5
And so, the next day, having resolved to improve things bit by bit and work toward a solution to their problems…
“…Coming in to work to see this is pretty hard.”
Subaru scratched his head with a sigh as he looked around the inside of the scrambled tent.
Subaru had been ready to continue the chore he’d been assigned by Todd, which was tidying up the black tents, but he had run aground before he could even start working again.
It was nothing, just—the tent he’d worked so hard to clean up the other day had had its packed bags tossed all over the place again, and it was even more of a mess than before.
“Even if everyone in the empire was messy beyond belief, it still shouldn’t end up like this…meaning this is harassment.”
“Aaauh.”
“Right—there’s the possibility it was you revealing your true nature, eh, Archbishop?”
“Uuuh?”
Picking the scattered things up again, he glared at Louis, who was staring at his hands. But she just bit her own finger and ignored Subaru’s question.
“…And how should I take what Rem said yesterday?”
Louis had tottered around following him this morning, as soon as she’d woken up.
He could remember Rem’s grim look before she’d gone off on her own to work on rehabilitating her legs, but Louis was already getting in his way, so he couldn’t help protesting.
Either way, what Rem had said last night—about not sensing any miasma from Louis—that whole tangent was bothering him.
“There’s no way an Archbishop doesn’t have miasma coming off them. But Rem can’t sense any from you. So what’s the deal…?”
“Aooh?”
While Subaru was at a loss, Louis looked dumbly up at him and made noises.
Sighing at it all, Subaru started seriously working on cleaning up the tent. It was not Louis who had messed everything up; it was probably some soldier in the camp. Todd had acknowledged being an outlier, and he was right—most of the empire’s soldiers were not friendly to Subaru.
“But it’s better than getting beat up out of nowhere or having a shoe shoved in my mouth.”
He could tell his standards for happiness were slipping, but he was used to people thinking he was a nuisance. He had messed up his high school debut and spent almost two years feeling out of place in class. There had not been much active bullying, but he was used to the bitter treatment.
Thinking about it, he even thought his old classmates had been sensible about it.
“I hope all of you kind people are having a good life over there. Inahata in particular—always going to the effort of bringing me printouts. Hope you make it big.”
Remembering the classmates whose faces were just fuzzy recollections at this point, Subaru undid the setback to his work. It was like digging out a hole that had just been refilled, so it couldn’t even be called net zero.
In the past, Emilia had said something about people seeing you work hard, but…
“At the moment, you’re the only one watching, and that’s not enough to motivate me. If Rem at least was watching, it would be different, but…”
“Ooh, uaah.”
Maybe having learned a bit of a lesson from how Subaru had gotten angry, today Louis was not really getting in the way of his work. That, at least, was a relief. Subaru stepped outside to move to the next tent, when…
“Whoooa?!”
Just as he stepped outside, his foot caught on something, and he fell forward. He caught himself reflexively on the ground, and there was a slight ache in his left hand. It was starting to heal, but still needed some time. Grimacing at the pain, Subaru looked around.
“You’re…”
His eyes widened as he saw the epitome of a vulgar man standing beside the entrance of the tent.
With an eye patch over his right eye and a rough five-o’clock shadow, the man looked like the very epitome of a ruffian, and he was also the person who had shoved his boot in Subaru’s mouth the other day.
“If I remember correctly, you’re Jamal… Gah?!”
“Show some respect. You and that girl with you still don’t know your place.”
The moment he’d judged Subaru had not shown him enough respect, Jamal shifted directly into action.
He stepped on Subaru’s splinted and bandaged hand, grinding his heel into it.
“Aauuuh!”
Louis clung to Jamal’s foot with a shout. But she was light—she couldn’t budge him. He grabbed Louis’s long hair and forcefully tore her away from his leg.
That made Subaru snap.
“Hey! She’s just a kid!”
“What about it? And from what I hear, you’re pretty damn cold toward the brat yourself. You suddenly find a new religion or something?”
“I… That’s too much, you’re gonna regret it.”
“Don’t waste my time. At least come up with a better excuse.”
Jamal snorted and threw Louis to the ground. Rolling around on the floor, Louis grabbed her hair and held her head with a groan while glaring tearfully at Jamal.
“Undisciplined little brat. All three of you are a pain in the ass!”
“Guoh!”
Growing more annoyed as he talked, Jamal then kicked Subaru in the side of the head. Subaru had opened his mouth without thinking, and his teeth cut the inside of his mouth, which caused blood to start flowing.
“Bleh… Todd promised us that we would be protected, and that we could stay here, but…”
Subaru’s voice was ragged as Jamal stepped toward him.
“Ha—Todd, huh? As it happens, I’m higher rank than he is. It’s not like I won’t listen to his requests, but that doesn’t mean I have to do what he says.”
Subaru immediately curled up to protect his head, but this time, the kick landed in his stomach. Jamal’s toes pushed into Subaru’s stomach as he relentlessly kicked Subaru, who groaned at the impact.
“First, two of my men got busted up by your girl down by the river. Then I had to send those useless humps back and got chewed out for it. Then when I wanted to settle up over it…that fucker Todd had to go find that damn knife.”
“Ngh!!”
“If it weren’t for that, I’d have torn you to pieces. It’s rough being a soldier, you see.”
Relentless kicks while he tried to set Subaru off with his words.
Even without looking up, it was clear what Jamal was trying to do. He did not just want to hurt Subaru; it was more than that. He wanted Subaru to react to the provocations so that he had an excuse to take it further.
Jamal said he did not have to listen to Todd, but it was clear from Subaru’s very first interaction with the boot that he couldn’t totally ignore Todd, either.
So Jamal wanted a reason, an excuse to kill Subaru. And also a reason to retaliate against Rem. In which case, Subaru wouldn’t rise to the provocation.
If it was to keep Jamal’s maliciousness from targeting Rem, even if his fingers were rebroken, even if all the rest of his fingers were broken—he would win.
If it was for that, he would hold on. Hold on as long as it took…
“—Hey, what’s going on over there?”
And as Subaru continued to endure, another voice rang out. Jamal scoffed and pulled his leg away, slowly stepping back.
And then, accompanied by the sound of footsteps, an orange-haired man appeared—it was Todd.
“I heard you came over here, even though you didn’t have to. So it was for this?”
“Todd? You’re awfully protective. You that interested in that knife? Enough to curry favor with a coward like him?”
Jamal scoffed, and Todd’s expression grew serious. A dangerous mood filled the air between them, but then Jamal put an end to it.
“Screw it. You better learn to watch your feet when I’m around. If you fall like this again, who knows what’ll happen? Ha-ha-ha-ha.”
And then, acting like he had done nothing to Subaru, he walked past Todd.
Subaru did not have anything to say to stop him. If he’d complained about it, it would have been the same as rising to Jamal’s provocation.
Subaru waited for Jamal to disappear from view, then sat up.
“Aaagh… Damn it, that hurts… Man, he’s vicious…”
“You all right? Getting mixed up with Jamal is some bad luck.”
Todd grimaced as Subaru stood up unsteadily. If it had not been for Todd, Jamal would still have been at it.
I’m grateful for him stopping that, but…
“I’m fine. More importantly, what about Rem…?”
“The missy is helping out with cooking. She’s good with her hands if she can sit in a chair. Jamal won’t do anything with other people around…I think.”
However, his words lacked the confidence to be able to reassure Subaru.
Wiping the blood from his mouth, Subaru looked at his left hand.
The splint was broken, and the bandages had come undone. The fingers that had been healed up were now starting to turn a nasty color again.
“Oof… Looks like we’ll have to take care of that again. Damn it, Jamal.”
“…What’s with him?”
“Jamal? Became a soldier at the same time as me. Brightest future of the bunch, too. A lower-tier noble, but with a real shot of making it to general third-class, even… Ah, do you know what that means?”
“No. That a rank or something?”
Subaru shook his head.
Todd nodded and held up his finger.
From his explanation, there were certain ranks for officers in Volakia’s army. There was private, private first-class, general third-class, general second-class, all the way up to…
“General first-class is a different level, and there are only nine in the whole empire. They’re the emperor’s personal warriors, called the Nine Divine Generals. Reaching that level isn’t just a matter of family or achievements, though.”
“Skill, too?”
“Yeah. So average folks like us aim to get to general third-class.”
Hearing Todd’s simple explanation, Subaru thought back to Jamal’s behavior.
The term “general” implied a role as an officer in the army, but Jamal did not really seem like that kind of a person. Selfish and lacking in empathy, he was more likely to be the archetypal incompetent officer.
“You should warn him, Todd. I hear that lots of soldiers on the battlefield die from a stray arrow to the back.”
“That’s a scary thought. So what do you want to do about first aid?”
“Can I ask for some? …Right after I check in with Rem.”
“Sheesh, head over heels, aren’t you…? I feel bad for this little lady.”
Even with the pain in his fingers, he had to make sure Rem was safe first. That was Subaru’s stance, but Todd shrugged and looked over at Louis, who was curled up in front of the tent.
Her fingers were wrapped in the hair Jamal had pulled, and she was growling like a wild animal.
“Looks like you don’t like letting things go, huh? I appreciate a kid who doesn’t like to lose.”
“Aah! Uuh, aah!”
Louis howled, as if answering Todd’s smile.
Subaru started to say, “You can have her if you like her,” but he did not want to have to deal with Rem’s anger if she heard about it, so he zipped his lips.
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