Hikari opened her eyes. It was quite dim in her tent for what seemed like morning. She could hear the sound of rain hitting against the surface of her tent.
"It's that time of the year again. Can't cook breakfast with this rain. Just have to rest now."
She felt a furry body on her stomach. It was Camilia curled up on her shirt.
"Good morning. Lady Camilia."
The beast kin's ears twitched. She opened her eyes, uncurled herself and stretched out her arms, her claws coming out of her paws.
"Morning Hikari! Meow! How ya doing! Did ya sleep well? Sweet dreams?"
Hikari stayed still. Her set of shirts, pants and socks that she had been wearing for almost a week was starting to feel slimy and itchy. She had already gotten numb to the consistent smell of the many layers of her dried sweat.
"I smell."
"Ya, ya. Me too. Brrr. But it's really warm here, so if ya don't mind why don't ya just lie down for a bit more. It's not like ya can go out right now cuz of the rain. Da front had gotten a bit quiet now. Seems like da hooded men had run away and hid in da swamps now. Da boys need rest and munchies too."
Hikari laid back down and closed her eyes. Her stomach growled.
Supplies had been quite sporadic for the past few days of low.
"Ya, Meow is hungry too. Meow has been hearing the offies say that the columns were attacked by wyverns. Sometimes they mention something about some Herdial praetor making off with supplies. Den da men disappearing into the woods and never coming back. Da Herdial camp next to us seemed to be doing fine."
Hikari continued her meditation. There was little else she could do but conserve energy as much as possible. Her body was feeling numb from laying down flat in her tent for the past few days.
"I miss home now. Meow. Lucky Ria, she didn't have to do this cuz she was too skinny to bash the hooded man. When I reach dat hooded man's place, I give them a piece of Meow mind. You would be there too won't ya Hikari?"
The splattering sound against the tent stopped. She pinched Camilia's scruff with her fingers and lifted her off to the side, receiving a brief growl in return.
She placed her feet onto her boot sole and assembled the boot pieces around her lower leg. Once done, she strapped on her knee pads. Then, in a squatting position, she leaned forward towards the tent entrance, shifting her weight towards it until her knee pad touched the mud.
The camp was little more than mud, the soaked greyish surface of tents, stones around doused campfires, a wooden palisade in the background.
The soldiers came out of their tents, standing around idly for something to eat. Their uniforms muddy and soaked.
"Ugh… meow… looks like food carts still not here yet. Did they get chewed up on the way here?"
Hikari's stomach growled.
"Let's eat that."
"Meow.. again? That stuff makes me feel sick."
I'm
"Hehehehe…..! We are eating that again? " A creepy laugh came from behind Hikari's boot.
"Eeekk…! Zark! Since when were you standing there meow! I didn't even see you!"
"Hehehe! I'm glad Hikari loves my concoctions, hehehehe….!"
"Oh well. Meow. I'm glad Zark is showing some energy. Good for ya Zark!"
Hikari drew her claymore, dusting it off with a telekinetic blast before placing it onto a pair of stone supports.
Rotbenmore men in their black robes and silver masks gathered around along with several wind ranger beastkin in their coats of fur and Razenheir scouts in their hoods.
They shoved piles of sticks and leaves stored under tents which kept them dry from the rain, closing it in with stone.
Hikari got down on one knee and gently ignited the foliage.
Then, the men queued up with sacks of grey tentacles, spreading them out on the broad face of Hikari's sword.
"Hehehe… that's it… let it shimmer… "
"Get on with it meow…"
At Zark's signal, the robed men sprinkled a glowing green dust over the sizzling tentacles.
"Now… if you will… hehehe… hikari… hehehe…"
Hikari grabbed the sword handle and channeled her mana. The claymore glowed red with her flames, causing a reaction in the dust, creating a brief but brilliant green flame.
Zark leaned forward, examining the tentacles.
"Good… Good! Hehehe…"
"Ya, ya meow, we can see it's cooked. Add the mushrooms. Meow. Now move before you get burnt."
Camilia dragged the zombie boy to one side. As the searing heat on the claymore dissipated, the beastkin and RazenHeir scouts emptied their harvest sacks of mushrooms onto the hot steel, the soil and the most poisonous bits filtered out.
The final touch, salt and pepper were sprinkled. Those weren't as heavy so they brought enough on the very first day. The RazenHeir scouts used their swords to flip the grill.
It was done. The knights of the houses queued to collect their breakfast and going back to their tents
Hikari used her ladle to scrap the remainder off the claymore. The tentacles were cooked through, quite chewy and had a strange off flavor due to some residue poison. The crispy skin and seasoning somewhat made up for it.
Five mouthfuls. That was her meal. Possibly for the day.
She drew one of her daggers and ran it along the claymore, sweeping whatever scraps were left to one side for another third of a mouthful.
She stood up and put the claymore back into its scabbard. Whatever that's still stuck to the blade would be incinerated next time she goes into battle anyway.
"Good morning Hikari, hope you had a good meal."
"Scout master"
The man removed his hood revealing his unshaven face and long hair.
"I must apologize that the caravan hasn't arrived. I reckon I should send out a party to find it, dead or alive as they say. Anyways, I have a mission for you. There's a golem blocking the supply route on our left wing. Not our supply route fortunately, but take care of it quickly so that we could wrap this up and go home in good time."
"Really? A golem, meow! Where is it? Shall we go?" Camilia popped out of Hikari's tent, prancing around her boots.
Hikari assembled her armour and her full arsenal.
Then, she leapt off.
"Eh! Wait! Lemme come with ya! Meow…"
"Don't be so disheartened. Lady Camilia. This is how she is to us scouts."
"Eh? Oh you're that bounty man. Why? Meow? We're all of the same pack out here."
"Well, how do I put it? She had been on the frontlines since before you manifested your mana form. Too many had come and went before her eyes, not in a peaceful way in the majority of cases."
"Oh? Meow. I get that people die on the frontlines. But it's not that bad, is it meow?"
The scout master paused.
"Why don't you join us for the routine?"
"Meow? Okie."
She followed the scout master to a small clearing where several men from the three houses were gathered in a semi-circular arc. In the middle was a stone table, three RazenHeir swords, a wind ranger talisman and a Rotbenmore mask.
"This is… "
"A moment of silence."
The men closed their eyes and prayed. A gust of wind blew past.
After about ten minutes, the men returned to their tents.
The scout master turned to Camilla.
"So! you could have died to that flesh hound a few days ago if Hikari hadn't been there to save you. If Hikari had been away somewhere else and I mustered the soldiers, we would have lost many in that fight."
"I see… meow… "
"Oh no, I don't mean you could have caused us to lose men for nothing. In fact, you baited the flesh hound into us which made for the most favourable conditions to fight it. Although, since you're the heir to the wind ranger house, I must say that having you dying out here would have considerable consequences."
Camilia's ears drooped.
"Cheer up! I have a mission for you."
Camilia's ears sprung up. The scout master held up a piece of cloth to Camilia's nose which twitched at the smell.
"This is… Sniff* Sniff* It's Hikari's sock! Hey! Ya some kind of pervert or something!? "
"Well, I would say I have held out much better than most men. Now, I want you to track down some sock thieves. Hikari's socks have a tendency to go missing without any signs of enemy action. I suspect you might find the sock pieces with men that are, shall we say, cleaning their side arms."
"Meow? Only the knights and offies have side arms."
Camilia's ears twitched for a moment. The scout master smiled awkwardly in response.
"Okie bounty man. Meow." She pounced off.
Later in the afternoon, Hikari returned to the camp and found several men gathered around her tent.
A fat man in what appears to be a theater outfit stood by her tent.
"Ah! The maestro Hikari. The brightest rose in the territory and the lands beyond. An immovable shield like the obelisks at Igar. A sword dancer, flowing like the rivers of Herdial. Her ladyship Ria has good taste to commission me to do a poster. Oh, and we were warned to eat some Hortifern herbs so that we can focus. So hope you don't mind standing still."
A dozen painters started setting up their canvases around Hikari.
Another man in plain brown clothing too fine for the frontlines approached Hikari.
"Her ladyship Ria is much more concerned that her words reach the maestro. This humble scribe is honored to present a letter from her ladyship."
He said in an annoyed tone as he opened a letter and held it up with both hands for Hikari to read. It was in invisible ink coated in just enough RazenHeir mana for Hikari to detect.
To Hikari,
Word has reached me that the campaign is near its close. I hope you and the boys will be home soon. I understand the deprivations you face and have arranged additional shipments of provisions and clothing. Your feats were nothing short of legendary. I have already found good buyers for the golem cores. Look forward to a feast when you are back.
"Ria's handwriting. Meticulous to a fault. Hmm… but the next paragraph isn't as perfect."
I have been adhering to your training every single day in my room. It's quite effective actually, I can feel my arms building muscle. It's just rather unsightly to do this in the drill hall. When you're back I hope to receive more of your teachings. By the way, you might run into a group of painters soon. I had hoped to capture some moments for recruitment posters and for myself. Please don't give them too much trouble. P.S. there's a new pair of wyvern skin boots, do send back the current one for repairs. I have arranged heavy escorts to make sure it doesn't go missing.
"I've finished."
"Sure. do think of a response in the mean time" The scribe folded the letter and stuffed it into the flames under the boiling cauldron. Then he walked back to Hikari, looking at her expectantly.
Hikari places one finger on her lip. Several annoyed groans from the painters were heard.
"I'm fine. I'll be back soon."
"Few words as usual Hikari. Since there's enough space on the paper, I'll write it in bold face then. Helps to convey the force of your voice."
The scribe mounted a writing board on his body and made some broad strokes with his quill.
As he wrote, Hikari looked around and saw Camilia walking up to her with a bundle of cloth pieces strapped to her back.
There were several visible shot marks on her fur. As she stopped in front of Hikari, she plucked out a musket ball with her claws.
"Meow! Can't believe they shot at me. They were supposed to be friends. All I did was collect some sock pieces. Lucky the powder is wet meow. Oh! Here ya go Hikari, I found ya missing sock pieces."
"Thanks."
Hikari bent down to collect the cloth bundle. Then she pressed her finger onto Camilia's chest and cast a healing spell.
"Oh meow! Did know ya could do that! Meow! "
The sound of the cauldron bubbling out of its lid.
"Aren't ya gonna get that meow? Smells nice."
Hikari glanced around at the painters. The fat man looked around nervously.
"Just a few more minutes!" He shouted.
"I'll help ya then. Meow!"
"Thanks."