A Day with Olivia and Blood
The Nobis Plains
The warm rays of the noonday sun bathed the land. Blood found himself lying in the grass on the plains enjoying a nap when the sound of approaching footsteps made him open his eyes. He saw a young girl, her silver hair softly rippling in the breeze as she peered at him quizzically.
“Lieutenant General Blood, what are you doing out here?”
“Oh, it’s you, Liv...” Blood said. “That’s, well, it’s just that the sun feels so nice. It’s been a while since I had a kip on the grass, so I thought I’d make the most of it.”
About ten days had passed since the fighting had come to an end on the Central Front.
“Oh, I know what you mean,” Olivia said. “I like napping in the grass too.”
“Well, isn’t that a coincidence? What do you say to lying down with me?”
“Okay!” Olivia said cheerfully. She stretched out on the grass next to Blood.
After a moment, he said, “It’s no big deal, but aren’t you a bit close?”
“Am I?” Olivia grinned, kicking her feet in the air. Up close, she was exquisite; she had the kind of beauty a god might create for their own amusement. As might be expected, Blood found himself unable to keep his composure.
I can’t believe a girl more than a decade younger than me is making me think such things... he thought.
But as he and Olivia whiled away the time chatting about nothing in particular, he acclimatized to the situation. That is, until a throwaway remark of Olivia’s set his heart pounding.
“Liv, what did you just say?” he demanded.
“Huh? I was saying that Captain Lise likes you.”
He digested this, then asked, “What makes you think that?”
“It’s like I was just telling you. I’m studying humans.”
“True, you did say that...”
Olivia had told him that until she was fifteen, she’d lived in the depths of a forest and had no contact with other people. Thinking she was joking with him, he’d let her talk without paying much attention. Oddly enough, by the time she was finished, he found himself accepting her story.
She seemed out of touch with reality, and much of her behavior showed a lack of understanding of society. At the same time, she possessed extensive knowledge—when it came to matters of war in particular, Blood had been blown away.
“The truth is, I can’t say I perfectly understand the feeling of ‘liking’ someone yet,” Olivia qualified, then launched into her explanation. It was abstract in the extreme, meaning Blood didn’t follow a lot of it. Even so, it was enough that he felt his earlobes growing uncomfortably warm.
“Okay, I get it—so you don’t need to say any more,” he said.
“Yeah? So what do you think?”
“Wh-What about me?” He heard his own stammer and felt wretched.
“Do you like Captain Lise?”
Instead of answering, Blood said, “What about you, Liv?”
“Me?”
“That tactician who follows you around. Warrant Officer Ashton Senefelder, that’s his name, right? You two looked mighty friendly.”
“Yeah. Ashton’s my friend and I like him,” Olivia said easily.
Blood’s heart was no more made of stone than the next man’s. Watching Olivia, he decided she didn’t harbor any romantic feelings. As if to prove him right, Olivia went on to list Claudia, then Ellis, the girl who had acted as Olivia’s double.
“—so, General Blood,” she went on, “do you like Captain Lise?”
Apparently, his attempt to gracefully steer them away from that topic hadn’t gone well. Chafing internally, Blood replied, “I’ll leave that to your imagination, Liv.”
“Nooo, how come? Tell meee.” Olivia took the opportunity to start prodding him in the side. It tickled so badly that Blood twisted away from her, laughing—
“You seem to be greatly enjoying yourself, General Lecher,” said a voice. There, wearing a stonelike expression, stood Lise.
“How long have you been there?” he demanded
“Only since just now... Why, do you not want me here for some reason?”
“No, I didn’t say—”
Olivia cut him off. “Captain Lise!” she said, sitting up. “You’ve come at just the right moment.”
“Did you need something from me?”
“Yeah, it’s about General Blood—mmph?!”
Blood, panicking, reached out and covered Olivia’s mouth with both his hands. He swiftly whispered in her ear to not tell Lise what they’d discussed—adding, of course, that this was an order from a superior officer.
Olivia saluted, nodding vigorously.
“—so, as you can see, Captain Lise, nothing to see here. Don’t worry about it.”
“I haven’t the slightest idea what I’m supposed to be able to see,” Lise said, then added, “You and Major Olivia are getting along very well, aren’t you, General Lecher?” Her gaze was ice cold as she appraised Blood’s hands, which were still clasped over Olivia’s mouth. He hastily pulled them back.
“Oh, well. What you do is no concern of mine. More importantly, the war council is about to start, and your presence is required in the command tent.”
“I’ll be there. Just one thing, Lise, this ‘General Lecher’ thing—”
Lise said, “Please hurry, General Lecher,” then without waiting for a reply, she turned on her heel, squared her shoulders, and left.
Blood and Olivia sat in silence for a time, until Olivia asked, “Should I call you General Lecher too?”
“That,” Blood said at length, “is the last thing I need.”
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