Chapter of Grim Reality: Imminent Departure

“... up and get ready! All men! Wake up and get ready! We will move out in one hour! I repeat! Wake up and get ready!”

Stop shouting… Let me sleep…

Whoever it was that kept shouting outside, his shouts slowly disappeared into the distance.

“Nn…”

Still half asleep, I nuzzled against Karen’s body, enjoying her body heat that was trapped beneath our blanket. Everything would’ve been fine up to this point and I probably would’ve dozed back into my dreams again, if not for the hand that suddenly pat my head.

“Nn… Sis?

“Ah. Sorry, did I wake you up?”

“Nn… No…”

The one who woke me up was the guy shouting just a minute earlier, after all.

“Warm…”

Karen shifted her body a little, so she could pull me close and hug me.

“Sis…”

“Yes?”

“Nn… I love you…”

Her embrace tightened, pressing my face into her chest. If she continued doing this… a different kind of warmth was going to rise.

“I love you too.”

This was bliss… I couldn’t help but giggle. If possible, I wanted to stay like this forever.

“Hehe, you’re so spoiled.”

With a giggle of her own, Karen nuzzled her face against my hair.

“Sis.”

“Yes, Yumi?”

“Nn… Just wanted… to call you…”

“I see.”

While we embraced each other, something suddenly wrapped around my leg. It wasn’t Karen’s leg, it was way too thin for that, like a rope. A little confused, I shifted my leg in an attempt to free it.

“Mya?!”

“... Nn?”

Why did… Karen shriek?

“Yumi, don’t… That one is…”

“...”

Ah… That… was her tail. The thing that wrapped around my leg was her tail...

“Sorry… Didn’t know… what it… was…”

“It’s okay. I didn’t notice it either, after all.”

How did she not notice her tail wrapping around my leg? Well, not that it really mattered…

Even so, she didn’t attempt to remove the tail from where it was…

Locked in our embrace, we silently laid in the bed for some more time. Occasionally moving our bodies a little to make it more comfortable, but nothing more.

I wasn’t quite sure how long we stayed like this. Half asleep as I was I probably dozed off somewhere in the middle again. But,  just like all things, it had come to an end at some point.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Yumi! Karen! Wake up and get ready. We’ll move out soon and you’ll miss breakfast if you don’t come out soon.”

Knock! Knock! Knock!

The person in front of the door kept knocking and calling out to us, probably not going to give up until we responded.

“Noisy...”

“Ehehe, it is. Yumi. Wake up.”

“Nn… Don’t wanna…”

“I don’t want to either. But we have to. Come, up with you.”

Ignoring my complaints, Karen removed the blanket covering us. The cold air washed over our skin, startling me.

“Cold...”

“It’ll help you wake u— Ah! Yumi! Stop that!”

In an attempt to get a little more warmth, I clung to Karen as tightly as possible. Unfortunately, no matter how warm and comfortable Karen was, without a blanket, parts of me were still cold. Lucky me, that I only had to wrap us up in my hair for that. Who needed blankets anyway?

“Haaa… Do you hate getting up that much?”

“Nn.”

“Even though I was so impressed with you yesterday…”

“Ugh…”

“Haaa… I didn’t think you would forget that so soon...”

That… was unfair…

“Just a little… I’ll get up… But just a little more...”

“... But really only a little bit.”

“Nn.”

I was too easy, wasn’t I? I couldn’t even offer a small bit of resistance… Then again, even I understood that insisting on staying in bed was wrong. Not like we could anyway, with someone desperately knocking on the door.

“Yumi, can you at least let me open the window and tell them we’re awake?”

“Nn… If you have to…”

I loosened the grip around us, allowing Karen to open the window over the bed.

“We’re awake!”

“Ah, Karen! I was already wondering what to do…”

“Sorry. We had a small… problem to take care of. We’ll get ready.”

“Great. Breakfast is already prepared so once you grab some, you should go to Merim.”

“Okay, we’ll do that. Thank you.”

“Then, good luck!”

The person outside disappeared. I felt like I had heard that voice before but whose was it… Oh well, not like it mattered.

“And that’s that... “

Karen closed the window again and returned to her original position. She wrapped her arm around my head and patted it gently.

“Seriously, you’re too spoiled.”

Said the person who was indulging me.

If only this could last forever.

Sometime later, Karen forced me to finally let go of her so that we could get dressed and prepared. After I put on my armour dress I helped her with her own armour. It was quite troublesome… And that hauberk… It was heavy. Incredibly heavy. I was utterly unable to lift it. Sure, I was weak, yes… But even then I would have expected that I could, at the very least, lift it. In reality, though? No chance… I was honestly in awe of how she could walk around with that thing completely unperturbed.

Then again, it didn’t seem like it was regular metal… It also looks kind of blueish...

I tried lifting the hem and… The pure weight was shocking. I was only lifting a small part and it felt like I was heaving up a pretty heavy rock.

Wormaz did say they had to balance practicality and appearance… Considering this hauberk isn’t noticeable when she wears it, maybe this is what really protects her?

Of course, that was just my assumption but I couldn’t explain any other reason why he made her wear this heavy thing. Unfortunately, he hadn’t said anything about the hauberk. Nor did Wanda, for that matter. Either way, Karen wasn’t really bothered by the extreme weight. Even though the thing was probably heavier than she herself was… Probably.

Anyway, after we got dressed, we fetched breakfast and went on our way to look for Merim. 

“There he is. Merim!”

“Mr Vice-captain.”

“Oh? Yumi, Karen. You sure took your sweet time, didn’t you?”

Despite his little complaint, it didn’t look like he was actually all that busy. He was leaning against one of the few remaining wagons in the camp, watching the mercenaries getting ready to leave.

“Breakfast was delicious.”

“That’s not what I wanted to hear… Whatever. I heard from the Captain. So you actually accepted his suggestion, huh.”

“You knew about it?”

“Of course I did. I am the vice-captain around here, you know? I sure am surprised you accepted, though.”

Was it really that surprising?

“I do admit I am happy you did, though.”

“You are?”

“Of course I am. Now I have another person I can shove all that annoying work to.”

“...”

That wasn’t something he should say to the person in question… Did he even realise that?

“Uhm, Mr Vice-captain…”

“Yes, Karen?”

“I have heard the gist from Yumi already but I still have a few questions.”

“Oh? Let’s hear them. I can’t promise you an answer, though.”

“That’s okay.”

She still had questions?

“The captain said we’d be in Yumi’s care, Lily and I. Ah, and the Elder, temporarily. Does that make Yumi make my superior?”

Wait, that’s what you wanted to ask?!

“...”

Merim froze as well, staring at her with dumbfounded eyes.

“Uhm… That’s not quite the kind of question I expected, I have to say.”

Neither did I…

“But, I think I get what you want to know. Well, let’s see, do you know the general hierarchy among us?”

“Uhm, the captain is at the top, then the vice-captain… the squad leaders and then the regular mercenaries?”

“That’s pretty close, yes. To be precise, we adopt a similar system compared to most armies. Of course, we’re not as large as a nation’s army so we took some liberties here and there but in general, we are divided between the regular mercenaries and the officers.”

Merim directed his gaze to the front, back to the bustling camp where the mercenaries were still running all and about.

“The officers include the captain, me and several others. Everyone is responsible for various things among us. You two already know Taddick, right? He oversees the general combat groups. All the squad leaders report to him. He’s probably the busiest among us right now, excluding the captain himself.”

Taddick was responsible for the general combat groups?

“Does instructing us also fall into that kind of work?” I asked Merim.

“Ahh, no, that’s a bit of a special case. Instruction is actually my work. Or, was my work before I became the vice-captain.”

“Huh? You are an instructor?”

“Sure am. I actually went to an army school for a while—not the one in Lafria, mind you—and earned my qualifications there. The captain approved of my work later and well… Here I am now…”

That was quite surprising to hear…

“Now I am mostly overseeing others. Since we are lacking in instructors I am still doing that as well, though. Anyway, each of us usually has a few subordinates who work as our assistants. If we also go by technicality, Mrs Korwen also holds that officer rank, you know?”

“... Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. We are a mercenary group and for formalities sake and all that… She is the one responsible for the families. Outside of our work, you could even say she’s the one who holds the most authority here. So, make sure you don’t get on her bad side. Although, I don’t think I need to worry about that happening.”

The more you knew.

“After that, the squad leaders report to us or our assistants. And last but not least, the regular mercenaries are under the squad leaders. This also includes the recruits, by the way. Actual combat experience is important so if we have the chance, we try to have them join early. Even today, most of the young ones are going to join.”

Merim paused for a moment before he continued.

“The exception to the whole hierarchy are the magicians. They report directly to the captain and me, with Ria at the top among them. So far that was never an issue but…”

His gaze suddenly landed on us and he frowned.

“Lily is the type that fights directly. And Karen will clearly end up similarly. Although, I do hope you don’t copy her battle maniac personality.”

“... I’ll try not to.”

“That would be great. One of those types is more than enough, really. And then we got Yumi…”

“Nn?”

“After I heard from the captain what happened in the forest, I honestly know even less where to place you. Right now, you are utterly useless in direct combat and… I don’t feel like that is going to change.”

“...”

Yes, yes, I already knew that too…

“To add on that, you aren’t like Ria and the others where you lock yourself into your room for days to come up with some weird magic stuff. Well, I think you’re better off like this. I never know what Ria is thinking but at least I understand your priorities pretty well…”

“... I feel like that wasn’t a compliment.”

“Ahahaha, it was, though! No, really, I meant it. I have an easier time understanding someone who is acting for their loved ones over someone whose only interest is some research that would cause smoke to come out of my ears.”

Yeah… That… Okay, that was pretty reasonable… I’d have an easier time with the former as well.

“So, to sum it up, all three of you have some peculiarities that make it a little hard to place you. Lily is clearly someone who needs to work in the field and Karen would eventually join her. But then, what? Placing them into a regular squad is… not going to work. We focus on group combat and not an individual’s strength. However, forcing you to give up on your strengths would be a waste. There would’ve been no point in having you girls join us then. So, the solution to this dilemma is this…”

“This?”

“Yes. The idea is to form a new squad with you girls. For jobs like this, we can have you work in the back. As long as you show your face, say some nice words and hold the banner up high, that’s already more than enough. Eventually, there might be more things to do but that’s something we can discuss in the future. For other kinds of jobs, we’ll have to decide based on your suitability with it. We’ll likely handle you similar to Fenna’s squad in that regard. A smaller one.”

They put quite a bit of thought into this, didn’t they? I… Honestly, it was quite surprising. I hadn’t thought about it that much at all…

“Well, when all’s said and done, most of these things are still in planning. We won’t know what the future will bring, after all. But I’m sure that you’ll find yourself with quite a variety of work. As for your position among us… Yumi would be the formal leader of your squad. And among our hierarchy, it would be among the officer positions. I’d like to say that your responsibilities will be less compared to the others but…”

“... But?”

“Well, you already got yourself into the secretary position and I don’t think you’ll ever get out of that either. Lucky me since it means I won’t have to do it.”

“... The captain said if I can beat you he’ll let me go.”

“That’s why I said you won’t get out of that. You won’t beat me in this lifetime anyway.”

Woah, he sure was confident, wasn’t he?

“As for you, Karen, and Lily… Well, Yumi would be your superior, formally. I don’t think that will be an issue for you girls, right?”

“I don’t think so… I just wanted some clarification, so that helps a lot already.”

“Well, to be honest, this isn’t quite the right time for that but… I guess I can see where you are coming from. There are many other things we’ll have to discuss as well after this job is over. But since we’re at it, there’s one thing I’d like to add.”

Merim’s eyes narrowed suddenly when he finished the sentence.

“The three of you are directly under the captain and me. You don’t take orders from anyone else unless we have permitted them to do so. In general, most of our men are pretty amiable so I doubt it will become a frequent issue. Some of the younger ones might still try to do something, though. The responsibilities you have aren’t small but with it also comes a little bit of authority. Yumi, your authority will only extend to Karen and Lily under normal circumstances. But in the case that someone was to try something that could harm either of you or the band as a whole, you have the right to do something about it. Including self-defence or even punishment.”

“That’s…”

“It sounds heavy, I know. But that’s the kind of world you stumbled into, you know? With that said, this isn’t something that will come up anytime soon, I think. But it’s something that had to be said.”

“...”

I accepted a lot more responsibility than I thought… A lot more.

“To be honest, not much will change in that regard, so don’t worry about it. But if the need should ever arise, keep that in mind.”

“Nn, will do.”

“Great. Oh, and of course, I don’t need to remind you that abusing it will put you into a bad spot very quickly, right?”

“Nn.”

“Mh. Good. I don’t think I’ll need to worry about that with you but, you know, formality.”

He really liked the word formality today, didn’t he?

“So yeah, to sum it up: Nothing much will change for you girls. At least, not yet. Did that answer your question, Karen?”

“It did, and much more. Thank you.”

“No problem.”

With a small chuckle, he smiled at the two of us.

“Reminds me a little of the time I got my instructor position, so I certainly understand you are worried about it. But trust me, there’s not much to worry about.”

“... Understood, Mr Vice-captain.”

“Still so serious, aren’t you? Well, that’s good by itself.”

Merim turned his gaze back to the busy mercenaries that he had been watching before.

“It should be about time for us to get going as well. Ahh… Right...I heard the elves officially joined us as well?”

“Nn, the Elder talked with the captain about it yesterday.”

“I see. Honestly, that one surprised me way more than you girls did. Who’d ever think that elves would join up with a band of mercenaries... Anyway, we’ll have to move out soon. Let’s go.”

“Ah, yes.”

And where to? He hadn’t said anything. Actually, I had no idea what was going to happen now…

“Merim, what is the plan… Uhm, the schedule for today?”

“You mean, how things will go down?”

“Nn.”

“We’ll pick up the Elder and your banner. Then, the captain will give a departure speech and we’ll move out. Not much more to do until we arrive near the village.”

“And then?”

“That… will depend a little on what we will find.”

“Huh?”

What we will find?

“The worshippers are… not quite subtle in their methods. We will likely camp near the village and scout it out first. They could hold some villagers as hostages. In that case, we will have to determine whether it is possible to rescue them or not.”

“... And if not?”

“... Then there’s little choice but to ignore them. Our job is to eradicate the worshippers and not save the survivors. It sounds cruel but we have priorities. And hostages that are unrelated to us rank pretty low on that list.”

“... I see.”

“Well, if we can save them without endangering us more than necessary, we will do it, of course.”

That was a relief, even if only a small one.

“However, the chance that there are hostages is… quite low.”

“How so?”

“As I said, they are not quite subtle… If anything, it is more likely the entire village was already killed.”

“...”

Killed, huh…

“But yeah, we’ll see at the time. After that, it will mostly depend on the captain’s orders so I can’t tell you what we will do then either.”

“Nn… I understand…”

But that was already quite a bit more that I knew now.

“Speaking of which…”

“Nn?”

“...”

“Merim?”

“Hee, I have a nice idea.”

An… idea?

“Well, we need you to get used to your new work, right? And I think I know something you can do.”

“Something… that I can do?”

“Yes. Don’t worry, it’s not much.”

He smiled as if he had just thought of the best idea ever… Well, not that much, but he still seemed pleased with himself.

I hope it’s not something problematic…

After talking a little more with Merim, we fetched the banner and went to the meeting point. We didn’t know where the Elder was so Merim sent someone to fetch her and bring her over.

Right now, however, dozens of mercenaries were lined up right in front of me. No, not just dozens… A total of nearly two hundred mercenaries. A small podium was erected next to me with the captain standing on top of it.

Two hundred mercenaries…

That was quite a large number… Although, only around half of them would apparently be the actual fighting force, from what I was told, and everyone else was backup. The king and Commander Ruben delivered small magic tools to protect against simple charm magic and other magic that could influence a person, but the supply was still limited.

“Yumi, you ready?”

“Nn… I think so…”

“Don’t worry. Just wait for my sign, okay?”

“Nn.”

I steadied myself and the banner that I was holding. With my back straight, I tried my best to keep a proper posture. Merim showed me earlier how to do it but since it was on such short notice, I obviously had no practice with it. Still, he said it was fine like this for now.

Makes me wonder how I look to others, though… Oh, those men over there, aren’t they the first group we encountered in the forest yesterday… And those men over there look familiar too… Oh, we played games with them after the battle with the trees… Are their injuries already healed?

It was quite a sight to see all those mercenaries lined up in front of us. And the more I looked around, the more I saw some familiar faces here and there. And although there was nobody I was really close with, I was still a little surprised how many of them were familiar faces to me already.

Nn… But Fenna and her squad really aren’t here. Well, they did say that they would stay behind to protect El and Nel. Together with Lily.

I had the subtle feeling Lily would’ve loved to join us, though. Not much I could do about. El and Nel barely knew anyone apart from us and Lily was by far the strongest among us. She was pretty much the only choice there was as a guard.

“Mhm… Now’s as good a time as any. Yumi, if you would.”

“Nn…”

Finally… It was now my turn… I gathered a little mana around my throat and took a deep breath.

You can do this. You can do this!

I exhaled to calm myself… Then, I faced forward, taking another deep breath and opening my mouth.

“Attention, men! The captain will speak now!”

I shouted with all my might. In an instant, the rowdy mercenaries fell silent, directing their eyes towards Korwen. I didn’t know how effective the Charm magic was for something like this but it seemed to work out fine. Everyone was paying attention to Korwen.

And with that, my job was already over here. This was all I had to do. Now, it was Korwen’s turn.

“We will now depart towards a village north of here! The worshippers have likely taken over the village. We will set up camp around half an hour away from the village and from there conduct our operation. This means we will scout the village and, if the situation permits, engage them in combat.”

In other words, today was going to be really busy.

“There’s not much else to discuss at this point apart from that. Keep in mind to be alert at all times! Don’t forget your training and this will be a simple job!”

A simple job, he said…

“Now, for this job, we have been supplied with magic tools by the Lafrian army. I will now explain how to use this tool.”

From the corner of my eyes, I could see Korwen moving, most likely showing them the magic tool. I barely managed to hold back turning around and taking a look. Merim stressed that it was important to face forwards the entire time. Easier said than done when your curiosity was at work…

“These tools are in the form of bracelets. Wear them on your left arm, supply them with magic like you would with other tools and elemental stones. When it activates, you will feel it warm up. At that point, the tool will be active for several hours.”

Several hours… If they activated it now, it might not last until we arrived at the village, huh…

“The worshippers have magicians among them that are capable of simple mind manipulation. If these tools are not active, you will be susceptible to their magic. Those of you who have not received a tool are not to engage the worshippers directly until the magicians have been eliminated. Did I make myself clear?”

“””Yes, sir!”””

“Mm. Do not forget to wear the tool. And don't forget how to activate it either. We do not know what awaits us. The job might end today or in a week. Be ready for anything!”

A week was… probably not going to happen, right? Right?

“That’s all. We will depart shortly. This is your last chance to check your gear. Make it quick and get ready! Dismissed!”

Korwen turned around and jumped off the podium, disappearing from my sight. The mercenaries in front of me did their last-minute checks on their gear now. As for me… Well, I was told to keep this position until told otherwise, so…

“Yumi.”

“Nn, Captain?”

Thankfully, it seemed that I didn’t need to wait long.

“That was pretty good for the first time. You did well.”

“Thank you.”

“Mm. Hand the banner to Karen and come with me.”

“Ah, okay.”

He faced away from me and left already, being replaced by Karen almost immediately.

“Good job, Yumi.”

“Nn, thank you. And here you go.”

I stepped a little to the side so that Karen could retrieve the banner. It was still too heavy for me so Karen would be carrying it whenever it wasn’t needed. It probably was nothing compared to that super-heavy hauberk but… I really wanted to know now how much Karen could actually lift…

“I got it.”

“Nn, thanks. I’ll go to the captain then.”

“Take care. Oh and, the Elder has come.”

“Oh? Where was she?”

“Seems she fell asleep after she got her equipment and was outside the camp.”

“...”

Heck, glad she was fine.

“Mr Vice-captain already scolded her for it. Though, she seemed rather happy about it…”

“Haaa…”

That one was also quite the oddball.

“Anyway, I’ll wait with the Elder for you.”

“Nn. I’ll come when I’m done.”

We parted ways and I made my way towards Korwen. The departure was imminent so I was wondering a little what he wanted to talk about. Well, I’d see it soon.