Chapter 36: An Awkward Scene

Fred was wounded and could no longer hold on.

When I pulled Carlson and Red Flame over here, I almost thought we were going to lose him. His face was so pale that not a trace of the red color life should bring could be seen. The two largest wounds on his thigh and chest were still bleeding nonstop, and there was hardly a single intact muscle anywhere on his body.

Carlson stayed calm in the face of the crisis. He found a guard and ordered him to go get a doctor. But after only a moment, he couldn’t help sending a second guard, and then a third. Rodrick, Roll, and the others all rushed over when they heard the news — Dakla and his men’s outstanding performance had bought us enough time. The waiting was truly agonizing. Even when I stood on the city wall facing the ant-like Winston army, I hadn’t felt this restless. And now I even felt something close to fear.

Was I really going to lose my friend?

“Why hasn’t this damned quack doctor shown up yet? Don’t tell me he’s so fat he got stuck in the door and can’t squeeze out. These despicable vampires — when nobody’s sick, you can always see their ugly faces, but when you really need them…” I really couldn’t hold it in anymore and cursed loudly. Just as I was about to use even harsher words to mock this quack doctor I’d never laid eyes on…

“Gentlemen, please step aside. This isn’t good for the wounded man.”

Following that gentle, kind voice, I saw a female monk. From her clothing and insignia, I could tell she was a follower of Daremoth, the chief god who presides over goodness, order, life, and hope. She wasn’t walking slowly — for a woman, she was walking quickly, even hurriedly — yet her footsteps were still light and graceful. I had never had a good impression of temple monks. In my memory, they only appeared in front of us when they were asking for donations, and every single one of them was chased out the door by me without exception. But when I saw this lady, I knew that if she came to my tavern asking for support, I would never refuse her. She looked so holy and devout that refusing her would feel like a crime.

I immediately dropped my original plan of rushing forward, grabbing the doctor by the collar, slapping him twice, and ordering him to heal Fred’s wounds.

“Miss… I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were… I… he is our friend, the bravest and noblest among us. He was wounded to save the lives of the whole city. Please, no matter what…” I babbled nervously, hoping that my cursing just now wouldn’t anger this young and beautiful devout monk.

How could it not anger her? I thought dejectedly. Making a woman angry is simple — all you need is two words. One is “old,” and even worse than that is “fat.” I remembered when I was very young, I pointed my finger at Fitel, the cook at my tavern, and shouted “fat.” She had a mental breakdown on the spot, grabbed a rolling pin, and chased me down four streets, almost shoving the rolling pin into my stomach through my mouth.

“It doesn’t matter what she does to me anymore. I just hope this lady I’ve offended can bring Fred back to life. Worst case, I’ll swallow a rolling pin again.” I steeled myself, but couldn’t help feeling a bit wronged — I didn’t know the doctor the guards found was a woman.

The young lady shot me a glare, didn’t return my greeting at all, and directly bent down to examine Fred’s wounds. Then, a few strange words came from her mouth, and two beams of white light shot from her hands onto Fred’s body. Moments later, Fred’s face regained its color.

“He’s not in danger of dying. He just lost too much blood and passed out. He needs a clean room, a basin of hot water, and some medicine to speed up his healing. You need to arrange that. You’d better find a room with a larger door. It will be beneficial for treating his wounds.” The young lady’s reply was calm and composed.

“Is it to improve the air circulation?” I asked a stupid question.

“It’s so I, this fat doctor, can waste less time getting in and out.” The young lady shot me another glare, turned around, and walked away without looking back, leaving behind a bunch of snickering people and a young soldier whose face had turned red. As she left, she seemed to deliberately sway her hips. Although her loose monk’s robe hid her figure, everyone present could tell — she wasn’t fat at all. Really.

“Carry him to the city lord’s bedroom. Don’t go too fast, don’t jostle him,” I said hurriedly. “Riley, why are you over here? The city wall needs you. Go back and assemble your men. Captain, please take charge of the city wall defense for now. No matter what happens, never open the city gates and go out to fight the enemy. Dakla, dismiss your squad and merge them into Riley’s unit. Roll, gather the wounded who can still fight and keep them on standby. Rodrick, round up the able-bodied men in the city — we might need them at any moment. Red Flame, stay in contact with me. If Fred is needed, make sure to come notify me.” I took a breath and said solemnly: “The news of Fred’s injury must not be revealed to anyone. If anyone asks, tell them the city lord is exhausted from overwork and is… no, tell them the city lord is formulating a new battle strategy. Tell them that when Fred reappears on the city wall, that will be the moment we celebrate victory.”

I lifted the simple stretcher the guards had found and carried Fred away together with them. I didn’t feel ashamed for not fighting alongside my comrades during the most critical moment of the situation. Right now, someone had to be by Fred’s side. But only at this moment did I realize that I had just been giving orders to my comrades — even to my superiors. The weight of those orders was pressing down heavily on my heart. If anything went wrong, it would be me who buried Fred’s heroic achievements, buried the lives of two thousand soldiers, and even buried the lives of the entire city’s people. You only know how heavy a burden is when it’s placed on your own shoulders. Someone who isn’t strong enough can easily be crushed by it. Only now did I understand what kind of pressure Fred had been facing these past few days.

“Alright, Fred.” I laid him down on the bed myself. “If someone has to bear this heavy responsibility in your place, then I’ll bear it. But you have to wake up — you have to wake up early, before it’s too late. This burden is yours, so don’t be lazy.”

The medicine, hot water, and that monk lady entered the room. She seemed quite satisfied with the size of the room’s door. She put the things in her hands down on the floor and said to me: “Help me out. Take off his clothes.”

Her voice was cold enough to freeze ice. She must still be angry with me. I immediately did as I was told. Soon, Fred’s bare upper body appeared before us. His lean, strong body, far more developed than others his age, was covered with wounds of all sizes. Some had already healed under the divine power from a moment ago, but some larger wounds were still bleeding without stopping. The beautiful monk was a bit shocked by the cruel sight. And it wasn’t just her — I had been wounded quite a lot myself. In my eyes, ordinary wounds were nothing to make a fuss about anymore. But even I was deeply shocked by Fred’s injuries: what kind of willpower could keep him standing and fighting bravely under this kind of damage?

We cleaned Fred’s wounds, and then that cold, proud monk applied medicine to them — from her movements, I couldn’t see even a trace of a young girl’s shyness about the opposite sex’s body. Fred was running a high fever. He was still weak and unconscious.

“What’s his name?” Looking at his unconscious face, which carried a somewhat childlike, innocent expression, the young girl couldn’t help asking.

“Fred. You could call him Viscount Frederick Ka Guderian.” But for me, he was still that Fred Guderian — that honest, brave Light Infantryman, that guy whose nickname was “King.”

“He’s very brave.” The young girl looked at the wounds covering his body. Most of the wounds were on the front.

“He’s the bravest among us, and that’s not all. He’s our leader, our friend, our savior, our brother in arms…” Battle cries came from the city wall. Fighting had broken out once again.

“You respect him very much, sir.” The way she looked at me had finally stopped carrying that angry feeling.

“More than my own father, Miss.”

“I am Millia Batesfield. I prefer being called Millia.” Her voice was clear and calm.

“I am Jeffritz Gid. My friends all call me Jeff. I need to apologize for what I said outside. I really didn’t know that the doctor they found…”

“Was a woman.” She finished the sentence for me. “I understand.”

“Then thank you very much.”

“Don’t thank me. Understanding doesn’t mean forgiving. You have committed an unforgivable crime against a noble lady. You actually said I was, said I was…”

“Fat.” The moment I said it, I wished I could tear my own mouth apart. This forbidden word was absolutely not to be said in front of a lady.

“You said it again!” It truly was a curse that worked. A small manipulation spell sent the hot water for washing wounds, along with its container, crashing down onto my head.

A wave of warmth.

“Leave this to me. You can go now. I’ll notify you if anything comes up.” Having taken her revenge, she waved her hand at me, casually issuing an order of expulsion with complete indifference, as if dumping a basin of water on me was the most natural thing in the world. She turned around, touched Fred’s forehead, and removed the towel soaked in cold water from his head. The way she looked at Fred was completely different from the way she looked at me. It suddenly became so gentle — as if a mother was looking at her own child, or like a little girl looking at a father she admired and worshipped.

After making sure there was nothing for me to do here, I stepped out of the room and at the same time dispatched three guards. One was sent near the port city wall to watch the progress of the battle closely. The other two were sent to the southern city wall. Once they spotted our reinforcements, one would immediately notify me, and the other would directly lead the reinforcements to the battlefield.

The cries of battle rose and fell, mixed with the unwilling screams of soldiers at the moment of death. All I could do was wait — wait for Fred to wake up. And maybe trust as well — trust the comrades who had gone through life and death together with me, trust that they could hold off the massive army.

Noon had already passed. Fred, if your estimate is accurate, we will see the first batch of reinforcements before sunset today.

They come, we win. They don’t, we die. That’s what you said. Even though you’re badly wounded and already off the battlefield, the whole situation so far is still unfolding according to your script.

The reinforcements will definitely come. Not because of anyone else, but because of you. I believe in you. Without a doubt. I always have.

“Ah…” Millia’s scream came from the room. “Assassin!” The word flashed through my mind. I drew my sword and charged into the room, while regretting that I hadn’t assigned more people to protect the badly wounded Fred.

I kicked the door open and was so shocked that I almost swallowed my own tongue.

What met my eyes was an extremely intimate scene. Miss Millia, with her hair in disarray and her clothes disheveled, was tightly held in Fred’s arms. Her struggles were completely useless against Fred. If I hadn’t been very sure of Fred’s noble character, and more importantly, if he hadn’t been loudly slurring something unclear from his mouth, I might really have thought I was interrupting my friend’s happy moment at an inappropriate time. Of course, the latter was the main reason.

What he was saying was: “Tommy, you can’t die. I won’t let you die…”

I charged forward bravely and dug a beautiful young lady out from my delirious friend’s arms — I swear that using such a word to describe my actions was purely forced by the circumstances. Having lost the person he was holding, Fred let out a weak groan, fell back onto the bed, and continued his unconscious sleep.

“Are you alright?” I looked at Millia, whose face was flushed red, and asked quietly.

“I’m fine.” Even with her face red, she still didn’t lose her composure. She calmly fixed her appearance, then slowly walked up to me, stared into my eyes, and said: “Don’t tell anyone what you saw. Otherwise…”

“I swear by Shilemduya, the God of Wealth, I didn’t see anything! Miss, you won’t have a chance for ‘otherwise.'” I hadn’t expected the gaze of a girl who looked so dignified and kind to be so sharp. I really didn’t want to know what she would do with “otherwise.” It looked like if I had shown even a moment of hesitation, this so-called devout follower of the kind god wouldn’t have minded one bit offering me up as a sacrifice to the god. Whether I was killed or cut to pieces would no longer be up to me.

“Who is this Tommy?” Satisfied with my promise, she asked unhurriedly.

“He’s his friend. His very first friend…”

I told my friend’s story as briefly, clearly, and politely as I could. I believed he wouldn’t mind letting this beautiful young lady know his true identity, and he certainly wouldn’t mind others knowing this part of his past — because it was a part to be proud of.

After hearing Fred’s story, Millia looked at Fred with a distant, melancholic gaze and let out a soft sigh. Suddenly I felt extremely redundant in this scene. This spacious bedroom with only one bed felt so crowded that there was no room for me to stand.

I saluted this respectable lady, turned around, walked out of the room, and closed the door behind me.