Goddess of the Battlefield, or the Evil God (3)
Goddess of the Battlefield, or the Evil God (3)
I kept writing letters to the main family.
To summarize, they went like this:
「All the other guys are getting solid support from their homes, so they get along great with their seniors, juniors, and soldiers, but I'm the only one being ostracized. Please save me.」
Of course, I didn't expect anything.
I don't know the reason, but the Count had thrown me away.
Maybe he didn't like how I was just lazing around but never showed it, and just took this chance to dispose of me.
It would make a good example to warn the other illegitimate children to work harder.
'Fuck, when he was giving me that scary warning to never be greedy because I'm an illegitimate child and to just live gratefully accepting whatever he gives me.'
I just lived diligently as I was told, and he throws away his kid like this?
'I'll never forget this.'
The reason I keep writing letters even knowing it's hopeless is to build a justification for later.
Building justification to show the righteousness of my anger, for when I someday become a renowned general who commands the continent and march back to the main family estate.
I'll show them just how long a modern person can hold a grudge.
I also sent a separate letter to my noona Elenoa.
I didn't explain my situation.
Elenoa probably won't know, and even if she did, nothing would change.
But still, Elenoa liked me more than my half-siblings from the same father, so I'm putting my trust in her.
Considering all the snacks she's filched from me little by little over the years.
「Noonim, please send me books in a chest. Seal it up tightly, and keep the contents and the sender a secret.」
My faith was rewarded.
Elenoa sent a large cart completely filled with a chest.
"Oh, Lieutenant Piel! Your family finally sent supplies!"
Fellow officers from my cohort, senior officers, and even soldiers all swarmed out to watch.
Without me even asking, my cohort members helped me carry the chest.
Of course, we couldn't dare put it in the Commander-in-Chief's office, so we stored it in the warehouse behind the official residence.
"Just as I thought. Something must have briefly come up with the Count Anbelrum household, simply delaying things a bit."
"Haha, now that it's like this, how about we fellow cohort members have a modest and harmonious little banquet for the first time in a while?"
"That's a fantastic idea, gentlemen."
"...?"
"...?"
"At ease! Commander-nim!"
We were completely startled.
At some point, Hildea had been standing behind us with her arms crossed.
As always, her subdued blue eyes were unreadable, impossible to know what she was thinking.
"A gathering of just new lieutenants would draw unwanted attention in many ways, so I will provide my official residence. Everyone is to assemble there this evening without fail. That is an order."
Once the word 'order' is in it, there can be absolutely no disagreement or refusal.
"It is an honor!"
"Understood!"
A party at the Commander-in-Chief's official residence.
Normally, it would be the kind of thing to make you faint in terror.
'There are almost no women in our unit, and the Commander is a beauty.'
Men truly seem to be pathetic creatures.
***
Meat, meat, meat.
Everywhere was meat.
For the first time in a while, a barbecue party was held at the residence's makeshift training ground.
"Commander-nim! This is a gift our family presents to you, Commander-nim! Please, accept it."
"Oh, thank you. Today is a good day, so let us savor it together here. Is that alright?"
"It is an honor!"
One by one, my cohort members each presented a bottle of wine to Hildea.
Damn, I'm the only one without alcohol.
Booze isn't something I can request from the supply.
Lieutenant Redneck whispered quietly.
"Don't be stingy, bring it out now while we have the chance. We can't drink it among ourselves anyway, everyone would notice."
"The family didn't send any alcohol."
"What? No alcohol!"
Redneck was so stunned that all eyes suddenly snapped in this direction.
Hildea, holding her glass, let out a chuckle.
"There's plenty of alcohol here, so what's there to worry about? Now, now, thanks to you gentlemen generously providing grain and meat for the soldiers, our meals have become richer lately.
As Commander, I am grateful."
Well, the amount of meat in the soup did increase just a tiny bit.
And so, the first harmony party of the new lieutenants, under the protection of the Commander, began.
I ate the grilled meat too.
'It's tough. And the gamey smell is awful.'
They're all supposed to be from noble families, yet they eat it up so eagerly.
Seems they've already adapted to field life.
As if sensing an opportunity, everyone kept presenting things to Hildea, one after another.
Hildea called me over and then asked loudly:
"So, Lieutenant Piel. Would you care to boast before your cohort members what Count Anbelrum's household sent us for our victory?"
I could feel that she was setting the stage for me.
'I prepared hard for this very moment.'
I had moved the books that were originally in the boxes elsewhere.
Instead, I had filled them with unwrapped bulk snack bars I got through the supply cheat.
"Please wait a moment."
I went to the warehouse and returned carrying a wooden box.
Looks like all that physical training has paid off.
As I smugly opened the lid, Hildea's eyes narrowed.
The look in my cohort members' eyes was curious too.
"What is this? It looks like some kind of dried food...."
"It's an easily consumable food product. Would you care to try one?"
"Without even any soup to dissolve it in?"
"It looks hard, but it isn't. Please, trust me and try it."
Half-doubtingly, Hildea picked one up.
The moment she bit lightly into it with her white teeth.
Badasak.
Hildea froze.
***
Hildea's eyelashes fluttered slightly.
'This softness, this taste, just what is...!'
Mass-produced biscuits become hard as bricks.
There is no solution to this.
That's why they must be eaten dissolved in soup or water.
But this biscuit, contrary to its appearance, is incredibly crispy.
The outside seems hard, but when chewed, it crumbles in the mouth without any resistance.
'It's sweet.'
A powerfully surging sweetness, with a subtle bitterness hidden within it.
'There's salt in it too.'
Salt is essential for maintaining combat strength.
Currently, the field army was absurdly short on salt, just like other supplies.
More than anything, with every bite she chewed, it felt like concentrated energy was overflowing.
It's tremendously high in calories.
Closing her eyes and savoring the taste, Hildea spoke.
"You all try one as well."
"Yes, Commander-nim."
The lieutenants, who had been intensely curious after seeing Hildea's reaction, each picked up a snack bar,
and every single one of them was startled.
"What the— how can it taste like this?"
"It's soft! It looks hard, but it chews softly!"
"This is well-made enough to be served as a snack at a social gathering! And they made something like this in bulk?"
"Just how wealthy is Count Anbelrum's house to send something like this...!"
Piel quickly stepped forward and said.
"This wasn't sent by the Anbelrum family, but by my maternal family!"
"Maternal family?"
"No wonder, I'd never heard that the Count Anbelrum household had a chef capable of preparing such high-quality biscuits in large quantities."
"Commander-nim, my maternal family has agreed to send these milk salt snack bars once a month from now on."
"Milk salt? You mean they made this huge amount by adding milk and even salt? Just for soldiers to eat?"
"Just how wealthy is Piel's maternal family to...!"
The noble lieutenants murmured among themselves, repeatedly surprised.
Pastries are luxury items for the nobility.
Even making a single small, soft biscuit requires tremendous care and effort.
But this biscuit boasted a taste rivaling the biscuits nobles eat,
and its texture was far superior.
Having eaten one, she also realized that its calorie count was extremely high relative to its size.
'Just how did they make this much?'
Piel politely made a suggestion to Hildea.
"Commander-nim, this milk salt snack bar is simple to carry and consume. I believe it would be most efficient to supply it as field rations for combat units going on deployment."
"Your opinion is valid. Can we truly receive the same amount every month?"
"Yes, Commander-nim."
"Will it stop midway?"
"The production itself won't be an issue."
"...Understood."
Hildea stared intently at Piel.
'It wasn't the military side, then.'
She had lowered her evaluation of him to rock bottom because he was an illegitimate child of the Count Anbelrum household who couldn't use magic or the sword.
But his value lay elsewhere.
"Then I will trust you, Lieutenant."
"Yes, Commander-nim."
The girl Commander, a head shorter than Piel, lightly patted his shoulder.
***
When I first tested eating some high-end snack-type foods, I felt a tremendous shock from the flavor.
The taste bombardment of modern Earth's advanced food chemistry was not firepower these medieval fantasy people could withstand.
The full-course meals I had eaten every day and found delicious at the main house were simply because this body had been calibrated to them ever since I was born into it.
'And the milk salt snack bar is the cheapest and blandest flavor, yet the reaction is like this.'
A combat food that civilians wouldn't eat even if you gave it away for free, and that American soldiers shun.
It has no real advantage other than being ridiculously cheap.
It was even discontinued a few years before I got possessed, but it was on the supply request list.
'If they're this shocked by something like this, what if they ate something like a super high-calorie, concentrated chocolate bar?'
Just imagining it makes me laugh without even realizing it.
The party ended early.
The lieutenants swiftly and neatly cleaned up every trace.
My cohort members all looked at me with regretful eyes.
I know what they're hoping for.
"Take these with you. Don't just eat them alone, share some with the soldiers under you."
"Oh my, thank you."
"This is what it means to have good cohort mates."
I handed out a few milk salt snack bars per person and sent them off.
The lieutenants wrapped their snack bars carefully in cloth before leaving.
"Lieutenant Piel, follow me."
"Yes, Commander-nim."
We sat down at the meeting table in the Commander's office.
Hildea's almost pale white skin didn't look intoxicated at all.
Even though she had clearly drunk a ton of alcohol.
"How do you intend to distribute them?"
"I will follow your will, Commander-nim."
"That's not possible. By custom, how to distribute them to the soldiers is entirely up to your will. Even the Commander cannot interfere in this.
However, you don't have any subordinates."
"I am content with my position as the duty officer attending the Commander-nim."
That's a lie.
To secure a bigger budget for the supply cheat, I need to have a lot of subordinates.
But I can't blatantly say something so obvious in front of the Commander.
'If possible, holding concurrent positions would be good. Even if it's a small unit, maybe being in charge of one directly under the Commander.'
Something like creating a unit for managing the Commander-in-Chief's official residence would be perfect.
"As you suggested earlier, I think providing them to field units undertaking dangerous operations is efficient."
The blue eyes shining between her silver hair slightly narrowed.
"I often lead mobile units out on search-and-destroy combat. And the most inconvenient thing on field operations that last for days is cooking."
"It must be difficult to eat hard biscuits without soup."
"It's fine for me since I am a Sword Master. But the other knights and soldiers struggle greatly.
Your milk salt snack bar will be a great help in maintaining the combat strength of the mobile units. I must consider that contribution."
My heart pounds.
"I am assigning you to the Supply Department. Effective immediately from right now."
"Then I can no longer closely assist you, Commander-nim?"
"When have you ever assisted me? Ah, you did keep me company as a meal companion so I wouldn't be lonely."
Well, that was you shielding me with your rank insignia so I could eat in peace.
"What do you want? I will grant it as much as possible."
"I wish to concurrently hold the duty officer position and the Supply Department role."
"Concurrent positions... Since there's nothing to do as a duty officer anyway, I suppose it's fine. Permission granted."
***
【You have been appointed to the position of 'Supply Officer Assistant'.】
【Piel Anbelreum】
【Rank : Second Lieutenant】
【Position : Supply Officer Assistant, Commander-in-Chief's Duty Officer】
【With the addition of a position, supply requests for some items become possible.】
▶ Staple Foods
Rice, flour, canned potatoes, oatmeal...
▶ Proteins
Canned chicken/beef/tuna, eggs, dried lentils...
▶ Vegetables
Carrots, peas, corn, spinach...
▶ Dairy Products
Powdered milk, milk, cheese block, butter block...
▶ Seasonings and Sub-Ingredients
Salt, pepper, sugar, cooking oil, mayonnaise packs...
Finally, the list of requestable items had new things unlocked.
But maybe because the position is Assistant Supply Officer, they're all cooking ingredients.
I can't even really use these for the knights or soldiers.
'At this point, all I can do with these is spoil Commander Hildea's palate.'
I still examined the countless items still marked with the 'Request Impossible' seal.
Construction materials, fuel, all sorts of weapons and ammunition....
'So when I reach the max rank and position, I can request everything here.'