Chapter of Grim Reality: A Long Night

And another one done…

“Haa…”

With a sigh, I replenished the mana crystals in front of me and began to create another mana grenade… It was utterly boring. Of course, I still continued with it but it didn’t change how boring it was.

And everyone else is busy.

Maybe, because I was rarely alone I never minded things like this all too much. There was usually someone around with whom I could talk, making this kind of work a lot less… bothersome. But right now, Karen was busy helping to reinforce the surrounding rubb… err, buildings. Korwen and Merim were both busy directing the mercenaries and Ria and the other magicians were taking a break.

Oh, but I had finally spotted the Elder. She had vanished at some point and it turned out that she was watching the interrogation of the prisoners. And considering what had happened… Well, if it made her feel better.

But I still got no one to talk with…

“Haa… Oh, oops.”

That mana grenade got a little too much mana, didn’t it? Didn’t want to blow us all to high heavens so I had to return some of the mana.

I wonder how many we even need… Korwen said as many as possible but… I could probably blow up the entire village with this.

Actually, he only told me to make more. He never told me how many I should make. In that case, I’d just make as many as I could until he told me to stop. It wasn’t like anyone else could use them. And the mana wasn’t lost even if they were left unused.

It’s still bothersome…

But not like I had anything else to do… I’d probably be just in the way for any other work. I simply didn’t have the physical strength to help out with most of those tasks. And Korwen apparently had some idea… He did say these were ammunition, didn’t he?

Ammunition, huh… But it didn’t look like he wanted me to throw them, did he? Then… maybe… the crossbows?

Was it possible to tie the stones onto the bolts and shoot them? It... probably was? No, that sounded really unsafe… But I couldn’t think of anything else where it could be used as ammunition… We only had crossbows here. No firearms like the worshippers... 

No, but if we use their rifle… It’s not like they need it anymore, do they?

That was also a possibility. Alas, without Korwen’s confirmation, I had no idea what it could be. He had said nothing about it earlier.

“Haa… Should I ask him?”

He was busy… Even right now, he was directing the mercenaries, freeing up the plaza and piling up rubble on the other main roads.

Well, for now, let’s continue with these… There’s still some time apparently.

Glancing at the forest, I still couldn’t see nor hear anything that would indicate Yumelia’s return. Nothing at all. She was so far away I couldn’t even make out her soul. Then again, it was probably just somewhere in between all those animals and who knows what else roamed that forest.

“And another done…”

Once more, I replenished the pile in front of me with some mana crystals that I got from Karen. Heck, putting all that mana into this one little crystal that was now more like an orb was definitely one of my better ideas so far. Albeit, I had to say… seeing how I had already used up a lot of mana on the tentacle growth as well, it was probably only a matter of time before it was used up.

Too bad I can’t really measure how much mana is still inside… Mhm… I could probably get a feel if I transferred all of it to another mana crystal. Might do that when we are back.

For now, however, I had more pressing matters. Either way, the moment we would return I’d let myself fall into bed and go straight to sleep. Preferably together with Karen. We might have gotten a little bit of sleep at the makeshift camp and some rest here as well, but the exhaustion was still pretty notable.

Just how can these men all be so energetic… They had even less time to rest compared to me, right? And there’s no sign of them being tired…

They were hardy. Seriously. Sure, they were trained for it but it felt honestly a little unfair. Nothing I could do about except to grit my teeth and deal with it. Maybe in the future I’d be able to do this too.

I sure hope so… There’s no way it won’t, right?

Merim would never let us off easy at our training. He was quite spartan in a way… Contrary to his otherwise rather easy-going personality. With training like that, no wonder all the mercenaries were so buff and rough… Then again, it was a life and death matter for them as well.

But… Buff… and rough?

The training was making them all muscle-packed and so on… didn’t it? And we were doing that training as well…  including Karen. Then, would Karen… in the future?

“No… I don’t want that…”

“What do you not want?”

“A buff Karen…”

I wanted to indulge myself in that soft body of hers… if that training… took that away from me…

“I do not believe that will happen, Yumi.”

“... Really?”

“Yes.”

So it wouldn’t? What a relief…

“So, Miss Elder, what do you mean? It won’t happen?”

Stopping my work for a moment, I lifted my head to look at the person who had suddenly appeared next to me.

“Because she has high natural strength already as a manakin.”

“Nn? What does that mean?”

“She’s strong, right?”

“Nn.”

It was quite something watching her helping the mercenaries out there with the rubble… She could easily compete with them in raw strength alone.

“Those with high natural strength rarely ever gain muscles. She’d have to train so much that even Mr Korwen or those elite mercenaries—Dragon Knights, I believe they were called—would look weak like children next to her. And even then, the muscles wouldn’t be prominent… it’s more like… well-toned, I believe.”

“More than the captain… That’d be hard…”

“It would, right? So you shouldn’t worry. At most, she would lose the fat on her body… I guess that would make her less soft.”

So it was doomed after all?!

“Then again… she already is rather thin. I heard the two of you were living in the slums prior to joining the mercenaries, is that true?”

“Nn. The slums of Arkesta. Well, I was only there for a little over a week, though…”

“I see. Considering that, she may actually gain some fat. I doubt the two could eat well in those conditions.”

“Well…”

We only really ate hard bread and jerky there… Sometimes you found something that was a little more edible, especially when those old men were around, that distributed food at times.

“But, Miss Elder, we are getting quite a bit of exercise, so I don’t think she’ll get fat.”

“Ahaha, of course she won’t. But she might fill out a little more in various places, now that she can eat well. And she’s still in her growing phase. Who knows, she might experience a sudden growth spurt. She’s not yet too old for that to happen.”

“...”

A growth spurt… So, Karen could grow taller? Really? No, wait… Didn’t Wanda say that she growed very little over the past few years? But… Mm…

“... I guess, what will, will happen.”

Not like I could influence it. But I liked Karen the way she was. Of course, I’d still like her even if she were to grow but…

“Well, such growth spurts are pretty rare at that age, though. With that said, I do believe other parts of her will fill out a little more with time as she gains a more healthy physique.”

“Hmm…”

Other parts, huh… Those parts… They’d grow? And she’d become softer? That actually… didn’t sound so bad, did it? Maybe I should secretly sneak her some extra food on the plate during dinner.

But more importantly...

“Miss Elder.”

“Yes?”

“Why are we even talking about Sis and her body?”

“If I recall correctly, you didn’t want her to become buff and asked me about it.”

“... Right.”

Yeah, that was totally my fault…

“Ah, need some new ones again…”

And another refill of mana crystals was due…

“Those mana crystals…”

“Nn?”

“Why are you making so many of them?”

“Nn… Well, they can explode if I throw them, yes? So, the captain asked me to make more for the confrontation. I don’t think he wants me to throw them… Maybe I am supposed to shoot them with the crossbow or a firearm but…”

He was still quite busy and it was hard to get there and ask him…

“I see… If you were to tie them to a crossbow bolt, you could shoot them farther than you could throw.”

“Nn, but that’s just what I think he wants… I wanted to ask him when he’s a little less occupied there.”

“Mhm… Do you want me to go and ask for you?”

“Huh?”

I looked up from the work in front of me and looked at the Elder in surprise.

“I don’t have much else to do. And I believe, clearing that up should be important. While I am no expert on those weapons, mana crystals this large might be hard to properly shoot with the bolts. They’d need to be a little smaller and lighter, I think. Even then, the bolt would be unstable and unable to reach far. Not like that matters much with our target.”

“Ohh…”

Now that she mentioned it, that was true. I sure didn’t want to shoot the bolt only for it to land at my feet because the crystal was too heavy. That’d be a fatal mistake. Literally fatal.

“If I could bother you, then…”

“... With pleasure. And… I have to apologise to you.”

“Nn? What for?”

“Because I left without notice.”

“... Oh. That. I don’t mind that.”

It’s not like I couldn’t understand it anyway. Seeing what she had gone through, it was little wonder she wanted to listen to what the captured worshippers had to say. They were the cause of… quite a bit of misfortune for her.

“I think you should mind, though. Well, Mr Merim has scolded me about it already as well.”

“Then, I don’t think there’s anything left for me to say, is there?”

“... I guess so.”

It wasn’t even like I minded it that much… Although, it was probably not good that she just left, now that I spent a little thought on it. But seeing how Merim had already scolded her, then that was fine, wasn’t it?

“... I think I can slowly see why Mr Korwen chose you.”

“... Huh?”

“Nothing. I will go ask him.”

“Ahh…”

What was that supposed to mean?

I could only tilt my head in wonder… She could see why Korwen chose me? That’s what she had said, right? But why? Because I let it go? I wasn’t even upset about it, after all… In fact, I hadn’t even thought about it all that much until she brought it up… I had other things in my mind… Other things than worrying about Karen’s body, of course...

Well, whatever it was… I guess it doesn’t feel so bad when someone approves of you…

There was a part of me that felt a little happy about those words as well.

“Your hands stopped.”

“Wah?!”

“...”

I looked up in surprise to find Korwen standing right in front of me.

“Scarce a moment left out of sight and you begin grinning to yourself while neglecting your work…”

“... I’m sorry.”

Even grinning? I hadn’t noticed at all…

“That was a joke. You only stopped for a few seconds.”

“Oh…”

“The Elder informed me about what you wanted to ask.”

Korwen sat down next to me, watching my hands as I continued to prepare one mana crystal at a time.

“Your thought about the crossbows was right. I was thinking of replacing the tip of the bolts with the mana crystals.”

“The tip… Is that going to be fine?”

“The biggest problem will be actually attaching them. It’s not like you can form them into these tips for the bolts, right?”

He held up a small metal piece, likely taken from a crossbow bolt.

“I don’t think so, no… I never tried to have them take a specific form, though, but…”

“Nevermind it then. Even if you could, you’d need quite some precision to fit them well on the arrows.”

“Nn.”

Yeah, at worst, they could fall off mid flight… And to high heavens we’d go. The more I thought about this, the less I liked this idea as a whole…

“With that in mind, we’ll have Wenners attach them to the bolts with a bit of magic. He already confirmed that it won’t be much work for him.”

“I see… Aren’t they resting right now, though?”

“They are. He’ll do that when they’re back.”

“Nn…”

So, the mana crystals… the mana grenades would be attached to the crossbow bolts in place of the tips…

“So, Captain… You want to shoot the roper with them?”

“If possible, yes.”

“I see...”

“Do you think it’s impossible?”

Impossible? Well… It should be fine, all things considered? I had to admit that it was a bit worrisome but… Frankly said, these were like explosives. Or rather, they were explosives. I had my doubts that many people could stay calm around those. But even then, it shouldn’t be impossible. It was just a matter of shooting them rather than throwing.

“Nn. It’s possible, I think. As long as the bolt is actually shot…”

“... That’s good news. I know I’ve said no experiments, but considering the situation, it would help out quite a bit.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“Well, then we’re gonna do it the conventional way. Hacking it into pieces until we hit the mana crystal.”

“...”

Hacking it into pieces? That thing was monstrous. How did he intend to hack it into pieces?

“Don’t worry. I am not putting all my hope on you succeeding with this. We got a few ways to deal with it.”

“Do we?”

“Of course. In the first place, look there.”

“Nn?”

He pointed at one of the main roads that was already half blocked by rubble.

“Huh? Those men…”

Dozens of mercenaries marched down that road, in our direction.

“We called them over. We still have to lure Yumelia away since they don’t have charms to protect themselves with but they’re invaluable manpower against that roper.”

“I see…”

All the mercenaries that we left at the makeshift camp had come to help. Just like that, our numbers doubled against that roper.

“We’d be pretty pitiful if we couldn’t subjugate one monsters and one woman with two hundred-odd men. Our reputation would be ruined.”

“... I guess so.”

Honestly, he was right… It would be quite pitiful. But these weren’t just a simple woman and a simple monster. It was a magician that could use Charm magic and a giant roper.

“Nn, wait, Captain. Wasn’t the original plan to use me as bait to lure away Yumelia?”

“Yes. It still is.”

“... I can’t split myself. And I don’t think anyone else can use these mana crystals.”

I couldn’t be the bait to lure away Yumelia and shoot the roper with mana grenades. Physically not possible.

“I don’t want you to do both at the same time. First, we’ll lure Yumelia away. After Yumelia is locked in combat with Ria, you will return and shoot the roper. Of course, only if it is necessary to lure Yumelia away.”

“Huh? Why wouldn’t it be necessary?”

“I talked with Merim a little more and it seems likely that Yumelia and the worshippers fought the roper first, before turning it into a pet.”

They fought it? Ah, right… Merim did say he saw several worshipper and roper corpses.

“Yumelia is either alone or only brings back very few worshippers. Either way, they’ll be exhausted and injured. There is still the matter of the magician that fled but Merim and the scouts didn’t encounter him. We still don’t know what happened to him.”

“Nn… I see… And if they are exhausted there might not be a need to fight them?”

“Not quite. We can take other worshippers as captives but Yumelia would be nigh impossible. We don’t know how she uses her magic but we do know she needs very little mana for it.”

In other words, it was too dangerous because she could use her magic and free herself…

“Is that so…”

She was a fanatic but I still exchanged some words with her… It was a little different compared to all these people I never even spoke with. Knowing that she would likely… get killed, was not exactly comfortable.

“Ah, that reminds me, Captain. What about those puppets? What if she can make use of more of those?”

“We didn’t find anything among their supplies that would indicate they had more of those. I am not ruling it out but it’s very unlikely they have more of them.”

“Huh…”

That was good news. I wasn’t an expert on combat but they did give me the impression that they could actually fight. Better than the… more unfortunate worshippers in this village.

“Anyway, I’ll have to get back to direct those guys. I’ll send someone over in regards to the crossbow bolts.”

“Nn, got it.”

“Good. Sorry about that, I should’ve made that clear from the beginning.”

“No problem.”

Not like it would have changed much in the end.

“Well then… Back to work I go.”

Leaving those words behind, Korwen went over to receive the mercenaries that had just arrived.

Well… Back to making more of these…

He said he’d sent someone over but… Who? Or rather, for what exactly? The crossbow bolts… Wenners would attach the crystals so... Wait, who would shoot them? Even if the target was large… I wasn’t so sure if it was a good idea to let me shoot them. But I also had to activate them so… How troublesome.

“Excuse me, Miss Yumi!”

“Nn?”

I turned around, looking for the source of the voice.

“You are…”

“Name’s Bolard, Miss Yumi. Crossbowman, at your service.”

“Ah, I see.”

In front of me stood a lanky mercenary man, saluting with a serious expression. I had seen this man before. He was one of the crossbowmen who had taken those long range shots on Korwen’s order.

“Captain told me ‘bout the task. Wants me to do the shooting. Supposed to help with the preparation, ma’am!”

“O.. Ohh…”

He was really, err, formal… Wasn’t he? I probably would have to get used to this, right? He wouldn’t be the last one calling me with ‘Miss’ or even with ‘Ma’am.’

“Then, err…”

He was still standing there, saluting at me…

“Uhm… At ease?”

“Understood, Miss Yumi.”

Ah, he stopped it. It actually worked.

I probably look like an idiot now to him, don’t I… Ahhh, whatever.

Too late to worry about that. I wasn’t used to this, that much was true. He didn’t show it on his face, at least, that he was bothered by my awkward reaction.

“Uhm, you said you will do the shooting? That means, you’re going to shoot the roper with these?”

“That’s correct, Miss Yumi.”

“Nn… Then, the Captain said that Wenners would attach them later to the crossbow bolts… Well, take a look at them. Do you think you can shoot them?”

I handed him one of the crystals I had finished to look at. He seemed quite curious as he received the crystal from me, looking at it from close up. After staring at it from all sides, he closed his hand to a fist, feeling the crystal and then threw it up into the air a few times.

“A little smaller and lighter would be more appropriate, Miss Yumi. But these should work nonetheless.”

“A little smaller and lighter, you say… Nn…”

That wasn’t a hard problem to solve. It would also reduce the strength, most likely, but it was better than him missing the shot. With that in mind, I made a new mana grenade. Slightly smaller and lighter. I didn’t know how much smaller and lighter, so we’d have to test it out a little.

“Like this?”

After handing him the new crystal, he once more checked it by throwing it up in the air and closing his fist around.

“The weight is fine now. Is this as small as it can get at this size?”

“Nn. Right now, I can’t make it smaller without affecting the weight and the mana inside.”

“I see. Then this will be fine, I assume.”

That was a relief to hear.

“Miss Yumi.”

“Yes?”

“Would it be possible for me to do a test shot?”

“Err… How do you plan to do that?”

Wenners was still resting so we couldn’t attach them to the bolts, after all.

“By taking a shot at one of the wooden buildings. Plenty targets to practise with.”

“Ah, no, I meant, how do you plan to attach the crystal? Wenners is still resting.”

“I got some glue. Should be enough for a few arrows to prepare. As long as the crystals don’t explode, I could take a few shots.”

“They won’t explode, don’t worry. Uhm, in that case, you can practise with them, I guess.”

“Thank you, Miss Yumi.”

I prepared a few more mana grenades for him to attach to his bolts and then sent him on his way. Having him practise a little was likely a good idea. Although, I had my doubts that he could even miss that giant roper, there might be a need for a little more precision at some point.

For example, when they find its mana crystal. A well-placed shot would probably make it a lot easier…

Thinking about it that way, it was little wonder that Korwen wanted to  try this out. The monster was absolutely massive and we needed to either secure or destroy the mana crystal inside it. But just due to its ridiculous size, finding it would be no easy task. And even if we found it, I didn’t know how many methods they even had to deal with it…

Then again, Korwen said he had a number of methods to deal with this situation... 

I was quite curious what those other methods were… I might see them during the fight. In fact, I had only seen a few mercenaries fight with their full might. Mainly during the battle with those spirit trees. Even during that battle, we had quite a few injuries.

The roper… This monster is probably a few times as dangerous…

And yet, Korwen intended to confront it. It didn’t feel to me that it was just about the job and Yumelia. He probably wanted to gain something from this fight. The monster materials? Or… that strange, large crystal that was embedded inside the roper?

I just hope we’ll all get out of this safe and sound…

The mercenaries were hardy but not immortal. Heavy injuries would still kill them.

“Haaa… Nn?”

As I was pondering about the situation, I suddenly heard a distant sound. As if something was… crashing? It couldn’t be… In a slight panic, I focused my gaze towards the forest, fearing the worst.

… Nothing?

I couldn’t see anything that was noteworthy… No giant roper. No Yumelia. Maybe it had been my imaginati—

“Ah. Again.”

The mercenaries around me stopped for a second, turning towards the forest. They had heard it as well… At that moment, I saw the Elder running down the main road in our direction, towards Korwen.

“Mr Korwen!”

“How long do we have left?”

“Around a quarter hour, Mr Korwen.”

The Elder stopped in front of Korwen. They weren’t far from me so I could hear them clearly… A quarter hour, the Elder had said. Converted to my old world’s time, it’d be around half an hour. They had to be quite a distance away if they’d still need that long.

That sound was probably trees crashing down… I guess that noise would travel far.

I was a bit relieved to hear that we still had time. On the other hand, it also meant that it was now inevitable. She was coming here. The confrontation… was guaranteed.

“Wake up Ria, Krutz and Wenners. Everyone with a magic tool against charm magic takes position at the front half. Use the rubble and broken houses as cover. Stay away from the main road. Everyone without the magic tools, take position in the back. On the double! Go!”

Just like always, the mercenaries immediately moved to action, executing the orders.

“Yumi!”

“Nn?! Yes?!” I answered, startled at being called out.

“Take Karen and get your banner up here.”

“Understood.”

He didn’t even spare me another glance as he continued giving out more orders. I stood up from my small workspace, collected the mana crystals and looked for Karen.

“Sis!”

“Yumi. There you are.”

“Nn. Did you hear what the Captain said?”

“I did. Your banner, right?”

“Nn.”

I nodded to her. The two of us quickly fetched the banner and moved to Korwen. There, right next to him, Bollard was already making preparations to shoot his crossbow.

“Captain, we’re here.”

“Yumi. Plant that flag over here.”

“Here… Err, you mean… On top of that?”

“Yes.”

Korwen was pointing at a small pillar and the surrounding wooden rubble. Most likely a collapsed roof or something similar. Due to the rubble, it was pretty easy to climb, at least.

“Uhh… Like this, Captain?”

I straightened my back and held the banner firm in its place.

“Looks good. For now, stay there.”

“... Okay.”

For now…

“Don’t make such a worried expression. The men will see it. And if you look worried, they will get worried too.”

“Nn, got it.”

No worried expression. Standing firm and ready.

“That’s good. Now, let’s see you keeping that up for a while.”

“... Have mercy.”

“There’s no mercy when your life’s on the line.”

“Guess that’s true…”

Having confirmed that I was in position, Korwen returned his attention to other matters. Namely to Ria and the other two magicians who had just come out. He sent Krutz on the other side of the village and had Wenners start with attaching those mana crystals. Things were going fast now…

“Ah, right, Yumi.”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Look out for Yumelia. If you see anything, report immediately.”

“Understood.”

Looking out at the forest, huh…

A weak wind was blowing, pulling the flag along it. I gazed up, watching it flutter in the wind. And behind it, the moon and the stars, shining down on us. This night was a long one… And it hadn’t ended yet.

She’s coming… Soon, she will be here…

Not long and I would meet her—Yumelia—once more.