Chapter 9: Base Camp (Part 1)
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Translator: SFBaka
As soon as we started traveling, Lord Corinth began asking the names of various things.
It was indeed inconvenient to communicate using only gestures. I also wanted to learn the language Lord Corinth was speaking myself.
Lord Corinth then proceeded to grab some plants and seemed to be examining each of them. He took a look at a wide variety of plants.
He seemed to be looking for ones suitable for eating. After some time, he pulled out some plants and collected them.
Those are called Poto. They are often served in meals as a side dish. I didn’t know they were actually buried on the ground.
Lord Corinth seemed to be twenty-five years old. He certainly looks younger than that though.
When I attempted telling him my age as well, I felt troubled because I didn’t have enough fingers. But Lord Corinth soon counted until seventeen with his fingers and I nodded to confirm. In truth, I would be reaching seventeen half a year from now, and am still sixteen years old. However, I wanted to seem as much of an adult as possible in front of Lord Corinth for some reason.
Suddenly, a Big Boar appeared from within the mountain.
Not good. It was not too large, but it was really agitated. A Big Boar in this state was quite dangerous.
Lord Corinth stood in front in order to protect me, and the moment he unsheathed his sword, the enemy was easily felled – with just one slash too.
The moment the boar was defeated, three Gray Hounds appeared.
This was truly bad. I could not serve as help at all as I am now.
However, Lord Corinth easily defeated them as well. Two of them even had their heads sent flying with just a slash each.
I would never have believed a Gray Hound could be defeated in a single sword swing if I didn’t witness it myself.
He butchered the Big Boar in mere moments. And after recovering the meat, he started walking while looking as if nothing worthy of note had happened earlier.
He dropped the bodies of the Gray Hounds straight down into the valley’s depths without even recovering their magic cores. But I guess he didn’t think much of their magic cores, to begin with. Such high standards.
When we managed to discover a river, Lord Corinth gestured for us to go down towards it. He might be looking for a place to stay the night. And dinner as well!
My body felt a little strange since yesterday. I felt really hungry for some reason. It would not be an exaggeration to say I was totally famished.
We managed to collect meat earlier, so tonight’s dinner would definitely be meat! The food wrapped in a metallic sheet was also delicious, but its amount was too lacking.
I looked at the recovered meat and found there were several types. I am really looking forward to eating them.
Lord Corinth seemed to be a capable chef as well. He proceeded with cooking preparations with an expert air. What impressive skills.
It would be good if I could also assist him somehow… Ah, that’s right! I shall light a fire with magic.
He cut up the black colored meat and dipped the pieces on the river’s waters. Was he trying to chill them?
He then proceeded with cutting up the rest of the meat. His cutting techniques rivaled those of a professional chef’s.
Afterward, he headed towards the river waters once again but suddenly threw his knife mid-way. Amazing! He just killed a large fish with that throw. I see. So the purpose of setting down the meat there earlier was in order to bait such a fish.
He also cut up the fish in no time. It has been a while since I have eaten fish!
Lord Corinth finally began cooking. He took out some bread, cut them into slices and put some previously prepared fish meat on top of them. I was curious about how he would cook it further, but it seemed to be finished with just this. We would be eating fish raw?!
I finally willed myself to try one bite after seeing Lord Corinth enjoying his meal. Delicious! I didn’t think raw fish could taste this delicious! I started eating wholeheartedly.
All the dishes that were served afterward were absolutely excellent. It was embarrassing, but I seemed to have eaten more than Lord Corinth did.
Lord Corinth seemed to want to tell me something after the meal. He pointed at my foot, then gestured that we should not proceed with traveling on the road again for now. It was something of the sort.
Considering what happened yesterday, the condition of my leg truly wasn’t that good.
He was likely telling me that I needed some rest. When I asked how long it would take with some gestures, the answer he gave was about fifteen to twenty days.
I would not readily agree, if not for my present state. I wanted to reach Gotania as soon as possible, but I also did not want to ruin my body any further.
It would be counterproductive if I pushed myself and ended up being unable to walk once more.
I had no choice but to endure for twenty days. I nodded in agreement.
That’s good. I managed to convince Cleria.
Well then, there’s still a bit more to go until evening, but there wasn’t enough time to scout out the surrounding woods. Since there’s a riffle nearby, all we could do right now was to take the opportunity for a quick bath.
To be honest, I did a lot of physical work yesterday, so I sweated buckets and currently don’t feel so good. I also wanted to wash my clothes and underwear.
I gestured towards Cleria in order to let her know of my intentions. She turned beet red and gingerly nodded. Why’d she blush? Well, she’s at that age, I guess.
I walked towards the river shallows with my formal uniform and some cloth in place of a towel. It kinda sucks that I lost my spare work overalls yesterday. I started to take off my clothes and took a passing glance towards Cleria. She panicked and hurriedly turned away. Well, I don’t really mind getting seen by a kid.
I immersed myself in the water. Fu~h! That feels great. The water’s about 120 centimeters deep. The river was flowing at a slow pace. I brought my head down on the water as well. It’s a shame that I didn’t have any shampoo or body-soap with me. Does Cleria have some? I also took the opportunity to wash my uniform.
My body temperature lowered after five minutes of soaking myself, so I decided to get out of the water. Cleria still had herself turned away. I wiped my body with some cloth and put on my underwear directly after squeezing the water out of it. I didn’t have any spares, so it couldn’t be helped. It should dry up soon anyway. I put my uniform on next. It kinda felt strange because I’ve always been wearing work overalls for several days.
Cleria sensed that I’ve come out from the river and turned around, only to gape at me absentmindedly as soon as she saw me. She seemed to be quite surprised because of the fact that I changed into an officer’s uniform.
This uniform’s design was revamped five years ago, after going for one hundred and fifty years without any revisions whatsoever. The Imperial Military got unusually fired up about it and commissioned the current number one fashion designer in the entire galaxy to improve the uniform’s aesthetics. It turned out looking pretty cool.
But anyway, would Cleria also take a bath as well?
Lord Corinth conveyed something surprising to me. He apparently wanted to bathe in the nearby river.
To think he would do such a thing in front of a lady! I thought as such but immediately reconsidered. This was not the royal capital, and Lord Corinth is a travel companion and not one of my subjects. He was free to take any actions he deemed necessary. Moreover, separating from each other in the current situation wasn’t wise. There was a danger of encountering vicious monsters such as Grayhounds after all.
Lord Corinth mostly likely disregarded his sense of shame in order to be able to protect me immediately in case of such an event. I am sorry to let Lord Corinth experience something so shameful because of my weakness.
He seems to have finally gotten out of the water. I was surprised to see Lord Corinth’s present appearance. He wore a different set of clothes from the ones he had on before. Silver and gold trimmings were generously used to accentuate his current crisp, black clothing.
It was a military uniform. It was, of course, a design I haven’t seen before, but my intuition judged it to be so. What exquisite tailoring! I could even feel a sense of majesty. The quality of the fabric used was beyond me!
Until recently, I had only vaguely felt that Lord Corinth was a part of the nobility. But judging from his current appearance, it was possible that he was a high ranking aristocrat – a marquis at the very least. No, it was also possible that he was a part of the royal lineage. This once again reminded me of how unfathomable Lord Corinth was.
I had been thinking of doing so after seeing Lord Corinth bathing earlier, and finally decided to bathe myself. The last time I took a bath was seven days ago, and my entire body was caked with dirt and dried blood.
I conveyed my intentions to Lord Corinth. He reminded me to cry out, in case anything out of place happened. He then turned away.
No, at least help me to remove my belts and armor first, please. I pointed out all fourteen belts to Lord Corinth in order for him to remove them. I then had him take off my armor as well. I was wearing clothes properly under the armor, so it was fine. It seems Lord Corinth was really curious about my armor.
I went to the waterside with a change of clothes. Lord Corinth had his back turned to me and was busy examining my armor. I took off my clothes and went into the water. It has been a long time since I properly cleansed myself.
It felt great. I thoroughly washed my dirt-filled and blood-soaked body and hair. I then washed my used clothes next.
I felt refreshed. It was the first time I had felt so happy while cleansing my body. I went out of the water and got dressed.
Lord Corinth seems to have noticed I had gotten out of the river as well. But when he turned around and looked at me, he made a very surprised face. I hurriedly checked my appearance. I was wearing half pants designed for knights and a tunic. I do not think them strange. Why is Lord Corinth so surprised?
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