CHAPTER 320: CHAPTER 28 - CHECKING SUPPLY

The preparations for the expedition made by my parents have now come to an end.

After finishing bathing with my twin sisters, the next activity I will do is to re-inspect all the equipment that the soldiers will bring on a military expedition with me.

By wearing the military uniform Mio had prepared and carrying the command baton that indicated my position as the highest authority in the Marquess Rommel’s military hierarchy, I took the time to inspect the preparations that had been made.

Together with my twin sister, we inspected the camping equipment, food supplies, cooking utensils, and several other necessities for the military expedition.

While all the soldiers were taking a lunch break after their routine training, my twin sister and I headed to the women’s barracks, who would be joining this military expedition with me.

Coming uninvited and appearing suddenly like this had surprised several female soldiers, until a Captain from one of the female soldier groups welcomed my arrival along with my twin sister.

"W-Welcome, Lily-sama. I’m sorry to make you see something so embarrassing," she said with a friendly greeting in the middle of her lunch break.

"No problem. I came here to see the final preparations of the female soldier groups who will be participating in the military expedition. Do you mind our double-checking?" I replied, eyeing the female captain before me.

Her breath was still panting after doing regular workout.

I still saw some sweat wetting her forehead and rolling down to her cheeks.

"We don’t mind the double-checking that Lily-sama will do. It’s much better because Lily-sama can add something that is missing or give a suggestion to the equipment that we have prepared," she replied while trying to breathe more calmly after her body underwent a heavy routine training.

"Don’t worry, I won’t change any of the equipment that has become standard equipment for Marquess Rommel’s military expeditions. That would ruin the thrill of the challenge that Marquess Rommel’s soldiers must face. Don’t you feel happy when there’s a difficult challenge that can be overcome after a lot of effort?" I replied with a smile that made the female Captain in front of me smile with relief at this.

"Yes, Lily-sama. We followed the standard guidelines of the military expeditions conducted by Marquess Rommel and made some slight changes at the suggestion of Marchioness Amagi."

"Ahh, Mama took part in deciding what equipment to bring on this military expedition, huh?"

"Y-Yes, do we need to change the equipment we’ll be bringing on this military expedition, Lily-sama?" the female Captain in front of me asked with a calm face.

"Maybe... if there’s something we feel isn’t appropriate to bring on military expedition, then we’ll leave it behind. The current political conflict situation make us to be prepared and adapt to any circumstances, leave some useful equipment for soldiers on Headquarters."

Nod...

The female Captain seemed to understand my words. After she seemed to calm down and the fatigue from her intense routine training disappeared, she looked like a responsible female Captain.

Even with the sudden presence of my twin sister, it didn’t make her nervous or startled.

Alice and Alyssa, who were with me on this re-check, smiled at her.

"Then, please show me what already been prepared," I said, giving her a less formal order.

"Yes, Lily-sama. Please come with me to a room that has been specially prepared to store military expedition equipment," she replied in a soft voice and wiped her sweaty forehead.

My twin sister and I walked after the female captain.

Tap...

Tap...

At every step we took as we walked through the women’s military barracks located not far from Marquess Rommel’s Main Mansion, various gazes were directed at me and my twin sister.

Glare...

Glare...

From the many gazes that were directed at me, I could feel some respect that they conveyed by standing and bowing their heads, regardless of their activities, which were resting after doing routine exercises or simply cooling their bodies by wearing underwear.

Alice and Alyssa enjoyed this by humming a little tune, as if they were accompanying me, who was the center of attention of every female soldier who was resting.

Tap...

Tap...

The military barracks used by the female soldiers of Marquess Rommel’s military looked bigger than the military barracks used by the male soldiers. It made me step deeper into the women’s military barracks, which were filled with various unique ornaments.

The corner of my eye suddenly saw a heavy armor being used for running.

Kraanngg...

Kraanngg...

Even with the distance they ran, I could feel their enthusiasm for training does not fade.

"Are there even some of you still training during your lunch break?" I asked, glancing at the female soldier clad in heavy armor.

"Yes, it’s a common training for female soldiers, who have a unique training portions, Lily-sama," replied the female Captain with a slightly awkward look on her face at this.

"A unique training portion, huh? Are they not satisfied with the usual training? Just like those crazy peoples... that my father talked about before," I replied, remembering what my father said about crazy people who like to train hard and torture their bodies.

"H-Haha... I don’t want to laugh at this, I bet they are the crazy people who are part of Marquess Rommel’s Main Force Division. I know how Marquess Rommel feels and asked me not to create an extreme training routine other than his Main Force Division."

"..." I understood the feeling and fell silent when I understood it.

Compared to training normal people who would be satisfied with a simple portion of training, these crazy people feel dissatisfied with the normal portion of training and add their heavy training portion to a higher level.

One example of the madness of these abnormal people is the female soldiers who are running around the field in the hot afternoon, wearing heavy armor.

Tap...

Tap...

I also try not to interfere too much in the madness that they are doing, as long as they don’t cause problems, then it is a safe thing that can be done without prohibition.

"I don’t understand why they like the extreme training my father gave them?" I asked curiously.

The female captain in front of me was shocked by my words.

"They just want to be more useful soldiers than they were before, Lily-sama," replied the female Captain, making me tilt my head.

"Huh?"

"Lily-sama, did you still remember the incident where Marquess Rommel was bored at the end of the year, which coincided with winter, and still went on a family vacation?" asked the female captain as she continued walking towards our destination room.

"Yeah, I still remember that incident clearly in my head. It was about my father going crazy because he wanted to give me a present for my birthday and forcing his entire Main Army Division to hunt in the middle of icy blizzard, right?" I replied, replaying the embarrassing memory in my head.

Those embarrassing childhood memories made me feel like a birthday filled with natural disasters, snowstorms, and extreme training that all of Marquess Rommel’s soldiers had undergone.

Armed with only a knife, a bow, and arrows, my father forced every division of his military forces to go hunting in a severe snowstorm, considering it merely extra training for his boredom.

My father also used my name for that purpose so that he could celebrate my birthday, which coincided with winter, and could eat fresh meat.

"It’s a shame... but it become a routine training that happens in winter. As long as there’s a natural disaster, that’s where they’ll do their extreme training. I feel sorry for the new recruits after the heated political conflict in this kingdom is over," I continued in a flat tone.

"It’s a good thing to train their bodies to be more resilient, Lily-sama. They just felt shame and useless during the Golden King Bear invasion incident, they wanted to prove that they weren’t spoiled soldiers. Especially to Lily-sama, who will become the Matriarch in the future."

"Eh?" Listening to those words, I was shocked and tried to calm myself.

I, who was too caught up in the flow of this conversation, almost forgot that I was carrying a command baton which showed my position, which was equal to the noble title of Marquess Rommel himself.

"They were still shame when they saw Lily-sama fighting on the front lines to fight the Golden King Bear without bringing any reliable soldiers. I also felt humiliated at that time after knowing that I still couldn’t be relied on by Lily-sama. Please forgive my still-poor self, Lily-sama."

Tap...

Tap...

As the female Captain said those words, she stopped in front of the large door with her head bowed.

"I understand... but you all are still working hard to be more useful in the future, right?" As I asked, I pulled the female Captain’s chin as she lowered her face in front of me.

Caress...

Caress...

With the touch of my hand on her chin and pulling her head to meet my gaze, I could feel her intent on developing into a Captain I could rely on in the future.

This serious look in her eyes reminded me of Evelyn, who was trying to learn something worthy to support me in the future.

Alice and Alyssa were surprised by my sudden action of stroking the female Captain’s chin.

Poke...

Poke...

With a light touch from Alyssa, I heard a small whisper from her.

"This isn’t the right time to do this, Lily-nee," Alyssa whispered with a sharp glance in her eyes and her face filled with dark shadows that hid her facial expression.

Poke...

Poke...

Alice did the same thing as Alyssa, with her index finger touching my cheek, I felt like I was getting a sweet threat from her.

"Onee-sama, you must not do anything more than this. It will cause great trouble for every female soldier who is watching us," Alice said with a flat smile that showed no emotion.

I felt like I was on the edge of a chasm, the depth of which I knew nothing about.

Caress...

Caress...

My hand that was supporting the female Captain’s chin was released to make my twin sister return to normal.

With their possessive and obsessive attitudes so visible, I felt afraid of what they would do in a place like this.

"Make sure you’ll be useful in the future, okay?" Alyssa said, her face now smiling kindly at the female captain.

"Don’t disappoint Onee-sama in the future, okay?" Alice said with a friendly smile on her face as she also looked at the female Captain.

Rather than calling them friendly smiles, I would rather think of them as threatening smiles towards the female Captain.