It was dark, and decent folk slept; some of the indecent ones had also closed their eyes. Mandy lay on top of Wolf’s bare chest, snoring softly. She pressed her ear close to his heart and fell asleep listening to those powerful beats which sounded like comforting pulses of earth-veins in her ears.

Wolf also appeared asleep. He entered his Mind Hall, immediately checking the Monster Core’s state and the energy he’d extracted from it. A moment later, Wolf’s Mental Aspect scratched his head. He had discovered an irregularity.

After shifting more of his attention towards his body, Wolf found that the extracted ball of energy waiting to be refined was a quarter short. “Some energy is missing.” Wolf’s Mental Aspect frowned after confirming the problem.

“Purifying World Energy from Monster Cores had become an instinct, so I wasn’t paying attention. Where did the energy go?” Wolf wondered, then noticed that Mandy’s forehead stuck against his chest was burning.

“No!” Before Mental Aspect finished his shout, Wolf’s eyes snapped open.

Mandy was slick with sweat, her body as hot as searing iron.

“Wake up,” Wolf shook her, but Mandy remained unconscious.

Dammit. Wolf grit his teeth and picked up Mandy in a princess carry. He carried her into the lavish bathroom. He laid her steaming form into the tub as gently as possible and set the water to lukewarm, then showed her, minding her nose and mouth.

How much Internal Energy did I feed her? In a flash, Wolf connected the dots and knew what had happened. I extracted about half the Monster Core’s energy, and she got a quarter of it. So, about an eighth of refined energy.

Numbers flashed through Wolf’s mind, and he reached a number that wasn’t too terrifying. Mandy absorbed the energy of a Sixth Order Monster Core. That wasn’t too scary. One problem was the purity of the energy. Instead of the muddled energy of a Monster Core, which she needed to distill, Mandy got energy at the highest level a Ninth Order Sword-Sage could refine. Comparing them was like comparing a drop of water with a drop of molten metal, the only shared aspect was their quantity. Another aggravating circumstance was that instead of gradually saturating her body in energy over several hours, Mandy received the energy in a matter of moments.

Wolf soaked her hair and neck to keep the brain cool. Then he laid his hand on Mandy’s belly and sensed the Internal Energy rampaging through her body. She started shriveling. Her fat and muscles burned away, and she started bruising at random. Mandy’s skin split where hematomas appeared and blackened blood oozed out of her wounds.

Potion! A Least healing potion appeared in Wolf’s hand. He let go of the shower, which thrashed about, spraying water around the bathroom. Wolf ignored the damn thing. Panicking, he opened the vial and sprinkled the woman with its content before taking out another one. However, Mandy’s face went pale despite his healing.

She’s bleeding internally. It’s not just her skin splitting. Wolf forced Mandy’s clenched jaw open, then fed her a tonic.

Her unconscious face stabilized momentarily, then paled again. Wolf fed Mandy four healing potions before the violent reaction in her body ended.

As her fever died down, Mandy opened her eyes. She saw Wolf standing above her with a glass vial at the ready.

“Hungry.” Her parched voice was barely audible.

Wolf gave Mandy a piece of jerky without thinking. Then he wrapped up her frail form in a towel and carried her into the dining room.

“More,” she asked a tad louder after devouring the thin strip of dried meat.

“You’re dehydrated. Dry food will upset your stomach.” Wolf calmed down, recalling his own experiences with hunger pangs. When Archibald was in charge of his diet, proper nutrition happened naturally. Wolf ate soups and stews without experiencing discomfort. However, when he was alone, he didn’t consider a balanced diet, which led to stabbing stomach aches before he figured out he should focus on liquid foods and well-cooked ones.

Mandy looked at Wolf wretchedly. Not just because she begged for food, but because she looked pathetic. She lost at least ten kilos of her unimpressive weight in one short quarter of an hour. Some of it burned away, some expelled when black blood oozed out.

“I’ll prepare a nice soup for you. Don’t worry. I won’t let you starve.” Wolf assured her, and Mandy smiled.

“What happened?” In her mind, she had enjoyed vigorous pleasure and fell asleep on Wolf’s comforting chest, then awoke to this sudden fit of fever.

“I think you took some Internal Energy I refined, but didn’t internalize? Or maybe I gave it to you? I’m not sure about the exact nature of the matter.” Wolf placed Mandy on the chair, then turned towards the kitchen.

Take me with you, Mandy wanted to whisper, but stopped herself. She knew men hate clingy women, especially when they were busy, trying to solve a problem. Especially, when she was the problem.

She watched as Wolf disappeared into the kitchen, then her head spun. She lifted her hand. It felt frail beyond words, yet more powerful than ever.

I have Internal Energy? Mandy drew a deep breath. Her lungs throbbed from the roasting they received minutes ago, numbing her mind. Dazed, Mandy moved her tongue, trying to will away the burning metallic aftertaste. Does that mean I can become a Sword-Sage? Could we take missions together? No, wait, that means he’s a Sword-Sage as well…

Mandy’s mind raced. She knew there was something odd about Wolf’s body. For one, he either cut his hair every day, or his hair never grew. Most people don’t pay attention to such details, but because of her obsession, Mandy noticed it after meeting Wolf thrice. Is that because he’s a Sword-Sage?

***

By the time the sun rose, Wolf prepared seven soups and three stews for Mandy. These, along with a two dozen teas, rehydrated her. There was nothing Wolf could do about the flesh and blood Mandy shed during the night. She needed a month or two to recover her original figure. She was healthy, or at least undamaged, so even Priests’ healing magic wouldn’t help her.

On Wolf’s insistence, Mandy promised she would take care of herself and take a week long sick leave. Only then did Wolf leave to visit Anna.

He stood in front of her suite’s door. To make certain he would catch Anna in her dorm suite, Wolf rushed over the moment the evening curfew ended. However, he did not know what to say. ‘Hi’ seemed inappropriate. He hoped Mandy could coach him, but she was unwell and Wolf didn’t want to bother her.

Wolf stood in front of the door, moving his hand back and forth. After hesitating for five breaths, he knocked. Several rapid heartbeats later, Matilda opened the door.

“Oh? It’s you… What do you want?” The young Marchioness’s face was an icy mask of indifference.

“I came to see Anna…” Wolf mumbled, trying to find proper words.

“What have you done now?” A hint of worry leaked into Matilda’s voice, despite her best effort to hide it.

Wolf bit his lip. He’d done something last night, but he didn’t think it violated the arrangement with Anna. “I wanted to tell Anna I returned from my mission, and I want to know how she’s doing. Maybe see her?”

Matilda’s gaze darted towards Anna’s room, but she heard nothing, despite fully awakening her senses.

“She seems indisposed at the moment, but she’s doing… She’s healthy. I’ll let her know you said hi.” Despite the way she spoke and looked, Matilda’s eyes betrayed her worry, seemingly saying, ‘Finally, you’re showing some common sense.’

She even winked and nodded her head in approval.

Wolf was about to leave, but Matilda had a sudden idea. “You know, I officially became a Fifth Order Mage last week. I wanted to throw a lunch party to celebrate the occasion. It’ll probably be next week, so expect an invitation.”

Matilda once again glanced towards the closed door to Anna’s bedroom, but heard no protests. She hoped this was a good sign. “Annabelle will be there, and she might find the time to talk to you.”

‘Don’t do anything stupid,’ Matilda mouthed before saying goodbye and closing the door.

What should I do now? I have enough time to visit Big Brother and book several brothels under a fake name with a fake appearance. Wolf shook his head as he left the female dormitory building. Even if I change my face, everyone will know it was me.

“M-m-my L-l-lord, a m-m-mosquito p-p-pricked me!” A stammering student shouted. The man stood five steps away from Wolf, trembling nearly as much as his voice. He oozed terror as he shouted those random words at Wolf.

Weirdo. Wolf headed towards the Mage Academy gate, ignoring the fellow who brought his arms up to protect his skull, looking ready to die.