Chương 28: 1-27 Doctor rabbit

The food ended up being every bit as good as Josef had been promised, even though he didn't even know half the things he found on his plate. Still, the assortment of strangely colored vegetables, at least one of them similar to potatoes, went well with the juicy meat.

"Do you use your own fire for cooking?" Josef couldn't help but wonder. The image of Zippa standing over a frying pan, spewing fire from his maw to cook, was almost enough to make him laugh on the spot. It did, however, end up bringing a smile to his lips. The reptile laughed at his question.

"I've tried that before, but it doesn't cook the food evenly. As in black outside and raw in the middle. I sometimes do it down in the dungeon, if there is too little time to do it properly."

"That doesn't sound very appetizing, but kinda entertaining." The laughter threatened to infect his mood.

"I wouldn't mind watching you cook like that at some point."

"Why not? You could come with us into the dungeon. I'm sure we would be unstoppable together, and I'd cook charred meat whenever you want." This time, both had to laugh together. Only Bezzo was left shaking his head, looking like he regretted every choice in life that had brought him to this very moment. If anyone else had made Josef an offer like that, he would have thought it was the dumbest attempt at bribing him to become their party's healer.

But with Zippa he could tell that there were no ulterior motives to the offer. That guy really imagined it would just be a fun way to go out with a friend. A part of him wanted to join the younger brother in his utter disbelief, but ultimately, he had to agree that it would be fun.

"Sure, I really wanted to have a proper group for hitting the dungeon, if you can believe it. But my friend just keeps teasing me with her own, telling me to wait until she takes me along. Not that she doesn't have a good reason, but still…" The impact of a scaled fist on the table startled Josef and rattled all the plates and cutlery.

"Then it's settled, let's form a proper party and have some fun!" Before Zippa could continue to escalate, however, his brother pressed him back into his seat.

"Isn't there someone you forgot to ask, you dolt?" Bezzo glowered down on his brother, but his eyes didn't hold much heat.

"Though there would be a lot of merit to heading down there with a healer. It would make things much easier for both of us." Josef was surprised how quickly things were moving, so he had to slow the general enthusiasm.

"I should still wait for my friend to come back, since I don't want to just drop off the face of E- Aurum." He almost slipped there, thankfully it seemed like no one had caught it.

"Also, aren't you already signed as a party under the guild? I can't really join an official adventurer party, since I don't want my affinities revealed. I guess we could just sneak in… if that doesn't cause problems for you" Zippa was looking down after that realization, his joy taken away as if someone had just eaten the last slice of cake right in front of him. In fact, Josef could imagine him making exactly that kind of face if that ever happened.

Surprisingly, it was Bezzo who came to rescue his older brother's mood.

"We could just sign him on as an apprentice for now. You don't have to fully check someone into the guild for that. It would cause way too much paperwork for how many tryouts get rejected all the time. And no one would bat an eye at it, with the beasttide approaching and all that." He probably came to regret his help immediately after, as his older brother crushed him in a gleeful hug, lifting the smaller reptile off the ground.

"You always have the best ideas!" He was happy enough to ignore Bezzo's attempts at tapping out. Josef wondered if they were putting on an act to cheer him up, or if they always acted like that together. At the sight of their banter, something stirred in him. Memories that had been blurry and vague so far tried to resurface. Had there been someone in his old life who would act out with him like that? A sibling, or maybe it was a parent? He wasn't sure, but he knew it was a playful and happy memory.

Their revelry was abruptly interrupted, as a shriek came from down the hallway. At the same moment, a notification vied for Josef's attention. He opened it as he ran after the other two, towards the room with their captive patient.???? Unknown(???) -> Unknown? H??? (>Inferior) The key to saving dragonkind. There is c urrently no data available on using this energy. Can nullify a hitherto unknown magical compound. Possible relation with dragon-sickness is not confirmed.

Out of all the notifications he could have received, this wasn't one he had expected to appear. What had increased his unknown affinity? He suspected that Dusty had done something. After all, the rabbit had already acted strangely all night after they brought that lycan back. He prayed the bunny hadn't actually killed her, cursing the oversight of leaving the rabbit alone when it was acting out like that.

Thankfully, there wasn't a level up notification, or an improvement for the Summon Familia r spell, both things he associated with the rabbit landing a killing blow for him. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. No, going by that message, he must have done something that related to using his affinity, somehow.

"What the fuck!" Zippa eloquently described what he had encountered, being first to the room with the lycan in it. There was a good amount of blood on the sheets, which came spurting out of a wound in the woman's lower abdomen. Dusty sat right next to her, his head covered in blood. Nibbles was already on the job, though, as he climbed onto the lycan and patted down the wound. There was no sign of stress or shock on the little rodent's face, just determination. Did they somehow plan to do this together?

Things only got stranger when the bunny turned his head over to look into Josef's eyes and blinked.

"What the fuck" He joined the general opinion.

"What have you two done?" As he questioned his familiars, he went over to the patient and looked her over. His eyes could still not pick up anything wrong with her, outside of the obvious at least. However, it was clear that through his familiar's treatment, more than just the wound in her belly was recovered, as she soon opened her eyes. All of them got ready at that moment, tensing up and expecting an escalation. However, nothing happened. No more screaming, no struggles, no nothing.

She was eerily calm, as if they weren't even there, just staring up at the ceiling.

"I-I'm going to give her a checkup." Josef finally decided, trying to suppress the shock at how things had developed. He really hoped she was alright, and that Dusty hadn't done something bad to her. How would he even react if his own familiar did something inexcusable? With no changes but the obvious in her outward condition, he began pushing mana into her channels to get a feeling for how things were going in there.

There he found a concerning change right from the start, as he no longer faced any considerable resistance from her own mana. That was unusual, as he would normally have to push against the outward flow that came from someone's own magic core. That discovery immediately led him to a certain spot within her body that coincided with the wound Dusty had inflicted, the lower stomach. What he encountered there shocked him deeply.

The core was broken, snapped in half like a cheap glass gem that had been thrown to the ground. He could even feel the last dregs of mana floating away from some singular chips that were embedded into the flesh around the break.

"What the fuck." The situation really called for a repeat opinion, as it hadn't been said enough.

"What did you do, Dusty? Did you just break her magic core?" Naturally, he didn't expect any reply from the bunny. What he got was an odd grumbling noise and a slow, deliberate blink. That was more than nothing, though it didn't tell him anything at all. At least her body was still moving small amounts of mana, he finally concluded after examining the broken core. One thing that soon became clear, however, was that the lycan had calmed down completely.

She even took water when offered, but she didn't speak a word or would do anything on her own. Clearly, the lights were on upstairs, yet nobody was home. Was that a side effect of the broken core, or some residual brain damage from her prior madness? An inquiry with the brothers didn't get him anything useful either.

Damaged cores were considered a catastrophic injury for anyone, as the afflicted person could no longer level, and depending on the grade of destruction, would even lose access to most of their capabilities. However, none of that explained her state of mind.

"Maybe she is just in shock? We could give her some time and see if things change. Let me get her some food, bet she's hungry." Zippa eventually came to his own diagnosis called 'When in doubt, offer food'. While Josef could admit it was a fairly effective method of treatment, judged by his own experience so far, he doubted it would do much for her. Still, getting her fed wouldn't hurt either.

"At least she no longer appears to be dangerous." Bezzo offered a rare piece of optimism.

"Which is well if we intend to keep housing her until this is resolved. I have to admit, I didn't expect you to be able to do anything for her, so this is already an improvement. Though your methods are… unconventional." Did that guy just try to make a joke?

"Just an observation," he added a few seconds later, as if reading Josef's mind. Just moments later, he had to step out of their conversation and aid his brother with feeding the lycan. Admittedly, it was more about protecting her from a guy who was trying to shove half a steak down her throat all at once. He made a mental note to never let Zippa anywhere near him if he got sick, not that it was a big possibility with his magic.

That final ruckus aside, their evening petered out slowly as it was already getting dark outside and he would soon have to leave. Fortunately, he didn't have to head back to the tavern on his own, as the older brother offered to accompany him. Something that Bezzo had voiced his full support for, as neither wanted to send him out into the dark on his own. Though Josef suspected that at least one of them wasn't even thinking about the danger he could have faced alone.

Accompanied by the older brother, they set out, while the other had remained behind to continue watching over the lycan woman in their care.

"I know things didn't go… as planned tonight. I'm sorry for that." Zippa finally broke the silence as they wandered through the dark. His voice sounded heavy with regret. Josef patted him on the shoulder, thankful that his evolved eyes allowed him enough precision in the dark to aim his hand correctly.

"It's alright, Zip." He shortened the reptile's name in an attempt to sound more cheerful.

"It was certainly one of the nights I've ever had. And the food was great, I'll definitely have to get you cooking for me again." Zippa looked a little melancholic at the nickname, but soon regained his smile.

"Happy to hear it, and sure, I enjoy cooking a lot!" After several seconds of silence, he added more quietly.

"So about that party invite…"

"I'm looking forward to it. Just let Bezzo handle the paperwork, he seems the type for it." Josef winked at his friend.

"I'll have to figure out how to handle things with the clinic once we're ready. Also, we'll have to move that lycan to the clinic after we're sure she's safe to be around. It'll probably be a couple more days before my friend returns, though, so we have time." That was met with a happy cheer.

"Awesome, looking forward to it, Jo." Feeling content about his first ever nickname, as far as memory served him, he asked "By the way, does your party have an official name?" Zippa straightened up, his voice tinged with pride.

"We're the Scalesome Brothers!"