Chapter 71 - Evolution

"Poor child, what kind of human would do this to you," Halma said while removing the damp pieces of stray hair in front of Gem's face.

When Fily and Petunia both saw this, their faces immediately turned sour while recalling that time when Halma intentionally killed Gem so that she could go to that place called Solitude.

The irony of Halma to say such words when she herself was the one responsible for Gem's suffering just a few days ago.

"What do you think happened to her?" Petunia asked Fily on their way to Gem from collecting a clean towel and cold water from the sink.

"Judging from her twisted figure," Fily started explaining while wiping Gem's sweat using the clean towels, "I think she's having a really bad cramp down there." 

When Petunia and Halma heard of this, they immediately understood what Fily was trying to say.

"Is it perhaps…?" Petunia stood up from the shock of it.

"Oh, I'm positive it is.." Fily said confidently even before the doctors or the nurses confirm it, finally having encountered something that she was knowledgeable of, unlike the several "I don't know" that crushed her pride earlier that day.

"Woah, she's in that stage of her life already?!" Petunia shouted, still shocked about everything so Halma took her outside of the room to calm herself down and away from Gem who might be having a harder time from Petunia's high-pitched screams along with her stomach cramps.

"I-It hurts." Gem said weakly to Fily while trying to smear Healing slimes around her stomach where the pain was concentrated inside.

When Fily saw this, she was immediately mesmerized by the clear slime mixed with glowing cyan liquid that Gem was swirling around her stomach.

"Is it not working?" she asked Gem while collecting the details of the Healing slime in her mind for future purposes.

Gem shook her head which alarmed Fily to the highest level since the Healing slimes were supposed to either cure the anomaly entirely or at least lessen the pain of the person being cured but none of which seemed to be working with Gem's cramps.

But then she remembered, Gem's muscles couldn't also be cured by her Healing slimes that day, so she had to sleep through the night just to lessen the pain that she felt back then.

"Do you have something that would help you sleep?" Fily asked Gem while searching for a safe sleeping pill located in this castle through her mind.

Then Gem thought of Mr. Gemini's hidden abilities are just like the calming mist that he can summon for her whenever she needs them.

'Mr. Gemini, do you have something in there that could make me sleep instantly?' Gem asked Mr. Gemini while enduring the pain of her stomach cramps.

Since Gem didn't have anyone to lecture her about the science behind her own body, she grew up knowing nothing about puberty and menstruation. All she wanted to do was fight for the people who cared about her, but why was her body making her suffer?

Was this the price of overexerting her body for two straight days now?

[Your body is currently undergoing a process of evolution right now, Master.]

"E-Evolution?" Gem said out loud.

"No, it's called menstruation." Fily corrected her since she couldn't hear what Mr. Gemini was saying.

But Gem had no more strength to argue with her, instead, she just laid her back flat against the bed and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down while taking note of the things that Mr. Gemini was telling her.

[Astral Evolution. Since you were chosen even before your birth as the master of Salamandite Astra, the Astral Salamandite was programmed to evolve with you along the way.]

'So that was why my hair suddenly turned blond from being black?' Gem thought to herself, finally having a clear understanding of how the Salamandite's restrictions and abilities work on par with her current age and form, and also why the Salamandite wouldn't let her die no matter what.

[That's correct, Master.]

'But why are you only telling me this now? And how is this connected to what Fily is saying, something called menstrupation?'

[I could only tell you facts about the things that you discovered for yourself, Master.]

'Which means, if I don't discover something first, you won't talk about it until I finally mention it?'

[Yes, Master.]

'But I only mentioned evolution after you did. Are you allowed to give me clues about the topic?'

[Yes, Master. Since this gemstone is part of another, I'm afraid I could only catch you up to this extent of information about the topics that you want to ask about, Master.]

'Well, at least you'll still give me clues about the topic, then that's fine. So how do I- ouch. Get rid of this pain first?'

[You can't.]

'What?!'

[You've got to endure through it master, and one by one, several changes will be brought to your appearance soon, to which, if you cannot unlock the remaining storage for more Healing slimes by then, then you won't have another choice but to endure through all of it too, Master.]

'What?! No!! I don't think I can do that!' Gem complained in her mind and complained even more when the pain started swirling inside her stomach again.

"Un… lock…" 

Fily heard Gem whispering something which brought her back to reality after searching for an available child-friendly sleeping potion in her mind map, but there was none in the castle at all.

There were many sleeping pills for adults, stored inside the Doctor's office. 

But since it was not for children, Fily just decided to make a children's sleeping syrup with additional anesthesia to help ease the pain in Gem's stomach.

She already contacted Fily to meet her at the door of the basement to help her collect ingredients and make the syrup after getting the key from Venedette.

But since Venedette was still nowhere to be found, Fily was caught deep in her thoughts for thinking so hard about a temporary solution to ease Gem's pain such as heat, tea, or pain relievers.

"What was that? Unlock? Unlock what?" Fily's brows furrowed after hearing the words that Gem was trying to say despite her extreme cramps.

"Unlock… the… book…" she said, which furrowed Fily's eyebrows even more.