[BL] Accidentally Becoming the Healer of the Deranged Archduke novel Chapter 426

Chapter 426: Streets of Suniva

Xion took Allen with him, leaving the Archduke to supervise the unloading of carts.

After a quick greeting with the officials, the healer decided to meet the sick first.

The snow crunched under Xion’s boots as he stepped beyond the walls of the temporary refugee shelter.

The bitter wind sliced at his face, carrying the faint scent of smoke and rot.

Behind him, Oswin trudged wearily, signaling about Xion’s identity to every anxious glance from the survivors who peered out from the shelters.

Xion’s eyes swept over the crowd.

Children with hollowed cheeks clutched tattered blankets around their frail bodies.

Mothers whispered hurried prayers over the thin, shivering infants in their arms.

Fathers, gaunt and exhausted, avoided Xion’s gaze, ashamed that they had been unable to protect their families from starvation and despair.

He knelt beside one of the makeshift beds. A young girl, no older than seven, clutched her mother’s finger with her tiny hands.

"Are you hungry?" he asked softly.

The girl looked terrified. When her mother motioned her to speak, she finally muttered, "Yes... and cold."

Xion nodded, jotting down the details in his leather-bound notebook.

"Food will be here soon, okay?"

Those simple words were enough to ignite a new light in the eyes of the refugees.

While talking, Xion quickly recorded his observations.

Food is scarce; rations last only a day.

Many are sick, with no proper medical supplies.

Blankets, winter clothing, and shoes are insufficient.

Some families had been forced to leave their homes due to violence or raids.

Children are often left unattended while parents search for scarce food.

He made a mental map of the worst cases first, noting who needed immediate aid and who could wait.

The kids would be given priority in the treatment.

Ray and Noxian would arrive in two to three days. As they carried heavier luggage, they could only travel more slowly.

There was also the matter of protecting the supplies from external and internal attacks.

Xion knew Ray was capable, not to mention Rubian Claude, who was also in the group.

All he needed to do was wait until all of their supplies arrived. Until then, they would have to make do with what they brought with them.

Even as he cataloged these problems, his gaze grew heavier with every new discovery.

Yet he maintained a calm demeanor, one that seemed to soothe the raw anxiety festering in the refugees.

There were quite a few nobles who tried to strike up a conversation with Xion when he strolled.

He calmly rejected them. These were the people who had refused to offer any help due to the influence of the Gin family.

Now that they were here, they flipped their attitude.

"They didn’t think the Archduke and you would come, Your Grace."

"Why?" Xion frowned. "Why would Darius not defend his own land?"

He truly couldn’t understand.

Oswin hesitated before telling the truth.

"There are rumours that you are in poor health and that you have lost your eyesight because you did something terrible. They say you offended the Goddess. But it is clearly just a tale to scare us."

Xion laughed. "Don’t bother with the lies."

Oswin nodded as he led Xion toward the edge of the city, where the frozen forest began.

The place where the dead resided.

The cemetery lay within the skeletal trees, the ground covered in frost. Only the bare twigs scratched the sky, like jagged fingers pointing toward the dimming sun.

Piles of corpses, charred black in patches from constant burning, dotted the clearing.

"This place..." Oswin said with a sigh, "we burn them constantly, but still... they say they rise if we don’t."

Xion’s gaze swept across the trees, the smoke, and the frost. "I need to do some tests on them. We need to carry their bodies to another place. Is there someone who ... became violent after death?"

"No, Your Grace. Luckily, those death walkers didn’t reach us. But I can’t say that for the other counties. We do have a dead body of a death walker. If you want to see, I can arrange that."

The dead body was that of his own son. He had let it freeze in the water, afraid that it might attack again, but too heartbroken to burn it down.

"Yes, please do that," Xion said to the Governor before turning to Allen.

The Alchemist was quick, already examining corpses for any sign of turning into a Death Walker.

After a brief silence, Allen shook his head.

When the Archduke waved his hand toward him, Xion moved toward him.

He thought Darius was pointing out something on the papers, but instead, the Archduke pulled him onto his lap.

Xion was speechless. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

The Archduke had zero sense of shame in the way he was acting so clingy in front of the group of officials crowding around the big table.

"How is the situation on your side? Found what you were looking for?"

Thinking that it would be too disrespectful to the Archduke’s image if he just stood up, Xion decided to stay for a minute.

"Yeah. Brother Allen is looking into it. And you? How’s the border? And Nikolai?"

"Nikolai is doing fine. Not so much with the supplies, though. But I’ve already asked the guards to send relief to the army along with our soldiers."

Even without words, Xion understood the unspoken plan.

After settling the Suniva and the urgent situation of the refugees, Darius would be going on the battlefield.

A group of healers, led by Bard, would follow with the Archduke, while some would remain behind to assist Xion. Allen was one to stay.

Xion was aware that Allen’s presence was more out of protection for him, and not for medical purposes.

However, Xion didn’t want to insist on it anymore. If that would keep Darius at peace, so be it.

There was only one thing Xion hoped for, and it was to see Darius return victorious.

"What about him? Anyone found any clues?" Xion asked, leaning on Darius’s shoulder.

By ’him,’ Xion meant Michael.

With the sudden war and humans turning into Orcs, he would be a fool not to suspect Michael’s involvement.

"Not yet. I am sure we will find him soon."

Xion hummed.

He still remembered how Michael was able to give others the powers, just like God.

Only if he had blessed the righteous and not the sinners.

"I am turning the sinners into the faithful servants of the Goddess, Xion. Is that not what all those holy books say? To turn the evil into a saint?"

It was, but not in this way. To give power to the one with a tainted soul would only result in destruction. Michael was the best proof.

As his mind searched for the thin thread that could connect all these events, Xion finally dozed off.