Chapter 48: Can a Veterinarian Really Be This Miraculous?

After Morizono Yurie let go, Hichinosuke Chida lowered his gaze to look at the piece of bread in his hand. Morizono Yurie had grabbed him and pulled him away in such a rush that he had not had time to put the bread down...

Morizono Yurie turned her head, her eyes filled with panic and a hint of bewilderment. "W-what should we do now?"

Behind them, Morizono Mikio, who had arrived a step later, could only look at Hichinosuke Chida. Faced with such a terrifying spectacle, he had no idea what to do either.

"Calm down. They're just playing around; otherwise, there would have been casualties long ago, and it wouldn't have dragged on this far," Hichinosuke Chida said, raising a hand to block two falling leaves. After a moment of thought, he broke the bread in half at the untorn end, handed it to Morizono Yurie, and asked calmly, "Want a bite?"

Morizono Yurie took the bread, looked up at Hichinosuke Chida, and desperately wanted to ask where on earth this looked like playing around. "B-but aren't they going to get hurt?"

"I study veterinary medicine," Hichinosuke Chida said, glancing toward the chaotic brawl. "I'll take care of them once they're tired of fighting."

He could stop Non-Akane, but he wasn't sure if that red-eyed crow would listen to him.

Besides, that cat wasn't very intelligent; it probably wouldn't understand human speech.

In truth, among the three factions, only that cat was genuinely fighting.

As for Non-Akane and that red-eyed crow, although they couldn't communicate verbally, they possessed an unspoken understanding. What he had heard when he walked out was...

Non-Akane: "Come on! Red-eyes, let's see who can fight until the end!"

Cat: "Awooo meow!"

Red-eyed crow: "Charge! Give it everything you've got! This is so much fun!"

Cat: "Meow meow!"

On closer inspection, Non-Akane and the red-eyed crow were clearly controlling the damage and the situation, leaving even less room for worry.

These two were simply bored out of their minds!

Morizono Yurie felt that Hichinosuke Chida's words made sense. With a group of animals fighting so fiercely right now, there was no way to stop them anyway. She took a bite of the bread to calm herself, her expression gradually relaxing. "Can human first-aid medicine be used? I'll have someone get it ready."

"Bring it over for me to see first, and get plenty of gauze," Hichinosuke Chida said, turning to Sakuraba Yuji, who was standing at the edge of the clearing. "Mr. Sakuraba, step back here for now. Be careful not to get caught in the crossfire. They have fur and scales to take the hits, but you might not."

Sakuraba Yuji finally snapped out of his daze, walked back, and still looked somewhat bewildered. "Master Chida, thank you. I... Sir, Young Miss, I..."

"As long as you're alright, that's what matters," Morizono Mikio said, seeing Sakuraba Yuji's vacant expression, without reprimanding him. "But what on earth is going on? Why did they start fighting?"

After instructing someone to fetch the medical kit, Morizono Yurie took another bite of bread and listened curiously.

"I brought Rebecca out to the courtyard to eat. Rebecca kept growling at Non-Akane along the way, but Non-Akane was very well-behaved and followed right behind me," Sakuraba Yuji explained, still somewhat dazed, though he remained convinced that Non-Akane was extremely well-behaved. "At first, I was afraid they'd start fighting, so I put Rebecca a bit further away and turned back to lead Non-Akane further off as well. But in the brief moment I turned my head, Non-Akane darted forward. When I looked back, the crow that had been perched in the tree, Rebecca, and Non-Akane were already fighting..."

Hichinosuke Chida took a bite of his bread and watched the battlefield.

He didn't know what was going on with the cat and the crow, but Non-Akane's sudden desire to 'go check out the courtyard' definitely meant it was up to no good...

Moreover, ever since their last video game session, Non-Akane had discovered the advantages of using its tail, and its skill in whipping things around was becoming increasingly proficient.

Judging by the marks left on the tree trunk, the force behind those strikes was astonishingly powerful—far greater than that of an ordinary redbelly snake.

"Perhaps Rebecca's continuous provocation displeased Non-Akane. Never mind, animal affairs are impossible to figure out; who knows what goes through their heads," Morizono Mikio comforted Sakuraba Yuji. "You shouldn't blame yourself too much either."

Sakuraba Yuji nodded.

Morizono Yurie watched as Non-Akane whipped the cat away with its tail, swallowed a crow's head whole in a single gulp, and then spat it out to the side like a person discarding refuse...

So it really was just playing around?

Then there was nothing to worry about. Time to eat more bread.

This fight dragged on for quite a while.

Ten minutes later, a group of servants had craned their necks until their muscles ached. Deciding that standing around watching was pointless, they went back to their respective chores.

Hichinosuke Chida and Morizono Yurie stood by the doorway, each holding half a piece of bread, eating leisurely while chatting.

"Chida, why do you think they started fighting?"

"Pure boredom."

"Hmm... Then how long are they going to keep fighting?"

"I don't know either."

"True. Just chewing on bread feels a bit dry. Would you like some fruit juice? I'll go get some."

"Ahem," Morizono Mikio couldn't help coughing. At least these two had bread to eat; he had been standing here starving for half the day. He turned to one of the servants and instructed, "Have someone move the dining table and food out here. We'll eat outside tonight."

Morizono Yurie nodded. Her old man was clever after all—why hadn't she thought of simply moving the dining table outside?

Over twenty minutes later, the sky had grown completely dim.

The group of animals was still darting back and forth, occasionally disappearing into areas beyond the reach of the lights. All that could be heard was the rustling of leaves, with green foliage continually battered and fluttering down in a flurry.

The three of them ate dinner while watching the spectacle.

After keeping an eye on Non-Akane, Hichinosuke Chida observed the cat and the crow.

The cat had probably realized that the other two creatures were just playing with it. Although it yowled loudly, it didn't fight all that fiercely, and from time to time, it would leap aside to rest, making no effort to hide its depleted stamina.

Neither Non-Akane nor the flock of crows took advantage of the situation to launch sneak attacks; when the cat grew tired, they stepped aside and let it rest while they continued.

Furthermore, judging from the disciplined shifts in the flock's formations, the red-eyed crow exercised a high degree of control over the other crows, and its command capabilities were quite impressive...

"How long are they going to keep this up?" Morizono Yurie took a speechless sip of her fruit juice.

A moment ago, she had even seen Rebecca forget to unsheath her claws and tap Non-Akane lightly, only to immediately throw on a fierce expression and let out a menacing meow.

This bunch of animals was really putting a lot of effort into acting for an audience...

It made her feel like her previous worry and panic were a complete waste of emotion!

"They fought too fiercely at the beginning and their stamina is starting to run low. They should be getting tired soon. I'll go take a look," Hichinosuke Chida said, standing up. He opened one of the five medical kits placed nearby, sorted out the usable medications and gauze into a single box, walked forward, squatted down, and opened the lid. "Stop messing around. Come get your injuries treated."

Non-Akane was the first to stop. Without caring whether the other two creatures could understand, it slithered down the tree. "Alright, alright, stop! Let's call it a day, my master is calling me..."

"Stop, stop!" The red-eyed crow also commanded the other crows to halt. "Follow me, we're going to find our target for medical treatment! Line up, don't push, the heavily injured go to the front!"

Target? Hichinosuke Chida glanced at the red-eyed crow without asking further.

"Meow?" The cat didn't understand Hichinosuke Chida's words, but seeing that the playmates who had been frolicking with it for half the day had stopped, it trotted down the tree as well.

Over by the table, Morizono Yurie watched as Hichinosuke Chida spoke a single word, after which the snake, the cat, and the flock of crows all ceased fighting and trotted in a line toward him. She blinked once, then blinked again, making sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.

Could veterinarians really be this miraculous...

Non-Akane slithered up first, cast a cautious glance at Hichinosuke Chida to make sure he wasn't angry, and obediently lay flat to let him clean its wounds. It reported honestly, "Master, that young miss flicked my forehead, so I just wanted to bully her cat a bit. But I stalked it the whole way, and right as I lunged to strike, these red-eyes actually beat me to it! I wasn't happy, very unhappy! And then... we started fighting. You're not mad, are you?"

"As long as you had fun," Hichinosuke Chida said, setting Non-Akane—now wrapped in gauze like a white snake—to one side. "Alright, next."

The red-eyed crow had already landed nearby, peeking stealthily at Hichinosuke Chida. Hearing this, it immediately piped up, "Number twenty-one, move forward!"

Following a relatively badly injured crow came the little cat, Rebecca...

Seeing that all the playmates were doing the same, Rebecca didn't make a fuss. While receiving its bandage, it even rubbed affectionately against Hichinosuke Chida and let out a soft meow.

The rest were crows...

The animals had indeed fought fiercely at the start, and in the heat of the moment, it was inevitable that they lost track of their strength. All of them had bled and were thoroughly exhausted. Even the crows, despite having numbers on their side, were tired out. Rebecca had simply alternated between resting and fighting, while Non-Akane had relied on pure endurance.

While Hichinosuke Chida tended to their injuries, the untreated ones lined up to wait their turn, while those already bandaged lay motionless off to the side to rest.

The red-eyed crow had plenty of subordinates doing the heavy lifting, so it hadn't sustained many injuries itself, aside from losing quite a few feathers. After preening itself, it tilted its head to look at Hichinosuke Chida. "Mr. Chida?"

"What is it?" Hichinosuke Chida lowered his gaze, focusing on disinfecting a crow's wound.

"Does your household happen to lack a diligent and clever crow?" the red-eyed crow asked with a hint of reservation.

Hichinosuke Chida answered very directly, "We do."

The red-eyed crow asked again, "Then how about a whole flock of them?"

Without lifting his head, Hichinosuke Chida replied, "That works."

The red-eyed crow lowered its gaze to stare at its own shadow on the ground. This wasn't quite how it had envisioned things going. It had assumed some explanation would be required at the very least; Hichinosuke Chida's acceptance was so crisp and straightforward that it left the bird feeling slightly stifled. "Aren't you going to ask why?"

"Alright then, why?" Hichinosuke Chida obligingly asked, finishing the bandage on one crow and moving on to the next.