How a Two-Life Scoundrel Lives - Chapter 53

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Chapter 53】

Certainly, Gwen’s defense was effective.

Listening to the conversation, it seemed she was friendly with not only Jeanne but also the cook soldiers.

“Oh, r-really? Then I can rest easy too…”

Jeanne showed signs of understanding after hearing Gwen’s words.

“If Gwen says so, then it must be true.”

“Hmm. We must have misunderstood for no reason.”

“It was suspicious though. But still, no one would do such a thing at this hour unless they were crazy.”

As the situation seemed to settle down, the cook soldiers returned to their positions one by one and focused on cooking again.

“What brings you to the kitchen? Scout members don’t come to help with cooking.”

Since scout members were elite troops with high-risk missions and were always busy, they weren’t mobilized for various tasks like cooking support, fortification construction, or clearing.

So Gwen couldn’t help but find it strange that Carlisle had come to the kitchen.

“Are you perhaps hungry?”

“No.”

Carlisle shook his head.

“Not me. There’s someone making a fuss about being hungry…”

“Who?”

“Here.”

Carlisle pointed to his chest where the baby dragon was curled up.

“Oh? Did you pick up a cat or something?”

“Yes, well. Something like that.”

“It must be cute.”

Gwen’s face turned slightly red.

“Can you show me? I really love cats. Hehe.”

“Sorry, but I don’t think that’s possible. This one is a bit wild…”

“Oh no.”

Gwen made a disappointed expression.

“Could I possibly ask the cook soldiers for some food?”

“Like pet food?”

“No. For example, something like steak?”

“You can get that kind of thing from the unit kitchen… right?”

When Carlisle held out two gold coins, Gwen’s answer changed.

It would be an absurdly expensive price for pet food(?), but he just gave it since he didn’t have change.

Anyway, he had collected dozens of gold bars and various treasures from Antiros’s laboratory, so it seemed okay to indulge in this level of luxury.

“How about this? One for Private Gwen to keep, and use the other one to win over the cook soldiers…”

“I’ll try!”

Gwen approached the head cook and whispered something.

“I heard the story. You need steak?”

The head cook was a man with a bigger build than most combat soldiers and boasted sturdy arms.

“Sorry, but we don’t have beef. Beef isn’t well supplied to mountain remote units like this.”

“Isn’t there something similar?”

“We have venison. We have plenty of butter and oil, so if cooked well, it won’t be inferior to beef.”

“Then could I ask for that?”

“Absolutely. Hehehe.”

The head cook winked at Carlisle.

“For things like this, come find me anytime. I always have meat that I’ve secretly set aside to eat… oops.”

“…”

“A-anyway! We have enough ingredients to fulfill your request, so feel free to come by.”

“Sure.”

“Then, wait just a moment.”

The head cook who received Carlisle’s request rolled up his sleeves, took ingredients directly from the food storage, and started cooking.

Though it was very likely secretly hoarded ingredients, Carlisle didn’t make an issue of it.

Right now, Carlisle was the one in need, not the head cook.

* * *

Head cook Andre’s cooking skills exceeded expectations.

“Here, your ordered food is ready.”

Steak made from venison, mushroom soup, salad made with fresh vegetables and tangy sauce, bread baked with plenty of butter, and even puree made from ground potatoes.

There was even warm milk and tea served alongside.

At this point, it could no longer be called ‘military rations.’

“This is excellent?”

“For what I received, this much should come out. One gold coin is quite a lot of money.”

“True.”

Since one gold coin in this world was worth about 1,000 US dollars, it wasn’t a small amount of money.

“By the way, I can’t give you alcohol, so keep that in mind. I do have some wine secretly stashed away, but if we smell like alcohol from this early dawn, both you and I will be immediately court-martialed.”

“Yes, well. It’s not like I particularly need alcohol.”

“I’m not saying it’s completely impossible, so if you really want some later, come by when the timing is right. I can give you a drink or two.”

“Sure.”

“There are many watching eyes, so don’t go eat somewhere else and get caught. Just eat here. If you guys get caught, it’ll be trouble for me too.”

“Sure.”

“Then, enjoy your meal.”

Andre, despite his rough and massive build, bowed with elegant and refined gestures that didn’t match his appearance and set up a tent.

Thanks to this, Carlisle and Gwen could eat breakfast quietly without worrying about prying eyes.

“Here, food.”

Carlisle cut the steak made from venison and put it into his chest.

“Nom nom. This is delicious.”

“Are you satisfied now?”

“Give me bread too.”

“…”

“After bread, soup.”

Crack!

A vein bulged on Carlisle’s forehead.

‘Acting like a complete master. I should just abandon you…’

If only it wasn’t a potential grade 12-star.

“Graaah!”

The baby dragon growled.

“…”

Carlisle wanted to snap back at it, but couldn’t bring himself to do so in front of Gwen.

“Is the baby cat angry?”

“Huh?”

“It seemed angry just now.”

“It’s nothing, so don’t worry about it. It’s just a picky little thing. Private Gwen, please eat too. Before it gets cold.”

“Yes.”

Carlisle was so busy taking care of the baby dragon that he barely ate his own food properly.

Whether it knew this or not…

“Yaaawn. I’m sleepy…”

The baby dragon gulped down even the milk, then yawned lazily before falling fast asleep again.

‘What a comfortable life. Meanwhile, we’re all about to die.’

Carlisle looked down at the baby dragon in his arms, snorted with a smirk, and bit into his bread.

The steak had gone cold and he didn’t want to eat it, so he planned to fill his stomach with just bread and puree made from potatoes.

“You’re so devoted.”

“Me?”

“You’re taking care of the baby kitten first while you can’t even eat properly yourself.”

“I just couldn’t stand its constant fussing, that’s all.”

“Still, that’s not easy to do. You’re a caring person, oppa.”

“But why do you keep calling me oppa?”

“Because you’re handsome?”

“…”

What kind of logic is that…

“Oh, I’m going on leave soon!”

Gwen said with an excited expression.

“Leave?”

“Yes! Three days left! It’s 14 nights and 15 days, so it’s pretty long!”

“You must be looking forward to it.”

Carlisle had also served in the military in his previous life, so he understood Gwen’s feelings better than anyone.

Whether in this world or that world, the excited heart of a soldier before leave would be universal.

“I’m really looking forward to it! I want to see my mom! I want to see my siblings too! It’s already been six months since I last saw them, so lately I’ve been dreaming about my family every night! Hehe!”

“That’s understandable.”

“Private Carlisle, won’t you be going on leave soon too?”

“I still have a long way to go, don’t I? It’s only been a month since I enlisted, so there’s no way I could go on leave or anything.”

“Oh come on.”

Gwen spoke as if that was nonsense.

“You’ll probably get reward leave soon, won’t you?”

“Reward leave?”

“With all the achievements oppa has made, there’s no way Sir Helen wouldn’t recognize that.”

“That’s unlikely.”

Carlisle couldn’t even imagine Helen giving him reward leave.

Right now, Carlisle and Helen were maintaining a kind of hostile symbiotic relationship, and it would be hard to say they got along well even as empty words.

“Hmm. She seems like she’d pretend not to know even if she did.”

“Sir Helen is someone who clearly separates public and private matters, so even if she doesn’t like you, oppa, she’ll give you reward leave. I guarantee it!”

“Well. We’ll see in time.”

Carlisle didn’t have any expectations.

Whatever it might be.

‘Leave… I wonder if I’ll be able to go.’

Carlisle was engulfed by an inexplicable sense of unease.

Right now, Bowden Fortress was like a candle in the wind, no, in a typhoon.

With the entire unit in a life-or-death crisis, would they really be able to go on leave?

No, now wasn’t the time to worry about leave but about surviving first.

Of course, Gwen, being an engineer, had no idea how the situation was unfolding, so she could be filled with anticipation…

‘Let’s not tell her. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.’

Carlisle didn’t deliberately crush Gwen’s expectations with his own hands.

Serving here in the Blood-Soaked Land of Kuberin meant living with death always by your side, regardless of whether you were combat or non-combat personnel.

What made it possible to endure such harsh conditions was probably leave – hope for the future.

Carlisle didn’t want to crush Gwen’s hope.

He wanted her to be even a little happy, looking forward to her upcoming leave, at least until she learned about the situation.

Even if that anticipation would shatter into pieces and turn into despair.

* * *

“Hey rookie, rookie!”

Startled!

Carlisle barely opened his eyes at someone’s call.

Normally he would have jumped up even at a gentle call, but perhaps because he had gone on the dungeon exploration operation last night, his eyelids felt incredibly heavy.

Moreover, while the senior soldiers who had been part of the exploration team got about three hours of sleep, he couldn’t easily wake up because he hadn’t slept a wink while taking care of the baby dragon’s food.

At most, he had only dozed off for about 15 minutes.

“I know you’re tired from the operation all night, but get up.”

When he lifted his incredibly heavy eyelids, a man with bizarre shaggy hair was looking down at Carlisle.

It was Wilson, who was called by the nickname [Barber] among the scout members.

‘I can never get used to that wig no matter how many times I see it.’

How much resentment must he have harbored that scalping the Barbarian Warriors wasn’t enough, and he even made a wig from their hair to wear around…

“Here.”

Wilson extended his hand to Carlisle.

Even though he could get up by himself just fine, Carlisle grasped Wilson’s extended hand.

Carlisle wasn’t so oblivious as to refuse when Wilson, who had been looking at him unfavorably all this time, readily extended his hand.

“Heave-ho!”

Wilson put strength into helping Carlisle up.

“Are you very tired?”

“No. I can manage. I’m just a bit sleepy.”

“As expected, Sigmund is Sigmund. To see a new recruit easily endure that forced march.”

“Haha…”

“Anyway, it’s five minutes before assembly, so go wash your face and wake up a bit before coming out. The magic stone mining operation will start soon.”

“Yes.”

In the end, it seemed the magic stone mining operation ordered by Command Headquarters would be carried out.

‘If it’s going to be like this, it would be better to just have a battle.’

Rather than recklessly conducting a magic stone mining operation and being picked off one by one by the Butcher Tribe or Crowley, losing troops, it might be better to fight a full-scale war against whoever the opponent was.

Then they could at least try to hold out using [Iron Fortress], the item acquired from Antiros’s Laboratory, until reinforcements arrived.

In other words, the best method in the current situation was to hole up in the fortress and focus solely on defense.

The problem was Command Headquarters’ subsequent investigation.

If it was revealed that they didn’t conduct magic stone mining work, or if they failed to secure the minimum number of magic stones, Helen and all the unit members would certainly face disciplinary action.

‘The situation is really fucked up.’

Carlisle splashed cold water on his face and bit his lower lip firmly.

What’s so important about those damn magic stones…

“If they order it, we have to do it. Phew!”

Carlisle let out a deep sigh and immediately headed to the assembly point.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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