“(Tch whatever, as long as I can use it on him, I'll take whatever I can to bring myself to his level.) How soon would that take?”

“About a month.”

“More than alright with me. Guess I'm grounded for the next month.”

“After we help the Saint, I suppose you're right.”

Tibaut slowly raised his head after hearing her words.

“Help?”

“Right, I suppose it's about time to tell you. We're going to be heading back to the dungeon with the Saint. Since we're somewhat familiar with its layout (and more importantly, those women seem unnaturally passive around you) we'll escort Saint Nichto there for him to record and document it for the church.” She answered.

“Gah, that place? Wait a second, you don't think that the Bishop is there, do you!?”

“Relax Tibaut, if what you said was true, then he came for business. Though, if we missed anything, it's probable he took anything of worth. Damn, if only I had sent that letter a day sooner!”

“Huh? (Is there express shipping in this world?) When'd you have time to send him a letter?”

“On our return journey. I wrote a brief overview of the dungeon and sent a letter to the church when we stopped at a village for supplies. But I never imagined a Saint of all people being the one sent here.”

“So that place is a big deal?”

“Massive. (Honestly, I'm hoping they'll give a reward for this discovery. My master is taking longer than I expected to return and I'm not sure I can afford the materials to repair our equipment without selling off a few items…) So ready yourself until the Saint returns, we'll leave immediately.”

“Can't you give me an extra day? I mean look at me.” He opened his shirt and revealed a chest that seemed to be mostly bone.

“Tibaut, we're not wasting the Saint’s time waiting for you to recover.” She bluntly stated. “Now get up and head to the kitchen.” She said as she got comfortable on his bed and wrapped herself in his sheets.

She gave a light yawn and her eyes slowly gave way. It seemed she too had exhausted herself waiting for Tibaut to wake up.

“Ruby and Agnes should be downstairs, they'll whip you somet..zzzz…zz.zzzz”

The warmth of the covers whisked her away to dreamland in record time and Tibaut slowly got up. He patted her head before whispering, “Rest up good, you annoying bitch.”

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She grumbled at his comment before he left the room.

(“She wasn't awake right!?”) While he was being playful he didn't assume she'd be too understanding of being called a bitch.

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As he hobbled his way downstairs, he really had to wonder if this was his body. He hadn't felt this terrible since he was a kid, and he at least had some sort of sickness as an excuse back then.

At the bottom of the stairs, he managed to wind himself just by walking down the stairs and began breathing heavily trying to catch his breath.

(“Fucking hell it's not like I weigh 500 pounds!”) He complained. He had to use the wall for support as he made his way to the kitchen.

(“Huh?”)

And to his surprise, he didn't see anyone there. Did they leave? Well, it wasn't too much of a loss, he felt like he needed rest far more than any sort of sustenance.

He was ready to sleep on the floor but was startled by the kitchen door opening.

“You're alive!” The person at the door shouted. She quickly cleared her throat and slowly walked over towards him. He looked up at them and saw it was none other than Ruby.

Before he could greet her, she picked him up by his collar, her expression nowhere near as relieved as Elizabeth's when he woke up.

“Hehehe, you must have thought you were real funny weren't you?” Ruby bitterly remarked as he stared into his face.

“Uh, Ruby?” He asked, unsure what left her in her current mood.

“Where's Tina, Redhead?” She asked.

“Oh, she's still asleep-”

Ruby immediately threw him into the air and grabbed his legs. She soon began spinning around like a ceiling fan.

“R-RUBY WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

“You're cute but I suppose every man has their flaws. And you're no exception.” She said before spinning him faster. His head was getting worrying close to various countertops in the room and he was in no condition to fight back.

“What's the big idea, Ruby!”

“What's the big idea? They've been here worrying about you for the past month and you don't give them so much as a greeting!?”

Tibaut was starting to feel somewhat sick and could tell bowls of porridge he had eaten earlier were thinking about making a reappearance.

He held onto his mouth as she continued.

“My niece busted her ass for you all this time and you couldn't even wake her up to say thank you!? Every damn day she'd wake up and make you some food hoping you'd wake up, looking like she was about to keel over but I suppose all you had a was nice rest, you limp dicked little-”

“Hold, hold on!” Tibaut shouted.

After Ruby let out her frustrations and set him back on the floor, Tibaut explained what happened after he woke up.

“Haha, dearie me, I suppose we were all a bit on edge after what happened.” She said, gently rubbing his back as they both lay on the floor. “But still, I suppose this was hard on Elizabeth too. The poor girl needs some rest after what happened that night.” She began leaning her body against the very unenthused Tibaut. Not only was she tall but her body was filled out quite nicely. She was the dream of any man who didn't find height a concern.

(“She's nice but she's no Lucy- no, no this isn't the time for that.”) He thought as he didn't resist her whims.

“I still think you should have woken her up but I won't knock you too hard for giving her some rest. At least she'll have a surprise when she wakes up.” Ruby commented before getting up.

(“At least pretend you're sorry…”) Tibaut thought as he picked himself up as well.