The Witch's Relay

Chapter 37: Medicine

"You're.. In bed already?" Heather asks me, confusion obvious in her voice.

"Yea.."

"Should you not be getting acquainted with your new gear?" She closes and locks the door behind her.

"Yea.."

"Can you say anything other than yea?" She tilts her head, trying to get me to speak more.

"Yes."

"Ok what's up?.." She stares at me, trying to puzzle the pieces together and figure out the current situation.

"Got poisoned today, and had to go to the pharmacy for medicine, and now my head is spinning."

Heather bursts out laughing. "You're high on painkillers!?"

"Wha- is that what this is?" I stare up in the ceiling, blinking slowly.

"Yes!" She smirks and continues to make fun of me. "You got spit on by some serpent?"

"That about sums it up. A serpentine one." I sigh, the room feels a bit hazy.

"You stupid, that would do it. You should have asked them not to put anything unnecessary in the anti-venom. It's common for the pharmacists to mix in a bit of pain-killing herbs into the salve, which will slowly get dissolved into your bloodstream. It begins slowly, but then a while later it picks up, and then you become like you are now." Heather giggles again, not trying to hold back in the slightest. "You are so helpless right now."

"Can you get rid of this?.." I ignore her last comment.

"I could, but this is too much fun. You'll just have to endure it. Have fun with the crash as it wears off!" She turns her back towards me and starts unpacking her leather bag onto the desk while humming.

"How.. Exactly how does that feel?.." I ask Heather worried. Any type of crash is usually pretty negative.

"First off, your hand will feel way worse than it did before, you will probably sweat pretty bad, while still feeling freezing, and your head will pound unbearably. Don't worry about it, it'll be great fun." She grins. "For me."

"Great.." I sigh. I try sitting up but lose balance and almost fall, so I lay back down. "So.. How was the meeting?" My thinking is a bit slower and more hazy than normal, but if I focus hard enough I can still be rational.

"Informational, although quite boring. I was put into a group with both that assassin and our hostess, rather expected, but can you believe it?" Her mood drops slightly but instantly goes up again.

"Linda and Vanessa?"

"yup, but our supporter is not yet assigned. I suspect Linda put in a word to the guild and is waiting for you to rank-up and volunteer. Also, they suspect the dungeon will be a rather difficult one, or at least they are trying to be on the cautious side, so you'd better stay behind me at all times in there."

"Got it.." Then I suddenly sit up, causing my head to once again spin. "Tomorrow is my rank-up test! Will I be all better by then!?"

"So you've realized?" Heather giggles and grins again. but a moment after she forces herself to stop. "No. Not by natural means that is. I could sober you up and cleanse the rest of the poison, but you know, if you can't take the test, then you can't join the expedition. You won't be in danger, which is a win for me honestly, because I won't have to protect you."

"But I need to!"

"Why?" She turns to me seriously.

Why? "I.. I don't know why.. I just have a feeling that something is going to be there that I need to see.."

"A feeling?"

"I don't know how to describe it. I have a feeling that there is something I have to be there for, and if I'm not there, I will regret it forever."

"It's probably just your mana telling you to." She looks down.

"Huh?" I start to wonder if I don't understand because it's just confusing, or if it's the medicine.

"Like I told you once before, the dungeon is an accumulation of mana which flows to a single spot. If you start getting in tune with it, you may find yourself caught in its pull." She looks back at me with a determined look. "Look. There may be things down there that you can learn from, and you will come out stronger for it, that is why I won't outright ban you from going. However I won't encourage you to go either, so if you can get yourself in there by your own strength I won't hold you back, but in that spirit, I won't aid you. You got yourself into this mess, so if you can't take the test, that's on you. I won't help."

She puts her hand against her chin. "Really I don't know if the mana flow quite works that way on us mages, but it certainly is a plausible theory. My master told me a few theories about it, but this is one that he ended up sticking with."

"Okay.." Makes sense I guess.. I think.." Yea I got none of that, except for that Heather Isn't going to help me. "I think I'm gonna rest now.. I don't feel like being awake any longer.."

Heather switches back to being amused. "Oh no you don't! You have to eat something first! I bought some fruit, and a couple sandwiches from a vendor, so you better not pass out on me just yet!" She pulls out a paper bag containing the food, and unclips her water bottle from her waist.