Chương 27: 1-26 Dinner for three

Zippa was worried. Not about the feral in his room, even though that was a bit uncomfortable, but about his friend. Josef was an interesting man, that much was clear. What drove a guy to go through all that effort to run a secret clinic in granny's basement? He could understand the need to get away from Sanctum, honestly. Those folks had been acting strangely for a while now, even before their recent escalation. But that human appeared to do it all without even expecting anything in return.

Did he even notice that he forgot to ask for any payment? His own case wasn't an isolated one either, he knew. He had seen it often enough while sitting around under the shop. Only when someone ended up insisting on giving coins did he accept a single one. In all other cases, he just conveniently forgot to mention anything, letting folks leave without paying anything for healing. He couldn't wrap his head around it.

Healers lived better than some of the smaller nobles, getting almost anything they asked for as long as they provided their services to the right clients. And there were enough of those for free pickings, only ever needing to bother with the best paying ones. If their town didn't have an agreement between Sanctum and the adventurers' guild, then they probably wouldn't even bother taking in anyone who came from the dungeon, unless a party had noble backing.

Even then, those appointments were mostly about smaller issues, like broken bones, nasty infections, or the occasional poisoning. Those were quick to heal and still took a massive cut from someone's guild rewards until the cost was paid back. Regrowing an entire arm, though? They would normally not even bother looking at something as extensive as that. Maybe something changed with their recent doctrine, but he didn't even want to know what it would cost him in return.

After all, before these recent changes, if he had asked for a new limb, then even bringing a contract to sign himself into slavery wouldn't have cut it. Zippa scratched at his arm as he thought about that. It still felt like a bad dream. Missing his arm had barely sunk in as being real before it was almost healed back already. Yet he continued to have nightmares about it, even now. About what happened and what could have been. Adventuring was their entire income, so what would he have done after losing his arm?

Could he have continued to head into the dungeon like that? Probably, but he knew they couldn't have ever gone as deep as before or risk certain death. He didn't want to think about it anymore. So he didn't. Bezzo would often joke about him being a simpleton, though never with any bite in his words. Not that he minded, as he was happy to be like that. There was always something bad happening in the world, always something to worry and feel bad about.

Letting go of that and focusing on the things he enjoyed, and what he could actually do? That was much more important to him than all the negativity. It was why he could go to the clinic every day without having to worry. Because that man promised to do his best to restore his arm and Zippa believed the warmth in his words. Grandpa, dragons bless him, had taught them to always look for the warmth of the sun, even on the darkest of days. And Josef was a sun, that he knew for sure. His brother didn't want to see it.

He preferred to question anyone and everything. He didn't mind, though, knowing he could be overly trusting and naive when it came to others. Bez was just balancing him out, keeping him safe from his own decisions. Even if he was sometimes annoyed by that, he never faulted him for it. This time, though, Zippa knew that his brother was wrong. That human would change Highsend for the better, bring back the smiles people lost years ago, if only he had the chance to do so.

He had every intention of making sure that it happened, even if he would have to put himself in danger for it. That was the promise he had made to himself. Yet, at this very moment, what was needed wasn't some death defying fight for his life. He could do those, as they were quite common when you wanted to make it deep into the dungeon. No, tonight he had a much tougher challenge ahead of him. How to wake Josef from his sadness. He could see it in his eyes after he pulled him away from that poor feline.

That pain of failing at something after giving his best, feeling like he failed someone and could never make up for it. Zippa knew that feeling. He had gone through the same pain before when his parents… That's why he knew that the best he could do was to support his friend until he could move on and get better. And what better way to improve someone's mood than by having a great meal? He hummed to himself as he continued to cut vegetables for their dinner.

There was a time when he hated those, always making a fuss when his parents tried to feed him greens. It was only much later that he came to appreciate having some good side dishes to his meat. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Just like life, you need some tasty stuff on the side to make the main course go down smoothly. Or something like that. It was better to leave philosophy to his brother, who was actually good at that stuff.

All he could do well was cooking, fighting and people. And that was good enough for him. Bezzo was annoyed. He wasn't even exactly sure what pissed him off the most, though. Having a stranger over in their home? Was it fighting a feral? The ache in his claws after he drained them of their poison? Or the recurring images of his brother lying in the ground with his arm missing? Why did nothing ever go the way he wanted to? All he wanted was for the two of them to have a quiet and happy life.

Make some coins from the dungeon, eat good food, not get hurt and keep the roof from leaking. But every time it looked like things could finally be calm and peaceful, shit just happened and tore it all down again. None of this would have happened if their parents were… He didn't want to finish his thought, not again. It only ever led to throwing blame at his brother, and he knew it wasn't deserved. It was just easier to have someone to vent his anger on. Just like he wanted to vent on that healer.

That weird creature that didn't even ask for anything in return for his brother's livelihood. That human whose magic reminded him of Sanctum and its freaks. Zippa told him that man was different, that he had a good heart. That was how his brother acted, always looking for the good in others, trying to make friends, and getting them to laugh. A part of him felt jealous about that, because he couldn't allow himself to trust others anymore. Still, he would try, even if his heart wasn't in it.

For the sake of his brother, he could endure anything. After all, that's what family was for. As the smell of food permeated the air, he began to set the table. He could tell from experience that it wouldn't be long now. Josef was staring at his patient, feeling miserable. He could barely even concentrate on the flow of mana as he tried to assess her situation. Ever since he got magic, everything just seemed so much simpler. Just point it at a problem, and everything gets better in no time at all.

Even Zippa's arm, as long as it took, was still comparatively easy in hindsight. Sure, he always knew that things couldn't always end well, no matter how hard he worked. There probably wasn't a single doctor back on Earth who had never had to deal with death before. But that possibility always seemed so distant, like something that only happened on the news, something that only happened to others. And now it had happened to him.

There wasn't even a logical reason for him to feel this way, because he knew that it might have already been too late to save that woman when he had arrived at the scene. However, his heart didn't want to comply with what his brain was thinking. It wanted him to be miserable and blame himself for the life he couldn't save. He tried once again to focus on the lycan in front of him. They had tied her down to the bed so she couldn't hurt herself or others once she woke up.

Josef didn't want to question why Zippa had leather straps in his room and knew how to tie someone to a bed. Some mysteries were better left unanswered. Though, just as Bezzo had assured them, she wasn't even stirring and wouldn't for hours to come. As it turned out, his poison was pretty potent. Which left him with some room to enact an examination, not that it helped him much.

He didn't really know how to get more information on that sickness, as he had only ever worked off his eyes and some well intentioned healing magic. Unfortunately, his eyes didn't pick up anything from her, and trying to focus healing magic on her head didn't appear to do anything, as it simply dispersed and vanished into the air. Nibbles too couldn't find anything, not that he could spend too much time trying.

His ministrations threatened to cure her limbs, and that wasn't something they wanted to do while she was still out of her mind. The less she could move, the less of a threat she was. So what was it that caused beastkin to go feral? Maybe some sort of virus? Or a parasite? The more morbid parts of his mind wanted to blame the elves for it, thinking it could be some sort of mind magic planted to sow fear and anger towards beastkin. Josef shook his head to try to get rid of those thoughts.

Superstition wouldn't help him here, nor did he intend to let his mind go down a slippery slope like that. Conspiracy and prejudice didn't fix problems, but only caused more. If only he had an idea of what to do with this case… Pushing the mana from his body, he tried moving it around his patient's channels, hoping to find something of note. They felt raw and damaged, but that was likely just a side effect of her having pushed beyond her limits.

Unfortunately, he couldn't just ask his mana to show him what was wrong. Things just didn't work like that. Maybe he could find a skill or spell that helped with making a diagnosis? The latter was something that could probably only be acquired from Sanctum, which was out of the question. The former, though, he might be able to purchase from Vasaj, but he felt uneasy about asking that elf for help. A knock on the door called for his attention.

Not that the guy who knocked actually waited for an answer, as Zippa came in before he could answer.

"Food's done, come dig in while it's fresh." The smile on the reptile's face appeared more strained than before, but genuine. How much shit must have gone down in this city that someone could still smile after something like this?

"Coming," Josef wasn't feeling particularly hungry.

"Can you two keep your eyes on the patient?" He asked his familiars. Nibbles saluted with a spirited squeak, while Dusty had already taken a position on the bed and stared at the woman. He wasn't as still as usual though, as he had kept moving around her even before, as if he intended to keep watching from all sides. Or was he looking for something? It was hard to tell with that bunny. Zippa threw an arm across his back as he guided him to the dinner table.

Josef could tell the guy was trying to cheer him back up, which he appreciated, even though he wasn't feeling it right now.

"Thanks," he mumbled. It was for both the food and the company.