Chapter 15: Hangover (1/2)

Viv woke up in her bed all warm and dehydrated, with a solid weight curled around her chest.

“Better not make a fucking habit out of it,” she grumbled.

//Good afternoon, Your Grace.

“Squee!”

“Hullo everyone. Gh. Head hurts.”

Arthur peeled herself off from Viv’s chest and received a scratch on her chest scale for her trouble. Viv luxuriated in the warm sensation while the dragonette spread her wings and held her head high, proud as hell for the worship. Viv managed to reach the side of the creature’s neck with a light touch. The scales were warm and smooth and, come on, it was a fucking dragon.

Arthur squawked and retreated to her perch, the separation, which creaked under her increasing weight. She took flight and there was a crash on the other side of the room.

Meanwhile, Viv realized that she felt the rash fabric of her cover on her skin. A brief inspection revealed that the skin suit had been dragged down to her waist, and her shoulder bandaged.

That could only mean one thing.

“Putain de merde. Someone saw my tits.”

//As a matter of fact, two people had a glance at your chest, Your Grace.

“Dammit.”

//A soldier by the name of Korad, who has the largest life mana attunement of the camp and is in charge of healing.

//And Jor, who held you up and then carried you here.

“Hold on. How do you know all of this?”

//Cernit came by and explained everything while standing at the door.

//He seemed worried about your reaction.

//He also heaped praise upon you for saving their lives.

//I requested that he swear allegiance to you as repayment, but he claimed he already had a previous engagement.

Viv stood up and summarily washed herself with water from her basin. Her shoulder was still painful.

“Does not feel fully healed to me.”

//The good lieutenant mentioned that your body resisted healing.

//I was afraid that it might be the case.

“That’s bad.”

//You should be receptive to alchemical healing, Your Grace.

“Oh, yes, they had potions.”

//Did they, now?

//You should ask for one, Your Grace.

//But not for this wound. It would be a waste.

//We might need the potion later.

“Maybe I should ask, yeah,” she agreed. Now dressed, she left her sleeping space and saw a large ribcage by the golem.

“Oh, they listened.”

//This belonged to a powerful undead beast.

//Or, to be precise, it was powerful according to your current, lowly standards.

//I shall make good use of it.

“I thought you already had everything you needed, by the way?” she asked with a bit of suspicion.

//Indeed.

//The ribcage will save me a lot of time.

“Not that we need it now,” she remarked, “the necromancer is dead. I killed him myself.”

She was pretty sure that he was dead. If that kid, no, if her foe could come back from such a serious case of sieve chest, he could start his own religion.

//This unit estimates that there is a 67% chance that the necromancer you killed was not responsible for the fall of Fort Stone.

Viv choked on the glass of water and pill she was draining with the enthusiasm of the severely hungover.

“How do you figure?”

//As mentioned, Cernit made a full account of the encounter to me.

//From the safety of the entrance.

//Since Arthur chased them away after they placed you on the bed.

//And was hissing and threatening to take flight.

“Aw. Good dragon.”

//The necromancer should have had a great many revenants with him.

Viv stopped to consider.

“Perhaps he left them to search for powerful undead in the village?”

//No, necromancers have no need for that.

//The size of their horde can increase to stupefying amounts with little effort on their part.

//As revenants will simply follow the pack without prompt.

//However, revenants without impetus, those ‘left behind’, will tend to spread out over time.

//A horde left for several days without supervision must be gathered again.

//It would be more impractical to split up to move faster.

//It would also be safer to stay with the horde.

//Therefore, there could be another threat.

“I guess we shall see.”

//Yes, Your Grace.

//In the meanwhile, this unit requires charging of the main power source, please.

Viv sighed and complied. The process of charging exhausted her mana but not her mind. She was out rather fast, however, having not entirely recovered from her ordeal.

“I think it’s taking more and more time for me to have a full charge of mana, if you know what I mean.”

//Yes, that is correct.

//But not an urgent issue.

//As long as we are in the fallout zone, you can simply step out of the isolation zone and drain black mana from the very air.

“And get poisoned.”

//I am sorry, Your Grace.

//I am going for efficiency.

//For your own sake.

“Yes, yes, I get it. I’m out of juice and I’m hungry. I’m out of here.”

//You should take a moment to rest, in any case.

//We can continue your education tonight.

Viv stepped out of her room and made her way to the mess, bleary-eyed. It was deserted at that time, but someone had left cold bread and warm water around to eat. She dug in.