A few days had passed since the small victory against the Huns. General Carl's military camp welcomed a brief period of peace and quiet.
However, a diligent figure had been missing for the entire time. That was Lisa, who had her thigh wounded by a scimitar.
On that note, Lisa could be considered a unique existence in the infantry battalion. One could say she was the only person in the entire infantry battalion who had survived for two years without getting a promotion.
In a place with the highest rate of casualty, a person who had not been promoted or transferred certainly counted as a veteran. She was also rather strict with herself on a regular basis, and she preferred not to socialize. She seemed to have no friends at all, other than Jackson.
However, that did not mean that the others did not respect Lisa.
In the military camp, the relationships between people were pure and simple. Lisa's hard work and her valiance during battle was clear to everyone. That was why the troop leader did not say anything about her continued absence in the daily drill when her leg was injured.
However, Jackson was occupied with worry. He knew what kind of person Lisa was. He remembered that there was one time where Lisa's arm had been broken by a Hun's war horse, but she still tolerated the pain and participated in drills...
Thinking to this point, Jackson recalled the scene of that day again.
A patch of dark red had grown slowly between Lisa's legs. Jackson sighed a heavy breath: For a man to lose that important part, this has probably been a huge blow to my buddy!
"Buddy, it's time to eat." Jackson returned to the tent with bowls of food, finding Lisa sitting at her usual spot on the wooden bed with a pale expression. She was holding a wooden board that she kept rubbing with her hand.
"Buddy? It's time to eat." Jackson sat down next to Lisa, handing the bowl to her.
Lisa was pulled out from her memories. Seeing Jackson's concerned expression, she returned an assuring smile: "Thank you. My leg is already much better, I will participate in the drill tomorrow."
Jackson fell silent for a while, then he shoved food into his mouth. He mumbled with his mouth full: "A leg injury can be serious or trivial. The Huns will probably stay back for ten days to half a month after this battle. Since it's not autumn right now, the Huns don't need to stock up on winter rations, so they probably won't come so frequently. See, our meat has gotten thinner again."
Humored by Jackson, Lisa cracked her mouth open, wanting to smile. But she couldn't quite manage it...
Lisa looked down at the food in her bowl, lacking any appetite. The sudden threat brought about by her first period was a suffocating pressure.
Ever since she enlisted as a fourteen year old, she had always thought that by training diligently and putting in many times more hard work than others, she could compensate for the disadvantage in her gender. But she had completely forgotten that girls would have menstrual periods.
As a sixteen year old, she would be considered an adult after her first period. This would be a meaningful event for girls of average families. But for her, this was a hazard that could get her beheaded...
The sight of Lisa staring blankly at her bowl weighed heavily on Jackson's heart. He tried to shift Lisa's attention by asking: "Buddy, what's that wooden board you were holding just now? You bring that with you even on the battlefield."
Hearing that, Lisa put the bowl aside. She turned to pick up the wooden board behind her: "You mean this?"
"Mm." Jackson studied the rather unremarkable wooden board in Lisa's hands. It was a flat and tough wooden board with rows of irregular scratches on its surface.
"It's nothing special. It's just a normal wooden board that I brought with me from my hometown."
"Then what are those scratches on it?"
"These, huh..." Lisa curved up the corners of her lips.
Her fingers danced lightly over the individual scratches on the wooden board as she answered calmly: "For every Huns that I kill, I would carve a mark on this wooden board."
Jackson gaped at Lisa's explanation. He looked at her with a puzzled expression.
Lisa did not leave Jackson to ponder over it for too long. She explained as if she was in her own world: "I'm just afraid that I might forget it. If I ever hurt my head one day, it's fine if I forget about other things, but I have to remember this. I might as well tell you this right now, too. If I ever die for whatever reason one day, please take this wooden board to the outskirts, to a place called Elderville. Help me burn this wooden board at the village entrance, and then... just say, I have done all I could."
Lisa's voice was very quiet, and her expression was also very mild. But Jackson could hear an indescribable desolation from her voice.
"I don't care. If you want to burn it, burn it yourself. What's all this depressing talk? Buddy, us brothers still have to build success in life together!"
Hearing Jackson's assurances, Lisa muttered self-mockingly: "What's the point for someone like me to build success in life?"
However, those words suggested something entirely different in Jackson's mind.
Seeing that Lisa was being so 'obvious' about it, Jackson decided not to beat around the bush anymore.
He put down his food bowl, then he said seriously: "Buddy, actually... I already know all about your problem!"
The wooden board fell from Lisa's hands, clattering on the floor. Her mind had gone entirely blank.
Am I about to be beheaded? Is this actually how I am going to meet my end? But there are still sixty left...
The color draining from Lisa's face confirmed Jackson's assumptions.
And so, he continued: "Buddy, I know that your little buddy to pass on the generations has been injured, but you shouldn't get so dejected. To be able to survive in the military camp is already a great fortune among misfortune! Just you wait, if I marry a wife in the future, I will definitely let you adopt a big fat little kid. You can rest assured, ge."
Passing on the generations? Adopt? A big fat little kid...
Lisa's mind turned around quickly. She comprehended Jackson's meaning. So, it was... like that?
The heavy weight on Lisa's heart was halved in an instant. Her complexion warmed up too. She patted Jackson's soldier: "Alright. Both of us must live on properly."
Being able to cheer up Lisa , Jackson's heart turned cheerful too.
The two 'brothers' ate a meal merrily together, and nothing more needed to be said.
After the meal, Jackson left the tent with the bowls, though not without instructing Lisa to have a proper rest.
Lisa laid on the bed, breathing out a heavy sigh of relief. Her heart seemed celebratory as if she had survived a near-death encounter, but that danger still remained nonetheless. Lisa could not smile just yet.
Lisa remembered that when she was thirteen, her mom once told her about the monthly matters for girls before.
A girl would be grown-up after the first period, and from then on, it would come regularly every month. She had somehow managed to hide it this time.
But what about next time?
Lisa held the wooden board marked with fifty-eight irregular scratches to her chest. Her memories returned to Elderville once again...
----
"Ai! You lass, don't you touch that medicinal herb!" Doctor Song exclaimed as he snatched the medicinal herb from my hand.
Doctor Song was an old doctor in our village. He suddenly moved into the east of the village when I was eight years old that year... He never accepted money when he treated others. He was someone who deserved respect, but he insisted that people could just call him the old man...
He was always fond of me, and I would always run to his place too. After that, he started to teach me some medical theory, and how to recognize some medicinal herbs...
By the time I was fourteen, I could treat trivial ailments like minor colds and headaches. I remembered a certain day in the old doctor's pharmacy, where I saw a medicinal herb that was completely black.
I reached out to take it, thinking I could help to pound it to mush. But the usually gentle old doctor suddenly had a temper. He snatched the medicinal herb from my hand, and he scolded me fiercely...
I cried angrily.
"You lass, you really don't know when someone's good to you. Your second uncle burned half his side doing conscript labor, and now he has an infected boil. This medicinal herb is called the Leontopodium nivale flower. Paired with a few warming medicinal ingredients, it's the best for treating infections. But it would be greatly far from good to ingest it on its own, especially for girls. This flower is a very chilling ingredient. With just one accident, you won't be able to be a mother in the future. This old man has just saved you, yet you're crying like that! Here, wipe your tears..."
----
A fuzzy memory turned clear all of a sudden. Lisa snapped up from the wooden bed immediately.
"The Leontopodium nivale flower!"
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