Eva pushed back her sweat-soaked bangs.
Her back, which had been bent the whole time, also hurt, and her waist was so stiff that she felt like it might snap if touched. Her arms and legs, which had exerted too much strength, were trembling, but she absolutely couldn't stop.
She was now taking the limp people out one by one and laying them outside,
Making them breathe fresh air while simultaneously ventilating the stuffy air that had been trapped inside the tents.
That wasn't all. She had also scrubbed clean the cooking pot that had dried remnants of dust and unidentifiable rotten things stuck to it.
She had beaten out the bedding the soldiers had been lying on,
And for those who looked particularly unwell, she had urgently made them swallow water brewed with herbs that helped restore vitality.
Looking around at the people lying densely around her, she wondered when Cellinne would return.
Finding a vacant spot with difficulty and sitting on the ground, she fell into thought while looking at the people who showed no movement at all.
How much time had passed?
When the sun had almost completely set, she could see several people walking from over there.
"Eva-!"
Cellinne wasn't alone. Valter and Yurik were also with her.
Eva asked Cellinne, who was still energetically bouncing around.
"Why did Your Highness come? What about Dardin?"
"Dardin is checking the command post supplies! He's seeing if additional food distribution is possible."
"Then Your Highness?"
Instead of answering, Yurik asked.
"Are these the 3rd and 4th banner soldiers?"
"Yes. Most are infantry and spearmen."
"I see. Now manage from the 1st banner to the 7th banner."
"What? Suddenly? Why?"
"The other commanders are under investigation for illegal supply procurement. Since I hold full authority, they're also my responsibility."
Eva looked at Yurik. Yurik also looked back at her.
Surprisingly, after a brief staring contest, it was Yurik who looked away first. Eva warned quietly.
"Your Highness. Didn't you ask me alone to handle two hundred people belonging to the 3rd and 4th banners?"
"I did."
"You said all the soldiers who came to the wasteland number over eight hundred."
"That's right."
"You didn't come just to deliver this news, did you? Seeing that you walked here personally, you must have gladly come to provide labor as well, Your Highness? No, Your Highness. Don't avoid my eyes. And don't pretend you can't hear again. Don't step back either. Am I going to eat you? Who would be in the biggest trouble if I collapsed here?"
While Eva was scolding him, Cellinne whispered to Valter, 'Eva's lost it.'
After silently listening to Eva's nagging for a long time, Yurik was eventually grabbed by her and dragged among the patients.
A 3rd Prince being dragged away by a small doctor.
Cellinne and Valter watched this unforgettable scene before automatically going to the pot.
"Now, miss, light the fire."
"What are you going to do, Grandfather?"
"I'll look for something edible."
Valter turned upside down the luggage he had carried.
While he examined the food that had fallen to the ground one by one, Cellinne struggled under the pot.
By the time she got up coughing with soot on her face, Valter was holding an armful of things to put in the pot.
"What's that? What are you trying to make?"
"Dried bread. This is spice I swiped from His Highness's castle, and what's buried here is oats. It's emergency food that mercenaries often carry around. It was worth not eating until now."
"Are the oats edible even though they're old? More than that, are you going to put in the gift Yesung gave too?"
Cellinne pointed to a fairly large bundle and asked.
Yesung had said it was jerky made from venison or some precious meat.
Valter had packed it for her to eat. Would it be okay to give it to others? She somehow felt sorry about it, but Valter shook his head.
"Don't feel sorry about it. If it were urgent, we would have eaten first, but as you can see, aren't we overflowing with energy and very healthy?"
"Still..."
"Dancing miss. This is how we live by sharing. If we're lucky, we can get as much jerky as this anytime. How precious this meat is doesn't seem to be the issue now."
"Then?"
"Isn't it how many people this meat can help? Seeing young people who could be my grandchildren collapsed like that makes my heart heavy. I'm sure young Yesung would agree to us using the meat if he knew about this."
That made sense too. Cellinne looked at the people lying down and nodded.
Valter poured all the water from the large leather bag into the hot pot.
Oat grains went in first. Next, he crumbled the hard dried bread and put it in.
He tore the delicious meat very finely to make it easy to eat without much chewing.
Cellinne stirred the pot that was starting to bubble and smelled it.
"The seasoning on the meat must have flavored the broth. It smells good."
"Oh my, that's right. I can smell it from here! Very nice smell. Those lying down will jump up."
"Grandfather seems very sensitive to food."
"Wouldn't I have to be? Didn't this old man tell you? In the south, when I was young, the weather was bad and there were continuous crop failures."
"Crop failures?"
"That was the first time I saw a river dry up completely. How cruel it was. When we couldn't even see bread anymore, we ate everything edible. From the chickens we raised to cattle, horses, even the hay the livestock ate."
Cellinne stopped stirring the food and looked at Valter.
Valter pushed aside the finely torn meat and continued.
"The lord who governed our village distributed grain, but it was nowhere near enough. All the wheat collected every fall as taxes had flowed somewhere! Anyway, the memory of being terribly hungry is still vivid."
"..."
"The most effective way to torture a person is to starve them. Everyone in our village was suffering from the same torture. We went crazy little by little. Some people died eating the table. I also saw people kill and be killed in fights while stealing grain distributed from other houses."
"Gr-Grandfather."
"Hmm? I'm fine now. It's all in the past, isn't it?"
Valter dusted off his hands and put all the meat into the pot.
Though Cellinne stirred the pot diligently, she seemed unable to concentrate somehow.
"It must have been hard."
"That's right. Being hungry is hard. So no matter how depressed, no matter how painful. Even if you don't want to eat anything right now! You must always eat."
"Ah, even if you don't want to eat anything? Do you have to go that far?"
"Of course. Isn't that natural?"
Valter took the long ladle from Cellinne's hand and began stirring the pot himself.
Hot, gentle steam rose abundantly, and a salty, savory, slightly sweet fragrance wafted strongly.
Cellinne handed him an empty bowl from the pile beside them.
Valter filled it with the hot porridge that had become slightly viscous.
"It's all for survival. To live well, just eat well. That's the end of it. It's also a simple truth. And most importantly, eating builds good muscle."
To live well, eat well. Eating well builds muscle. Muscle is good.
Cellinne received the warm bowl.
Just that somehow made her feel full in her stomach.
* * *
Though Valter had poured in all his food, which was practically private property, it wasn't enough by itself.
Fortunately, Dardin sent relief food right on time,
So they could somehow procure meals that would go into the patients' mouths.
Looking at Eva's expression, she seemed to want to make the soldiers who had transported the food participate in caring for the soldiers too,
But not knowing what would happen if ordinary people stayed at the wasteland's boundary for a long time, they had to send them back.
The four people continued to labor.
Pouring thick broth between the lips of lying soldiers, wiping what they spit out, feeding them again.
It was a repetition of arduous struggle.
When the moon rose high, Cellinne was exhausted and collapsed while holding a wooden spoon.
Valter was chanting 'Young man, just try this! It's really delicious! Try it!' while trying to feed at least one more person somehow,
And Eva and Yurik were almost mechanically repeating feed-wipe-feed.
Eva wiped a soldier's mouth with a cloth covered in food and said.
"Your Highness."
"What."
"Since you're feeding others like that, you look like a generous mother. Elegant."
Yurik looked Eva up and down while shoving a spoon into an unknown soldier's mouth.
"You've finally gone crazy. I knew this day would come someday."
"I went crazy a while ago. Didn't you know? Can't we call Dardin over? Please?"
"You want me to leave the command post tent empty? If you're tired, go rest or something."
"How can I rest? I'm the only physician here."
"That's also an obsession."
"It's a chronic condition."
Eva, who had responded like that, stood up and looked around.
Still, thanks to the four of them working hard, there were no soldiers who hadn't eaten food.
Occasionally, she could see people whose eyes twitched and blinked.
If they suffered like this for just two more days, improvement might be visible. Then they might be able to move to the next stage of treatment.
Yurik said to her, who was completely exhausted.
"I'm not joking. If you don't rest now, you won't be able to rest."
"What about Your Highness?"
"I plan to stay here continuously. Any problem?"
"Your stamina is like some kind of monster."
"Not as much as your chronic condition."
At Yurik's disgusted tone, Eva laughed "Ahaha" unusually for her.
"Even so, a chronic condition can't beat a monster."
Yurik looked up at her.
Looking up at a human in this position, in this place, in this state was somewhat ridiculous.
Still, he waited. Using the patience he had recently developed, he waited until Eva said something more.
After feeling the cool breeze for a moment, she asked.
"Please tell Yesung this is too harsh."
"Rather than telling him directly."
"I know he did his best, but I think I'll get angry without thinking."
Yurik was completely on Yesung's side. If Eva had heard the method Dardin proposed, she would have thrown a fit.
Even when Yesung did work with good intentions, she couldn't even thank him.
He resolved never to deliver Eva's message.
"I will."
"I hope these people can sit up tomorrow. I can see people whose condition is okay. At least the people here should be able to retreat soon, right?"
As Eva said, faint stirring could be seen among the soldiers.
Earlier, it had literally looked like corpses neatly arranged,
But now it at least looked like 'living people' were lying down.
Yurik agreed with Eva's words and added one thing.
"That would be the case. If their minds aren't stolen again before then."
"What?"
Before she could ask what that meant,
Cellinne, who had been sprawled on the ground in the distance, suddenly jumped up and began running toward them.
She screamed desperately.
"Get out!"
Why should they?
Then an arm as hard as steel grabbed her waist.
The very brief, faint vibration of the ground she had felt, and then.
-Boom!
The next moment, a black pillar shot up from the ground without warning.
Strange sounds came from the thing that rushed toward them, crushing the soldiers.
Sounds that were all sloshing, gurgling, and smacking lips.
When creepy goosebumps rose and she closed her eyes tightly from intense rejection and nausea,
With a thwack of impact, something splattered on her face.
Following that, Cellinne's shrill scream was heard.
"Eva! Are you okay? Your Highness, are you alright? I was lying down when there was something suspicious from below-"
"Don't make a fuss. Isn't their main food human minds? We practically prepared a feast for them from this side."
Eva felt her cheek. The sticky, whitish viscosity gave off a faintly terrible rotten smell.
They had prepared a dining table from this side?
"Th-then. The more we heal these people... the more of these things will come? Then it can never end."
"That's why I came here."
Yurik, who had released Eva, commanded Cellinne, who was pale with shock, and Valter, who was also wide-eyed.
"Get your weapons. The more the soldiers regain consciousness, the higher the probability of being attacked, so keep your eyes properly open."
"B-but Your Highness. We don't know when these people will get up."
Eva said in bewilderment.
Yurik looked at her with dry eyes. Eyes of someone who didn't understand Eva's words.
"If it won't work, make it work."
"What?"
"We three will not leave here and will block the attacks of the black bugs. I don't know how many more will come, but the more people here who don't lose their 'minds,' the more will swarm here."
That made sense. Since they were beings that stole human minds.
Before the three people who were nodding, Yurik declared.
"Eva, you treat these people until they get up. Use any means necessary. And Cellinne, Valter. We protect her and the soldiers until Eva completes her mission."
"What? But how!"
"Eva, finish treatment before we die or collapse. We don't rest until Eva completes treatment. Whether it's two days, three days, or a week, it doesn't matter. We are her hourglass, and Eva is also our hourglass. Even if one of us dies, this mission absolutely will not end. So abandon hope quickly."
The same thought occurred to everyone's minds.
Crazy statement. Crazy prince. Crazy bastard.
If one of them died, it should end, but what did he mean by saying it still wouldn't end?
But Yurik, who had drawn his sword, definitely didn't look like he was joking.
A faint trembling was transmitted under everyone's feet.
"They're coming."
The moment Yurik's words ended, Valter and Cellinne entered combat stance.
Eva threw herself down and began frantically searching through her medical bag.
The time limit of death had begun.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter