As much as he’d have liked to wait for his newly suped up stamina regen to bring him back to fighting shape for more grinding… He can’t. Not responsibly, at least. Leuen knows when he’s losing his grip from lack of sleep, and he’d been feeling it since the moment he stopped fighting. So he left. He didn’t expect to get back to town at midday, though. How long was I fighting for? How long was I thinking for?

 

Regardless, his destination unfortunately can’t be straight to his rented room. This is because while he’s mentally exhausted, the aforementioned increased stamina regen, plus the fact he got 2 stamina for free from level ups, meant that he’s not at all physically tired, regardless of how shit his brain feels. Maybe that’s what H.Limit is… something like neural heat? How long your brain can go without needing to recharge… that’d make cooling-

 

“Eh!? Leuen? Why do you look so… beat?” A familiar voice snaps Leuen’s attention-and his body-around, to the form of Kara, not in her receptionist outfit but rather a simple set of the towngoing clothes most of the female population wear. Plus a cute little hat to keep the sun out of her face.

“Cuz… I was… Out early. Couldn’t sleep.” Leuen answers dryly and slowly, keenly aware of how suspicious and deranged that must sound, considering he probably looks the way his brain feels: Like he just got done running a marathon in boots and a vest.

 

“Did you… eat? Or wash up? Anything? Where were you going out to?” Kara’s questions come at him like a barrage, but are neatly deflected by him finishing his earlier though. Cooling is probably how quickly you recover from mental exhaustion… with enough of it I probably wouldn’t need sleep… “Oh-kay… Just ignore me then… You must be dead tired if your -------- isn’t even-”

 

Kara must’ve thought she was whispering that last part quieter than he could hear, and truth be told she was, that’s why he missed a word, but he was still able to make out some of it by reading her lips.

 

“What’d you say? I am dead tired, and hungry now that you mention it… Anyways, I’m going to head back. Have a nice day.” Leuen attempts to terminate the conversation and move past Kara, but is stopped by a hand on his right wrist and the surprisingly fast form of Kara whipping him around and staring into his eyes.

 

“Shit… That’s why you were asking those questions… Did no one tell you about dungeon sickness?”

 

-X-X-X-

 

Somehow, likely due to the man’s mental exhaustion combined with his case of dungeon sickness, Kara had managed to convince him to be brought to her own apartment. Luckily, no one had been around to see her practically drag him inside, because it could’ve spawned some very unsavory rumors.

 

At its core, dungeon sickness isn’t actually an illness, more like a state of mind. It’s the primary reason people go into dungeons in parties and not solo, and it is the only reason why, no matter how strong the monster or how specialized the animal, nothing eats the corpses of dungeon creatures. 

 

Kara doesn’t remember the leading theories, because it doesn’t matter to her. It doesn’t matter whether or not it’s caused by the black blood of dungeon monsters, or just something to do with the nature of dungeons or the mana within, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that anyone who consumes a dungeon monster, spends too much time alone in a dungeon, or spends too much time awake in a dungeon, comes down with dungeon sickness.

 

It’s a simple thing really. A rookie adventurer like Leuen probably thought he was just tired. Kara feels sort of bad for not telling him about it, but then again, that should’ve been the job of Voran’s party or the receptionist that sent Leuen to go run with them. Still. He shouldn’t have dungeon sickness… Common knowledge is that spending over fifteen hours inside a dungeon over the course of six days will result in dungeon sickness… That’s not possible if he was only there this morning and the time with Lucius and his flunkies…

 

Indeed, Leuen was spotted at sundown yesterday heading to his room, it was something Hilda, one of the guild girls who frequently puts out there at night for free drinks(even if she’ll never admit it directly), had said so when talking with some of her friends this morning. That leaves only a twelve hour timeframe, plus the hour Voran’s party was in the dungeon. It’s not enough time, basically. Leuen shouldn’t have dungeon sickness.

 

Not that it matters. He does, and due to that, she’d somehow ended up throwing him into her own bed. Idiot girl.

 

It’s definitely for the best though. She’d probably regret it if she let him walk off to his own room without treating him properly. Dungeon sickness is an illness of the mind, not simple tiredness. Magic doesn’t help, at least not any of the common healing magic. Rest and proper food can make you forget about it, which is worse considering what it’s doing to you. 

 

The longer you have dungeon sickness, the more you become ‘like them’. Static, stupid, following a routine without thought or understanding. Just like a dungeon monster.

 

Fortunately the treatment is something that can be performed quite easily, if exhaustively.

 

“Leuen. Leuen. Leuen!” Kara ultimately just decides to pinch the skin on the back of his hand when the man haphazardly splayed out on her bed doesn’t respond. Eventually, his eyes focus on her. No, maybe not focus. The eyespike isn’t there. But he’s definitely recognized her. “I’m going to help you. I’ll explain what’s happened to you while I do, but for now, just try to focus on me.”

 

Fortunately, Leuen’s eyes follow her properly when she moves. Kara’s not an expert on dungeon sickness, but back when she had it, the thing her mentor said stuck with her as being particularly effective at getting across what was happening to her mind, and why she needed help.

 

“Try to think about things you haven’t been. Like food, or art, or singing. The harder it is for you to do, the more it matters that you focus on it. And don’t think about numbers.”

 

-X-X-X-

 

Leuen heard what she said. Objectively, he did. And, just like she’d said, found it hard to think about the way things taste or what books and movies he liked. Strange. Nothing in my stats- No. She said not to think about numbers. Why though? Are numbers bad? She said something about a sickness earlier…

 

Leuen isn’t quite sure how he ended up on the bed he’s on. The ceiling doesn’t look like the one from his room at the inn, and it isn’t his room on earth. Also, wasn’t he belly down, with his head barely hanging off the side? When did he get moved to be on his back facing upwards. He’s not sure of how long ago he got here, either.

 

Suddenly, and yet predictably, someone enters the room. The first thing Leuen can think of is to draw his sword and prepare to parry, and it genuinely takes him a moment to realize his arms aren’t moving nearly as freely as he’d like, and also that his sword isn’t on him. Why can’t he move his arm?

 

It’s holding something. Why didn’t he notice he was holding something? Leuen tries to focus on what he’s holding, and then realizes he’s squeezing very hard on it. As hard as he would be if he was holding his sword. Why?

 

“Leuen, I know you’re confused, I’m here to answer some questions, just try and focus on something other than whatever it is you’re thinking about. You’ve got something called dungeon sickness. We can go over how you got it once you’re better, but for right now, it’s really important that you focus on something that isn’t… routine, or structured, I guess. Think about something emotional, like art or love. Something you can’t justify.” Kara, Leuen suddenly realizes, isn’t standing in the door anymore. Instead, she’s at the side of the bed, sitting in a chair, holding a white bit of cloth that’s dripping with something. It’s cold, and touching his chest, which doesn’t have any of his clothes covering it anymore, oddly. He’s not sure when that happened. He didn’t take them off.

 

The cold moisture on his abdomen feels… nice, though. He’s not especially hot or anything, but the sensation of it isn’t unpleasant. Still though, he can tell that the action Kara is performing is objectively speaking, cleaning. She’s using the cloth to clean his chest. Simple motions. Wiping upwards, wiping downwards, up, down, up, down, up-

 

“Leuen.” Kara’s voice is accompanied by a sharp pain on the back of his left hand. “You’re not listening to me. Something is currently wrong with you, I’m trying to help. Think about… Here.”

 

Leuen’s hand has been moved. He wasn’t trying to do that, so Kara must have done it, and his hand is touching something soft.

 

“Can you feel that? I bet you barely can. You’re cupping my breast right now, but you didn’t even know that until I just said it, right? Maybe now you can see the problem. Again, try focusing on something illogical. Something human.” Kara’s voice shakes Leuen a little. He’s not sure what the significance of touching her breast is, at first, until he spends a few minutes, or however long it is, thinking about it.

 

Her… breast. She forced me to grope her tits, and I didn’t even know that was happening. I was just thinking about… I get it. I see.

 

“Dungeon sickness happens when you spend too long in a dungeon alone, some suspect because that makes it easier to fall into a routine. Dungeon sickness, essentially, is a dungeon trying to claim you. Turn you into something like one of its monsters. A puppet that obeys a set of instructions absolutely. A while ago, the only thing you could really think about stuff was in relation to what you were already familiar with, right? ‘This bed isn’t mine, but it’s similar in many ways’, right?” Kara’s voice is what Leuen is choosing to focus on. The explanation is probably being understood, but he’s pretty sure that’s not important right now. What is important is how kind and nurturing Kara sounds, so he’s focusing on that.

 

Leuen doesn’t even notice the passage of time until Kara stops talking. At that point, the thought process in his brain regarding the lack of her voice was the equivalent to watching a bird fly away after observing it for a long time. A feeling of ‘The thing I liked observing is gone’ that Leuen wants to verbally acknowledge.

 

However, when he looks for Kara at the bedside, she’s not there. Instead, he finds a loaf of bread and a tankard sitting on a stool, and pushes himself up. Finding extreme difficulty in doing so, he checks his right arm. Then, recognizing it for what it is, unclenches it for the first time in what must be hours.

 

(A/N: My gut is telling me I made three MAJOR spelling or grammatical errors but for the life of me I cannot find them. I am going to go insane trying to find them)