Chapter 195: Keeping Watch
Chapter 195: Keeping Watch
How many exits did the hut have? Only two — the door and a back kitchen entrance? There was one window on each of the sides without a door. If we were attacked through the door, escaping through the back window might be best? More importantly, we had to escape before we were surrounded. I didn’t think enough people would come this deep into the forest to surround us. But assumptions were forbidden.I went outside and walked a full circle around the hut. The walls were made of flimsy boards. I could see outside through the gaps. With something like this, if a Beast Bear came, these walls would never stop it. One charge and they would be broken through. I couldn’t imagine sleeping with any peace of mind in a place like this, but it was still better than a tent. Perhaps there was something placed in the hut that kept magical beasts away? There might be something. There was probably hunter’s or woodcutter’s wisdom I didn’t know.
When I entered the hut, Lily was breathing the peaceful "kuu kuu" of sleep on the straw. Stevie’s eyes as she looked at Lily were gentle.
"Robby-sama, let us take turns standing watch — me and Robby-sama. Sister Lily, no, Lily, let’s leave her sleeping like this."
Stevie proposed.
"Yeah. Let’s eat first. We can feed Lily when she wakes up."
"Yes, understood. But I think we should refrain from using fire, so would you like to eat the food we put in the mana bags? Bread and soup and..."
"No, you don’t need to take out that much. Bread and soup is fine. There are ingredients in the soup, right?"
"Yes, plenty. It’s a vegetable stew with a little meat as well."
"Oh! Then that’s more than enough. Thanks."
Stevie took a large pot out of her mana bag and ladled soup into a dish for me. Then she simply watched me eat.
"What is it? Stevie, eat with me too."
"Eh? I couldn’t possibly do that!"
"What? Are you saying that because you’re a maid you can’t eat with your master? It’s fine now. This is an emergency, so let’s save time. Eat with me — that’s an order."
"...Yes. Then I’ll have some."
"Stevie, we don’t know how many more days it will take until we enter the Mainz Kingdom. If things go well, tomorrow; if things go badly, the day after or three days later. In that case even meal times become precious. When that happens we can’t worry about manners. So when we can eat, we’ll eat together. All right?"
"Fai."
Stevie answered with bread still in her mouth.
"Robby-sama, then where will you stand watch?"
Stevie asked. Umm, where would be good? For a place with a good view, the roof, maybe?