Forty Years of This [Monster Hunter World]

Chapter 9

The Admiral sat by his side in the infirmary. The Commander remembered the flight, the call for help, and the medical crew taking him in, but at some point the drugs they used had put him under, and when he finally came to, he was laying in a bed with his leg bound to his hip in a sling.

"███████?" The name came as a question.

"Commander! ████!" The Admiral jerked to attention. "Can I get you anything?"

"What..?" The Commander tried to blink the sleep from his eyes, but the drowsiness wouldn't yet fade. "No I'm. Fine. Did you get your sword back?"

"Yes." The Admiral's brow furrowed. "Commander, I'm going home, but I will be back. When you are up for it, we need to talk."

"Sure." The Commander gave a placid if drugged smile, and then promptly passed out.

When he awoke again, it was to an aching pain that coursed through his entire body. He groaned, fully aware of his leg once more, and dragged a hand down his face as if that would do anything to alleviate it. To his left he found a cup and a pitcher on an end table, but when he reached for it another hand took it.

"We've been taking turns sitting here. Waiting for you."

The Commander squinted at the owner of the hand. The man was backed by the setting sun, but he knew the voice of the Seeker.

"I don't know what to say."

"A thank you would suffice," the Wyverian man held out the cup. "But knowing you, you won't think a thank you is enough."

The Commander took the cup, sipping slowly from it at first. "Then I'll start with a thank you. Is the Admiral..?"

"He is still here. The ship does not leave for a few more days, and perhaps by then the Elder dragon will have arrived."

"Has it been spotted yet?"

"No." The Seeker turned towards the window. "But I can feel it. The energy of this land is shifting. It will be here soon."

"I never understood—"

"And you never will." They sat in silence while the Commander let his irritation from being cut off ease. The Seeker never really showed his own irritation, but the Seeker had long since found it worth while to try and help the Commander understand how he felt the energy of the land, and the Commander knew better than to question it.

"There are others who will want to see you. I think you already know who." He turned again towards the Commander then gestured towards another table to the Commander's right. On it were a few sealed letters, a vase of flowers, and small tokens of shells and rocks.

"If you're leaving, then would you tell the Admiral first? We have business to discuss."

With a nod, the Seeker left, but instead of the Admiral, the doctor stepped into the room. She was a Wyverian woman with a researcher's heart, and her penchant for experimentation had made the Commander nervous in the past. She sat down on the chair the Seeker had vacated and looked over the Commander with a grave expression.

"I'm alive and conscious," he began. "That's good, right?"

"Of course it is." She met his wary gaze. "Commander, I don't want to beat around the bush, and you're finally awake to hear it."

"Oh no. How long do I have to live?"

"A very long time provided you don't go hunting again."

He smirked. "Now doctor, that's the case for all hunters."