“What’s the situation here like so far?” asked Alissa to Ethan when she arrived at the defense camp south of Eastcliff. With her speed, she managed to reach there by sunset of the same day she departed, leaving the troops with her behind as they couldn’t quite keep up with her. They told her to go ahead and that they would catch up later, likely arriving in the night.

 

By the time Alissa arrived, the day’s fighting was already over and the last of the troops were returning to their respective bases. As such, she quickly looked for someone she knew – it wasn’t that hard to find the biggest tents which were typically reserved for officers or fourth tier fighters – to ask about the situation at hand. 

 

Ethan just happened to be the one she ran into first.

 

“Oh, heya Allie. Didn’t expect to see you so soon,” greeted Ethan with a surprised look on his face. He had clearly participated in the day’s battle, given how his hair was damp with sweat and his armor still had plenty of blood and other unmentionables covering some parts of it. He didn’t seem to be all that worried, though, which was a good sign. “We thought you wouldn’t get here till later tonight or even tomorrow.”

 

“Got things done in Eastcliff earlier than expected, so we headed out to catch up with you guys early this morning,” replied Alissa with a shrug. She was drenched in sweat herself after running at high speed for the entire day, and had only eaten a little while she was on the way. “The others would likely get here later tonight. They couldn’t keep up with me.”

 

“Makes sense. You’re by far the fastest of our whole party,” admitted Ethan with a smile. “Anyway, it’s been pretty… well, dull, over here. The demons had just been trying to push with numbers like usual, we stopped them on their tracks, the usual. Lots of fighting and killing, but little of anything actually getting done, if you catch my drift.”

 

“So like back at Fort Silvia?” asked Alissa.

 

“Kinda, though less intense. Plenty of time to take breaks after fighting for a while, and the demons are nowhere near as dogged on their attack as that time. They got plenty of fourth tiers, but they never seemed to really commit for real. They’d withdraw once they felt they were disadvantaged, and we couldn’t really chase them into their army either.”

 

“Anyway, you should go take a wash first, we can chat more later after dinner. You look like you’ve been dunked in a river, I swear,” said Ethan somewhat amusedly when he looked at Alissa’s rather disheveled state. Her clothes were pretty much soaked with sweat and caked with dust after running for an entire day, so it was an understandable comment to make. “You can wash up by the gorge up north, everybody washes there.”

 

“Gotcha, thanks.”

 

Alissa went towards the north of the camp where she found the end of the river that ran along the bottom of the gorge that divided Eastcliff from Westcliff. The river probably flows into a subterranean network, given how it just ended abruptly at that point, and there was indeed an area that had warning signs informing people not to step into the waters. 

 

A bit further north from that area were two sections of the river that had been cordoned off from sight by a barrier of cloth stretched on wooden frames. The barrier was easily three meters high and people from the outside would only be able to see vague shadows and silhouettes through the thick cloth at most.. It was the area reserved for the army personnel to wash off in.

 

The area was separated by gender, with the west side being for the men, so Alissa went over to the east side where a couple female soldiers were standing guard by the entrance of the barrier. They let her in and she quickly stripped off her sweat-soaked clothes before she went into the nearly waist-deep river like the others.

 

Given the time of the year, the river water was quite cold, and the current was a strong one, though nowhere near strong enough to trouble her. Rather than use small buckets or pails to scoop up some of the water to pour over their bodies like some of the weaker soldiers did, she just directly submerged herself for a bit before surfacing once more, refreshed by the cold water.

 

She then sat down a bit closer to the shore where her head would still be above the water level and used her hands to scrub the accumulated dust and sweat off her body, feeling properly clean for the first time in a while. There had not been many chances to take a proper bath while they were on the road, after all, so the fact that the defense camp happened to be situated at a place where they could wash up regularly was a blessing.

 

While Alissa could relaxedly take a dip in the river, most of the second and lower leveled third tier soldiers didn’t dare to do so. The current was strong enough that they might be dragged along, and if they were to be sucked into the underground waterways they would be doomed without any chance of survival. Of course, other stronger people gave the current no heed like Alissa did.

 

One of them even floated around on the river’s surface, the current somehow failing to move the older woman’s body from where she was. Probably a mage of some sort taking the time to enjoy herself after a hard day’s fighting, Alissa thought. The older woman did notice Alissa’s arrival and gave her a polite nod, which Alissa returned, before both went back to focus on bathing.

 

As it turned out, it took quite a bit of effort to get the grime that had accumulated on her hair over the past week. Her blond hair was completely matted and oily to the touch, since she had not had any chance to properly wash it, and getting it clean again was harder than she thought since there were no convenient shampoos in Ephemera. The locals more typically used perfumed oil instead, if not just plain water.

 

After a good quarter hour of struggle with her dirty hair Alissa finally felt that it was clean enough. One good thing about the location of the washing area was that all the dirt, grime, and other filth they washed off would just flow away downstream, while those getting water from the river to cook or drink could simply do it a bit further upstream where the water was clean. 

 

Finally, Alissa took another plunge into the cold water and rubbed her face until she felt properly clean, before surfacing again and walking towards the riverbank. She had naturally carried a towel and a fresh set of clothes with her. After she dried herself and put on the fresh clothes, she wrapped the towel around her still-wet hair and bundled up her sweaty clothes. She’d leave it next to her tent later and someone from the army would take it away to be washed in the morning.

 

Her armor and weapons were already stashed in the tent prepared for her – helpfully set next to the tent of the rest of her party – so Alissa walked over to where the mess area of the defense camp was. Once she got there she noticed that those who came to reinforce the front line definitely didn’t skimp when they came over.

 

Compared to the expedition to Fort Ixlay, where most of the army’s rations prioritized shelf life and transportability, the meals served at the defense camp’s mess area reminded Alissa more of the meals she had at Fort Abernal, which had a town inside the fort with its own food production facilities. She knew that Sir DelVillar was not the type to splurge and show off, and that the rations they carried with them were mostly of the normal type, so it must be one of the other reinforcement detachments that brought more luxurious foods and was later made to share with the others.

 

Back at Fort Ixlay and when they were on the road, the most common meal was some sort of porridge or gruel made by cooking grains with water and some things to flavor it. Most commonly, the flavoring was some cured animal fat or preserved meats, sometimes enriched by what local fruits, herbs, or animals could be foraged from the vicinity.

 

In contrast, when Alissa sat down on one of the less crowded tables in the mess area – Ethan, Sir Inolet, and Sir DelVillar were already seated there and lower ranked soldiers didn’t dare sit with them – she was served a whole loaf of still-warm bread and a thick stew that was full of meat and vegetables. A far cry from the rudimentary meals she was used to when on the road.

 

Making bread was more time-consuming since the dough needed to ferment and rise, and some sort of oven also needed to be built to bake bread properly. Similarly, fresh meat and vegetables were a luxury for an army, most typically limited to what could be foraged from the surrounding area. Of course, it was likely that the lower ranked soldiers would be eating the usual simple meals, as there was not likely to be enough of the rarer foodstuffs for everyone.

 

The bread was good, crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, to the point that Alissa wondered if one of the noble commanders had brought their personal baker with them or something. Similarly, the stew was fragrant and flavorful, the vegetables cooked until they directly dissolved on one’s tongue while the meat still retained some chew to them.

 

She understood all too well why everybody was eating quietly instead of eating while chatting as usual, as they were too engrossed in the food to bother chatting. That, and just about everyone was tired and hungry after fighting for the entire day, as there were few chances to sneak a bite while fighting a battle. Assuming one could keep their appetite while covered in the blood and guts of others, that was.

 

It was an eerily quiet meal, only occasionally enlivened by the noisy slurps and burps of a few people, as everyone counted their blessings for having survived another day on the battlefield. For some, it was already a blessing to be able to return to camp and eat something warm in the evening, as some of the soldiers grew up under even worse conditions.

 

Over the course of the meal, the table also gradually grew fuller, as a few other fourth tiers from Sir DelVillar’s group as well as Nadine and Maribel joined them to eat together. Since the table was not large enough to accommodate everyone, some of the others crowded another table nearby, while the Temple Guards from Alissa’s party shared a table with Mother Magdalene a bit further away.

 

It was only after everyone finished eating – some nursing too-full stomachs from having eaten too much – that Sir DelVillar turned to Alissa and asked her about how her mission went.

 

“So Eastcliff is taken care of?” asked the old knight as he sipped on his mug of strong tea. One of the habits of summoned [Heroes] that prevailed over the generations and remained in use by the Kingdom’s people was to boil water before drinking it. With the habit of boiling water, came the habit of drinking tea and various other infusions as well.

 

Sir DelVillar was particularly fond of strongly brewed teas, though Alissa always found them too bitter, even if the aroma was indeed pleasant to the nose.

 

“The situation is under control, Sir,” said Alissa to answer the old knight’s question. “Most of the food had been distributed, and order had been re-established, at least to the extent we managed in the short time we were there. As long as the food remains, the town should not be facing any issues, I believe.”