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THE monster extermination ended up lasting until sundown. Our surroundings grew dark. The thick trees loomed around us, casting a spooky shadow over our group.
The others had told me that since it was dangerous to travel at night, we were going to set up camp instead. Of course, this was my very first time camping the human way.
I picked up some fallen sticks in the area, using them to light a campfire.
After seeing all that slaughter and all those corpses, I hadn’t had it in me to eat lunch. But my stomach started growling a while ago, so I figured I was ready for dinner.
“Here, Medic Risurisu.”
“Th-Thank you.”
Vice Captain Velrey handed me my rations—bread, dried meat, and a leather pouch full of water.
“Are you feeling better?” she asked softly.
“Ah, yes. I’m all right now.”
“Really? That’s good…”
I’m supposed to be the medic, and she’s worried about my health…
What I needed to do was regain my composure and focus on eating. I said a quick prayer, then it was time to dig in. I started with the dried meat.
…Okay. This is like chewing on a particularly old pair of leather boots!
It was also completely flavorless—like the meat’s actual taste had died long ago. I longed to ask this jerky-maker what he could’ve possibly done so wrong. When I looked up, I saw Captain Ludtink use his teeth to tear a chunk off, making a loud snap.
…Bandit. You’re a total bandit, I repeated in my head as I picked up the bread.
…It’s rock solid! We might as well have picked up pebbles on our way here!
And it was also sour—a total letdown in both texture and flavor. I didn’t even feel like I could eat it. Who knew that bread could be so inedible?
Once again, there was Captain Ludtink, crunching loudly on his own roll. Who knew that regular bread could be so hard and crunchy?
As I watched him chew, looking perfectly content, I wondered if he was also capable of eating stone tile.
And what was with this water? It tasted a bit strong, like it was seasoned with medicinal herbs or something. I wondered what the point of that could possibly be. But my body was refusing to swallow it like that…and worst of all…
“AAAARGH!!”
I collapsed and let out a scream. With my head in my hands, I kicked my legs up and down.
I was starving! There was food I wanted to eat, yet I couldn’t eat it. I was so frustrated, all I could do was scream!
“Medic Risurisu? You okay there?” Ulgus peered down at me with concern.
“I…I’m not okay at all…”
The royal capital’s preserved foods are disgusting! This simply won’t do…!
As I rolled around on the ground in despair, my nose suddenly picked up a familiar scent.
“Hmm?”
Something nearby caught my eye.
“That herb! It’s garlic!”
Garlic was a great ingredient for adding flavor to things like soup. It was strangely expensive to buy in a shop, so I always collected mine straight from the forest. I instantly decided to pick some now, bring them back to the knights’ dormitory, and dry them to use later.
I ran over to where the garlic was, busying myself plucking bulbs of it, only to spot another wonderful ingredient nearby.
“Ah! Black pepper mushrooms!” I cried.
These were mushrooms that tasted just like regular black pepper. They were delicious when eaten grilled, even with no other seasoning.
I wanted to shovel them into my mouth. But black pepper mushrooms were very spicy on their own, so we usually ate them with bread or something more filling.
They’d be perfect for soup…but I didn’t exactly have any cookware with me.
Spicy mushrooms, rubber jerky, and hard stones—er, I mean bread. It was the saddest line-up of ingredients imaginable.
Again, I was in agony.
“Hey. Wild Rabbit. If it’s too hard to eat, then just let it boil for a bit,” Captain Ludtink said bluntly.
“Ah!!” I cried.
His simple suggestion instantly sparked inspiration in me.
I went to my horse and retrieved that large, pot-like helmet I’d been given. I poured my bitter water into it and saw that it held the liquid well. After a brief washing, since it was a brand-new helmet, I placed it atop the bonfire to boil the water and kill any germs.
“What’re you up to, Wild Rabbit?”
When Captain Ludtink questioned me, I responded eagerly.
“I’m going to make soup!”
His suggestion of boiling the hard bread and stiff jerky to soften them had given me the idea! I poured the boiling water out of my helmet and added more from my waterskin.
Next, I took out my knife and started to cut the bread and jerky into bite-sized pieces. But…
“Grrrr… GRAAAAH!!”
It was too stiff to cut through. I was even using the sharpest knife I owned, which I’d brought from home. Is it really a rock?!
“Here. Gimme that.” Captain Ludtink’s bulky hand reached out next to me and plucked the knife from my hands.
All it took was a bit of pressure with his fingertips, and just like that, he was easily able to cut bite-sized pieces off the bread and jerky that I couldn’t make any progress with whatsoever.
“Wow! That was amazing. Thank you very much!”
I gratefully accepted the pieces and dropped them into the helmet. As I let them boil, I sliced the garlic and black pepper mushrooms with my knife before I added them next.
Garr’s nose was twitching. Vice Captain Velrey looked on curiously.
Ulgus’s eyes lit up as he stared at the soup. “Man, that smells good…” he murmured.
“Would you like some, too, Ulgus?” I asked.
“Really? Can I?”
“Of course!”
The helmet was large enough to hold quite a lot of soup. There was no way I could eat it all on my own. It was a relief to know someone was going to help me finish it.
After another half an hour or so, the soup was ready to eat.
The soup was cloudy, and the jerky had turned a slightly strange color, but I couldn’t let that get to me.
Finally, I get to eat! Just as that thought formed in my head, Vice Captain Velrey pointed something out to me.
“Medic Risurisu, do you have a spoon?”
“Oh no!” I cried.
That’s right! I don’t have one!
I couldn’t believe that after all the work I’d put into making such a wonderful, piping hot soup, I wasn’t even going to be able to eat it. I cradled my head in shock and despair. But then, Garr reappeared with something in his hand.
It was a thick leaf, as large as my head, and was attached to a long tree branch. Ulgus offered an explanation. “Ah! That’s the leaf you always use to drink water!”
“What?” I asked. A leaf to drink water with?
Ulgus went on to describe how Garr would drink water by rolling the leaf up into a cup shape. It was thick and sturdy enough to keep its shape, even underwater.
“Oh! I get it now!” I exclaimed.
I cut a small strip off the leaf, rolled it into a cone, and stuck the tree branch through it, resulting in a very simple spoon. With that, I decided I should also make enough for the other members, so I made more spoons and handed them out to each person.
“Time to taste it!” I announced.
I decided to call this the “Bandit-style Soup of the Forest’s Blessings.” With my handmade spoon, I took my first taste.
“Wow! It’s good!” A smile formed on my face. It was better than I expected.
Everyone around me was smiling too.
I was surprised by how nice the jerky made the broth taste. It didn’t look very appetizing. But I imagined that, once I bit into the actual meat, it was probably the kind that tasted much better than it looked.
Everyone praised the soup’s flavor too.
Even the hard bread had softened up nicely. The bite-sized pieces were soaked with broth and were now easy to eat. The jerky was more tender than before, and the meat’s fat was now nice and soft. Thanks to the garlic, the jerky didn’t give off any unpleasant aromas, while the black pepper mushrooms added a spicy element to the soup.
It was delicious, despite its questionable appearance. I couldn’t help but wonder if this jerky was a special kind, as it wouldn’t normally get so soft.
“You can have some if you’d like, Captain Ludtink,” I offered.
“Nah…” he demurred. “You can have it, Wild Rabbit. I’m sure you’re hungry.”
What’s with this guy? He sure is nice for a bandit.
It surprised me. The captain really did look like the kind of man who robbed and plundered like it was his second nature.
“Thank you. But please, try a bite.” I felt bad that the rest of us were eating nice hot soup without our captain. So I took a spoonful and brought it up to his mouth.
Captain Bandit…er, Captain Ludtink’s eyes went wide.
I almost pulled the spoon back, thinking he didn’t want it. But he accepted the bite.
“Do you like it?” I asked.
“It’s actually…really good,” he said, clearly a little surprised.
“I’m glad. Would you like more?”
“No, that’s plenty.”
“All right, then.”
My guilt was now gone, and I knew I could eat the rest of my soup without worry.
We were so lucky to stumble upon nature’s blessings, enough to make a filling meal. I felt gratitude for the knowledge I’d obtained after living my entire life in the woods.
Still, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for my squadmates, having to eat such disgusting food all this time. It was so sad to know they just forced themselves to eat this terrible excuse for food. It couldn’t be good for their overall health and morale.
Shouldn’t they take a step back and consider what actually counts as food?
Well, it didn’t really matter. I was totally out of energy for today.
The woods were too dense to pitch tents, so our orders were to sleep wherever we could find space on the ground. Talk about cruel.
We did have sleeping bags, at least. But they were thin and cold, and the ground underneath them was lumpy. I sighed.
Vice Captain Velrey laid down next to me. “You did great today,” she said appreciatively.
Those simple words felt like all I needed to recover from this difficult day. We had to wake up early the next morning, so I knew I needed to get some sleep.
Thus ended my first day as a member of the Second Expeditionary Squadron of Enoch.
Not that I could get any sleep, camping out in the open near monsters!
Well, the stars sure are beautiful, I thought, desperately trying to distract myself from reality.