The Strongest Gun Magus: I Cast Bullet!-Chapter 80: Bed Rest

Several hours later, Reynard and Marien were three thousand gold richer. The Order of Winter wasn’t cheapening out when it came to rewards for the heads of its enemies.

Neither did the Order of Snow, but Reynard didn’t have similarly good opportunities to assassinate any of their enemies.

Marien carried Reynard to the place she was renting—a spacious suite of rooms in a high-end inn owned by the Order of Winter. There, she put him on her four-poster bed with silken bedsheets and fussed around until a doctor came to take care of Reynard’s wounds.

The doctor wasn’t a magus, but he was one of the best experts in the area. He spent several hours setting together Reynard’s crushed bones, then put a cast from alchemical clay over them and gave his verdict:

"The bone break left a lot of shards that are too small to extract or put into place. If you were an ordinary mortal, I would say you would limp for the rest of your life, but since you are a magus, the remaining shards will eventually dissolve in your body, and the bones will recover. However, until then, you must not disturb your legs for any reason, or the bones might regrow incorrectly. I estimate a month until full recovery."

He also gave instructions for bandage changes on smaller wounds and the best salves to use before leaving.

"An entire month without disturbing your legs? This is awful!" Marien exclaimed after she and Reynard were left alone. "I would die from boredom if something like this happened. Oh, we must hire a nurse who will take care of you."

Reynard cheered up.

"Yeah! I have the cash again. I’m going to pick the best nurse. The... The one with the gentlest touch."

"Of course. You were hurt enough already! But you protected me..." Marien looked at Reynard with a deeply touched expression and sighed. "Even when I fought this man earlier, I only escaped thanks to your bomb. So you protected me twice."

Reynard chuckled.

"Don’t tell me you now feel like you owe me, my love. Wouldn’t feel like you!"

"Hey! What are you trying to say with this? Outrageous man... How dare you insult me with such a loving expression?" Marien pouted. "Oh, I’m going to arrange a separate room in this inn for you. And Chili! And your workshop—I will take care of everything. Despite your outrageness!"

Reynard laughed out loud, to which Marien blushed, but smiled as well.

When she left the room, he let out a pleased sigh.

Boring or not, but so far, being a traitor felt nice indeed!

***

Marien really organized everything splendidly. She rented a suite of rooms next to hers where Reynard could lie down like a king, made sure Reynard’s workshop and Forge-Boar would be taken on in his absence, and found several nurses for Reynard to choose from.

He picked a middle-aged woman with gentle hands and a large chest that looked amazing from below. She also knew how to give a leg massage to stimulate blood flow in muscles. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Marien brought news about the ongoing magical war outside. Reynard’s bold attack was a serious blow to the Order of Snow’s forces and pride. For now, they were being quiet, and some people in the Order of Winter were already celebrating their victory.

Others (smarter ones, in Reynard’s opinion) were sure that the Order of Snow was simply biding its time and making plans for a vicious retaliation.

Reynard didn’t care too much. Since he was mostly bed-bound, he spent a lot of his time making weapon drafts and reading his two books on magic.

He wanted to create a new spell. By now, Reynard knew enough white-class spells and magical theory to try to make his own black-class spells. Even without practical experimentation, he could waste entire notebooks on written calculations of finger positions and words of power.

On the ninth day of Reynard’s forced rest, he had an unexpected visitor.

***

Like always, Reynard requested his lunch to be brought into his room. Like always, the inn sent a maid to do this. Like always, it was a woman dressed in the same blue dress every other maid in this inn was wearing.

However, when Reynard lifted his eyes at her, his mouth opened in shock.

Amelia put a finger to her cherry-red lips and winked at him, closed the door behind her, and put the food tray on a table next to Reynard’s bed.

"Hello again, Mister Faust. I heard that you were so badly wounded in battle, but I only now have the time to visit you. Apologies for not sending a warning. This place has too many ears that aren’t my own."

"That’s... Well, a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one." Reynard smiled at Amelia, then remembered the last thing she did, and his mood fell a little. "I imagine you are very busy plotting the takeover of the city."

She let out a husky laugh and pulled a chair to sit next to Reynard’s bed. He propped himself on the pillows to be on the same level with her.

"Ah, you know me even better than I expected, Mister Faust! Indeed, you have been very helpful to the Children of Frost. And to me. With all this, I felt like a gift was in order."

Amelia pulled out a thin ring with a large diamond in it and put it on the lunch tray. Every inch of the ring’s surface was covered in tiny runes, and powerful magic was running through them. As soon as it left Amelia’s aura, Reynard could feel it sharply.

"This is a Ring of Permafrost. If you touch someone with the diamond and activate the ring, the person will become frozen instantly, and will keep being frozen as long as the ring stays near them. However, they won’t be dead. They will just... sleep. Even if they were on the verge of death, their wounds won’t worsen while in this state. This ring can easily save someone’s life, or help end it. But the diamond in the ring will need to be replaced after every use."

Reynard’s eyes widened.

"This is a very valuable gift, Miss Amelia... And you truly want nothing in return?"