Chapter of Soul Expansion: Gate to a new Future

"When will we arrive?" I asked.

"Still over an hour," answered Lily.

An hour. Yet another hour of dealing with this situation.

I let out a sigh. In a sense, the fact that nothing happened so far was reassuring. But on the other side...

"This is suffocating."

"Don't let them hear it."

"Ugh..."

True to the soldier's words, our little caravan was being escorted. Plainly speaking, just about every wagon was now flanked by two mounted soldiers. Their mounts were similar to horses, except a few slightly disturbing differences. Like a row of sharp teeth. Or rows of horns running down from the top of their head to their shoulder. Or some sort of carapace covering their joints. And that they were all a deep black and seemed as if they would attack us any second. Instead of horses, they looked more like some sort of horse monster. Definitely not something I'd like to ride.

"Haaa... Maybe I should sleep again."

"Yumi, please don't leave me alone here. Seriously, please. Don't leave like Karen."

"You can do it, Lily."

Around thirty minutes after we continued our journey through the forest we had to take a short break. Someone managed to get their wheels stuck or something. Karen took the opportunity and went back inside. Well, it was still in the middle of the night, so I couldn't blame her. And it was cold outside. At least a lot colder than inside the wagon, which stayed mysteriously quite warm.

"Lily."

"Yes?"

"Do you... like being a mercenary?"

"Huh?"

She cocked her head in wonder. It was just a question I randomly thought of, so being confused wasn't surprising.

"Whether I like it? Mh... I never really thought about it."

"You never... thought about it?"

"Well, I grew up with mercenaries, right? So it was always a matter of course for me to go that route. I mean, there never even was a chance to consider something else."

So she just somehow happened to end up as one.

"Well, it has its good parts and its bad parts. The camaraderie among mercenaries is great, fighting is enjoyable. But on the other side, you frequently see people at their worst."

"At their worst?"

"... There are usually only two cases when someone hires mercenaries, you see. Either to kill monsters. Or to kill people. And speaking frankly, someone who pays you to murders others is rarely the likeable sort."

"Ahh..."

Somehow, yeah... I could imagine that.

"Requests concerning monsters are usually the more likeable ones. The request itself but also the employer. Well, thinking about it, I guess I'm somehow split about whether I like it or not."

"Mm."

"Are you asking because of what Fenna said?"

"I don't know. It just came into my mind, but... I guess, yes."

I probably wouldn't have thought about it if the whole issue hadn't come up. So, in a sense, they were related.

"If you asked because of that... Well, I guess I'd miss the fights? But I can live without the other parts of it. Oh, speaking of which... I wonder what Papa is going to do now."

"Nn? What do you mean?"

"Well..."

Lily awkwardly scratched her cheek and averted her face.

"I did throw quite a tantrum... But now it might all change again..."

Oh, that was right. They were still mercenaries and mercenaries usually travelled around. Leaving Lily alone would be completely contrary to what they intended to do after her temper tantrum. And Lily might not want them to leave either.

Actually, isn't Lily in quite a bad position? If the Black Guards won't stay at the capital... wouldn't it be likely that Lily would leave with them?

Even though we called ourselves family, the Black Guards were the ones who raised her. They were more family to her than we were... The thought that she might leave... was a little sad.

"Mh, I guess I'll ask Papa later."

"Nn..."

I lifted my head to look at the sky. It was still dark, but a few stars and occasionally the moon started peering through the clouds again.

"Glad it didn't rain, huh."

"Nn? Well, yes."

"Sitting on the bench while it rains is the worst."

"Ahh..."

Without an umbrella or some kind of canopy it certainly sounded horrible.

"I wonder if Maya knows when it'll rain."

"Maya? Why would she?"

"Ahh, some beastkin tribes are really sensitive to weather changes. Feline tribes especially."

"They can?"

That reminded me, did I ever even hear what the differences of the various humanoid races even were? Humans seemed, well, like humans. But I barely knew anything about the others. Beastkin tribes had some animalistic traits. Demonkin were long-lived and good at magic. Wasn't that about all I knew?

Ah, and Karen's tail is sensitive. I wonder if the tails from the beastkin are similarly sensitive.

"Lily, what kind of beastkin tribes are there?"

"Mh? A lot. Like, a super lot. Seriously, I don't know how many there are either. And every tribe can have vast differences. So I can at most tell you about the most prominent ones, I guess?"

"Nn, I guess that's fine?"

Were there really that many?

"Beastkin tribes are mostly split into a few major categories. The feline tribes, the canine tribes, the avian tribes, the marine tribes and the reptilian tribes. There are a few that don't fit into those categories, though. The most prominent ones are the feline tribes."

"The feline ones?"

So the cat-like ones like Maya?

I took a look at the soldiers that rode on their monster-like horses. All of them were beastkin, as expected from a beastkin country, but only one of them seemed to have feline traits.

"There won't be many of them among the soldiers."

"Eh? Not?"

"No. The beastkin tribes have vast differences in their abilities. And due to that, they formed a kind of hierarchy. Lafria tried to get rid of it, but it's impossible to change the people's mind in a few decades. Not to mention, that the difference in abilities is hard to overcome."

"Are the differences that extreme?"

I couldn't quite imagine it being such a big issue. They were, at their core, still humanoids, right? Of course, people would always be good at one thing or worse at another, but...

"Yes... For example, Lefa seems to be from a red fox tribe. The fox tribes are some of the few tribes that are incredibly proficient at magic and most of their spirit magicians are from them as well."

"Lefa is bad at magic though."

"Eh?"

"..."

Lily turned around and stared at me, dumbfounded.

"But, isn't she a student of the academy?"

"Nn. She is."

"How..."

I didn't know what the requirements were for entering the academy, so I couldn't answer her and instead only shrugged with my shoulders.

"Uhh, there are always exceptions, yes... Yes... Anyway! Let's forget about Lefa. The exception just proves the rule!"

Isn't that a little rude? Lefa did nothing wrong, Lily.

"Now, where did I stop. Ah right, magic. Magic. The fox tribes are really proficient in magic. Usually. On the other hand, the majority of beastkin are even worse at magic than humans are. Now, you have one tribe where the majority are magicians, while everyone else barely has any."

Towards the end, she lowered her voice and she glanced over to the soldiers. Was she worried they might overhear us?

"Some beastkin tribes are good at physical work. Some of them can lift a rock their own size without breaking a sweat."

"... That's... impressive."

"But that's not true for all of the tribes. Many tribes are not much different from humans. In fact, the majority is around the same as humans, except they are even less proficient at magic."

"..."

Lily furrowed her brows.

"The tribes that do specialise in something oppressed the other tribes with their abilities. And so a hierarchy naturally formed. That has been going on for really long I heard. There's someone in the academy who knows a lot about this."

"Nn? You've been there before?"

"Quite a few years ago with the Black Guards. They actually wanted to dump me there so I could learn magic and other things. I thoroughly destroyed that plan, though."

"..."

Did Lily maybe have a history of throwing temper tantrums already? This... hadn't been the first time? Then again, if it was a few years ago, maybe it was fine.

"I mean, I had lost everything at the time. And they were nice to me so of course, I didn't want to leave. I caused a huge ruckus."

I glanced over to Lily. She was smiling wryly.

"You see... Many things happened back then. I actually don't really remember any of it, so I can't say for sure... But Papa told me that I had been kidnapped by bad men. He never said anything else, though. So I have no idea what really happened."

"..."

She didn't remember? Even though she remembered just about everything else?

"Unsure as I was, I clung to the Black Guards. They were all I had at the time. They and Mama. The first time when Mama just disappeared overnight I was bawling the entire day. It took a lot until they managed to calm me down."

Lily giggled in a small voice.

"Thinking back on it, it must've been really hard for them. I cried a lot."

"..."

"But, many things changed."

Lily turned around to me and pulled me into her embrace.

"Li-, Lily?"

"Now I got such adorable little sisters, I can't show them my weak side, can I?"

"Well..."

"But, I don't mind showing it to an older sister, you know," she whispered.

"Eh?"

Lily giggled once more, grinning from ear to ear.

Then she let me go again, just as suddenly as she started it.

"Now then, it'll still take a little while but we will probably leave the forest soon. Glad to see that nothing happened, right?"

"A-, Ah..."

I was still a little bewildered. Did she mean me with an 'older sister'?

An older sister, huh. Well, I guess that's fine too? I guess I'll have to do my best to live up to her expectations.

Surely, what a troublesome little sister this girl was.

"We're nearly out of the forest now, huh..."

"Indeed, we are. The sun is soon coming up as well. I guess we can say we got through this safely."

"Nn."

In the end, why had we even been worried? It was better being cautious, of course, but it sure deprived me of some sleeping time.

"Yumi? Lily?"

"Nn?"

"Oh? Karen, you're awake again?"

The door of the moving wagon opened and Karen's head peeked out.

"Yes. The others are slowly waking up as well. How does it look?"

"We're soon through the forest. Half an hour I guess until we can see the capital."

"Already... I guess it all ended well."

Yes, it ended without any incident. I peeked to the back where Karen was leaning out.

"Sis, you might want to fix your hair."

"Eh?"

Karen with messy bed hair looked quite adorable. How she frantically tried to fix it was cute too.

Without a mirror or someone's help, it wasn't easy to fix, though, so she quickly disappeared back into the wagon. Slight regrets that I told her.

"Yumi, want a bit."

"Nn? Oh, thank you."

Lily handed me a piece of dried jerky. It was tough. But it was better than nothing. And who knew when we could have breakfast today. And so, I nibbled on the piece of jerky.

"Ahh, I think it's all fixed now."

While I was busy with the jerky, Karen returned and leaned out once more. Glancing to the back, I confirmed her bed hair was gone. How unfortunate.

"Yumi, Lily, should I already talk with the other girls, or should we wait until we take a break?"

"I doubt we'll stop another time until we're right there. It might be better to at least them for now. They have some time to think then," suggested Lily.

"That's a good idea. Yumi, are you fine with that too?"

"Nn."

I nodded. Frankly, I didn't want to be the one to tell them about it, so I actually welcomed Karen's offer.

"Okay. Ah, also. What should we do about breakfast?"

"I guess we can eat something once we're inside the city. I still got some jerky for us here, so that'll be enough. I think in the back were some rations."

"Rations? That's good to know, I'll take a look. If something comes up, call me."

"Will do."

Karen disappeared once more and closed the door.

"If we're lucky the markets are still open when we're in. We can get fresh bread and meat. Maybe some other things too."

"Oh, that sounds nice."

The mere thought made me feel hungry already. Alas, I had to live with this jerky... Or not.

"Lily, do you have more jerky?"

"I do. Here you go. Don't eat too much."

"I won't."

It wasn't really delicious anyway, but it was good for fooling my stomach. Maybe if I chewed it long enough it would taste better? I vaguely recalled someone telling me that chewing bread long enough would make it taste sweet. Would that work with jerky too?

Probably not. I had been nibbling on the previous jerky for a few minutes and it still tasted bland until the very end.

"Haa... I want proper food. I want cute girls. I don't want those sweaty soldiers stealing glances at us."

"Soon, Lily. Soon. Not much longer."

"It's still half an hour, you know. And that's until we see the capital. It still takes a little until we're actually there. And then it'll take forever until we actually get in too."

Maybe the long time of doing nothing but steering the waroxen finally got the better of her. Or maybe she simply started complaining because we were close to our destination.

"Speaking of which, will the entire caravan enter the city?"

"Mh? No, most likely not. They're going to camp outside the city. There are a few nearby fields where mercenaries and peddlers frequently set up camp."

"Huh."

"Speaking of which, you didn't really have many belongings, right?"

A sudden jerk rattled the wagon.

"Woah! That surprised me. Probably hit a stone."

"Ah, Ahhh..."

I glanced to the back and sure enough, there was something like a rock behind us.

The door slammed open as well.

"Yumi?! Lily?! Did something happen?!"

"Calm down, Karen. We only hit a large stone or so."

"... Don't scare me like that! I nearly got a heart attack..."

Karen breathed a sigh of relief. I could hear a dull sound from behind.

"Big Sis Karen, are you okay?"

"Yes, sorry, Emily. My knees just gave away under me. Go back in and help the others get ready, okay?"

"Got it!"

Small steps could be heard through the opened door.

"Well, I'll go back. Also... I told them already. They were... pretty calm?"

"Calm?" asked Lily, confused.

"Yes. As if they already knew... Maya and Sele still didn't take it well, though, I think."

"Those two, huh..."

So on the other side, Emily took it quite well. That surprised me a little.

They were all three just over ten years old. Maya was eleven. For that age, they already had to endure so much, and now they had to choose again... It was a little cruel. Children like them shouldn't have to deal with all of this.

But that's just in an ideal world, isn't it... I can understand Fenna's worries and that they all just want the best for the girls. But, is this really the best? Once more tearing them away from their family?

"Anyway, I'll go back in and talk a little more with them. Leave it to me!"

"We're counting on you, Karen."

"Nn, good luck, Sis."

"Thank you. Until later."

The door closed once more.

"Lily, is this fine? For those three..."

"... I can't say it is. But on the other hand, is it fine as it is now?"

"... No, not really."

"See."

They were looked down upon and discriminated against. They didn't really have contact with anyone but the old men. You couldn't call it a healthy environment by any means.

"The world is cruel, isn't it?"

"It sure is, Yumi. It sure is."

Would they find happiness if we left the mercenaries?

"Don't think too much about it, Yumi. In the end, we all have to decide for ourselves."

"For ourselves..."

"Yeah, for ourselves. The girls are old enough to make decisions for themselves. We shouldn't take away their right to decide."

Taking away their right to decide, huh. Was that, what it was?

"Just let them have some time to think, Yumi."

"Nn..."

I glanced towards the horizon. The sun was slowly showing its face. It was dawn now.

"It's only one sun now..."

"What, did you think now every day would have two?"

"A little."

I still couldn't quite get over the fact that there was a second sun every eight days. Who the heck even thought of this setup... And how was it working in the first place?

"Lily. There's only one moon, is there?"

"Why would there be two?"

Why would there be two suns? Aren't multiple moons like so much more probable? Even I know that would work out.

I silently stared at Lily for a little while, then let out a sigh in resignation.

"Just wanted to make sure..."

"There are three."

"..."

Oh, for the love of...

I pulled my knees up and buried my face in them.

"Yumi."

"Just... Just let me take this in for a moment."

"I'm sorry, I was joking. There are actually four."

"..."

Four? Really? Was she... messing with me? Or was she actually serious?

I lifted my face and looked over to her. It was super obvious she was trying to hold back something. She was definitely messing with me.

"I see. So it's four after all. That's a relief."

"Eh?"

"I already had been worried when I only saw one moon in the nights. But now I'm relieved."

"..."

Lily's face went from holding back a grin to pure surprise.

"Yumi... Were there four moons in your old world?"

"No? Only one."

"..."

Realising I was only returning the favour, a difficult expression arose on her face. Something between a wry smile and astonishment.

"... Sorry, Yumi. We only have one, too."

"Figured. Your expression gave it away."

"Ahh, did it now..."

She sighed and faced forward to the road again.

"Guess I'll have to work on that."

"Please don't ..."

"Now I definitely will."

"..."

Please spare me. If I can't figure out from your expression that you are messing with me, that would trouble me a lot. Like, a lot. A real lot.

I didn't want to be worried every time that she was simply messing with me. Well, I probably wasn't going to either way, but that was an unnecessary detail.

Lily laughed, seeing my expression, which was showing my displeasure.

"Don't worry, I won't mess with you too much."

"So you still are going to..."

"Of course!"

That was an enthusiasm I would've liked at other places.

"Rather than working on your expression, shouldn't you rather think about Rina? What are you going to do now?"

"That's, well, eh... I... don't know..."

"You don't know?"

Lily, completely taken aback by the sudden topic change, was awkwardly staring to the side, away from me. She still nodded in affirmation.

"Mm... That's a little surprising."

"... Is it?"

"Nn. After all, you're so unabashed in regards to everything else. And you helped me and Karen."

"That's... something else."

Something else, huh. Thinking back on it, I had been quite worried too. It was a delicate topic, wasn't it...

"Honestly... I don't know what I should do. It's... difficult."

"Well, do you want to become lovers with Rina or not."

"... I do."

"Then, why not try and confess to her?"

"Uhh..."

Lily hid her face behind her hands, still holding onto the reins.

"But... But... Isn't this all too fast? I mean, I only met her a few days ago."

"... Lily. I met Sis two weeks ago."

"That's still longer..."

I smiled wryly at Lily's bashful reaction.

"Shouldn't we slowly get to know each other first?"

"... Lily, who was it that called me a hopeless romantic again."

"I'm not as bad as you are."

How was this not... Okay, maybe it wasn't bad, it is in a way a reasonable thought.

Difficult, huh. I leaned back and watched the waroxen walking steadily forward. They had been going at it for the entire night and they still kept going. Their stamina was enormous... All the while pulling a huge wagon. Not some small carriage but a massive wagon, completely made of wood.

"Still, aren't you already clear about your feelings? If you are, I don't really see a reason to hesitate."

"Is that how it works?"

"Isn't it?"

I had the feeling that I had this kind of discussion before once. Just that I had been on the other side, that time.

"I'll... think about it."

"Don't keep too long, or Rina will get tired of you."

"That... would be a problem."

"It would be, indeed."

I faced forward, looking along the road, past the wagon in our front.

"Oh, is that the end of the forest?"

"Mh? You are right. We're already here. Time went by faster than I expected."

"Isn't that  a good thing?"

We could already see the end of the forest in front of us. The other wagons all passed the border already, leaving the still bright fairy forest.

"Ah, I can see it. Yumi, look."

"Nn? That? Is that it? Ohh..."

Once most of the trees were behind us, our view expanded a lot. Plains surrounded us, some of them made into fields, some kept empty. And in the not so far distance was a large reddish wall, comparable to the one I saw from the city in the Akkian Empire. Whatever its name was again.

"That's the capital of the Lafria Kingdom."

"It looks... tall."

"Well, yeah. You can't really see much except the wall, I guess. You are right..."

I was a little sorry to put a dampener on Lily's excitement, but it was really just a large wall I could see. There was one difference I noticed immediately though.

"There are no slums or buildings around it."

"There's something comparable to the slums, but it's inside the walls. I've never been there, so I can't really say much about it, though."

"Mh..."

Inside the walls was still leaps and bounds better than outside.

"Well, once we're inside, that's when you're going to be impressed. There aren't many cities the size of the capital."

"Nn, looking forward to it."

And so, we slowly made our way towards those impressive walls.

"Everyone here? Good. Yumi, Rina, do you have those metal thingies?"

"The mana pass? I have it here."

"I have mine here too, Big Sis!"

"That's good, Don't lose them."

It would be a little troublesome if we'd lose it.

"So, what are we going to do once we're inside?" I asked Karen.

"... Lily? What are we going to do?"

"You're asking me? Eh, shouldn't we, like, first decide on our future course?"

"... Can't evade that, I guess."

Yes, we couldn't evade that. I would love to as well.

"Well, it's still early and there's barely traffic in front of the gate. So we could go inside, to the markets and talk over breakfast?"

"Oh, that's a good idea, Lily."

Karen approved of it quickly. Alas, things weren't quite so easy yet.

"Nn, that's all well but... What about the others? And what about the wagon and our things?"

"Ah. You're right."

"Well, the wagon stays here outside. For our belongings, I guess take the important things along?"

"So, pretty much everything."

I didn't really have many things in the first place. I still needed a little box for my belongings. The pictures from the dolls were currently in Maya's care. Speaking of which, I still hadn't talked with Rina about the knife. It was currently in Karen's care though.

"I'll move the wagon to the side to the others."

"Okay."

Lily jumped back onto the driver's bench and immediately set off to move the wagon away. There was a large space to the side of the road where vehicles were parked. Mostly small carriages but also a few massive wagons, similar to ours. Right next to the camping space was a fenced field for the animals and beasts.

"Now then. Lefa is missing..." said Karen, looking over the surroundings.

"Nn, Lefa?"

"Big Sis Karen, she said something about looking for her pro, puro, plofs?"

"I think you mean professor, Emily."

"Yes! That one!"

Unfamiliar with the word, Emily couldn't quite remember it. It was cute how she stumbled over it.

"If I recall right... They went with the Black Guards, didn't they?"

"Nn. That's what Lefa said, at least."

"... She should be fine then, right?"

"Probably."

I glanced towards Lily who just jumped down from the wagon, having finished parking it. Then she walked over to the waroxen and freed them before moving them cautiously into the fenced field. Once done, she jogged back to us.

"And back! So, we're going to take our things and enter the city?"

"I don't have any other ideas, at least."

"Then, let's do that."

We walked back to the wagon, making me wonder why we didn't get our things first and collected our stuff before she moved the wagon away. Lily had a few small leather bags for us, so it was easier to carry.

"Mh, Rina."

"Yes, Lil' Sis?"

"Do you want to have the knife back?"

"Knife?"

Rina tilted her head at my question.

"That magic metal knife, or so. I had been using it, but Sis said it was yours originally."

"Knife, knife... Knife? Oh. That knife maybe? The one I got from my parents?"

"I think so?"

It did fit with what Karen told me about it, at least.

"Mh..."

Rina was staring at me for quite a while, then she grinned.

"It's fine, you can keep it. Just don't lose it!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! I don't mind. I completely forgot it existed anyway."

Isn't that a little rude to your parents? Ah, well. Considering they got kicked out, maybe not?

In any case, if she was fine with leaving it to me...

Maybe I should get some actual belt or sheath for it. Just binding it with a piece of cloth on my thigh wasn't really pleasant. And I was likely to hurt myself.

"Then, I'll take you up on that. Thank you."

"No problem!"

Saying my thanks, I walked over to Karen and told her about it.

"Is that so? Then, one second... Here it is. We should probably look for a sheath for them when we're in the city."

"Nn... Probably."

"Mh, wait a moment. Let's wrap it in some cloth, so it doesn't cut through the bag."

Karen pulled out some cloth from somewhere and wrapped the knife in it.

"Nn? That looks familiar?"

"This? They are my old clothes, from the old slums."

"Oh?"

"Well, after Wanda gave me something new to wear she banned me from keeping these. But it's a waste to just throw them away, right?"

"That's true."

Karen had at some point switched from those dirty clothes to some cleaner ones. I first thought she just managed to actually clean them, but they were new ones. Yes, I was slow with noticing these things. Not like there was much variation anyway. Clothes were mostly white, beige and brown. Or, saying it a little less nice, a single colour with different shades.

Even though they can change the colour with magic, it's not really common, huh.

The clothes I saw at Wanda's were mostly white but I did remember seeing a few different coloured ones.

"Now then, keep it safe, yes?"

"Nn, will do. thanks, Sis."

I held up the little bag. There wasn't anything other than the knife inside, so it was still pretty light. Maybe, one day I would have enough things to fill it a little more.

"And I'm done. How does it look here?"

"Nn, done too."

"Same here."

"Me too! Me too!"

"..."

Maya, Emily and Sele told us they finished already as well. Lily had most of her belongings with the Black Guards anyway and Rina didn't have anything, just like me.

"Then, let's get going. The market isn't waiting for us!" exclaimed Lily, raising her fist into the air.

"""Ohh!"""

Emily and Maya also joined, raising their own little fists. And Rina copied them as well.

With smiles on our faces, we made our way to the gate.

"Uhm, excuse me."

"Yes, little lady? How can I help you?"

There didn't really seem to be any real counter or so, so I approached the guard, a young beastkin man, and held up the metal sheet. Rina stood right behind me and held up hers as well.

"A mana pass? Excuse me, may I take a look?"

"Nn."

The guard took the pass from me and inspected it, front and back, very carefully.

"Seems to be genuine. Please follow me, we'll register you shortly. Are you the only ones that need to be registered?"

"Nn, who needs to be registered exactly?"

"Well, all manakin need to be registered individually. So if any of your friends hasn't been here before, please call them over, so we can register them too."

"Oh, then, one moment."

I turned around and jogged over to Karen and Lily.

"Sis, Lily, the soldier said he would register whoever else needed to."

"Oh? Then, Karen should go with you. I should already be registered, so it's fine."

"Me?  Is it fine to just come with you? I don't have such a pass."

"Apparently it is?"

I couldn't help her with that question. I wasn't in charge of this, after all.

With Karen following me I returned to the soldier.

"You three then? Please follow me."

The guard called someone else over to take his post and led us to a metal door, just behind the gate. It led into a small room in the wall.

"Tross? Ya done with ya shift?"

"We got some girls to register, Leader."

"Oh? Ohh. Some cute little ladies there. They got passes?"

"The two younger ones, signed by Mr Ruben himself."

"What?! Commander Ruben? Man, that's a rarity. How did ya girls get to know that man?

In the room was a middle-aged man, apparently the guard's superior, taking a break. He nearly fell out of his chair when he heard about Ruben.

"We met him at the fort."

"At the Hollow? Ya little ladies came over the great Hollow? Had it rough, huh. Fled from the Akkians?"

"That's..."

"Ah, sorry, didn't mean to pry, everyone got their issues. Still, been getting an awful lot of refugees these days."

"Are there that many?" I asked.

We had seen the refugees from Aldreigh, the ill children. The Black Guards were taking care of them at the moment because they couldn't bring them in until they were completely cured. I could only hope they'd manage to get better quickly.

"Yeah, there are. Nearly every day we get the refugees from who knows where. Akkian, Aldreighan, Krohmean, Bruven. Heck, recently even had a group from behind the wooden sea. Like what the hell, they journeyed for like a year to get here. Really wanna know what's going on with that."

"Leader, you shouldn't babble so much."

"Tross, kid, ya have to let out some steam once in a while, ya know."

"It's against regulations."

The man broke out in laughter after being chastised by his subordinate.

"Tross, one of them doesn't have a mana pass, so just telling me to register without an inquiry is also against regulations."

"..."

"Well, I can get where ya coming from, so I don't mind. Inquiries are tiresome, yeah. The little lady looks nice anyway, so I'll forgive it."

"Haa... Thank you."

Karen was a little taken aback at the comment. But it was saving us some time if she could just get registered without any troublesome procedures.

"Now then, lemme see those passes. and Tross, get me that stupid piece of shite over so we can get this over with quickly."

"... Do I have to call him?"

"Yes, ya do have to. Order from me, the boss here. Go and get him."

"Understood..."

The young guard saluted and left the room.

"Nn, you two are quite different compared to that patrol."

"Oh? Ya met patrol soldiers? Can't blame ya, those furry pieces of shite only care for getting it on with women. Hope they didn't try to do anything to ya."

"... No, they didn't."

It was a bit awkward hearing a middle-aged beastkin calling other beastkin 'furry piece of shite'.

"Don't cha worry though, the stationed guards are calmer. They mostly have families already, ya know. Makes it easier on them. Patrol soldiers and those stationed away aren't that great. We get a lot of complaints."

"... Is it fine telling us that?"

"What? Ya'd find that out in a jiffy anyway, no need to talk around it. Now, where did I leave that piece of shite tool? Oh, there it is."

The man pulled a little device out a drawer and placed it on the table.

"Now first, lemme see if those passes are real."

He took both passes and checked over them, just like the young guard had previously.

"Well, looks good to me. There've been some idiots trying to get in with counterfeits, gotta be careful. Glad to see genuine ones still exist. Now then, who wants to go first of ya three?"

I glanced over to Rina and Karen, who returned a questioning gaze as well.

"Can't decide? Then, the little one first."

"Nn? Me?"

"Yeah, better get you done first."

"Haa..."

I walked over to the man and sat down in the chair he pointed at.

"Now, gimme ya hand, hold it right here."

"Nn? Ouch!"

He pricked my finger with a little needle tip on the corner of the device. A small drop of blood dripped down onto it.

"Sorry 'bout that. Need some blood for this, ya see. But ya done now. Ya did well."

He ruffled my hair with his rough hand and laughed.

"Now, the not-so-little one next? Then your big sister and we're done."

"O-, Okay..."

Rina answered anxiously and walked over, taking over the seat I had occupied.

A few seconds later, and a little yelp later, Rina was done too.

Karen was braver than us, not uttering a sound. Maybe it was good he surprised me with it.

"Now then, we're nearly done. Once we get that piece of shite to give his okay ya ladies are free to enter the city."

He leaned back and put back the device in the drawer next to him.

"So, I guess ya girls travelled through the forest, didn't ya?"

"We did," answered Karen.

"Still glowing like shit, the forest?"

"... Well, yes. Has it been like this for some time?"

"Around a week ago it started. Did ya hear about the disappearances and the villages?"

"We did."

The ones the soldiers from the fort were supposed to investigate? That topic came up quite a lot...

"Some folks believe it's a curse from the fairies, ya know. Utter bullshit, if ya ask me. But something is going on. In the forest and the surroundings. And in that damned Akkian, too."

The man shook his head in annoyance.

"Year by year it all gets worse. Just where are we going to end up at this rate," he scoffed.

Before he could continue though, the door behind us opened. In came the young guard and another man. A scrawny man, with a bad complexion and an unpleasant gaze.

"Grivs, finally ya here."

"Hmpf, what are you calling me here for? I got better things to do than humour you."

"We just got those three ladies registered."

"And you're calling me for that? Can't you register them on your own or are you that incompetent too?"

"Grivs, they are registered, but regulations..."

"I don't care about your regulations, I'm leaving. Do whatever you want."

And the man left as quickly as he entered.

"Man, I hate dealing with him, but that counts as an okay, right? It does."

"Leader, he's still an important person. You shouldn't badmouth him."

"That man can go lick my asshole twice over."

He spit into a corner of the room. That was some serious hate on the man. The guard sighed at his superior's behaviour.

"In any case, we're done now, right?"

"Yes. Yes, we are. Haa... Sorry, ya had to hear that, ladies. Enjoy your stay at the capital. There's plenty good folks around, no worries."

He pointed at the door and the young guard opened it for us.

"Enjoy your stay."

"Thank you."

Karen gave her thanks and led us through the door.

And just like that, we finally entered the capital.

Rinne

Also, some pleasant news and a big shoutout to all my patrons. Thank you so much for supporting me!

Today, my Patreon reached $100 so this month will see one extra chapter. Most likely somewhere towards the end of the month.

Once more, a big thank you!