The War God’s Favorite novel Chapter 23

 The Red Room
Cassandra stared at the man, a bit lost as to how to react. She was no stranger to men’s unwanted and dirty sollicitations. As a slave, she had gotten her fair share. She even got touched a couple of times, though she would rather forget those. She even found herself lucky to have preserved her virginity until she met the Prince.
“Isn’t she just a slave? We know our Commander-in-Chief doesn’t care about his concubines anyway! I bet he doesn’t care if we get a taste of this one either.”
“You idiot, didn’t you attend last night’s dinner? His Highness acted differently with this one,” said another of the blacksmiths. “Go ahead, Moar, but don’t blame us if you lose your head for that!”
Hearing this, the man seemed to hesitate. Actually, Cassandra also noticed the other men seemed torn as well. Those who had been leering at her were now reconsidering the question, looking at her in a new light. Some apparently felt the question wasn’t worth losing their life over, and got back to work, ignoring her. The man named Moar, however, clicked his tongue, annoyed from not getting any more support from his fellow peers.
“That little pussy. You better not wander off alone, Missy, or you’ll get a taste of me.”
Cassandra didn’t like the threat, but she did not respond. She felt that man wasn’t worth it, and anyway, she didn’t want to stay here any longer. He probably wouldn’t dare to do anything in plain sight, and with so many witnesses. Ignoring him, she turned around and left, her heart beating a bit faster than usual. She knew the kind of man that Moar was, and she really hoped she wouldn’t see him again.
“Should we go back to His Highness’ tent, perhaps?” suggested Evin.
Cassandra didn’t really feel like it yet. She had visited only a small portion of the camp, and she felt like she would be losing to that horrid man if she went back to hide in the Prince’s tent. She hesitated for a second wondering what would be the right thing to do.
“Madam!”
They turned around. Orwan had left the Forge to come to them, running, and out of breath. He shook his head, a bit fidgety.
“I’m very sorry about that, Moar is…a jerk, Madam. I’m very sorry, I wish I could have shown you around some more.”
Cassandra didn’t hold Orwan responsible at all. She didn’t really care about the incident because it was only words and she was fine. Instead, she just gave him a gentle smile.
“It’s alright, Orwan. Actually…”
“Yes?”
“Could you show me to the Red Room?”
He shook his head even faster, very embarrassed.
“I can’t, Madam. It really isn’t a place you should go.”
“I’m curious about it, please?”
Orwan exchanged a look with the servant, but as usual, Evin didn’t betray a single emotion, staying quiet and still the whole time. It was hard to say what he thought about Cassandra’s request, even if he had voiced his opinion against it earlier. However, he didn’t say anything now. He probably had to respect Cassandra’s choices anyway. Eventually, Orwan sighed.
“All right, but…please, don’t make His Highness mad at me for showing you this.”
“1 promise.”
She followed the young man across the camp, ignoring more stares on the way. She wondered where the Prince was. Probably busy with some high ranked general. Krai was nowhere to be seen, too, so she assumed the dragon might have been napping or hunting somewhere. Finally, they reached a building that had actually been carved into the mountain, with a narrow entrance guarded by two soldiers. They only gave a glance at Cassandra’s red dress, but let them through without questions. Inside, Cassandra was surprised to find several rooms that had been dug deep into the rocks, most of them were for storage of food or weapons. A lot of people were also working there, and seemed busy enough not to pay attention to the trio.
But Orwan took her to a further, isolated room, where he stood at the entrance. Unlike what they had seen so far, there was no one around that place. The apprentice frowned and stood at the entrance, turning to her.
“The injured are brought…here, Madam.”
“Here…?”
Cassandra took a step inside the room, and was immediately horrified. This was no place for people to rest and recover! The whole floor had been tainted with blood, a sad explanation for this place’s name. She walked in, still a bit disgusted, but she couldn’t ignore the dozens of men laying there, right on the ground. A lot of them were in a really, really bad state. Cassandra had seen a lot in her life, but the fresh wounds, cut limbs, and disfigured faces still gave her nausea, especially since nothing was being done for them. She even suspected there were some dead bodies lying among them.
“What about doctors?” she asked Evin, who was following her with his mouth covered.
“We don’t have enough at the camp. They usually take care of the most important soldiers first, which means the higher-ranked ones.”
Cassandra frowned. This was horrible. So many of those men didn’t even get the most basic treatment and were just left here to suffer! She looked around, but this place definitely wasn’t a place to heal. Orwan was right. This was a place to die. It was obvious that no one cared. There were a few men working around, but they only seemed to check on the injured, take out the corpses, and excrements. It was a horrid place, and that only made Cassandra madder. She kept walking inside, surprising Evin.
“Madam, don’t you want to leave? This place is…”
“These people need help,” Cassandra interrupted him. “This place doesn’t even have windows, or water.”
“Wh…why would they need windows?”
“The air needs to circulate! A stagnant place like this will only help the sickness spread around.”
“They will spread it if we take them out!”
“I doubt it. It’s way too cold outside, and the tents are spread far from one another. The cold would kill the viruses and they aren’t spread easily anyway. Not when it’s from these types of infections”
The servant was speechless. How could a mere slave know so much! Even for a concubine, this was truly hard to hear. Moreover, Cassandra didn’t seem to mind the horrid smell, or sight of the injured men, at all. Instead, she kept going from one bed to another, observing the injuries, and checking around as if she was looking for something, or counting.
“Who is working here?”
“Only volunteers…or people who got punished, Madam.”
Cassandra turned to one of the men present, who had been observing her in awe. She addressed him, to his surprise.
“Excuse me, are you working here?”
“I came to check on my friend, Madam. He was injured last week.”
“Do you come every day?”
“Yes, Madam. I come in my free time, but…”
He didn’t end his sentence, but shrugged and sighed helplessly. Cassandra nodded, and started to interrogate the other healthy men that were present. Three of them came of their own will to check on their peers, the six others were sent here as a punishment from their superiors. They didn’t seem to have any precise orders though. The Prince’s concubine listened to every one of them, making them all the more curious to know what made a woman of her status so interested in this cursed place. When they were done, Cassandra turned to Evin.
“Is anyone in charge here?”
“Not that I know of, Madam, this is for the full army.”
“So, it’s fine if I work here, right?
The servant almost choked.
“If you what? You can’t be serious! You can’t stay here!”
“It’s fine, I have to keep myself busy, and these men need help.”
“Madam, I strongly oppose this. Those men are not for you to take care of! I doubt Our Lord will agree to this either!”
But Cassandra decided to ignore him. She looked down, and tore a bit of her dress, using the fabric to cover her nose and mouth. Then, she turned to the men present.
“Can you help me create a list of how many men are in here and their condition? There should be about…one or two hundred, right?”
The men exchanged looks. Were they supposed to listen to the Commander-in-Chief’s concubine? Her request was so odd and sudden. However, one of the men, who was there voluntarily, took a breath in and stepped forward.
“Yes, Madam. Last week, there were about a hundred and fifty-seven men, but more were brought in than were taken away, in the meantime. Can I ask how much you want us to write?”
Cassandra smiled, a bit happier now that at least one of the men was willing to help her. She took her fur cloak off, which Evin immediately held for her, and readjusted her hair up in a large bun while talking.
“I would like their names and ages, and the details of their injuries, everything you can see. Also, if you can find out how long they have been here for, or when they were brought here, that would be great. I guess it would be best to mark them with numbers also.”
As she kept exchanging with that man, Cassandra noticed the other men were listening too, and nodding from time to time. Even the men who had been sent here against their will actually paid attention, and once they started counting, even helped too. Evin stayed silent, but he was deeply impressed. She hadn’t used her power at all or had forced those men to obey her. She had just asked for help. It was her own behavior, and her will to help those men that had convinced the others to follow a woman’s direction.
He had wondered if she was just acting on a whim, but to his surprise, Cassandra kept taking care of the injured for several hours. With those nine men, plus Orwan, helping, her list was done in no time, and she read it over.
“Most slaves don’t know how to read or write,” said Evin.
“I know,” simply answered Cassandra, before writing something.
Then, she kept writing, under the men’s surprised eyes. They had no idea what to do in the meantime. Only when
she was done, did she show them her list. There was actually quite a lot written down.
“It’s unfortunate we couldn’t get everyone’s information, but at least we know where to start. First, we need to split them.”
“Split them?” asked one of the men.
“Yes. I saw several empty rooms on my way in here, it’s fine to use them, right? So, we should first separate the men with diseases and infections from those who only have wounds, before they get infected, too. Also, some of them are already in a terminal state, and sadly they won’t make it, no matter what we do. It’s better to give them a calm place, separated from the others.”
“Madam, do you mean there is…hope for the others?”
“Of course,” said Cassandra with a nod. “From what I saw so far, I think at least half… no, two-thirds of the men here can be treated and sent back to camp.”
The men were left speechless. They had thought everyone here was bound to die! How come this slave concubine said otherwise, and with such confidence, too? They had been here a lot and knew how bad some of the injuries were. No matter what though, the concubine’s words seemed hard to believe. But Cassandra kept writing again and frowning a lot, looking concerned.
“Actually, I don’t know much about the resources you have here. Do you get any medicine?”
The men looked at each other, totally clueless on the matter. Cassandra wasn’t surprised, however. The Dragon Empire wasn’t very advanced in healing techniques, herbology, or medicines. The very few doctors they had weren’t affordable for most people, who only went to their local apothecary for basic treatments and natural remedies. The common folks didn’t have even the most basic knowledge on how to properly tend a wound or treat a common cold. She sighed and turned to Evin.
“Do you know anything about that?”
The servant sighed. He had initially thought his job would simply be to follow a whiny, airhead concubine on her wanderings around the camp, making sure she doesn’t break her nail, or hinder other people’s work. Turns out he had it all wrong.
“We have some dedicated accountants who make sure of the stocks provided and trade weekly with merchants. If there is anything that is needed urgently, we put a request in for some of the cavaliers to go and fetch it from the nearest village. Also, any trip the Prince makes is supposed to be to bring more provisions.”
Cassandra nodded.
“I guess we could gather herbs around the camp, but it would be better if Krai could fly me to the nearest village to buy the first necessities.”
All the men around looked at her as if this woman was completely crazy.
Did she just suggest she would borrow an Imperial dragon??