Chapter 3: Bunny at Work!

The first person they saw was lying on a dirty carpet. Felix went to him quickly as a whip. He rolled up the man's sleeve and saw the spots there.

He had seen the same spots more than once. Without thinking too much about it, Felix took out the Safunamon herb and began to force the man's mouth open.

"He is sick of dragon pox," which wasn't just for dragon shifters but also spread to other shifters.

"Do you want to pick somebody else? Felix, have you been through Dragon Pox yourself?" Edward took several steps back, not wanting to touch the sick person.

Dragon pox was deadly for adults and even for some children.

"This can cause an outbreak. I can't leave him to die, besides." Felix might not have given any oath that he'd heal the needy, but he didn't need to—just like he didn't need a license to know that the Safunamon would bring down the fever.

When the man finally opened his eyes, he tried to spit out the herb, but Felix stopped him.

"I know it is bitter, but you have to eat it," Felix said, smiling brightly. "You will be right as rain by this time tomorrow. I know the potion for dragon pox."

And he had brewed it more than once, leaving it on the kitchen table for his mother to find. But that was neither here nor there.

"I can only pay ten gold coins," the patient said, chewing.

Felix did the math in his head and knew that if he wanted to keep anything out of these ten gold coins, he would have to salvage most of the things from the forest.

"Just keep on eating. Let me see your nails," Felix reached out, and saw the overgrown nails.

He tsked with his tongue and then took out a nail clipper. He cut the nails with deft movements until they looked not made for scratching.

Or gauging eyes out, by the look of the clippings.

By the time he was done, the man had finished eating the Safunamon herb. Felix let his mana speed along the herb's effect and watched as some clarity returned to the man's eyes.

"You wait in here while I make you some calamine," Felix told him, placing another three clusters of the herb next to him. Then, he turned to Edward. "Is there a bathhouse around here?"

"Sure, there is one with private booths and one with a community area. But he won't be let inside the shared space," which was something that Felix knew, but he was glad that there were private booths.

"Good, take him there, and have him take a hot bath with this," Felix said. He took out a bottle of baking soda and handed it to Edward.

"You want me to help?" Edward quirked an eyebrow, but Felix stared at him until he smirked. "Now, this is how I want to see you!"

Felix didn't let his confusion at the comment take him out of the loop. Instead, he tapped the patient and had him stand up.

"Edward will lead you to the bath, while I skip back to the forest to get some herbs I can make into a paste. I won't be long," Felix told him, and saw the hope in his eyes.

Felix didn't ask the man what he did for a living. The adventuring gear was a dead giveaway. The rabbit shifter decided not to judge his patients because he knew they needed him.

The splendor of the Emporium's market strip was lost on Felix as he moved quickly back towards the portal. He got out of the Emporium and worked on autopilot.

He knew what he needed, and the oily herb Snow's End was the best choice. It was still early spring, and the white blossoms were visible under the trees.

Felix took a cloth bag from his backpack, then began to stash as much of the herb as he could carry.

Even so, he knew that it wouldn't be enough. He would need a press to extract the oil from the herb. That would set him back, but he...

He what? He didn't have a bottomless bag. Even if he bought the press, how was he to carry it?

And yet, if he didn't invest in something he couldn't keep, the man would die. Worse, he would infect others with the dragon pox, and then more people would die.

What sort of healer would Felix be then?

Making peace with the fact that he would probably spend his money on this man, he decided to do what he could.

He was sure he would make a lot of money from the gigs Edward would take him on. Enough for the 1,000 gold coins for a bottomless bag, and then...

And then he would be no closer to earning enough money for a healer's license, having sunk what was probably months' worth of a grind into the bag.

Felix stopped as he touched one blossom, and then felt his eyes tear up.

Because of money, his family was looked down upon. Laughed at, behind their backs. It didn't matter that his family did backbreaking labor every day.

No, they didn't have money; the only schooling they could afford for Felix and his siblings was in the first four grades.

If the library had not been made free for the poor, Felix would be a country bumpkin.

He wiped at his moist eyes and then thought of the man who was probably taking a bath, which would extend his life, even a little bit.

If Felix didn't help him now, then the man would scratch at the spots and most likely die by this time next week.

Even if Felix saved just one man before losing his life, that would be for the best. He was a rabbit shifter. Rabbits did no great deeds.

No, they were meant to rot away in a house that was too small and do their best with the bit of money they had.

But even so, Felix remembered Edward. His words, that the people of the Emporium would smell his uncertainty, came back to him.

Who would want a healer who lost all faith in life?

Nobody.

With a grim determination born out of not having another way out, Felix kept collecting the herbs.

When the bag was full, he returned to the portal and stepped through.

Determined to save a life. Determined to save his life from ruin, along the way.

There was no rhyme or reason to the brightly colored stalls, and Felix wondered how these merchants could ply their trade when, so close to them, people died like flies.

And yet, when Felix finally found the press he needed, he didn't so much as haggle.

He paid five gold coins and then another five gold coins so that a mage would place a featherlight charm on the thing.

Walking back to where he first found the patient, Felix expected many things.

He expected to see that the man had up and left. That he had sensed something in Felix, which made him unworthy. And yet, there he was with Edward by his side.

Looking pained but clean.

Felix could work with that.