CH43

Ben cracked open his eyes to find himself in a familiar bed. He turned to the woman sitting in a chair to his side and spoke up. “We really should stop meeting like this.”

“I agree completely,” Sonya told him. “If only a certain patient would stop getting so injured all of the time.”

“So what’s wrong with me this time?” He actually felt fine now that he was awake, and figured she had already done whatever treatment he needed, but he got an unexpected answer.

“Nothing was really wrong, you were just suffering from mana exhaustion. We just needed to wait for your mana levels to fill up and eventually wake up.”

“Wait, how could I possibly be mana exhausted?”

“I would personally like to know the same thing. I’ve heard it was possible to happen to people with no magic skills if they happened to use multiple other skills at the same time, but I’ve never actually seen a case in person. Of course from what Thera told me and I’ve heard from everyone showing up, it shouldn’t be too surprising,” She gave him a stern look for a minute before softening up. “You don’t know how badly I want to be mad at you right now. You put yourself and my niece in extreme danger with that stunt. You both could have been killed.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking,” He didn’t personally consider himself to be someone who would rush into danger, he felt like he’d been swept up in the moment, not wanting anyone in his new home to have to die.

Sonya let out a long sigh. “You know, I was expecting you to fight me a little, not just immediately give up like that. With everything else how am I supposed to stay mad?”

“Everything else?”

“After the guildmaster identified you as being mana exhausted she carried you back to the house with Thera in tow before she had someone run to get me. Since you’ve been asleep a lot of the adventurers who had seen you both fight came to convey their respects, as well as apologise to Thera about how they’ve treated her. It wasn’t everyone of course, many people get stuck in their ways and opinions, but it looks like she has more people on her side now than when Roan started this whole situation to begin with.”

“That’s fantastic!” He cheered before regaining his calm. “And what about Roan? Last I saw he was being dragged away?”

“That, I’m not sure. They’re going to send him off to try and get some mental help with a light mage but it’s hard to say how much of this was an effect of Theras magic and how much was just him. Even if he loses all of the lingering effects her magic had on him he may just be a naturally unbalanced individual. The proper authorities will be keeping an eye on him for a while. Anyway don’t worry too much on that, someone’s been rather worried about you for a while now,” Sonya turned to the door and pulled Ben’s attention to it as well, making him see a pair of golden eyes peeking through the side. “I need to go prepare dinner. Why don’t you two chat till it’s ready.”

As she left she ushered Thera in, and it ended with the two of them alone. Thankfully Ben hadn’t needed to be undressed this time, so he still had the dignity that came with wearing pants when he sat up.

“How are you feeling?” She asked him.

“Well rested. Sonya mentioned things have been going well since I’ve been out.”

Her cheeks flushed a bit before Ben’s eyes. “Well a lot of them were on top of the wall watching. Apparently they started throwing spells when all the monsters got too close but I didn’t notice since it was taking my all just to use that spell, but everyone who saw it was impressed and I guess it made some people re-evaluate me a bit.”

“That’s great!”

“Well, I’m pretty sure plenty of people still consider me the cause of all this, but I should at least be able to go outside again,” She looked uncomfortable for a minute before speaking up again. “Ben I know you don’t think this is my fault…”

“It’s not,” He asserted as confidently as he could.

“I know you think that,” She said with a small smile. “I could feel your confidence in me when we connected. You didn’t doubt I could succeed,” Her smile quickly vanished. “Which makes it worse that this really was because of me.”

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“Thera-”

“Ben, let me talk please. I want to explain myself to you,” She took a deep breath. “After Roan was kicked out of the guild, I intentionally used my charm on him.”

“Alright,” He didn’t see the issue.

“Is that really all you have to say?”