In recent days, the Lanforthian shelling had ceased entirely, making it impossible not to recall the phrase, ‘the calm before the storm.’
This tranquility was a welcome change; no longer were gruesomely wounded casualties being rushed back from the front lines, and the medics’ work had become considerably lighter.
Without shelling, all casualties on the front would stem from rifle fire across the opposing trenches, meaning their own soldiers would be shot down in an instant for carelessly standing too tall.
Like most helmets in this world, Diacla’s standard steel helmets offered no direct protection against bullets, so a headshot rarely left a chance for treatment back at the rear.
It was this lull that afforded Nangong the leisure to secretly teach Lin Yu magic, and allowed them to consider matters beyond merely treating the wounded.
“How long has it been since your last bath?”
“I wiped myself down in the tent a few days ago, and briefly washed my hair over a basin…”
Even the common soldiers, constantly cooped up in the trenches, had the opportunity to take turns bathing in the rear logistics area, cleansing themselves of fleas and germs—a shared lesson learned by both the Diacla and Lanforthian armies from the plague that swept through during the first year of the war.
No one disliked this rare, bi-weekly luxury: not having to worry about shells dropping at any moment, rinsing their backs with cold water, and scrubbing away grime with soap.
Medics, being a specialized technical role much like artillerymen, were clearly entitled to this privilege and should, by rights, enjoy even better treatment. However, as the only two women in this stretch of trenches, the engineers obviously wouldn’t construct a separate bathhouse just for them.
Lin Yu could only seize the moments when Nangong was out, quickly wiping herself down in the tent’s partition with a damp cloth—a perfunctory cleanse, better than nothing.
“How can that be enough? I’ll take you somewhere nice.” She placed her scalpel back into the unsterilized instruments bay and beckoned Lin Yu to follow her.
“Are we going to the bathhouse…?”
In Diacla, notions of gender segregation remained deeply entrenched, and male-dominated bathhouses absolutely would not tolerate the entry of women. This was not discrimination, but rather a form of protection.
Yet, only one bathhouse had been built in the logistics area. Unless Nangong could conjure a building out of thin air with magic, Lin Yu couldn’t fathom any other way to enjoy a proper, refreshing cold shower.
“Why would I take you to a place like that? Do you still want to get married someday?”
‘Ugh…’
‘I don’t want to get married.’
‘But with current customs, if some common soldier saw me naked, I’d probably be forced to marry him, wouldn’t I?’
‘So it’s best not to wander near the bathhouse… Wait, with my petite frame, as long as I don’t take off my pants, I wouldn’t be mistaken for a woman, would I?’
Men in the military also maintained the tradition of growing long hair, and Lin Yu’s appearance seemed to differ little from that of a young boy.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been pulled to the trenches as a boy, only to have that obnoxious quartermaster clap a steel helmet on her head, shove a rifle into her hands, and kick her into the trenches—she still hadn’t forgiven the fellow, even though he had recently been subtly trying to curry favor with her, and even though she knew that befriending him could grant her additional allowances in her supply rations.
Fortunately, she had some luck; understanding a bit of medical knowledge, she had been pulled by Nangong to be an assistant, rather than remaining in the trenches, which would have been a truly sorry state.
After becoming a medic, Lin Yu had barely left the medical tent for the past month. Her activity was limited, at most, to disposing of garbage a few dozen meters away and standing behind the tent, gazing into the distance to rest her eyes.
While the scenery in the rear consisted of broken, withered trees and stretches of scorched earth, it was at least more pleasing to the eye than the endless stretch of trenches ahead.
She focused solely on the wounds before her and the sutures in her hands, rarely pondering anything beyond healing and saving lives.
Well… except for that troublesome fellow. She had once used her precious rest time to report his abnormalities to Nangong, suggesting, ‘He’s feigning injury to shirk duty.’
Naturally, the matter came to nothing; that troublesome fellow was indeed injured, and Lin Yu had no choice but to diligently treat him.
Speaking of healing and saving lives, Lin Yu was reminded of the potential casualties from the front line.
“How about you just tell me where it is, Nangong, and I’ll go by myself… If someone gets injured and barely manages to crawl over, how desperate would they be to find the tent empty?”
“So you’re an incompetent doctor, an incompetent doctor who abandons their patients to take a hot bath.”
“Hot—a hot bath!?” She could hardly believe her ears, her eyes widening as she excitedly retorted, “Are you saying there’s a place where we can have a hot bath?”
Which was more important, casualties or a hot bath? Casualties, of course. How could she lightheartedly forget her duty as a medic just for one hot bath?
Calming her excited nerves, Lin Yu spoke again in a placid tone: “By the way, Nangong, did you leave a note in the tent explaining where we’ve gone?”
“Don’t forget that most of those people are largely illiterate. But I’ve already told the quartermaster next door that if there are any casualties, they should come find us at the Lieutenant Colonel’s quarters. No need to worry.”
Nangong’s reply revealed their next destination: the residence of the unit’s highest commander, the Lieutenant Colonel, located in the logistics area.
As an officer, a commander, and a noble, the Lieutenant Colonel’s treatment was naturally incomparable to that of the privates in the trenches.
He possessed a small house all to himself, built in the furthest part of the logistics area from the front line. Because few people usually entered or exited, Lin Yu had initially thought it was a vacant storage shed.
Now she knew this was the residence of the Lieutenant Colonel and several other medics.
As the highest commander, he would undoubtedly have the highest-grade facilities, with no need to crowd into the communal bathhouse—if such rudimentary facilities could even be called a bathhouse.
“Are we going to ask the Lieutenant Colonel to use his bathroom?”
“Exactly. And we can catch up with your fellow medic seniors while we’re at it. They’ve been enjoying twenty-four-hour access to the bathroom; they’ve been far too comfortable.”
As they walked towards the building whose purpose Lin Yu had never known before, Nangong also told her a curious detail: those medics staying at the Lieutenant Colonel’s residence actually had a legitimate reason.
There were no facilities on the front line to build separate bathrooms for female medics, so they could use the officers’ facilities to attend to their personal hygiene. As of now, they had been “continuously using the bathroom for several months.”
“It’s about time we got to use it too,” Nangong explained, patting Lin Yu’s shoulder.
‘What a flimsy excuse,’ Lin Yu thought.
It wasn’t until they drew near the Lieutenant Colonel’s residence that Lin Yu noticed the distinctiveness of the small house.
The exterior decoration alone was markedly more beautiful than the other crude structures, and an unknown patch of small flowers grew in the flowerbed by the door, making it look starkly out of place in the logistics area.
It resembled not a commander’s quarters, but rather the mansion of a wealthy family, and not even a traditional Diacla-style residence at that.
“Is this it?”
“Yes, you stay here and don’t wander off. I’ll go inside to check the situation and be right back. If anyone comes, remember to lie low.”
Nangong instructed her to stand there and not move, so Lin Yu waited patiently for Nangong’s return.
At times, she would glance towards the medical tent with a guilty conscience, checking if any wounded soldiers were wandering, searching for medics. At other times, she would turn her head left and right, observing her surroundings, ensuring she wasn’t drawing attention, especially from the black-clad supervisory squad loitering in the logistics area.
Fortunately, Nangong did not keep her waiting long. Within a few minutes, she emerged from the house and hurried back to Lin Yu’s side.
“Good news, the Lieutenant Colonel is currently on leave… Never mind, no need to explain it to you; he’s off carousing in the city behind the lines. Right now, only the medics are watching the house, so let’s go in.”
With a mix of curiosity and awe, Lin Yu approached the highest commander’s residence and soon met her “medic seniors.”