Chapter 38: The Reward
The thing he saw before he went out like a light was a grey pestle coming at his face.
Arthur caught Doctor Patrick's eyes rolled back in his head before he collapsed to the ground like wet laundry. He did not expect the Jade Rabbit would have so much power within its small frame... especially considering how cute it was. Obviously, one could not judge a book by its cover.
However, after Arthur gave it some thought, he realized it did make sense. After all, the Jade Rabbit was tasked to ground and pound medicinal elixirs for its mistress. It had been doing this for eternity already so it was no surprise that it had great upper body strength.
Arthur quickly rushed over to inspect the unconscious Doctor Patrick. He did not want a dead man on his hands. As despicable as Doctor Patrick was, Arthur had no intention of killing him because he would be seriously implicated if the law enforcement was involved. Currently, his defense was, the real culprit was the Jade Rabbit. Which sane person would buy a story like that? Therefore, if he really used that as his defense, he would not only be thrown into jail but into the sanitarium as well.
Arthur sighed in great relief when he felt air coming out of Doctor Patrick's nostrils. The man only fainted.
This though led to another problem because it meant that the man would wake up at any moment. Arthur decided it was time to leave before things got even more out of control.
He looked around the room to find the Jade Rabbit. After knocking the doctor out, the Jade Rabbit ignored the unconscious man and focused on cleaning the mortar and pestle. Looking at how the Jade Rabbit cleaned and wiped down the mortar and pestle, Arthur understood why the creature would go far as to knock the man out. The young man could see the love and concern the Jade Rabbit had for the set of instrument, it must have a special significance to it.
However, now was not the time for sentimentality. It was time to go on the run. Arthur waved for the Jade Rabbit to grab its stuff and leave but the rabbit did not seem to be in a hurry.
When it was done cleaning the mortar and pestle, the rabbit placed it on the ground. It rummaged through its fur coat to pull out a block of something that looked like vegetable root. The Jade Rabbit sniffed at it and nodded satisfactorily before dropping it into the mortar. Then it started to get to work.
This unsettled Arthur because the pounding could very well wake up the unconscious doctor. "Can't we do this elsewhere? Perhaps we can move this to somewhere more comfortable? Must you do this here?" Arthur hissed through his lips but the Jade Rabbit blocked him out fully. All the Jade Rabbit did was to raise one of its paws and extend two claws. Arthur assumed it meant it needed 2 minutes and when he asked, the Jade Rabbit nodded.
Thankfully, Doctor Patrick did not stir even though Arthur thought the Jade Rabbit was being incredibly loud. The mortar and pestle glowed a pearly white while the rabbit worked on it. The glow was much stronger than when Doctor Patrick was using it. It appeared like the man did not really unlock the mortar and pestle's full potential.
Arthur thought about carrying the Jade Rabbit away with him but he was afraid of the possible consequence for interrupting the creature's work. He saw with his own eyes how Doctor Patrick was whacked unconscious by the unassuming creature, Arthur had no interest of having the same thing repeated on himself.
Furthermore, the young man was honestly quite interested in what the Jade Rabbit was doing. This was the first time Arthur saw a mythical medicine being created. The knowledge gained might be beneficial for his future. At the end of the day, based on the doctor's current state, Arthur believed the man would be unconscious for far longer than two minutes.
Doctor Patrick did not show any sign of waking up even after the pounding stopped. As the Jade Rabbit promised, it really did take around 2 minutes. To Arthur's surprise, the rabbit did not break a sweat even though he saw how hard it worked with the mortar and pestle.
Arthur leaned it closer to look at the thing that sat at the bottom of the mortar. It was not unlike the spherical miracle pill Doctor Patrick was selling but instead of the color brown, the pill that sat inside the mortar was a faded white. It reminded Arthur was a pearl.
The Jade Rabbit lifted the pill out of the mortar and placed it in its paws to study it like a QA officer examining a product. Arthur also tried to study the pill but the young man had no idea what constituted a good medicinal pill. He believed the Jade Rabbit had created a good product because on the sheen and lustre on the pill.
Incidentally, the Jade Rabbit agreed. After about half a minute, the Jade Rabbit nodded satisfactorily. Then it offered the pill to Arthur.
"For me?" Arthur asked with surprise.
The Jade Rabbit nodded.
Arthur was about to reject it out of social politeness when he realized this was probably the reward that he was promised for completing the Jade Rabbit's petition. In other words, he had earned this fair and square.
Arthur accepted the medicinal pill and he was surprised at how dense it was. It weighed greater than it looked. Arthur found a plastic bag in the room and placed the pill inside it. He pocketed the stuff and was about to call the Jade Rabbit to leave when he realized the rabbit was standing under the open window holding the mortar and pestle.
It was looking at Arthur with appreciation in its eyes. Arthur waved, "Well, come on!" as he pointed at the door.
Surprising Arthur, the Jade Rabbit waved back at Arthur before jumping through the open window into the night... That was a romantic way to go but did the Jade Rabbit forget they were on the second floor...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Lonelytree
Lonelytree Officially stopping the book to rewrite it into "the Disciple of Aoide", a similarly-themed book that is more WN style.
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