Chapter 231 – Responsibilities

I really do have a great skill for making nobles uncomfortable, as long as I'm not just having sex with them. Then I'm quite good at keeping them screaming, or they're making me cry.

The march.

It seems that they aren't making the women march through the snow. Sure, I can't see the entire march, but none that I can see are in the snow, so I hope the Princess isn't being a complete ass. However, the Princess should know where I can see and could make sure they have a better treatment than the rest.

How far is the northern border, or how far do we have to go to meet up with the enemy?

"How far do we have to travel?" I ask. "Won't this take months?"

"A month," Oriphusa says. "But most likely, we'll be teleporting in a week. We'll reach the next major city then, and most likely, the enemy will have crossed the border by then."

"Then why don't we just teleport from the capital?" I ask. "This just seems cruel for no reason."

"The Goddess of Space is more willing to help if you show that you were prepared to do the work manually," Oriphusa says. "It's stupid, but the Goddesses do crazy things, and sometimes they require strange rituals to be able to bring their power to bear. The officers won't be willing to say they are planning to teleport so that they don't accidentally ruin the 'willing to do manual work' thing. The Princess also may very well hope and plan to march all the way to the border. Having you a fourth of the way through your pregnancy would put us well on our way to ending the war without you being put in any danger."

"I'm already past a month," I say, my hand reaching for my belly. It doesn't show much compared to what I'm normally like by now. "By then, I would be closer to halfway through this one. It is going faster than the previous pregnancy. New Skill."

"Then this war will depend on how fast Princess Esiyae dies," Oriphusa says. "But it's still best for us to march all the way there. The less time fighting, the better for everyone."

"I guess," I say. "Are they going to get hurt from marching?"

"They've got boats and coats," Kali says. "But yes, there will be injuries. It's one of the more embarrassing things you see in this line of work. Adventures coming back hurt, not from monsters, but from walking or having a little too much to drink and falling out of a chair. I imagine disease is also something we'll have to worry about."

"Oh, yes," Oriphusa says. "You always forget something about war. Yes, disease is the next issue. Non-mana healers have improved greatly in lowering the number of infections that they cause. Cleaning their tools is important, as is having clean water and food. Some mages will provide the water for the army. Food is now all mana food, so that will limit the diseases caused by that. But some disease is going to go through the army at some point. It's best to be ready. Princess Elora should let you know the steps to combat the diseases. The royal healer is in charge of those. For some, we will already know them, but for the rest, you'll just need to ask. It is almost always a problem that a lot of life mana can fix. Sometimes, even death mana can do it if done carefully."

"Ok," I say. Well, at least the march won't be completely boring. Maybe I can schedule some time to go around and heal them all. I'm sure they all have plenty for me to fix before they head off to war. Mommy's customers always complained about pains that I was hoping to heal back then.

Yes, heal them right before they fight for my unborn kid and the Princess I killed. How nice of me. At least I can say I'm trying to help them, and maybe the Goddesses will really give me a poison healing Skill.

Well, I can say I tried, but the conversation stalls out again, and I decide to get some sleep.

...

"My Lady, it is time to get up," Shyla says. "They wish to practice setting up the healers' tent."

"Ok," I mumble. I let go of my teddy bear and follow the women out of the carriage.

The carriage has pulled off into the snowbank. Some girls are waving rocks around, melting the snow. I wonder if they are runes that melt snow specifically or just heat runes.

They are holding them in their hands, so they are probably doing something to clear out the snow without burning their hands off. Oriphusa's maid drops a pile of tarps and poles near the clearing.

"Listen up everyone," Oriphusa says. "This is a group exercise. Everyone helps, and everyone participates. Even me and Lady Alzi. We won't be doing much at the beginning here; I need to help teach her how to get this organized so you all will have a medical tent when I leave. It isn't difficult, as nobody wants the healers fiddling with their tent instead of healing, and sometimes, the army will spare a few squads to set up the tent for us. But do not count on it."

Most of the women in the group look kind of young, and it is even more telling with their flat chests. Are these nobles who didn't get an affinity and instead were chosen to learn healing? I spot a few older women in the pack, each more focused on a group of women rather than on what Oriphusa is saying.

There are probably forty women? That feels right for the number, but it's kind of small for the army. I guess with some of us being able to use mana, it isn't too bad.

"Lady Alzi," Oriphusa says. "If you could come stand by me."

I give her a soft nod and walk over to the Lamia.

"Now, Lady Alzi," Oriphusa starts, gesturing to the area. "You want to find an area that is as flat as possible. You will be limited a bit by where the army sets up, as you'll need to be behind them. The medical tent is the attachment point to the main camp, and our tents will all go opposite the main camp. To set up the tent..."

The list was long—too long. Poles that are different by just a few inches need to go in very specific spots. When should the tarp start getting put up? How should it be tied down? How do you clear away mud? There are so many things that need to be done to give us a good place to set up.

And then inside, you have bed after bed that the maids have to set out, but I have to remember where they all need to go. I'm sure Shyla has it memorized, but it'll look bad if I don't direct her, for some reason. These are just the silliest rules nobles love to throw around.

Some make sense, like which mini fountain is for cleaning off the surgery tools, while another is for washing your hands, and a third is for drinking. And the maids are the ones who fill them with mana.

The number of runes we can keep running is limited because only maids are allowed to fill them up outside of extreme circumstances. The medical tent is the only one that gets heat runes, and that's only when it has patients inside. Everything else is heated by old-fashioned fire, which is started with flint or sticks.

I should try to get my magma mana going. Maybe that can start a fire? Probably not directly, but I'm sure someone could figure it out. Or I could put it in something and just use it for the fire.

That's probably a better way to use it.

Obviously, after we set up the medical tent, we had to set up our own tents as well, but Shyla helped me with that. The tent is ok. It's about the size of my room in the brothel, though probably a little smaller. There's room for a bed and a small table, so Shyla can take over torturing me in reading.

"Shyla, I want to go around and heal the women who are already hurt before we get into a fight," I say. "I have at least a week before we'll be fighting, so I shouldn't have to worry about my mana. I normally only take a single night to refill completely, and with the whole sex thing, I can be full every day anyway."

"You have that right as the head healer," Shyla says. "But Princess Elora will want you to have a guard."

"Fine, take me to her, and we can get the stupid guard," I say.

"Yes, my Lady."

The Princess's tent isn't far, but it is grand. It has several rooms attached to one large room that could fit my old dinner table from when I was a kid.

She is sharing it with the rest of my wives, but I don't really need it. I don't even know what I would do with the extra room or if I could set it up.

"Elora! I want a guard so I can walk around camp and heal some folks," I say.

"Elora is wandering around herself," Geta says, popping out of a room. "I can come join you, dear."

"Good," I say, turning back out of the stupid tent. "Where would the poorest members be? They are the most likely to already be hurt."

"We don't keep track of that. But I will take you to the commoners. I guess this won't be the only time you do this," Geta says. "I'll keep track of which platoons we visit."

"Fine."

It's a short walk before Geta starts talking to some noble. The noble barks out some orders, and the women scramble about.

"Lines, women, lines," the Noble says. "Make them straight. If this is what you do in battle, you'll all die."

That did little to lessen the women's panic. But they do seem to start scurrying into a formation now—five rows of ten.

"We'll have some time to drill that tomorrow," the noble mutters. "Ok, listen up! Lady Alzi, the head healer, is going around and healing women who are already hurt. If you have something major, let her know; otherwise, keep your mouth shut. She doesn't have a lot of daylight, and she needs to get through as many as she can. Remember to thank her."

Geta waves me on, and I start going down the lines. I give each woman a quick kiss before I start healing them. Most just have some aches and pains. A few even have some diseases that I clean up. However, one or two have injuries that really should exempt them from having to march to their deaths, but whatever.

"Next," I say after I finish the last woman. "Plenty of mana left."

"Alright, dear," Geta says, walking off again.