from grinning like mad and then crying about how happy she was and back to grinning like an idiot.

Watching her made me a slight bit happy as well, so I didn't mind. Korwen apparently didn't either.

"It's great to see someone appreciate their wage so much."

That was his comment on the whole matter. Right now Karen was staring at the sky and occasionally murmuring how much food she could buy with all that money.

Shouldn't you maybe spend your money on something else? We even get food provided, so it's not like you have to even pay for that at all.

"Yumi, what the heck happened with Karen?"

"Nn... Kor-, I mean, the Captain talked with us about our wages."

"Ohh... I guess I can understand it, but let me just ask in case. How much for her?"

"Two silver a day."

"Heh, that's not much, is it."

"..."

I stared at Lily who innocently returned my gaze.

"Do you get two as well?"

"No, I get four a day."

"Huh..."

She turned to Korwen who was watching us with a big grin.

"Hey, Korwen. Ah, or should I call you Captain now too? Feels a bit weird. Anyway, how much do I get?"

"You? Let me see... Is ten daily fine?"

"That's not a lot, is it."

"Stop complaining, I helped you out, didn't I?"

"But you still get paid for that. It was an official job, right, so it shouldn't affect my wages."

"Jeez, deal with it. If you work hard I'll raise it, fine?"

"I'll hold you onto that."

And just like that, Lily not only earned nearly twice of what Karen and I earned together but she already got promised a raise if her work was good. Though, didn't he say he wanted to cut her wages earlier? Well, there was no need for me to mention that, was there?

"Still, for magicians, that's actually not a lot, you know?" said Lily, turning towards me.

"Yeah. Depending on your skills and the type of job you could even earn a hundred daily. I heard there are even some earning a whole Gromoan Gold a day. That's around three hundred Famiu silver," added Korwen.

"Wha-"

"And that's just for regular magicians. Magic craftsmen can make many times more if they are good."

"That's actually... scary."

I couldn't even imagine how much money that was. What the heck did you even do with all of that? But magicians earned really quite a lot then. Compared to that, you could really say that the pay was bad here.

"Nn? Is that maybe why this band has barely any magicians?"

"... Well, we can't really pay more, you see..."

"..."

No wonder no magician wanted to work here. It was dangerous, you were always travelling around and then even your pay was bad.

But, these people still saved us, helped us. And even though the pay was 'bad', it made Karen really happy. We could overlook it a bit, right?

"But why does Sis only get two and I get four?" I asked Korwen.

"Because we are taking care of her sister, so I deducted her living expenses. Also, you can already use some magic, while she is basically at the very start, right? That's another reason. Actually, I should say that she gets nothing until she can use some magic, but let's say, it's an investment."

An investment. So he wanted something in return. Well, with more magicians, he could probably find more work.

"That reminds me, Yumi."

"Nn? What is it?"

"There's a little offer I want to make."

"Offer?"

I furrowed my brows. That sounded suspicious.

"I won't take over accounting."

"Damn... No, that's not what I wanted to ask."

"Not?"

What else could he want then?

"Do you have any interest in bodyguard work?"

"Bodyguard? Me?"

Did he want me to shout cutely at them for intimidation?

"Yes, you. Well, though I call it bodyguard work, it's half bodyguard and half secretarial duties."

"I don't want to do your accounting."

"... Though that is kind of included, at least in part, that's not all."

"Huh... But really, why me of all people?"

An evil grin adorned his face upon hearing that question. I had a bad feeling.

"Do you know one of the major problems that most magicians have?"

"No?"

"Well, Lily, do you?"

He turned to Lily who was listening curiously.

"Mh, that invoking magic takes time."

"Exactly. Invoking magic takes time. But you basically skip that. In coordinated large-scale battles that barely matters, and in monster extermination it is rarely of import either, unless someone is really slow with invoking."

He waved his jug around in front of my eyes. He probably attempted to point at me with it.

"You can safely skip that invoking part, though. Not to mention, I'm sure there are other things you can do that others wouldn't expect from a person, right? If we train you properly, you might become an incredibly good bodyguard. Nobody would expect a little girl to be a magician that can invoke magic instantly."

"Huh... But what does that exactly entail? Am I just following you around?"

"Pretty much, yes. Well, it also includes, like I said, some secretarial duties. Can't let you waste your skills, right? But you have time to decide over that. That's more a long-term offer but you can already start thinking about it."

"Nn..."

"Now, you're more than welcome to help with acc-"

"No."

"Oh well, it was worth a try. Mh? Oh, Merim is coming back. That took time."

We followed his gaze and saw Merim coming back. He looked really, really tired, right now. Following behind him was the guy from the infirmary.

"Captain... I'm not going to do that again."

"Stop complaining and give me a report. How does it look?"

"That is... Better have this guy explain it."

He pushed the tired man from the infirmary forward. The poor sod looked around nervously for a second then straightened his back in a hurry.

"Captain, sir! From the discussion, we could gather there's indeed a disease going around. But it seems to be the flu, so with some treatment, they should get better."

"The flu? That's it, really?"

Korwen raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Yes, sir. The flu. Considering they are refugees, they probably caught it out here but lack the efficient means of treating it. They actually might have a magician who tried to treat it until he succumbed as well."

"Geez, at least it's not the Reaper's Disease. Still, even if we do know what... Merim, what else could you get from them?"

Korwen looked relieved hearing that. If it really was just the flu, most people might recover on their own, even.

"Not much, it took us really quite a lot just to find out this much. They shot even more arrows at me, so give me a raise."

"I have the account book here, seems I overpay you. Let's fix that."

"I'm sorry. Really. Don't cut my pay, please. I'll get killed by my wife."

"... The report then."

"Ah, yes. I think they fled from Aldreigh due to... issues with the government. They probably planned to reach Lafria over the Hollow Bridge, just like us. Except they ran out of supplies and then had the flu going around. For their numbers... Around 100 seems to be quite accurate."

"That's something we can work with, can't we."

He nodded a few times to himself.

"Still, we can't support a hundred people. At most we can add around fifty people, that's the most we can support until we reach the Hollow Bridge. Now, we aren't a charity though. Can they offer us anything?"

"It didn't seem so, no."

"Mh..."

I smiled vaguely. Even though he said he didn't run a charity he still considered the most peaceful solution. This certainly wasn't how I imagined a mercenary band to be.

"Merim, go and tell them that we can take around fifty people to the Hollow Bridge and one day of supplies for everyone else, for proper compensation. After that, we can ask for assistance from the garrison to pick them up. If they don't accept that, then we can't help them and we'll force our way through."

"Understood."

Merim gave a salute and left promptly again.

"Now then, I wonder... Will they accept or will they make trouble."

Korwen stared at the sky above us.

Rinne

Well, there's not much to say today, I guess.

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