For some reason, all of us new recruits—men and women alike—were presently gathered in front of the palace servants’ designated toilets.
“Why did they bring us all here?” I quietly asked Ahn.
“The captain apparently told the men to come here. Maybe they called us over because we’re also new recruits?” Ahn surmised.
It was impressive how well-informed she was.
A female voice spoke up. “Correct.”
Looking in the direction of the voice, I saw the squad leader standing there, eager to dish out orders, a smirk on her face.
“Your first job today is to scrub the toilets clean,” she declared.
“What?!” the four of us exclaimed, bewildered.
“The captain has ordered the male rookies to clean the toilets, so I’ve decided to have you help them. Aren’t you glad you can be of use to the Royal Knights?” she asked, her expression contorting the curl of her lips into something even nastier.
She’d piggybacked on top of the captain’s orders to punish us as well.
I don’t think we’ll be contributing much to the knights’ cause by cleaning toilets that none of us here use.
Speaking of uselessness, Gahariet had just arrived as well.
“As I told you all this morning, your first order of business will be to clean the toilets! By scrubbing them spotless, you’ll be cleansing your own hearts as well, and only then will you be able to truly approach your duties with sincerity!”
I supposed this must’ve made sense in his mind. However, I couldn’t help but wonder if cleaning the toilets really was a productive use of our time when the Royal Knights were so understaffed. Shouldn’t we be patrolling instead?
Besides, aren’t we stealing work from those whose actual job it is to clean the toilets?
Perhaps because he was a noble, Gahariet was doing as he pleased, even inside the royal palace.
The male recruits all stood in shock, their jaws on the floor. It seemed that it wasn’t just the girls who were flabbergasted.
“Listen well: Brushes will not be allowed. You have to do everything with your bare hands! And when you’re done, I want all of you to rub your faces against the toilet bowl.”
“Wh-What?!” I squeaked involuntarily, too stunned by the absurdity of his order to stop myself.
Based on the look on his face, my question had given Gahariet the perfect opportunity to explain his reasoning. “By diligently scrubbing the toilets with your hands, you’ll be able to calm your hearts and hone your chivalrous spirits. And if you do your job properly, pressing your faces into the toilets won’t be an issue, right?”
I didn’t understand the words coming out of this man’s mouth.
No one in their right mind would want to rub their faces against a toilet bowl—even if it was sparkling clean!
“I’ll come back when you’re done. Be sure to clean the toilets properly, all right? As for the rest of you, come with me!”
Sneering, Gahariet left with the rest of his subordinates and the other new recruits—save for Char, the twins, and Thibault.
“These toilets better be pristine by the time we come back!” our squad leader said, trailing after Gahariet.
It hadn’t escaped my notice that the captain’s torso seemed a bit longer than before.
“They want us to clean the toilets...? What should we do?” I asked, glancing at the remaining male recruits who, fortunately, were all people I knew.
“Eeek! The captain definitely has his eye on us! It’s all because we stood up to him and caused a scene at the welcome party!” Thibault stammered, panicked.
The others, however, didn’t seem to share his reaction and weren’t fazed by the situation.
“I refuse to touch a toilet bowl with my bare hands,” Char said calmly. “That knight captain’s brain truly is an enigma.”
Gahariet had barely left when Char gave up on the task we’d been given.
The twins didn’t waste a second to voice their agreement.
“I agree. I’ll pass too,” Fouet said.
“I don’t want to clean a toilet with my bare hands either,” Barre added.
I shared their sentiments.
After all, filth would come off much more easily if we used a brush, wouldn’t it?
Toilets obviously needed cleaning, but there was no point in doing it with our bare hands; it was both inefficient and unhygienic. I didn’t think anyone should entertain the method.
Besides, the toilets in Hanche look to be the same as in other nations, I thought, peeking inside the women’s restroom.
There were proper toilets in the current era, although they weren’t nearly as advanced as the ones used five hundred years ago. Just like in Lèvres, Hanche had a proper water and sewer system, meaning that the toilet facilities were relatively sanitary, especially here, in the royal palace.
This restroom, used by the servants, didn’t have individual stalls—only a row of four or so sitting-style ceramic toilets. I assumed the men’s bathroom had a similar setup.
Toilets don’t have purification spells embedded in them anymore in this day and age. That shocked me when I first regained my memories.
Needless to say, I had promptly upgraded all the toilets in the Mercure estate into self-cleaning ones. That said, I was aware that, in the rest of the world, people needed to manually scrub them.
But not with their bare hands.
The palace’s servants definitely used something to clean the toilets with. There was even a service closet filled with brooms and brushes.
“But we don’t have a choice... Come on, everyone, let’s do as we’re told. The captain said he’d make us press our faces against the toilet bowls when we’re done. Do you really intend on rubbing your faces against dirty toilets?” Thibault asked, always trying to find ways to avoid making waves.