Chapter 3

It had been two days since I returned to the knight dormitory. I was so dirty with mud and dirt that I wanted to take a bath as soon as possible.

The captain said we could disband at the gate of the knight dormitory.

When I tried to head back to the women's dormitory, following Vice-Captain Berry, the captain called me.

"Hey, wild rabbit."

"Yes?"

I had mistakenly responded. I am not a wild rabbit, but Mel Lisris.

"Is there anything wrong?"

"Besides the captain calling me by the wrong name and being startled by a headless wild bird, I also had my ear flicked. It was very unpleasant."

"That...!"

He said "I'm sorry" in a voice that was almost inaudible.

Since I am very generous, I forgave him.

Still, it was unexpected that he would worry about me.

I silently apologized for calling him "the bandit chief" in my heart.

Finally, we were dismissed.

The bath was prepared by the dormitory helper.

The tub was filled with plenty of hot water. What a luxury.

In the village, we would boil water in a pot and add water to use it. Taking a bath was a once or twice a month affair.

We drew water from the lake in the forest, so we couldn't use much for bathing.

After washing my body, I soaked in the bathtub. Ah, heaven.

I had gathered the courage to come to the capital, and it might have been a good thing, as I learned a lot. Life in the forest was too confining for me.

If I couldn't get married, it would be the same wherever I was.

I was lonely without my family, though.

Recalling my loneliness, I sighed.

When I get paid, I thought I would go to town, buy some sweets, and send them to my younger siblings.

The next day.

I woke up before sunrise.

I changed my clothes, braided my hair, and washed my face.

Breakfast was served in the cafeteria. Since it was deducted from my salary, I had to sign at the entrance before eating.

Today's menu was—vegetable soup, a round bread, sausage, and a boiled egg.

The cafeteria auntie piled the plates on the tray with a mountain of food.

The bread was all-you-can-eat, and the jam and butter were unlimited. It was a paradise.

"Ms. Lisris, do you want more bread?"

"No, I've had enough. Thank you!"

She had piled three large round breads, each about the size of my palm. It was impossible not to be full.

Until now, I thought I was a big eater, but the female knights around me ate even more.

If I trained, would I also become muscular?

No, as a medic, I don't need to train.

After breakfast, I moved to the second expeditionary force's knight dormitory. It was about a five-minute walk from the women's dormitory.

In the backpack I carried, there was a bento. Amazingly, the cafeteria auntie made a bento every day for the female knights.

However, the knight corps was overwhelmingly male. The dormitory was full of female knights, but once outside, they were nowhere to be found.

As I walked down the corridor, I was being stared at. It must be because I was a Fole Elf.

When I tried to put on the hood of the jacket I was wearing over my knight uniform, I was called from behind.

"Hey, you're a Fole Elf, right?"

I turned around to see a young, slender knight. I didn't recognize him.

"What's wrong? Did you get lost from the forest?"

He peered at me, as if my ears were really long and pointed.

I thought it was rude to do that to a woman I just met.

"Which unit are you from? What's your name?"

You shouldn't give your name to strangers. That's what my mother taught me.

I tightly closed my mouth and ignored the questions.

Still, this man was surprisingly light.

He had his chestnut-brown hair tied back to his waist, and his ears were adorned with earrings. He had a flashy appearance, as if he liked women.

"Oh, can't you even greet someone because of the forest's rules?"

That's right! I was about to shout it out when my body suddenly floated up.

A large, bearded man appeared in front of me.

"Ah, it's a bandit!!"

I shouted in surprise, but upon closer inspection, it was our captain.

He was carrying me, like a bag, on his shoulder. Why?

"Hey, Kino, do you have something to do with our medic?"

"No, no, I just thought she looked troubled."

Absolutely not, I wasn't troubled at all.

He interpreted it as he liked.

"This one is mine. I won't allow you to do as you please."

"Y-yes, sir."

With those words, the man ran off.

I thought it was resolved, but knights were running over from a distance.

Their footsteps stopped in front of the captain.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing, I just heard a shout that a bandit had come."

"..."

I'm sorry, I was referring to the captain.

I was carried on the captain's shoulder, facing the knights who had gathered, and had to apologize to them.

After that, the captain didn't put me down.

I was carried like a bag.

"I'm fine now, please put me down."

"You'll be caught by someone like that if you walk slowly."

"I'm very sorry."

"By the way, are you eating properly?"

"Yes, I'm eating a lot."

I was told my weight was as light as a feather. That couldn't be true.

Increase the number of breads in the morning...? No, that's impossible.

"As a medic, I don't need to build my body."

"If you don't have stamina, you won't be able to keep up with the expedition."

"That's true, but..."

I thought I would gradually adapt to the living environment and go from there.

While talking, we arrived at the second expeditionary force's knight dormitory.

It was a separate building, a wooden single-story house with three tool sheds and a stable.

We held a morning meeting in the captain's office and were assigned our tasks.

Vice-Captain Berry was to train with Gar, and Uargas was to teach me my job.

The morning meeting ended in about five minutes, and we were dismissed.

"There are a lot of jobs for the lower ranks, huh."

First, we had to clean the knight dormitory.

"Wow, it's so dirty, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not good at cleaning."

Cleaning the knight dormitory was apparently part of the knight's job.

The corridor was dusty, the rooms were cluttered, and the makeshift kitchen had a pile of dishes.

"How often do you clean?"

"Once a week... no, every two weeks?"

I almost fainted. It was too unsanitary.

"Cleaning must be done every day."

"No, that's impossible—"

"You will do it!"

We divided the work and started cleaning.

"Uargas, that's not the right way! Put more effort into it—"

I had to teach him the correct way to clean. It was hard to tell who was the senior.

It took us until noon to clean the knight dormitory.

The captain had gone to a meeting, so we also aired out and cleaned the particularly dirty office.

"See, a clean room makes you feel good, doesn't it?"

"Y-yes, sir."

After just half a day of cleaning, Uargas was more exhausted than after returning from an expedition.

He needed more training.

After lunch, I was taken to the sheds outside.

One of the three was a weapons storage, one was a tool shed, and the other was—

"A preserved food workshop."

There it was! That hard and tasteless preserved food!

Apparently, the budget for the preserved food for the expedition was allocated, and they had to buy it themselves.

"But, the pre-made preserved food isn't enough—"

Based on the book the captain brought, they started making dried meat and dried bread themselves.

Indeed, the amount of food was large, but the quality was disappointing.

When I opened the door, I was hit by the smell of meat.

"Ugh!"

"I'm sorry..."

Inside, there were pieces of meat hanging on strings and drying bread.

"There's a smell of rotten meat...!"

"Oh, I forgot about the meat I bought the day before yesterday."

"What?!"

The source of the smell was the forgotten raw meat.

They had suddenly been ordered to go on an expedition and didn't have time to process it.

"Will Uargas be making the dried meat?"

"Yes, making preserved food is also a job for the lower ranks."

"I see."

What process did this meat go through to become what it is?

I hesitantly asked.

"Well, first, we buy a block of meat from the market, slice it thinly, cook it, boil it, and finally dry it."

"..."

The method was fundamentally wrong.

It was better that it was cooked, but if it was dried raw without salt, they would definitely die on the expedition.

I gathered my courage and spoke my mind.

"This dried meat and bread are very hard, sour, and tasteless, making them very difficult to eat."

"At first, we thought the same, but you get used to it..."

There was no need to endure such food. There was a way to make delicious dried meat.

Apparently, missions were always sudden, and there was no time for packing. Therefore, they chose preserved food that could be prepared quickly.

But why was it so tasteless?

I thought it was a problem that needed to be solved urgently.

"Uargas, let's go to the market."

I proposed to the lower ranks alliance to make delicious dried meat.