Chapter 695: The Grand Elder of the Church of the Natural God Arrives
"Should they be taken away immediately?"
Garrett Nordmark was momentarily stunned.
It wasn’t that he wanted to resist the official proceedings. Legally speaking, illegal immigration should result in immediate arrest, and suspected contagious diseases should lead to immediate isolation—
These were all reasonable and lawful actions. As a citizen, Garrett had no place to interject.
However, looking at the large group of refugees before him, Garrett felt a surge of sympathy. It was like the old saying went, seeing them live, he could not bear to see them die.
In this society with its low productivity, if the refugees were taken away, would they just be thrown into prison? Would they have anything to eat there? Would they receive any treatment?
"Ah!"
As the Baroness dropped these words and hurried off, Garrett quickly called out to her, lowering his voice and swiftly expressing his concerns:
"Could we possibly request a priest from the Church of the Natural God to examine them first? After all, the servants of the Natural God have more experience with the diseases that might afflict the poor..."
The Baroness stared at him repeatedly, her gaze changing, and finally, she sighed and nodded. She leapt onto her horse, and Garrett heard the hoofbeats like rain, growing distant, mixed with a series of commands from the Baroness:"You there! Fence off the back area!"
"Only let them move within that area; don’t let them wander around! If one escapes before the handover, you lock one of your own up in exchange!"
The sounds grew fainter, and the hoofbeats distant. Suddenly, a long neigh, and the horse galloped back. The Baroness, slightly bending on her horse, looked at Garrett uneasily:
"Nordmark Mage, don’t treat them until I return!"
Garrett: "..."
I still have to hand over my duties today!
And to make rounds!
After the rounds, there are three elective surgeries, three teaching surgeries, and who knows how many emergency surgeries!
How would I have time to see these refugees if I haven’t finished all that?
He managed a wry smile and assured her a few times, and the Baroness then turned her horse and galloped away. It was unclear what resources she mobilized, but within the hour, various parties had already arrived:
In the first hour, a squad of city guards quickly arrived, taking over from the guards acting as a blood bank, setting up a cordon around the hospital’s rear wall;
In the second hour, a group of men in black arrived. They split into two groups, one covering their noses as they entered the cordon, beginning to register the refugees’ details; the other group, looking fierce, started knocking on doors across from the hospital towards the direction the refugees had come from:
"Come out! Come out! — Are you living here?"
"How many people are in your family?"
"Did you hear anything last night? — Nothing? Are you a pig?!"
Bangs and clatters ensued, with some wooden doors being smashed and pots shattered. The residents of the slums could only seethe silently. However, this seemingly dull action still alarmed some people:
"Damn it! Were they always this quick?"
In a dilapidated house, two men who had been hiding all day and night cursed, lifted the floorboards, and quickly went down. After replacing the floorboard, the one in the back, amidst the darkness, pinched the badge inside his collar:
"It doesn’t seem like something that young mage would do! If we were any slower, we really could be trapped here!"
"Forget it, regardless, we’ve already seen those people being taken in by the hospital." The one in front, holding his nose as he walked into the sewer, persuaded him in a gruff voice:
"Let’s pass this information on, how to stir things up is up to those above."
"…I wonder if it can even be sent out. Recently, the capital’s newspapers were all swept through, along with the bards in the taverns, they were also hammered… The major newspapers too…"
Their voices gradually faded in the sewers. Garrett’s timely report had brought an unexpected benefit: more dangers lurking in the shadows were driven away quietly, without a trace.
Four hours later, the Baroness of Veitag hurried to the hospital in a carriage, bringing three clerics from the Church of the Natural God.
The Baroness knew that if she simply took the refugees away or found any healer to handle the situation superficially, Garrett, who sympathized with the poor and was willing to operate continuously for peasant women, might not be willing to let them go—
Even if he did let them go, it could severely strain their relationship. And for a genius healer, a promising mage like him, there was nothing to gain from having a strained relationship.
Thus, without further ado, the Baroness invited the leader of
the Church of the Natural God in the capital, the 16th level Priest Knox. After hearing the situation from the Baroness, the Elder was greatly interested and hurried over with his two disciples.
After completing three elective surgeries and one teaching surgery, and receiving the report, Garrett rushed to meet them outside. Elder Knox, who was younger than Garrett’s teacher, Elder Elwin, was tall and had a ruddy complexion. Seeing Garrett rushing to greet him, he immediately raised his hand to stop him:
"No need for pleasantries. Let’s first see what the situation with the patients is."
Garrett led them right away. They crossed the guards, passed through the cordon, and reached the area behind the hospital wall, where two or three small tents had been set up, with weak patients and children huddling inside—Garrett had brought out the spare camping tents.
The rest of the refugees squatted bare-handed on the ground, each with a clay bowl, licked clean to the bottom, next to a barrel wafting the faint scent of oatmeal porridge.
"You’re doing well." Elder Knox looked deeply at Garrett and strode forward.
Among the two disciples he brought, the elder one leaned on an oak staff as tall as his eyebrows, with four pairs of green leaves symmetrically opened, nodding friendly at Garrett and following his teacher. The younger disciple’s oak staff had only one leaf, lagging behind, curiously looking at Garrett:
"Hey, what do you think their illness is?"
"I haven’t had the chance to check yet…" Garrett lowered his voice in reply. As he spoke, he took out a mask, a plastic face shield, and rubber gloves, handing a set to his counterpart, donning each item himself. The young disciple followed suit, asking quietly:
"What are these for?"
"To prevent infection. ...I’m not saying they definitely have an infectious disease, but just in case, it’s good to have some protection…"
Before he could finish, a cry of alarm came from ahead:
"Teacher, isn’t this leprosy!"
"Where is it leprosy!" Thud—a sound like a blunt object striking the head. Beside Garrett, the young cleric shrank his head, muttering quietly:
"Teacher hit my elder brother again…"
Garrett drew in a sharp breath and quietly activated various shields on his body, quickly moving forward.
In the center of the camp, Elder Knox planted his oak staff on the ground, which had already sprouted a small vine-covered hut to serve as a consultation room. By now, two refugees had been brought inside, and the Elder lit a light spell, bending down to examine one of them:
"Young Garrett, Elder Wood wrote to me, saying you are an outstanding healer. Take a look, what do you think this disease is, and could it be contagious?"
Garrett looked over by his light source. Under the soft, slightly warm yellow light, the refugee brought into the consultation room had already removed his coat, revealing a lean upper body. His neck was piled high with lesions, looking as if he had been bitten by an animal.
The dark, overly keratinized skin and black scales spread along both sides of his neck, extending to his chest, stacking up like a necklace.
"…This really isn’t a vampire bite?"
Next to Garrett, the young cleric asked quietly. Elder Knox, without turning, flicked a finger, and his oak staff thumped on his forehead.
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