The Hunter Mage

CHAPTER EIGHTY-SEVEN

Vernon waited until the door was shut and he could no longer hear her footsteps before he spoke. "Boy!" He called. No answer. "Boy!" He called again but still no answer. He sighed, Boy was obviously not in the room and it was about time he stopped acting like a lunatic.

He still held the mug with the boiling hot cocoa. He blew air into it. It didn't make much difference but at least, he was able to take a sip out of the cup. He sighed, he would have to do what he did last time. Drink the cocoa after he was done eating.

He got out of bed, the table was too far out for him to place the mug on it without incident. He had to be careful because the mug was almost full and with any little slip the hot cocoa would be all over the sheets.

Thankfully, he got out of bed without incident and was able to place the mug on the chair. He picked up the tray and instead of returning to the bed, he chose the chair and used his bed as a table for the tray. There he sat and finished his meal.

When he was done, he arranged the dishes with the empty mug on the test and carefully placed it on the table so whoever had to deal with it would not have to worry about how to carry them.

He got into bed again and wondered what he would do, the thought was not completely formed when the infirmary door opened and Bess poked her head in, "Hi," she cried. She looked genuinely happy to see him.

Vernon smiled back at her, feeling warm at her presence, "Hi," he called back with the exact amount of enthusiasm she had used.

"I hear you're moving around now," she plopped onto the chair, still smiling.

"They are nothing but rumors I tell you." He smirked and leaned forward as she made an attempt to check his temperature.

"Wow! Your temperature is almost completely back to normal!" Her eyes were wide as she spoke, she looked really glad. "This is wonderful, I was really scared that it might take a very long time before he got back to normal. It also didn't help that I could not do anything about the symptoms. I am sorry." As she spoke, it looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"What are you talking about? This is my fault, if I had gotten enough rest, I would not have been sick in the first place. It is not your fault you can't treat Mana related illnesses. It is my fault for not paying attention to the state of my mana even after I was warned about how unstable it is. So never blame yourself, okay?"

Bess nodded and took her hand away, she was red in the face. He had not realized that he had held on to her hand the whole time he was giving his long speech. He immediately got embarrassed at how he would have done something so cringy and not even realize it.

"Ah sorry," he immediately said, laughing awkwardly. "I got carried away by the long monolog."

"Hah hah," her laugh sounded a little forced. "I figured. I'm glad you're okay, really."

Vernon immediately stopped laughing and looked at her, "Me too." He returned.

She smiled and then asked, "Does your head still hurt though? If your Mana is back to normal, I should be able to fix all the body pain it must have put you through."

"I think I am fine. Only my joints hurt and I think it is because I haven't used them as much as I used to, other than that I am pretty fine."

"Do you want me to fix it?" She asked.

"If you can, they don't really bother me that much," Vernon said. He had not even realized he had joint pain until she asked. He didn't mind them, they were nowhere as annoying as the headache had been.

"Well, it is the least I can do, since I have been very useless since the moment you feel ill," Bess muttered with a glum face. Vernon knew he had underestimated how badly the fact that she had not been able to heal him had affected her.

"Don't say that Bess, we both know that's not true. When you didn't visit me there was nobody to cool down the boiling hot cocoa, I kept saying if only Bess was here." Vernon didn't realize he was spitting a lot of words that he was not thinking through until he saw the look on Bess.

He immediately tried to make amends, "Of course, I am not saying your use is you know reducing the temperature of the hot cocoa, I am just trying to say you did a lot more for me than you give yourself credit for." Unfortunately, he went on another rant of things he did not think about.

Bess chuckled, putting an end to his embarrassing rant. "I get it, thank you." She muttered and before he would respond to her thanks she immediately asked. "Your knees, right?" He nodded. "What about your ankles?" He nodded again.

"All done!" She announced.

Vernon immediately bent his knees, one at a time and he felt absolutely no pain in any of them. He twirled his ankles too, they were the same thing, painless. "It doesn't hurt anymore, Bess. Thank you!"

She smiled, "I am glad I could help." He smiled back. "I do hope you don't plan on leaving the infirmary any time soon, even though you're healed, you better not try to use Mana just yet."

"I wouldn't dare to use Mana but I do think I am strong enough to walk around but Madame Rachel would not let me," Vernon complained, hoping Bess would side him since she could see how much better he was.

However, she started to nod. "She is right, you should remain in bed for at least the rest of the week."

Vernon glared at her. What was she talking about? It was midweek, he could not be stuck here for another day. "Bess," he cried. "It is midweek. The rest of the week on this bed would just be torture."

She laughed, "Okay then, at least two more days. I have to go, I will try to check on you tomorrow. If you need my attention, do not hesitate to call me."

"Alright, I won't. Thanks again, Bess." He said to her as she stood up from the chair.

She nodded and picked the tray as she walked out of the door. He waved at her and he knew she would have saved back if her hands weren't filled.

He rested his back against the bed frame and suddenly felt very tired. He was not surprised considering what his body had gone through during the day because of him, it was bound to give up on him.

He adjusted as he went to sleep, it was pretty early but he really could use the nap, so he slept. It didn't even take him long to do so, as soon as he got comfortable he slept.

Vernon jerked up awake, it was dark. Well, he could see and he could also tell it was pretty late. Something had woken him up, it took him only a second to realize what it was, he was very pressed.

He jumped out of bed and made his way to the restroom. If he had waited for a second longer he would have had a lot of explaining to do. As he peed, he made satisfying noises.

When he was done, he pushed open the bathroom door as he made his way out. "BOO!" He heard loudly in his face, Vernon knew if he had not just used the bathroom, the reason why he was awake would have been trailing down his legs.