Chapter of Grim Reality: Bloodstained Report

“Miss Yumi! Miss Karen!”

“... Nn?”

An incessant knocking tore Karen and me out of our relaxing cuddle time. Slightly annoyed, I opened my eyes and stared at the door.

“Miss Yumi! Miss Karen!”

The knocking continued without an end in sight. Behind me, Karen stirred as well. On the other side of the wagon’s room, the Elder sat up, too.

“So loud…”

“Nn. I’ll go check what’s going on.”

“Do that…”

Karen let me go from her embrace so that I could get up and open the door. A relatively young man stood on the other side.

“Ah, Miss Yumi! The captain is calling for you and Miss Karen and Miss Elder.”

“Nn, we’ll come. Did something happen?”

“The scouts have returned.”

Ohh… That meant, Korwen would likely decide what we were going to do now… I looked past the man in front of me and saw that quite a lot of the mercenaries were up and about again.

“Miss Yumi, I’ll excuse myself.”

“Nn? Ah, yes…”

The man saluted and quickly left from whence he came.

Feels a little weird having someone salute to me…

I couldn’t even return a proper salute of my own… After this, there were many things to practise, weren’t there? Including doing a proper salute.

“Yumi? Who was that?”

“Err, someone who came to tell us to meet with the captain.”

“A messenger?”

“... Yes.”

Pretty much a messenger. Did you call them messengers even in this case?

In any case, we had to get going, it seemed. Karen, however, was still under the blanket, making no attempts to leave.

“Sis?”

“... I’m coming.”

“Nn… I can see that you aren’t.”

Maybe, she was more tired than she had let on… She usually was the one to get up first, after all.

“No… I’ll really come… I’m not like you…”

“... Well, in that case, there’s no problem if I take that blanket, right?”

“Ah! No!”

Karen helplessly reached out with her hand to take back the blanket from me. She never showed mercy to me either so neither would I today.

“The blanket…”

“The blanket is safe and sound, Sis…”

Just in my hands and not hers.

While I wondered about what to do, a giggle came from the opposite end of the wagon room. Namely, from the Elder.

“Miss Elder?”

“... Apologies. I just thought it a little amusing. “

“...”

Well, it was amusing. Or rather, I personally thought it was quite cute of Karen. If it was any other time I might have continued watching but…

“Mm…”

“Sis, you okay?”

“Yes…”

Stifling a yawn, Karen finally forced herself to stand up.

“It appears you are not quite accustomed to such an irregular time. Well, you will wake up after a while,” commented the Elder.

“I’ll try…” came the languished answer from Karen.

The three of us quickly got ready, wore our armour and the like and left the wagon to make our way to Korwen and the others.

“Miss Elder, how are you feeling?”

“Me? I am feeling well, thank you. I am deeply sorry for leaving the two of you alone there. I… seem to have lost some of my stamina.”

“... Some?”

“... If you live a lavish life in the forest, the body deteriorates. It’s unfortunate but nothing some practise cannot fix.”

“I see.”

True, practice could work wonders… Now, if only you could see the results a little faster. It didn’t feel like my training was doing anything in regards to my stamina.

“Nn? Wait…”

Something felt a little odd about that…

“Miss Elder, I have a question.”

“What is it, Yumi?”

“Well, when we first met, you all were… rather energetic, I’d say…”

“Ahh…”

The Elder frowned when I brought up that topic.

“As you know, we elves revere our esteemed ancestors quite a lot. Few high elves exist in this age… Many lost their lives a long time ago, in the Great Spirit War. It has been many centuries since the last time I have met an esteemed ancestor.”

“Haa…”

“Our reverence was… used. We were tricked. As shameful as it is to say. We thought of nothing else but rescuing our esteemed ancestor. The little girl Emily. We forgot our tiredness, succumbing to our fervor.”

“So, you were pretty much on adrenaline…”

Good to know that even fairykin could experience that.

“Uhm, Miss Elder… I have a question as well.”

“Yes, Karen?”

“... What are you going to do in regards to Emily?”

“...”

The Elder fell silent for a moment, opening her mouth, closing it again. She seemed to ponder what to say.

“That is a… difficult question, dear. The esteemed ancestor is but a child. A young child. She cannot lead us, she cannot save us. And furthermore, even if she could… she already has found the place she belongs to. It is not our right to dictate her future. That is what I believe. Some of my fellows might disagree, however…”

Disagree, huh… Hopefully, they weren’t going to do something.

“On the other side, I also do not think that she can bloom into the flower she could be among the humanoids. We might look familiar, we might share sentiments at times, but fairykin are different beings. That is why, as presumptuous as it might be, I would like to help guide her.”

“Guide her?”

I tilted my head.

“Yes. I can see the girl is truly happy among you, her family. Even I am not that blind. But there are matters you cannot teach her. High elves are the beloved of our great mother nature. The forest protects her, the animals adore her, the wind leads her. If she does not learn their meaning, I fear that she might bring calamity to those around her.”

“Calamity? Is that not a little over-exaggerating?”

“I fear it is not even close, Yumi. To tell the truth, she is, right now, a much larger danger than you could be.”

“... I honestly feel a little conflicted there.”

She called me a danger and… Well, I slowly could understand where she was coming from… Not that it made me happy. I had no intention of going out of control anyway.

“My, are you jealous?”

“No, that’d be a little odd reason for jealousy.”

“I agree. It would be considered rather weird. But I digress. Returning to the girl, Emily. I heard that Mr Korwen has banned her from using her magic, has he not?”

“Nn, I heard about that as well… And Maya and Sele were quite… upset at the thought of her using it.”

Not that I had ever seen Emily using magic. In that regard, I couldn’t quite understand the panic about it.

“I see. I suspect that her magic has gone out of control once before. That is, by itself, a bad sign already.”

“... How bad?”

This didn’t sound good. If it was that serious...

“Mm? Ahh, I apologise.”

“Nn? Why?”

Why did she apologise now of all times?

“You were worried for the girl, are you not?”

“Well, of course I am.”

“... Thank you for that. But there is no need to worry too much about it. It is not an urgent matter that needs to be taken care of. It might be even better to take sufficient time and teach her. If she does not use her magic, her right to nature, nothing much will happen. And the girl is a smart one. She won’t do something stupid.”

“I see. Then, that’s fine.”

“Hehehe, but I admit, this is a relief.”

I turned to the Elder, who was giggling once more.

“A relief?”

“Yes. Your face, your expression, it is hard to read. Yet, your worry was so strong that, this one time, it showed strongly. Thank you, for caring so much about the girl.”

“...”

Seriously? It showed that much?

“Hahaha! And now, you are embarrassed about it?”

“...”

It wasn’t like I could control my face and stop it from turning red…

I’d like it if she could stop laughing, though. Ah, now Karen was giggling as well!

“... I hate you two.”

“Hahaha! I apologise but… I can’t help it!”

“Pfff… Sorry, Yumi… But…”

“...”

Great that they were amusing themselves on my costs… The nearby mercenaries were already taking glances in our directions, wondering what was going on. And worst of all, it took a little while before they finally calmed down.

Speaking of mercenaries, where was Korwen… We had walked to the end of the temporary camp now, where he last was—and where we were told we could find him—but he wasn’t here at all…

“You done?”

“We… We are, I believe. I apologise. It wasn’t mature of me to laugh at you.”

“... It’s okay.”

If she gave me such an upfront apology, it was hard to stay mad. Even I wasn’t that childish. Well, it still miffed me a little but not enough to bother.

“I am glad to hear that. Now then…”

The Elder looked around as well, searching for Korwen.

“I believe this is where he was supposed to be, is it not?”

“Nn, it is.”

And no Korwen to find here. There was a nearby mercenary, though.

“Excuse me, the captain called us and we were told we could find him here…”

“The captain? He’s there, in that wagon. Better wait outside, though, until the poor sods got a grip on themselves again.”

“Poor sods?”

“The scouts. Came back all pale and scared. No idea what they saw over there but it sure wasn’t pretty it seems.”

Pale and scared? Why did I not like the sound of that…

“Gonna get back to work. Good luck, lassie.”

“Nn, thank you.”

That was the first time someone ever called me ‘lassie.’ Didn’t know someone actually used that word.

“So what do we do now?” I asked Karen and the Elder as we watched the mercenary return to work.

“We can’t do much besides waiting, right?” answered Karen.

“Nn. That’s true...”

After a short moment, we decided to wait in front of the wagon for the captain. Since we were at the end of the camp, we could leisurely watch the other mercenaries going on about their way. Some were doing maintenance on their armour or weapons, others were talking with their friends, and a few were taking care of the supplies and things like that.

“I’m always impressed that they know what to do…”

“They know what needs to be done, after all.”

“Nn… Makes me feel bad when I watch them and just stand here.”

Although, there were others with nothing to do. It wasn’t just us. There were probably more mercenaries inside some of the wagons, resting and so on.

“Mr Captain told us to come so there’s not much we can do about that. We are technically working as well.”

“Who calls waiting ‘work?’”

At least, I didn’t. Alas, before I could say anything else, the door of the wagon opened and Korwen stepped out, still in the middle of talking with the people inside.

“... and make sure they get enough water and rest. I’ll send someone to bring them food later.”

“Yes, Captain!”

“Good. Take a good rest. You’re done for the day.”

Korwen nodded to the man inside and then the door closed. The moment the lock was setting in, he let out a small sigh and turned around.

“Mm? Oh, there you girls are. Sorry, did you wait long?”

“No, not really, Captain.”

“... So you were slacking and coming late, huh?”

“...”

A trick! He tricked me into saying that! Admittedly, it was smart but…

“Whatever. Not like it matters anyway. Could I bother you girls to bring them some food and cheer up those guys later?”

“Well… I guess that’s fine but… What happened?”

If they needed to be cheered up, it really had to be quite bad.

“... They saw hell.”

“... Hell?”

“Yes. You know, the thing those priest idiots keep talking about. The place where the horrors of the underworld torture the sinful souls and stuff like that.”

“No, I know what hell is, I wanted to know what they saw.”

Although, the hell I was thinking of didn’t quite come from that religion. But that explained why I heard some people using that word. But, which religion’s priests?

“... Come, let’s sit down first. Also, let me call Merim and the others. I don’t want to tell you all twice about it.”

“That’s fine...”

Korwen called a man over and told him to fetch Merim, Taddick and Ria. While we waited for those three, we prepared a table and enough benches for us all to sit down. Just as we finished, the three arrived already.

“Captain, you called?”

“That I did. Sit down first, sit down.”

He waved his hand, telling the three to sit down on the three spots. It was time to get back to the serious side of life now… I steadied my breath and straightened my back.

“Is this about the scouts?”

“It is, Taddick. We got a bit of an… issue.”

Great… Yeah…

“What happened? The village empty? Or what?”

“No… How to say this... The worshippers are definitely inside that village. There’s little doubt about that.”

“Well, that’s one worry taken care of, no? What’s the problem then?”

“... The state of the village.”

The state… of the village?

Apparently I wasn’t the only one who was confused as everyone else also exchanged glances, hoping someone knew what Korwen was talking about.

“I’ll be blunt: They have slaughtered the village and piled up the corpses in the centre.”

Everyone stiffened immediately and you could feel how they tensed up. As for me… I was confused for a moment and had to let those words sink in first…

“The… They slaughtered them… and piled them up?”

“Yes, Yumi. That’s exactly what… No, not quite. According to the scouts, they haven’t just piled them up. They erected a pillar and pierced the corpses on stakes, letting them hang to rot on the pillar.”

“...”

No… No way…

“That’s… beyond morbid. The heck do they think people are?” groaned Taddick.

“And that’s apparently not all. They also… ‘decorated’ the houses with the limbs and corpses… the men, the women, the children… All of them.”

Everyone was speechless... None of us had likely an idea how one could even respond in this situation. At least, I didn’t… It was just… I had no words. No words.

“To make it even worse, several armed ogres were spotted inside. And… ogres are man-eaters. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you the rest.”

Korwen leaned back and stared into the sky. The sun had gone down and the stars were lighting up one by one now. It was still relatively early but…

“... Cap… Korwen. Why are they doing that? The fanatics are crazy but not that crazy. They’re not like some evil cult from a fairy tale.”

“If you ask me, they pretty much are one of those. But I know what you mean. They’re not mindlessly slaughtering people. There’s purpose behind it...”

“... Stop skirting the issue. Get to the point.”

“... Crystal Flowers.”

“... That’s it. I’m out of here.”

Eh? Taddick suddenly threw up his arms up into the air and declared he’d get out. What even were Crystal Flowers?

“They are growing those? But… What is the point?” asked Merim.

“I don’t know. I have no idea what those fanatics need them for. I heard they can temporarily strengthen someone so maybe it has something to do with that?”

“Uhm…”

I awkwardly raised my hand. Everyone seemed to know what they were talking about. Except for me.

“What is it, Yumi? Do you know anything?”

“Err, rather… What are Crystal Flowers?”

“...”

Everyone stopped and turned to me. Did… Did I ask something bad?

“... I forgot how sheltered you are. To think you didn’t even know about those.”

Korwen let out a sigh and chuckled in amusement.

“Crystal Flowers are a drug.”

“A drug?”

The worshippers were concocting drugs? That was… a little unexpected, I had to admit.

“Yes. And not just any drug. It’s grown with the corpses of humanoids. Relatively easy to do as well from what I heard, making it a… an unfortunately widespread drug among the poor.”

“Grown on… corpses…”

A shudder ran down my spine.

“The only things you need are a humanoid’s corpse and a mana crystal. That’s it, from what I know. It’s not a particularly strong drug, mind you. Euphoria and hallucinations are the most notable symptoms. Usually. They also apparently strengthen someone for a short time. Or, well, during their high. Might also be because they just go crazy, though.”

But it was ‘easy’ to make. And that made it widespread…

“Lafria charges you with murder when you are found in possession of Crystal Flower drugs. And the punishment for murder is the drop. Many other countries do the same.”

“... The drop?”

“Hanging on the gallows.”

“... Ah.”

Not exactly a pleasant way to die… That made me wonder a little how they even defined murder in tihs world… Wasn’t our work… effectively murder as well?

“Captain…”

“Ria? You have something to say?”

“Mm… About… the worshippers… I heard… the flowers… can be used… for magic… rituals…”

“In magic rituals? What kind of rituals?”

Ria shook her head in response to Korwen’s question.

“I don’t… know… The topic… is forbidden… after all…”

“... And now we don’t know what we are dealing with because it is forbidden. Great.”

That was also one way to look at it.

“At least, that makes sense enough for the why… As great as that is, it doesn’t help us deal with the situation.”

“How are we going to deal with it then, Cap?”

“We’ll attack.”

“Tonight?”

“Tonight.”

So, in the end, it really came to a night assault, huh…

“Right now, we have the advantage. They don’t know yet that we are here. To add on that, it is night. The scouts have confirmed two magicians and approximately twenty worshippers.”

“Two and twenty? That’s only, like, half? Where’s the rest?”

“They might be inside the houses. According to the report, only three houses were left in habitable condition and I doubt they crammed thirty people inside small village houses. Some of them might be out right now. Only serves us.”

The enemy force was less than expected but that still begged one question…

“Captain, did they see Yumelia?”

“They did not, Yumi.”

“...”

Was that good news? Or bad news?

“Less people is good for us but the state of the village is a problem by itself. I wanted to let the young recruits gain experience but this might be too much for them.”

“Gotta agree there, Cap. They’ll lose their nerves for sure. No chance they can deal with that.”

Taddick nodded in acknowledgement.

“Figured that. With that in mind, we’ll change the assault force to only contain the experienced men. The young ones stay behind as a reserve. Taddick, can you manage that?”

“No problem. Leave it to me.”

“Good. Make sure they all wear the protection tools.”

“Got that.”

Only the older ones, huh… Wait… Did that mean we had to stay behind as well? In case it wouldn’t clear up I should ask him later.

“Also, distribute the robes to everyone. Merim can help with that.”

“Will do.”

“Understood.”

Robes? Why robes?

“Last, Ria.”

“... Mm?”

“I know that you just recovered but I have to ask nonetheless. Can you use that magic again?”

“Mm… No problem… Wenners and… Krutz can… help me…”

“That’s good. It might become necessary so keep yourself ready at any time. But not without my signal.”

“Mm…”

Ria would blow something up again? With that ridiculous blast? It wasn’t yet set in stone it seemed but…

“Okay, then I will explain our course of action. First, we will approach the village. The magicians are reportedly near the ogres. According to the scouts, it looked like they might be necessary to control them. That means, if we take them out, the ogres might rampage inside the village.”

“... So, the crossbows?”

“Exactly. The crossbowmen will shoot the magicians. As long as they are not aware of us, this should be an easy matter. The next course of action depends on how this turns out. If we succeed and the ogres rampage, we will out their rampage and assault them afterwards. If we succeed and they do not rampage, we kill the ogres and then lure the worshippers out and fight them in a frontal assault or—failing to lure them out—pelter them from afar with crossbows and magic. If we fail to kill the magicians or get spotted, Ria blows the ogres and the magicians to high heavens.”

So there were three possible courses of action, huh… Or four, kind of.

“What I am worried about is that the magicians are needed to control the ogres. They have to sleep as well. In other words, there’s almost guaranteed to be at least one more magician around. Likely, this magician is Yumelia. But she might not be the only one.”

“So, we get rid of the initial two but still got three magicians to deal with?”

“Likely, yes.”

How did he get to three now?

“Mr Captain? Why three?”

“Mh? Ah... Because their leader is likely a magician. And no leader would bother to take care of the pets now, would they? And that they have two magicians controlling them means either they are necessary or they got the leeway to do it like this.”

“Ah.”

I hadn’t even thought of that…

“Hope it is necessary and not because they got the leeway,” commented Merim.

“We’ll find out. In the worst case, we’ll retreat.

“... Worst case, indeed. That means we’re marching back to the capital in the middle of the night, doesn’t it?”

“Better warm up now.”

Merim sighed and slumped down onto the table.

“No way. I hate jobs like this. I prefer the ones where we don’t need to hurry. Can’t we just rest and do this tomorrow?”

“You just said it yourself, we need to hurry. The night is still long but I would rather finish this before the sun rises. And you got enough sleep already.”

“People need the sun, Captain. The sun. I still feel tired even after resting.”

“Can’t fix that, get used to it.”

Only regarding Merim with a wry smile, Korwen returned his attention to the topic.

“As for how we deal with the magicians… If we needed Ria to help out, then the Dragon Knights have to engage them. Otherwise, Ria, Wenners and Krutz are to engage them. Ria, are you confident enough you could fight someone like Yumelia?”

“Yes… Should be… no problem…”

“That’s reassuring. Still, be careful. We don’t know what they have up their sleeves.”

“Got it…”

So Ria would take care of Yumelia, huh… I… would like to see that. I wanted to see what would happen to her. Even if… it wasn’t ending well for her. No, I should stop skirting around words. Even if it would mean her death. I wanted to see it.

“The last point is that we have to be careful about possible traps.”

“Traps, huh… You think those fanatics make them?” asked Taddick.

“They do. They definitely do. You know Yumi’s dolls, right? The worshippers have something similar and they use them as walking bombs.”

“... Well, shit.”

Taddick grimaced, most likely imagining those worshipper dolls blowing up.

“We don’t know if this group has these but seeing how Yumelia ran around with two large puppets, we should expect those and other traps. Warn everyone to only approach the village with utmost caution.”

“... Do you want a frontal assault or do you want us to be cautious?” asked Merim.

“I want you to be cautious. The situation at hand will likely change. We’ll only assault them directly when we lured them out or the ogres rampaged enough to deal with possible traps.”

“Okay. Got that.”

Korwen looked once more into the round, then nodded a final time.

“Any questions?”

Silence.

I looked to my sides to look at Karen and the Elder, but neither of them made an attempt to do anything. Nobody else seemed to want to ask anything either so… I raised my hand.

“Yumi?”

“Nn, what should we do? Should we stay behind?”

“You girls? Mh… Yumi, you’ll come.”

“Got it.”

“Karen and the Elder, you have to decide for yourselves.”

“Huh?”

Wait, they got the option to decide?

“I won’t leave Yumi’s side.”

“Neither will I, Mr Korwen. I have to see what will happen to the tricksters and betrayers.”

“Mh. Then, the three of you will come with me. We’ll stay in the back. Miss Elder, can you cast any light magic?”

“Light magic?”

“I just need something that can make a light bright enough to make Yumi and the banner visible.”

Oh great, wouldn’t that make me a huge target?

“Unfortunately not. There are plants that can create light, however. I can prepare such plants in advance and hang them on the banner.”

“That works as well. Better than wasting a hand with a lamp.”

Plants that made light? I was a little curious about that…

“Uhm, Captain, won’t I turn into a… rather big target if we do that?”

“Sure you will. I thought you were prepared for that.”

“...”

With a grin directed at me, Korwen chuckled and leaned forward.

“No worries, we’ll protect you. Your job is to be the target but your job is not to be the decoy. The worshippers will likely see you. If they are just half as fervent as Yumelia was, they will surely try to come to you. We have to lure them out somehow, after all.”

“I see… Then, I’ll... do my best.”

“I won’t tolerate anything less.”

“...”

Putting the pressure on me now… But I wouldn’t let that get to me now. I knew what I had to do.

“Do you have any of those exploding mana crystals?”

“Nn? I do.”

“Mm. Keep them ready but do not use them without my permission.”

“Nn, understood.”

Considering how dark it would get, I would have to be careful anyway lest I hit a mercenary. And that wouldn’t be great…

“Now then, questions? Any? If not, we’ll move out in an hour. Don’t forget to get a robe. Dismissed.”

With that, Korwen stood up from the table and we all followed suit. Merim and Taddick went off to do their work and Ria, walked up to the Elder, seemingly wanting to ask her something. As for the captain, he actually approached us.

“Yumi, Karen. Can you bring the scouts some food?”

“Nn, sure can do.”

“Good. Try to cheer them up a little. They’ll need it.”

“... We’ll try.”

Since I didn’t really know… Or rather, could barely imagine what they had seen… I wasn’t quite confident I could help them.

“Use your Charm if necessary.”

“Huh? Uhm, are you sure about that, Captain?”

“I am. Or do you rather want them to get traumatised from this experience?”

“No…”

Korwen smiled wryly at us, then promptly patted my head and ruffled my hair for some reason.

“You’re a good kid, you know? So you don’t have to worry. It’s not like you are brainwashing them really, are you? You just help them out a little with some magic and comfort. Just think of it as some mental health treatment.”

Mental health treatment…

“Can I count on you?”

“... Nn. If it’s necessary, I’ll use it.”

“Good.”

His large hand left my head again, only leaving some lingering warmth.

“On another note, are you girls going to be fine? You already heard what expects you but I know I am asking quite a bit. Such a sight is hard on anyone.”

“I… I don’t know… To be honest…”

“...”

“But, I’ll come nonetheless. I made a decision and I don’t want to step back again.”

“I see. Then forget I asked, that was rude of me.”

“It wasn’t rude. Thank you for worrying, Captain.”

Rather, I was happy he worried about us.

“... You really are serious about it, huh.”

“Of course I am.”

“Mhm… Well, guess I’ll raise my expectations then.”

“... Please have mercy.”

“And there you already step back again. Hahaha!”

Korwen laughed loudly at me, believing it was amusing.

“Haaa… Don’t worry, I’ll only expect you to do things I know you can do. Well, it wouldn’t be you if you suddenly became all confident and capable so I guess this fine. Take it one step at a time.”

“Nn, I will.”

“Good. Then, you know what to do. Get those men back on their feets.”

“Nn, understood, Captain.”

A slight smile on the lips, Korwen once more pat my head… and Karen’s as well. And then he left, probably off to do his own work.

Now then, we got a job to do. First, time to get some food.