Latka, who wakes up a light summer bate and loses her appetite after training, wondered if it would be better to go out hunting for dinner than packing lunch in the middle of her ill mood.

He has never collected or hunted before. The idea that prey could be taken there if hunted was shallow, but anyway, for the first time that day Latka rolled out to hunt in the afternoon.

"Latka, what's this?

"That's fine if you put the fire through it.... Ah, there's a red stem, dig it. Because I can only eat roots."

In the woods on the outskirts of the direct jurisdiction, Latka worked carefully to collect weeds.

Because wild grass species are usually picked by other soldiers, they are considered unpopular foods in the leadership that are not expected to yield against the effort they seek. The wild jellyfish (herbs) that are considered edible on Cardian soil cannot be found in any thriving or forested area.

Latka, however, had chosen wild grass for her first food collection.

With Paul, who was followed by a leading army who couldn't even leave Latka alone, it was the woods where the dizzying weeds had been removed that he entered. Paul stopped him once, but Ratka decided not to mind making it a hunting ground there for a while.

Because there were wild grasses thriving there that only Latka knew.

While the nun apprentice girl was staying in the village, it wasn't just the aristocratic bad reviews that taught Latka.

To Ratka, whose mother could not work and was constantly starving because of her lack of labour, the girl gave her knowledge of the wild grass.

Many wild grasses can be used as food among the wild grasses considered 'inedible' in Cardiac territory, such as grasses that cannot be eaten and are consequently recognized as poisonous grasses and seeds that are discarded because of pulp known for their strong egumi.

The patrolling nuns who have traveled through the vast Arksia have passed on such knowledge of wild grass from generation to generation in order to reduce the amount of food they have stayed in and avoid it happening.

"Latka, what's this?

"... I don't know. It's the one you don't know, so you better not."

"Roger.... not much of a gathering"

Paul, who offered a leaf that Latka did not know, with a leaf vein pointing in five directions, groans so when he sees the grass flowers he had picked by then.

Only eight species of wild grass, taught by a girl who was an apprentice among those nuns, are known to Latka, otherwise he is not knowledgeable of grasshoppers.

Paul is also unfamiliar with wild grass, although he has been knocked in by the leadership when it comes to lethal poisonous grass. In a state where Latka does not know which one to pick without giving detailed instructions, she asks Latka to confirm one of them, so Latka's workload was significantly higher than when she was alone.

"Right.... Let's hunt tomorrow, not weed gathering"

Collecting wild grass is inefficient when it comes to collecting with Paul and me. Somehow I understood it, but I was told to say it as it was, and I said it softly.

To Latka's words, Paul grins and nods bitterly. Paul knew what he didn't dare say.

Collections were there too, and Latka and Paul returned to the barracks earlier that day. Latka was not used to hunting, so the heat became tired and unable to move quickly.

The canteen side of the barracks is easy to spend because it does not plug in the day and is well ventilated. Put your hips down in the corner of the dining room and treat what you've picked while drinking water and moisturizing your throat.

While silently carrying out tasks such as removing unwanted parts from the weeds where only roots, stems and petals could be eaten, and slipping seeds out of the pulp, Fu Latka thought of Elise.

Speaking of which, I haven't been to see that calm girl lately because of the summer bat. The amount of training was increased and I couldn't afford it physically, followed by being hit by the heat and having a summer battle, and after some training here I kept resting in the barracks.

Now in retrospect, it was abrupt timing that I stopped taking my feet to the girl. I couldn't tell her beforehand that the amount of training was going to increase, and when I thought the rain had gone up for a few days, the temperature suddenly got higher and Ratka stopped going to see Elise.

What does that girl think of Latka, who stopped showing her face?

Would Elise still be worried? Will you think about Latka if something happens?

Feeling strange and itchy, anxiety swirled at the same time.

What if that girl doesn't care about herself?

Latka's hand stops when she was treating the weeds.

When I visited, I was glad Elise laughed at me. Look me in the eye, talk to me about something else I don't love, you two and laugh a little.

The village was neglected until the end, and between coming here and moving to the barracks, Eliza was the only one except Elise who looked Latka in the eye and talked.

Even after coming to the barracks, Latka, in the beginning, had turned a blind eye from the soldiers who were exposed to unforgiving words.

Let's go see Elise. Let's also take some of the seeds we're peeling right now for a souvenir. If you stay away from seeing me all the time, Latka in Elise may lose her value and be forgotten.

I thought that was horrible.

The seeds gripped in the palm of my hand are slightly sweet and the best of Latka's knowledge.

If Elise likes it, if she rejoices, then her presence, which she brings with her, may grow in Elise. With that in mind, Latka carefully shredded the next fruit pulp.

I want to talk to people normally with eyes and eyes and calmly.

I'm sorry again to be treated as absent, to be far-fetched like a swelling, not to mention the fact that only one person knows who I am. It's not comfortable listening to mockery or cursing, though.

That is Latka's underlying desire. I didn't think I liked life in the barracks because no one in the soldiers would avoid or ignore Latka.

Then why does it seem anxious to go see Elise, who will always make this wish come true?

Latka's hand stops. Sure, why not? I pulled out my shoulder and looked for the answer to that question.

─ ─ If I can, I want someone to think to me.

The insane mother barely recognized Latka when she was conscious.

Instead, I guess. Anyone. I don't want to be someone's most important being.

However, if I can get someone to worry about me.

... Clarifying his desires and realizing that he had become greedy for a while, Latka immediately afterwards wrapped herself in a throat-clothing emotion thinking of the Lord's daughter's icy face.

What is that girl going to do with herself?

Eliza took Latka's life and took her name. It is unlikely that he will remain in this barracks where he spends his time as a Latka, after giving him a substitute name.

What will happen to me?

Can it still inflict worse pain than death?

... Isn't that pain like being driven to total solitude by breaking even the slightest connection you have with someone else right now?

It's an unpleasant imagination, and a fear of discomfort crawls up from your toes.

He shook his head and shook off the emotion, and Ratka took the seed again, went back to work and immersed himself in a simple movement.