Chapter 113: Furlough

Chapter 113: Furlough

"Where was your horse?" Captain Sanjin questioned Reivyn.

"Sir? I don't have a horse," Reivyn replied, confused.

"No horse? Then how are you expected to report to me?" Sanjin asked, equally confused.

"I'm not sure I understand, sir. I have to stay with the men of First Platoon."

"Why?"

"I'm the Platoon Commander, sir."

"Isn't that Jeckly guy the Platoon Commander?"

"That's Senior Sergeant Jekle, sir. He's not a commissioned officer."

"But he's been the one acting in charge?"

"I've been grooming him for command, and I've been having him out front, but I'm the one that's been commanding, sir."

"Normally I would say that's a colossal waste of time, but it works out great in this circumstance," Sanjin nodded his head. "Go to the quartermaster and get a horse. You're now the Company XO, and you'll need the additional mobility in order to report to me."

"Yes, sir. And where will I need to go to report to you, sir? You won't be with the company?"

"Why would I be with the company?" Sanjin was taken aback. "I'll be with the battalion command staff, obviously. I'll need to stick close to the Major if I'm to contribute my military genius to the overall situation."

"Yes, sir. Of course, sir."

"Here," Sanjin handed Reivyn an empty requisition form for the quartermaster with his signature on the bottom. "Fill this out, and get yourself a horse. No need to find me tomorrow, I'll be with the Major. Just take charge of the company, and have them March out with the battalion."

"Yes, sir." Reivyn saluted, turned about at the obvious dismissal, and departed from the captain's office located in the central administrative building of the barracks. The captain's office was on the second floor, and the quartermaster's office was on the first floor, near the exit leading to the warehouse for the military gear.

Reivyn headed towards the quartermaster, the soldiers bustling about the interior of the building stepping back and saluting as he passed by. Even though Reivyn's rank was Provisional, he was still commissioned, and the regular soldiers maintained proper military decorum. Nobody looked at him askance because of his younger-looking face, even though it was beginning to finally mature.

They're probably used to seeing officers selected for nepotism, Reivyn mused. As far as I know, they still have to go through all the same training, but if my guess is correct, they don't have the possibility of failure.

The rest of the exercise in the field with the battalion performing the search-and-engage maneuvers had been pretty boring. Reivyn had ordered his men to build rudimentary fortifications in the valley, and the other platoons had gotten to work doing similar things after Jek had followed suit, but Captain Sanjin had put a stop to it.

His reasoning was that they wouldn't be there for very long, and they weren't actually fighting, so why do all that unnecessary work? Reivyn had tried to argue that it was part of the practice, but Captain Sanjin rebuffed him. It would have been easy for the other man to just let them do what they needed to do, but he specifically ordered them not to do anything unnecessary. Reivyn had felt it wasn't unnecessary, but he had to act according to what Captain Sanjin thought.

After the other company discovered them and "drove them off," they once more met up with the rest of the battalion. They had completed their training mission, as it was more to get the captains familiar with moving their men about than it was gauging combat readiness. They had already done those evaluations during the other training. The battalion had cleaned up and headed back to the city.

The Major had taken a moment to address everyone about the upcoming mission, and then they had received a day off before it was time to head out. The officers were required to compile reports about their subordinates. Reivyn had delivered his reports to Captain Sanjin on their day off, and the captain had had Reivyn write up the report for the company as a whole, using the excuse that Reivyn was his selection for XO. Reivyn suspected it had been more along the lines of him being the first officer to deliver the reports, and the captain didn't want to do the work himself.

Reivyn stopped at a small table to fill out the supply requisition form.

Let's see... I need to put in the request for the horse, obviously, but this is basically a blank check from a superior officer. I can take this chance to get the additional communication magic devices, as well as some extra spears and other gear.

Reivyn filled out the form with his own requests added to it. He didn't go overboard and ask for the moon. He felt like the additional requests were perfectly reasonable. He nodded to himself as he tucked it back into his breast pocket, and then he made his way downstairs to the quartermaster.

He stepped through the doors and was greeted by a soldier standing behind a desk. The room was fairly bare, with the other side of the desk leading directly to the warehouse attached to the back of the administrative building.

"How can I help you, sir?" The young soldier asked.

"I have a requisition form here," Reivyn said, pulling the form out and placing it on the desk in front of the soldier. "I need a horse, thirty spears, thirty swords, thirty shields..."

"Hold on a moment, sir," the soldier held his hand up. "Let me get the Supply Officer for you."

"Very well," Reivyn nodded his head as the man excused himself to walk into a side office. A moment later, another man came out with the young soldier. He was a bit older, and he had the rank insignia of a captain on his collar.

"What can I help you with..." the Supply Officer peered at Reivyn's rank insignia for a brief moment, "Provisional Lieutenant?"

"I have a requisition form here that my company commander, Captain Sanjin, ordered me to bring," Reivyn indicated the form signed by Captain Sanjin.

"Alright, let me just take a glance, here," the Supply Officer picked the form up, perusing it.

"Mhm... mhm... yes... mhm," the man nodded to himself. "Hmm... no, no, this won't work at all." He shook his head.Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

"What seems to be the problem?" Reivyn asked, a frown on his face.

"Well, your captain is requesting four additional communication tools. See, here?" The Supply Officer pointed at the spot where Reivyn had just written the request, emphasizing the rank of captain. "There's no way I can satisfy that request."

"And why is that, exactly?" Reivyn asked. "How many communication tools do you have available?"

"According to the supply manifest, we have forty of them, but if I gave you four, then I would only have thirty-six. Do you see the problem?" The man asked, a mild smile on his face.

"No."

"We have to maintain a minimum amount of extra gear on hand," the Supply Officer explained. "And we just happen to have forty of these items in reserve at all times. Protocol, you understand. So if I give you four of them, we won't have the necessary reserve any longer. I'm afraid I can't give you any."

A knocking sound came from the door, interrupting their conversation. A smile threatened to split Kefira's face in two as she leaped to the door to answer it. She threw the door open and slammed into the person on the other side, barely using enough time to verify it was the person she had been waiting for.

"Oof," Reivyn called out, instinctively circling his arm around Kefira's waist. "Miss me?"

"Of course," Kefira answered, leaning back without letting go to gaze up into his face. "This will be the last time we'll have any real privacy. Speaking of," Kefira turned to Serilla, "go wait in the common room."

Serilla raised an eyebrow at the command, and Reivyn took a step back, concern on his face.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Reivyn questioned, Serilla nodding along.

"I let you be the gentleman last time and convince me to let her chaperone us," Kefira said, turning back to Reivyn. "But not this time. We're going to have some real time alone together." She addressed Serilla once again. "I promise it won't be for long enough for anything untoward to happen, so you can go with a clear conscience."

"Really?" Serilla eyed Reivyn up and down as she walked to the door. "By the looks of him, I imagine twenty seconds would be enough."

"Huh?" Reivyn tilted his head with a confused look before realization hit him. "Hey! That's a bit uncalled for, don't you think?" Serilla just laughed, and even Kefira snickered. "Et tu, Fira?" Reivyn said, grasping at his chest.

Et tu? Kefira frowned. There he goes again, with his weird sayings.

"I don't know... Why are you getting so defensive?" Serilla returned to Reivyn.

Serilla walked out the door and gave a wink to Kefira before turning to head downstairs. Kefira yanked Reivyn all the way into the room, slamming the door shut. She turned back to Reivyn, once more embracing him. Reivyn bent down and planted his lips on hers, encircling her in his arms, and she felt happiness and butterflies explode in her being.

They only spent about ten minutes together truly alone. Fira had been much more aggressive than she had ever been, and they had ended up cuddling together on the bed for a few minutes before Reivyn decided to do the responsible thing.

"We really should call Sera back in here," Reivyn said into Fira's hair. He heard an unhappy harumph come from her, and she tightened her grip on his arms around her.

"Serilla," she said.

"Come again?" Reivyn asked.

"Her name is actually Serilla," Fira said. "Sera is her nickname, and that's the name we use when we're out and about."

"Oh? Trying to stay incognito?"

"Yeah, and using a nickname we're used to makes it easier to respond to a pseudonym than coming up with a fake name."

"So if Fira is your nickname, then what's your real name?"

"Guess."

"Hmm... If it's similar sounding so that it's easy to remember, then... Amy?"

"AMY?!" Fira turned around and glared at him fiercely. "Try again, knucklehead."

"Hahaha," Reivyn laughed. "Ok, ok, for real this time. Fira... Fira... Is it Firala?"

"Firala? Nooo... You'll never guess it. My real name doesn't have the exact same sound as my nickname. It's Kefira."

"Kefira. Ok, I can see how Fira would be your nickname. Especially on paper. Your nickname sounds like 'fear-uh,' and your real name is 'ka-fire-uh,' but you probably spell them the same, huh?"

"Bingo."

"Well, I'm just Reivyn. No nicknames or anything."

"I suspected as much."

"Ok, I think that's enough stalling for time," Reivyn gently patted Kefira on the arm. "Let's call Serilla back up here."

"N~o, I don't wanna," Kefira pouted, squirming deeper into Reivyn's hold. Reivyn sighed.

"I know. I don't want to either. But we should. I don't want to impugn your reputation to your parents."

"You just don't want my mom to slap you," Kefira pinched his arm.

"Guilty," Reivyn chuckled. "But the other reason is valid, too. Your mother wouldn't want to slap me if she didn't suspect me."

"You don't know my mother," Kefira whispered under her breath, but she extracted herself from Reivyn's embrace. She tidied up her clothes and hair; they had gotten a bit tangled up. Reivyn appraised her looks and secretly found the wild look to be quite attractive. Kefira noticed the look. "What?"

"Just admiring your beauty," Reivyn smiled.

Kefira flipped her hair over her shoulder after getting it straight, and then she sashayed to the door.

"Eyes up top," she said. Reivyn's eyes snapped up to the back of her head in time to catch her eye as she turned her head to smirk at him. She laughed as she left the room to call her bodyguard back to the room. Reivyn quickly got up off the bed and took a seat at the small side table.

His appearance was impeccable, and he was seated in a respectful manner by the time Serilla stormed through the door to try and catch him not looking like a perfect gentleman. Serilla paused at the sight and sniffed at the air before looking at the bed with its obvious wrinkles. Kefira waltzed passed her and took a seat next to Reivyn, not paying any attention to where her bodyguard was looking, but Reivyn could see the tops of her ears had turned a bright red.

"Have a seat, Serilla," Kefira nodded across the table. Serilla was momentarily surprised, shooting a sharp glance at Reivyn, from the address, but she did as she was told. "I took the liberty to order some lunch while we were down there," Kefira turned to Reivyn, holding her hand out, palm up for him to grasp. He took the opportunity presented to hold her hand. "We can eat in some peace and quiet, and then we can figure out what to do with the rest of our last day alone together."

"I'm looking forward to it," Reivyn smiled.