“And so, that about wraps up our little tour of the place.” Pierre clapped his hands together, “Got any questions?”

“Of course we do, we still haven’t settled where Nelly will be sleeping.”

Nelly was around five years old by now. She’s no longer young enough to require too much supervision in regards to where she’ll sleep. She’s also a trooper, since she really doesn’t mind sleeping wherever. It’s things like these that I feel I shouldn’t take for granted as a parent, but then again I kind of skipped the brunt of her baby-wailing days.

“Dad, I’m not a baby anymore!” Nelly pouted, “I’m a big girl, so I don’t need a cradle anymore!”

“Right, my bad.” I chuckled, “But y’know, sweetie, I was actually talking about where you’ll sleep besides that. I don’t even think we could find a cradle anywhere here in the entire continent, so no matter what you’d just have to sleep in a bed like us.”

“O-Oh…” She once again was put back into a quiet thought.

Actually, if there’s anyone I should be thanking, it should be Cecily, because it’s probably her parenting that made Nelly so resilient in the first place. Realistically though, there’s also the possibility that Nelly realized a long time ago by now that she’s not somewhere where she can afford to show weakness, so she might just be keeping quiet for our sakes. If that’s the case, then she should really stop the act. A little girl has no reason to hide her fears and emotions, especially from her parents. I appreciate her trying her best to not let us down, but it’s honestly starting to bother me just how quiet she’s gotten as of recently.

“Alright then, Nel,” Cecily squatted down to her level, “You’re a big girl, right? Then how about this – you decide, do you wanna sleep with us in the sleeping quarters or with Pierre?”

Glancing back at Pierre, who was happily waving back at her, she gave a deadpan reply, “Are you joking? With you of course!”

Pierre was pretty hurt by these words. We were a fair bit older than her when Cecily and I were just new to BilBros, but due to our age difference, I imagine that Jorgen still probably saw us as kids. Even still, he treated us with care befitting of an older brother, so I can probably assume that these two brothers really like kids. That being the case, Jorgen was a lot more distant, the type of family member that’s always busy, but would drop in occasionally to have a chat with you over some tea. Pierre on the other hand is more so like the fun older brother that always dotes on you, but is very obviously trying to keep up said front and failing at being seen as reliable. Both are good people, no matter how you look at them, but Pierre’s just a lot more of an enigma in that sense.

Is he reliable, or is he not? Back when we first met, he tried his best to look tough in front of us, I guess to instill fear or something, but the façade quickly fell when Nelly was brought into the mix. No matter what, I just can’t imagine this guy being present in a war, but judging from all the people that are greeting him around the base with such respect, he must be someone of high honor. So then, do we entrust Nelly to him, or do we not? It’s questions like these that really make me regret being such an idiot and saying I’ll join the army.

“Come on, Nelly!” Pierre beckoned her, “What do you mean, joking? Am I really that bad of a person?”

“It’s not that, sewge (her way of addressing him, inherited from her mother),” She fiddled with her fingers, “It’s just that… I don’t wanna be away fwom mom and dad.”

Hearing this, both Cecily and I knew what had to be done. We had asked Pierre if he had three beds spare that were sitting close together, to which he nodded in affirmation. From his words, it seems like there really aren’t all that many recruits because all of the ones that have completed his training are on the battlefield as we speak. I don’t quite understand, but if that’s the case then that just means we lucked out.

“So, now that all three of you have gotten situated,” Pierre gestured for us to follow him with a wry smile, “C’mere.”

Wondering where exactly he wants to take us, we decided to just shrug it off and do as we’re told. He’s not suspicious no matter how you look at it, and it’s not like anything too dangerous can occur here in the base, since all the actually dangerous stuff is happening at the center of the continent. No one really counted the exact distance from here to the central river that’s dividing the two halves of the continent, but since it took about two full days to go from the border to the base, I can accurately assume that no harm can come our way, at least for now.

“What’s the matter, Sergeant?” I tapped him on the shoulder.

“Shush, just wait here a bit.” He said as he closed the door on me.

On the other side of this mysterious door, a lot of rummaging could be heard. Whatever it is that he was searching for was surely of high importance to have him use so much effort in hiding it. That being the case, after a couple of minutes of straight waiting, the doors were finally opened to reveal…!

“Ta-da~!” He raised a little teddy bear plushie high above himself, proudly showcasing it to the world, “This here is Sir Teddington! He’s my dearest and oldest companion whose fluffiness has helped calm me down a lot when I was just starting out as a rookie.”

“…You slept with a teddy bear during your stay in a boot camp?” I asked, stifling my laughter.

“Hey! It was my first time being away from my brother! I needed to hold on to something that made me think of him, and Sir Teddington was gifted to me by Jorgen right before we parted ways.”

Well, now I feel like an ass for making fun of him. I mean, I never really kept anything that my parents gifted me, since it’d probably have worn out by now, so props to him for taking care of it as well as he did. I imagine if my parents had gifted me something, I too would probably have taken care of it to such a degree. But the last thing I remember them gifting me was a sword I wasn’t even allowed to use until I turned of age, so I couldn’t even bring it with me if I tried.

“You making fun of us?” Cecily clenched her fists in rage.

“N-No, this isn’t for you! It’s for your daughter!”

“Fow me?” Nelly pointed at herself as Pierre squatted in front of her.

“Yep, little girl, I have no use of Sir Teddington anymore. I’m glad that you chose to stay with your parents, since family is something irreplaceable. Always remember to be the glue that sticks everyone together, but glue often has to endure a lot of stress in order to do that, so I’d be really happy if you would accept Sir Teddington from me. And remember, whenever you feel like it’s all just too much, take a look at his eyes and remember all the people you’ve made smile during your lifetime.”

Earnestly and honestly accepting his advice, Nelly donned a serious face and hugged Sir Teddington, “Thank you, sewge! I’ll take good cawe of him!”

“Oh, and another thing.” Pierre said as he was closing the door on us, “Always remember that the person on the other side of the war might be your enemy, but know that they too were once children who probably had their own plushies.”

These words were more so aimed at us than at Nelly, but it was nice for her to learn about compassion as well. Obviously, Nelly wouldn’t be taking part in the training program nor the actual war, so Pierre was probably just telling us not to go full ham on the enemy troops. I chuckled, but Cecily was quiet about it while Nelly continued playing with her new teddy friend.

It was a precious sight, no doubt. She kept hugging the little marketable plushie the entire way back to our beds, and outright refused to let go of him even once until she fell asleep, holding him close to her chest with an iron defense. She must’ve really been tired to fall asleep that fast, though, as it really didn’t take even a good minute before her little snores kicked in.

Another thing that was surprising was that the other soldiers didn’t really mind her presence all that much. Much like in ARA, we were placed in our little corner closest to the doors, and the people sleeping here gave us plenty of space so as to not accidentally wake Nelly up. Realistically, there was only a dozen or so people in here with us, so they had plenty of places to pick and choose from when it comes to where they’ll sleep. Choosing to give us a bed or so of distance was their way of telling us they meant no harm, which was very much appreciated.

The language barrier is still too tall for any one of us, and we couldn’t at all communicate with any one of the soldiers. I guess showing kindness is universal among all languages, countries and races, so we still had that to work off of. Heh, Pierre scared all three of us for nothing, I guess.

“…” I tried closing my eyes as we closed off the day.

“Hey, Lune?” Cecily sheepishly called out, “Got a minute?”

“Yeah, I’m awake. Need anything?”

“It’s umm, nothing serious. I’d just like your opinion on something, i-if that’s okay with you.”

“Alright,” I got out of bed, “Let’s talk outside, don’t wanna wake the others.”

“Oh no, you don’t have to go that far!” She gestured for me to lay back down, “Forget it, it’s not anything important.”

“If it’s weighing down on you so much, then it obviously is. Get up, come on, I could use some fresh air anyways.”

Leaving the sleeping quarters, the thing that immediately hit us was the wave of relief after leaving such a humid room. It’s the middle of summer right now, so it’s really difficult to sleep at times. Oh, and if you’re wondering, we’re still only just outside the door. We can still see Nelly clearly from where we’re standing, so if anyone tries to approach her for whatever reason, we can always jump in and intervene.

“Alright now, tell me what’s bothering you.”

“Geez, why are you so adamant about this?” She groaned, “Of all the times to be dependable… I said it’s fine, didn’t I?”

“You’re the woman I love. If you don’t wanna accept that, then I understand, but you need to know that you’re also the mother of my daughter. If anything, I’m glad you asked me for help about something that’s bothering you, and if there’s anything I can do to relieve you of your worries, then I’ll do everything I can.”

“Alright, here I go.” She took a deep breath before saying, “I can’t fight in the war.”

Immediately, my mind wandered to the worst possible outcome - She’s injured somehow.

“What happened?!” I looked all over her to try and find a visible injury of some kind. Due to the humidity of the room we were just in, she was practically glistening from the sweat. This made for quite the tantalizing sight, but thankfully no injuries could be found. Sure am glad I got to see that though.

“No, you misunderstand, the pain is more… internal, I guess you could say?”

“Don’t tell me…” I figured, “You’re pregnant?!”

“Dumbass!” She struck me on the head, “I’m a…! (I’m a virgin!)”

Whoa, she almost yelled that out, but thank goodness she caught herself and whispered it instead. Well, I say that as if the other people here could understand anything that she’s saying, but I imagine she still didn’t feel comfortable yelling that out. Fair enough though, it’s not something you should be yelling out in the first place. Plus, who’s child would it even be? Gah, it hurts just to think about the possibility, this must be how she felt after learning of Marina…

“Besides,” She rolled her eyes, “This and that are two completely different things. Anyways, I’m talking about emotional pain.”

This and that are two different things? N-Never mind… But what does she mean, emotional pain?

“What I’m saying is,” She looked me in the eyes and said, “I don’t feel comfortable killing anymore. Looks like that Pierre bastard’s words kind of struck a chord with me, ha-ha…”

“Go on...”