Insect Tamer's Ascension

The doctor responded, "We have her in this deep sleep because the pain she is experiencing right now is excruciating. If we wake her up, she will only suffer," she said and continued, "I would say it will take about a week just for her to regain her consciousness."

Theo nodded, "That's a relief to hear… doctor. My name is Theo Merrick. If you need anything to help with her healing, please contact the head butler and tell him I said to help you," Theo spoke, and the doctor only smiled.

"Everyone in this Barony knows who you are, young master. Your trainings are quite fun to watch sometimes. Though you haven't been coming to train anymore, is everything okay?" the doctor asked, and Theo chuckled. It seemed he was more famous than he knew he was.

"Yes, everything is okay. Thank you for asking. I have just been busy lately," Theo stated slowly and looked at Clara in between, "Some stuff happened today."

The doctor only nodded, understanding what he was entailing, yet Theo suddenly felt like this was a great opportunity to ask something.

"Say doctor, if... my beast is injured right now, and I am thinking about giving it a medicine bath for recovery. Do you think it will work?" Theo asked with curiosity, and the boar looked up at the word 'injured.'

"That depends on what medicine you are using for it, young master. From what I can tell, you have not attended the academy yet, so you might just be using a high-grade healing potion and a mix of water right now. That is considered good but not very efficient," the doctor stated while looking up in thought.

"It can help you heal your beast, there is no doubt about that. But if you get it here, we can heal it way earlier than just a bath of potions."

Theo nodded. It seemed what old man Bernard said was really true.

'I don't want to show my Mantis to everyone just yet, so a potions bath might just be the best option,' Theo thought and thanked the doctor.

When she was gone after the check-up, Theo looked at the beasts once and knew one thing right away—they were not going to leave Clara's side no matter what.

When he looked at Clara one last time before leaving, Theo felt nostalgia for the past four years. All the time he had passed with her, there were so many memories that Theo just kept staring at her face with a nostalgic, warm smile.

"This is farewell, Attendant Clara…" Theo spoke with a calm face.

Elias looked forward in seriousness. The emotions in Theo's voice were very thick right now.

"But not a farewell for our journey together. We will meet soon surely, and I will wait for that day patiently,"

Theo spoke with a grin and started moving back to the gate before leaving the infirmary with Elias.

Soon enough, the doctor came back to the room and looked at Clara with a serious face.

"…How long have you been awake for?"

Nothing happened before but slowly, Clara opened her eyes, and a drop of tear came out the side of her eyes and fell in her hair. Her lips pursed, and it seemed like she was going to cry anytime now.

"Since he came to meet…"

The doctor looked at the situation and sighed. She did something with the drip on her hand, and soon enough, Clara went back to sleep comfortably.

___________

Meanwhile, Theo was already halfway back to his room.

"What would you like to do now, young master?"

Theo didn't even need to think. He quickly stated, "Please get me 5 high-grade potions as soon as you can. I need to start the healing process as quickly as possible."

Elias only nodded, and after escorting Theo back to his room, he went to procure the needed materials.

Theo saw the Mantis still sleeping in the same position.

In the status, it said that the Mantis was 'injured,' which meant making it fight again without proper recovery would lead to the status changing to 'dying.'

Theo waited patiently by passing his time in the terrarium, when Elias came back.

He first laid the small Mantis-sized cup on the table. Theo tried his best to make the mixture between the potions and the water fifty-fifty.

After his first try, and according to Elias's observation, the mixture was good enough.

The colour of the high-grade potions was deep crimson. It was almost as if it was clotted blood, which made Theo disgusted, as even humans needed to drink this during emergency situations.

When the mixture was done, Theo gently grabbed the Mantis from the bed, who got up for the first time and looked at everything with a twitching head. Even if it was annoyed to be brought out of sleep, Theo quickly went and gently kept it inside the bowl filled with water and potion.

The Mantis was reluctant at first, but when its feet reached the bottom of the cup and its head was still up in the air, it calmed down.

Theo sat beside it and observed what would happen.

Five minutes passed, with the Mantis occasionally moving its face near the water and drinking it before coming back up.

Time passed quickly, and Theo waited proficiently. The beast was only supposed to be kept in the bath for no more than thirty minutes, and when that time frame went by—

Theo got the Mantis out of the liquid gently. When he kept it on a dried towel, Theo froze in surprise.

Even Elias, who had observed the Mantis very carefully while it was sleeping, looked in surprise.

"Was there always this plant growth on its body before, young master?" he asked.

Theo didn't respond. It was only a few hours ago that the Mantis had eaten every moss from its body.

It should have taken a day for it to come back, and it was already there.

Theo could not tell how much moss came back, as the moss was all wet and it stuck to the Mantis' exoskeleton.

Only when the Mantis dried did Theo see just how much there was.