Chapter 130: Chae’s story (3)

"… Elias?"

General Zhang's hand stopped in the middle of wrapping the white bandage on my hand.

"Yeah…" I nervously looked away, avoiding his shocked gaze. I mean… It must've sounded so absurd to him. A new, suspicious person like me who appeared out of nowhere, turned out to be all buddy-buddy with the notorious edgy prince who had been on their radar for long, "I understand your surprise. I'd be suspicious of me, too, if I was you."

"No, I'm not suspicious of you," he denied while frowning, "rather, I'm more concerned about your relationship with him. We're talking about the same Elias here, right?"

"I suppose so. Do you know any other Elias besides the one we met in the serpent's lair?" I questioned while tilting my head. What was so weird about our relationship… Ah. Eli lost his memories of me, right. That made my story one-sided.

"No, he's the only Elias I know," his frown deepened, "… But I thought he was the same kind of person as myself."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"I mean, the type of person that doesn't have—"

He suddenly paused as his eyes widened ever so slightly and his breathing stopped, as if snapping out of something,

"—never mind," he continued, "do you… Care about him?"

What was he going to say? Ack, now I was curious, how unfair!

"I—I suppose so. But, I don't think he remembers me…" I looked down in sadness, "I don't know what happened, but… Now I'm a stranger to him. And the current him somehow felt like a stranger to me, too."

General Zhang kept his mouth shut and observed me as I clenched my fists until the bandage was crumpled, and he gently grabbed my hand to calm me down.

"He certainly doesn't seem to be the type to care for others," general Zhang continued bandaging my wound, "but I believe your story. Something must've happened, then."

"… You do?" I gasped, "wow, you believe my absurd, full of plot holes, proofless story?"

"It's precisely because it's so absurd, full of plot holes, and proofless that I think your story is too dumb to be made-up. Tee-hee~"

'SMACK!'

"Ow, ow, little cub, stop hitting me with your injured hand," he pouted, "I was kidding~ I mean, half-kidding, at least. The other half, well…"

I glared at him while getting my fist ready for another smack as I waited for him to continue. I swear, if he was going to say something stupid again…

"… I just wanted to trust you." He continued.

Upon hearing that, I instantly held my breath as my face was starting to flush. It—it wasn't an everyday occurrence to hear that someone wanted to believe someone like me… Someone who only knew how to kill others in the battlefield.

Just as I was about to open my mouth, he opened his lips faster than mine.

"Besides, I'm stronger than you. What are you gonna do if you lied to me anyway, kill me? Get stronger first, little cub~" He giggled and poked my cheek a few times.

"Yeah, you're gonna regret saying that once I grow strong enough to defeat you, eel," I scoffed and pinched his cheek back, "oh, right. How do you know what kind of person Eli is, anyway?"

"Hmm, we also have our own history," he explained vaguely and slapped my newly-bandaged hand, "there. One hand done. Now give me your other hand."

"Yeowch! You're hitting an injured person! Bad!" I grumbled, but still extended my hand towards him regardless, and he gently took it in his, "what history did you mean?"

"A shady one." He replied concisely as he started cleaning my wound and applying this and that on my hand, which made me yelp from time to time.

"Gee, I told you my story and all I get is a one-two word about yours." I rolled my eyes, teasing him.

"Fine, fine. I'll entertain you," he chuckled while tending to my wound, "what do you want to know?"

"Hmm, I only want to know what you want me to know. I don't like pushing someone's privacy. Except if it's someone I don't care about." I shrugged.

Well, if I had to always respect others, then how would I survive in those wars? Like, if I saw a suspicious figure setting up a landmine, should I just go, 'ah, yes. Privacy. Have a good day my dude'? It would be nice if we could all respect each other, but this is real life we were talking about.

People's rights, privacy, and needs were bound to clash against one another. The decision you made to save someone, probably costed someone else something. There was just no way to save everyone.

"Well, you already know that he's a notorious guy around here," general Zhang started explaining, "and there's a reason for that."

"Oh right, I'm curious as to how that rumor spread." I leaned forward, ready to listen to the story.

"It started not too long ago, just a few years prior to your arrival," he continued as he started wrapping the bandages around my hand, "did you know that… We once had 6 generals?"

"Huh? That's news to me…" My eyes widened upon hearing that as I gulped. Was this a sensitive topic? Should I ask where the other general went to? I mean… In stories like these, the dude should've gone to the afterlife, right?

"Yeah, and we used to be separated into squads. Each general got one, except me because a squad would just be a bother to me. I'm hella strong already even without a squad~" He hummed happily.

"… Then why did you guys ditch that system?" I carefully chose my words to not hit a sore spot.

"We did a complete revamp of the system ever since our number went down to five." General Zhang explained.

"Alright, that general's toast, aren't they?" I finally gave up trying to be polite and went straight to the point.

"Sure is. He's positively dead now," general Zhang nodded in confirmation, "and as you might've guessed, that Elias has something to do with it."

"Then, what—"

"But I don't think it's my story to tell. You can try asking Jean-jean, she might tell you," general Zhang cut me off with this unreadable expression on his face, "I can tell that Jean-jean likes you. Perhaps you can help her in…"

"In…?" I tilted my head in confusion.

"… Nothing. Anyway, my part of the story isn't that. It started shortly after." He shook his head and continued on with his story.

Although I really wanted to know the details, I bit my lip and shut my mouth. Perhaps one day when Jean-jean trusted me enough, she would willingly tell me about that.

"So, what happened in your end after that, uh, thing?" I nervously asked.

"Well, after the massacre that day, something occurred to me." He explained.

"Massacre? There was a massacre!?" A surprised gasp escaped my lips as I exclaimed loudly. Whoa, so not only that poor dude died.

"Ah, I slipped. Oh well, that part is public knowledge, anyway. Tee-hee!" He grinned casually, as if that word were something you used normally in your day-to-day life.

"I'm not a part of the public. I'm the clueless stranger that just appeared one day!" I huffed and pouted. Well, now things were getting a little bit complicated. Eli was involved in the massacre? But… He was really against senseless killing. No no, Chae. Why did I assume Eli was on the giving end. He might be on the receiving end for all I knew.

"Anyway, after that day… I realized that he and I had something in common. A mutual goal, if you may," general Zhang shifted the topic so fluidly, "and that's why I approached him first."

"You guys are buddy-buddy? How did you even find each other, anyway? He seemed to just appear out of nowhere… Wait, was he originally a resident at Alistair!?" I gasped again. Could it be that he was ostracized?

"Of course not. That old geezer has never expelled anyone, ever," he replied with his downcast eyes, "if anything, he was keeping anyone from entering." He spoke, almost muttering.

"Huh? What was that? People can't enter?" I tilted my head.

"Something like that, I guess. That Elias was never a part of our town. Nobody really knew where he came from. I, myself, am not really sure about his origins, but why should I care?" He shrugged, "our relationship is just a contractual, mutually beneficial one, anyway."

"What exactly are you two planning?" I raised an eyebrow as my mind was trying to digest the fact that both of them somehow knew each other, and both of them were planning something.

But man, they were both so hush-hush about everything! I only knew bits and pieces about general Zhang's plan from Elena, meanwhile I got to know that Eli had some sort of vision through that bastard Erenduill. Why did it feel like I was an NPC in their story?

"… Something personal. You'll know one day, little cub." He explained simply.

"You always say that, but why would I know, man? I have nothing to do with you guys." I sighed and stretched my back when he was finally done caring for my hand, "hnggg—" Ahh, stretching felt so good.

"Stop moaning, little cub. What if someone walks in~?" He giggled like a maniac.

"Oh my god you dirty boy!"

'Smack!'

"Ow ow… So violent, little cub." He rubbed his head right on the spot where I bonked him for being a dirty boy.

"Behave."

"Geez, okay, okay… By the way, you don't need to worry."

"Why?" I asked, still frowning.

"Because you've been a part of my plan from the start."