Chapter 143: Refugees (1)

‘Where is this?’

It was the bright daylight that woke him up. A cool breeze swept over him as he felt pain all over his body.

“Oh, you’re awake!”

Girotin looked around. The baby son of his only sister was lying next to him.

“AH!”

That was when he remembered what had happened. His Galim finally fell when the wolves lunged at it. He heard a loud neigh from the Galim as he felt wolves biting his arms and legs, and that was when he heard a weird roar. As he was dazed from falling to the ground, he remembered the wolves freezing at that fearsome sound, retreating with their tails between their legs. Some even began to cower and urinate in fear. That was the last thing he remembered.

‘Am I alive?’

He was bitten in multiple places, including his neck. He felt excruciating pain all over his body and thought he was going to die, but he did not.

‘But how?’

“Come, come, not now. The pain relieving effect will disappear soon. You should lie down. Your baby needs to drink some milk right now.”

A middle-aged woman caressed the baby as she spoke and left with him. He felt sudden pain coming back to him that made him realize he was alive. His entire body was wrapped in linen and his arms and legs were tied down to the bed so he could not move. Pain seared through his body.

“Nngh…”

He groaned at the pain that he had never felt before.

“Wow, that’s amazing.”

He turned to the door where a huge man had entered. He knew right away that this man was a powerful fighter, it was his instinct as a knight. He couldn’t move, but he still observed the man. When he met the man’s eyes, the man grinned.

“I’m sorry,” Girotin apologized as he realized that the man knew what he was doing.

Joonbum shook his head.

“All knights are the same. I do it all the time. Don’t worry about it.”

‘Huh? So this must be…!’

Girotin was shocked. The only living beings in this area were the Ainos. Him being alive meant that he had been saved.

Two names had caused an impact in the outskirts of Galia. The first was the count’s newly-wed wife, Countess Sunsook Khalodian, who was considered a goddess by the locals. Her beauty made her famous and the stories of her single-handedly saving Khaloda Village was legendarys. Bards everywhere around Galia sang praises of her.

-Her son gave the Ainos land for them to stay.-

-He’s the strongest knight!-

-I heard monsters dare not get close to their village!-

-Five thousand Keroxes were killed in an instant!-

-I heard he hunts monsters to feed the hungry.-

-The Krakul from Benzen who went there were wiped out! I heard Khalodians began farming even though the capital is still dealing with the monsters!-

-Joonbum Christos has a huge Galim and six ancient wolves as his servants!-

Joonbum was the second name that had gained popularity. His name spread throughout the continent as his achievements had been exaggerated into that of a mythical hero.

‘This must be Joonbum Christos!’

“This will hurt.”

“ARGH!”

Joonbum came up and began taking the bandages off Girotin. He screamed at the pain.

“It hurts, but we have to save medicine. We have no choice.”

Blood began flowing from his wounds as the bandages were removed. Girotin frowned, his ripped flesh had been sewn together crudely.

“It doesn’t look pretty since I don’t have much experience. But you’re lucky to still be alive.”

“ARGH!”

Girotin tried to answer, but the pain made him stop. Joonbum then poured some weird liquid on his wounds that started bubbling.

“It’s a disinfectant. It stings, but you need it.”

‘He-he’s laughing…!’

Girotin glared at Joonbum who seemed to be laughing at his pain. He did not seem to care about Girotin’s pain as he examined the wounds.

“It finally looks like a human hand.”

His swollen hand now looked somewhat normal again.

“Huh? What are you…”

“It’s been a week since you got here.”

“What?!”

Girotin’s eyes opened wide in shock. Joonbum grinned and wrapped the arm with linen. He then moved onto the other parts of his body. As he worked on the wounds, he explained the situation quietly.

“Most are safe, other than a few we couldn’t save. We burned their bodies since we couldn’t bear to bury them where the animals can come and dig it up.”

Girotin nodded. It was normal for commoners to burn the dead bodies. Proper burials were for the wealthy nobles. Joonbum finished tending to the wounds and spoke.

“You can start having soup. But you should stay away from eating any solids for a while.”

Girotin felt sudden hunger coming to him as he heard Joonbum mention food.

“Let me live here!” Girotin shouted abruptly as Joonbum was about to leave. He sounded desperate. Joonbum turned to him and nodded.

“We accept anyone who is willing to abide by our rules and work. You can always leave if you don’t like it.”

Girotin was dumbfounded by that simple answer as Joonbum left.

“Next is old man Beros. His joints hurt so much that he can’t sleep at night.”

Nanin came up to him with a notebook and read the names out loud. It had a list of people and details of the problems they had.

“Sir Joonbum!”

“Sir Joonbum!”

People bowed as Joonbum walked through the corridor with Nanin. All of them were visiting to be treated for various illnesses.

‘That must be arthritis.’

He thought of the name of old man Beros’ condition had. There was no cure in this world.

‘Muscle-relaxant cream, a hot towel and…’

He needed to save medicine. There were still eight years left until the gate to Earth would reopen.

“Nanin, give him some muscle-relaxant cream.”

“You don’t need to see him?”

“Yeah, there’s nothing much we can do for arthritis.”

“Okay! Next is Uncle Jones who came from Khaloda Village. He has a big lump on his back and the pus is… ugh. He screams at the slightest touch of it.”

A lump was something that he himself had to see.

“Where is he?”

Nanin pointed to a room. He opened the door and walked in where a man was shouting.

“UGH! SIR! HELP ME! PLEASE!”

The man in his forties was screaming in pain. He was a hairy man with a well-built body, but that didn’t stop him from crying like a baby.

“Back.”

Jones turned his back to face Joonbum, and there was a big red lump. The center of it was yellow from the pus. Joonbum grinned.

“This will hurt.”

Joonbum took out a simple disinfected surgery tool from the cabinet.

“UGH!”

Jones’ face became pale at the sight of the tool.

“What-what is that? Sir!” Jones asked in terror.

“This? This is called a syringe.”

“What are you going to do-”

“Oh, I will stick it in and inject some medicine. It will only hurt just a bit. Don’t worry. Come!”

Jones shivered and his face turned blue as Joonbum pierced it right next to the lump. Jones became confused as he had expected a lot of pain.

“It doesn’t hurt.”

‘I should’ve just popped it without doing anything.’

Joonbum thought about his evil scheme for a moment but shook it away.

“Yeah, but it’s only the start.”

He then used a scalpel to cut the lump open. Yellow pus flowed out from it, which Joonbum cleaned and then squeezed to remove all of it. After that, he cleaned it with disinfectant and closed the wound with a stapler.

“Done. Go home and take half of this medicine after you eat. Eat the other half tomorrow and come back in two days.”

“Thank you!”

Joonbum grinned as Jones left and moved to tend to the other patients.