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Tales of the Europan War	By : JPR Category: +S through Z > Valkyria Chronicles Views: 19774 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: This a non-profit erotic fan parody, I do not own Valkyria Chronicles. All rights to Valkyria Chronicles are owned by SEGA and its corresponding subsidiaries.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
Author's Note: Well, would you look at that! An update that isn't years down the road! Lolz. Chronologically, this report is supposed to take place before "A Desert Encounter" but either due to me forgetting about it, or just hadn't found a right place to put it in this fanfic has prevented me until adding it until now. I had meant to add a WalterxAlicia sort of bit at the end, but given the wholesomeness of the original report I decided to keep it as wholesome as possible. So no sexual encounters here, I'll save that for the next bit. Plus it shouldn't be too late to add a Walter sex sequence with Alicia later down the road if anyone for whatever reason is looking forward to that.
I think it's important to note that I hvae sorta rushed this chapter by my standards, as opposed to the previous chapter, the first part of Signs of Awakening. So it'll be good to contrast what I consider ample time for editing versus just throwing ideas out there like I did with this one. There may be more typos/errors as a result. I'm not an editor, I'm barely a writer. But if more frequent updates are to be had for this story, we may need to learn to live with some errors in plot or the writing in general. Let me know what you think.
Finally, The woodland snare incident is coming up. No one has suggested otherwise, so it'll be like the game where Alicia and Welkin get to spend some alone time in a cabin. Many want Isara to live, so I'm still experimenting with ideas on how to make that happen, and a tease at a potential Imperial victory ending. My creatively bankrupt mind may not be up for the challenge of an Imperial victory route, but I'll mess around with some ideas. No guarantees though. Any further ideas, questions, or suggestions can be left here:
https://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/topic/64676-tales-of-the-europan-war-reviews-questions-suggestions-etc/
Anyroad, without further ado, I present "Report 3: A Taste of Home"
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May 26, 1935 – 04:00 Hours, Barious Highlands
Alicia was having nightmares again. They started with images of Bruhl, and the faces of people that died there in defense of the small town. These images of Bruhl had already became so much of a normality though that even if they did shake Alicia to her core still, she was usually able to sleep through most of the night. After Vasel, they evolved into something a little bit more menacing for her. Alicia and the rest of Squad 7 was being consumed by blue flames that burned deep into their flesh and bone, ultimately, they all dissolved into ash over a period of many hours. The roaring of the flames could only be drowned out by the agonizing screaming of those under her and Welkin’s command. This bluish hell was something Alicia also eventually grew used to, but she was not exactly sure what the color of the flames meant or why they started developing. Alicia had made the guess that the substantial amount of rainfall during Cloudburst had just created a new image in her subconscious mind. That was until Barious happened. The badlands of Barious had already gave Alicia and her squad the displeasure of emulating the heat of the blue flames in her dreams, but she never thought the nightmare would become a reality. A select few in Alicia’s charge had found a way to receive life threatening injuries during the Ambush at the Ruins due to the actions of the Blue Witch, and now she was holding a bloodied Susie in her hands. Blood which also saturated Alicia’s Militia Blue uniform as she held her dying friend in her hands.
Susie’s voice was raw, and as strained as the moment when Alicia ran to see to Susie’s safety after the Batomys’ bullet storm, “Friends don’t do this to each other!”
Alicia shot up from her sleeping bag drenched in sweat. It had become such a normality at this point she had made the habit of taking her baker’s scarf off so it too would not absorb the briny fluids as she slept. She startled Hans, who was sleeping on her lap just moments before, but other than the oblivious porcavian, she was the only one up. It was at this moment in her day, at least when she was living back at the barracks with the rest of the squad, that she would strip for a shower, but showering was a luxury in Barious. Even in the slightly more tolerable highlands which always seemed to carry a chill breeze from the mountains in Kloden. No, this desert demanded a different routine.
“Sorry, Hans.” Alicia scratched the piglets chin and rolled up her sleeping bag in the darkness. It was time for another hard day deceiving Imperial forces around the foothills again.
Alicia carried her rolled up sleeping bag to the Edelweiss and stored it with many other essentials that the squad had placed on its protective hull, and grabbed her a canteen of water and a rag. All the while Hans was following her knowing a meal will come eventually, despite the early hour for it. Alicia found herself a small little crevice in the mountain for privacy and began to take her top off. The Militia issued jacket, the thin black turtleneck underneath, and then her scarlet bra. The brassiere had seen it’s better days, and was only really latching on with one hook these days. A detail Alicia couldn’t really complain about since it was her last one. So she put it atop her folded clothes on the ground as gently as she could. Finally, without taking off her skirt or her boots, she removed the matching pair of panties.
This was essentially the start of her days in Barious, as she dampened the cloth with water from her canteen and began to wipe the dirt and the sweat off from her body. Alicia always paid extra close attention to her armpits and the entire area under her skirt. It was not a satisfying bath, but it was all that she could commit to each morning with the rapidly diminishing water supplies. She did this for a few minutes before putting her clothing back on. Alicia then mounted a shaving mirror as best she could to a rock so she could brush her hair and reapply her signature twintails. Shortly after, the scarf came out and she put it on her head. She smiled at the mirror, satisfied with her appearance and getting ready for the next part of her day. She moistened her toothbrush with a lid full of water and got to scrubbing her teeth. It did the job, but was not the best solution for breath in general. A nibble of gum from the little rations the squad still had would accommodate that portion. She did this long enough to feel sparkly, and then gargled with what remained of the lid of water she had poured.
“Here you go, Hans.” Alicia poured a bowl full of water for the piglet and he snorted in appreciation. It didn’t strike Alicia as weird at all that she would conserve so much water for a rag bath, but splurge on the cute porcavian.
After all that prep work, it was time for breakfast. For her, and for Hans.
Alicia walked back over to the Edelweiss, where she could now hear some of the squad starting to stir as a result of the dim sky growing in radiance. She pulled a K Ration from a bag she had stored on the Edelweiss, and pulled out a few of it’s contents. It was a ration meant to last for three meals or a maximum of three days if food was really short, and food was short. So naturally, Alicia took a third of it’s contents and would have to make that last for the day, hoping that everyone else in the squad was following orders to do the same. The rations were of Vinland import, and not very well liked by the Gallians. So she hoped with that in mind that most the squad would not be keen on eating more than their allotted fill for the time being. Alicia was even more hopeful when she pulled out the chocolate bar from the ration and immediately decided it was what Hans was going to eat for his breakfast.
Normally, chocolate and Barious would not mix well. Especially in the later part of May where some record temps were hitting the region. The traditional chocolate that circulated throughout Gallia would melt in a minute’s time if it was being held in the pockets of Squad 7, but this stuff was resistant to heat. Another part of the reason why some did not trust it. Other reasons included its less appealing taste, and the fact that you needed the teeth and jaws of a crocodile bite down on the stuff. The few that did eat it, often found themselves scraping it with a knife before consumption or melting into a beverage with boiling water. But hot cocoa water was again, not something that those trying to survive in Barious were looking forward to having to drink.
Hans however, did not mind. The piglet eagerly munched down on the stuff with the joy of what you might expect from a kid really receiving a delicate bar of chocolate after a hard day at school. Meanwhile, Alicia was left staring at her condensed bread that was textured more like a salt-less cracker. Being an apprentice Baker, she was not happy with what the results of some factory overseas had achieved by making a high calorie, highly nutritious bread.
“At least you’re enjoying your meal.” Alicia sighed. “If only there was a way to bring a little taste of home back.”
Hans just squealed in response. Not wasting a moment on consuming the high calorie and surprisingly nutritious chocolate bar that he was given. Surprising by Alicia’s standards at least as she was reading the extra stuff packed into the dense bar of chocolate.
“How did they even do it?” Alicia was talking to herself now. Knowing full well there was not going to be a convenient answer as to how such a peculiar candy item was made. One ingredient did strike her immediately though. There was actual cocoa in the brick. “…Wait a minute!”
Hans did pause with that outburst, and someone in the squad stopped snoring in the distance, likely a squad mate that awoke with Alicia’s shout. An idea began to take shape in Alicia’s head, a stupid one by some circles, but an idea she was committed to seeing come true. With no time to waste, she shoved a couple of sticks of the bread into her mouth and swallowed it down with a few gulps of water before grabbing Hans mid-meal, “Come on, Hans! Breakfast is over.”

By this time in the morning, Alicia was rummaging around inside the Edelweiss for something that she had packed before leaving Fort Amatriain for Kloden. The scuffling inside the tank and Hans’ excited squealing was enough to stir Isara from her sleep, who was sleeping in her driver’s seat. It was unusual for Isara to sleep in as much as she had, but there had hardly been a wink of sleep for most of the squad. The last several days had consisted of mostly Squad 7 raiding Imperial troops trying to find a convenient way to get their own armor further into the foothills, with all the roads blown by the Militia, it was proving a difficult task for the Imperials. However, it was a task they were beginning to slowly accomplish over time. But word from Fort Amatriain had yet to really be received that all the wounded and dead had been accounted for after the mass retreat. So Squad 7 carried on.
“Alicia…?” Isara yawned in her seat. Stretching some of the blood back into her under utilized muscles, “What are you doing?”
“Isara! Do you remember that bag I packed inside the this storage bin before we left?”
“I- Yes, I do.” Isara was used to Alicia shouting outside the tank to the rest of the squad, but it seemed something had the beautiful brunette a little wired this morning, “I packed it up here. We needed extra space in the Edelweiss to pack as much as we could.”
Isara got up from her seat and pulled the cushion up. It opened up like a lid and within it seemed to be a storage compartment full of old mementos and the very bag that Alicia was looking for. It was quite large, and its contents unknown even to Isara. Whatever it held though seemed to make Alicia’s eyes light up immediately. She snatched it quite roughly from Isara and pulled the lace to look inside.
“Did you keep it dry?” Alicia asked, while reviewing the contents within the bag out of sight of Isara.
“Oh…yeah, there really shouldn’t have been much moisture. Especially out here in Barious-”
“Thank you so much, Isara!” Alicia sounded as chipper as she could have possibly been while interrupting Isara. Alicia put the little sister’s hands in her own while asking, “Also, you wouldn’t happen have anymore of that gross ration chocolate that you’d be willing to part with, would you?”
A perplexed Isara tilted her head slightly. The young Darcsen had not seen Alicia this glittery since she came to meet Welkin at their house after mistaking him for a spy. Isara did have some of that infamous chocolate that she could not quite bite down on no matter how hard she tried.
“S-Sure,” whispered Isara. Completely lost in the constantly changing direction of the conversation, “How much did you want?”

Later that same morning Alicia had to do her usual rounds checking on the status of each crew with Welkin and Dallas in tow. It was a very good day to try and make her plan come together because Squad 7, along with Squad 8 and Squad 1, had been rotated out with B Battery to continue making life a living hell for the pursuing Imperials. Dallas was quick to realize the changed mood in Alicia despite the boring task. A task Alicia seemed a little too happy about, given that Welkin had to be dragged along every time they went together. Completely misunderstanding where the happiness was coming from, Dallas performed admirably at keeping the Lieutenant and Sergeant as far apart as she could manage. But it was a mission on Alicia’s mind.
During their quick assessment of each crews condition, Alicia was collecting things inside of a bag that she was carrying with her. Things she asked each member of the squad if they had. Like the chocolate bars than Hans liked so much. Starting with Catherine’s Crew, Alicia was able to get quite a bit of the chocolate when she had mentioned that Hans was the only one that really liked the stuff. Because once Marina caught wind of that statement it seemed like she had an entire months supply to give up. In Juno’s Crew, it seemed there was quite a bit that preferred their coffee to be bitter, and had a number of sugar cubes to surrender from their own rations. Rosie’s Crew seemed to have a number of picky eater’s in it, so Alicia was able to acquire a number of different things from their leftovers in the rations.
“What’re you up to, Alicia? Is it anything I can help with?” Dallas finally, after three stops, had figured out that Alicia’s strange actions were not on account of Welkin. Well…at least not entirely. So Dallas asked when they were out of earshot of Welkin.
“I can’t say until after I’m sure I can get everything, but you can definitely help if I do!” Alicia paused for a quick moment while walking to collect her thoughts, “We will need a good pair of muscles too though…”
“Not Theold!” shouted Dallas. A little bit of sweat accumulating on her brow. Dallas was far from muscular so she was sure Alicia was talking about recruiting a man into whatever she may need help with, but Dallas would have to rescind her offer to help if ‘that man’ got involved, “I-I mean, I know he would hardly do anything. Him being in my squad and all.”
“…Okay?” Alicia only let the confusion bother her for a moment, “Not Theold. I should have plenty of options with the next crew anyway.”
Finally came Largo’s Crew, which had a problem opposite of Rosie’s picky eater problem. It was beginning to look like for the first time Alicia’s plan was not going to be possible. That was until Alicia and Dallas got to asking Walter for some of the things that they needed and it clicked for him immediately.
“I just happen to have exactly what you need, and more importantly, I want in!” Walter cockily exclaimed, pointing at himself with his thumb.
Dallas eyed the shades on his face suspiciously, trying to discern any ulterior motives for his eagerness. Alicia however, was quick enough to respond, “Well, you certainly have the muscle, but do you even know your way around a kitchen?”
“You think they call me Chef because of my tasty looks? Because you’d be wrong. Before this war I was a saucier back in Daws. And I’ll only be giving you this if I’m part of it.”
Walter waved a brushed aluminum container with unknown contents in front of him to drive his point forward. Unintentionally earning the ire of Dallas, “It’s blackmail, Miss Alicia. We should keep asking around.”
“It’s not blackmail…” Walter suddenly sounded very dejected and his shoulders dropped, “I just want to escape back home for a little bit. I’m not useless, I swear.”
Dallas did not buy it, but the wording of his reasoning struck a chord with Alicia. It seems the grisly man understood exactly why she wanted to do this without so much as an in-depth conversation about it. With her maternal instincts kicking in, she spoke before Dallas could object again, “All right! We can use the help. Bring all your stuff with you. We got work to do!”
Walter’s posture returned along with his confidence and began collecting his things, “You can count on me!”
Alicia went off ahead, and Walter lost his confidence again with a final remark from Dallas, “I’ve got my eye on you, Mr. Chef.”
There was no choice for Walter now, but to be on his best behavior as he traversed the hot desert highlands with with two beautiful teenagers. Doing his best not to let Dallas catch the few times his eyes wanted to wander to Alicia’s skirt every time a breeze came by.

By high noon the real bulk of the work had started to get done. Walter was using his brawn to get things in order, and Dallas and Alicia were getting all the collected ingredients ready along with containers to bake them in. Alicia, although a little skeptical about how well they’d work, ending up caving into Walter’s suggestion about using the steel canteen cups that were often used to boil ready-to-eat soups and hot coffee. It would be a weird container to do what she wanted, but the options were extremely limited and she would just have to make it work.
Of course, the seemingly pointless hard work of the trio did not go unnoticed as the day crept into mid afternoon. Not only was it weird seeing Alicia straying from duties outside of her roll as second in command of Squad 7, but so were the fires and the smells beginning to waft from the impromptu kitchen that the minds of Walter and Alicia managed to conjure from seemingly nowhere.
“Hey, Chief?” Vyse whispered to Catherine as they walked along the canyon. He was well out of earshot from the bustling trio, but kept his voice as low as he could, as opposed to his usual volume, “What do you think Twintails is up to?”
Catherine gave a warm smile before saying, “I can’t say for sure, but judging from the smell, it has something to do with all that chocolate she was asking for earlier.”
“Hell yeah! That’s what I was hoping you’d say. I hope there’s enough for the whole squad!”
“Me too!” replied Catherine, “But I wonder what Marina will think. I’m sure she thought that donation of chocolate was for Hans.”
“Maybe not exclusively, but that walking pork rind is a part of the Squad too! I’m sure he’ll get his fill.”
The radiating aroma was enough to get a lot of the closer Crews to the canyon more curious as the day went on. Many of them not having had anything smell this good pierce their nostrils since their last excursion in Randgriz, which felt like an eternity ago now for some. And the rest of Delta Battery soon caught wind on the peculiar actions of the teenage NCO of Squad 7 stealing ingredients and creating smoke and aroma in the canyon. Natalie asked her questions later that afternoon too, thinking that the rising smoke was a sign of bad things, and thought it was not a wise signal to be raising knowing they were surrounded by Imperials.
“I mean…Would Lieutenant Gunther really approve given the circumstances we’re in?” Unlike Alicia, Natalie liked to pride herself in following Welkin’s orders to a tee. And not to mention, she was genuinely concerned.
“Yep!” replied Alicia.
It was a fib on Alicia’s part, but a fib she did not mean to tell. She was just having so much fun kneading and baking at this point that she did not even really pay much attention to the blonde’s questions. Not that Alicia really paid much attention to Natalie at all.
“Really!?” Natalie’s surprised expression was visible for all to see. She had assumed correctly that Welkin had not known what the teenage brunette was doing on account that he was no where to be seen. But Alicia’s confidence made her doubt her initial deduction.
It was at that moment that the auxiliary of Delta Battery—or what was left of 1^st Squadron—showed up in the form of their leader, Faldio, “Certainly sounds like Welkin.”
“Lieutenant Landzaat!?” Natalie shot to attention.
Naturally, Faldio just dismissed her formalities with his hand, “You can be at ease, Sergeant. I’m too tired from the day.”
Alicia had realized that her expert lover had been absent for most of the day, but that had been like him on most days since the Massacre at Barious by the hands of that blue witch. It had been just like him to disappear with a bunch of notes and books in hand to disturb the operations of other Squadrons while he conducted some sort of research that he was not telling anyone about. The only two that really seemed to give him any slack for his disappearances were Captain Varrot and Ellet. Welkin too perhaps, but it was hard to tell if that was due to understanding Faldio’s actions or that he just didn’t care.
“Where have you been all day?” Asked Alicia, knowing she wouldn’t get any direct answer.
“Nowhere, just following orders.” Faldio combed back his hair with his gloved hand, “In any case I’m tired. I’m turning in for the night.”
“But it’s still early! Don’t you want to try my chocolate sweet bread?”
This time Faldio actually did yawn.
“No, I’m afraid I’ll have to try it another day. More for your squad mates though. Good night, ladies.” Then he just left the two alone unceremoniously.
It seemed like Alicia was about to call back out to him, perhaps to say something else, but a frustrated Dallas called out to her senpai after burning her finger. So Alicia wasted no time in going to aid her young friend. Alicia was concerned about Walter at first, but it seemed that it was Dallas that didn’t know her way around the kitchen. Leaving only Natalie.
“Interesting,” She muttered to herself. Natalie had remained silent during the whole interaction between the two. It seemed that Alicia and Faldio were no longer as close as Natalie knew them to be. Something must have happened, but was it anything worth being worried about? Natalie had always sort of known that she should be at least a little worried about Alicia. After all, if Natalie had it her way, she would have been Welkin’s direct subordinate from the get-go. It was just enough to make her wonder a little bit, “Where is he?”
It was a question that got a certain porcavian’s mind racing too. Han’s started tracking a scent in the wind and got to work in hope’s he could cheer up a certain someone.

The sun was low on the horizon now, and Welkin had grown accustomed to spending these rare peaceful couple of days leaning up against a rock and drawing in his journal. Ever the biologist, it was not uncommon for him to be using his expert penmanship and art skills to draw the birds in the sky as they traversed the azure plane above him. The dream of zooming across the sky was one that had always eluded him as a child. Now, It would be really beneficial to get to their height somehow. Welkin was sure that if he could, then he would be able to see what the Imperials were doing, and what direction they would be coming from. While the rare peace was generally good. The squads that were out trying to chase the pursing imperials in circles had not reported a single sighting lately. That was very much a worrisome thought. Worrisome enough for Welkin to get his thoughts back to the Brigadier General named Selvaria Bles.
This time, it was not sexual thoughts—at least, they did not start off that way. He was trying to remember every detail he could during his short interaction with her inside the temple several days ago. Welkin presumed that it was her commanding the Imperial troops up until now, giving chase to the rogue Gallians that Captain Varrot was leading around these foothills, but a sudden pause was not like her. This was why he was recreating her image in his thoughts. Trying to make sure he did not miss any details about her or the topography that could potentially mean another ambush planned by her. What Welkin did not know, is this was something similar to what his dad would do when strategically thinking about his next move in the last war. The only thing unusual that Belgen had not known of in the last war, was the sensation of a porcavian tugging at his boots.
“Moink!”
The tugging on Welkin’s boots was nothing new to him despite his surprise, and instinctually asked, “Hans?! Did you come here all by yourself?”
Welkin of course new about the observed intelligence of porcavians on account of his field, but it was still surprising to see that sort of sociology between the piglet and the rest of Squad 7. So he decided to also put credit where it was due, “Boy, you sure are smart!”
“Moink oink!” The piglet squealed.
It seems praise was not what the small mascot wanted. Instead Hans seemed to be putting all his strength in pulling on Welkin’s boots. Normally it was the behavior Welkin expected from the piglet when Hans was eager to leave the heat of the Edelweiss for some food or attention. So being that there was nothing stopping the piglet from going any place it could in this instance, Welkin could only inquire, “H-Hey! Stop tugging, Hans! Is there something this way?”
As if asking only proved that Welkin still did not get the message that Hans was trying to convey he started pulling even harder than before. It was enough to get Welkin to finally stand and start going in Hans’ direction.
“Okay, okay, I get it. Lead the way. And you can stop biting my boots already!” Welkin was probably the only person in his squad that could pass a uniform inspection with no points taken off. But a trauma from a previous military elective teacher still did not want Welkin to risk any bite marks on the boots he was wearing. So he complied as best he could to the piglet wrangling him up and away. Finally, Hans seemed happy.
It was not a very long excursion from Welkin’s pondering place to the location of the Edelweiss, Black Rose, Silent Daisy and Honeydew. It was also not very long before Welkin had begun to pick up the scent of something sweet and alluring, like the aroma of Juno the night they went out before deploying to Kloden. This aroma was no woman—well, the origin was from a woman—but instead the appetizing smell of freshly baked bread. It was like walking pass the market place when Welkin was in Randgriz for university. In this case however, the crowds were replaced by the combined manpower of 1^st, 7^th and 8^th Squadron. Every member sat on a boulder or on the ground munching into a soft loaf of bread that they had not had the pleasure of having for a long time now. It was like a miracle in the desert; an oasis.
Surrounded by all these people, and still doing his best to follow Hans through them, Welkin finally asked, “Whoa! I’ve never seen so much bread in one place. Where did all this come from?”
“You went and got Welkin for me?” Alicia voice was as happy as it sounded all day, “Nice going, Hans! Thanks.”
Alicia had never said it out loud that she was hoping to find Welkin soon though, so she was a little surprised that the young porcavian managed to read her thoughts while she was busy around the improvised ovens. It almost took the fun out of Alicia finding him herself, but she forgave Hans when he sincerely responded, “Moink!”
“I just got led around camp by a pig. Any idea what he wants with me, Alicia?” Given what he had walked into, Welkin had some idea, but he played it down. As it was, he was not sure how the smoke and aromas evaded him during his deep thought a hill away. If he could see it, chances were the Imperials could see it too.
“Oh no. I was the one who wanted to see you. Are you hungry, Welkin?”
It was a pointless question given that everyone was going a little hungry these days, but it did confirm some of Welkin’s suspicions. Oh well, he thought, I wasn’t around to stop her. Alicia was leadership too, so she could make these decisions if she thought them necessary. And seeing the jubilant mood of all participating so far, it seems it was the right call. Welkin did momentarily wonder how Faldio and Natalie let this happen though. Welkin figured one of them would be cautious that the smoke might be a giant target on their backs and lead the Imperials to their semi-hidden camp. “Hungry? Well, yeah, actually…”
Whatever cautions Welkin had though got canceled out by the primal call of his stomach.
“Really? Oh good!” Alicia failed to hide the relief in her voice, “I whipped up a little something for you.”
She led him around the Edelweiss where she was hiding the last and freshest loaf of bread.
“You baked all this yourself, Alicia?!”
“Mhmm!” Alicia almost grabbed all the credit. She had never seen Welkin this impressed by something that wasn’t a bug, but decided to back up a bit, “Well, mostly. Walter helped out a lot too, and Dallas…did what she could.”
Welkin turned momentarily to see Dallas sucking on one of her fingers in the distance. They locked eyes for a moment before Dallas promptly spun around to face the other direction.
“It’s been a while since I made anything. I was worried I might be getting a bit rusty. But the Squad was free for once so I helped myself. I think…everyone needed a little taste of home…”
“…Yeah. I think you’re right!” Welkin finally agreed.

The sun was quite a ways through setting and the earth’s shadow was growing evermore prominent in the sky when Welkin had finished his loaf. “I can’t believe you put it all away! It was a little scary watching you eat.”
The last loaf was something that Alicia thought she was going to split between Welkin and Faldio, since by her standard it was little large. It was certainly more than what she gave to the rest of the members of the militia that made up the Delta Battery. She had to carefully split each loaf as best she could to make sure that everyone got some. It was something that had to be done, there just wasn’t enough ingredients to give everyone their own loaf.
“Still, I’m glad you liked it. It feels great to see you enjoying my bread.”
“It felt great eating it! Thanks for baking it all.” Welkin was still wondering how the apprentice baker was able to conjure up as much bread as she did. He wagered it was how the army felt whenever his father managed to accomplish the impossible in the last war. The mystery was the chocolate. Where did she get it all?
“You’re welcome!” Alicia was just genuinely ecstatic to hear Welkin say that, but got distracted when something caught her eye, “Oh, Welkin, you have some…There’s a little crumb… There you go!”
Alicia did not monitor just how close she got to Welkin during this little act of cleaning up. She pulled the crumb stuck to the bottom of his lip and put it in her mouth. It was the first bite of her baking that she had gotten to try, and it was sweet. There was a tad bit of bitter with that sweetness from the chocolate swirled into the bread and it was as delightful as she could have hoped for it to be. It was like a fantasy she had growing up. Getting closer to her husband after feeding the half dozen kids she had and… and… Alicia and Welkin were very close. They were both sort of blushing from the proximity.
Welkin cleared his throat, “So, uh, you said worked at a bakery before the war started?”
“Y-Yeah.” Alicia remained flustered despite Welkin keeping his cool, “I was a live-in apprentice with the meister running the shop. Once things settle down, I plan on taking the national exams and opening up my own bakery.”
Live-in meant sleeping with the meister while his wife wasn’t around to notice. Alicia did not want to share that part though. She did what she had to to make it places back in Bruhl. Whether that was for the town watch or for her other ambitions to come true.
“Wow, you need to be licensed to run a bakery?” Welkin was pretty sure it was common knowledge, but tried to gain his distance from her with a little small talk, “That sounds pretty tough.”
“It’s been my dream since I was a little girl. It’s what I enjoy doing the most.”
Why am I still talking?! Alicia’s mind was still racing from her crumb moment with Welkin, and as he backed up she continued to approach, Just shut up you idiot!
“I love imagining entire families eating the bread I make, together,” At this point Alicia was starting to see Squad 7 as a dysfunctional family. Alicia never had a family, so it was hard to know, “A loving husband maybe, and cute little kids waiting on their mom to get home…”
Alicia never knew her parents either. What did a loving husband really look like? Certainly not like Faldio, or the adulterous men she had to wrangle to try and get places in the world. What did a loving husband look like? Loving…
Alicia again realized how close she was to Welkin. She had been backing him into the Edelweiss since she started her short rant about her dreams. She was blushing again, deeply embarrassed about her actions.
The long pause did bring up concern for Alicia in Welkin’s heart. He put his hand on her shoulder and asked, “Are… Are you all right, Alicia?” Welkin did not want to see another from Bruhl end up like Susie.
Loving…
“Huh? I… I’m fine!” Alicia finally snapped herself out of it and backed up a couple steps, “Anyway, I’ll keep baking it if you keep eating it!”
“Of course! I’ll eat your baking anytime. Even when if I get fat like, Hans.”
“Moink?” Seems the piglet didn’t want to acknowledge he knew what that meant.

Finally the day began to grow dim in the Gallian desert highlands. Walter and Alicia had been hard at work still trying to water the fires and clean up the mess that was their personal bakery for almost eight hours of the day. Dallas had given up quite some time ago after too many burns struck her hands, she was receiving care from the gentle—curt—touch of Mina. It had taken some time for Alicia and Walter to return the belongings of many members of the squad they had used as makeshift bakery equipment and all the ingredients had been used up to feed delta Battery. So no matter how much Alicia wished for it, she could not make more. Deep down the image of Welkin and the ‘kids’ eating her bread was warming her heart to its core. It was a feverish warmth that must have radiated to Walter as well, because when they were done, he put his arm around her and gently said, “You know, Twintails. I never imagined I’d find myself enjoying this so much when I first agreed to help.”
“Baking bread?” Alicia asked with a smile.
“Baking bread…and getting to know you a little bit better.” Walter admitted, his voice a little quieter. “Coby seems to loath you a bit, but I don’t think he’s had the opportunity to learn about you like I have. I sure hope Gramps is okay…”
Being that Walter was a member of Largo’s crew, it was no surprise to Alicia he had picked up all of Largo’s nicknaming. At this point, even Alicia could tell who Walter was talking about since Largo had made her adjust the Squad’s roster to reflect the nicknames. It was Largo’s way of creating camaraderie within the squad. To Alicia’s surprise, it seemed to work quite well. Alicia was even learning to appreciate being called Twintails despite her desire to be known as a baker one day.
“Me too,” Whispered Alicia. Expressing her concern for the old man, “I hope he’s okay too.”
What followed could only be described as an awkward silence as the both of them watched the sunset. Something in the desert air did well to make the sunset unique to what Alicia was used to seeing in Bruhl. She thought for a moment that if the Imperials were not so keen on pursuing them, they could beeline it to Bruhl and take the town back from here, but supplies were already short. There was no way they had the means to do it without reuniting with the Gallian supply lines.
“Oh!” Walter exclaimed, and removed his arm from Alicia’s shoulder, “Almost forgot, I saved us a bit.”
Walter removed a wrapped up cloth from his pocket and revealed a small portion of sweet bread within it.
“Figured I had to hide a bit for us to get a real taste. It’s the curse of a chef. If they aren’t snaking on their dishes while cooking, they’re often the last ones to eat. If there’s any left over at all.”
Walter broke the small serving in half and offered it to Alicia. He was completely ignorant that Alicia had had a small taste of her bread in the form of a crumb left on Welkin. She had hoped to savor that taste from the Lieutenant’s face for as long as she could, but decided it was not worth being rude to Walter either. He had helped her with almost everything after all. She took what was offered and they both took a bite of their portions. A single bite was enough to consume most of what Walter had saved, and it was much more flavorful than the crumb Alicia had snatched earlier. The mix of chocolate and sugar in a the crisp bread was enough to form a smile on both their faces.
That evening, despite the dire circumstances the Regiment was in, the spirits of Delta Battery at least, were lifted to an almost jovial aura. Each and every member of the Squad, thanks to the dreams of one girl’s hope for the future, enjoyed a taste of home.
- 15
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Tales of the Europan War