"This... This is the business you were talking about?" I asked general Zhang who was standing there proudly wearing a pair of gloves.
"Yeah! Someone has to take care of them, right?" He grinned at me.
"...Do you expect me to take care of them while being handcuffed?" I said as I raised both of my wrists that were handcuffed by him.
"You're a prisoner, so yeah~" He waved the chains that he had connected to my handcuffs, making me look like I was on a leash.
"How did you even convince the headmaster? He wouldn't even budge when I was the one who did the talking." I sighed.
"Well, that's because he thinks I'm his loyal dog. He's convinced that I won't ever do something against him." He laughed casually.
"Hand." I grinned and offered my palm.
"I'm not your dog. You should be the one giving me a hand." He suddenly pulled the chains, and the sheer force jerked me forward.
"Ack--!" I shrieked a bit from the shock, but he quickly caught my hand, preventing me from falling down.
"See? You gave me your hand. Now that's a good dog~" He smirked playfully at me.
"Oh, really?" I smiled back and scratched his forearm until 3 red stripes were visible on his glassy skin, "good dogs don't scratch."
"Yeah, I changed my mind. You're a crazy little cub. So mean~" He pouted at me.
"C'mon, we have a lot of things to do." I sighed and walked away from him.
He had brought me here under the pretense of 'prisoners need to do social service work'. And for some reason, the headmaster easily gave him permission, as long as I was handcuffed and watched over 24/7.
I glanced over at my surroundings, and it looked pretty bad. We went to the poorer side of the town near the edge of the walls to help the family of the injured soldiers. But after seeing its state, I didn't even know where to begin helping.
Most of their houses weren't built with proper bricks and cement, but with a mix of rocks, woods, and dirt. There were hardly any street lamps, and not even a proper, smooth road to walk on.
But even though their living conditions were awful and their clothes were dirty, they still welcomed us with a big smile on their faces.
"Ah! General Zhang! You're here!" An elderly woman came up to us while holding a huge basket full of firewood.
"Heya, granny Maria! How's your son?" General Zhang greeted cheerfully. He would've looked like a normal friendly neighbour if not for the chains clanking every time he moved.
"He's still holding on, that boy," the old woman answered and turned to face me, "and you are?"
"Ah, I'm--"
"She's my little lion cub." General Zhang cut me off.
"No, ma'am. Ignore him," I stomped on his foot, hard, "my name is Yoo Chaerin. Pleased to meet you, ma'am."
"I see! Glad to meet you, miss Chaerin! I see you're getting along with general Zhang!" The granny laughed happily.
"No, we actually don't. Anyway, let me carry that for you, ma'am." I took the heavy basket from her hand, and was quite surprised by the weight, which made me worry for the fragile-looking granny.
"Ho ho, thank you! My house is this way." The granny thanked me with a smile and led us to her home which wasn't too far from where we were.
Her house was small, with only one window and dim lighting. The moment we stepped in, I could see how messy the house was. There were random things scattered on the floor, the dishes were piling up in the sink, and a thin layer of dust was coating every surface.
"Granny, could we visit your son?" General Zhang asked.
"Sure, sure! He's sleeping in that room over there." She pointed at a room on the edge of the house.
"Then, excuse us~" General Zhang pulled the chain, forcing me to follow him into the room.
"Ack--! Stop pulling!" I protested.
"What do you think, little cub?" He ignored my protest and gestured towards the person inside the room aside from us.
I looked at the man who was laying on the bed as if he was peacefully sleeping. He looked very thin and pale, as if he were barely holding on. One might mistake him for a corpse if they didn't know better.
"He's Dan. One of our members in the Vanguard." General Zhang said to me as he stared at the unmoving man.
"Ah... I see. I don't recall seeing him." I said while I observed his face. I already knew we were here to help the families of the wounded soldiers, so it was obvious that we would see some casualties here, but I just couldn't help to feel sick every time I see an injured teammate.
"Of course you don't. He's been in this state for months even before you came here. They said he got attacked by a monster on a raid." He explained to me.
"Wait, and he hasn't woken up since then? What about the healers?" I asked.
"Don't know, didn't work," he vaguely answered, "anyway, let's get to work. Go change his clothes or something, I'll go fix the roof."
"What? Hey, you didn't even give me a clear answer! And why should I change his clothes?" I pulled my chain to prevent him from going.
"Just listen to me." He gave me one last grin before he released the chain and went outside to fix the roof.
"What the hell? That was so random..." I frowned, but I still did what he told me to do. After all, we were here to help, so might as well do it.
I asked granny Maria for a change of clothes and a wet towel so I could help her son get cleaned up. As I propped Dan's thin body up with my knee, I could clearly feel his bony figure, and it pricked my heart.
"What monster did this to you..." I mumbled as I undid his buttons and threw his dirty shirt to the side.
I dipped the towel inside a bowl of water and squeezed it before I started to wipe his face and upper body with it. I tried to think about other things to distract me from negative thoughts, so I started to make a list of things I would do after this.
"First, I will have to sort out the scattered stuff, take out the trash, and then I'd be able to clean the dust... Oh, I shouldn't forget the dishes, too." My mind wandered off, thinking about how hard it must've been for granny Maria to live alone in this house while caring for her sickly son.
"Hmm?" My hands stopped as I suddenly noticed something weird.
I was wiping his back when I felt like there was something... Off.
If general Zhang was telling the truth, and he really was attacked by monsters, the scars would've looked pretty obvious, like probably a scratch or bite marks, or maybe blunt traumas and stabby scars.
And yet, I spotted 3 little red dots on his back, the spot where most people would miss when checking for wounds. If there were only 2 dots, I would've suspected a small snake monster bit him or something. But was there a monster who attacks using 3 little sharp objects? Maybe, maybe not.
The point was...
"These... Kind of look like needle marks."