After the victory at Moonwater City, Princess Tavier successfully repelled Heylan forces from several more provinces, completely putting Goldspink on the winning side.
The leaders of these provinces all believed that a total triumph was soon, so they instead set their eyes on another problem at hand—the refugees.
Following Conera’s example, Waterford also began to encourage refugees to make a living by themselves. During work time, they were free to work in the city as long as they carried the required permissions. At night, they would be arranged at the refugee camps outside the city.
Such a life wasn’t really enjoyable. But at least the refugees were glad that they had a proper way to survive.
Daruk was one of the many hapless homeless trying to earn a living, but apart from himself, he also had to take care of his grandfather.
Folks escaping from the war hardly had time to tend to their elderly members. Those too old to travel were either left behind or stayed behind in the war zones willingly so that they did not put too much burden on their families. This was why one couldn’t usually find old men in the camps.
Daruk’s grandfather was an exception. As an ill-bodied figure way beyond his 70s, this man managed to leave his enemy-controlled hometown and moved for a thousand kilometers until he came to Waterford, all thanks to Daruk’s help.
Luckily, this pair survived the most toilsome of their times. Daruk had a job in the city that provided just enough income for both of them to eat, and things could have turned for the better at this rate.
Until a great misfortune struck.
The old man contracted a strange disease that caused countless red blisters all over his body. Pus fluid constantly seeped out from these blisters while inflicting unspeakable pain.
Daruk tightened his working schedule as much as he could so that he could gather enough money for a doctor. When he had the money, however, he couldn’t find one who was willing to answer an outcall in the refugee camp, so he had to carry his grandfather into the city.
The gate guards denied their entrance because the old man’s condition looked rather hideous.
“This is not contagious! Look, I’ve been looking after him closely for a while, and I’m fine!” Daruk pleaded.
The other refugees who knew them also tried to help.
Yet the guards had to insist because this was their captain’s decision.
Daruk was now kneeling on the ground begging for mercy. His grandfather was the only family he had in this world. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.
Troubled by extreme grief, a stream of blood ran down along Daruk’s chin.
Seeing this, the onlooking refugees shook their heads and left. They couldn’t really oppose the city guards. It was time for work.
This was what Angor saw when he arrived at the city, that a young man was coughing blood next to a sick old man.
When Angor showed his family emblem, the guard captain himself quickly stepped up to address him with the best manners.
From one of the guards, Daruk learned that the blond man in front of him who didn’t look much older than himself was a well-respected nobleman.
He clenched his teeth, made a difficult decision, and grabbed Angor’s trousers.
Angor silently listened as Daruk explained his condition. Meanwhile, the guards rushed to arrest Daruk so that they didn’t trouble an important noble.
“Let him go,” Angor told the guards to back away. “He’s right. It’s not infectious.”
The guards looked between Angor and their captain, not sure what to do.
“Alright, if Lord Padt said so.” The captain joined them. “However, you must put something on him to cover him up. If a citizen gets scared and asks us to send him away, we must listen.”
Daruk was already expecting a heavy beating for bothering a noble member as a refugee. Seeing a turn in the event, he immediately groveled at Angor’s feet and put his coat over his grandfather.
“He’s the one who needs a doctor right now...” Angor saw Daruk excitedly entering the city and shook his head.
...
Inside the city, Angor randomly strolled along the streets while using the Dream Whelk on stores he might use in the dream wasteland. After listening to Freud’s “suggestion”, he had given up on selecting beautiful buildings only. He’d simply pick what he needed and let Freud do the redecoration.
After finding enough tool stores for Freud, he stopped in front of a large, blue building made out of wavy brick walls that looked like sea tides.
The Ocean Theater used to be his favorite place because his childhood idol—Master Megeve, a nation-level musician—would often put up concerts here. The theater was probably the most unique and eye-catching structure in the entire Waterford. By coming here, Angor planned to bring it into the dream wasteland just to fulfill his adolescent dreams, even though this building was quite pointless to his research.
Before he could take out the Dream Whelk again, a young man who was sitting at the entrance of the theater caught his attention.
It was Daruk.
Without his coat, Daruk had his chest fully exposed in the air.
Meanwhile, his grandfather was sitting not far from him, weeping.
Daruk had been staring into the flowerbed nearby absent-mindedly when he suddenly heard footsteps approaching.
“So-sorry, sir, we’ll leave right away—Huh, my lord!” He thought a city guard was here to chase him away. He wasn’t expecting to see Angor again.
“Guess the doctor told you an unfavorable result?” asked Angor.
“No. He said my grandpa is fine...” Daruk’s voice trembled as he never thought a nobleman would care about the likes of him.
“I know. I meant to ask YOUR condition.” Angor glanced at Daruk’s grandfather again.
Using his spirit power, he could easily tell that the old one was completely fine on the inside. The skin illness should be easy to remove. The bloating blisters were probably caused by unhygienic living conditions and the old man’s anxiety combined together. Everything would return to normal as long as the old man did not scare himself to death.
Compared to him, Daruk seemed to be in worse condition. Angor had noticed that Daruk’s bodily vitals were slowly but surely declining, similar to Jon’s case. It was unlikely that the world’s consciousness was harming Daruk for no reason, so this was probably caused by some kind of serious sickness.
Daruk showed a helpless smile. “The doctor had given me a death sentence, my lord. It’s some incurable pathogen that’s going to kill me within a week.”
“Are you a doctor, my lord?” The old man nearby looked at Angor with teary eyes. “You must be. You saw my child’s ailment, right? Can you help him? I-I’ll pay everything, even my life, as long as you can save Daruk!”
“No. I’m not a doctor. But I have a way to prolong your life. However, you’ll be unable to return to the Old Earth ever again. What do you say?”
Truth was, Angor already decided to make Daruk another of his test subjects when he saw Daruk’s condition.
“But if I leave, what about my grandfather?”
“Don’t you worry about me. I can take care of myself!” The old man claimed, but it didn’t look very convincing when he kept scratching his scarred body.