"She’s extremely suspicious," Beatrice instantly responded. She then patted her stomach as if it were alive. "Well, that’s what my gut is telling me. But I’m not certain why yet. It could be that she came off as too... nice. Too nice for an LRM soldier."
Roxy nodded. She wasn’t surprised about Beatrice’s reliance on her "gut". There were plenty of people in her life whom she had met with extraordinary gut feelings. And with Beatrice’s background, she was certain that she had the strongest gut feeling of all.
However, what she hadn’t expected was for Beatrice to sense that Hilda was suspicious in some way. But she was right; Hilda did feel oddly too friendly for someone who worked in the LRM.
They were commonly known to be cold-hearted and distant, after all.
’Maybe we can chalk it up to experience...’ Roxy caressed her chin, assuming that the reason for Hilda’s friendly nature was that she hadn’t gained enough experience in the LRM to become cold-hearted. She had heard about it being a rather harsh workplace...
Roxy looked towards Beatrice for advice. "Should we confront her about it, or wait until she does something out of place?"
Beatrice shook her head. "Let’s wait until she does something out of place. We still want her to stay, so that we can make use of her strength to protect us."
She then added internally, ’And I’ve already antagonised her, so... I don’t want to give her anymore reason to go after me...’
Roxy nodded. "Then it’s settled; we’ll keep an eye on her so that we can catch her if anything goes wrong. Hopefully, she isn’t after our eyes, though."
"Ehm... about the eyes... do you think it was a good idea to hide it there?"
"Of course! Who would think to pull apart the place to find it? If Hilda really does manage to find out where we hid it, it’s not like she can just wander around with it slung over her shoulder. Since everyone knows what sacks they’re in, it should be easy to catch her in the act."
Beatrice’s face then contorted. "And what then...? How will we... "catch" her?"
"..." Roxy had no answer to give, so she just stared at Beatrice until one popped into her mind. Unfortunately, none came, so she just gave up and said, "I’ll figure that out later. Have you had anything to eat yet?"
...
While the two were busy talking to one another, Hilda had begun making steps towards phase three of her plans: securing the eyes from Roxy’s camp. And what she had in mind to kick off these steps was very simple.
She was going to acquaint herself with everyone inside this camp, just like how she had done with Ross’ camp. Except she was going to take a different route in getting to know everyone.
Bam. Bam. Bam.
With a hammer in hand, Hilda began nailing a wooden board over a gaping hole in a stone wall, imbuing her hammer with a thick layer of Vitality. Beside her, where she stood, were several crude and crooked wooden boards that she had pried off earlier.
When she was done, she stood back and marvelled at the patch she made over the hole in the wall. She then glanced back at the group of people who were huddled behind her to spectate her work.
A man then strolled over and inspected her work; he was one of the dozen people in the camp who were experienced in this field.
He traced his hand over the board and spoke up in astonishment, "Incredible... I’ve been meaning to get this wall but have been putting it off. Good thing I did; otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to see such marvellous masonry!
"I didn’t think people in the LRM would be good at this sort of stuff. Do they teach their soldiers this before deploying them?"
"Hehe, mein Freund, your praise is too much. It’s really nothing special~" Hilda rubbed the back of her head, visibly shy from the inspector’s praise. "As for whether they teach them, the Land Reclamation Military only teaches you the basics. I just so happen to have learnt them before joining the military."
After explaining that, she moved on to the next uncorrected wall and patched it up while, at the same time, giving tips and pointers to those inexperienced in the field. Of course, she wasn’t doing this entirely out of the goodness of her Heart.
Unlike the people in Ross’ camp, who seemed more keen on lazing around and spreading gossip, the people in this camp were more interested in physical activities, which, in most cases, were the easiest to form bonds through.
People tended to follow others who were more reliable than they were. So, coupled with her charm, charisma, and clear experience in the field of masonry, she quickly built a following within the group.
...
"Miss Hilda, how do you hammer in the nail without cracking apart the stone wall?"
"Miss Hertel, how old were you when you learned masonry?
"Miss Hilda, could I please hold your hand?!"
Hilda did her best to answer the questions thrown her way, while at the same time ignoring the peculiar questions mixed in. The people here bombarded her with countless questions about her experience, to the point where she had even needed to take a break from it all.
And whenever that happened, she visited one of the rooms she was shown. The dining area, filled with tables and chairs.
There were always a few people in this room, dining on their rations. Whenever she came by, someone would make space for her to sit down, while others merely decided to ignore her, understanding she was in need of a break.
Occasionally, she would even come across both Roxy and Beatrice. And whenever she did, she was always called over to their table — not like she was against it, in the first place.
When they got together, they would always fall into some sort of conversation. It was there she learned how the two met.
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