Demi-Human In The Wrong Time

83 Cycle Pains

For the next several days, Altair experimented with her Mana while attempting to heal the rest of her ribs. Just because her Mana would completely disperse when used didn't stop her from seeing if there was a way she could work around it.

She didn't make much progress on the first day. Without fail, after ten seconds of using Healing Magic all of her Mana would vanish within her. Every time it did it would cause her mood to drop as it was accompanied by the hollow feeling. Even if she was in the middle of a lesson she would stop listening as her mind drifted from the results she obtained. Because of this and due to her being unable to use her Mana to cheat at learning, her studies took a hit. Her tutors were at a loss as to why she suddenly had no motivation.

The second day she tried working around the ten second limit and made far more progress than the previous day. When she stopped using her Mana after eight or nine seconds she didn't lose it. With this discovery she was able to use more Mana to heal herself but she still ran into another problem. After she used her Mana again it would disperse if she used it within a minute of her prior use. Finding out this new limitation ended up consuming all of her Mana for the day.

On the third day she continued to work around that as well as the ten second limit. This gave her a clearer picture on what she could and couldn't do with Mana for now. She was able to heal half of her injury on this day but ran into another problem before she could fully heal them. If she spent about one fourth of her available Mana it would also disperse. This seemed to be the last thing that she would be able to figure out about her current situation.

Still, once she came to this conclusion her mood was significantly better than it was in the previous days. At least she wouldn't be completely useless if she used her Mana in a smarter way.

Through all four days until the weekend Altair had to deal with the pain of her broken ribs. Whenever she woke up, she would feel like a claw was digging into her chest. She would also feel some pain if she tried bend using her abdominal muscles. But it wasn't that bad so she endured it while showing little signs of when the pain struck her.

When the weekend came Altair woke up under a new type of pain as her stomach felt like it was crushing itself along with the stabbing from her chest. It was a throbbing pain that was completely alien to her. It caused her to break out into a cold sweat right when she woke up.

She curled into a ball under the covers and groaned loudly, which drew a concerned look from Stacey, who was in the middle of cleaning a spot that was probably already clean. The movement she did caused the stabbing pain in her chest to resurface but it wasn't as bad as the pain in her stomach, so she couldn't stop herself from moving on instinct.

She felt completely miserable and in pain at the same time only moments after waking up. The day was lining up to be quite nice at this rate.

'What's happening to me now?' Altair thought to herself. Almost every single week there was something problematic happening to her. This new pain just seemed like the next step on the ladder she was climbing while she lived here. She was getting thoroughly tired of it.

Stacey quickly approached the bed with a worried look as she asked, "What's wrong, Young Miss?" Throughout the entire time that Stacey has served Altair, she always waited until Altair woke up naturally. Since that was the case, Stacey was waiting for her to wake up as normal but she didn't expect Altair to wake up in pain randomly. She was told that Altair was injured in a sparring match but she didn't see her show any pain until now. Thus, she thought that Altair's pain was unrelated to that.

Altair didn't answer her as she was quickly growing irritated from two different pains attacking her.

Not knowing what the cause was, Stacey quickly asked, "Shall I get you a painkiller, Young Miss?" It would at least help Altair alleviate whatever she was suffering from.

Altair responded with a low groan as she adjusted her position. She wanted to stay curled up but not feel the stabbing pain in her chest. Such a movement was completely impossible but didn't stop her from trying.

Stacey frowned slightly as she grabbed the blanket to pull it off Altair. She didn't know why Altair was curled up but she suspected if she could see what was causing her pain she might have a better idea on what was wrong.

Upon pulling the blanket free she was greeted to the sight of a small pool of blood around Altair's thighs. Her face immediately beamed as she quickly pulled Altair into a hug while saying, "Congratulations, Young Miss!"

Altair's expression turned unsightly. She didn't want to be touched right now and, due to the pain, she was frustrated. She started to struggle in Stacey's hold but it amounted to nothing with her normal strength. She burned some Mana to get more power in her arms but was shocked when it immediately dissipated upon touching it.

Altair stopped struggling when that happened. Since she didn't have the strength to get out there was no point. It also hurt her chest more as she struggled to so it was counterproductive.

Realizing that Altair had stopped moving and remembering that she was in pain, Stacey let Altair go and took a step back. Stacey seemed to know what Altair was feeling and gave her a reassuring smile while telling her, "This is your blood, Young Miss. You are in the middle of your cycle, it's why you're in so much pain. We have special medicine for that though, so don't worry!"

Altair gave her a look of confusion at her words. This told Stacey why Altair was acting as she was. Stacey gave her a warm smile and told her, "Wait here for a moment, Young Miss. I will go and get you proper medicine that you can take in your current condition." She quickly left the room after saying that.

Altair didn't have much to do while she was lying in pain on the bed.

After a short time, Stacey returned to the room and brought a medicine bottle with her. She walked over to Altair and took out a single pill that could only be referred to as a horse pill. This caused Altair's brow to rise just looking at it when it was extended it to her. She had no idea what to do with that. They didn't have this kind of medicine in her old world. They only had a liquid type and since she came to this place she was only ever given injections.

Stacey saw the look of confounded look that Altair was giving the pill and said, "You need to swallow it, Young Miss. I'm sure it will be hard since this seems like the first time you've had to do something like this, but I can guarantee you that you are able to do it."

Altair took the pill and eyed it warily. She was having a hard time believing she could swallow something that size.

Stacey smiled at her and asked, "Do you want me to help you?" Altair gave her an odd look that she took to be consent. She then snatched the pill from Altair and lifted Altair's head to look at the ceiling. She then said, "Open wide," with a smile that did not fit the situation. Altair did so without thinking and Stacey dropped the pill into her mouth and forced her to swallow it. Her throat felt like it was going to explode as it went down but it did go down.

Stacey then went on to explain everything that Altair needed to know about her cycle. She also helped her with the necessary things to handle it as well. By the time she was done teaching her, Altair was famished from not eating anything yet and was no longer in pain as the medicine had taken effect.

Altair was about to request the maid to go get her food when Sarah came into the room with her entourage of maids. Upon seeing Altair sitting on the edge of her bed she came almost running over with excitement clearly visible on her face. Sarah then noticed the blood on the ground and her expression changed to worry as she quickly asked, "Aria where are you hurt? Quickly show mommy!"

Altair had no idea why Sarah came to visit her. The fact that she came so early in the morning didn't help her confusion. There was really no need for her to be here at this time. However, she felt a strange happiness towards the situation.

Stacey moved out of the way as Sarah practically dove to Altair's side. She then spoke in an even tone, "Mistress, Young Miss has had her first cycle. She has already taken some medicine to help with it and I have taught her what she needs to know. There is no need to be worried."