CH 9

Chapter 9:

The next day, I’d assumed we’d be collecting more medicinal herbs, but we were given cultivation work instead.

Adjacent to the instruction facility was an area laden with vegetation… We were allocated some space within a greenhouse-like building and were given the task of helping to grow herbs.

They lectured us on everything from how to water them correctly to removing any unwanted pests.

There’s all sorts of herbs that I haven’t even heard of.

“Ah…”

As I went about my job of watering the herbs, I accidentally bumped into a female soldier.

I think she’s from the same unit as me.

Despite her face being covered up by a towel, it’s still obvious that she’s a woman.

In terms of height, I suppose she’s not too far my own?

“S-Sorry about that.”

Female recruits stay in the women’s dorms next to training facility, but go through the same daily process that we do.

Normally we wouldn’t see them.

The distinction between the sexes here is quite sturdy.

“Nonono, I’m also at fault.”

“Hey, you two! Get back to work!”

Crap! I got yelled at!

I need to hurry and refocus myself.

The primary use for herbs are for their medicinal usages, but they’re also a component in other fields, such as magic, and alchemy.

Rather than the country’s history, I remember learning more about the history of medicine back when I was stuck in that classroom.

Glancing around the area, I noticed that not even half of the recruits were interested in what they were doing.

For me, it’s interesting, but I suppose that because it’s new to me and a commonplace thing for them?

It’s rather fun being in one of those magic school things, don’t you think?

Next up was another classroom lecture, this time regarding how to harvest monster corpses.

The class was joint between both the men and the women.

Sleep Rabbits were brought into the room and provided to each individual, who would then need to process it.

The woman I’d bumped into earlier was also divided into the same group as me.

Greeting her with a short hello, I then turn my attention to the matter at hand and audibly gulp.

Butchering…. Yup. It’s a skill I’ll need to survive. That’s true.

“Gehhh…….”

The woman’s face turned blue as she cut the monster apart with the provided tools.

I probably looked the same, but my attempts typically ended up being met with failure.

Brute, on the other hand, breezed right through the work with an air of familiarity.

As a side note, I also learned that we’d be eating the Sleep Rabbits that we’d prepared later in the evening.

The time we had remaining was spent tending to vegetation once again.

Self-sufficiency to the utmost degree seems to be paramount here, so we’re out in the fields, hoes in hand.

The orders we’ve been given are pretty damn unreasonable.

If anyone gets caught trying to sleep, it’s an hour of non-stop pushups, garbage collection…. toilet duty is especially traumatic. It seriously stinks in there.

When Brute and I had to do it together, the stench stuck around on us for ages.

I’d even considered taking a skill relating to cleaning or something along those lines.

Next… is the trash pile outside of the training facility.

There’s broken training swords, the remnants of broken armor etc… Among the pile, I came upon a large cauldron with a gaping hole on it.

It’s seriously rusted over.

Seeing the cauldron brought back memories of a story I once read.

It had a cauldron being used as a mock-bathtub.

I’m at the end of my wits with the lack of hot water bathing here.

For around two, three days worth of free and sleeping time, I tried my hand at repairing the cauldron.

The first step was removing the rest from it, then patching up the holes with some discarded equipment. Using the materials from an Electro-Jelly as a sealant, I boarded up the holes using some tools that I’d requisitioned.

Since I’ve been personally maintaining my own equipment, I’ve gained some know-how on how to go about fixing it.

Before the day ended, I’d begun the final repairs.

Grabbing a hammer, I repeatedly banged it against the cauldron.

I’m curious as to how well the emergency repairs will go without the usage of fire in the repair process.

“Hey, Brute… We’ll be over here today.”

“Buu?”

After that, Brute and I ferried water over to the cauldron and began to heat it up.

Both Brute and I can handle a few flames.

Once the temperature reached an acceptable level, I hurried Brute to get in as soon as possible.

“Buuu….”

“Something wrong?”

Why’s he holding back so much? After all, he’s the one who did all the heavy labor; splitting the firewood apart with that large axe.

The mocking laughs and pointing of others from the training school windows didn’t bother us one bit.

“Do you not like bathing?”

“Bu.”

Brute shook his hea-, rather, his nose at the question.

“You don’t need to act so reservedly. Go on, enjoy it.”

“Buu.”

Despite being an orc, Brute’s pretty shy.

The image I’d had of orcs was more in line with an evil creature like you’d hear about in the stories, but they’re not like that at all in reality.

Since he helped out so much in battle, I wanted him to give the cauldron bath its first trial run as my way of saying thanks.

Inevitably, Brute surrendered any more resistance and immersed himself within the cauldron.

“Buuu….”

Oho? Seems to me like the hot water feels good.

But… it kinda reminds me of…

‘Pork marrow soup’ floated around inside my mind as I watched Brute inside of the bathtub.

Using the soap that Brute had provided, I lathered him up and began scrubbing his back with the scrubbing brush after he’d had a good soak.

Orcs must have tough skin… Maybe it’s chewy, and supple…

“Oink!”

After wiping his body off with a towel, Brute got out of the water and changed back into his clothes.

Then, we refilled the water and heated it up once again.

“Alright, time to get in.”

It’s my turn to bathe now.

The hot water feels wonderful.

Since I washed his back for him, Brute reciprocated by scrubbing my back too.

As a result, I almost had the skin from my back peeled straight off thanks to his arm strength.

It’s an effective method of removing any trace of smell though.

Thankfully, the repair process went well.

The days went by like this for around two weeks… Some days I went without gaining any experience at all.

“Congratulations, recruits! You’ve got tomorrow off! You’ll be given some spending money and allowed to go outside! Make the most of it!”

Basically, we get one day off per week. but we’re not allowed out during the first.

Regardless, a sense of relief washed over me as I thought of the brief reprise.

Kicking back and relaxing might be a good idea, but I’m also interested in getting a better understanding of this world.

If you don’t count the mental fatigue that’s built up, there’s not really much else to do… I want to eat something that tastes good.

It baffles me how they’re able to make such disgusting, smelly food.

As such, we received a day off.

I accompanied my seniors to the nearest town to the training facility by foot.

Oh… how do I put this into words? The town’s landscape is like something you’d find in a game, I suppose?

It’s totally different to the one surrounding the castle.

The atmospheric feels so realistic, and the way the wind feels on your skin only adds to the excitement.

I now had to decide what to spend my limited wages on.

Hmm… Based on what I’ve heard from my seniors and the other recruits, a good way to spend it is to buy a drink at a tavern and mingle with experienced adventurers.

I wonder what I should do?

As for now, I’ll mull it over while walking.

“Ohh? That you, Totsuka?”

Turning around to face the voice, I spotted Fujihira, bounding with confidence, pointing towards and approaching me.

His gear’s improved, hasn’t it?

Fujihira’s wearing scaled armor, one that’s easy to move around in, with a sword at his waist. and a bow on his back.

He doesn’t look angry anymore, at the very least.

“Fujihira, huh?”

“So, what are you doing out here?”

“What am I doing here? It’s my day off from military training.”

Fujihira, with a snide expression plastered over his face, gestured towards a nearby cafe, one hand covering his stomach, presumably attempting to hold back his laughter.

“Well, that’s fine. I’m feeling generous anyway, let’s grab a drink from over there. (So I can brag about myself)”.

Something about the way he’s speaking screams “let me brag about how well I’m doing” to me.

Or, perhaps it’s something to do with my Otherworld Language Comprehension skill?

After all, everything that comes out of Fujihira’s mouth is otherworldly…

“Seeing as you’re so poor, I shall take pity on you.”

Hmm, I’ve not a whole lot of money to spend, so I may as well have Fujihira pay for the drinks. Why not?

I haven’t had a conversation with anyone from our world in over two weeks now. Even Fujihira will do.

So, as I sat down on a chair outside of the cafe… Fujihira went inside to order tea from the employee there.

I’m sure you have to… pay in advance, right?

“So, Totsuka, how’s military life treating you?”

“So-so… I guess. It’s about as much as you can imagine when it comes to military service. Simple, but hard work. Learned a lot doing it though.”

First thing’s first, I need to get accustomed to living in this world.

Actually, over the past fortnight I’ve learned how to recognize the medicinal herbs that grow in the area, and I’m able to create medicine to help staunch wounds using them.

Picking up a skill gives you some kind of assistance, what military service has taught me so far is that I can do the same things the skills can do without needing to invest into them.

In doing so, more and more skills will become available, and the process of gaining them becomes even more efficient.

Perhaps I would’ve received a lot of personal training if I’d chosen to become an “Otherworldy Warrior”, but I prefer living at my own pace.

That’s something Fujihira and I have in common, no?

He did say that he’d live his life the way he wanted to live it.

“A picture is worth more than a thousand words, you know? You’re so naive.”

Patronizing.

No way around it, that’s Fujihira for you.

The only right answer to him is the one he decided for himself.

He’s such a prick.

If he didn’t offer to buy me a drink I wouldn’t even bother talking to him.

It must be nice being able to take the position of being better than everyone else.

Always prepared from the very get go.

That’s why I’m doing this.

If I keep relying on skills the whole time I’m inevitably going to set myself up for failure.

Still, I wondered what he’d been up to while we hadn’t seen each other.

I thought about it and felt like maybe trying to reach out, but now that I’ve actually gone and met the guy I’m starting to regret it.

Why did I even bother going along with him when I already know what he’s like?