Previously
Henrietta requests a library for the soldiers, citing the book 'Muscles Know the Truth' as her inspiration. When Kalinin dismisses the idea because most soldiers are illiterate, Henrietta proposes becoming an instructor and challenges him to a game of Old Maid to settle the matter.
Private Matyas.
By now, it was a familiar title. And today, Henrietta was exceptionally fond of it.
Private Matyas had received her monthly pay.
For the first time in her life, she had earned money. With her own two hands, all by herself.
Her name printed on the pay envelope seemed to glitter. Henrietta held the envelope to her nose and inhaled deeply. The scent of money was truly sweet.
‘What should I do with this?’
Should she buy clothes?
Henrietta twisted around, inspecting what she was wearing from various angles. A plain gray top and thick, rugged trousers. Stains hardly showed, and the fabric rarely tore. It was an exceptionally good uniform.
‘A soldier doesn’t need all that. It’s not like I’m going to a ball.’
Shoes, cosmetics, accessories. Right now, she needed none of that nonsense.
Besides, the military provided every basic necessity. A few days earlier, when she requested underwear, the supply officer had paid her a visit. The poor quartermaster’s face had flushed bright red, claiming he had never dealt with female recruits before, stammering as he asked how women’s sizes differed from men’s and why on earth she needed bandages.
Still, the matter was settled without incident, and she received her undergarments.
What else did she need, then? Books?
No, that was covered too. A classroom would soon be set up to house books, so couldn't she just request whatever she wanted to read?
‘Desserts… Sweets…’
Henrietta had spent her whole life fitting into tailored dresses. That required long stretches of involuntary dietary restriction. Sweet foods were never permitted beyond a single bite. And since that single bite was merely a tenth of a cookie, she had never even properly savored the flavor.
Then she joined the army and discovered sugar. It had begun with the cookies she ate in the Duke’s office during her interview. If that offered a delicate, sophisticated sweetness, the welcome food stashed in the locker was a piercing, delightfully cheap sugar rush straight to the brain. She needed to eat more of both to determine which she preferred.
‘You have to taste them to know your preferences…’
She longed to go into town and gorge herself on sweets, but this damned pay envelope was far too thin.
Well, that was a private’s wage for you.
Then again, it didn't look as though the other soldiers were receiving much more.
People boasted that Krakow’s army treated its soldiers the best. For putting their lives on the line, wasn’t the compensation a bit meager?
‘Dessert hardly seems an even trade for my life.’
Wondering what to do with the money, pleasant deliberations soon spiraled into grand daydreams.
Save up a lump sum, invest it to multiply the funds, buy a house…
At this rate, she wouldn't even need to risk her neck hunting for treasure.
Her daydream ended right there. Henrietta looked down at the pay envelope she had felt so proud of only moments ago.
‘It really is thin.’
The road to investment was long and arduous.
The other soldiers were equally preoccupied with inspecting their envelopes. Some grumbled about the measly pay just like her, while others chattered with excitement.
Glancing around, Henrietta subtly drifted toward the youngest soldier in the squad.
The soldier, whose beard had not even fully come in, already held the rank of private first class. But perhaps because he was still relatively green, he tended to shrink back whenever Henrietta, a noblewoman, approached. He had never actively participated in the ‘harass Private Matyas’ routine either.
“PFC Johnny, what do you plan to do with your pay?”
“Gah!”
Johnny, who had been excitedly counting the coins inside his envelope, flinched and quickly hid it away. Lately, the squad members had adopted a different tactic to ostracize Henrietta. If she spoke, they avoided her; if they looked like they might cross paths, they looked away and feigned business elsewhere.
Unaware of the reason, Henrietta approached with what she hoped was her most benign smile.
“Eek!”
Isn’t a crazy woman all the more terrifying when she smiles? Having already suffered at her hands, PFC Johnny scrambled back as if in a fit.
Henrietta pouted and grumbled.
“What is the matter? What did I do?”
“W-what’s your problem? Mind your, mind your own business.”
“I’m not interfering, I’m just asking. It’s my first paycheck, so I’m wondering how best to spend it. What did you do with your first pay, PFC?”
“Th-that… My first pay, I sent it to my family…”
PFC Johnny stammered out his answer. In truth, he sent most of his wages back home.
“And what if someone doesn’t have a family?”
“If you don’t have family… Well, then, you know, buy something for your girlfriend, I mean, your lover…”
“Ah. You have a sweetheart? What gift are you getting her?”
“I’d love to buy a ring, but the money’s a bit short…”
“A ring, you say?”
Henrietta narrowed her eyes, gauging the thickness of PFC Johnny’s pay envelope.
“It looks far too thin to buy a ring.”
Stung by the remark, PFC Johnny bristled, forgetting entirely that he was dealing with a lunatic. His envelope might be lean, but it was easily twice as thick as Henrietta’s. Having enlisted mid-month, Henrietta hadn't even earned a full month’s wage.
“L-look who’s talking! What grand thing were you planning to buy, Private?!”
“Oh! Me?”
Though PFC Johnny was clearly snapping at her, Henrietta was simply delighted that someone had asked, and she brightly declared her grand ambition.
“First, I’d like to buy a house. Captain Temperk bought a house recently, and I was so envious.”
“On an enlisted man’s pay? How many centuries do you think that’ll take…?”
“Can’t I just get promoted quickly? If I save a sergeant’s pay for five years, surely I could afford a one-room cottage?”
“Ha! As if getting promoted is that easy! Enlisted men have to serve their time before they even get considered. Aside from that, the only way is earning distinguished merit… But privates like us won’t be earning honors; we’re more likely to drop dead at any second.”
“Why must you say such dreadful things? I am remarkably competent. I’ll be making private first class soon anyway. The Division Commander promised me.”
At her audacious claim, the squad members who had been trying so hard to ignore Henrietta whirled around in horror.
“Promoted? What promotion?”
“What has a private ever done to earn a promotion?”
“I expect to be appointed as the basic language instructor soon. None of you can read, after all. I will be teaching you. The commander mentioned that a private’s rank was too low for an instructor, so I requested a promotion from him directly.”
Basking in everyone’s undivided attention, Henrietta grew even more excited and held her head high. She felt as though she had finally found her purpose. Not as a nuisance or a decorative trophy, but as an actual person.
Yet one person’s rising confidence is often another’s tragedy.
“You crazy…!”
Suddenly faced with the prospect of having to study, the squad members were predictably outraged.
Up until now, they had lived perfectly fine lives without knowing how to read.
“Dammit all! It’s exhausting enough breaking our backs with drills, and now we have to use our brains too?! If I wanted that, I’d have applied to the academy!”
“Are you flaunting your noble blood just so nobody forgets it?”
“Why are you all acting like this? When did I ever flaunt being a noble? Learning your letters harms no one. And besides, who goes to an academy to learn how to read? People only enter after they’ve already mastered the basics.”
“Who doesn’t know that?! Stop nitpicking and go tell him right now that you won’t be an instructor or whatever! Tell him you lost your mind for a second and spouted nonsense!”
“You only say that because you don’t realize how convenient and beneficial reading is. Soon, many training manuals will be stocked, and studying them will make you far stronger than you are now.”
“St-study from books?! Private Matyas! Drop and give me push-ups right now! Move!”
“What is the problem?”
“Training the body with books? I’ll remodel that weak mindset of yours! Drop!”
Corporal Dudery threw a tantrum, throwing a fit at the very mention of studying.
“I refuse! This is not legitimate discipline. If you keep forcing me, I will report you.”
“What?! Report me! Go ahead and report me! I’ll take down one noble today and get discharged myself! Arrrgh!”
“Corporal Dudery! Stand down!”
“Corporal, please, you can’t do this!”
When Dudery lunged to grab Henrietta by the collar, the others rushed in to hold him back. But the more they restrained him, the more violently he raged.
Amid the uproar, one man was silently turning pages.
Sergeant Nick, with his exams looming, appeared entirely absorbed in his book, as if deaf to the world. Yet the pen in his hand had been hovering over the exact same page for tens of minutes. The instant Corporal Dudery roared, ‘If we leave her alone, we’ll all lose our minds or die of sheer frustration!’, Nick hurled his pen across the room.
“You bastards! Will you shut up! Do you all want to die? If I fail this exam, I swear I’ll use your shinbones for dart practice!”
Normally, when Sergeant Nick lost his temper to this degree, silence fell instantly. But Henrietta, whose military bearing was oddly warped, protested instead. Having personally reasoned with the Division Commander, who responded to logic and persuasion, she assumed Sergeant Nick would be no different.
“Why should all of us die?! I haven’t done anything wrong! Please determine right from wrong fairly!”
Having never in his career seen a lowly private talk back like this, Sergeant Nick’s fury erupted.
“Right from wrong? According to my code of law, you get the noose! Get over here. I’ll fold your legs in half and hang you by your neck between them!”
With Sergeant Nick running completely amok as well, the ruckus inevitably summoned the duty officer.
The entire squad was dragged outside for collective punishment. Naturally, Henrietta continued protesting her innocence to the very end.
“This is unfair! All I did was object to an unjust punishment!”
And the duty officer, whose personal specialty was unjust punishment, brought down the hammer of retribution in the form of endless push-ups.