My first night in the Baron’s mansion passed by quickly, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the 6 riders that had come with me had finished their inspection of the town’s military assets by morning.
And, while everything seemed to be mostly fine, it appears that one of the granaries had faced a small outbreak of Blood Ferns a few days ago, and nearly 1/10th of all our meats had been devoured in the process, and another tenth of the meats were thrown out due to health concerns.
Though that wasn’t going to be that much of a problem as the monster wave would hit the town in a few days, and then we’d replenish our supplies from them.
Giving the riders their new orders, I sent them away, and got to reviewing the reports left by the head knight in the room, and setting meeting up with the heads of the squads to do a final review of how our defence of the town would go.
But as I talked with them, I also tried to glimpse into how they thought... not that I was particularly good at it.
I was pretty sure someone was feeding me, and Damian, false information by saying that there was tension between the local solders and the imperial army as, after talking to the knights of the baron, and the baron himself, I had seen no enmity from them towards me, or any of the knights or other soldiers from the imperial army that were positioned in the mansion.
But even though I wasn’t good at judging people due to just not being a people’s person, I was controlling a squad of my own as well, and while 6 of my soldiers stayed in mansion with me, the other 9 were out in town, collecting information.
And as they didn’t have any insignias that differentiated them from any of the other soldiers, it should be quite east for them figure out if there is really some enmity from any of the local militia and soldiers towards the imperial army, and if not, they should be able to figure out which squads are, and their knights, are responsible for the rumours that managed to reach both me and Damian.
*Knock Knock*
“Supreme Commander Yamato, may I enter?” I heard the head knight ask from behind my door.
“Enter.” I said curtly.
Then the head knight quickly entered the room, and closed the door behind him. And sat on one of the chairs in front of my desk, and waited for me to finish flipping through a few reports in my hands.
“Head knight, do you know who the leader of the 13th squad is?” I asked as I put down the reports in my hand on his side of the desk.
“Hmm... if I am not wrong, that should be Knight Jasmine. What has made you curious about her squad, Commander Yamato?” He said as he picked up the reports I was reading.
“It seems that she and her squad were in monster hunting duty today, but they haven’t left the town even though its well past noon.”
“Ah, that.” The head knight started and put down the reports he was reading.
“Knight Jasmine reported that her squire and some of her soldiers had been injured in a training accident and requested that another squad take the place of hers for today, and I accepted it.
“I’ve already added it to my partial daily report. I can bring it if you want to read what I wrote down yourself?” The head knight asked, and I nodded.
Then he quickly got up, and after less than a minute returned with his incomplete daily report.
Quickly skimming through the report, I reach the part where Jasmine had come to the head knight, and read through his report.
And it was basically what he told me.
Jasmine had come in claiming that a few of her men and her squire were injured, and requested that her squad be taken out of the rotation for today.
And the injuries reported by Jasmine where things that could happen in training too!
“...Did you get a report from healer about the injuries on Jasmine’s men?” I asked, handing the report back to the head knight, and he shook his head as he heard me ask.
“No, Commander Yamato, I did not.”
“And why exactly?”
“I saw no need to as the injuries looked believable enough and Knight Jasmine is trustworthy enough that I didn’t see a reason to question her report.
“Though, I could quickly send someone to go take a look at the patient records of the local clinics if you want me to?” The head knight asked, and I shook my head.
“No, don’t bother. I want to see the injured myself.” I said, and the head knight tilted his head a bit.
“May I ask why Commander Yamato? There surely is no need for you to go check the records yourself. Even a newly summoned can do that!”
“You are right, there is no need for me to go there myself, but I’d quite like to see how some of the clinics are doing first hand instead of relying on reports.” I said.
“...I see.” The head knight responded after a moment.
“Well then, tell me why you came into my office.” I said, and the head knight nodded before starting.
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“Commander Yamato, we have some new reports from the scouts, and it seems that we’ve misjudged how fast the monster wave was approaching.”
“We’ve misjudged how fast they were? Are they slower or faster than we first thought?”
“Faster. We assumed that they’d reach the town in 2 days’ time, but by evening tomorrow they should reach here.” The head knight said, and I hummed in thoughtfulness for a moment.
The monsters approaching faster than anticipated wouldn’t be that much of a problem by in and of itself as the defences were already as ready as they’d ever be, but we were going to have to recall the monster hunting squads back for the final preparations, and we were going to experience some supply disruptions, but we had stocked up enough food and weapons that it shouldn’t be that much of a problem.
“...Have you sent a message back to capitol?” clerk
“Not yet, Commander Yamato. We need your seal of approval for it.” The head commander said, and pushed a report onto my desk.
Quickly reading through it, I made a few small changes before sealing it, and handing it back to the head knight.
“I will be going out now. Don’t let anyone into my office.” I told him as I got up from my desk, and equipped my scabbard.
“Do you want me to assign an escort to you Commander Yamato?”
“No need. I’ll just grab some of the guards in the corridor to escort me, just replace them.” I said, and headed out.
The clinic the head knight’s report talked about was in the outer circle of the town, but I didn’t mind a bit of walking. Especially after being in the baron’s mansion for a few days.
After no more than half an hour of walking, I reached the clinic, and as I entered the clinic with 3 soldiers at my back, a clerk noticed us, and called out to us from behind a desk.
“Welcome soldiers! Are any of you injured?” The clerk asked as he got up from his desk for us. And I couldn’t help but notice a weird piece of cloth on his face.
“What is that?” I said, pointing at the cloth covering half his face.
“Oh, this? It’s a face mask! Quite the interesting thing, right?” The clerk said, pulling on his cloth face mask a bit.
“Where did you get that from? And why are you even wearing it?” I asked in confusion.
“Oh! We make these ourselves and send them to clinics around the town! And as to why we are wearing these—see, our head clerk once had a conversation with the emperor back in capital, and the emperor apparently talked about this thing called “The Germ Theory”, and how these little creatures that cause illnesses could be blocked by face masks!
“I don’t know why we are not getting them with shipments from the capital, but we are able to make them ourselves here anyways, so it’s not needed!
“Here, take one for yourselves! Don’t forget to wash them before re-using though!” The clerk said, and reach out to grab a 4 face masks from his drawers.
I had heard of The Germ Theory from Damian too, and while I found it a bit hard to believe at first, I also had no reason to doubt what Damian told me about bacteria and other pathogens, so accepted what he said.
He also told me about face masks, but he said that a fibrous, water resistant material like cotton should be used in making of these cloth face masks, and there should be a few layers in each cloth face mask.
And, while some of the alchemists were working towards trying to make something close to cotton that was also water resistant.
Though, as far as I know, none of the experiments have been successful so far, so there should be no way that these people should be able to make working face masks and... from the looks of it, this face mask is most likely ineffective.
It has only a single layer, and seems to be made out of normal cloth. Which makes it really ineffective against any pathogens.
Looking around, I saw the soldiers following me had worn the face masks already, and I could see a few civilians wearing facemask in this waiting room as well.
“...At least it boosts morale...” I thought to myself as I gave in and wore the primitive face mask.
“I don’t believe any of you are injured, right?” The clerk asked, and I shook my head.
“Then, how can I help you good sirs?” He asked as he sat down on his chair, his eyes smiling towards us.
“I need to access the patient records.” I said curtly—and saw the smile in the clerk’s eyes falter a bit.
“That is... something I can’t help you with I am afraid. Patient records are private information that we legally cannot disclose lest we bring the ire of the emperor upon ourselves.” The clerk said.
“I know that the head healer can authorise it under certain conditions. Bring him here then.” I said, and the clerk stopped being kind, and became more serious.
“Look, I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care who you are. No soldier or knight can just waltz in here and ask for patient records without a seal of approval!
“Now, get out of here before I call the guards on you!” The clerk yelled, and the waiting room erupted into whispers, and peoples’ eyes converged on us. Waiting for something to happen.
I could basically feel the silent pressure in the air. But I didn’t have anything to worry about, so I didn’t really pay it any mind.
“Do you know who I am?” I said, approaching the clerk’s desk.
“Oh? Who are you then?” The clerk asked, getting up as well, and putting his arms over one another.
“I am Supreme Commander Yamato Gastrell! The man who controls all the imperial soldiers in this town! And I don’t need a seal of approval because I am the man that gives it out!” I yelled out as I looked at the clerk. And as my name resounded through the waiting room, everyone quietened.
I didn’t like the fact that I had taken on Damian’s last name, but Rae had insisted on it for reasons I don’t understand—and don’t care to understand.
But the fact that it was my name remained. And, as the right-hand man of the emperor, my name carried a weight and power that this clerk could not igno—
“That’s it. I am calling the fucking guards!” The clerk said, as he started leaving his desk.
“You four think you can just come here and demand anything you want just because you are soldiers? And you think you can use the Supreme Commander’s name for yourselves?! Ha! Keep thinking that!
“Just wait until the guards get their hands on you and you are sent to prison you delinquents!” The clerk said as he started storming out of the clinic.
“...Well, that could’ve gone better...” I thought to myself, and questioned how I even forgot to bring a document with my seal of approval on it.
Though, not that all was bad as this problem would be solved in another 10 minutes or so. I just needed to wait...
“What’s going on in here?!” A man yelled out, and turning my head to the voice, I saw someone in a priestly healers’ clothes coming out from one of the two corridors leading out of the clinic.
“Ah! Head healer! These criminals here are trying to threaten me into giving them patient reports by claiming to be the Supreme Commander! But don’t worry, I am going to quickly go out and call the guards, and will get this all shorted!” The clerk responded to the head healer, by stopping and turning around a bit.
“The Supreme Commander?” The head healer then muttered and turned to look at us, and his eyes widened.
“Supreme Commander Yamato! You are here!” The man screamed and the clerk stopped right in his tracks.
“H-HUH?!” The clerk let out a sound of confusion. But before he could ask the head healer any questions the head healer rushed towards me, and removed his mask as he approached me.
“Lord Yamato! It’s me! Do you remember me!” He said, as he opened his arms and approached me.
“Hmm...” I muttered. And started looking at the man before me.
“Black, short dark-brown hair, brown eyes, clean shaved, square jaw, large frame...” I listed out his traits in my mind, and tried thinking about who he was.
Then, I looked at his smiling face in the eyes after a few moments of silence.
“Nope. No clue who you even are.” And as I muttered those words, I could see the man’s soul die before my eyes.