"Ms Wanda, what do you mean, monster attack?!"

The woman next to me sprung up and questioned Wanda, half-shouting out of agitation.

"Exactly what I just said, some monsters are trying to storm the camp."

"But why?"

"How should I know? Ask them yourself. Just get ready."

Wanda was flustered, maybe because it was in the middle of the night where people were usually sleeping.

She turned towards me and Lily.

"You two, get the girly awake and then evacuate the girls here. To the central tent. You will probably get some help soon. Once you are done you three should look for either Merim or Korwen. And you idiots are going with me, clear?"

""""Yes!""""

"Got it."

"Nn."

The women's squad swiftly gathered their gear and followed Wanda away, leaving me and Lily.

"You hurry and wake Karen up, I'll carry the girls out."

"Nn."

Lily walked over to the makeshift beds and scooped up two girls in her arms. Impressive strength as always.

Walking over to Karen I was again met with the sight of those two sisters hugging each other in their sleep. It hurt my heart to wake up Karen, but there was no time for sentimentalities. I squatted down and shook her.

"Sis! Sis! Wake up!"

It was quite astonishing she was still asleep with the loud bell making such a noise. I continued shaking her, but she didn't budge. Her peaceful sleeping face belied the urgency of the situation.

"Sis! If you don't wake up, I'll get angry! Really angry!"

Slightly stumped at the futility of my attempts, I decided to take more drastic measures.

"I'll apologise later, so just bear with it."

I leaned over Karen.

And covered her mouth and closed off her nose. It took only a few seconds before she started struggling and a few more until her eyes shot open. I hastily removed my hands and Karen gasped for air. Breathing heavily she shot up and looked around to find the culprit, namely me.

"Ha... Haaa... Yumi... Why... Ha..."

"The alarm is ringing and you wouldn't wake up. Sorry, it was the only thing I could think of."

It worked well but I surely didn't want to wake up like that either. Karen caught her breath and slowly let go of Miria, sitting upright and looking around confused.

"What is happening?"

"No idea, Wanda said there were monsters attacking."

"Monster? Not people, but monsters?"

"Nn."

"How strange. Can monsters even attack in an organised manner?"

"I don't know, but Wanda told us to get everyone here to the central tent. Lily is already carrying some of the girls away."

"I see."

Karen stood up and stretched herself. She still seemed tired but her expression was a bit sharper than before.

"That bell is really loud..."

"Nn. Probably to wake up everyone."

Even though some people here were just sleeping through the noise anyways.

"Oh, Karen, you're awake already, great."

At that moment, Lily returned, accompanied by three more women. I could recognize one of them, it was Korwen's wife. She greeted me with a warm smile.

"Yumi, go look for Merim or Korwen and see if you can help somewhere."

"Don't you need me here?"

"If you can carry the girls by yourself, you're welcome to help anytime."

"..."

Point taken. Most of these girls were taller than I was, and with my lack of strength, there was no realistic way I could carry them.

"Just be careful on your way there. Don't get too close to the gates or the walls. It seems the monsters are similar to that ogre we met on our way back."

"Similar to that thing...?"

A shudder ran down my back. Just one was already sufficiently terrifying, and a whole horde of them sounded nothing but disastrous.

"Yeah. And I'm sure you don't want to repeat your flying experience, right?"

"Nn. I'll be really careful."

I didn't even want to remember that happening. That I figured out how to move my hair was a nice side-effect but it would have been so much better if the ogre hadn't kicked me for that.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see Karen scowling.

"I would prefer if she would come along with us, Lily. Isn't it really dangerous, right now?"

"Mh... It is, and it's not like I can't understand that you want to keep her with you but..."

Lily glanced at Korwen's wife.

"It was a request of my husband for her to come. I made sure to tell him he shouldn't put her in danger, so I'm sure he won't."

Somehow, those words were oddly reassuring. Likely because we witnessed her reprimanding her husband. Still, they didn't quite convince Karen.

"But, why does he want Yumi there?"

"I don't know. Ah, but my husband also told me that, once you all were done, you should look for either him or Merim."

"Is that so..."

In the distance, we could hear something breaking or collapsing, most likely either the wooden palisade or a tent. Lily quickly walked over to the sleeping girls and picked up two of them.

"We can argue all day but we don't have time. Karen, Yumi will be fine, she's not a little kid, right?"

"Mh... Well..."

Karen still seemed reluctant to accept it. And thanks to my petite appearance and Lily's statement, quitea few curious glances were towards me. Still, I certainly was an adult, right?

Recently, I feel like I'm trying to tell myself so often that I'm an adult, but children are always trying to pretend to be adults, too. I most likely just look like a child pretending... How depressing.

"Whatever, Yumi, go to Korwen. I will deal with this."

"... Nn, okay. Take care of Sis."

"I will! She won't want to leave my side once you're back!"

"That won't happen. Sis is my Sis."

"Soon I'll be your Sis too! Your Sis-in-law!"

Karen was already holding her temple. Getting her sleep cut short and then having to hear Lily's nonsense must have been quite a pain.

"Sis, don't get tempted by that lewd woman."

"Who are you calling a lewd woman?! I don't think I've ever done anything lewd?!"

"I'll be careful, Yumi. I promise. You be careful as well."

"Nn."

Ignoring Lily's protest I left the tent.

Despite the extremely late hour nearly everyone was awake and running about. This area was still in the women-only part of the camp and yet there were quite a lot of men here trying to organise the evacuation. I approached one of the soldiers and asked where Korwen and Merim were.

After getting the directions I hurried along. As expected, the closer I got to them the louder the noise of roaring monsters and shouting mercenaries became. I walked a while in the direction of the entrance to the camp until I could see Korwen giving orders to the soldiers.

"Mh? Yumi, you're here already."

"Nn. I heard I should come here."

"Just wait a moment."

He turned away from me and continued giving orders to a soldier who promptly saluted and dashed away.

"Well then, Yumi, can you read?"

"... I can't."

"Well... That is a bit unexpected."

Why did everyone think I could read? From what I saw the literacy rate was quite low. I did want to learn it once everything calmed down though.

"Guess you need to improvise."

"Improvise what."

"You will see. Come with me."

"Nn?"

I had a bad feeling about this. Whatever would require me to read at a time like this?

Following Korwen we approached the front. We passed by soldiers carrying the wounded away and others taking a rest from the battle. There were also a few ogre corpses lying around. They clearly were the same kind as the one we encountered earlier. Dark blue skin and shoddy equipment, but equipment nonetheless. Dead as they were, their ferocity couldn't be felt anymore, yet they still looked impressive.

"So, Korwen, what do you want me to do?"

"Patience, Yumi, patience. I won't make you do something dangerous, don't worry. Mh? These guys are still here?"

I followed Korwen's gaze to the side and saw a few knights clad in white armour circling around an unconscious man.

"The church? They didn't leave yet?"

"Don't worry, they are busy tending to the idiotic bishop. Really, to go down just because of a little punch. He should train a bit more."

"Korwen... did you punch him unconscious?"

"No, not me. My wife did."

"..."

"He was making a ruckus so she got angry and punched him square in the face. Well, at least he was finally quiet afterwards. Even his own knights seemed relieved that he shut his mouth."

His wife must have been the true leader of these mercenaries, without a doubt. Who else would have the guts to just punch a church official, who seemingly held more than just a bit of authority?

"Well, let's ignore them. They can defend themselves. And the church is kind of responsible for this, anyway."

"They are responsible for this?"

"They are most likely. We know that they have connections to the responsible noble and those criminals. That noble can't be found right now so in the worst case the church has to take all the blame. Of course, they want to prevent that, but even they cannot cover up such a large incident anymore. If the emperor decides to investigate they may dig up a lot of uncomfortable things. And if the lord is missing they definitely will come to investigate."

"But why would that make them responsible for these monsters?"

"Don't you think it's unnatural that monsters appear in the middle of the slums?"

"Well, I do."

"I suspect they are also a product of their monster research. And somehow they got loose."

"You mean... They created these things?"

"It's just guesswork but I am fairly sure that is the case. They might have freed themselves during the tremors earlier or they were intentionally released. We probably won't get to know."

Korwen shrugged his shoulders.

"The only saving grace is, that there's a good chance we can make a tidy profit. Not even the emperor wants to agitate the church too much, so they will most likely try to bribe us. We might make even more if we support them in their investigation. With some luck, we could even acquire some of the rare magic metals that are sold exclusively to the empire's army. The options are great."

"Haa..."

Korwen's grin grew wider and wider at the prospect of profit. Rather than a mercenary, he seemed more like a wicked merchant right now.

"I'm looking forward to how it plays out, but for now we have to resolve our present situation. I don't want to lose men because of the stupid church."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"There seem to be quite a few injured already though."

"As long as they are just injured we can get them right back to their feet in time. The problems are the really severe injuries and those that die instantly. So far I haven't had any reports of those but I want to make sure it stays that way."

He stroked his chin and then turned to me.

"What magic could you use again? Life magic?"

"Nn... Rather than use, that's apparently the attributes I can use well. Life, Soul... and Lust..."

I muttered the last part quietly, hoping he wouldn't hear it, but the grin I could see forming dashed my hopes rather quickly.

"Well, that is fine, isn't it? In any case, can you heal wounds with that magic?"

"Healing wounds? I don't know."

"Mh... Well, you can try it later. We have a severe lack of people able to treat the wounded. And the soldiers will be even happier if a cute girl heals them in the future, so do your best."

"Don't treat us as if we already agreed to stay."

"Oh? Mh... Is that so? Well, in any case, we're here."

We arrived at a place close to the walls, many soldiers were running around, forming lines and holding spears, carrying the wounded and treating them. There were quite a few ogre corpses piled up on the side. In the middle of all this, I could make out Merim, covered in blackish-red blood. He was desperately trying to clean it off with a rug.

"Merim, what happened to you... Oh geez, you stink."

"Captain! I'm not like this because I like it... Some idiot cut the neck of one of these things and covered me in its blood. "

I pinched my nose at the incredibly disgusting smell coming from the poor man. It was a truly indescribable smell as if the smell of blood mixed with the smell of rotten eggs intensified many times over.

"Seriously, you are disturbing everyone here, go and take a bath."

"But Captain, there's still work to be done."

"Then do it somewhere where there's nobody around."

"... That is impossible, sir."

"Then make it possible, or get rid of this smell. I can't have my men vomiting in the middle of a battle because they caught a sniff of you."

"That sounds like I always stink."

Merim, clearly displeased, took off his breastplate and the arm and leg protectors.

"I actually quite liked these. Do we have any spare equipment here."

"Aren't you the one in charge here?"

"I think with your arrival, sir, you would be in charge now?"

"Don't try to shirk responsibilities and find something yourself."

"Understood, sir."

And then he dashed away.

"Wait, did this bastard just leave me here? This damn... I guess regular guard duty wasn't enough as punishment."

"So, he wasn't just a regular guard after all?"

"What? No, of course, he isn't."

"Then what is he? He told me he was just a guard..."

"... He's the goddamn vice-captain. My second-in-command."

"..."

Well, that was certainly not the position I expected. I thought he had a significantly higher one but not this high. But that explained why he was always in charge when Korwen wasn't there. And also why Korwen would leave even his own paperwork with him. Alas, seeing how Korwen dumped his own work on Merim earlier, I could slightly understand why he wanted to do the same in return.

"He could have at least taken this shit away."

Grumbling, Korwen called for an unfortunate mercenary and ordered him to... remove the blood-stained equipment out of sight. The man was clearly not happy about that, but he couldn't go against his captain's orders. With tears in his eyes, he began carrying the stuff out of sight.

Korwen walked away from the stinking pile so I followed him quickly. Thankfully, while the smell was close to unbearable, there was nearly no wind right now. Just distancing ourselves a little bit made the smell already a lot more bearable.

"Now, where the heck are those girls."

"Those girls?"

"Your little friends. Ah, there they are."

Korwen apparently spotted whoever he was looking for but even when I looked in that direction, I didn't even know what I was looking for.

It didn't take long until I knew who he was talking about. A small silhouette started dashing in our direction. Or rather my direction.

"Yumi!!!"

"Woah?!

With astonishing momentum a girl jumped at me, causing us both to fall backwards.

"Yumi! You're back!"

"Emily... You're... suffocating me..."

The girl, Emily, latched onto me and hugged me so strongly, that I had trouble breathing.

"Ahh! Sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Haa... Haa... It's fine..."

It must have been divine retribution for earlier.

"But, why are you here, Emily? And are Maya and Sele here as well?"

"They are! We're helping out with treating everyone!"

With a smile bright like the sun she told me.

"Huh..."

I turned towards Korwen who was laughing heartily.

"Do you want me to help them?"

"Mh... That too, but I also want you to do something else."

I freed myself from Emily's embrace and stood up. In the meantime, Maya and Sele had noticed that Emily was missing and came rushing over here as well.

Please don't jump at me while running. Once is enough!

Thankfully, my fear turned out to be baseless as they both slowed down upon approaching us.

"Yumi! You returned!"

Maya greeted me happily.

"Nn. I have."

"Welcome... back..."

"Thank you, Sele."

A smile naturally formed on my face. Having someone welcome you back was a surprisingly happy feeling.

"Mm? Yumi, Yumi! Did your hair grow longer?"

"..."

Emily, did you have to remind me of this right now? I was just enjoying this comfortable feeling.

"Maya! Sele, look! Her hair is like, super long now!"

"Wasn't it long before already?"

"But it's even longer now! Look!"

Emily lifted my hair that was dragging on the ground. I could immediately feel how the weight on my head was diminishing.

"You're right. Yumi, does your hair always grow this fast?"

"... It's not supposed to, no."

"Mm? This feels nice!"

Emily started rubbing her cheek against the bundle that was my hair, her face melting into a sloppy expression. I had the urge to tease her a bit.

"Huh? Ohhh! It's moving!"

And so, against my better judgement, I wrapped Emily up to surprise her, except she was only curious and enjoyed the sensation of being surrounded by my hair. She looked a bit like someone tied her up in a pink rope. With her blissful expression, one might misunderstand her... hobbies.

"This is great! It feels really fluffy somehow!"

Maya and Sele, stares filled with jealousy, were patting all over my hair now as well. In the meantime, at least one person was decently surprised.

"So you can move your hair too and not just dolls? You're becoming more and more mysterious," murmured Korwen, stroking his chin.

"Nn."

"Is that also why it's been growing?"

"Nn..."

Korwen approached Emily and stretched his hand towards my hair.

Slap!

"You can't just touch a girls' hair, Uncle!"

"That's inappropriate."

"... Bad..."

"You girls... You're really hurting my heart, you know."

Crestfallen, he retracted his hand that got slapped. I could only regard him with a wry smile. I didn't really mind but it was probably a bad idea to say that now.

"Oh well, one day, surely. Anyway, I need you four, we have to pump up the men a bit."

"Pump up?"

Did he want to increase the morale of everyone? But why would he need us for that?

The three girls cocked their heads to the side, just as confused as I was.

"Just come with me, and think of a few encouraging words, yes?"

"Korwen... What are you trying to make us do."

"Nothing much, I just want to try something. I had a nice idea when I was reading that book to you all."

"Nice idea?"

"Yes. Why was the knight so motivated? It's simple! Because there was a cute girl waiting and cheering for him!"

"Korwen, you..."

"Hey, morale is important, you know? And if they are fired up, even better."

"Wouldn't it be better to have some of the older girls do that, though?"

"No... Well... They refused me."

"And we don't have that option?"

"No."

"..."

We arrived at a pedestal, large enough for a few people to stand on it at the same time.

"Now, now. Just get up and say a few words. I'll draw their attention."

Emily seemed surprisingly interested and dragged me along, up to the pedestal. She was still wrapped in my hair, so maybe it was natural I would get dragged by her, so I released her. She looked a bit disappointed but didn't complain. What a good girl. I thought so for a moment.

"This seems interesting, doesn't it, Yumi? I hope they will be happy!"

Emily, stop! Your bright smile makes me feel incredibly guilty that I even entertained the thought of refusing. It makes me even more embarrassed!

"Emily, calm down."

"... Too... Energetic..."

Even Maya and Sele were stumped. They probably weren't quite sure what to think of this turn of events either, but they didn't seem to be entirely disinterested.

"Girls, just say some nice things, like 'Do your best!' or 'Take care!'. That'll be enough. If it just motivates them enough to come back safe, that's good."

"Even if you say that..."

Without waiting for our reply Korwen turned around and took a deep breath.

"Hey! You bastards, listen here!"

All the soldiers turned towards us, glaring. At Korwen. They clearly weren't amused at being disrupted right now, but they still stood at attention. As expected of trained soldiers.

"These girls got a few words to spare for you, so listen well, are we clear?!"

If he included a few more insults he would remind you of a stereotypical instructor of hell. Thankfully, he didn't just start insulting his own soldiers. Though, calling them bastards might have been quite insulting already.

While I mused about that, all the soldiers directed their line of sight to us. Instead of glaring they were rather expectant gazes. I could see some of the older men smiling. Maybe our nervousness was quite clear to see.

"Um, um..."

Emily took a step forward and tried to say something.

"Um, I don't quite know what to say!"

And that was exactly what she shouldn't have said right now. The soldiers were also rather disappointed at those words, looking a bit down.

"But, I hope you all come back safely, okay? Don't die! Dying is scary! That's all!"

Fortunately, those words improved the mood among the soldiers clearly, many of them were smiling and grinning, some joking about her awkward words.

Emily walked around us and pushed Maya to the front before hiding behind me. She must have suddenly realised that it was actually quite embarrassing, having to speak in front of so many people. Or so I thought, but she was grinning to herself.

"Well, don't die and come back, yes? We would be in trouble if you just die out there on your own!"

Maya was really curt and concise in her encouragement. She turned around and pushed Sele to the front. Maya's cheeks were dyed red.

"Mm..."

Sele was staring at the soldiers for a while without saying anything.

"..."

She still wasn't saying anything. Everyone watched her with bated breath. But she didn't say a word. For an entire minute. Maybe even longer.

"... Take... care..."

And then she turned around. There was no indication that she was embarrassed or anything, but considering the time it took her, maybe she was slightly bothered after all. The soldiers still seemed to be happy about her words, especially the older men who started smiling like doting parents.

"Yumi, you have to say something as well!" whispered Maya.

It seemed I couldn't escape. But I would feel bad if I was the only one who didn't at least try, so I took a step forward and all the gazes concentrated on me. I froze for a moment. What would people usually say in a moment like this? What would make them motivated and also tell them to survive? I thought for a moment and decided to just say whatever came into my mind first. I took a deep breath.

"Everyone! Don't die out there, there are people waiting for you. Everyone will be sad if you die, so come back safely!"

I shouted with all my might, hoping that my words would reach them, encourage them and, just maybe, allow them to come back safe and sound. I felt a bit tired but also relieved. Personally, I thought that was a rather good encouragement, given the situation.

"Yumi... That's no good."

"Nn?"

I turned to the side and saw Korwen, slightly exasperated. Then I turned towards the soldiers. They all looked... somewhat dreamy.

"What... happened?"

"You didn't notice? Oh well, can't blame you then."

What did I do? I was panicking for a moment. Then I felt someone hugging me from behind. Turning around I could see Emily, Maya and Sele with the same dreamy expression. They were hugging me from all sides, but after a moment they seemed to snap out of it.

"Yumi... You used magic just now."

"Eh?"

Then, before I could inquire what he meant, the soldiers started cheering.

"Well, you motivated them just fine, so I guess it works?"

The soldiers, clearly happy and motivated, continued whatever they were doing at the time with increased vigour.

"Yumi, Yumi, for a moment, you were like, really shining."

"Shining?"

"Shining! I felt like I shouldn't let go of you when you were shining!"

Maya and Sele nodded in agreement with Emily's explanation. Except I still had no idea what was going on.

"Yumi, you probably used a type of Charm. It's weak so it seems to just fool them into giving their best, but you should be careful regardless."

Korwen explained it instead for me.

"Charm?"

"Yes, Charm. They are a category of spells that influence the mentality of affected people. They are mostly grouped along with the Lust and Spirit attributes and a few other related ones. It's a spell often used by monsters. There aren't really many humanoid magicians that can use something like that."

"Yumi, you can do that? That's incredible!"

"Wow..."

"..."

The three girls stared at me in awe.

"Well then, since your encouragement seems successful, we should just let the men do their job now. Got to send these motivated ones to fight and replace the ones currently out fighting. I will take care of everything, so you girls just help out or take a rest, whatever you want."

Korwen left us alone to take up command. I was still being hugged by these three and they had no intention of letting me go. Emily started to rub her cheek on mine.

"Yumi, Yumi, I'm really glad you came back! I hope we will have lots of fun from now on!"

"Uncle said you will stay with us from now on! Now we can play lots and lots!"

"Best... Regards... Yumi..."

The three conveyed their feelings. They all smiled and seemed really happy.

Wait, Korwen said I would stay?

"Maya, he said I'd stay? When did he say that?"

"Mh? Earlier, I overheard him talking with that other girl, what was her name again... The one that smells different than she looks. But... Yumi... Was that wrong? Are you not going to stay with us?"

Just that short question was enough to make them all teary-eyed.

"Ah, no. It's just, I hadn't heard about that. So I was confused! I'm sure it wasn't wrong! Nn! I'll be happy to stay with you, as well."

"Is that so!"

There were so many things I wanted to ask right now, but pacifying them was more important for now.

Did Sis talk with Lily while I was sleeping? Or was it just Korwen being convinced we stay and acting as if it was already decided? I'll ask Sis when she comes here.

The three were back to their bright smiles and tried to hug me even stronger, causing us to fall to the ground due to them pushing me in various directions.

Lying on the ground they started giggling happily. It made me laugh as well. Neither the situation nor the time was appropriate, but somehow I felt glad. There were so many things we had to consider but somehow, they all felt irrelevant right now.

"Now we four will stay together, as friends! Right, Yumi?"

"Nn, I guess so."

"Ehehe!"

The fighting sounds, the injured soldiers, the shouting, the roars, they all felt so distant, so far away, while we four were lying on our backs next to each other, holding each other's hand. The light of the moon and the lanterns were illuminating us, in our own little world.

Maybe, the one that was charmed, was me.