Once night arrived, they stopped to camp. Looking at the way the soldiers cooked the food, Rye couldn't handle it and took over the job.
Are you guys peeling or shredding the vegetables?? Don't mince the carrots when making stew! And don't mindlessly drop a spoonful of salt to it!
They were even worse than Godford.
Rye swiftly peeled the skins of the ingredients cleanly without any excessive. He evenly cut the ingredients and minced the herbs. He often made stew for himself and Godford, so he used his own ratio of seasoning.
The soldiers and knights watched dumbfoundedly as Rye cooked all their portions himself, but still managed to finish faster than they usually did without wasting any ingredients.
Rye waited for it to boil just right before serving them to the soldiers. Looking at Rye's glaring eyes, they hesitated to come forward. August was the first to take one.
August tried a mouthful and was immediately awed, "W-Woah…I never thought a simple stew can taste this good."
"You cook like barbarians, how does it suppose to taste good? Just how many ingredients did you waste all this time? I felt dizzy just from watching." Rye palmed his face tiredly.
Looking at the shredded vegetables on the side still hurts him. Fortunately, he stopped them before they ruined a pot's worth of ingredients.
"If nobody wants them, I'll finish them myself!" August purposedly said in a loud voice.
Hearing that, the rest immediately moved to take their portion. Was it really as good as August said?
One by one ate the stew and each of them was surprised by the taste. They've never thought they would be able to eat a delicious stew on their journey. It tasted better than the one served at their cafeteria and the portion was more than usual. They could even ask for seconds.
"S-Sir Rye, is there still some more?" Another soldier asked sheepishly.
Rye took his bowl and ladled the stew for him, "Here."
"Thank you very much." The soldier left happily.
August came with his empty bowl, "Be prepared to cook every night for the rest of this journey, Rye. I don't think they'll be satisfied otherwise."
"I am fine with it. I rather cook for you guys than see the ingredients get destroyed," Rye gave August the last scoop, "It is pretty surprising that among this many men there is no one who can cook decently."
"Our life consists only of training, training, and more training to then be deployed for duty or go to the battlefield. Most of us have joined the military since 12 years old as training recruits. We have no time to learn how to cook," August showed his palm, "Our hands are too rough for the task now. As you said, we're barbarians."
"I can see that. You guys cut the carrots and potatoes as if they have murdered your entire family," Rye finished his own food, "I am tired. I am going to sleep first."
"They have prepared your bedding in the supply cart. You can sleep there."
"…They did not need to do that."
"It's to thank you for cooking for them," August gave a thumbs up, "Leave the cleaning to us."
Rye went to the supply cart and indeed saw decent bedding at the center of it. The cart was previously carrying the camping supplies, so most of it has been cleared out.
He climbed in, closed the cover, and went to sleep.
When dawn arrived, they continued their journey. Their advance went smoothly for 4 days. Nearing the evening of the fifth they encountered a hoard of beasts.
"Sand Wolves," The captain of the knights, Lucifius, checked from his telescope, "More than 70 of them coming towards here. A sand storm is coming."
"We should retreat first and wait for them to pass." August suggested.
"No, we won't arrive at the south border on time." Orphel, another knight, rejected the idea.
"But we can't risk the reinforcement." Bell, the last of the 4 knights, agreed with August.
"Then, we stop them before they reach here." Rye spoke up.
The knights all looked at him.
"How?"
Rye pointed to the sky, "Sand Wolves hate water, right? Let's make it rain."
The knights, "???"
How?
Rye raised his hand and a magic circle appeared beyond the clouds. The 4 knights looked at each other doubtfully as they couldn't see the magic circle that has been activated. Not even the heroes could change the weather.
But much to their surprise, the clouds above them gradually shifted and merged into a thick grey cloud. Droplets of water slowly trickled down until rain finally showered down the dry land.
The Sand Wolves were caught off guard by the downpour. The sand storm they were brewing soon vanished as they all scrambled away to where they came from.
Rye covered his head from the rain with his hood, "Sorry, I could not control the size yet. I made it too big. It will take a while to recede."
"No…it's alright," Lucifius snapped out of his daze and wore his cloak, "It's a big help. This light rain is nothing. Let's continue."
Their convoy resumed their advance.
"Is there anything you can't do?" August asked incredulously.
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"I cannot float. That's one," Rye answered, "I just cannot seem to grasp the concept of gravity."
Thanks to Rye's help, they managed to reach their point destination in time. Knowing there was a river nearby, Rye went to take a bath after cooking and eating his portion.
He took out a bottle of soap from his spatial storage and took off his clothes. He neatly folded his clothes and put his glasses on top of it. Entering the river, the water was cold as expected.
It was the first time for him to not take a bath for this long. Was it a normal thing for the soldiers? He doubted they could take a bath on the battlefield.
Looking at his fair hands, he didn't get tanned from the sun. Since little, he never got burned by the sun even if he stayed outside all day in summer. Godford wasn't like him though.
Rye leisurely cleaned himself. The moon was full and bright so he didn't need any additional light source to see.
August headed to the river to refresh himself. Before he reached there, he found several soldiers crouching down behind the trees and bushes.
He approached them, "What are y–"
The soldiers immediately turned around and hushed him. They gestured for him to crouch down with them.
August did so and lowered his voice, "What are you guys doing?"
"Right, uh…the thing is, we came here to take a wash. But…" The soldier hesitated.
"Is there a beast or something?"
"No, more like…" They looked at each other and shifted aside, "You should see for yourself, Sir August."
"?" August moved to look and paused.
In the river, Rye was bathing in the river basking in the moonlight. His golden hair shimmered like the sun and his fair skin glittered like pearls. The lines of his body were clearly defined with his back curved alluringly. With his waist down emerged in the water, one could mistake him for a mythical mermaid.
"Somehow…there's a feeling that we can't intrude…" The soldiers awkwardly said.
August's eyebrow twitched, "That's why you're peeping?"
The soldiers blushed, "N-No, that's not…"
They heard a splash from the river and their attention immediately went back. Rye was getting out of the river. They held their breath and forgot to blink.
But just as the water revealed Rye's mermaid lines, a blinding white light shot into their eyes.
Rye heard a rustle followed by a loud noise. He wore his clothes and glasses back to check what it was. He blinked in surprise seeing August and several soldiers rolling on the ground while covering their eyes in pain.
"Are you guys alright…?"
August used one hand to cover both of his tearing eyes to raise a thumbs up using his other hand, "T-Totally fine."
"What happened?"
"Nothing. Just some bugs and dirt entering our eyes."
Rye, "?"
Why is he lying? Was it something so shameful?
"You should wash it away soon," Rye put his thought away and pulled August's wrist, "Here, I'll lead you to the water."
After sending August to the edge of the river, he helped the other soldiers too. He reconfirmed again that they were fine and didn't need any healing spell before he returned to the camp.
August, "…"
The soldiers, "…"
Their conscience hurt.
The next day, August and the soldiers came clean.
"Peeping? Is there even anything to peep at?" Rye looked at them weirdly.
"Yeah, well…It somehow ended up like that." August couldn't explain it either.
"We apologize, Sir Rye." The soldiers bowed.
Rye recalled the scene yesterday and lightly smiled, "Then, your eyes hurting was your retribution?"
August and the soldiers were stunned. Rye is…smiling.
"It's fine for me, but don't do it to a girl." Rye waved at them and left.
They covered their eyes wrongfully.
Why are their eyes burning again??