Reborn as a Side Character in the Beastworld

Chapter Forty-five

*Bai is so hard to write. She was such a passive character in the novel. I apologize if her character seems off.

After Harvey and I decided it was better to use the coriander instead of garlic for Shuu's slight fever, we came out from the back room. For a brief second, I panicked. Kit and Oliver were nowhere to be seen. Harvey noticed my tension and quickly assuaged my fears.

"Winston came back and took them hunting." His tail reassuringly swatted the back of my thighs.

I couldn't hear as well as a male so Winston must have known Harvey would relay the information to me. I didn't mind that he didn't say anything to me directly. I was just glad he had come back safely and the cubs were in good hands.

Harvey and I set some water to boil for a coriander concoction Shuu could drink when he woke. While we waited, we sat down next to Shuu and Harvey and I discussed how to make alcohol. Once I had told him that alcohol was a great disinfectant, he became thoroughly interested. It wouldn't be medical grade like isopropyl, but it would still be better than nothing. I knew you could make almost any grain in to alcohol. Rice could turn into sake, potatoes into vodka, corn into moonshine, oats into whiskey, grapes into wine and so on. But they all required yeast and the processing wasn't simple. I didn't know how to malt, distill or kiln process them, let alone how to extract yeast. I supposed we could gather the ingredients, boil them, filter them, add natural sugars like fruits and store them in jars for a half a year and see if any turned out the way we wanted. The problem with it was we didn't have a lot of time for the fermentation process. Cold season was halfway over and in less than half a year, this city wouldn't exist.

Harvey made some suggestions such as starting the process and storing the jars far from the city so we could dig them up later after we moved. The problem with that was I didn't know where I wanted us to move to yet. Harvey had travelled extensively to nearby villages but nothing further than a few days journey. We would need to ask Winston or Lance for suggestions as they were the most traveled.

While we were engrossed in our conversation, the beat of wings signaled someone had arrived outside the clinic. Before they could even knock, Harvey went to answer the door. When he discovered who it was, he opened the door wide so I could see and watched my face carefully.

Standing in the doorway with a large eagle behind her, was Bai Qingqing.

Her face lit up when she saw me and she walked inside. I resisted the urge to sigh. The eagle, Muir shifted and I got an unintended view of his dangly bits before he threw on a skirt. He stayed outside. Since there was no Parker, he must have taken on Winston's role from the original flow of the story. Curtis is going to looove that.

"Bailey! Thank goodness. I heard there was a fire after I left yesterday. Are you ok? I was worried." She then looked at the bed next to me and blanched at the sight of the blood seeping through the green poultice. I stood up and moved her to sit on an empty bed, closing the privacy screen for Shuu.

Muir and Harvey made themselves scarce.

"Is that why you came?" She nodded. "I'm fine. I was the one who started the fire." She looked shocked at that little tidbit. "I discovered an extremely dangerous plant in the Ape King's courtyard and thought it best to get rid of it." She looked satisfied at my explanation as though burning down someone else's plants was perfectly reasonable.

She put a hand to her chest and breathed a sigh. "That's a relief. I'm glad you aren't hurt. I'm so sorry I didn't even get a chance to talk to you thanks to a certain someone." She said bitterly. "Rosa has had a grudge against me ever since Parker and one of her mates fought. I was so mad when she tried to drag you into it."