Chapter 23 – Eva
The place I went with Eva, a centaur, was a campsite where ordinary soldiers were staying.
Unlike the aristocratic officers of the Kingdom Army, who always bring their personal chef to the battlefield, the Demon King’s Army seem to eat the same meal as the regular soldiers, even if they are officers.
Various races were mixed in the long line to receive food.
Starting with a stereotypical normal demon with hard horns on their heads, beastmen and half-beasts, boy-like imps and short halflings, which were advantageous for activities in these polar regions, waited for their turn.
For convenience, the humans in the kingdom call all sub-species excluding elves and dwarves the demon tribe, but if you break it down in detail, there are so many types.
“We also stand in line.”
We stood at the end of a long line following Eva.
Then her soldiers recognized her and greeted her warmly.
“Hello, Eva.”
“The line is quite long. Would you like to stand in front of me?”
“Why don’t we go for a drink next time? I know a good place.”
Perhaps because of her caring personality, everyone was friendly with Eva, the executive.
To be honest, this reaction itself was quite unfamiliar.
Aren’t soldiers and officers programmed to hate each other from birth?
From the point of view of having served in the military twice, it felt like the obvious common sense in me was being denied.
Eva, who was shy but chatting with the soldiers, introduced her to the soldiers nearby, probably because she was worried about us next to her.
“This is Mr. Patrasche, who was dispatched to the Devil’s Castle. A rich man who can even use penta-spells.”
Then exclamations naturally flowed from the mouths of the soldiers.
“Ohhh! Finally we can open lids too!”
“Fucking mole chicks! We’re all done!”
Then Camilla, the only one of us who lived a life far from war, tilted her head and asked.
“What is cap-picking?”
I shrugged her shoulders and explained.
“Usually used in the military, it’s a silverware. To completely destroy a trench created by the enemy camp with one shot of magic is called picking the lid.”
I wonder what would be the use of making trenches in a world where gunpowder weapons had not developed, but surprisingly everything was useful.
This is because wizards replace the role of guns in modern warfare.
In a world still dominated by cold weapons, there was nothing better than a tunnel to avoid the rain of fire and magic showering overhead, which naturally led to the development of trench warfare.
Normally, it was a trench warfare tactic in which the soldiers fired magic and arrows at each other, and when the enemy suffered damage and saw an angle to win, the soldiers grabbed spears and rushed at them recklessly.
Hundreds of years ago, in the era of romance, knights and wizards had a dildo and all the glory went to the winner, but how did it change?
Camilla noticed that even if I explained in detail, she didn’t understand, but she decided to skip it because it was easy to understand when you actually saw it.
After waiting for the order to be served and leisurely peeling the nogari, it was finally our turn to be served.
“Eat a lot!”
While saying that, one of the demon soldiers poured it onto the tray I was holding, which was vegetable stew with plenty of fillings.
The unknown smell of mass-manufactured food stimulates the PTSD of the past.
I added two more steamed potatoes to it, but it was half frozen because of the cold weather, so honestly, it didn’t look very appetizing.
“Let’s go to my barracks.”
We moved to her barracks with Eva.
Perhaps custom-made for her centaur, Eva’s barracks had a slightly larger entrance to her than her other barracks.
Upon entering the barracks, a tall table greeted us.
“Get a chair here.”
She brought two chairs that had been left in the corner of the barracks and handed them to us.
Usually, it seems that they just stand and eat like a horse.
Naturally, the three of them sat around a round table, but Eva seemed to have already inflated her expectations with the thought of eating.
She waggled her glossy tail and explained the dinner menu.
“Today I’m lucky. It’s quite difficult to find fresh vegetables in such a cold place. It’s been only a few days since the supplies sent from the rear arrived, so I can enjoy this luxury.”
In a work environment where it would not be strange even if complaints came out in many ways, tears seemed to flow unintentionally as she lived a steadfast life.
A person who can feel happiness with such a small thing is a very precious law.
After muttering briefly, “I’ll enjoy it,” Eva was the first of the three of us to scoop up the carrot-heavy stew with a spoon and eat it.
“Whoa~”
As soon as she took a bite, an exclamation flowed naturally from her mouth.
Being a centaur, he seemed to like carrots very much.
Anyway, just as I was about to take off my mask to have a bite, Eva said.
“Come to think of it, didn’t Mr. Patrasche say he was a rich man?
“Oh.”
Hit. It was such a concept.
I belatedly remembered the fact that undead don’t eat.
“That, that’s it.”
Even if he succeeded in evading it somehow, there was a very high chance that the information would reach Dorothea’s ears if he took off the mask in front of Dorothea’s lieutenant, Eva.
After judging up to that point, I awkwardly rubbed the back of my head and said.
“Since everyone is getting food, I feel like I should get it too…”
Eva then chimed in, happily scooping up her stew.
“Ah, I know that. If others receive it, I feel like I should too!”
‘… What do we do.’
On the first day of my dispatch to the eastern front, I cannot reveal the fact that I am actually the great mage Kaldrash who fought with your commander-in-chief on a fictitious day.
Because when Dorothea finds out about this, it’s not because she’s just a nuisance.
After much thought, I handed out the untouched vegetable stew to Eva.
Likewise, the two steamed potatoes that had nowhere to go were given to Camilla.
‘Bye Bye. My pretty supper.’
While shedding bloody tears on the inside, she spoke calmly as if nothing was wrong on the outside.
“I can’t eat it, so Eva-san eats it instead.”
Then Eva was startled and asked, holding her spoon in her mouth.
“Is that okay?”
“Wouldn’t it be better for someone to eat it than to throw it away without eating it?”
As an officer loved by the soldiers, she was well-deserved of my supper.
“Patrasch…!”
Eva stares at me with a very moved expression.
No, it’s hard for me to show this kind of reaction with only one vegetable stew.
While I was panicking inside the mask, Eva suddenly grabbed my hands and said,
“I will not forget this grace! If you have any inconvenience while living here, do not hesitate to come to me! I will make it as comfortable as possible!”
“Ah, I get it.”
Embarrassed by her spirit, which seemed to ignite fire from her eyes, I inadvertently uttered my original voice instead of falsetto, but Eva, who was already excited, did not seem to notice anything strange.
I gave a subtle signal to Camilla, who was eating her stew while biting into it, as if I had no appetite.
Then, if you pretend, you say chuck, and Camilla took the potatoes I gave her.
When I go back to the barracks later, I plan to eat comfortably in a place where there are no people watching.
After establishing the perfect crime, she waited until Eva finished her vegetable stew with her happy face on her face.
“Haa~ I always felt like I was missing something because I only received the portioned portion, but this is what it feels like to eat as much as you want!”
She tried to savor mouthful, mouthful, stew, but it seemed too tantalizing to continue.
After emptying her own bowl first, Eva took one shot of the vegetable stew I gave her with both hands, as if eating soup, and put her empty bowl down on the table while making an uncle-like noise. .
“I really enjoyed the meal!”
It was such an exciting meal that everyone who saw it was full.
***
The day after having dinner with Eva to socialize, I was taken aback by Dorothea’s call much earlier than expected.
‘What? What’s going on?’
There was nothing to pinpoint.
There hadn’t been any major accidents, and I had a comfortable day last night without bumping into the enemy.
Hopefully, going back to the barracks and roasting and eating the two potatoes he had secretly brought over the campfire would not have been caught by a passing soldier.
As I went into Dorothea’s barracks with such arrogant thoughts, unlike yesterday, Dorothea, dressed in proper clothes, greeted me while leaning on the back of Toto, her pet dog.
When her eyes met, she said with the evil grin of a bad person.
“I’m sorry I seem to be reversing what I said yesterday, but I have something urgent for you to do.”
“…What is that?”
When I questioned her, Dorothea pointed to her own lieutenant, Eva, who was standing on the other side of her barracks.
“Patrasch, get on the Eva.”
It was an unexpected order.
However, for soldiers, the option of refusal originally does not exist.
“Let’s do it, let’s try it.”
