Rice for Enoch's Second Expeditionary Unit

Chapter 01: The Blessings of the Forest in the middle of a Wild Bandit's Group

How did this happen?
That though crosses my mind again as I look at the bandits in front of me - no, I mean... as I look at the faces of these knights.

In this deep forest, is where they had been relentlessly hunting monsters.
After all, that is the mission of Enoch's Second Expeditionary Force.

"Well, how many did we kill this time?"

The captain asked the Vice-Captain, Miss Berly.

"Captain Rudetink: twenty, I have seven, Gal eleven, and Urgas five."

"At this rate, we'll be done by tomorrow. Hey, rabbit, keep track of the numbers."

A big, bearded, strong man commanded me.
That man is the chief of the bandits... 'the chief of the knights' ... the captain of Enoch's Second Expeditionary Unit.

I let out a hefty sigh and wrote down the numbers in my notebook.
The number of monsters defeated today is...

"Wild Hare, you're of great help."

"I'm not a hare, I'm Mel! My family name is Squirrelly."

"Ah, right! You're a rabbit."

Then Captain Rudetink flicked my long ears with his fingertips.

"Gah!　Please stop!"

At my expression of discomfort, he laughed with a loud "haha"

You perverted bandit, what do you think you're doing!　
I'm desperately trying to hold back my feelings before I end up screaming.
In case you're wondering, yes, he's my boss.
Still, I think he's an insensitive man.

"I had heard that the long, pointy ears, the characteristic of the Forest Elves, were a collection of nerves."

"This wasn't only by fun, but rather was meant to be an organ that had developed to live in the deep forest. They are like that for allowing us to sense the presence of beasts and monsters, also hear distant cries for help."

"Long ears are a sign of a rabbit."

"No, sir!　I'm a Forest Elf!"

He glared at me with a jittery stare, but he's not frightened at all.
I'm too frustrated!!

Captain Rudetink, while laughing as if I was just telling him a joke, slapped me on the head and turned on his heel.
Someday....! I'll escape from here.
My heart was burning with melancholy.

Why does a Forest Elf like me, who was living in a settlement deep in the forest now belongs to the Expeditionary Order?
It's because my family is very large and poor.

Just a few days ago, the person I had promised to marry for the purpose of connecting our home to his was forced by his own family to call off the engagement .
The reason is due to our family's well known poverty and my lack of potential as a wife and magic power.

That's right, I don't have a taking-breath appearance, even when come from the Forest Elves race, called 【Beautiful Fairies, The blessing of the Forest】.
And my magic power... It's a complete waste of time remember about it.
Moreover, I am not good at hunting.

Basically, it is the man's job to do the hunt of big preys such as wild boar.
But when it comes to small creatures such as rabbits and birds, the women... They've to go to catch it.
All day long they could go hunting and still not kill one prey, and they would return home with a basket full of herbs.
It is not an unusual thing to happen where I came from.

Because of the situation I explained, there is no way I could become a wife, being such an overall disappointment.
The triple burden of poverty, ugliness and powerlessness.
It's no wonder I'm still single, fortunately, my sisters were cute.
Maybe it was the genetic of our family, but they were good hunters and have incredible amount of magic power.
So I wanted to do something about the poverty of our family, that's why I decided to go to the capital of the Kingdom to work.

I was good at cooking, washing clothes and cleaning, so I thought I would be able to find a well-paid job right away, but I had a hard time finding at least a normal one.

Apparently, noblemen's mansions or good houses don't hire people who don't have a letter of recommendation.
I didn't know that, also if I got an interview for a restaurant junior post, because of my pointy ears they would turn me down immediately.

A kind lady, I met on the Capital, told me that it was because people usually have the impression that elves are prideful creatures with high self-esteem and so, they dislike being treated as normal workers.

That's not true!
Most of the time elves don't abandon their villages deep in the forest to come down to the human towns.
Surely, only the weirdos went out, and that is probably the reason why this rumor spread...
I still resent my predecessors for leaving that impression of our race in the humans.

The kind lady introduced me to a job, that she told me probably would "suit" me: The Knights Order of the Kingdom, Enoch.

A place where all races are accepted and gives them equal work conditions and treatment.
Moreover, the pay was high, so I joyfully went to the interview and to take the exam.

Since I was good at math and other things, I believed that they would put me in an office department.
Yet, I was assigned to Enoch's Second Expeditionary Unit, a unit with only four members.
My position, which is too unfortunate as such, is a doctor.
I desperately insisted that even if it was true I was a Forest-Elf, I couldn't use recovery magic!
I just knew a bit about medical herbs, that was all, but because I mentioned that have some knowledge over plants, was assigned to this ridiculous job.

An Expeditionary Unit is a Knight Unit that is sent to various locations to stop the attacks of monsters and perform rescue operations after natural disasters.
When I found out that this was a job that required me to straddle a horse for long hours, I felt dizzy.
I wasn't even good at riding horses.

Furthermore, I was surprised by the people I was assigned to work with.
The captain, Crowell Rudetink, was large enough that I've to look up to find his face, with an already gray head and face covered with thick beard, gleaming purple eyes, giving the impression of a bandits' leader.
He carried an incredibly large sword on his back, and there was not an ounce of chivalry air about him.
He was always so "well-dressed" that if someone introduced him as "a bandit" you would reply, "Heh, I see"

The second-in-command, Miss Berly, is a young woman, with short black hair and blue eyes, a slender two swords wielder.
She treated me, a newcomer to Knight Order, with great friendliness.

Urgas, a young man of seventeen or eighteen... about my age, so friendly that reminded me of a dog I used to have.

And the last one, Mr. Gull, of indeterminate age and taciturn, a beast man, more specifically a werewolf taller than the bandit "captain" by a head and half.
One word, Big!
His red fur is beautiful, and that too makes me remind of a dog I had during my childhood.

With such members, I was taken out on an expedition without even receiving a short explanation of the job I should do.

Today's mission was to defeat a massive outbreak of monsters in a forest not far from the Royal Capital.
I was ordered to straddle a horse from which my bag was hung, and a large pot-like brand-new helmet that was given to me by the bandit's chief.
Even, if they gave me it, it's too big for my head.

"Put this on and move around the edges during battle, wild rabbit."

"What?"

The bandit captain pointed his finger in direction of my long, pointing ears and called me a wild rabbit.
I knew! I would never forgive him!

It wasn't just the appearance of the integrates of this "bandit-like group" what surprised me.
The bandit captain, who always carried a large huge sword on his back, was incredibly strong and could cut down monsters in one fell swoop.

The two-sword-wielder Miss Berly, the unit's vice-captain slid her blades around the monsters necks as if she was dancing, and at the same time, making sure to finish them off.

Seeing an opening, the young knight Mr. Urgas released an arrow, that pierced a monster's head exactly in the middle of his forehead.
With each blow, the werewolf beast man Mr. Gull converted the monsters bodies into minced meat.
Despite his large body, he seems to be able to move surprisingly quickly.

They definitely are an elite group, knights with real ability.
But after the end of the battle, they look like bandits when they come back at you covered in blood from head to toe.
I wanted them to be more like... more like knights!
Digging a tomb for the corpses and place a cross in front of it.

Well, at least I ... will say a prayer to God for those monsters.
"Hey, wild rabbit, we won't wait for you"
The chief of the bandits was calling out to me as I replied in a loud voice and hurried to follow them.
Just like that, the missions with these bandits were - No, but these knights would be a little.... - the members of Enoch's Second Expeditionary Unit.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
In the end, the eradication of the monsters was carried out until the evening.
It's dangerous to move on this kind of forests when there's no more sunlight, so we would be camping tonight.
Of course, I've never camped outside, and in the middle of the night!

They started chopping wood and making a fire.
I couldn't eat lunch because I was too busy counting the monsters' corpses.
My stomach has been growling for a while now, so I think, I will be able to eat my dinner even if remember that images again.

"Here, Doctor Squirrelly"

"Oh, thank you."

The Vice Captain, Miss Berly gave me some bread and dried meat.
And to accompany, some water in a leather bag.
We prayed to God thanking the food and decided to start eating it.

Ok, let's start with some dried meat.
Mmmm.
It's hard to chew and it has no flavor at all.

The taste of the ingredients is dead, I want to ask the person who made it how did it happen.

In front of me, Captain Rudetink is gulping everything down! He was just about to chew off another piece of dried meat with vigor.
"Really a bandit, huh?"
While muttering such impressions, more for myself than for someone else to hear, I took a bite of the bread this time.

... Hard.
Was it a stone lying around the battlefield?
And it's sour! I'm so disappointed in the taste as well as the hardness.
How I am supposed to eat this?

Once again, Captain Rudetink was eating the bread in front of me, making a crunching noise...
It's not like the bread's texture is crunchy.
Watching the way he chewed it without a care in the world, I thought this guy could eat tiles of marble as well.

I wonder what the water is like...Uhmm, there are some herb leaves in it?
It has a little of color, but... It must have been the herb that was added in for some reason.
Rather than thinking on that, let's try it out.

"Gar gar garrrr~!"

As I fell to the ground, screamed with all my force.

"I am hungry! I want to eat anything, but something I can. "

Expressing these thoughts with my scream, it seems it wasn't very understandable.

"Doctor Squirrelly, are you okay~?"

"You're not going to..."

My peer of youth, Urgas came near me with a worried look on his face.

Preserved food from the Kingdom's Capital, it's too bad... No! Terrible, is the correct description!

Just when I was about to despair, the smell of certain herb made the tip of my nose move.

"Hmm?"

I pulled it out, to see it better.

"It's herb of garlic!"

It's a medicinal herb that you can add to soups and will give it a special flavor.
If I bought it at the store, it is plainly expensive, so I always went to the forest to collect it.
I'm going to take it back to the knights dormitories and dry it out to preserve it.
As I was feverishly pulling them out in a petty way, when found another wonderful ingredient near there.

"Ah, pepper mushrooms!"

It's a mushroom that tastes like pepper, doesn't need to be seasoned and it's just delicious fried!

This is going to be my dinner!　
I thought it would be good for a hot meal, but it's spicy enough with just the pepper mushroom.
Usually I eat them with bread, but also can be added to a soup.

"Oh, no! We don't have any cooking utensils here."
Spicy mushrooms, hard dried meat and hard bread.... Such disappointing ingredients.

I was again shocked.

"Hey, wild rabbit, if they're too tough to eat for you, why don't you just boil them to soft them up?"

"Oh!"

At those words coming from the captain, I got a flash of inspiration.
From the bag still hung on my horse, which I had already dismounted, I take out the pot-shaped helmet, provided to me by the Chief this morning.
I poured water on it, with relief, noticed that there wasn't any leak.
Since it's the first time it's used to cook, I lightly rinse it underwater before placing it on the fire.

"Hey, wild rabbit, what are you doing?"

"We're going to have a delicious soup out of this!"

I got the idea when I heard about blending it with hot water.
"Hard bread and dried meat could be made into soup"
I said, while pouring the water into the hot helmet.
Next, I've to take out a knife and cut the bread and dried meat into smaller parts.

"The-- Nuh-uh-uh-uh-uh!"

It's too hard to cut, even when I've brought with me the sharpest knife in the house!
I really don't know what it's made of.

"Hey, give me that."

A giant hand came out of my side, it was Captain Rudetink's hand.
With only his fingertips the bread was shred into tiny pieces.
Even the dried meat I was struggling to cut into bite-sized pieces just moments ago!

"Wow. Thank you."

I gratefully accepted his help and put the ingredients in the helmet, when the water came to a boil, added the herb garlic and pepper mushroom and mixing everything with the help of the knife.

Next to me, Mr. Gal twitched his nose in the air.
Vice Captain Berly watched with a strange look on her face.

"Wow, it smells good"

"Would you like some, Mr. Urgas?"

"Can I? Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

The soup made by such a large helmet, the resulting meal is quite a lot, so it's impossible for one person to eat it alone.
I'm really relieved to know that someone will help me to finish it, I don't like to waste food.

A few minutes later, the soup was done.
The color was cloudy and the dried meat was floating around in a suspicious hue, but if you don't care about the appearance, you'll enjoy it.

I finally get to eat something eatable!　

That's what I thought, but Vice-Captain Berly giving came to my side and gave soft hits on my shoulder to have my attention.

"Doctor Squirrelly, do you have a spoon or something, right?"

"Oh!"

That's right.
I don't have a spoon, which is very important for eating soup.
No! How would I eat the hot soup I just made!

I was entering a new shock state, when Mr. Gull, who had been gone for a while, offered me something.
It was a thick leaf bigger than my face that had a long, thin tree branch adhered to it.
Urgas told me.

"Oh, that's the leaf that always drinks water!"

"Hmm?"

Ah! Now I remember, it's said that beast men use leaves to drink water or other liquids, the leaves are thick and made of strong vegetable fibers.
Thus, not a drop of water leak of them, when are rolled up.
I understand Gull's intentions now.

"Oh, I see!"

Cutting the leaves into small pieces, rolling them up to form a cone and sticking the tree branch in the top of it, now we've a simple spoon!
I had to make enough spoons for everyone, as I did and handed them out to all my peers.

"Well, then, let's eat!"

I name it, the Bounty of the forest, bandit-style soup!
Using my handmade spoon, I took a bit and taste it.

"Oh, it's delicious!"

Surprisingly, a good broth comes out of the dried meat.
It doesn't look good, but it tastes excellent.
The others persons surrounding the fire said it was delicious too.

Even that hard bread is fluffy now, after absorbing the water and it became easier to eat.
The dried meat had also become tender, the fat of the meat is now melted and gives a good smell.
Thanks to the herb garlic, the meat doesn't smell bad like before, and the pepper mushrooms make the soup spicy.
It may not look like that, but it's delicious.
This dried meat must be a unique kind of meat, because usually after drying and rehydrating it doesn't get this tender.
Mmm, it must be because the type of livestock.

"You too can have some if you want, captain."

"No... eat wild rabbit, you must be hungry."

I still wonder... Is him a gentleman trapped in the body and mind of a bandit?

I thought it because his response was really unexpected.

... Even though you still look like someone who usually rob and loot.

"Thank you. But, please, just have a spoon of it. We felt bad about eating the warm soup on our own"

I scooped a little of soup up with a spoon and offered it, getting it near his mouth.

The head of the bandit rolled his eyes for a moment.

Don't say no again, Captain Rudetink.

I thought he may believe it was too bad, so that's why he didn't want to try it, but he took the spoon of my hand and drank it down.

"How do you like it?"

"It's good... like normal soup."

"Good. You want more?"

"No, no, no. Thanks, Goodbye."

Well, at least I don't feel guilty about it anymore.
Without hesitation, I started having my long awaited dinner.

That's how it was, my first day of duty in the Enoch's Second Expeditionary Unit.

Nnnngh! I can't sleep in the hard field like its anything normal!
Ashh...
Yeah, the stars are beautiful in the night sky. (escaping reality)

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