Chapter 21When the emperor left, Poliana stood up and examined the wild boar. It was way too heavy for her to move by herself.
"Dammit."
She knew what the men would say if she asked for help in carrying this animal. They would say she couldn"t handle it because she was a mere woman when the truth was that no one man would be able to lift such a huge beast.
Angrily, Poliana began to a.s.sault the tree again. The leaves and small branches fell helplessly onto the ground.
Sir Baufallo became annoyed at the unexpected gift from the emperor. It wasn"t because the emperor went hunting against his wishes, it was because the emperor didn"t take HIM along on the hunting trip.
The soldiers, however, were excited at the meat. Most men were originally hunters, so they all had different ideas on how best to cook a wild boar. Soon, they began to argue and Sir Baufallo had to step in.
"Since this was a gift to ME from the emperor, I will be the one deciding what to do with it."
The hide, teeth, and bones were obviously going to be stored for later use. But what are we going to do with the meat?
"Let"s cut it into steaks and cook them in the fire!"
"No, we should steam it!"
"No, we should barbecue it whole!"
"No, why don"t we smoke it?"
"No! We need to make it into jerkies! The other divisions are going to be so jealous!"
Suddenly, Sir Baufallo turned to the last man who spoke and exclaimed, "Wait! That"s a great idea! You, come over here for a second."
When the soldier walked to them, Sir Baufallo turned to Poliana and asked, "What do you think, Sir Poliana?"
There was only one right answer here. Poliana had enough military experience to know this, so she immediately replied, "Jerky sounds like a good idea, sir."
"Excellent. Then first, skin it and dry the hide over there. Take out the bones and teeth. Make sure you throw away all of the blood. It might be infected with parasites. If anyone is caught eating blood or any of its intestines, you will be severely punished. You never know what"s in a wild animals" innards."
Parasites and epidemics were an army"s worst enemies. The Acreian military"s "Mother," Sir Baufallo, ordered Poliana to supervise the process before he left.
The soldiers began excitedly. They chatted loudly, guessing how old the beast must be and how much jerkies they might get out of it. When they slit its throat, its warm blood began to spill out. Poliana watched it with her hawk eyes, making sure that none of the men stole any. After it was drained, she made sure that the soldiers shoveled the blood-soaked dirt and throw it out in the forest.
The dogs and cats skulked nearby, whining. If it was daytime, the birds would"ve been flying all around them too. When the soldiers threw away the innards, the dogs grabbed them and ran away while the cats licked at whatever was left. Some dogs were seen fighting over the biggest pieces. The men looked at the dogs enviously.
"Intestines are supposed to be the best part."
"Shut up and start cutting the meat."
In the middle of them cutting the boar apart, the soldiers whispered among themselves. Suddenly, they"ve put aside the best and the biggest piece of the meat, and said to Poliana, "This is for you and the boss."
"You must know how to cook meat, right, Sir Poliana?"
Receiving a wild boar directly from the emperor himself was enough for the men to begin treating Poliana with some respect. At the end of the day, she was still a n.o.ble. They might not have fully accepted her as a knight yet, but they felt more generous towards her now that she brought them an animal.
Poliana wondered, "Why are they so obsessed with food? It"s not like they are starving…"
Compared to Aehas, Acreian soldiers were fed very well. They received enough protein in their diet and yet, the men behaved like they were starving all the time.
Poliana roasted the meat till it charred, making sure the parasites would not survive if there were any. When the meat became a bit too chewy, she seasoned it well with salt and spices.
The steak looked mouth-watering. Poliana handed one of the steaks to Sir Baufallo and grabbed her own. She was walking to her tent when suddenly, someone tripped her. Luckily, she didn"t fall, but the ended up dropping her steak.
Poliana turned to the culprit who tripped her. It was Donau, who had his arms crossed as he laughed.
"Pick it up," Poliana said to him quietly.
"Oh, do you eat even the food that fell on the ground?"
"Pick it up."
"Even the dog won"t eat it. So you would eat anything, eh? Even garbage?"
Donau kicked the piece of meat. When Sir Baufallo heard the noises outside his tent, he came out to see what was happening. No one had to explain to him what had happened. Sir Baufallo looked resigned as Poliana made a request.
"Sir Baufallo, may I punish this insolent help of yours?"
"Oh, go ahead."
Donau sneered. "I refused to be punished by a girl…. AHH!"
Before he could finish his sentence, Donau screamed in pain and fell to the ground. It was because Poliana kicked him in his crotch. It was so unexpected that Donau kneeled on the ground in agony. Even Sir Baufallo"s eyes widened in shock. During the last few weeks in the supply unit, Poliana studied how the helps are treated by the knights. She learned that although they weren"t s.e.xually a.s.saulted and there wasn"t any severe beating either, the helps were still reprimanded through physical punishments.
This was for the good of Donau. This young man had to learn his lessons now so he could have a bright future.
Poliana picked up the steak that was now covered in dirt. She threw it at him, and it hit Donau right in his face.
Donau was now s.h.i.+vering in shock, pain, and fear. He expected that the worst Poliana would dare to do would be to slap him as any other girl would.
But she kicked him in his manhood and slapped him with a dirty steak.
"What is the meaning of this?" Sir Baufallo yelled in shock.
"This isn"t the first time I kicked someone"s b.a.l.l.s, sir. I made sure not to pop it, so you don"t have to worry about not getting grandsons from this young man," Poliana replied calmly.
Poliana seemed so nonchalant that Sir Baufallo couldn"t even get angry at her. Poliana grabbed Donau"s collars and with a horrifying kid of tone, she whispered, "You keep mentioning how I bleed between my legs, so perhaps I should make the same thing happen to you, eh? Whenever you disrespect me, I will hit you only in your b.a.l.l.s. I will kick them until they burst and bleed, so if you want that to happen, keep being a jerk to me."
Sir Baufallo ran towards his son and protested, "But Sir Poliana, this isn"t a proper way to punish someone!" He patted Donau"s b.u.m to comfort him, which seemed to cause even more pain to Donau whose crotch was most likely very bruised.
Poliana felt satisfied. She then replied, "It"s not like I cut his p.e.n.i.s off, sir. At least I didn"t break any of his bones."
"What? Do you know how painful this area is to a man?"
"Well, that"s why he will never disrespect me again. Pain is a very good teacher."
Poliana threw the ruined steak at the dogs. The dogs barked happily and ran away with it.
So many people saw what happened today. There was no way of hiding this. The rumors would start immediately and reach everyone in the base by the end of tomorrow. Sir Howe, who came running after he heard about the trouble, laughed hilariously as he watched his younger brother being beaten by a female knight. Towards the end, he was rolling on the floor crying because he was laughing so hard.
Poliana continued, "I want to make this very clear to everyone. I am a knight who was appointed by his highness himself. I am also Sir Baufallo"s aide. I have no reason to ignore and forgive a mere help"s insolence. In fact, what I did today will save this young man"s life someday. He has been acting disrespectfully and idiotically because he must"ve believed the power and status of his father and his older brother would protect him. But this won"t always be the case in the real world. I am also telling you, Sir Baufallo, that if you truly care about your son, you will stop preventing his knighthood and also teach him some manners."
The truth was, it wasn"t Poliana"s fault that Donau wasn"t being knighted. It was his father"s. There were no official rules of limiting the number of soldiers being knighted per year. In fact, during the war times, it was a piece of cake for n.o.bles to become knights.
So the reason Donau hasn"t been knighted so far was because Sir Baufallo asked his highness for it. Sir Baufallo was worried about his youngest son, especially because both himself and the oldest son were both knighted already. What if all three men died in the war? There would be no more man in his family.
Donau was a smart boy. Based on what she saw, Poliana knew this to be a fact. This meant that Donau most likely already knew why he didn"t get knighted. But he was blaming Poliana because he didn"t want to blame the emperor or his own father.
Poliana had no intention of being blamed for something she had nothing to do. She already had enough to deal with in her place just for being a girl.
As Poliana walked away, the soldiers avoided making eye contact and covered their crotches. Satisfied at making a point, Poliana returned to her own tent.
Inside, she sighed.
"I"m so envious of him."
Donau had a father who truly cared about him. He also was born in a kingdom where the emperor took care of his people. He was a very lucky boy.
From then on, the soldiers seemed to behave more carefully around her. Donau, however, still screamed at her whenever he saw her. He yelled that what she did was unforgivable. Poliana would ignore him and tell Sir Baufallo, "I think your youngest son must not want to sire children in the future."
This was always enough for Sir Baufallo to immediately shut Donau up, and when Sir Baufallo wasn"t around, Poliana kept her promise and kicked Donau in the crotch for his rudeness.
Soon enough, things started to settle down. Donau was now nicknamed and teased as "the boy who got kicked in the b.a.l.l.s by a girl."
Poliana was overall very happy.