“Lune!” Cecily woke me up, “Wake up, we don’t wanna keep the wagon driver waiting!”

“Nnn…” I rolled around a bit more in bed, “Do I have to~?”

“What are you saying?” She sat on the bed beside me, “Your best friend sent you an ominous letter and you’re seriously asking me that?”

“Hey.” I took my chance and pulled her into bed with me, “You’re seriously underestimating the comfiness of this bed! Not to mention, a pregnant lady definitely shouldn’t be moving around as much as you are.”

“Then why did you pull me in so strongly?” She countered, “Come on, up we go. No use procrastinating now.”

“Ugh, fine…” I clicked my tongue, “I’ll go get dressed then while I double check our luggage.”

I can’t really tell the Gryses to constantly housesit our place while we’re away, seeing as we really don’t know when we’ll be coming back, if at all. That being said, we’ll be bringing a ton of suitcases with us, at least until we get to Lichtenstelle. I pulled a leaf out of Schnell’s book and made it so only a certain handful of whitelisted individuals, like my family and friends, can sail to and enter the island. That means it’s basically a completely lawfully secure vault of sorts, so I don’t mind leaving our things there as much as I’d mind doing so here.

“Alright, everyone’s passports? Check. Savings? Check. Family picture? Definitely can’t forget that, check!”

As I listed off one item after another, I had completely lost track of time and fully indulged in the nostalgic trip down memory lane. Finding all sorts of odd little trinkets and items, one would think that I’m quite the hoarder. The thing is though, I just couldn’t ever bring myself to throw them away, no matter how trivial the story behind each item may be. Like look here – this may seem like an ordinary leaf from a tree branch, but it’s actually a leaf that fell on Nelly’s head when she first went out to play in the yard. Or for example this little wooden carving of a horse which Cecily bought for Nelly during the fair in Occidence.

It’s these little moments and anecdotes that make keeping these seemingly mundane items all the more precious. I have no doubt that keeping them is the right choice to make, albeit a messy one. Really, the moment I get back home after this Volume, I should definitely do some tidying up around the house.

“Dad!” Nelly burst opened the door, “Mom’s pissed! Get down here quickly, before she gets even angrier!”

“Lune! Get your sorry ass over here already, the driver’s been waiting for ages!” Her shouting could be heard from downstairs.

“Yikes, good call, Nelly!” I patted her on the head as I hurriedly stuffed everything back into the suitcases and ran down stairs, even slipping and falling on the way down, “Oof! Watch out, Nelly! The floor’s a b-word!”

“B-word?” Nelly tilted her head.

“A female dog, I mean!” I didn’t even think about what I was saying anymore as I rushed outside before things got too dicey.

“That makes no sense…” She stood at the front door, utterly befuddled.

“Ugh, never mind! Just help me pack everything before your mother kills us both!” I rushed her out of the house before double-locking the door, “Cecily, we’re here!”

“Thank God!” She groaned, “Seriously, what’s the hold up?”

“Mom, don’t blame dad.” Nelly tried her best in defending me, “The floor’s a real b-word.”

“What?!” Cecily jolted upon hearing that her daughter has learned yet another curse word, “What did you say?!”

“Umu, dad~!” Nelly turned to me with a scared expression, “I messed up, didn’t I?”

Yep, kid, you sure did. Soon after apologizing profusely to the very kind wagon driver, she ushered us into the vehicle before telling the driver to floor it to the Southeastern dock in Meridia. After that, all hell broke loose as she began berating me for not only being late and apathetic about all this, but also teaching Nelly yet another naughty word on top of all that. Usually, I’d probably start arguing back with points like It’s not such a bad thing or She’s gonna learn about them eventually anyways, but I knew better than to take her emotions seriously while she’s pregnant. Obviously, a woman’s body goes through all sorts of changes, but that includes her mind as well. She’s probably anxious as all hell right now, and so the best thing for me to do is to just smile and joke about it as much as I can to alleviate her worries.

“Seriously, I can’t believe you!” She kept nagging me on and on, “Do you even know where we’re going at all? Did you not hear Adam and Elaine? Your home country is under siege! How can you be so calm about this?!”

“Look, we’ll scope out the situation when we get there, then I’ll be able to properly feel the impact.” I explained, “At least, that’s what I think. But I know one thing’s for sure, and that’s that worrying about something I can’t do anything about is only going to pile on needless stress. Same thing applies to you – Just look down and you’ll understand that your worrying will not only harm you, but that little growing being in you as well.”

“Hrm…” She sounded perplexed, “I know. I know, and yet I can’t help but to worry. I mean, if what Adam and Elaine said, then what became of the restaurant? Arthur, Aaron, and Anna? Or heck, even that letter we got from Ed might’ve been written ages ago, and we can’t even know for sure because he didn’t write a date on it.”

“Now that you mention it…” I realized, “You’re right. If the war started around the time we arrived in Cardina, as the Gryses said, then that letter might even be from a couple years ago. Hey, none of that! Didn’t I tell you that needless worries only lead to unneeded misery?”

“Y-Yeah.” She chuckled nervously, “Let’s just change the topic for now, alright?”

“I wonder how Uncle Meil is doing…” Nelly muttered while staring off at a random point in space.

***

“Alright, there we have it.” The wagon driver exited the vehicle, “There’s a huge crowd going on, so I can’t really get any closer. Even still, just walk a short distance that way and you’ll make it to the dock.”

“Thank you so much.” I kindly replied, “How much is that?”

Paying the driver whilst tipping him kindly, I had used the situation to ask him if he knew of the situation over at Trivis Numerica. He mentioned something about the King of Carmen slowly losing the war, and that the rebels are showing promise in their plans to steadily retake the territory they’ve lost in the beginning. Asking around if he knew who the Generals were sadly yielded no results, though.

“As you can see, the news has only just recently reached our shores here in Cardina.” He replied, “We know just about as much as you and your family does. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

And with that, he hopped back into his vehicle before driving off. Now while he did tell us where to go in order to get to the dock, it’s not like we haven’t ever been here before. We knew where to go immediately, and even Nelly said she remembered a landmark or two. Figures, since this is the very dock from which we arrived in Cardina all those years ago in the first place.

“Ah, sorry sir, would you mind helping me with this?” A somewhat fuller man called out to me, hiding behind the tower of boxes he was carrying, “I need to take these boxes of food to that there boat, but it’s pretty heavy stuff.”

“Sure thing!” I said as I picked up his stuff and carried it off, “Cecily, would you mind waiting here with Nelly for a bit? I know we’re in a hurry, but I’d like to help this guy.”

“Yeah, no problem.” She added, “You do you.”

Really, the boxes weren’t the issue, but rather it was the fact that I had to carry it onto the smaller looking boat. It was by no means a shoddy one, though, as anyone could tell that there was some pretty good craftsmanship at play here, but even with all that, it was pretty scary boarding it. Just one slip up could cause me to not only fall and get wet, but also drop this person’s food in the sea.

“Phew!” I wiped off the sweat from my head, “There we go! Is that all… sir?”

“Yep, that’s all Lune!” Carl chuckled after seeing my confused stare, “Lookitcha’! You grew a bit bigger, but you’re still out helping random strangers you meet on your travels!”

“Carl?” I could feel tears form around my eyes as I gave him a hug, “I haven’t seen you in years! God, have you gained weight?”

“Screw you, kid!” He retorted, “Hey, speaking of gaining something, don’t tell me those girls are…?”

“Ah, that’s right!” I smiled contently, “They’re my family!”

“Wow, to think you of all people would settle down…” He raised his eyebrows up high, “Hey, tell you what – the ships you’re planning on boarding are all crowded because of the war that’s going on.”

“Immigrants?” I figured,

“Sadly.” He replied, “They’ve lost their homes, so this is their best shot at surviving. But that’s also bad for you, since it’ll easily get crowded on there. That being the case, want me to take you guys to where you need to go? Take it as payment for helping me put these boxes on here.”

“You’d do that for me?” I smiled, “In that case, thank you very much! Oh, but we wouldn’t want to take you too far from your path, since we need to go to Lichtenstelle.”

“You’re kidding.” He guffawed, “I’m going there too!”

He then explained to me all that has happened since the war started. The fact that Ed had rounded everyone from Stringwood and sent them to the island, the fact that he sent a letter to Carl asking him to regularly send them food deliveries, and also the fact that Ed went back to fight in the war.

“I see, so he’s fighting for his country right now…” I donned a worried expression, “Heh, that’s totally unlike anything he’d do.”

“Yeah, I was surprised too.” Carl nodded his head, “I imagine you’re coming back to Trivis Numerica as well to help him, right? That must be why you’re heading to the island.”

“That’s right.” I replied, “But even still, I hope he didn’t get himself killed. Well, a scar or two would do him well though.”

“Whoa, where’d that come from?” He raised his voice, “Did you two get into a fight or something like that?”

“It’s a long story.” I said as I flagged down the girls, “Cecily! Come here, I have good news!”

“What’s the matter? The ship’s leaving without us!” She sounded worried before belatedly addressing Carl, “O-Oh, good day, sir.”

“Nice to meet you, girlie.” He smiled back cooly before ducking to meet Nelly’s eye level, “And nice to meet you too, pumpkin!”

“Dad, who is this?”

“This is daddy’s old friend from when he was just a bit older than you, Nelly!”

“Wait, really?” Cecily turned to him, “I-I’m so sorry for not introducing myself earlier! I’m Cecily, and this is our daughter, Nelly Grimheart.”

She didn’t use Grimheart as her last name, which made Carl just as suspicious as it made me sad, but it’s not like it was without reason. Certainly, I never even proposed to Cecily, much less married her. We just sort of got together again, and sure we have a child on the way, but I’m afraid I kind of did things out of order. I should really think to go and get a marriage registration at the nearest town hall. I wonder if there are any still open in Trivis Numerica?

“In any case, I’ll be taking you folks to the island, since I’m going there as well.” Carl explained the plan to the girls, “And while we’re on the boat, you two can tell me all about how you met!”

“A-Ah, heheh…” Cecily chuckled nervously as she danced around the answer, “About that… Our story isn’t as smooth sailing as one would expect…”

“With it being Lune, smooth sailing is the last thing I’d expect.” Carl chuckled as he ushered us on the boat, “Go on then, tell me everything!”