POV Aron Brightcloud

Opening my eyes, I took in the familiar view of my patient’s room. This was now the third time I had awoken here…

Let’s note that down as a potential point of improvement. I didn’t plan to become a regular here. For one, I still hadn’t seen a beautiful nurse. Besides, it was a massive waste.

On the bright side, we had survived and I had raked in all the benefits.

‘Bones, you got everything, right?’

My little mini-terminator materialized next to my bed. Its color had changed to a slightly darker shade.

‘Yes, big brother, I ate the corpses and the core. For once, I feel full. They were delicious. My strength has grown once again!’

‘Good.’

I had improved as well. The massive piece of energy I was left with after healing parts of my injuries had been invested into my core and body, pushing both to new heights. So all in all this had been a great run.

My musings got interrupted by footsteps close to the door.

‘Bones, go invisible. Looks like we have a visitor.’

As soon as my brother vanished, a knock sounded from the door. It opened and a middle-aged man in medical attire strode in full of energy. He reached my bed in seconds.

“Good Morning young man! Good to see you are awake! How are you feeling?”

I didn’t get a chance to answer as he started his examination right after he finished the question. He grabbed my face, checked my eyes, ears, and mouth(?!). What the heck?! I wasn’t a horse! At the end, he measured my pulse. Good, back to normal procedures. The entire time I felt a weird energy flow into my body, most-likely some sort of diagnostic spell that gave him additional data.

“Good, good. The energy feedback indicates that your pathways have healed correctly. The reaction is at an acceptable level, it feels spotty though. If you have issues while casting, namely pain or divergent behavior, come back for a more thorough check.”

“Thank you, doctor. I will.” I respectfully bowed my head.

Naturally I wouldn’t. A thorough scan was exactly the one thing I needed to avoid at all costs.

He nodded. “You are free to go. Refrain from casting for the next two days, then you should be completely healed.” Finished with what he had to say, he swept from the room.

The door closed with a bang, leaving me sitting in the bed bemused. What an energetic person.

It was time to leave. I stepped over to the adjacent locker and grabbed my stuff. Luckily, the armor had survived this time. Thanks to the repair rune, it even appeared spotless.

I reached for the undergarments and slipped into them. Piece by piece, I donned the armor.

‘By the way Bones, I only slept through the night, right? I wasn’t unconscious through multiple days?’

My little towel of never-ending gluttony shook its head happily.

‘No, you only slept through the night. They healed you quickly.’

I relaxed at his answer. This meant I hadn’t missed much.

Clad in my adventure gear, I made my way out of the medical wing. I needed to fill two days with new content as I couldn’t train in magic. Some lessons I would still join, but the majority were practice lessons, they were useless to me. I planned to visit Torsk.

Bones had told me everything went fine during his training-sessions but it was better to have a second opinion. Especially in topics where Bones was included. Everything his greedy fingers touched tended to take an unforeseen and stupid turn for the worse.

“Aron, there you are!” The sudden call of my name disrupted my thoughts. I turned towards the noise and saw Jane striding in my direction.

Uh oh. That speed, that radiant smile. I instantly knew she would go for a hug. And she did. Not giving me any chance to evade, she embraced me tightly. Only after several seconds did she, let go of me.

“How are you? Completely healed? I am happy to see you up again! It was all because of you that we got out in time! I am really grateful!”

I stepped back to get some distance between us; we were still too close for my liking. At the beginning Jane of our schooldays she had behaved distant and cold but the more she got to know one the more passionate and energetic she became. Making me see the similarities between her and her element.

“I am happy I could help. You are giving me too much credit. Had you not boosted that spell to such an absurd degree, my trap would have never worked. Luana and Eric also contributed much more than seen on the surface.”

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“You sweet-talker. you can say what you want, but only because you had such excellent skills were you able to take advantage of the fragile ceiling. Neither I, Eric, or Luana could have done what you did. You are a real monster with that spell! I am sure, even if we had the same affinity, we wouldn’t have been able to pull that off!”

There she was right, but she didn’t need to know that.

“Okay, okay! I yield. I will accept your thanks. But stop with it already, will you?” I smiled disarmingly at her and spoke further “I take it, Manor has recovered as well. Have the doctors succeeded with reforming his arm?”

Jane nodded brightly. “Yes, everything went fine. Although he isn’t in the best mood at the moment. I think he is quite ashamed about what he had said prior to his injury. We all should have listened to you. This would have never happened.”

At the end, her voice faltered.

I shook my head. “Don’t take it too hard. In the end, it could have been the other way around as well. If no ballista had stood behind the fog then nothing would have happened and I would have been the scardy cat.

Thinking about it, why the heck should they have had a ballista down there?! It makes no sense. So, in a way, I can understand Manor’s point of view. Still, it never hurts to be on the cautious side as we have seen earlier. On the off chance that there is danger waiting for you, you are prepared and don’t lose your life to what might have been an easy circumventable trap.”

Jane nodded in agreement. “I will remember that!”

“Good, do you have anything else? Otherwise I will go now, I want to take care of some stuff.”

The young woman shook her head but stopped in the middle of it.

“Right! I came to check on you because teacher Monrose wants to talk with you when you have recovered. He told me if you are better than I should tell you to meet him after lunch at his office.

Inwardly I felt a bit annoyed, that would push my plans back. Outwardly I nodded. “Sure, no problem. I will be there.” Giving her a friendly smile, I turned and walked towards my apartment. I couldn’t train in magic, that didn’t mean I could go through some books, building my knowledge until it was time to meet the teacher.

_______

Finished with studying and lunch, I strode to Teacher Monrose’s office. Before I could knock on the massive wooden door, Luana appeared next to me.

“It’s good that you have recovered! Can we talk before we enter?”

Her countenance rather tense, I wondered what was going on.

“Luana, it’s good to see you too. Sure, how can I help?”

The young woman relaxed marginally.

“Thank you, Aron! Please follow my lead during the conversation and don’t deny when I tell the story differently from what had actually happened. I don’t have enough time to explain, but know that you will help me out immensely. I will reimburse you for it, I promise!”

I scanned her face for clues. Why did it sound like I would get the short end of the deal? She seemed quite agitated. The topic obviously important to her.

Well… I could either eat it and collect plus points from her or improve my general standing by being the hero of Manor’s little fuck-up. It would probably estrange me from both Manor and Luana, though. The event-changes Luana planned were most likely about giving Manor a way out of his self-made shit-hole. Such events were normally hard to explain without a scapegoat.

I sighed inwardly. I had been promoted to public fall guy.

“Okay, I will.” Keeping my expression neutral, I turned back towards the door and knocked. Time to jump into the latrine.

“Come in.” Teacher Monrose’s voice resounded from inside.

I opened it, and we stepped into his office. Teacher Monrose’s job must be quite well paid by the academy. The wide room, filled with premium furniture and expensive-looking artistry, painted a picture for itself.

“There you are, Luana and… Aron…. Manor has told me already what had happened during the dive. I must say I am very disappointed by your behavior, Aron! Especially after Anna had died. How could you be so irresponsible and not scout out the area thoroughly?! Having a familiar that can scout for you is no excuse to get sloppy! Hadn’t it been for young Manor who heroically stood against the resulting ambush, more of you would have been injured!”

Teacher Monrose shook his head.

“Luckily young lady Nightshield reacted quickly as well and took over afterwards. I am appalled how you have so many good examples around you, yet were unable to learn from them. I will note this down in your file!”

I had lowered my eyes during his speech, not giving him an even bigger area of attack. I kept eye-contact with Luana through the corner of my eye. Gathering from her stony face, Manor must have adjusted the story a second time. This obviously hadn’t been the story she had planned to tell. She even flinched when Teacher Monrose talked about my personal records. Yet she didn’t step in to correct him.

It was already too late to protest. Both of them would lose too much if their little scheme came to light. If I fought now, I would have two new enemies. I might convince teacher Monrose of the truth, but it would be a messy endeavor. No, the only thing I was left with was to open my arms and welcome the shit they were shoveling into my lap. Afterwards, I could focus on getting a better deal from Luana.

I had no problems with being known as the irresponsible one, what I didn’t need though was to have it jotted down in my file. This would make it even harder to find an adventure-company or group later.

“Yes, Teacher Monrose. I am very sorry. This will never happen again! I have learned my lesson!”

“Ha, I am not the one you should apologize to, young man!”

He pointed at Manor.

Really? This was getting out of hand. First, I had to tolerate this bullshit story, and now I should apologize to the little brat that I had saved from his own fuck-up? Pressure built in my body.

Breathing out slowly, I stepped closer to Manor. I gazed into his eyes, taking in his expression. He tried to radiate aloofness and superiority. That little piece of shit. I clamped down on my own emotions, hard. It was yet not the time for retribution. I forced my voice into an apologetic pitch.

“I am sorry for what I have done Manor. Thank you for your sacrifice and saving the group in doing so. I won’t endanger the team again, I promise.”

He nodded with a patronizing glance.

“It is okay. I hope you have learned your lesson.”

Teacher Monrose visibly relaxed. In his eyes, we had resolved the situation.

“Good. Now as we have taken care of the uncomfortable part, let’s move on to a more pleasant topic. Manor, and Luana, for your heroic behavior, I award you both with forty contribution points. I am happy we have such splendid young novices in our academy!”

They both bowed in response.

“Thank you, teacher Monrose. You honor us with your words.”

I observed them expressionlessly as they got the recognition and contribution-points that I deserved.

Luana, I hope you will honor our deal. I really do…

As for Manor. He would regret doing this to me. I would make sure of that. Here at the academy, he was safe, but we would see how that changed in the future. Patience was one virtue I had ingrained like no other. The right time would come, of that I was certain.