[BL] Accidentally Becoming the Healer of the Deranged Archduke novel Chapter 209

Chapter 209: A Visitor From The North

The man who had been unconscious for an entire night finally stirred awake.

"You’re finally awake," Bard said with a relieved sigh, immediately fussing over the dazed man. "We found you by the river. You really took your tradition of not eating from strangers a bit too seriously, huh?"

There was light teasing in his voice, but the warmth behind his words was real.

Bard had met a few such people during his travels — tribesmen who claimed their gods forbade them from eating food prepared outside their homeland.

These people were so loyal to their ways that they wouldn’t flee their villages even when monsters came knocking on their doors.

And now, perhaps, he had another such man in front of him.

He gently helped the man sit upright, adjusting the pillows behind him.

"But first," Bard said, pulling out a small notebook, "I need your name and age. Standard protocol."

The man blinked at him with clear exhaustion and suspicion.

But then he was given a tray on which were a bowl of steaming soup and a thick slice of fresh bread.

The man’s gaze locked on the food like a starving wolf.

Without another glance at Bard, his cracked lips parted. "Ravik," he rasped out, "My name... is Ravik. I’m sixty-eight."

And then, without hesitation, he began devouring the food. Not politely. Not slowly. But with the desperation of someone who hadn’t tasted a proper meal in weeks, or maybe months.

Bard watched for a moment, then quietly stepped away to prepare the appropriate medicine based on his age and condition.

When Bard returned, Ravik had finished eating and was now hunched forward, breathing quietly. _{fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓}

"Here," Bard said, handing him the medicine. "Drink this. It’ll help with the fatigue."

Ravik took it without question. There was not a flicker of doubt in his gestures.

That, more than anything, struck Bard as strange.

Most people woke up confused, scared, babbling questions. But Ravik said nothing. No "where am I?" or "who are you?" or "how long have I been out?"

He just sat there, his sharp, sunken eyes slowly scanning the ward where beds were neatly aligned. Many people were sitting on them, patiently waiting for their turn.

From the way other healers moved about around the villagers to the herbal plants placed on the window sills, he was observing everything in the vicinity.

Perhaps he was still in shock. Maybe the fear hadn’t yet left his bones.

So, Bard didn’t press him for any information. They had seen many types of patients — some talked too much, some cried, and some... just stared.

Letting him be was often the best medicine of all.

What Bard didn’t know was that the man he pitied was no ordinary survivor.

Ravik was a special knight. One of four selected for a secret mission to retrieve a treasure said to be buried in the southwestern mountains.

They had found it. Just as they were preparing to leave, the cave entrance collapsed, trapping him inside and separating him from the others.

He survived on moss, dripping water, and the occasional bird that flew in through a crack in the rock.

For months, he dug with bare hands. And eventually, he escaped by crawling out through a narrow water tunnel, too exhausted to even scream when he finally saw sunlight again.

"There is a child of the goddess in the hidden corner of the south."

Now it seemed that he had stumbled upon that same village. But... who is the child of the goddess?

Maybe... Just as the thought crossed his mind, the entire room fell silent.