Ch.164The Military Nation (4)

Having received Claude’s request, Ellen immediately forced a military medical officer training course into the next semester’s medical curriculum, and simultaneously began creating a learning plan to give the current generation of students immediate experience as military doctors.

“I think that’s enough for today.”

The senior faculty colleagues seemed quite bewildered by my sudden insertion, but when I explained that His Majesty wished to mobilize medical students as military doctors for the army, their confusion quickly subsided.

Some of them strongly sympathized with His Majesty’s intentions and shared stories of their experiences when they were drafted as soldiers in their youth. Those stories were terribly grim. Even though it was the past, things probably haven’t changed much even now.

“Ugh… Good, just a bit more to fill in and revise, then it’ll be done.”

Ellen stretched by the window where the sunset was streaming in, gathered the documents, neatly arranged them, and pushed them to the corner of the desk before placing another book on top to keep them from flying away.

It’s not perfect… but it’s the best I can do.

Fulfilling His Majesty’s request while enabling students to achieve academic success.

The seniors praised me, saying this was perfect with no room for criticism, but I don’t see it that way at all.

I feel like I could create an even better education plan with just a bit more work, but I simply can’t figure out what needs to be fixed… Ugh, how frustrating to have to settle for this due to my lack of ability.

*Creeeeak*

“Ah…! Are you leaving now?”

“…”

After finishing her organizing, Ellen opened the door and stepped outside, immediately coming face to face with a soldier on guard duty at the university.

It was as if he had been waiting for Ellen to emerge all along.

His posture was extremely unnatural, making it impossible to believe he had just been walking by, and his expression and tone clearly revealed he was putting on an act.

“…”

Realizing this, Ellen felt something grow cold inside her.

This wasn’t even the university entrance, and Ellen wasn’t royalty, so the guard shouldn’t be standing still here.

He should be continuously patrolling the university, but this soldier had remained stationary for some reason, waiting for Ellen to come out.

“…Hehe, yes. Thank you for keeping the university safe.”

However, Ellen didn’t outwardly show her thoughts.

This was nothing new.

It had been happening daily since she entered the university.

It was too late to get angry about such things now.

“Um… Thank you for working so late.”

“It’s nothing. Just doing what I must.”

Ellen responded to the soldier with a bright smile before moving her legs.

The soldier seemed about to say something, but that only made Ellen walk faster.

“Ah, just a moment…”

…No.

Why does everyone, regardless of status, seem so desperate to flirt with me whenever they see me?

I can admit that I’m pretty… Though it’s awkward to say it myself, even I can see that my appearance is quite exceptional.

But even so, I simply cannot understand why I receive courtship from all directions at every opportunity. No matter how beautiful one’s appearance, flirting is a completely different matter.

Could it be that they look down on me because I used to be a commoner? Or perhaps they judge me to be of great value because His Majesty granted me a surname?

“I’m sorry, but I’m under His Majesty’s orders and cannot afford to waste time.”

“Ah, I see… Work hard.”

Ellen skillfully evaded the soldier’s attempt to detain her and continued on her way.

With limited light sources in the medieval era, days were quite short, and because of that, almost no one remained at the university now except for a few professors and researchers.

As a result, only Ellen’s footsteps echoed through the corridor without any other sounds.

“…Haaa.”

Finally stepping outside the building, Ellen took a deep breath, releasing all the air she had been holding in.

The air tastes sweet.

This sense of liberation… it’s truly addictive.

As she had always felt, breathing in the fresh air outside after inhaling the stuffy air inside a building for hours was something she never tired of.

“Being like this reminds me of home.”

Back home, there were only modest buildings, so I could experience this feeling anywhere, anytime.

Come to think of it, I should visit my hometown someday… Hmm, after this job is done, I should take a vacation and go—huh?

“Your Majesty…?”

With the sunset casting deep shadows, it’s hard to see clearly through the shadows of trees and buildings, but I can tell.

That person walking with a hood pulled over their head is definitely His Majesty.

Why would he come at this hour? There’s hardly anyone left, so there’s nothing to inspect?

“C-could it be… he came to greet me after work—huh?”

…Who is that?

Ellen, who had been gaping while speculating about Claude’s reason for coming to the university, immediately stopped when she saw another woman walking beside Claude.

She simply concentrated all her senses on her vision, desperately trying to identify who the woman was.

‘Is that… Chloe?’

I’ve seen her a few times while living in the palace. I didn’t see her often since she was always in her room, but I had occasional glimpses when passing by.

I heard she married His Majesty despite being his adopted sister…

…They’re smiling. Together.

“That’s…”

The smiling pair directed their steps toward the walking path where Ellen and Claude had first strolled together.

Though it was open to everyone and anyone could use it… ugh.

My chest hurts.

……….

Hmm… is everything finished now?

Military training conducted annually for the citizens, the deployment of necessary weapons, hygiene management, education of cadets to utilize these—it seems I’ve handled all the issues arising from military training that needed to be addressed.

No, food supplies still remain.

‘Now I need to check the food supplies and the system for distributing them.’

Of course, unlike weapons, food can be requisitioned locally. Or purchases can be made from merchants traveling near military bases.

But not bringing any food at all would be insane.

The logic of resolving all supplies locally is like… well, some bald Japanese gentleman in Burma during World War II demonstrated the results of that logic quite well.

Even though armies in medieval times are much lighter compared to modern ones, if we act like that bald gentleman, the results will be the same.

“Really, brother, are you thinking about work again?”

“Ah… sorry. I said I wouldn’t.”

“Hehe, it’s okay.”

Chloe scolds me as I space out.

I should stop thinking about work-related matters for today. As Chloe said, thinking about work after leaving the office—I must be crazy.

“And while I don’t mind… no, that’s not it. Ahem, since you’ve been sweating from our walk, you should wash up quickly.”

“Is that so? Well, it is summer, so even a simple walk has made my body quite damp.”

……….

The next day, I ordered a servant early in the morning to secretly bring the food that soldiers eat.

If the king officially ordered combat rations, there’s a high possibility that the army officers would bring special or extremely high-quality food.

“…Is this truly the hardtack that soldiers eat?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

And the result was disastrous.

It is hardtack, but it looks quite different from modern hardtack. It’s bread that’s been compressed, then baked and dried until all moisture has evaporated, making it impossible to eat as is.

It must be soaked in boiling water until it becomes porridge-like before it can be eaten.

In this respect, perhaps it should be called a wheat-barley porridge meal kit rather than hardtack?

“Eating this wouldn’t give one much energy.”

And the porridge made from this hardtack tasted terribly… awful. I don’t want to imagine it again, but the taste and smell still linger in my mouth.

It might be excellent for preservation, but it does nothing to maintain morale. No, beyond doing nothing, wouldn’t such terrible taste have the opposite effect?

No wonder pemmican gets consumed so quickly.

After eating only this stuff, if food combining fat and meat became available, soldiers would go crazy for it. Everyone must have desperately tried to make this terrible hardtack gruel somewhat edible.

‘What should I do?’

When military food tastes bad, there’s simply no motivation to move.

This is a rule that applies to all armies throughout history, so I want to feed the soldiers delicious food if possible.

But generally, the more delicious food becomes, the worse its preservation qualities or the more expensive it gets. And as preservation quality increases, so does the price.

However, hardtack has tremendous preservation qualities while remaining cheap, and it’s almost the only combat ration that can provide the calories needed for combat activities. It’s unpleasant and difficult to eat, but there’s a reason armies have always used it. I can’t give up on hardtack.

“…I’ll need to either modify the hardtack to make it more palatable or create other combat rations to complement it. Do you have any good ideas?”

“I… well, perhaps distributing plenty of meat regardless of type or cut? There’s no such thing as meat that doesn’t taste good.”

“Is that so.”

As expected, an ordinary servant doesn’t understand the military situation well.

We’re already distributing pemmican, which is combat rations made of grains, meat, and fat mixed together, but it’s difficult to produce more.

That’s more of a special meal for soldiers who can’t consume meat properly rather than a main combat ration. From the start, it’s too expensive to make as a main ration because it contains meat, oil, and fat.

It’s no wonder Europe was obsessed with spices throughout history. You need to add herbs and such to make the difficult-to-eat wheat-barley porridge… wait a minute.

“Spices?”

Yes, that’s it.

Spices.

The magical ingredients that can make even inedible things somehow edible.