My military regiment, the guardsmen regiment- really lacked in the department of fashion.
The military uniform for the guardsmen regiment consisted of a full-sleeved shirt and a full pants with a beige yellow tint color. We were also given a beret hat in maroon color with our regiment insignia badge pinned at the front, followed by long brown boots. The hat wasn't necessary to wear all the time, that was a plus point.
Well actually it wasn’t that bad but I really don’t like the yellow tint, it looked as if somebody took a shit on our uniform and now it’s left with stains.
Today was actually the official first day of being on duty after I took like four days of absence. I thought for sure I would be chewed up by our head department for taking leave 4 days of leave right off the bat, after just joining the guardsmen regiment. I also prepared for a speech of apology if they tried to fire me, just in case.
But thankfully, they didn’t say a thing.
I guess that Pietra chic pulled some strings from behind. Although I never wanted to get help from the nobles, she really did help me out a lot. I shouldn’t make an enemy out of her.
Being her ally would be quite advantageous in the long run.
But still explaining Bruno and the bunch was more of a herculean task then I had expected. I still said the same lame chariot accident for my absence. Especially William, he just really barged on me with questions about my moral code of conduct and said I was lying. Thanks to the Captain I was able to finally evade the interrogation and went to do our patrol duty. They don’t seem to be buying the chariot accident at all.
Now we have been patrolling from the morning and now it was noon. The sun was right on the top of our head. Currently, we are in the middle of the market for the past couple of hours.
Oh not that we are loitering around here but of course we’re still on duty, somehow… At least I think so we are-
“Alright! Lift this is a little bit higher… Stop! A little lower, a bit lower… Yes! Just stay put like that and… Alright, let’s tie both the ends.” commanded Captain Arnia.
Right now, William and I were lifting a longboard of a wooden plank. We were placing this on the top of the roof stall and Captain was the one guiding the both of us.
The fruit vendor was an old man and the roof of his stall had collapsed. So now we are helping them to build a new one for some reason.
I don’t know why we are doing this, but that’s the gist of it.
The fruit vendor was an old man, so he could not have fixed the roof himself.
So he approached capt. Arnia for help. Now William and I are fixing the roof, whereas Bruno and Thalia are now looking after the fruit stall for the time being.
The heck am I doing this for?!
After we replaced the new roof, William and I finally climbed down to the ground.
Capt. patted both of our backs,
“Great work out there!”
Great work?
Am I a soldier or a carpenter?
Why were we doing voluntary work?
“Thank you, young lady!” said the old vendor to our Capt. “You lads really did help this old man a lot.”
“It’s not a big deal!” answered the Capt. as she puffed her small chest, “It’s our solemn duty as the guardsmen to protect Stratford town and to serve its townfolks.”
The heck was she talking about?
I didn’t sign up for this crap!
I had hoped I would try to get at least some amount of action and then maybe seeing my skills, I might get promotion and in that way and slowly rack up in ranks gradually and steadily.
But here I am doing menial tasks under this hot sun.
I asked Bruno and the bunch and they told me they were doing this type of work from day one, since my absence. I asked William to talk our Capt. out of this, but seemed like Bruno, his master liked helping out people.
I forgot that Bruno liked to act like a hero, and Thalia and William would just fall in line with whatever Bruno decides.
“Here take this!” said the old fruit vendor, “This is not much but you can take this as payment.”
He gave us a basket full of fruits but the basket was quite small.
But that stupid Captain of ours,
“Oh please, you don’t need to do this! We don’t need to-”
Before she could decline the basket full of fruits, I snatched it,
“Thank you! We really appreciate this.” I thanked the old man and left the stall in a hurry.
“Hey, Desmond! What do you think you’re doing-” scowled Bruno.
“Hmm? Just taking what’s rightfully ours, we earned it but Capt. doesn’t want it, so I will keep myself.” I replied with a cheerful smile.
“How can you take that poor old man’s fruits like that?” asked Bruno as he nagged on and tagged along with me.
His brows were narrowed and seemed furious.
“He offered it and I took it,” I answered.
“Yes... But still…” Bruno said but he was at a loss of words.
I took a bite from one of the fruit to celebrate for winning the argument with Bruno.
*ptooey*
I spat out the fruit,
“Ew… this fruit has gone bad. That shitty old bastard!”
Mooching off our dumb Capt.'s kindness and instead of giving us a small basket full of rotten fruits.
I should have just gone back and uproot that roof myself so that the old man can bask and get burnt under the sun for all I care.
Capt. Arnia and the others also later followed us.
“Hey, you shouldn’t have taken those fruits from the old man like that.” said the Capt. Arnia.
Not this crap again.
“It’s old man’s fault for offering it, in the first place,” I replied.
“Still! But anyway, don’t hog all the fruits for yourself. Share with us, too.” she added.
She was ready to decline the fruits from the vendor but now she wanted a share.
I gave her the entire basket,
“You can keep all of this and do as you please.”
We then continued to our path to patrol in the town.
“The fruits taste’s funny,” she said.
“Exactly!” I replied.
Just when we heard loud gongs being rung in the street.
People started to gather around the place.
It seems there was a special kind of announcement.
I noticed the one that was making the announcement was a military official and there was a small platoon of armed military standing behind him.
From the looks of it, this doesn’t seem to be a pleasant announcement for sure.
