[Side Story] Spicy Challenge

Rosalind was sure that she was breaking through to them. When she had first arrived at Knottori village, she was worried that the people would be wary of her. People in small villages don’t tend to trust outsiders so easily, but Knottori seemed to be an exception. The villagers were fairly warm to her right from the start and her magnificent victory over a group of bandits left a great impression on the community. Once they got to know the bright, energetic young knight from a small village just like theirs, they pretty much treated her as one of their own.

The men treated her more like a brother, frequently challenging her to contests of strength, most of which they ended up losing. The gossiping ladies weren’t particularly friendly to her, but they were at least polite and amicable enough. They didn’t see Rosalind as competition, so she didn’t get ridiculed nearly as much as the other women that they gossiped about. The young children of the village loved her, always asking to play with her and marveling at her physical abilities too. She was happy to oblige these requests and played with them like a big sister.

While she was beloved by the village at large, there was a notable exception, the misfit boys. Rosalind learned of the troublemakers and the antics that they got up to, and made it a point to check up on them. There wasn’t much going on in the village, not after she had beaten the bandits, so she reckoned that any trouble was likely to come from them.

The misfit boys didn’t open their hearts to her like the other villagers. Whenever she talked with them, they seemed closed off to her. Then again, these young lads weren't really open to anyone outside of their group. Rosalind noticed that they acted awkwardly around her, almost like Earnest did during his teenage years. Well, she thought that Earnest was kind of adorable when he couldn’t look her in the eyes without blushing. She really missed Earnest, but at least she was able to keep in contact by letter.

Rosalind was determined to get them to open up to her. She was sure that they were just shy, and that after they got to know each other, they could be good friends. She would often seek them out and involve herself in whatever they were doing, even getting involved in some harmless pranks. There were times when some of the members got annoyed at her persistence, but she made sure to not take things too quickly and gave them space when they needed it. For one, she never went to their secret base. Of course, she knew where it was hidden, but if there wasn’t a place for the misfit boys to stay away from her, they’d probably start seeing Rosalind as an enemy. Also, young men their age needed, uh, privacy. Rosalind remembered the time that she had barged in on Earnest’s privacy. That memory was an embarrassing one for them both.

Over time, she felt the separation between them decreasing. Finally, the misfit boys actually reached out to Rosalind, and invited her to do something with them. Even better, the misfit boys had invited her to meet in their secret base. She was ecstatic, seeing this gesture as proof that her efforts were bearing fruit.

She met with Ricard, and the two of them went into the forest, following the secret path to the base. Ricard was pretty slow, but it wasn’t like Rosalind could go ahead of him, since the way to the base was supposed to be secret. The two of them emerged into a clearing, and Rosalind saw that there was a campfire set up in front of the building. Thomlin was constantly stirring the contents of a pot that was on top of the fire, while Barnabas stood by. Ricard stopped leading Rosalind, and turned to face her.

“Welcome to our lil’ slice of paradise! This magnificent construct right ‘ere is the secret base of the misfit boys! Don’t go spreading it around though, ya hear?”

Rosalind faked amazement, and tried to act as if it was her first time seeing this.

“Wow! Wow, wow, wow! That’s so cool! Did you guys build this all by yourselves?”

Ricard’s face lit up with pride. Rosalind could tell that he wanted to show off, but of course, you can’t show off a secret, so he didn’t have a chance to until now.

“You betcha! We did it all on our own, every plank, every nail.”

Ricard walked closer to the campfire, and Rosalind followed. She could now see that the pot contained a thick brown soup, with crudely cut vegetable chunks surfacing as Thomlin’s wooden spoon stirred continuously. Thomlin then Barnabas greeted Rosalind.

“Ay there Miss knight.”

“...Hi- Hello Miss Rosalind…”

Rosalind’s genuine excitement grew again as Barnabas greeted her. He was a very, very shy one, and could barely talk to her at the start. But as time went on and he got used to her, he was able to communicate more easily. It still looked like he had to muster up some effort and courage to greet her, but it was still another sign of progress to Rosalind.

“Hi there boys! What’re you cooking up there?”

Rosalind pointed towards the pot, leaning forwards slightly to get a whiff of the concoction. It smelled… exotic to say the least, and quite sharp. She noticed that their gazes shifted to her chest after she leaned forwards. She had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Thomlin at least had the courtesy to respond.

“I don’t know. I was just asked to stir.”

“...It- It’s a dish. It’s called, uh…”

Barnabas closed his eyes, trying to find the word he was looking for. He even put his index finger up to his temple as a habit for when he was thinking hard. Out of the three misfit boys, Rosalind definitely had the most empathy for Barnabas. After a few moments, he gave up.

“...uh, I wrote it down, uh, somewhere…”

Ricard stepped in.

“Nevermind the name! Today we’re all ‘ere to participate in the misfit boys’ first spicy food challenge!”

As if by cue, Barnabas started to weakly applaud this announcement. Thomlin took a moment to realize, then let go of the wooden spoon and started clapping loudly. Rosalind followed suit, and joined the applause while watching the wooden spoon drop into the brown stew. Ricard continued speaking.

“Now, it wouldn’t be much of an occasion if it was jus’ the usual crew, so ‘ere we ‘ave our special guest and challenger!”

Rosalind wasn’t surprised, as the misfit boys had done challenges and other events like this before, many of which fell flat of expectations. This sounded fun though, and she would take any chance to get closer to them.

Ricard laid out the rules, which were fairly simple. Everyone would start eating the spicy dish, and the first to finish would win. There was a flask of water available, but anyone who drank from it would lose.

“Oh yeah, and for our challenger. Challengers will have to deal with an extra special ingredient! Trust me, the special ingredient will make this extra spicy.”

Rosalind wasn’t so sure about spicy food, but she was sure that she was the most disciplined and trained of anyone here. She accepted the challenge with enthusiasm, confident in her ability to win. Ricard told Thomlin to start serving the food, so he began to spoon the stew into wooden bowls. They were all brought inside as the members entered one by one, with Rosalind entering last. Rosalind made sure to act impressed by the basic furnishings and items inside the base, which Ricard responded to positively.

They all sat on the makeshift seats around the center of the room, each holding their own challenge meal. Ricard spoke again.

“And now for the special ingredient! Barnabas, get it will ye?”

Barnabas stood up, placed his bowl on his seat, and started to move before Ricard interrupted.

“Stop. Actually, Thomlin should do it, now that I think about it.”

Barnabas stood confused for a second, but didn’t want to question the change, so he picked his bowl back up and sat back down as Thomlin did the opposite.

“But boss, why me?”

“Shut it and do it.”

“Fine.”

Thomlin went to the back of the room where there was a makeshift bed, and started rustling around in a crate next to the bed. He seemed to have found what he was looking for, as he came back with a closed fist held in front of him. Ricard started again.

“And for our special ingredient!”

Ricard paused. Everyone was waiting awkwardly. Ricard gave Thomlin an incredulous look.

“Open yer hand ye idiot!”

“Oh, sorry.”

Thomlin did as he was told, and revealed a cluster of bright yellow lumpy berries.

“That’s right, the special ingredient for this challenge is numberries!”

Rosalind was confused for a second. She had learned about these berries as she learned about Knottori. They grew in the wild locally, and were called numberries by the villagers because they numbed whatever they touched. They were very useful for first aid, and Rosalind even mentioned them in a letter to Earnest, saying that they could be useful to the knights. She also observed that she never saw ground animals eat them, but birds seemed to enjoy them just fine, without suffering any of the effects. This was certainly an unexpected choice for a special ingredient. She expected something that made the dish spicier, and harder to eat, but numbing the tongue would just make it easier wouldn’t it?

Ricard instructed Thomlin to crush the berries in his hand, and spill the juice into the challenger’s bowl. Rosalind held her bowl under Thomlin’s hand as he did so, and saw a trickle of clear numberry juice exit his squeezing fist. She mixed it into the stew, and watched Thomlin walk to the window and throw out the squeezed berries. He turned back, and flexed his hand over and over. It must’ve been completely numb already.

“Looks like everythin’s ready now. Good. Well with that, let the misfit boys’ first spicy food challenge begin!”