Joint Combat Practice 2 (18)
– Tak!
One firewood broke in half and rolled on the grass.
I picked up the split firewood and threw it toward a nearby firewood pile. Firewood that had been rolled a few times tumbled down the pile.
For a while, only the sound of chopping firewood echoed through the camp. After about thirty minutes of intermittent ringing, there was no more firewood left.
“Whoa…”
I sat down on an empty tree stump and took a deep breath.
Spring is coming to an end.
I could already feel the dampness characteristic of summer in the early morning air. Soon, flying insects will become more rampant and the heat will become more severe.
I have already experienced summer in this forest once.
I needed to set up a tent for outdoor activities, and I also wanted to build an environment where I could consistently secure cold water. Besides that, I had a desire to remodel the cabin a bit, and I also wanted to finish the work on the cane I was going to give to Yenika… There was a lot more work to do than I thought.
There were a lot of ups and downs, but I still had to do what I had to do.
As you continue your camp life, there are many instances where you become overwhelmed with so much work to do that even if you let your guard down just a little bit.
I lifted the ax and walked back toward the camp, swinging my arms around.
*
“Surprisingly, you look fine. I’m glad to see that there’s no major problem.”
Two days have passed since the joint combat training day.
Since so much unbelievable commotion occurred in one day, the academic staff must have been busy trying to clean it up for a while.
Still, there were no casualties or significant property damage. There is a hole in the ceiling of the Bachelor’s Cathedral and the stained glass has collapsed… It will probably all be repaired before the end of this month.
“He wasn’t really hurt in the first place. Yenika suffered more than me.”
“Is that so? Actually, the reason I came today was to see Lady Yenika.”
The position of head maid at Ofilis Hall is never idle.
There is nothing out of place in her elegant posture and neat clothing, but she must have been busy with various tasks since early morning. Nevertheless, I think it’s characteristic of Belle Maia that she doesn’t show any signs of fatigue.
The basket she was holding contained some edible fruit, a clean cloth, a bed sheet, herbs that had an antipyretic effect, and a change of clothes.
“I heard a rumor that you are in a lot of pain. Master Ed is taking good care of you, but something is bothering you, so I came here to make a little fuss.”
Everything such as hearing about Yenika’s circumstances was put on the back burner. This is because my health is quite poor.
However, Jenica herself preferred to remain in the hut rather than enter the bachelor’s medical room. I wanted to tell him to rest in a better environment, but he flatly refused, saying he wanted me to recover in a familiar environment.
As a result, Yenika is recovering in her cabin. It wasn’t so serious that he couldn’t take care of himself at all, so there were no major problems as long as I helped him with his daily life and checked for any inconvenient areas.
It is not a disease caused in the first place. The only cure is time. There is no other way than to wait for Yenika’s magic to recover step by step.
Perhaps because of his blurred vision, he kept bumping into the edges of the furniture or the cracks in the door, so I often had to support him, but I felt great relief knowing that his vision was slowly coming back.
“I was already thinking about asking someone for help.”
“Master Ed. If something like this happens, you must come to me first.”
Her eyes are still expressionless, but they seem to be strangely sparkling, making her look happy for no reason.
There is no way Belle is happy to see Jenica’s condition, and it feels like she is just glad that the opportunity to engage in housework has come.
Although I prefer practical work, it has been a long time since I stopped doing this type of work due to my higher position. He must have been itching for a while, but his attitude towards work is quite serious.
“Just Master Ed.”
“yes?”
“Are you struggling with anything else?”
When I looked at Belle with a puzzled look, she placed her chin on her chin and tilted her head.
“No. If you do this job for a long time, you develop an occupational disease of making useless guesses.”
“Useless speculation?”
“It’s just… these days, asking about the Saint, Lady Lucy, and Master Ed… um… I don’t think it would be good to go into too much detail. It would be important to help Lady Yenica right now. ”
Belle slightly lowered her head and passed by me, who was sitting by the fire preparing fish and shellfish.
And before opening the door to Yenica’s cabin, he suddenly turns around and speaks.
“I’m telling you just in case, you are not allowed to come in or peek. I need to wipe your sweat off and change your clothes.”
“To state the obvious…”
“Well, Master Ed would never make such a mistake.”
After saying that, Belle opened the door and pushed herself into the cabin.
However, before completely entering the body… before closing the body, I am talking about removing the upper body.
“When I think about it, I wonder if there is a reason why I shouldn’t make that mistake.”
“…?”
“Isn’t it a time of turbulence? If not at times like this, when would you make such a mistake? It’s not a sin to be a little curious about these things, so I think it would be okay to listen to your inner voice sometimes…”
“You’re saying that’s strange.” Instead, go in quickly and help Yenikana…”
“It’s unfortunate. Oh, that’s right, Master Ed.”
It’s not uncommon for Belle’s expression to change dramatically, but just before she closed the door and entered, there was a strangely refreshing feeling in the air.
“You just spoke informally.”
The tone is somewhat refreshing and refreshing. What looks relieved is the face of a gladiator who won one round.
– Bang
“…”
The sound of Yenika making a fuss was heard from inside the cabin. The sounds of Yenika screaming and asking for the door to be locked quickly, asking “What on earth are you talking about?” and Bell’s arguing about how to open the door by saying that he didn’t know how important ventilation is in a room with a patient went back and forth for a while.
– ‘Are you struggling with anything else?’
I just sat quietly and flicked my dagger around.
As I stared at the crackling campfire, I thought back to Belle’s meaningful question.
Belle is the person who manages the students living in Ofilis Building. Such a question was probably asked after making several guesses based on the reactions of the students in the Ofilis Hall, mainly Saints Clarice and Lucy.
Bell himself says that he has too much ingenuity and dismisses his tendency to think deeply and get involved in everything as his shortcoming. However, from the perspective of seeing the benefit, I am just grateful. One way or another, I received a lot of help from Bell.
-‘Lady Yenika! It’s just a crime to leave a patient in such a dusty environment! In this case, it would be better to go to the bachelor’s medical room! Even if you don’t like it, there’s nothing you can do about it! First, let’s open the door and let the air out! ‘Here we go!’
-‘Why are you doing that now?’
I couldn’t help but feel very confused when I heard the noise going around inside.
*
“Can I… ask a really indecent question…? If you feel like you’ve crossed the line, you can punish me with your fist right away. No, it seems like I’ve clearly crossed the line… but as a guy, I can’t let this go without asking. “It’s so hard. I’ll just tighten my lower abdomen and ask. I’m stubborn, so don’t worry about it.”
The person who came to see me after the class schedule was over was Ziggs.
“Did you two perform a major ceremony today?”
“…”
“…sigh…!!”
“…”
“…sin… I’m sorry.”
As the cool evening breeze blew, I brought Jenika in and sat her down to get some fresh air.
Belle’s actions, such as opening the door wide and cleaning Yenika’s body and changing her clothes, were also insane.
It felt like he was sending me some kind of signal, but I didn’t make a mistake in the end because I wanted to maintain a smooth relationship with Yenika. He’s not really an adolescent boy, and there’s no reason for him to have a big crush on me just because he wants to take a peek at a woman’s body.
Still, Yenika, who cannot see well, may be very anxious, but her ears have been turning bright red and she is unable to make eye contact.
I want to ask her if she’s seen it, but it’s hard to ask directly, so I just hesitate and blush. It’s definitely a strange feeling that they can’t even make eye contact.
Even though I believe in myself, I am still anxious because I am anxious. However, if you ask directly, it seems like you are suspicious of the other person.
I must have fallen into a state of overload while worrying alone like that. I don’t mind asking her directly, but it’s an overly kind Jenika-like response.
I’m ready to answer that I didn’t see it, but the other side is sinking on its own. However, coming forward and making excuses without even asking would only make the atmosphere strange, so this strange stalemate continues.
From a third party’s point of view, it is a situation where there is nothing to say even if you wonder if a major event was really held today…
“Actually, I just came here after receiving instructions from the student council president. He said he would not be able to come visit me in person because he was busy, so he sent me instead. “You did.”
“Tanya?”
“Yes. They are very worried. Actually, there have been some rumors going around the Ofilis building. People who were close to senior Ed are strangely worried about senior Ed.”
“It’s funny. What do I have to worry about? I appreciate you worrying, but I really don’t have anything to worry about, so don’t worry about it.”
Ziggs tilted his head and looked at me.
It seems like he’s gauging my expression for a moment, but if you look at my face with open eyes for a long time, there’s no way you’ll find anything unusual.
In the end, Ziggs nodded and agreed.
“You must have been a little behind on your camp work. Is there anything I can help you with?”
“There’s nothing right now. I’m grateful, but you probably have a lot of work to do, so there’s no need to worry.”
“Well, these are things I can handle at the same time. Since you said it’s okay, I’ll go take care of my work.”
Ziggs shook off his clothes and stood up.
“Oh, that’s right. Did Lortel come and go?”
“Lortel? No, I didn’t really come to the camp.”
“Hmm…”
Ziggs tilted his head at my answer.
“Is there any problem?”
“It’s not really that big of a deal. I heard that Senior Ed was quite worried, but he didn’t come visit me in person, so I was a little surprised. His complexion was pale right away because he was worried, but he didn’t come visit me… I’m sure it’s because he’s so busy.”
“Yeah. He’s expensive.”
“That’s true, but when I look at the documents reported by Elte Company these days, I wonder if there’s so much work piled up.”
Now that I think about it, I saw it when time was rewinding.
A scene where Elte Company’s carts were filling up the Maxes Bridge. They must have been carts transporting supplies delivered to the Elte Company.
“Well, now that I’m a member of the student council, I can’t help but pay attention to Lortel’s movements. Anyway, since you said he’s fine, I’ll report that. Please take care of yourself.”
“Okay, good luck.”
*
After that, I spent the whole time taking care of Yenika until the sun set. It felt like time went by quite quickly.
And the person who came late at night was Clarice.
He appeared wearing a robe, and I was in the middle of cleaning a wild boar carcass by the fire.
When she puts down her robe hat, the face she sees is that of a noble girl with cute chestnut-colored hair.
As soon as he takes off the pendant around his neck, the heavy tone disappears and turns into elegant white hair.
Her hair shining softly in the moonlight makes us intuitively understand why she is considered the most noble girl in the Telos Church.
I quickly threw the blood-stained dagger behind the wild boar’s carcass and tried to push the internal organs sticking out here and there with my foot to move them to a place out of sight. In fact, it was a bit late to react.
However, Clarice does not seem particularly surprised or embarrassed by the sight. He just sat on the opposite tree stump as if to relax his body.
“hello.”
I washed my hands in the floating stream and sat down on the other side. I handed Clarisse a mug that was sitting on the workbench. It is an herbal tea made using herbs brought by Belle.
The sound of insects lingers in the cool night air. So we sat quietly for a while.
As I was wondering when the silence would be broken, Clarice spoke first.
“Archbishop Verius has been officially excommunicated.”
“Is that so.”
“Holy Emperor Eldain has acknowledged his complacent attitudes. He is said to be thinking seriously about the changes of the times and the direction of our denomination to respond to those trends. This may be correct. The voice of one driving archbishop “Rather than being swayed, everyone moves in unison under the voice of the Holy Emperor who rules the Holy City Carpea.”
“Do you think that’s okay?”
Clarisse gently closes her eyes, looks at the starry sky spread out in the distance, and speaks.
“You must have struggled for a long time between your faith and your cause. It is unfortunate that you spent a long time as a bystander, but this incident may serve as an opportunity to suggest a new direction.”
“…”
“So, I’m going to believe just one more time. Holy Emperor Eldain has always been a devout believer since he lived in a monastery in the Rameln Mountains. I think it’s too early to fall into the swamp of disbelief.”
Clarice said that and lowered her gaze.
In the herbal tea at the end of the line of sight, there is a single unfiltered tea leaf floating around. The bright moon rises above the teacup, and the tea leaves across it sway.
“And… Adele…”
After speaking to that point, Clarice did not continue speaking. Silence continued for a while again.
I sat quietly for a while, waiting for Clarice’s next words. Still, Clarice seems speechless and just looks down at her teacup.
“I died laughing.”
I didn’t bother to look at Clarice’s face.
“One thing is certain: Saint Clarice, you were the meaning of her life.”
To begin with, Adele was not a minstrel or anything. The reason I decided to wander the world and become a bard was because I didn’t want to end up lying about what I told Clarice.
In a life without family, proper friends, or relationships, all you need is a reason to survive.
“I’m not sure if you realized it or not, but you gave me a reason to live in a world without connections.”
“…”
“So there’s no need to struggle or feel guilty. You did your best.”
After saying that, I closed my mouth again. Clarice looked down at the teacup for a long time… and then her shoulders began to tremble little by little.
Beneath the sound of grasshoppers, the sound of a girl swallowing her breath is heard softly.
I sat in front of him… and stayed with him for a while without saying anything.
“It’s almost summer vacation.”
Clarice stood up, ready to go back. If you spend any more time at the camp, the way back will get too dark.
In fact, it was already dark. I soaked a cloth in oil and made a torch.
Clarice accepted the flaming torch and said thank you.
“Are you still going to stay at camp during summer vacation?”
“I guess it’s because I don’t have anywhere to go.”
“I’ll come visit you often. It won’t be Clarisse then, but Kylie Ekne…”
“Do whatever you want. I don’t care.”
Clarice watched the torch for a moment and then asked hesitantly.
“I have a small favor to ask.”
“Do you mean a favor?”
“When I was Kylie and not Clarice… I was wondering if you could treat me like a junior…”
Now, I don’t know if I’m a saintly girl with pure white hair and red eyes, but when I was a bachelor, I was a noble girl with a lot of talk. It’s Kylie.
“…”
“Is this such a strange request?”
“No. Actually, since there are people around me, it’s natural to treat them as juniors. It’s been like that from the beginning.”
“I guess so, right?”
Clarice smiled softly, wondering what made her so proud.
Clarisse lowered her head and spoke for the last time, as if it was really time to go back.
“Actually… I was worried about my senior.”
“Are you worried about me?”
“Actually, you were the one who worked harder than anyone else to save Adele. In the end, it was completed that way…”
I heard that there are many people who are worried about me, especially in the Ofilis building. One of them was Clarisse.
Same goes for Bell and Ziggs. They come to me one by one and ask if I’m okay.
In fact, my answers were all the same.
“It’s okay. Actually, it’s not something that will be that difficult.”
“Then that’s a good thing…”
“I tried my best, but it didn’t work out. If you worry about every single thing and suffer, you’ll only have less time to work. So don’t worry too much.”
Clarisse looked at my face intently, then nodded and came closer to me.
And then he buries his face in my shoulder. Is it really embarrassing to say this to your face?
“Others may not know, but I remember it clearly.”
“…”
“I know how hard Ed worked and how hard he gritted his teeth. Even if everyone else forgets, I will never forget. I will remember until the day I die.”
Seeing him with his face buried and not lifting his head… it became difficult for me to react.
“It’s not much I can do, but if you need it, be sure to ask for help. I’m not sure I can return the help I received, but… I’ll do everything I can.”
“I will accept your gratitude. It is almost curfew time, so you must return.”
Clarice lifted her head from her deep sleep… and smiled with difficulty.
She laughed as hard as she could.
–
After quickly picking up Clarice, I sat alone on a tree stump next to the campfire.
I am grateful that one of them comes to visit and cares for me. Everyone was anxious, fearing that I might have hurt their feelings.
I just shook my head and said, “It’s nothing to worry about.” I repeatedly said it was okay. There is no benefit in worrying or showing weakness.
What we need to do right now is add more firewood and chop it up with a poker to make sure this bonfire lasts as long as possible. And it was necessary to first cook the trimmed meat.
I pick up a bit of firewood and throw it in, taking in the early summer night air.
Then, you feel a heavy weight on your back.
There is no need to look back.
I can feel the blood flowing down my spine.
The girl leaning against me on the other side of the tree stump was the same bard I had seen many times.
He smiles softly and lies still, leaning on my back, just as he ended his life. Feeling the weight being carried towards my body, I strengthen my back and pick up a few more piles of firewood and throw them away.
If things had gone as planned, this girl would have died anyway.
The reason I tried to save her was because I couldn’t just leave someone who was about to die alone.
You can give as many reasons as you want for not being saved.
The last regression was Time Attack. Since I had to hurry up and run away even a little further, I didn’t have time to take care of Adele first.
From Clarice’s perspective, she would have no idea where Adele might be. The fact that Adele’s starting point was the hallway of Glokt Hall was a fact that only I knew. Due to the urgent time constraints, I couldn’t even announce the fact in advance.
In the first place, it could not have been predicted that Adele’s sexual power and vitality would reach the end of this regression. Since they said it would be possible at least once, I just assumed that they would head to the Bachelor’s Cathedral like they always did. Because I’ve done this dozens of times.
However, I am aware that these reasons are all just self-defense mechanisms.
No matter what happened, Adele Seris faced death. Even though it was a death he met with a smile, the fact that he met his end does not change.
I didn’t have a particularly special relationship with Adele. The reason I tried to save her was simply because of my weak conscience. That’s right…
Anyway, I tried to save him, but the fact remains that I couldn’t.
I threw the firewood pile in for a while, overcoming the weight pressing down on my back.
“Ed.”
Suddenly, I looked up when I heard my name being called.
“I put in too much.”
When I looked at the fire, there was a lot of firewood piled up and the fire was burning.
Beyond the fire, there was Yenika sitting near the campfire.
It would have been difficult to move on my own due to blurry vision, but it was probably possible because I had some idea of the camp structure in my head.
“Ed.”
Yenika called me softly.
“are you okay.”
“okay.”
As I towed the fire with a poker, I quietly looked up at the rising flames.
“Still, it’s an experience I don’t want to repeat. Never.”
“huh.”
One day… I remembered looking up at the sky side by side with Yenika from the half-destroyed nail pipe.
Was it early summer at that time?
Joint combat training has been completed and it is now summer vacation.
There is still a lot of work to be done.
Yenica did not hastily comfort her or offer words of encouragement.
We just sat together, looking up at the flickering fire, until the darkness of the long night passed.
