Chapter 186 Military Canned Meat
The twenty-strong archer squad, each carrying a large canvas backpack and a recurve bow, looked curiously at the beast-eared children.
"Miss Mila, should we continue our journey or take a break?" David asked.
He had received orders the previous night and set out at dawn, following the marks left by Miss Mila, marching quickly all day until they finally caught up with their escort targets.
"Yes! Let's rest. We can leave early tomorrow and should arrive in Eldoria by evening," Mila nodded, noticing that the orc children were also exhausted.
"Alright, I'll have everyone prepare some wheat porridge," David said, immediately instructing the soldiers to set up camp. Vigilance was still necessary, even though they were on the outskirts of the Azure Peak Range. Carelessness could still cost lives.
Mila always went ahead thousands of feet to kill or drive away the beasts, or else the orc children and a few elderly, weak, and sick individuals would be easy prey for the wild animals.
Upon hearing that they could rest, the orc children cheered. Many of them sat down, their faces showing signs of pain. Walking for four days straight, even at a slow pace, had exhausted them.
Mary and the elderly orcs watched David and the others warily, gathering the orc children together and engaging in conversation with Emily.
"Emily, are those people noble knights?" Mary asked in a low voice.
"I suppose so!" Emily pondered for a moment and replied, "But Henry refers to them as soldiers, not knights. But David is a knight."
"Soldiers? And few knights?" Mary was a bit puzzled.
In her understanding, the number of knights was directly related to the strength of a noble. Could it be that the noble Emily mentioned was a weak one?
"Alright, let's not worry about that. We'll reach Eldoria tomorrow, and then everyone can witness the magic of Eldoria," Emily reassured them.
Mary could only nod. It was too late to say anything now. The nobles had sent knights directly, and even if they wanted to leave, they couldn't.
"I'll help and see what food they've brought," Emily said, licking her lips. For her, and for all the orcs in the castle, mealtime was the most anticipated part of the day.
Just as Emily took a few steps, her dress was tugged again. She didn't need to turn around to know who it was; besides Ivy, who was always clinging to her, there was no one else.
"Emily, I want to go too," Ivy's voice was sweet and soft.
"Sure, let's go," Emily indulged. This little deer-eared girl had been very attached to her in the tribe, and now that they hadn't seen each other for a few days, Ivy followed her every step, as if afraid she would leave again.
Before they arrived, the smell of wheat porridge wafted through the air. Ivy's mouth watered, and her eyes were fixed on a large iron pot not far away.
"David, do you need any help?" Emily's voice arrived before she did.
"Miss Emily, no need, we'll be done soon," David quickly shook his head.
"Thank you so much," Emily said gratefully. She was truly touched by someone coming to pick them up.
"Not at all, it's what we should do," David shook his head.
Ivy's cheeks turned red, and her little belly growled, so she immediately hid behind Emily.
"It'll be ready soon, just wait a bit," David chuckled.
He took out an iron box from his backpack, scraped off a layer of gray gel-like substance on the box with a military knife, and then pried open the seam of the box, releasing a strong meaty aroma.
"What's this?" Emily asked curiously.
"This is military canned meat, still in the semi-finished stage. We're just testing it this time," David said, pouring the meat from the can into the wheat porridge and cooking it over a high flame.
Mila knew what military canned meat was all about. She had been with Henry all along and knew a lot of things, especially about the military camp.
According to Henry, military supplies were ten or twenty years more advanced than civilian ones, in order to ensure that the strength of Eldoria was not fully known.
Just like this military canned meat, it was a bit more advanced in terms of storage, transportation, and nutrition than ceramic canned meat. It was said that many methods were tried for the sealing of military canned meat. Henry proposed to use animal glue as a temporary substitute in the end.
The research department produced dozens of military cans to test their storage properties. This time, David was going on a mission, so they might as well bring some to test the transportation and see if the environmental changes would affect the military canned meat.
"Alright, let's eat." David stirred the porridge and shouted to the archer team members, "Take out your lunch boxes and let the children eat first."
The archer team members took out their iron lunch boxes from their backpacks and placed them in front of the large iron pot before walking away.
A large spoonful of wheat porridge with a little meat was put into the lunch box, causing the orc children to salivate. They all looked at Mary, waiting for her approval.
"Go ahead!" Mary smiled helplessly. She was hungry too.
"Here, Grandma Mary, this is for you." Emily handed the wheat porridge to Mary and said with a light smile, "It's delicious, and there's more after you finish."
"Okay!" Mary nodded silently, her rough fingers holding the iron spoon, as she turned to look at the children, who were happily sharing a meal from the same lunch box.
"So delicious, this meat is amazing."
"Yeah! It's even better than the vegetable soup Grandma Mary makes."
"Is there more after we finish? I can eat a lot more!"
The innocent voices of the orc children made Mary smile. She scooped up some wheat porridge and put it in her mouth, and her cloudy eyes suddenly lit up. In her sixty-five years of life, she had only now discovered such delicious food. Was this what the food in the orc palace was like?
In Mary's impression, all the delicious food in the world was gathered in the orc palace. Now she felt that what she was eating was no less than the food in the palace.
Of course, all of this was just Mary's fantasy. She had never eaten the food in the orc palace; she came from a remote village in the orc kingdom.
