Contractor (1)

"I didn't want to die. I need help in surviving through this," I faced the fairies.

"We can erase their memories," she threatened me.

"You'll never get your mana back if I'm dead. I'm never coming back here with the second chance card," I had a counter.

"Since they know a gist of what's happening, why not give me five minutes to explain everything to them?" I suggested.

"What will you give us in return?" A fairy asked for payment.

"What can I give you other than agreeing to have you as my contractors?" I wondered.

"We want more mana in return, more than what you borrowed," he placed a condition.

"How much more?" I narrowed my eyes.

"One hundred MP each minute for each of us," he asked the others for their agreement.

The other fairies brightly smiled, finding it a good offer for them. My mind went dizzy, knowing it was much more than the typical amount of mana a regular person in the first district possessed. My mana supply would shrink more than an eighth excluding taking the borrowed mana away. I needed to finish everything within a minute. I agreed to their terms, "one hundred MP each for one minute of explaining."

"Is there a way to quicken the reversal?" I wanted to get it over with.

"We can reduce it to two weeks. But there is a higher likelihood of dying. Every time you visit us, we're giving you a chance to heal in a mana filled land," she was helping with the process.

"It's also a time for us to convince you to choose us as your contractor," another fairy added.

"If I sleep longer, there's a higher chance I'll survive," I concluded.

"We can force you to sleep longer to increase the chances," he nodded.

"The longer you're awake, the higher chance you'll die from the reversal with everything being compressed. The reversal can be painless if it happens while you're with us," he revealed.

"But you'll also die if your physical body doesn't get the nutrition it needs," a fairy pointed out.

I sighed as this meant I couldn't sleep for the full two weeks. Couldn't Luke feed me while I was unconscious like usual? He did it for the bottles of medicine in the morning routine video. I asked my last final questions, "Is the reversal happening right now? Can you stop it during the explanation that's a minute long?'

"When you wake up, you'll be hit with the pain and we won't be able to stop it," the fairy snapped his fingers.

"The minute starts now," his voice rang inside my head.

"I accidentally borrowed mana from fairies when you sealed my mana," I began to blurt everything.

"We can understand you," Alex abandoned the notebooks.

"I have a minute to explain everything in exchange of giving more mana to them," I wanted them to listen to me.

My head throbbed as I quickly went over all the details. I was coughing too much blood, taking more of my time. I hoped they managed to understand my slurred words, feeling the burning sensation spreading within me. I had to pound on my sleeping bag, rolling around the floors, wanting to help with the pain. The additional mana I had to give them was a scam. They had to have known it would be hard to talk in general.

"I can feed you while you sleep. Although you'll have to be awake for classes, I can give you more painkillers to help," Luke had a solution.

"Is attending classes important here?" I almost yelled.

"You have to be awake for a certain period of time for everything to properly digest. The time-space setting in the classroom is a better place than others. It will slow the process, decreasing the pain," Luke explained.

I was stunned, not knowing the time-space function would help. It was no wonder I had the ability to talk while suffering inside the club room. It was much worse inside the dorm room when recalling the previous hours. I wondered if I could sleep inside the club room from now on. The sleeping bags were not a bad place, better than sleeping in the medieval like room in the basement.

"How were you planning to do this alone?" Alex sighed.

"I didn't. This is why I came back," I found myself lucky.

"We'll have to plan everything very carefully," Luke knew I couldn't vomit more blood inside the classroom.

"Have you heard of anyone experiencing reversals before?" I wanted more tips.

"We're visiting my grandparents this weekend," Luke didn't know anything.

The next morning, my face was placed against the desk. The painkillers were helping dramatically, making everything more tolerable. I wondered why Luke was usually hesitant to give them to me. He passed me more chocolate bars, the painkillers in disguise whenever he noticed my condition was getting worse. Whenever the teachers turned to ask me a question, Luke intercepted them with Alex.

During break times, I vomited everything I was holding inside. Making a mess of the bathroom inside the dorm room. However, I knew this plan would only temporarily work, everything getting worse with each passing day. My teatime with fairies wasn't fun, offering to stop the pain if I made them my contractors.

"We don't understand what you're saying," Luke's grandfather on his mother's side answered.