Chapter 26 The Discharge

Twelve hours later, Evernya stirred awake in her hospital room once more.

When Evernya’s mind booted up, she blinked several times as she recounted the pain-filled events with a calm state. I really hope this is the last time I wake up in a hospital room. At least Elizabeth warned me before she knocked me out. Evernya’s temper flared at the thought of her vulnerability. I cannot allow myself to be in such a vulnerable position again! My emotional instability has to stop! The first step is to take the private Mage’s test today. At least I’m assuming it’s today. I don’t know how long I was out or if they rescheduled it. Can I even walk? I feel fine, so I’m assuming the surgery was successful, or I am on some super powerful drugs.

Evernya pulled herself up to a seated position, looking around her room to confirm she was alone. She slid herself to the edge of her bed and grabbed the support rail, just in case, as she stood up. At first, her legs tremble under her weight, but a few seconds later they adjusted, allowing her to let go of the support rail. She took a few tentative steps before lengthening to her normal, though stiff stride.

Evernya plopped down on the couch as her mind continued to wander. One mystery solved, I can walk. I don’t feel anything else wrong, so hopefully, I can get out of this hospital as soon as possible. I have had enough of a hospital for a lifetime! I don’t know how Emily could handle being stuck continuously in hospitals. I wonder how Emily is doing. I vaguely remember hearing her yell my name while the officer was holding me, so I’m assuming she is okay. Strangely, I don’t blame them for what happened to me. I blame the people who called them. They were just doing their job based on the information they had. However, they could have been gentler.

I really need to work on my panicking habit. I could’ve avoided the entire situation if I showed my ID wristband, or at least mitigated the issue. At the very least, I could have gone with them willingly. Elizabeth or Meira would have gotten me out within the hour. Damn it, I used to be such a logical thinking person, but ever since I made this body my own, I can’t seem to make rational decisions.

Either way, to avoid similar situations in the future, sucking mana in public is a big nope. Despite how good that orgasm felt, it wasn’t worth the pain and embarrassment that followed. The orgasm sure felt amazing though, better than any sex I had in my old body. That’s not saying much since my experience was fairly limited. I can see why mana siphons get addicted to sucking mana.

A wet sensation draws her attention downward. What the hell! Did my panties get moist at the thought of absorbing mana? Wait, panties, why am I in my underwear? I’m surprised Meira didn’t dress me in my sleep again. She seems to love playing dress-up with my sleeping body. Sometimes I wonder if she considers me more of a dress-up doll than a person. Either way, hopefully Meira brought more clothes for me to wear. Though if she did, it would probably be another dress. I may have looser views on what I consider modest since taking over this body, but I don’t think walking around in public in just a bra and panties is appropriate. Funny how most women have no issues walking around bikini swimsuits, but not a bra and panties. I never felt comfortable in a bikini, though my old body wasn’t exactly the most attractive. Of course, I am basing this off Earth, who knows maybe it society considers okay here, but somehow, I doubt bra and panties count. Once I finally get my ID, I will have to do some sightseeing to pick up the norms of this world. Speaking of ID, what time is it? It has to be close to the scheduled private Mage’s test unless they rescheduled.

Evernya checked the time, finding it to be 8:26 AM. She decided she should start getting ready, just in case the private mage’s test was still on.

Evernya entered the bathroom, trotting toward the shower. She peeked inside to ensure there was soap and a towel. No mysteriously appearing towel for me today! Though in hindsight, the robots probably placed them there.

She turned on the shower and stripped naked while waiting for the water to warm up. After the water reached smoldering hot temperatures, she stepped in, relaxing as the scalding water rained down onto her body.

Thirty minutes later, she emerged from her steaming oasis of a bathroom, wearing only a towel wrapped around her body. A loud tapping draws her attention to an impatient elf holding a stack of clothes.

Meira shoved a bundle of clothes into her kitten’s arms as she spoke in a hurried tone. “It’s about time you left that bathroom. Were you trying to use all the hot water in the whole hospital? We will be late if we don’t hurry. I bought clothes for you, don’t even bother arguing out of what I picked, and yes, it is a dress. Elizabeth already came by while you were sleeping to check on your healing progress. You made a full recovery, so she signed off on your discharge papers. She will meet us at the testing site along with Thomas White, the Chancellor of DIOM, and Dr. Sarah Adams, who you may remember from yesterday’s incident. She is the head of the Mana System department at this hospital, so she may provide some insight. She earned both Elizabeth’s and my trust from helping you yesterday.”

Whoa, something has her stressed, or does she just want this over with as much as I do? Evernya commented mentally as she retreated into the steaming bathroom.

Evernya changed into the provided bra and panties before inspecting the dress Meira forced on her. As far as dresses go, I don’t mind this one. Just a simple black dress with very similar styling to the last dress she forced on me. It has a fitted bodice with a skirt that flares out to just above my knees. I don’t know why she insists on me wearing this dress over a T-shirt and shorts or jeans. It seems like a pretty casual dress to me. As long as she doesn’t force me into one of those gowns that have a monstrous skirt you can barely walk in, I should be fine. Besides, the last dress was quite comfortable until I got blown up in it.

Evernya slipped on the dress and resized it, finding it to be comfortable. To complete the simple outfit, she slid on the cute little wedge sandals that added five centimeters to her height.

She rotated in front of the mirror to admire herself. I don’t look bad. Though she may have overdone the black a bit. If it weren’t for my eyes, you would think I am from a black-and-white picture with my skin tone. Personally, I liked the previous dress color more. Sneaky how she added a bit to my height without forcing me into heels. Though some more extreme wedge sandals are effectively heels, these aren’t too uncomfortable. I definitely wouldn’t want to run in them, though. Luckily, I can just slip them off and run barefoot since my feet seem pretty tough. Meira said a while back it isn’t uncommon for a shifter to walk everywhere barefoot. There seems to be some truth to that from my personal experience.

After a few seconds of admiring her appearance, Evernya left the bathroom and encountered an even more stressed out elf. “We need to hurry. We have less than thirty minutes to get to the testing location.” Meira announced before grabbing Evernya’s arm to drag her out of the hospital room.

As quickly as they could, they rushed out of the hospital. Fortunately, they didn’t run into any trouble on the way out. When they reached a large double door leading to the hospital lobby, Meira grabbed Evernya’s wristbanded wrist, bringing it to the scanner on the left side of the door, prompting a click from the wristband. Without wasting time, Meira dragged her through the doors and out of the hospital, only slowing down to a fast walk once they reached the sidewalk.

Meira caught her kitten’s curious glance at her wristband, prompting her to explain, “hospital wristbands work similarly to the one you wore at your mage testing. It automatically locks once secured around the patient’s wrist, limiting removal to qualified personnel or after the wearer leaves a certain boundary which the patient can only do once they have their ID marked for discharge. They take security seriously at this hospital. Only someone authorized to be there can venture past the public section of the hospital. If you try to reenter the hospital now without a guest pass, you can’t because your now voided wristband.”

Upon hearing she no longer needed her ID wristband, Evernya immediately sprouted claws on her left hand and sliced the wristband off her wrist, throwing it in a nearby trashcan before trotting to catch up to the long-limbed elf.

“That’s one way of doing it. You could’ve just ripped it off after it is unlocked, even a human child could rip it off.” Meira chuckled.

“But that wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying as what I did, at least to me.” Evernya defended.

Evernya shifted the topic asking, “So, are you going to tell me what has you stressed out?”

Meira stayed silent for a minute before reasoning out loud. “Well, you will find out in a few minutes anyway, so I may as well tell you. I didn’t want to add more stress to you after what happened yesterday.”

“Just tell me I would rather know beforehand than get blindsided,” Evernya insisted.

Meira sighed before beginning. “Thomas called me early this morning. The DIOM board had a secret meeting when they heard about the deal offered to you behind both Thomas and Elizabeth’s back. They initially voted to force you under a Geas, which is a one-sided magical compulsion to force someone to do something. If the person under the Geas resists the compulsion, they will then receive severe damage to their mana core, which could be fatal to you. They also wanted to force you to graduate and many other stipulations. The original plan was to blindside you right at your test, so you had no choice but to accept it.”

“Luckily Thomas and Elizabeth forced the rest of the DIOM board down significantly once they found out. They compromised down to the agreed-upon one-year commitment with a magically binding contract, which is a two-way magical compulsion with a similar punishment of severe mana core damage if broken. At least this way, we can set our terms as well and not a one-sided compulsion forced upon you.”

“The sudden development stressed me out because I’m worried if this is how they treat you before you even enroll. What will happen when you’re officially enrolled? Now that this came to light, Thomas and Elizabeth will keep a much closer watch on the rest of the board in case they try something similar again, but they can’t watch all the time. If you don’t want to go through with this farce, we can find another way to get you registered.” Meira rambled without taking a breath.

Evernya channeled her logical brain instead of emotional as she replied, “I want to see their conditions and what conditions we can get away with before I decide if I will accept it.”

“I agree, and the best part about a magically binding contract is both side’s conditions must be equal to ensure fairness. Otherwise, the contract won’t take effect. The original agreement of the mage’s test for a one-year commitment equals out, so any extra conditions they add means more conditions we can add. Thomas told me they locked in their conditions, but I don’t know what they are. Neither Thomas nor Elizabeth could warn us as part of the compromise, so I am worried. But either way, you can still back out at any time until you input your mana signature to seal the contract.” Meira added.

“So you’re saying they set their side, and all we need to do is balance the contract with our conditions?” Evernya inquired, with enthusiasm leaking out of her voice. Meira nodded her head yes, confused where Evernya was going with this.

“They already accepted the contract, so it means that they have no say on our side as long as our conditions balanced on the contract, right?” Evernya confirmed.

Realization dawned on Meira, causing a smile to break out. “That’s right! They have absolutely no say on our conditions because they stupidly sealed their end of the contract! No wonder Thomas and Elizabeth accepted this contract. As long as their conditions aren’t too outrageous, we should be able to play this to our advantage. Besides, some of their conditions may actually help you.”

A few minutes later, they arrived at a giant gray brick building with a sign naming it DIOM Training Hall.