Chapter 57 part 3

"So, with that out of the way, what's the status of the scouting parties?" she asked, noticing Oleania's and Roesadra's hands rubbing against each other's as they sat next to each other. Which made Jenn wonder if that might be the reason there was one fewer straw mattress present than she had expected. Though, she couldn't say that she objected overall, it was still a development that she hadn't expected.

"Two parties were sent out two days ago, one looking to the north and one to the southwest," Polelin answered. "They're looking to see if a couple areas that looked like they might have been good places to expand the settlement would be good to relocate to. Though, we're not that optimistic about them, to be honest."

"And when are we supposed to expect them back?" Jenn asked, feeling like it shouldn't have taken so long, since from what she'd been able to tell, they hadn't sent anyone out to anywhere that they weren't able to get back before the day was out. Which said those scouting parties were well past overdue.

"Anytime now," Polelin answered. "We gave them extra rations of food because we don't know how slow the travel might have been in the snow, but we don't expect it to take that much longer."

Jenn nodded, still not sure how she felt about that, but it wasn't like she could think of anything wrong with their reasoning. "If they don't find anything or don't return before the morning, I'll lead another scouting party," Jenn declared, the room erupting in a loud commotion from her statement.

"Where to?" Zirisia asked, as things started to die down after a minute or two and Jenn could start to make out what each person was saying again.

"On the other side of the gate," she answered firmly.

"Hold on," Tchisa interrupted. "I remember telling you about how building a village or anything on land controlled by any of the nobility without their approval tends to create problems, right?" Jen nodded, understanding where Tchisa was going with this, but not caring to stop her. "So, why would you go back through the gate to build another village? Even if it's only for the winter, don't you think the duchess would have issues with that?"

"Uh, what duchess?" Jenn asked. She wasn't sure if she know who Tchisa was referring to as the name may have gotten mentioned at some point or another, but at the same time, she really didn't know any of the nobility in this country anyway. So it wasn't like she could be expected to know who was who just from their title alone.

"The Duchess Versith," Tchisa replied. "She has complete control of the Forest of the Lost and she tends to take it rather poorly if someone starts building a new village without her having given approval."

Jenn grinned. "In that case, it won't be a problem. The scouting party I'd be leading would just be to verify the location of the village I know was abandoned a while ago. If anything, we'd just be repairing some of it. The village should be mostly standing still, so we wouldn't be building a new village at all."

Tchisa opened and closed her mouth, apparently not sure how to respond, which Jenn couldn't help but feel good about, and was only vaguely aware of the smile on her face that she knew she wouldn't be able to get rid of for the moment, even if she tried.

"You can accompany me if you want," Jenn told her, "but I assure you that you'd see what I was talking about when you do."

Tchisa sighed, not looking very happy, but Jenn got the sense that she just wasn't happy about not knowing about the village that Jenn was talking about. In addition, Jenn was ready to move on since Tchisa didn't seem inclined to say anything more on the matter.

"Aside from all that, anyone else have anything else to say?" she asked, not sure if there wouldn't be any other issues that they'd want to bring up. Despite it only having been less than a week since she'd left to seek out a band of bandits to recruit.

"I had a question," Zirisia said. "Will the mercenary band that you plan on starting have a different name than the Order? Or will the Order be the mercenary band?"

Jenn thought about it for a moment. She hadn't really considered that fact, but she certainly didn't want the order to be the mercenary band. Which meant that it made sense to give it a different name, although she would at least like to have it follow a theme of sorts, even if it was one that only she'd recognize.

However, as she listed what it was that roses had, as well as the color blue, in her mind, a number of names came to mind. Mostly references from anime, manga, books, and movies her friends had had her watch in the short time they'd been friends before starting out on this expedition. Such as Cerulean Knights as one example.

Yet, as she thought about each of them, she quickly discarded them for one reason or another. Most of which was because it was just too much of a stretch to make it work as a theme or connection.

She knew that everyone was waiting for her to say something and she felt the time passing by as she struggled to come up with something that would work. When she was about to give up, she briefly recalled the title of the book she and her friends had been reading when she'd left them. She wasn't sure why the title came to mind and was about to push it to the back of her mind to think about later when she suddenly recalled the third book in that series: Silverthorn.

She recalled briefly hearing a little about it from her friends when they were taking a break from their reading. Though she couldn't recall if 'silverthorn' was the poison used in it, the cure, both, or just something that would identify the cure the characters were searching for. All she could think of was that it would work for them. That it would work with the theme of roses. As flowers had thorns, and those were its defense. Which, in turn, would make their mercenaries the military arm of the Oder of the Blue Rose. As such, calling them 'silver thorns' would work out quite well.

"We'll name the mercenary band 'Silver Thorns,'" Jenn answered, hoping that she hadn't taken too long with giving her response.

While she liked it, she felt more than a little disheartened at the lack of enthusiasm among those around her. Even Tchisa had an expression akin to her wondering what she'd gotten herself into.

In response, Jenn decided to elaborate on a few small points that she hoped would at least make her stand-ins more happy with the name she'd come up with. Although, as she readied herself, she supposed she should have seen this coming, since they weren't exactly that much in favor of the name she'd come up with for them in general.

"Let me put it this way," Jenn said, part of her feeling like she might be actually digging a deeper hole for herself. "The name needs to be something that can be made into an emblem that can be stitched on the uniforms. Which will be simpler with a simple name like the 'Silver Thorns.'"

"Uniforms?" Maelia asked, sounding confused.

"Yes, uniforms," Jenn confirmed, bringing up points almost as quickly as she was able to come up with them. "That way we'll know who is part of which group in the Order. Such as I was thinking we could have an intelligence division, or one that would gather information for us in the event we find a way to use it to our benefit-"

"Hold on!" Zirisia snapped, interrupting Jenn. "You keep going on about these things and while we will do whatever you tell us to do, you're sounding like you're making this up as you go along!"

Jenn wasn't sure how to respond to that. In fact, she pretty much was making it up as she went along. Though, she supposed that it might be helpful to delegate some decisions in creating this settlement. Despite the fact she really wasn't sure who was good at what right then.

"How about this then," Jenn said calmly, hoping she was coming off differently than she apparently was a moment ago. "Why don't you come up with laws and rules and everything? Not only would you list what isn't supposed to be done, but also what the consequence is for violating it. Only, make sure that it would apply to each of use equally. Even me."

As the words left her mouth, the expression Zirisia gave her made her feel like she had given her a punishment rather than a simple task. Though, she had been wondering what to do about that subject, as she was certain that whatever else she did, she needed to make sure that order needed to be preserved in there. Especially since she wasn't sure about a number of cultural differences that could come up if she tried her hand at writing the laws. Despite how she just wanted it to be rather simple and not convoluted as it was in her home country on Earth.

"In regards to uniforms, would anyone like to volunteer to design them?" she continued, hoping that she wasn't crossing some cultural line she hadn't been aware of. "The uniforms would need to be different based on where the person would be, such as in the mercenary band, intelligence unit, or any position you could think of. Plus, you could also have one for men and women if you wanted to do that or have them the same."

Jenn wasn't sure if it was the cold, if she was more tired than she'd realized, but she suddenly felt like her mouth was moving on its own as she spoke. The last sentence itself felt like one that she hadn't actually been thinking as she said it.

"I'll take care of the uniforms," Laer said, pulling Jenn out of her thoughts. "Though, I'm not sure what you might be looking for."

Jenn just shook her head. "Don't worry about that. Just make sure that anyone who wants in on being in the mercenary band would have a uniform. We can work out the other things, like the intelligence unit, later. Though, for example, for the mercenary band, you could have two uniforms. One for special occasions and one for everyday use."

"Should I include anything for rank? Or do you have something else in mind for that?" Laer pressed and Jenn felt like she might have bitten off more than she could chew with this subject. She hadn't thought about rank insignia or anything like that, but she had a feeling that she shouldn't admit to that.

At least not here.

"Whatever you think would be best," Jenn simply answered, though she felt her heart hammering in her chest at that moment. Especially since she had a feeling things were only going to get more difficult for her as she pressed on in this meeting.

Laer nodded, her expression resolute. Jenn wasn't sure if that was good or not, but she had already made her decision, so it wasn't like she could just change her mind like that without coming up with some reason for it. Otherwise she suspected that she'd affect moral in a negative way.

"So, with that out of the way, I was thinking that Polelin would be best to be in charge of training anyone in the mercenary band or interested in joining," she continued. "Tchisa would be the second-in-command of the band, and-"

"Wait, why is Tchisa the second-in-command?" Maelia asked, sounding almost offended at the idea. "She wasn't here when you saved us."

Jenn took a few minutes to think of how to respond to that. She wanted Tchisa as the one in charge, but the only other person she could think of that anyone would follow would be her, but since she only had adopted children, she knew that their culture would pretty much prohibit her from taking charge in a battle and since Tchisa was already the leader of a band of bandits, she was pretty sure that Tchisa already had children of her own.

"Yes, she wasn't here, but she's already demonstrated the skills that would be necessary for the position," Jenn finally replied. "Plus, this will help those who just joined a reason to trust us and not feel like we consider them as potential slaves, if nothing else."

"Who would be the one in command then?" Zirisia asked.

"I was wondering that too," Tchisa said. "I mean, I really didn't expect the second-in-command, but I would like to know who would be above me in that regard. You don't have someone else here like me, do you?"

Jenn smiled as she shook her head. "No, the one who would be in command would be the Blue Rose."

Jenn felt amused at Tchisa's expression that shifted from understanding, to confusion, to surprise, to disbelief. The others seemed to find her response acceptable and looked relieved, although she couldn't help but notice her stand-ins, aside from Oleania since she still had the mask on, looking a little uneasy. Though, Jenn wouldn't be surprised if Oleania also was rather uneasy as well. She suspected that they might be just getting used to being her stand-ins and that they didn't like the implications of them being in charge of the mercenary band when it was their turn to be the Blue Rose.

"What about you then?" Tchisa asked when she regained control of herself. "Where would you be when you're not the Blue Rose?"

"I'll just be an officer," she answered. "I'll let you decide what rank. Though, mostly I was thinking of standing guard over the Blue Rose when there's not something else for me to be taking care of."

"You mean like the scouting trip tomorrow, right?" Polelin asked.

Jenn nodded. "Exactly. I'll also head to the nearest guild location to register our band later on, though Tchisa would join me as well. So, whatever rank you pick for me will need to let me in on any meetings you would have, though also not so high that it would raise questions about me only having two adopted children."

Tchisa, Laer, Maelia, Polelin, and Zirisia nodded in agreement.

"Yes, that would make things difficult with you not having had any children of your own, but you should also know that I haven't had any of my own yet either," Tchisa said, making Jenn's mind go blank.

She had thought that she'd been able to determine how their culture worked in regards to military matters. That she understood what it was that would require others to follow a single individual. Yet, with Tchisa's statement, it felt like what she had 'known' was just chucked out the window. Like she really didn't know anything, even now.

"Uh…" Jenn wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"It should be fine," Maelia said firmly. "She'll just need to start having kids as soon as possible. Even if we have to buy some male slaves for her to go to bed with every night."

Jenn wasn't sure if she should accept that as an option, especially buying slaves solely for that purpose, though the mere thought was making her face burn. She couldn't get the image that Maelia's statement had put in her head out of it, but it wasn't like she could think of any way to push it out.

A slap on Jenn's back startled her out of thoughts. Not only did it manage that, but it hurt. A lot.

Looking at Tchisa, who was sitting next to her like she hadn't done anything, Jenn couldn't help but wonder what that had been about. The other person on her other side was Saelea, and Jenn was pretty sure she wouldn't have hit her back nearly as hard, if she could do that even.

"You know, you're a lot more innocent than I thought," Tchisa said, her voice full of amusement, much to Jenn's annoyance. "Yet, you have steel where you need it so it's not easy to tell. While I knew you had adopted children, I thought you'd been with the father of those kids and started taking care of them when something happened to their father. Yet, from how you looked just now, I seriously doubt you've done it with even another woman, let alone a twig."

While Tchisa's statement wasn't really untrue, Jenn wasn't sure she liked having it said so bluntly like that. Plus, as a result, she wasn't sure how to respond to that right then. All she could think about was what Tchisa said and how embarrassed she felt right then. Nothing else seemed to be able to make it through her mind at that particular moment.

"Uhhhh…" Jenn said, trailing off. She wasn't sure how to respond to that, nor was she sure if she could even remember exactly what they were talking about again. It felt like her brain had blanked and lost track of what they had been talking about.

"You know, I think we found a weakness of our Blue Rose," Tchisa commented, sounding far more amused than Jenn liked. Not that she could think of anything to respond to that with.

"Maybe we should try to see if anyone would be a good fit for the Blue Rose," Roesadra commented.

"What should we do if she likes other women?" Jianopra asked, sounding most like Jenn's friends about this subject than she cared for. "I mean, should we see if we could get that spell from the nobles?"

"With how the Blue Rose has shown herself capable of many things, she might be able to learn that spell so even Roseadra and I could have children," Oleania said.

Jenn wanted to stop this topic, but it felt like her mind refused to cooperate with coming up with anything to say. She felt like she was getting more and more embarrassed by the moment as everyone seemed to have something to add to the discussion. Something about who she might like, about her having children of her own, and of course, about how to raise her children to one day become the Blue Rose themselves and if they should get stand-ins as well.