Vivian's Escort Unit (5)
I approached my unit.
Fifty pairs of eyes locked onto Vivian as she trailed behind me.
Even I found their stares unnerving for a moment, so I snapped,
"Quit gawking already. She says you guys are creeping her out."
Vivian startled and grabbed my arm, protesting,
"I-I never said that...!"
But everyone seemed to realize their staring had gone too far. The boy soldiers one by one averted their eyes with awkward little gestures.
At least Barron, who was somewhat friendly with me, stepped forward to voice the question on everyone's mind.
"So... Kailo, is it true that Lady Vivian is really... sleeping with us tonight?"
"Not like there's anywhere else for her to go."
"Well, yeah, but..."
Barron then locked eyes with Vivian, who was pressed right up against my back.
He didn't know what to do with himself—crouching low, stepping backward, offering a stiff salute, even scratching the back of his head.
His reaction wasn't entirely incomprehensible.
How often would a commoner get to stand this close to the lord of all of vast Loktana?
Even if they lived in the same castle, someone like Barron and Vivian Rondore rarely crossed paths.
It was the same for all of them.
They had only ever seen her face from a distance. This was the first time Vivian had come this near in such a disheveled state.
Knowing that, I called out to everyone.
"We're stuck together for ten days anyway, so stop acting so awkward and just be yourselves. If you keep this up the whole expedition, it's only going to wear us all out."
They all pricked up their ears, then pretended they hadn't been listening.
Once again, Barron was the first to move.
He fidgeted in front of me, then thrust out his hand as if offering a handshake.
"I-I'm Barron. I-I'll take good care of you."
—Smack!
Out of pure irritation I slapped his hand down.
Barron looked crestfallen, glancing between me and waiting for Vivian's reaction.
Vivian answered his gesture by shrinking back a little, shoulders hunched.
"I-I'm Vivian Rondore..."
"Who doesn't know that?"
I couldn't hold back another scolding at her awkward reply.
Vivian looked embarrassed, as if realizing her mistake.
Willas shot forward right after seeing Barron's greeting.
"I-I'm Willas."
"Ah, yes... P-please take care of me..."
Vivian's pure, unguarded response left them all briefly stunned.
The only treatment they had ever received from nobles was contempt and dismissal, so this side of Vivian seemed completely foreign to them.
And just as that silence was about to break, all fifty boy soldiers swarmed in at once, each scrambling to impress their name upon her.
"I-I'm Martin."
"Lady Vivian! I'm Duran...!"
"I'm...!" "Me too...!"
Vivian answered each one diligently.
"Ah, yes. Ah, I see... Ah, yes..."
I left them to their introductions and headed for the fire burning in the center of the campsite.
—Swish...
But once again, someone was clutching the hem of my clothes as I walked.
Sure enough, Vivian was trying to follow wherever I went.
Even if she pretended to be fine, their attention still seemed overwhelming for her.
She had always been surrounded by the same familiar faces; suddenly dropped into a new group, she looked thoroughly flustered.
—Tug.
I brushed her hand off.
The kids in the Disciplinary Unit could be rough around the edges, and they definitely had a mischievous streak... but they weren't so hardened by the world that they'd try to take the family head's life.
There wouldn't be any problems here.
—Swish.
"Ah, yes... Th-that's right... Yes, yes..."
Yet even as Vivian carefully responded to the boy soldiers, she kept grabbing at my clothes as if clinging for dear life.
It was a silent vow that she would never be left alone among them.
I found it so absurd I whispered to her,
"...You curse me out one minute, and the next you're trailing after me like this?"
Vivian whispered back just as quietly, like a ventriloquist.
"...Be quiet. This is all your fault."
In the end I just walked on with her attached.
The campsite was divided into four sections.
The mid-level officers of the Disciplinary Unit had set up their camps at regular intervals.
And into each of those camps a watch unit had been assigned to keep an eye on everyone.
There were several reasons for spreading the lodging out so widely... but the biggest one was the dragons.
Dragons that could appear at any moment, from anywhere.
The odds were vanishingly small, but if an enraged dragon ever unleashed its breath over a sleeping camp, everyone would be wiped out in an instant.
Better to be spread out, however clumsily.
Anyway, that meant we still had to prepare a meal for fifty.
I walked up to the pot sitting over the fire in the center of the camp.
"Nobody touch this pot today. I'm cooking."
I declared it to the members of the Disciplinary Unit.
They all reacted in their own ways.
"What? What's got into you?"
"Fine by us. Make it tasty, yeah?"
Most of the responses were positive, but a few eyed my motives with suspicion.
"...This bastard's just trying to look good in front of Lady Vivian..."
I snorted at the accusation and pointed at her.
"What's so pretty about her that I'd try to impress her? If it weren't for her, I wouldn't even be stuck rolling around with you lot."
"...Yeah, that tracks."
Even the suspicious ones seemed to accept that answer.
Vivian didn't react either.
She already knew exactly why I was doing this.
It was simply so no poison would end up in the food.
The chance of that happening was zero, but this put my mind at ease.
Martin and a few other boy soldiers brought the provisions from the cart.
Potatoes, carrots, onions, and some slightly gamey meat...
I sniffed each one carefully to check its condition, and once I was satisfied nothing was off, I tossed them into the boiling pot one after another in proper order.
Vivian squatted beside me, watching, then asked,
"...You know how to cook?"
"In the Disciplinary Unit you have to cook sometimes."
"You did that too?"
"Now you see how easy you've had it compared to me?"
"..."
It had been a light question, but my reply seemed to sour her mood.
I expected her to storm off in irritation, but instead Vivian stood up and reached for a potato.
She sniffed the ingredients the same way I had, then said with an incredulous look,
"How hard can this be that you're showing off? I can do it too, you know."
And then she tried to dump the entire basket of potatoes straight into the pot.
I hurriedly stopped her.
"Hey, hey! If you put them all in—!"
—Rumble... Plop! Plop!
Vivian seemed to realize from my warning that she had done something wrong, looking at me with a startled expression.
Not just me—every boy soldier around us stood with their mouths hanging open at her actions.
Vivian's impulsive move brought the first true silence to the campsite.
She shrank under that silence.
"...I-I thought everyone would eat this much..."
I explained it to her.
"Everyone would eat that much... if that was all they were eating. That's our entire ten-day supply of potatoes. Get them out of the water, quick."
"I-I'm sorry..."
Vivian hurriedly began scooping the potatoes out one by one with a ladle.
When she had gotten about half of them, I looked at the state of the ones still in the pot and said,
"Leave the rest. They're already half-cooked; nothing we can do about them now. They'll just spoil faster."
Vivian fidgeted like a criminal, repeatedly glancing between the boy soldiers and me.
Willas tried to lighten the mood.
"Haha... hahah! I-it's fine, Lady Vivian! A-anyway it all came from the Rondore warehouses, so we're grateful for whatever you give us...!"
Duran, who had also been reading the room, chimed in.
"Th-that's right...! I like potatoes anyway...! We'll eat till we burst today!"
I threw cold water on them.
"And later you'll be gnawing on nothing but carrots?"
Barron jabbed me in the side and hissed,
"You bastard...! Who doesn't know that...! Just play along a little...!"
Vivian looked even more dejected watching Barron.
And looking at that Vivian, I couldn't hold back the laugh that burst out of me.
As I laughed alone, chuckles gradually began to ripple through the boy soldiers as well.
The more they laughed, the redder Vivian's face grew—matching her hair.
She also seemed a little relieved that they weren't thinking badly of her after all.
Someone even tossed out a joke into the loosening atmosphere.
"Dinner's gonna be great tonight! Boiled potatoes instead of stew works just fine."
"You're even more charming for being so human, Lady Vivian!"
"...Her future husband is going to be a lucky man."
Vivian whispered without lifting her head,
"E-everyone, please stop..."
But the corners of her mouth were curved ever so slightly upward.
Once the cooking was finished, everyone received their portions.
"Whoa! What is this flavor!"
"This heavenly taste...!"
While they all made a show of fussing loud enough for Vivian to hear, she was putting the food from her own dish into her mouth.
She still wore a flush, as if the whole atmosphere remained hard to get used to.
Even so, I was glad it wasn't that gloomy expression she used to wear back at Rondore Castle.
"Is it edible?"
When I asked, she gave a small nod.
She even seemed a little proud of the fact that she had helped cook.
While we continued eating, Burgor approached.
"Having a meal, are we? Ah, Lady Vivian. Does the food suit your taste..."
"Yes, it's fine."
Burgor walked over to the pot still sitting over the fire and peered inside.
"Hm?"
He voiced his confusion and launched into a scolding.
"What the—! Who cooked today? Who told you to put in this many potatoes? Planning to live on nothing but onions later—"
Martin answered with a sly grin.
"Lady Vivian did it."
"..."
Burgor froze on the spot.
His face said he had never once imagined Vivian would actually cook.
And why would he? The head of the Rondore family and lord of Loktana... cooking for a bunch of boy soldiers?
Vivian hid her face between her knees.
The boy soldiers snickered at Burgor with looks that said, You're in for it now.
Burgor cleared his throat and started making excuses.
"Well, it looks better than I expected. As expected of Lady Vivian, thinking of you all..."
While he continued his long-winded speech, quiet backtalk circulated about how pathetic and shameless he looked.
"Y-you're sleeping like this?"
After the meal, once we had brushed the ground clean and laid out our bedrolls, Vivian looked panicked.
Instead of the ceiling she was used to, the open sky stretched above our heads.
The boy soldiers found their own spots, cleared away stones, spread their bedrolls, and lay down.
A few who had later watch shifts, or who were simply exhausted, were already snoring.
Fortunately I didn't have to stand watch tonight.
Vivian stared at them sprawled out and couldn't hide her shock.
She must have assumed we would at least put up tents.
But tents meant manpower and extra baggage.
For us, sleeping like this was simply more comfortable.
I told her,
"Even if we wanted to set up tents, we don't have the canvas. Just accept it and lie down already. If you fall asleep late, the snoring will make it hell."
"..."
I tossed her bedroll to her, found a flat spot, cleared the stones, spread my own bedroll, and lay down on the ground.
After walking all day, my body felt heavy and limp.
Perfect weather for falling asleep to a cool breeze.
"..."
As I lay there, Vivian also began gathering stones beside me.
I had expected it, but the moment she actually lay down next to me, my breath kept catching.
With slow movements she spread her bedroll and settled in.
Our shoulders were almost close enough to touch.
"..."
I couldn't understand why she had pressed herself this close to me.
Was it an expression of her anxiety? Was she not thinking straight? Or was there some other reason?
At a distance only the two of us could hear, she mumbled,
"Is this how we sleep...? It's a little c-cold."
"...I feel fine."
"That's because you're from the cold North. And a little bit of a barbarian."
"...For the record, I'm nobility too, no matter what you say."
I shook my head and turned my back to her.
Turning away made my heart settle a little.
"Stop whining and go to sleep. Tomorrow's going to be busy."
"...You said the fighting starts tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah."
"I hope no one gets hurt."
Did the "no one" she meant include me?
This was the same girl who had once hoped I would die on an expedition.
But I didn't bother asking about that feeling.
Instead I squeezed my eyes shut and sorted through my thoughts.
Cold.
Vivian thought.
She wasn't conscious enough to do anything about the fact that she was freezing.
In her half-dreaming state she simply curled up reflexively against the chilly wind and weather.
Her body fidgeted this way and that as if searching for a blanket. Unconsciously she kept shifting toward the only source of warmth she could find.
Whether she was catching a cold or not, shallow sneezes kept escaping her.
Vivian kept sniffling as she tried to sleep.
—Swish.
In that moment, something warm covered her from behind.
She felt peace in that warmth and started to drift off again.
...Yet at the same time, a sense that something was wrong jolted her fully awake.
"..."
Vivian opened her eyes.
Lying on her side with her arm for a pillow, her gaze took in the blue landscape cast by the dawn sun.
And at the same time she realized something heavy was pressing down on her.
Another person's arm lay over hers, and another person's leg was draped over her own.
From the warm heat against her back, she understood that someone had just pulled her into an embrace.
Kailo.
Looking at the hand, it could only be Kailo. The only one who had fallen asleep beside her was Kailo.
Kailo, who had wrapped his arms around her shivering form, drew in a deep breath, then slowly let it out.
His breath tickled her neck and sent a shiver racing down her spine.
Even though she knew she should move, Vivian couldn't.
One question above all else held her frozen in place.
...Was Kailo awake right now, or still asleep?
Had he embraced her unconsciously, or had he done it knowingly?
She didn't even understand why she was so curious, or why she was staying still... yet Vivian simply remained rigid.
She accepted every bit of the warmth he was giving her.
"..."
She knew that once day came and her mind grew clearer than it was now, she would regret this choice.
The fact that she had frozen in the arms of Kailo Allen—whom she still hated so much—would become unbearably shameful.
But even knowing that, Vivian couldn't move.
Thump... thump... thump...!
Her heart was pounding more wildly than ever. It felt strange.
In the end Vivian couldn't overcome that strange curiosity.
She slowly wriggled in his arms and turned her body.
She felt she had to know.
Whether it was chance or deliberate.
Pretending to toss in her sleep, she... soon lay facing him.
Not the usual dusty, blood-tinged scent... but the smell of grass and fire.
Kailo's scent was strangely easy to imprint on her mind.
While her body melted into the warmth he gave, she gathered her courage.
Vivian soothed her trembling heart, then slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Kailo.
"..."
"..."
Kailo was looking at her with his eyes calmly open.
Even though his actions had been discovered, he showed not the slightest hint of shame.
Without adjusting or correcting his posture, he simply met her gaze just like that.
His lips were close enough that they nearly brushed her forehead.
—Thump-thump-thump!!
Unable to endure her heart that felt ready to burst, Vivian shoved Kailo away.
The cold weather turned scorching in an instant.
"Hah... hah... You... you... so..."
Breathing hard, she couldn't bring herself to accuse him of anything.
Because she herself had been just as awake, wriggling in his arms.
Because she had strangely hesitated instead of pushing him away at once.
If she asked why he had held her, he would obviously ask why she hadn't pushed him off—and she had no answer for that.
"Ugh..."
"..."
Kailo looked like he had no desire to clarify the situation.
He scratched his head, rose from his spot, and stretched.
"...Yaaawn."
He picked up the two-handed sword he had laid beside him and let out a sigh.
Then he walked over to the pot that had been left in the center of the campsite and calmly began to cook.