I tilted my head down. “And did you learn she wasn’t joining you in the arena before or after you asked me to come to your show?”
Derek winced. “Before. But I thought I could find another friend, a veteran, who could take her place! I just ran out of time.”
“And you were desperate enough to put children in danger.”
He sighed. “I was confident I could handle it myself. Summoned monsters are usually considerably weaker than real ones. I normally don’t even have to use my bound weapons. With them, I thought this would be trivial, even without Elora’s help. Obviously, I was mistaken.”
I could understand his perspective, but after seeing the degree of danger Sera had been in, I wasn’t going to let him off lightly. “You should tell her that.”
“I will! I can come back. But I have people who are going to be worried about me. I’d think you of all people should understand that.”
It was a low blow, but he wasn’t wrong.
I may have sounded a bit uncharacteristically snarly with my response. “Fine. You can tell your family that you’re safe. But you’re coming back. And if we’re gone by the time you get back here, you’re going to come to the campus and apologize to her directly.” My eyes narrowed. “And you will not ask her to join you again.”
“I understand. That is...quite reasonable, given what happened.”
I sighed, putting a hand on Sera’s forehead. She mumbled something unintelligible and rolled over, but didn’t wake. “Go on. I’ll see you soon enough.”
“I’ll have the owners bring you her share of the winnings.”
I nodded. I wasn’t going to thank him for that.
I turned my head away, and Derek left us in silence.
Chapter XV — Recovery
By the next morning, Sera was almost ready to move. Her legs wobbled as she tried to stand, though, and I had to catch her from falling backward.
“I want to go home.” Sera frowned, burying her face in her hands.
I stood up, awkwardly putting a hand on her head. “I’ll make it happen, then. Don’t try to get up without me.”
She grumbled a little bit, but finally slumped back down on the couch.
It took me about a half hour to find someone in management and convince them to send a couple of the staff to help me carry Sera home. We were fortunate that injuries and mana exhaustion were common enough events that they always had overnight staff.
While we were heading down to pick up Sera, one of the staff members — a bouncer, from the look of him, remarked, “At least she didn’t get torn up like the last team.”
“What happened to them?”
“Ogre nearly tore one of the guy’s arms off, then smashed his partner in the face. Had to rush them both to the hospital.”
That revelation did wonders for my mood.
I decided that next time, I’d put my gauntlet back on before punching Derek.
All in all, three of us took turns carrying Sera until we managed to get her back to her dorm. And by “taking turns”, I mean the two of them took turns, and I “supervised”. I wasn’t strong enough to carry Sera more than a block at best.
The medic deemed her “stable” before we left, but advised me to keep a close eye on her, and to take her to the hospital if she started coughing blood.
A lovely image, that.
All in all, we were both in a pretty terrible mood by the time we set Sera down in her own bed. She looked pale, like she’d suffered serious blood loss, but I hadn’t seen any bleeding.
I thanked the two staff members that helped carry her — it wasn’t their fault she’d gotten hurt — and grabbed her some food from the cafeteria. By the time I got back, she’d fallen back to sleep.
***
A few hours later, Sera woke in a ravenous state. I handed her the food I’d retrieved. It wasn’t fresh, but I still deemed it edible. She devoured it.
“How are you feeling?” I tried to put a smile on my face, but it was one of those obviously fake ones that I knew she’d see right through.
“Terrible.” She took another sip of the mana potion that I’d put next to her food. “This tastes like burning.”
At least she was feeling strong enough to complain. “You’re going to be drinking that lovely fire for a while. Your arm is in the worst shape, but it looks like you were drawing from other mana sources, too.”
She shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Which ones? It’s important that I know in case I need to get you to a hospital.”
Sera took another sip of the potion, grimacing, and then whispered her reply. “...all of them?”
“What was that? I’m not sure I heard you.”
“I said all of them, Corin. And, before you get into a lecture—”
I folded my arms. “You seriously risked drawing mana from your heart and your brain, Sera? That’s dangerous enough for people who have attunements in their locations. You could have killed yourself!”
She slammed the potion bottle down hard. “I am not in a mood for this argument, Corin. When your arms are hurting too much to move them, and your legs are drained to the point where you can’t stand, you’ll do what you need to do.”
My jaw tightened. I wanted to argue, but this wasn’t the time. “You’re hurt, so I’m not going to fight with you. But I’m not comfortable with you pushing yourself like that.”
“You don’t have to be. That’s the great part about this being my body, Corin. I can do whatever I want with it.” She jabbed a piece of egg with her fork. “And I do appreciate your concern, I really do, but I’m not a child. And I’m not your retainer. You can’t give me orders.”
I leaned back in my chair. “That’s fine. I know I can’t order you around. But you’re...my sister, so I was worried about you.”
Sera’s eyes narrowed. “Sister, eh?” She took a bite of the egg, setting her fork down. “I think this might be the first time you’ve called me that without sounding sarcastic.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “You’re probably right. I’m sorry. I’ll try to be twice as sarcastic next time to make up for the lapse.”
***