Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

Bokuboy

Mage Victoria Ridge didn't object at all and wished us good luck because she liked Eludora. We met Vanessa in the compound outside and she promised to loan me her notes for both classes.

“Thank you.” I said and kissed her cheek to make her blush, then Greta and I left to go to my dorm mansion. It took almost no time for us to modify the water recipe and we brewed up two pots of it. I retrieved the crate of rehabilitation potions and used a small pot to combine one vial of rehab potion and three vials of water solution, successfully combined them after a few minutes of boiling and stirring, then poured them into four vials to create the diluted rehabilitation potion.

“I had expected that Eludora could take up to a third of the original or maybe even a half.” Greta said with some disappointment in her voice. “Splitting it this much?” She shook her head. “I only hope she doesn't react at all and what we just did to her doesn't have other complications.”

“I couldn't feel anything except her muscles being affected.” I commented as we kept making the diluted rehab potion.

“I have to admit that was quite the nice distraction technique you used.” Greta said, her face slightly red.

“I felt very bad doing it.” I said and she looked surprised.

“Why?” Greta asked, genuinely curious.

“You saw how much emotional pain she was in at the end.” I said and kept working. “I don't think she will feel the same kind of friendship for me now as she did before and I already regret losing what we had.”

Greta took a breath and let it out. “She was... quite upset when you refused her.”

“Even doing what I did was a danger, because she was still moving her arms and legs slightly.” I said. “Imagine if she was hugging me the whole time like she said she wanted to?”

Greta fell silent and I could see by her face that she was sure there would have been a couple more broken bones than what Eludora had already suffered.

“I wasn't lying when I told her that she wouldn't survive having sex.” I continued and bottled up the last of the diluted rehabilitation potion. We used up 18 vials of the original and it expanded to 72 vials of the diluted version. We crated them and I picked the two crates up to carry back to the medical building.

“Not just sex with you?” Greta finally asked as we left the potions room.

“No.” I said and didn't explain further.

We both stayed quiet as we left the dorm mansion and walked all the way back to the medical building. We met with Linette at the front desk and she was discussing something with several healers. She excused herself from them and came over to us.

“You're back sooner than I thought.” Linette said. “How did it go?”

“Easily.” Greta said. “It took longer to crate them up.”

Linette smiled and led us back to Eludora's room. “How many did you manage to create?”

“We only diluted 18 of them to quarter doses. We were going to do more, until David pointed out that if these weren't enough to get her to a good stage of development, it would still take her a long time to get through them all, even if we gave them to her once a day.” Greta said.

“I agree. If what we saw is the norm for the potion, then cutting the hour long result to only fifteen minutes is still something I doubt she'll want to go through more than once a week.” Linette opened the door to Eludora's room. “You're awake already?”

“Yes.” Eludora said and her eyes never left mine. “I wish to be removed from this sweat soaked bed.”

None of us missed her not mentioning the other reason the bed was soaked.

“Greta, give her the robe to wear and help her to the chair while David and I change the bedding.”

Greta went to the bed and helped Eludora sit up, put the robe on her, then took her to the small chair at the side of the room. We didn't comment that she looked like an adult sitting on a child-sized chair. Her nearly nine feet of height was a detriment and none of us wanted to draw attention to it.

Linette and I removed the bedding, dried the mattress with magic after I applied some cleaning solution to it, then we flipped the mattress over to the 'cleaner' side and put a new sheet and a thin blanket on it. Eludora stood up from the chair and Greta helped her over to the bed. She laid down with a sigh and managed to look at Linette for a moment. “Please tell me this was worth it.”

Linette prepped for a couple of minutes, then she performed several spells on her. She wrote down the results and checked them with the initial ones she had done before the procedure.

I saw the confused look on her face and had to ask. “It's both good and bad, isn't it?”

Linette nodded. “There was a slight increase in both muscle mass and bone strength. Unfortunately, the bone strength was completely undone by the muscles contracting so much and weakening them, not to mention breaking so many.”

Eludora let out a sob and closed her eyes. “So, it... it was a failure.”

“It was your fault.” I said and the three women gasped and looked at me. “We had a strict protocol in place and you ignored it for your own selfish reasons. It caused you unnecessary pain and anguish, as well as our friendship.”

Eludora had tears in her eyes. “D-David, no... don't cut me adrift over this.”

“I'm sorry that I did what I did, because it helped you and hurt you, just like the procedure did.” I said. “You can't look at me now without lust in your eyes. Your kind and accepting look is lost to me now and I'm going to miss it.”

Eludora averted her gaze. “I... I can try to...”

“No, you can't help it.” I said and stepped close to the bed and she looked back at me and her need was as clear on her face as her nose was. I reached out and wiped at her tears. “I'm very sorry, Eludora.”

Eludora closed her mouth and sadness joined with her need.

“We'll need to wait for...”

“Give her one now.” I said and Linette and Greta took in sharp breaths.

“David, what...”

“I want her to know that she doesn't need me to handle her discomfort.” I said without looking away from her. “I'm leaving for the marsh after helping Victoria with cross breeding some grass and next week is the king's birthday.”

“You're going to be gone until classes resume.” Eludora whispered and I nodded. “Healer, please administer the new dose.”

Linette thought about refusing, especially after all the work she did to put Eludora back together. Instead, she let out a little growl and went to the crates to get a vial of the diluted rehabilitation potion. She came back over to the bed and gave her patient the vial.

Eludora drank it and kept her eyes on me. “David, I... I'm sorry.” She said. “I didn't think... uggghhhh.”

I stayed beside her and Linette performed the spells to monitor her condition. Eludora's muscles still contracted and tensed, only the intensity was much less than it was from the first dose. She was under a lot less stress as well. It lasted just over thirteen minutes and Eludora only had sweat on her forehead.

Linette waited for ten more minutes before performing the spells again and she nodded as she wrote the results down. “Yes, that was a much more productive session.”

She showed Greta, Eludora, and myself the numbers. It was a very small increase in muscle mass and bone density. It was so small that if her spells hadn't been looking for them specifically, they would have missed the difference.

“This is a much more manageable effect.” Linette said, quite satisfied with the result. “It will take longer, since you can't double up on the doses.” She warned Eludora. “You'll need to rest naturally between them, since you have a life to live and can't be staying in a medical ward all the time.”

“How often?” Eludora asked, clearly exhausted.

“I would recommend one every two days, taken at night, to let your body adjust to the previous dose for a day.”

“We didn't do that this time.” Eludora said.

“I healed you extensively and let you rest for several hours.” Linette said as she pat Eludora's arm. “I can't do that for you every day, even if you have an unlimited amount of money to pour down the drain to keep me as a personal healer.”

“What if I did?” Eludora asked and Linette laughed softly.

“You can hire a healer and have them treat you constantly; but, you know your natural progress will stagnate after a short time.” Linette said. “That's why I haven't given you any healing potions or used any spells on you. Your body needs time to get used to it before being made to change even more.”

Eludora let out a sigh and nodded. “Should I come here for my doses?”

“I'd like for you to. It ensures your safety and also controls how much you can take at once.” Linette said and then she sighed. “However, the condition we're trying to treat you for prevents you from excessively moving and travelling this far from the teacher's residences would hinder your progress even more.”

“Do you have a personal vault?” I asked and Eludora shook her head. “If you have one installed, it could be set to make you use up most of your magic ability to open it.”

“That's brilliant!” Greta gasped. “She'll be reluctant to open it more than necessary and it will act as a natural deterrent for her to take more than she's supposed to.”

“I could leave them out.” Eludora said, trying to think her way around it.

“No, you don't want these left around. They are too precious to be left unattended or unprotected.” Linette said. “Your very life depends on them and you can't be nonchalant with their treatment, not after what you've gone through already.”

Eludora took a breath and let out a sigh. “I'll have one delivered this afternoon.”

“We'll bring over the vials as soon as you contact us.” Greta said and nodded at her sister.

“I booked off for the whole day because I expected this to take much longer.” Linette admitted. “I'll be willing to stay around for as long as necessary to set things up.”

Eludora looked at the two women and nodded. “Thank you.”

“I have to go.” I said and Eludora held a hand out to me. I took it and she pulled me close.

“David, I want to stay friends. I really do.” Eludora said as her face flushed red.

“I wish we could.” I said and glanced down at her chest. A moment later, two protrusions slowly grew and her breath sped up slightly. “You can't help but react to me now.”

“David, I...” Eludora whispered. “I can't stop it. It felt so good and...”

“I know and I'm sorry.” I said and bent down to lightly kiss her on the lips. “Goodbye, Eludora.”

“N-no... I won't... I can't say that.” Eludora shook her head. “I'll get stronger and I'll do my best to get better. I promise.” She said, determination in her voice. “I'll be worthy to be with you some day.”

I nodded and let her hand go. She held on for a moment and then let me go as well. I walked out of the room and left her behind.

Greta came out behind me. “David, are you sure you have to do this?”

“Yes.” I said. “She can't be herself if all she can think about is having sex with me.”

Greta took a deep breath and let it out. “You do realize that all women don't always react like that.”

“I know that.” I said and turned to face her. “You're handling it well and keep it contained.”

Greta took in a sharp breath. “D-David... I...”

“It's not debilitating in your case, because your passion for potion brewing can override everything else you are doing. I admire you for that, mainly because I know that if I gave you even a hint that you can do what you want with me, we'd be naked on the floor right now.”

Greta stopped breathing and I assumed that scene was playing through her mind.

“I'll do up the rest of the diluted rehabilitation potion and have it delivered here before I go to the botany workshop after lunch. The small increments it allows in Eludora's progress means she's going to be on them for a long time.”

Greta nodded and stood there as I left the medical building. I had a bit of work to do, lunch to eat, a promised bath to take, and I also needed to dig out my adventurer clothing that Victoria bought for our last trip. It was going to be the first time going back to the marsh in a long time and I was more than a little excited about going back home.