"No."

"But Sis..."

"No. No, means no."

"..."

My newfound determination was shot down brutally by Karen. There was no mercy to be had. None whatsoever.

"Whether we stay with the mercenaries or not, is one thing. But this, I won't allow."

"..."

Around twenty minutes earlier we were still in a great mood, meeting up with Karen, Lily and Rina. From there on I told Karen and Lily about what Maya wanted to do and what I had decided. Karen was clearly less than pleased. And no matter what I tried to say, she just shot me down immediately.

"I don't know how you even managed to come to that ridiculous conclusion, Yumi, but we're here for a reason. Outside of Lily none of us can even fight properly. That's a fool's errand."

"That's why I said we should prepare and find help..."

"And where do you even want to find help?"

"Uhhh..."

That was a good point. I had no idea who would help us.

"Now, now, Karen. Calm down a little. Want a bite?"

Lily had quickly left the troublesome discussion to me and went off with the others to buy more of the puff pastry we had eaten earlier. The market looked closed now so I was a little impressed that she found those again...

"I do."

The slightly grumpy Karen took a bite from the puff pastry in front of her. Maybe the food would placate her a little.

"Now, Karen, before you bully Yumi too much, shouldn't you let her explain properly first?"

"What else is there to explain? It's dangerous."

"Well, if we stay with the mercenaries it'll be dangerous anyway. Speaking of which, it'll be dangerous regardless of whether we'll stay or not."

"Nn?"

"Eh?"

Karen and I turned to Lily, slightly confused. Lily on the other side didn't really care much and instead took another bite of her pastry. Behind her, I could see the other four eating pastries as well. I wanted one too... Only Karen and I didn't have one... Wait, Karen got a bite from Lily...

"What do you mean it'd be dangerous?"

"Mh... I talked with the people on the market a little but... Many of them have been fearing war with the Akkian Empire for quite a while already. Disregarding what is happening right now, they apparently tried to intimidate the kingdom and even demanded tribute. War threats of course included, should they decide not to comply."

"And I guess they didn't? But that doesn't really change this situation, does it?"

"Well, the Hollow is separating both countries and without the bridge, it's nearly impossible to reach the other side. Usually, that is."

She took another bite, pausing her explanation. Speaking of which, I saw that war monument in that park, something about the... Triside War? I wouldn't want to imagine it but... It might have been a war with the Akkian Empire. And if it was... that meant they had somehow crossed the Hollow...

Wondering didn't really give me an answer so I decided to simply ask Lily about it.

"Lily, I saw something earlier about the... Triside War? Is that name correct? Was that with the Akkian Empire maybe?"

"Mh... Wait a moment."

Lily swallowed her last piece down.

"A little surprised you know of that. Yes, the Triside War was an incredibly long and bloody war from what I heard. Between the Akkian Empire and the Lafrian Kingdom, the Kingdom of Aldreigh and the former Northerland. Some kind of religious dispute. Anyway, point is, the Akkians somehow managed to get over the Hollow and attack. Not close to the capital, where the Hollow is the widest but still."

"Somehow?"

"Somehow."

Lily shrugged her shoulders at my question. Usually, she always knew quite a lot of details, thanks to her good memory, so I was a little stumped at this rather inaccurate description. She smiled wryly, maybe having guessed my thoughts.

"You see, the Northerlands... It's the place of origin for the Black Guards."

"... Oh."

"So, they usually avoided talking about it. And I avoided asking. I don't know a lot about that war, only some of the basic stuff."

So it was like that... Then, the Northerlands were occupied during the war with the Akkian Empire? But... It must have been hard on the Black Guards... If I were them, I wouldn't even consider taking a job in that country...

Maybe that was why they were so willing to throw that job, though.

"Eh, I feel bad for interrupting, but what exactly does that have to do with it becoming dangerous, Lily," asked Karen.

"Ah, right. Right, I wanted to talk about that. Basically, since we're pretty sure that the Akkian Empire is out for war... This place isn't safe just because the Bridge didn't fall. If they can cross the Hollow some other way, they can, and surely will, try to attack the capital."

"..."

"Those are also the worries of many living here, and with the recent aggressions by the Empire... Not to mention, if I'm honest, the Bridge is a place that's easy to defend but..."

Lily paused, taking a deep breath.

"Honestly, I share Maya's worries... If all of this is planned by the Empire, then there's a good chance they have some idea to take over the bridge... They aren't stupid. They won the Triside War, after all."

"Wait, they won?"

I was dumbfounded. I hadn't exactly expected that they would easily give up or anything, but... That they had won? Against three other nations? That was close to unbelievable.

Lily nodded and sighed.

"I only heard a little but they did win. I didn't try asking for more details, everyone seemed really on edge when I asked."

"Then... you think they are in actual danger?" asked Karen, visibly worried.

Lily nodded once more.

"Fairly sure. This might be a lot worse than I expected as well. I thought it would be at most a skirmish, but... Chances are good they are trying to seize the opportunity and occupy the Lafrian Kingdom as a whole. The Kingdom of Aldreigh is occupied with internal struggles, after all."

"..."

Karen rubbed her temples, lost in thought.

"Sis?"

"Give me a minute!"

She continued rubbing her temples, making a troubled expression.

"Uhh... What to do... Ha..."

"Like I said, Karen. Regardless of what we're going to do, it'll be dangerous. The only safe option would be completely fleeing the Lafrian Kingdom and leaving everything behind."

Karen stopped at those words.

"You know I can't suggest that, Lily..."

She glanced at me, then at the younger girls.

"Haa... I give up. Let's see what we can do, okay? But! Safety first! Are we clear on that?"

"Nn."

I nodded.

And like that, we somehow managed to convince Karen. Or rather, Lily did.

----------------------------------------

"Well then, since we decided to help them, and I'll just assume that we're subsequently going to stay with the mercenaries, we should first decide what we'll do exactly."

"Well, Lily... Yumi and the girls suggested looking for help, but who exactly could even help?"

Karen furrowed her brows, staring at the pastry in her hands.

"That's a good question. Frankly, the options are really limited. There aren't even remotely as many mercenaries at this place as there were in Arkesta. You'll at most find a few solo mercenaries. Nonetheless, I'd say we should look out for a few of those, at least."

"But, if mercenaries aren't an option then... Who is?"

Lily grinned in response to Karen's repeated question.

"First! The Black Guards most likely will help out as well. I mean, they technically belong to the Dragon Knights now anyway. Then, there are three other options I have in mind. First, Yumi got that letter of introduction to the Academy. We can use that to ask them for support, hopefully. Second! The Military School."

"The Military School?"

I tilted my head. I remember someone mentioning that school before but... What was it again?

"The Military School tends to work with the Academy and they got a lot of information regarding the Akkian Empire. They also know a lot about military tactics, magic, combat and so on and so on. In addition, they probably also know about various craftsmen."

"Craftsmen? Why are those necessary now?"

"Because I don't want either you or Yumi running around in those flimsy clothes."

Ah, well... These clothes surely weren't the best for protection, that was true.

"I want you two to have at least a little bit of protection. Some cheap leather armour would already be better than that."

"Nn, leather armour? Wouldn't the Black Guards have some? I'm fairly certain I saw some when we went through the supplies."

"... Yes, there are. Twice your size."

"Ah."

Right. I was a veritable midget. Sure enough, I had only seen equipment suitable for adult men. And those had been the Dragon Knight's supplies, who still had a few women as mercenaries. The Black Guards were all burly men...

"I don't know if we can even find something for you, Yumi, but we should be able to find something for Karen at least. And..."

Lily turned around, facing the other four girls right behind her.

"Maya, do you guys have any kind of armour for yourselves?"

"Each of us has a leather breastplate."

"That's great. And now you're probably telling me those are in the fort?"

"No, they are among our belongings."

"Oh?"

Lily raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Do you also have some kind of weapons? Or rather, did you train with anything?"

"Ehh, we all practised with crossbows and those. Ah, Emily can also use a sling. We don't have any of our own, though."

"I see."

Lily turned back around and stared at the ground for a short while.

"Mh... The Black Guards should have crossbows around. Pistols are... I don't know if they have any. Whatever the case, that means my main worry is you two. Although, Karen could probably just throw whatever heavy object is close-by."

"Lily, what kind of brute do you think I am..."

"Someone who has enough strength to punch a dent into a metal plate with her bare fist."

"Maybe I should try it on you then."

"Please don't. I'm sorry."

Lily quickly raised her hands in surrender. If she didn't want to get punched she probably shouldn't say such things in the first place...

With a sigh, Karen lowered her fist that she had raised in a threatening manner.

"Eh... How about we go and check with the Black Guards for now? They might have ideas themselves on what to do," suggested Lily, obviously trying to change the topic quickly.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Karen shot her an unamused glance, then sighed once more.

"Let's do that..."

She turned around and walked off.

"Ah, Karen. Wait!"

Lily quickly dashed after her. The other girls hadn't noticed yet that we were moving, engrossed in some discussion among themselves, so I walked over to them.

"We're going to the Black Guards."

"Mh? Oh, Yumi! So, we're going to help after all?" asked Emily.

"Nn, we are."

Hadn't she noticed that we were talking about exactly that? I doubted she had already forgotten.

"Emily... I just told you we were."

"But, I wanted to make sure!"

"..."

Maya, a little miffed about how Emily disregarded her word, scowled. She seemed even more displeased that Sele nodded at Emily's comment. I felt a little bad for her.

"Lil' Sis."

"Nn?"

Rina walked over to me and then suddenly hugged me.

"Rina?"

She didn't answer and only held me firmly in her embrace. After a short moment, she finally let me go, smiling from ear to ear.

Then she turned around and followed Karen and Lily, who were already a little further, waiting for us.

The heck was that about?

Maya and the girls also just stared at Rina, clearly confused as well.

"Ehh... Okay. Whatever, let's... Let's go..."

The three girls nodded awkwardly and we set off.

----------------------------------------

"To think there was such a long line to leave the city..."

"There really were many, huh."

"Nn."

Returning to the gate didn't take long, but getting through was a completely different matter. Completely different from when we arrived, the gate was completely crowded. Dozens of people stood in line, most of them with travelling gear. And the most concerning part? Mostly entire families.

Lily stared at the line that was now behind us.

"I did hear about that there were several people that were considering to... relocate. But this is... pretty extreme."

"Word spreads fast... It seems. The people behind us were talking about how the Hollow is being sieged or so," commented Karen.

"Rumors, huh? It's been barely half a day since we left, there's no way that word could have spread so fast of that. There wasn't any siege after all when we left."

Did rumours really spread that quickly? Scary. I would've understood if people were talking about the events we had seen, the group we left with was pretty large after all and there were bound to be some blabbermouths. But... Maybe it had just escalated?

"Mh? Lily, isn't that where the Black Guards were camping?"

Karen pointed at a spot a little away, where a large number of wagons were standing.

"Yes, that should be the spot but... Why are there soldiers?"

"Nn... Maybe something happened?"

"Let's take a look."

"Nn."

A dozen or so soldiers were standing close to the wagons and talking with someone.

Approaching, we noticed that it was Greyward, the Black Guards' captain, they were talking with.

"I'm really sorry, Mr Greyward, but we cannot spare any supplies."

"So your men should keep suffering? At least spare one healer or a priest, for all I care."

"Those men are not my men, they are Sir Ruben's men."

"Gah, what does that matter?! Aren't they your kin? Your countrymen?"

"I do not see how that is relevant, Mr Greyward. Now then, I don't think we have anything else to discuss. If you will excuse me."

The soldier that was talking with Greyward bowed and then turned around, leaving him alone. They passed by us, albeit not sparing us a single glance.

Greyward stood there, threw up his arms in the air and let out some rather stupid-sounding, frustrated shout.

"Gah! Soulless mongrels! Go and suffocate on your shit for all I fucking care!"

We froze on the spot, a little away from him. I glanced back to the soldiers that had passed us but they seemed to not care in the slightest. They didn't even so much as glance at Greyward for the insult.

"Man, I feel better now. They can go drown in a ditch... Haa..."

Maybe it wasn't all that good to approach him right now. Ignoring my worries, Lily still approached him.

"Uhm, Papa? Is now... a bad time?"

"Mh? Oh, Lily... Sorry, did you see that?"

"Mh... What happened?"

"Haa... I tried asking for someone to care for the soldiers we brought along. But they decided to just dump it all on us and ignore them... Freaking heartless bas—... Sorry, I hate people like that."

He rubbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

"Anyway, come in. We just finished setting up camp. Or well, at least the more necessary parts..."

He motioned us in and led us into the makeshift camp. He walked over to a long table they had set up and sat down, letting out another, very long sigh.

With Lily taking the lead we also sat down on the opposite side of the table.

"So, I guess you girls came here for a reason right? Did you decide what you are going to do from now on?"

"We did. We'll stay with the mercenaries."

"I see. Guess I won the bet. Ha, for once I would've liked to lose."

"... Wait, you bet on it?"

"We did."

He grinned at Lily's question, completely ignoring her expression full of disbelief.

"Now, only for a week's pay, don't worry."

"That's not what I'm worried about... Don't you think it's a little rude to bet on that?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"We need a little enjoyment on the side too. Let us have that little bit of fun."

"..."

"More importantly..."

He glanced over to Karen and me, then back to Lily.

"Why are you here right now? Even if you decided to stay, you could've just gone and enjoyed the city for a little."

"That's..."

Lily seemed a little troubled by the question, then she took a deep breath and briefly explained our plans.

Greyward leaned back and crossed his arms in front of him.

"Helping them, huh? I'd like to say you shouldn't but..."

"But?"

"... Already the original plan was to return to the fort once we escorted everyone here."

"Eh?"

They were already planning to return to the fort? That was the first I had heard about this.

"Korwen told us to keep it from you girls for now. He wanted you all to decide on your future in peace."

"The Captain did? But... It was Fenna who told us to think of our future..." I asked, a little confused.

Greyward grinned meaningfully at me.

"Well, just ask him yourself. I'll only say this much for now..."

His expression hardened.

"There's a difference between someone who chooses to become a mercenary out of their own will and someone who was forced to do so."

"Eh? Wait, you mean..."

"I won't say anything else."

His expression softened again. But, if those words were real... Was Korwen testing us?

"There are a few reasons for all of this. Let's see... One is a major restructuring for the Dragon Knights."

"Major... restructuring?" asked Karen.

Greyward nodded in response to her question.

"There are some inefficiencies and... problems. When I met him a few years ago he had already been playing with the idea of this, but after the trouble at Arkesta and us joining, he wanted to finally go through with it."

Greyward waved another mercenary over and told him to bring something to drink. The soldier saluted and promptly left.

"The Lomerian Dragon Knights have existed for a long time, way longer than the Black Guards. Just like with us, their original country doesn't exist anymore. The Earldom of Lomeria perished some hundred years ago or so. Since then, their group has been steadily growing. Growing fat, how he phrased it. At this point, they are only rolling over most jobs with their pure weight."

The soldier came back, together with two others. They brought a barrel and a small crate with mugs. They placed the barrel next to the table, opened the lid and left the mugs on the table, before excusing themselves. Greyward took a mug and literally dumped it into the barrel, scooping up whatever was inside.

"Feel free to take some too. Ah, but the little ones should be careful, it's strong alcohol."

There probably wasn't any form of minimum drinking age but...

I glanced over and saw them vehemently shaking their heads.

"It burns," commented Maya, accompanied by Emily's and Sele's wild nods.

Greyward laughed heartily at that display.

In the meantime, Lily had already prepared two mugs and shoved one of them to me, before asking Karen and Rina if they wanted some too. Karen refused, while Rina wanted to try it. So in the end, only three of us took him up on the offer. Albeit I wasn't even asked whether I wanted. I did want to, though.

I took a small sip. It was a very fruity but slightly burning sensation. I quite liked this.

"Now, where did I stop, huh..."

"That the Dragon Knights were growing fat."

"Now, that's pretty rude, my dear Lily. But yes, I stopped there."

He stared at his mug for a few seconds.

"The Dragon Knights are over eight hundred people. Only half of those are actually combatants. In a way it's a necessary evil, on the other side it comes with many other troubles. Did you hear that they started causing a ruckus overnight with the patrol soldiers?"

"If it's the one I'm thinking of... That was right in front of us. Although I don't know what it was about," Lily told him.

"Oh, was that so. Well, that woman was just, how to say it, unsatisfied with her treatment by the soldiers."

"... What? Could you repeat that?"

Lily failed to process those words.

"She was unsatisfied with the treatment. Something along the lines of... What was it again... Oh right, about her sleep being disturbed so rudely. Or beauty sleep? No idea, don't want to know either..."

Greyward shook his head and laughed dryly.

"I had heard about them but... I thought my eyes would pop out when I got the report. It's ridiculous."

He took a hearty sip from his mug before hammering it onto the table.

"At this rate, they will cause problems. So Korwen wants to get rid of everyone who is a troublesome element. Not everyone from those families is as annoying as that woman, but there are too many who are. Discrimination. Vainglory. Those are troublesome for a mercenary band."

"So... He wants to cut off the families?"

"Not quite. I don't know the details either, but I think he got something planned."

I took another sip from the beverage, allowing the fruity flavour to spread in my mouth. It was like a pretty strong fruit juice. Although, you could really taste that it was strong alcohol and not a simple fruit juice.

"At least, Korwen plans to cut down on everyone unnecessary, unsuitable and unwilling. He asked for our cooperation with this since the Black Guards as a whole aren't as deeply involved in this. And..."

He glanced at us and grinned.

"It'll become interesting how it'll end up. But that all comes after the current situation."

His expression hardened once more.

"We plan to leave tomorrow evening again. Until then, we have to round up as much help as we can and get as much preparation done as we can."

"What about the Academy and the military school?"

Lily brought up the idea from earlier.

"The Academy is likely to help us out but we can't expect too much. They don't care too much about the country itself, as long as they can do their research. There are a few rather... patriotic ones among them, but they are more trouble than worth it, from my experience. The military school can also help us at most with some supplies and intelligence."

"And the army?"

"..."

Greyward paused then looked past us, towards the city.

"You saw it just now, didn't you? They don't care. Unless you bring it up with their superiors or even with the King himself, they won't move. And the only one who would even be able to get an audience would be Korwen himself."

"Then... What do we do?"

"Round up as many solitary mercenaries and whoever else we can find. It's not even remotely the best idea but that's all us lowly mercenaries can do."

He laughed in self-mockery.

"Really, their country is close to being attacked, but the army doesn't even care. Well, I'll still try whether I can get someone higher up from the army to listen. The more important part is, what do you girls want to do?"

"Well..."

Lily glanced to her side, over to us.

"I think we could go to the Academy? Yumi got that letter from Mr Captain after all," suggested Karen."

"Letter? Ah, you shouldn't use that letter."

"Huh?"

Greyward interrupted us quickly.

"That letter was for the case you girls wouldn't stay, right? It probably contains some information about you girls, but there might be things you don't want them to know otherwise."

"Things like what?"

I tilted my head. There wasn't really much... information... Oh.

"Nevermind."

"Figured it out?"

"Nn."

Information about me was bad. And about Emily probably too.

"But... then what do we do?" asked Karen."

"Well, I already planned to send someone to the Academy, so if you could go there, Lily, that'd be convenient. I'll write a new letter for that."

"Me? Well... I don't mind."

"Good. I already sent someone to the military school, so that's not an issue either."

So Lily would go over to the Academy?

"Ah, Papa. We wanted to actually look for some equipment for them. I had considered asking at the military school if they know about craftsmen but..."

"Lily, there's no way in hell there'd be enough time for that. And anyway, we got a smith and a tanner, they can fix them up something useable."

"Oh, right. They were around too."

"Yes, leave that to me. Now get going."

"But I need the letter."

Greyward paused and then pulled up a small bag hanging from his belt. He took out a pen and some paper and rather hurriedly wrote a letter. He barely wrote three or four sentences, then folded the letter, put it in an envelope, wrote something on the envelope and handed it to Lily. The whole thing barely took more than two minutes.

"Now you can go."

"... Okay."

With a slightly complicated expression, Lily received the letter, waved to us and left. Was this really going to be fine?

"About you six now... Let's see."

Greyward turned to us and thought for a little.

"Mh, I think I still have an old leather armour from Lily, we can probably fix that one quickly for you, Miss Yumi."

"Nn?"

An old armour from Lily? Well, if it would fit, why not.

"We might be able to manage one of the more recent ones to fit Miss Karen but... Since she's a little taller... We'll have to ask what we can do."

"I understand, thank you."

"For the others, I don't think we can fix anything up quickly."

"Ah, we have a breastplate!"

Maya quickly told him.

"Oh? Then, that's, but you should still let us take a look. You're still growing so it's better to check over."

"Oh, ohhh..."

"That leaves..."

Greyward looked at Rina who just tilted her head in response.

"... I'll try to see if we can scramble something together."

"Okay."

Greyward nodded, and then he emptied his mug in one go.

"Then, I'll tell you where the tanner is. Miss Yumi, you come with me, I'll have to take a look around for the armour first."

"Nn, got it."

I also quickly drank up the remaining alcohol in my mug. I should ask what this exactly was later. It was delicious.

Greyward directed Karen and the girls to the tanner or armourer or whatever else this person was supposedly doing while bringing me elsewhere, to look for that armour.

----------------------------------------

"Miss Yumi."

"Nn?"

"There's something I'd like to talk about."

At a more deserted spot, Greyward suddenly stopped and glanced at me from over his shoulder. His rather friendly, nearly fatherly atmosphere was gone, replaced with an oppressive, angry stare, directed straight at me. The sudden glare made shivers run down my spine.

"What relation do you have with the witch?"