Back to the Acacia Kingdom.
"Where is he? How's his condition?" The king rushed in toward the medical barrack.
"Our military doctor said that he is exhausted. Especially his Mana is basically empty. For now, his condition is stable and there is nothing we can do other than waiting for him to wake up."
After hearing what the doctor said, the king was relieved.
"What should we do with the fox, Your Majesty?"
"Fox? What fox?"
"The fox that brought Sir Alexander back here. The fox was exhausted and collapsed when it got here carrying Sir Alexander on its back. We assume that the fox carried Sir Alexander from far away and it never stopped walking nor took a rest."
The king contemplated a bit, "Whatever the reason, the fox was saving him by bringing him here. Judging by the fox's action, most likely they have some type of relationship in this journey. That's why the fox brought him back. Treat the fox first, we can decide what to do after Alexander wakes up."
"Okay."
Not long after, the dean, grand duke, Alicia, and others came visiting Alex. They had many reactions, but Alicia was the most unstable of all. She refused to leave Alex's side. Many tried to persuade her but to no avail. At first, she didn't even want to eat, but after continuously persuaded, she finally gave in. But still, she wouldn't leave Alexander's side.
Day after day, night after night, the dean, grand duke, Firia, and others came to visit Alexander. The final exam for the first year came to an end and the ranking competition for the second-grade student would be held soon. The requirement that had to be completed to advance to the second grade was for the student to reach rank 2. The dean personally registered Alex and Alicia as second-grade students. Normally they needed to register themselves, but the current situation did not allow them to do so.
When the ranking competition came, Alex and Alicia didn't participate in it, nor Firia. She didn't have the mood to participate in it. Because of that, Joshua got the number one ranking for the year's new second-grade students ranking.
A week had passed after the ranking competition. In one morning, Alex slowly opened his eyes, and he looked at the unfamiliar ceiling. He tried to get up but to no avail. He then checked his body's condition. There were no physical wounds on his body, but there was no Mana left. His Mana reserve was empty. He tried to revolve his cultivation technique, but nothing happened.
"System, what happened to my body?" He asked the system in his mind.
[Host's Mana was exhausted. Because of it, the Mana reserve can't produce Mana at this moment.]
"How do I fix this?"
[Host can revolve the cultivation technique slowly and it will be back to normal after a week. Or Host can use some Qi Replenishing Pill to induce the Mana reserve to produce it.]
"Hmm... I will leave it at that for a moment, I want to check my current situation first."
"Wuu!"
Alex heard this familiar sound, he turned to the side and saw Sherry on his bed. Sherry seemed to notice that Alex had woken up so she woke up as well.
He stroked the fox gently, "Sherry."
Sherry licked his cheeks. She was happy now that Alex finally woke up. "Wuu!"
The door was opened and Firia came in. She was surprised that Alex had woken up, she let out a little, "Alex, you finally woke up!"
"Firia!" Alex was astonished to see Firia come in. "Where am I?"
"You are in the medical barrack in the Acacia Kingdom. The soldiers found you unconscious outside the gate."
"What?" Alex recalled that he seemed to fall unconscious in the cave at the Sagur Forest.
Firia sighed, "You have been unconscious for more than a week. You need to thank this fox. It brought you here. The doctor said that this fox collapsed as soon as it reached the gate while bringing you on his back."
"What?!" Alex was astonished, then he turned to Sherry.
"Wuu!"
Alex hugged Sherry tightly. "Thank you, Sherry."
"Wuu!"
"Sherry?" Firia was surprised by the girly name that the fox has.
"Yes, this is a female fox, her name is Sherry."
"Oh... so we were wrong all this time," Firia shook her head and continued, "When this fo... I mean Sherry woke up after being so exhausted, she immediately wanted to go to your side. They said the soldiers took a great deal of effort to stop her, you know. After the dean came, he was very shocked by Sherry's race. Then he let her go to stay by your side."
"Sherry!" Alex was moved by Sherry's action.
"Well, you also need to thank one more person."
"One more person? Who?"
"..." Firia giggled, "You didn't notice?"
After she said that, she looked down toward Alex's side. Alex followed her gaze and found the quilt on his side bulged abnormally. He then opened the quilt. He was shocked to see Alicia curled up inside.
"Alicia?!"
"Mmm...?" After the quilt was opened, Alicia showed a sign of waking up. She slowly opened her eyes while rubbing them. She looked at the person in front of him and found Alex already woke up.
"Ya... Alicia..." Alex didn't know what to say, that's all the words he managed to think at the moment.
"Aaa..." Alicia started tearing up when she saw Alex.
"Wait… wait.... wait... why are you crying?" Alex was startled seeing Alicia suddenly crying.
"Idiot... you are such idiot... you are so dumb!" She beat Alex's head and chest before suddenly hugging him tightly. "You finally wake up... huuuuh!"
Alex was shocked by her action, he then turned to Firia asking for an explanation.
"She never left your side this past week."
With just that sentence Alex knew. He felt guilty, then he started to hug her back, "I'm sorry to make you worried."
"No... that's not what I want to hear!" Alicia hugged him tighter while crying.
"What?!" Alex was surprised, he then thought for a bit "Um... I'm sorry for making you worried."
"No...!"
"Ugh... sorry, I will make you some pills to pay it back."
"No...!"
Alex didn't know what to say anymore, he looked at Firia who shook her head. But suddenly he was enlightened, he then bitterly smiled, "I'm back Alicia."
"Welcome back," she smiled. Even though her face was still full of tears, she smiled beautifully… no, it was because of her tears, her smile brightened the world.
After she was hugging Alex for a while, she released him.
"Finally, you're done hugging him," Firia teased them.
"Fi… Firia, how long have you been here?" Alicia was startled upon realizing that Firia was also in the room.
"I'm here this whole time, you know. Do you not realize I'm standing here all along?" Firia pouted.
"Wha!" She looked at her then to Alex who smiled weirdly as he nodded confirming what Firia said. She was embarrassed "Fi… Firia, this..."
She wanted to explain but Firia continued to tease her, "Then, are you done?"
She nodded with her red face. After she nodded, she was shocked by what happened next. Firia suddenly hugged Alex, "Welcome Back!!!"
Alex was also surprised by Firia's action but then he smiled gently, "I'm back."
"Wuu... Wuu!" Sherry suddenly came in. She seemed to be angry because everyone ignored her.
Alex then said apologetically as he hugged it too, "Thank you, Sherry."
"Wuu!"
The door opened again, and they saw the dean came in.
"Teacher," Alex greeted him.
"Oh, you finally wake up," the dean laughed.
Alex then said, "I'm sorry for making you worry, Teacher."
"It is fine, as long as you are fine now," the dean was relieved. "How do you feel right now? Is everything alright?"
"I am fine, I will recover in a week. Although it will be faster if I use the Qi Replenishing Pill."
"What? Why didn't you say that earlier? I would have let you eat those pills in your sleep... no, I will force you to eat those pills. Maybe that way you can wake up sooner."
Alex giggled, "Teacher, don't ask for the impossible. How can I even talk in that state?"
"Well, you are fine now so it's okay. I will bring you the pills later," the dean shrugged. "Well, where did you go last month that made you unconscious like this?"
"This... I..." Alex felt guilty, eventually, he decided to tell the dean the stories. At first, he went to the Celestial Forest. He found the herb and Sherry, and somehow Sherry wanted to follow him. After that, he decided to go to the Sagur Forest because he was curious about the war.
Upon reaching this part of the story, the dean was getting very angry. Alex didn't heed his warning and all these troubles happened. He reprimanded Alex for an hour, but it didn't stop there because Alicia and Firia joined in and the lecture became two hours long. Alex apologized and promised not to do that again and they reluctantly forgave him for now.
Alex then continued his story of how he got information about the reason why Zircodina started the war. It was practically for resources. Of course, he excluded the part that mentioned the kind of resources they were looking for. He thought it would be better to keep the truth for himself to prevent it from inciting greed.
The dean nodded, he seemed like he knew this information already, so Alex didn't continue. He then said that he fought with a rank 7 monster and he didn't know how he was still alive.
Everyone immediately assured him, so he didn't continue. The dean suddenly asked something.
"Alex, do you know this fox's race?"
"Sherry's race?" Alex shook his head.
"This is a Celestial Fox. Do you know why the forest is called the Celestial Forest? It is because a few decades ago, this Celestial Fox was spotted there. At that time, the Celestial Fox was at rank 8. The fox was specialized in fire, especially their sensitivity to Fire. But at that time, there was a rank 8 wyvern flying above the forest.
The Celestial Fox didn't like that and attacked the wyvern. A fight between two rank 8 monsters wasn't hard to notice. So, of course, many people knew about the fight. We sent a few ranks 8 to control the situation, and there was a monster outbreak because of this fight. The two monsters were killed in that battle.
That's why there are no high-rank monsters anymore in that forest. Some of them were killed by us and the others died because of the fight."
"I see..." Alex nodded, then he turned to Sherry who seemed to be a bit down when she heard about her parents, but Alex felt something wrong with it.
"But Teacher, I think Sherry was only a few years old."
After hearing this point from Alex, he then contemplated, "True, the Celestial Fox usually has a bigger body, and also its age doesn't match. The fight happened a few decades ago and the Celestial Fox died. Even if this fox was the descendant, its age doesn't match."
"Well, it doesn't matter. The fox seems to be very attached to you."
"Oh right, before I forget. You are already a second-grade student. You have your first classes in two weeks. Well, the number one position for second-grade students is Joshua. Since you, Young Alicia, and Young Firia didn't participate in it. Especially this lass, she refused to leave your side this whole time," the dean said while teasing Alicia.
Alicia blushed, "Uncle!"
"Haha! Since you are getting better, it's time for me to leave. I will bring you the pills later," the dean prepared to leave. However, before he left the room, he added, "Make sure you get the top position in the ranking tournament, Alex."
Alex was astonished, then soon he giggled, "Yes, Teacher."
The dean left the room leaving Alex, Alicia, and Firia there, and of course with Sherry there too.