CLANG!
The sound of a pan being hit filled the area. I learned this crowd control skill from Chief Reina. Two people had started arguing over the amount of soup being distributed, which led to a bigger squabble—but all went quiet at the sound of my pan.
“I’ve been telling you lot not to bicker almost every single day! If you keep arguing, others won’t be able to get their food!”
Someone from the heart of the argument tried to butt in with a “but,” so I hit the pan again. Shut up!
“No buts! You’re not the only hungry one! It’s not just you! Everyone is hungry! Even I haven’t eaten yet! No one eats until we’ve finished distributing! Okay? Got it? So enough of the commotion!”
Even I knew what it felt like to be angry over an empty stomach. I mean, I was banging on this pan pretty hard.
“What are you gonna do if all this fuss ends up with food spilling?! You won’t get seconds! Actually, I won’t be giving any more to anyone who just wastes their food like that!”
You think we’ll let scum like that eat our wheat and potatoes? Not in a million years! Those harvests were the result of back-breaking cultivation from the farmers, sole-stinging transportation from the merchants, sleep-sapping ledger organization from a supervisor, hand-hurting preparation from a chef, and finally, distribution by me, who had to listen to ear-exasperating unfair complaints all the time. Asshole! We’re all struggling. We’ve been preparing it all today, yesterday, and the day before! That’s why, for all we’ve struggled, we have food. Plenty of food.
“We’ll have food ready for tomorrow and the day after that, so there’s no need to fight! What we don’t have today, we’ll have tomorrow, and if we don’t have it tomorrow, we’ll have it the day after that. And the day after, and the day after that, we’ll show you that we have food for you!” I should have enough energy to do that much. This time it’s different from when I could barely protect Ajole village, thinking I had my hands full. I had grown a lot since then. I had become strong enough to not turn a blind eye to people starving in front of my eyes. I’ll be able to do something about it this time. I’m going to become the Ajole chief who rebuilds our village, so if I let complaints like this bother me, I’ll never be taken seriously.
“We have enough food for everyone, so form a line! If you all file up, we can hand out the food more quickly! The quicker we hand out the food, the sooner you all can eat!” Plus, once this is finished, the staff can grab something to eat, and then I can go handle some other work. If all goes well, it’ll have a good effect on the food supplies. I mean, if everyone just lines up properly, everyone will be happy, so, let’s all be happy together! Those who don’t agree with that just want to make everyone else miserable, and I won’t stand for that at all, so it’s okay if I bury them in the depths of despair, right? That’d fix things. Heh heh.
“Listen up, it’s really simple! Form a line! Those who have gotten food, head back to your groups and calm down!”
I hit the pan lightly. The disorderly queue was now orderly again. As expected, it was hard to control this many people and it was never the same person starting problems. The troublemakers might think they were only causing minor inconveniences, but for those who have had to put up with it countless times every day, it was starting to get tiring.
Once I saw the queue begin to dwindle, I unwittingly let out a sigh. But then another problem started in a different queue. I just want to rest a little. Ahh, but, I guess it’s a good thing both arguments didn’t start at the same time, I thought as I ran toward the problem, pan and ladle in hand. What I saw before me was a large burly man, grasping the shoulder of a small child. It seemed like he was accusing someone of something. I knew from experience that this was going to get annoying.
“I said already, he didn’t spill it on purpose! I’m not asking for a huge portion or anything, all I want is another cup!”
Yeah, as I thought, this was going to be a bother. Here we go, I thought to myself as I held my head. I interrupted the altercation before the worker was overpowered.
“Give me your name and unit number.”
“Who the hell are you?” the burly man replied.
“I’m Suiren Ajole. I’ve been directly put in charge of this operation by His Excellency the Count.”
Since I was often underestimated based on my appearance, I found that taking the high ground by stating my titles was quite helpful. It was the same when I met Ash and Section Chief Maika for the first time. I realized that when you state your rank, the person you’re talking to tends to go quiet. I couldn’t beat this large burly man with my strength, but he retreated once he heard my title. If I can wrap up this conversation before he gets mad again, I’ve won.
“I’ve told you my name. Now please give me your unit number and name.”
“Uh, well, never mind my unit number, our kid spilled his food, so I’m trying to get a refill for him.”
“I can’t give out food if I can’t confirm your name and unit number. I believe I’ve already said the reason, but do you want me to tell you again?”
“I just want another cup of food.”
“If we don’t confirm people’s names and numbers, then someone could keep coming back asking for more food. Not to mention, those who aren’t even registered as refugees would be able to come and get a meal. If that were to keep happening, the food allotment that we have very carefully calculated would end up being not enough, and then no one would be able to eat.”
I looked up at the man, and he glared down at me.
“Do you get it now? There is a limit to what we have prepared. If we simply think, ‘It’s just one cup, it won’t hurt,’ then that’s one person who then goes without food.” How many times have I gone through this now? I stopped counting at twelve times just today. All I could give them was this explanation, and no matter how many times they persisted with “but” and “wait,” I couldn’t give out more food.
“You don’t want to lie to get more food, selfishly stealing food from someone else, do you?”
“Of course not! Don’t treat me like a thief!”
You don’t have to shout, I can hear you well enough. I get that I could have worded that better, but is there any need to get aggressive with someone so much smaller than you? Even Ash doesn’t have to raise his voice, and he is one thousand times scarier than you!
“In that case, start by telling me your name and unit number! We still have over two thousand people to feed, so don’t waste any more time! Name and unit number!” I repeated while glaring at him.