We walked to the meadow close to the slums and hid the doll army in the grass and bushes. They only needed to be hidden for the day, so there was no need to find an elaborate hiding place. I kept the doll I was carrying with me, though. Just in case.

Afterwards, we set directions towards the slums again.

"Lily."

"Yes, what is it, dear?"

"You said you wanted to pick up an acquaintance first. What kind of person are they?"

"What kind of person? Hmm... A crybaby?"

"That's not really encouraging right now..."

"Ah, well. She is kind of capable? At least capable enough that she didn't die yet. She was actually striving to become a magician, but her lack of talent barred her the way. She still dabbled in it quite a lot. She also learnt a bit about magic craftsmen and their trade, so we need her help a bit."

I wasn't quite sure if she was trying to improve my impression or make it worse.

"Is she the reason you know so many various things?"

"Hm? No, not really? I'm the one who taught her the basics in magic and about mercenary life."

"..."

This girl surprisingly liked teaching people, didn't she?

"You said she learnt about magic craftsmen, can she actually do something with... that then?"

"No, not really. She can't do any more than any other normal magician could either. Actually, she can do even less. Her magic is mostly just on the level that it helps out in daily life, nothing more. But for our needs, that is more than enough."

"But if it is at that level, can't you do that too?"

Lily looked away awkwardly. This already told me all. She couldn't.

"Well, you see. My magic is mostly related to combat. I can't really cast magic for everyday use."

"But didn't you say there are countless magic systems? Why not use something else..."

"Yumi... it's not that easy. People have an affinity towards them. If you put me into the kitchen I'll be useless, therefore I'll be useless in everyday magic, too!"

Aren't you just lazy and unmotivated then?! Cooking is something you can learn! Don't give up immediately!

I shook my head in exasperation and decided to shelf that topic. In the meantime, we entered the slums and approached our destination. We walked past the occasional hoodlum and slum inhabitant, but Lily gave off an oppressive enough feeling that nobody dared to test their luck.

"Lily, I've been wondering for a while, but why do you carry so many swords?"

"Hm? Why? To use them, of course?"

"No, but... why so many?"

"Every situation calls for a different approach! Therefore every situation requires a different sword!

"Huh... Can you give me an example?"

"An example?"

Lily pondered for a while and then gave me a smile.

"For example, if I wanna make mincemeat out of the thug boss, I'll use the Zweihänder. The less of him remains the better!"

"Lily, that's just your personal feelings, isn't it?"

"Yes?"

"I thought you meant, like, when the place is narrow you use the shortsword."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because the Zweihänder would hit the wall when you swing it?"

"It does, but how is that a problem? If you hit the wall, just cut through the wall!"

"... Doesn't the sword break then?"

"A cheap sword might break, yes. But my Zweihänder is made from the same materials as the knife you are carrying."

"Huh, is that so... Eh? Lily, how do you..."

Did I ever show her the knife? I've been carrying it since yesterday, haven't I? And I wasn't wearing a cheap shirt anymore so it should be hidden just fine.

"Hm? Ah, the cloth band got loose in the night so I reattached it. Your thighs are soft, I could touch them forever! It's great how they spring back when you poke them."

I could feel how my face became hot. This girl felt me up while I slept.

"You! Don't just touch others!"

"Ohh! That's the first time you raised your voice! But we're both girls, so it's not a problem, right? And you make a perfect body pillow, you're so soft and squishy, it's great!"

"I don't care about that, just don't feel others up! Everyone would feel embarrassed if you just touch them without their permission."

"Is that so?"

In an instant, Lily stood right before me and embraced me. I couldn't evade her superhuman speed. I tried to struggle free but against this girl, it was a pointless effort. Her arms didn't budge even a little.

"Is this embarrassing for you?"

It was. As my face was buried I was unable to tell her so, though. Then, my feet left the ground. She lifted me up to carry me in her arms, my feet dangling in the air. It was soft and warm, though something felt off a little. Like my senses weren't seeing and feeling the same things. However, it was only a short moment. Lily squeezed me tight in her arms making me feel and touch all kinds of things. It was without a doubt incredibly embarrassing.

"Lily... Please, I beg you, let me down..."

"If you get used to this, then it won't be embarrassing anymore! Endure it, Yumi! All for the sake of my future body pillow!"

Did she really intend to make me go through this just so I wouldn't be too embarrassed to be her body pillow? I doubted this would improve the chances even the slightest bit. I tried to wriggle out of her grasp, but Lily's grip was firm. She didn't budge. At all.

"Yumi, don't jerk around so much, what will you do if I accidentally drop you?"

"Then I'll be at least free again. Everything will be gre—"

I looked towards the ground. The ground was currently quite far away, while Lily casually walked along the street. Had the ground always been this far away? I shouldn't even be that high up, but somehow, it felt really far away. If Lily dropped me, that would surely hurt. No, not just surely, it would definitely hurt a lot.

"Absolutely... don't... drop me..."

"Then stop struggling, okay?"

"Nn... I understand..."

I salute you, children of the world, who are carried around by their parents without a care in the world. How are you not scared? How can you put unconditional trust in your parents? Teach me, please!

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

"Lily, could you finally let me down?"

"No. I will carry you until we're there. We're close already anyway!"

The warm smiles hurt. Even the hardy slum inhabitants occasionally turned around and smiled at me. Though I was mostly hidden by the robe, I was small enough that people probably thought of me as a child. Personally, I thought that no matter what, I was too big for this already. But with the average strength of the humans in this world that I observed so far, maybe this was still considered normal. After all, Lily showed no signs of being tired. Even when I subtly hinted at her maybe becoming tired, she cheerfully refused.

In the end, there was nothing I could do except give up. In a way, Lily's plan bore fruit. When even a thug who obviously wasn't up to anything decent was smiling at my sight, there was nothing left of my dignity.

First, my dignity as a man was taken. Now, my dignity as an adult was taken. I could only protect my human dignity so far. Except I'm not even human anymore, so that dignity is questionable already anyway. Haaa...

At this rate, there would be nothing left of me. Maybe my only option was to resign myself to my fate.

While I was contemplating my life, we arrived at our goal.

"Here we are! This is it!"

"This...?"

We were standing in front of an old hut that looked like its only purpose left was demolition. Technically the majority of buildings here would need to be demolished by modern earth's security standards, but that wasn't important. This one was large compared to the remaining huts in the slums but it also looked considerably worse. As if a mild breeze could knock it over.

"Then, you can finally let me down, right?"

"No."

"... Excuse me?"

And Lily knocked on the door.

"Lily, please, let me down."

I begged her, but, alas, she ignored me. Time ran out, and the door opened. A young woman appeared. Similar height to Lily, gentle eyes, and light brown hair.

"Oh? Lily?"

The woman seemed surprised at Lily's visit. It took a moment before she spotted me, even though I was right in front of her. I wanted to greet her, but before I could, she returned her gaze to Lily, this time with a serious glint.

"Lily, return that girl. You shouldn't pick up small girls who can't defend themselves just because you are getting desperate. Her parents are surely worried!"

"You're wrong! I didn't kidnap her!"

"Enough with your excuses!"

The woman stepped resolutely forward and took me away from Lily's grasp. She did so with surprising ease and now I was carried in her arms instead. She looked into my face and gave me a bright smile.

"It was scary, right? Don't worry, I'll bring you back to your parents, okay? The bad woman won't do anything anymore. And if she already did something bad, tell me, okay? I will punish her thoroughly! So you don't have to worry anymore!"

"Yumi! Explain to her, that it's not like that! I didn't kidnap you, right!"

What... What do I do? I'm being treated as a kidnapped child. Lily is far from being a saint, but she didn't kidnap me at the very least.

Now this woman even rubbed my head while giving me a caring smile. It somehow reminded me of a mother's smile. Nostalgia welled up in my chest at the sight.

No, wait! Don't get caught up in this. You're not a kidnapped child and you're not missing your parents. This isn't the time for that!

"Uhm..."

"Yes? I'm listening, you can tell this big sister!"

"Earlier... she was talking about how good my thighs feel and how I should be her body pillow..."

"Yumi?! You traitor!"

"Lily... You... So you finally became a complete criminal... Putting your hands on such a small child. Even I can't save you anymore."

"That's wrong! A complete misunderstanding, she's tricking you!"

I wasn't tricking her, I just withheld some information. That was perfectly reasonable. And she did touch my thighs and told me to become her body pillow. I wasn't lying.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"You're now even saying this small child is tricking me? Do you have no dignity left, Lily? Is that how low you have sunk? I haven't seen you for barely a week and you have changed this much... I am disappointed..."

"Listen to me! You got it all wrong, this is all because of work!"

"So you are now even kidnapping children for work? Lily..."

"I haven't kidnapped anyone!"

Seeing Lily riled up was nice, but maybe I should stop it now. We had no time for this and letting the misunderstanding get out of hand would only waste it. No matter how tempting it was, I had to hold back.

"Uhm... Lily, didn't kidnap me."

"Giving you candy and baiting you in coming along is still splendid kidnapping! Don't be deceived!"

"No, she really didn't. We've come here to ask for help."

"Help?"

Finally, the woman stopped and stared at me curiously. I asked if she could let me down first and after a long time, I had the ground back. Somehow, I felt wobbly on my feet. I had to prevent at all costs from getting used to being carried by others. I might forget how to walk.

"Nn. Help. Lily can explain it probably better. Ah, and, I'm Yumi."

I still hadn't introduced myself, so I probably should do that. I didn't know this woman's name yet either.

"Oh, I'm Lune. Pleased to meet you."

The woman, Lune, smiled again. She seemed like a bright person.

"So, then this is not kidnapping, but business?"

"Nn. It is."

"I tried to tell you..."

"Then, let's move into the house. We shouldn't discuss that at the doorstep."

Lune invited us inside. I noticed this with Wanda's house already, but these buildings looked worse from the outside than they actually were. It was worn down and many things were broken, but it clearly looked better than Karen's hut. Not like that was saying particularly much.

We sat down at a small table, Lily and I on one side and Lune on the other. I also put down my robe. Surprisingly, Lune didn't have much of a reaction. It was kind of disappointing after everyone stared at me when they saw me for the first time.

"Then, do you mind explaining, Lily?"

"I've been trying to do so for a while, well, in any case...."

Lily gave her a short rundown of yesterday's and today's events, omitting anything personal and unrelated, as well as most information about me, for which I was thankful.

"I can understand that you want to do something about them, but even if you save those people, nothing will change in the long run, you know that, right?"

"Saving them is just the highest priority. The next one is taking them down."

"If you want to help in the long run, the priorities should be the other way round."

"So you want me to just abandon them in the worst case?"

"That's right. Lily, you are the one who taught me that sometimes we have to sacrifice something to achieve our objective."

"I am also the one who taught you about honouring a contract. And my contract involves saving a girl."

"Then only save that one girl, kill the head of the organization, and then you can save the others."

"Lune, you...!"

"And it's not like you didn't leave a loophole in the contract, right? If you wanted, you could annul it just fine. You are too kind, Lily."

"I'm not kind, and I don't think I have to let you tell me that I am, Ms Orphanage Mother."

"This is not an orphanage."

"It could very well be."

They glared daggers at each other with an intensity, that made me shiver. Where was the crybaby we were supposed to meet? This wasn't what I had expected.

I averted my gaze, escaping reality. Only to meet someone else's gaze. Behind the corner was a young boy peeking into the room. When my eyes met his, he blushed and ran away.

I am sorry, boy, but I have no interest in a brat. Come back in ten years. Wait, no. I have no interest in men, so there's no need to come back anyway! Ah, that was close.

But who was that brat? I heard Lily mentioning an orphanage, so maybe he was a child without parents who was living here?

I turned back to Lily and Lune. They were still glaring at each other. This was going nowhere.

"Uhm... Lily, shouldn't we rather talk about what you wanted?"

"Eh? Ah... Yes."

Caught off-guard, Lily agreed and sighed, maybe she had realized as well that this wasn't productive.

"I'm sorry. But I already decided to do it like this, and I won't change my opinion."

"... I see. You know that if you fail, everything will just be worse, right?"

"Then I just don't have to fail!"

"... An idiot until the end."

"Hey! I'm not an idiot!"

"I know. So, what did you come here for?"

"For this."

Lily took the bag with my hair and put it on the table.

"Can you change the colour of this?"

"This is..."

Lune took a strand and inspected it. I have seen this quite a few times already, so I was getting used to it, but nonetheless, it was still an awkward feeling.

"This looks like hair at first glance, but it isn't."

Huh? What?

"Eh?"

"Well, these are really small appendages, aren't they? It's not hair at the very least. It's not quite skin either... Something fleshy... like a roper's tentacles? Mhm... You want to change the colour, you said? So that people don't mistakenly think it comes from the girl? I can do that."

"Eh. Ah. Yes. Yes, that's right."

Lily glanced towards me awkwardly. It was over. Everything was over. It wasn't even hair, they were tentacles.

"But still, very curious. I've never seen anything like this. Is it trying to mimic hair? Well, no way to find out without knowing the source. In any case, here I go."

Lune muttered some things and then held her hand over the bundle of hair, correction, tentacles. The mana in our surroundings stirred and I could feel a chill running down my spine. Something came. I didn't know what, but something approached. Lune started muttering words completely unknown to me. The doll that I was still carrying reacted as well, being visibly wary and twitching in my arms.

Then I could see it, the mana formed a small shape, similar to a bird. It was flickering and unclear, but it was definitely there. The bird jumped onto the hair and then dispersed, the mana flowing into it. When it was all over, it had changed colour to a dark brown.

"First time seeing magic, girl?"

"Nn? Well, I guess..."

"It's nothing great, everyone can do this with a bit of mana and some training. It's nothing compared to the spells of actual magicians."

Despite that, Lily couldn't do it. She obviously lacked training. I should teach her some household skills. Do not underestimate the household skills of a man living alone, they might not amount to much, but he still has the bare minimum skill set to survive.

I should polish up my household skills now as well. Karen didn't look like someone with good household skills either, so maybe I could impress her with them. I could even take care of her, welcoming her home and all those things.

Wait, shouldn't this be the other way around... But I quite like that idea anyway...

Maybe I should be worried about how some of my thoughts clearly differed from before, but perhaps that was also just my imagination. Due to my memories being quite muddled I actually couldn't remember what I exactly thought previously about these matters. It could very well be the case, that I had always thought like this. In the first place, my wish at that time was clearly not a thought most people would harbour. At most only jokingly. And I couldn't even quite recall why I made that wish either.

"Yumi?"

"Nn?"

"You were quite lost in thought, is something up?"

"Nn. No, not really. I was just thinking about how the body might truly affect the mind."

"... What?"

"Girl, you should leave thinking about those things to the useless adults."

I was technically an adult. But I was getting sidetracked an awful lot, so I should return to reality. I didn't want to be too useless.

"Well then, Lily, I'll bring the things you asked for, anything else?"

"No, not really. Thank you, Lune. And... I know you don't want to hear me asking, but you really won't help?"

"I won't. I have things to protect here. I can support you, but I will do nothing else."

"... I see."

Lune stood up and left us alone. While I was thinking, they continued their discussion, and Lily seemed to have requested a few things.

"So, what have you been thinking about?"

"Nn? Ah..."

I pondered for a moment whether I should consult Lily. She already knew practically everything, so I could just talk with her, probably.

"Since I became a monster and a girl, I feel like my thoughts and opinions slightly change over time. But I am not quite sure about them from before either, so I am a bit worried. Did they change? Or did they stay the same?"

"Became... a girl..."

Lily stared at me in wonder. Did I not tell her everything before? I apparently didn't. Well, it was too late now anyway.

Karen will scold me again, won't she?

Lily furrowed her brows and collected herself. She seemed to be thinking about something.

"Well, Yumi. Don't people change their opinions all the time? They grow, they change, and so do their thoughts and opinions. But whatever they may be, they are your thoughts now. Maybe they changed, maybe they didn't, but whatever they were before doesn't particularly change anything in the present... I think. I'm not quite sure how to say that. I'm not good with those kinds of things."

"... That was a surprisingly good answer for not being good with them."

These thoughts are now my thoughts. It sounded kind of stupid, but maybe this stupid answer was what I needed.

"Well, you are always worrying about weird things, I don't know what you were like before, but I like the Yumi you are now. Change happens all the time, after all."

"... Thanks."

"You're welc— Oh! Yumi smiled for me!"

"... And now you destroyed the mood."

"Hey! Do it again! Please smile again."

This girl was devastatingly good at destroying any and all moods. At that moment someone entered the room. We both turned towards the door to the hallway. The boy I saw previously stood there, out of breath. He was maybe slightly taller than me. From outward appearances, one might think we'd be the same age, even.

"Err..! This! Uhm... For... For you!"

He presented me with a small pink flower.

"Eh? Uhm... Thanks?"

Bewildered I took the flower and the boy blushed again, only to run away another time.

"... What just happened."

"Oh my, how cute, Yumi. You're cheating on Karen?"

"I'm not... I'm not interested in a brat. Who was that anyway?"

"Probably one of the kids living with Lune? She's taking care of some children she picked up at various places."

"Huh... But why did he give me a flower."

"You don't know? It can be a way of saying 'I like you.' I think they're even sometimes used to propose. I saw one of my companions proposing like that once. He was shot down, though. Brutally."

"Huh... But, we're not even the same age. And I'm not really interested in men, either."

"How cruel, to him, you do look like the same age, he can't know those things, right? He just gathered his courage and approached you. It's cute, isn't it? Well, they say first loves never end well, don't they? Don't worry too much."

"You're pretty cruel, too, aren't you?"

"I shot down a lot of men in my life. Literally and metaphorically."

"... A savage."

"I'm not a savage..."

What did she expect with that kind of remark? While we talked about this, Lune returned with a bag.

"Oh my? A Witch's Flower?"

"Witch's Flower?"

"The name of that flower. Did Rooke bring that?"

"If that's the name of the boy, then yes."

"I see. So it's like that. Mhm... Do you know where the name comes from?"

"No."

I didn't even know the flower's name until now, after all.

"It comes from the legend about the Witch of Calamity."

"That's not a happy-sounding title."

"The tale is a rather tragic one, after all. The flower was named after the Witch because it was said that the flower had the same colour as her hair. It symbolizes perseverance and devotion to one's family. It's said that those with the same hair colour will live a happy life if they put in the effort for their family. Conversely, it is said, that it curses those, who neglect their family. Well, it's usually an extremely rare colour, though."

"Devotion to one's family..."

Did Karen count as my family? I sure hoped so. I would put in all my effort to help her.

"If you wanna hear the tale, Lily knows it quite well. After all..."

"Ah, yeah... There was a girl claiming to be that very witch among the Black Guards..."

Lily scratched her head, looking troubled.

"She taught me a lot of things, but she can be a little... troublesome."

"Right, she never stopped smiling, didn't she? You never knew what was going on in her head."

"She does sometimes stop. When she is really angry, for example."

"Oh my, I would have liked to see that."

Lune looked troubled as well. She seemingly met that girl before, too.

But the same hair colour... Didn't that mean she had the same colour I had? I'd like to meet her at least once, in that case.

I help up the flower. It was a cute flower, small but coloured a vibrant pink.

"Yumi, come here for a moment!"

"Nn?"

Lily took the flower and then fiddled with my hair.

"Perfect!"

"Oh my, how cute."

Lily had put the flower in my hair. Wasn't that boy totally going to get the wrong impression when he would see that? I apologized to him in my mind.

"This is good. It's a good luck charm, don't lose it."

"Nn... Well, I guess I can keep it?"

"You should! We still have some places to go and we can need all the good luck we can get."

"Shouldn't we rather put in the effort to succeed?"

"Oh my, the girl is cleverer than Lily. Do take care of her, okay?"

"Nn. I'll try."

"Hey, shouldn't it be me taking care of you?!"

We wrapped up our banter and packed our things. With our newly acquired negotiation material and equipment, we could finally get started.

We said our goodbyes to Lune and left. The boy was once again peeking from behind a corner in the hallway and went as red as a tomato before running away a third time.

Live strong, boy.

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

"By the way, Lily?"

"Yes, Yumi?"

"Wasn't Lune supposed to be the one protecting me when you were leaving me alone?"

"... Oh."