"How peculiar... I've never had the opportunity to examine a mostly mana-based creature, let alone a kitsune, before; however is it necessary for me to keep my eyes closed, cuz it'll make it way more difficult for me to ascertain if anything's wrong with you?" Luna explained as she sat next to Zalroth on top of the wagon with her eyes closed.

"Come on, Zalroth it's not going to, heh, kill you." Nola snarked as she pulled on Zalroth's ear. Zalroth waved Nola's hand away as he sat up straight. Zalroth considered his options and sighed.

"Fine... however I'd like for you to not tell anyone anything you discover." Zalroth requested. Luna seriously nodded her head and opened her eyes.

"Of course, a patient's confidentiality is a doctor's second top priority, shortly behind keeping their patient alive." Luna stated pridefully. Zalroth raised his hand and Luna placed two fingers on Zalroth's wrist(palm side). Luna read Zalroth's pulse and her perplexed expression made Scarlett, Snow and, especially, Lola worried.

"Is something wrong with papa!?" Lola concernedly shouted as she crawled down one of Zalroth's tails and on top of the arm Luna was examining. Lola pressed her face against Zalroth's wrist causing her hair to brush against Luna's hand, tickling her. Luna tried to control herself as Lola's hair continued to brush against her hand but couldn't handle it and bursted out laughing while quickly pulling her hand away.

"Sorry-sorry, I have sensitive skin, heh-heh." Luna said through her giggling. Zalroth wrapped one of his tails around Lola and lifted her off his arm before she crawled back to where she originally was.

"Well, after doing a few tests and using my F.B.A I didn't see anything of concern other than the slow bpm but that might just be a mana-based-body think, right-". Luna's abrupt pause caught the group's attention, excluding Minia who was fast asleep and resting her chin on Zalroth's head.

"Something catch your attention?" Nola lazily asked as she rolled over to look at Luna.

"Yeah, for a second, I thought my F.B.A said Zalroth had immortality, he-he..." Luna remarked. The only ones who responded to Luna's words were Scarlett and Snow who darted their faces in front of Zalroth.

"Is that true, Zster!" Scarlett gleefully asked.

"I mean I haven't died yet so I might be." Zalroth joked before Kusana lightly bopped Zalroth on the cheek.

"Father of Lola, stop giving people indirect answers." Kusana demanded while continually poking Zalroth in the face.

"Ok-ok I will,". Zalroth stated as he used his hands to block Kusana's jabs before noticing Luna was intently staring at him with a contemplative tinge in her eyes.

"Did something catch your interest?" Zalroth asked while Kusana was biting his fingers.

"It's just odd, that if you're immortal, you would need medical treatment... unless... are you slowing down your heart rate to slow your regeneration?" Luna inquired. Zalroth suddenly chuckled, surprising Luna and making her nervously blush.

"That's amazing you were able to figure that out, I'm impressed." Zalroth remarked. Luna embarrassingly chuckled and rubbed the back of her head.

"That's nice of you to say, but if you've got immortality why are you so injured when you could just regenerate?". Zalroth layed back on his tails and yawned.

"Well, imagine what would happen if someone with a high metabolism did extreme exercise.". Luna firmly nodded her head as she pulled a touch screen tablet out of her medical duffle bag and quickly jotted down what Zalroth had said.

"Is that so? So immortality isn't as overpowered as it sounds and is extremely draining on your mana, is that right?".

"In a sense, but the only real downside is that after regenerating a lost limb, you'd become extremely hungry in a response to the sudden conversion of mana into that new limb." Zalroth added. Luna quickly jotted that down and something else before lowering her tablet.

"There is something I'd like to ask you abou-" Luna managed to say before she and the group heard someone climbing onto the roof. Scarlett let out a frightened eep before grabbing Snow and ducking underneath one of Zalroth's tails. Zalroth glanced up and noticed Akari furiously glaring down at him.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"I can not believe you." Akari said with an unnervingly calm tone. Lola and Kusana jumped infront of Akari.

"No, don't hurt papa" Lola pleaded and blocked Akari with Kusana copying Lola's actions. Akari patted the two on the head with an angry smile on her face making the two girls shiver.

"Don't worry you two I just want to talk to the living cushion.". Akari looked up at Zalroth, who seemed slightly worried.

"Is what you said about your physical condition true?". Zalroth slumped back even further into his tails and Akari eyed him.

"Perhaps..." Zalroth begrudgingly replied. Akari let out an annoyed sigh as her angry demeanour melted away.

"Unbelievable, I thought it was weird you weren't eating much food, compared to Lola, but here you are, in a sense, basically starving yourself to not inconvenience us." Akari said whilst disapprovingly shaking her head. Zalroth was about to say something but Akari cut him off by abruptly pointing at his face.

"Listen here mister, as a caring mother, I can not overlook this. So the next time we stop you are going to eat the proper amount of food so your body can heal properly, understand?" Akari asked although the tone of her voice made it sound less like a request and more like a demand. Zalroth was about to refuse but the unrelenting glare of Akari made him second guess himself.

"O...kay." Zalroth said as he yawned.

"See your lack of energy is a direct result of undereating, isn't that right Luna?". Luna was caught off guard by Akari's question and almost dropped her tablet.

"Y-yeah, that's right, without a regular intake of energy it can lead to either your body slowing down or your body will break down your muscles in an attempt to subsidize the missing energy it was used to receiving." Luna said while in a flustered state. Akari told Zalroth to make sure he keeps to his promise before she left and went back inside the wagon.

"Geez, you can be really stupid sometimes Zalroth." Nola cheekily remarked as she reached into one of Zalroth's tails and pulled out the bronze pocket watch. She dropped the pocket watch and it hit Minia on the head before it fell into Zalroth's hands.

"Why do you have something like that anyway?" Nola asked as Minia slowly opened her eyes before quickly closing them again and yawning.

"It's a pocket watch that belonged to the guy who attacked the villagers' village." Zalroth explained. Scarlett and Snow shot out from Zalroth's tails.

"Have you... figured out who it belongs to or where its owner might be?" Snow sheepishly asked.

"Not really, I can only sense the vague direction the... guy went, it's a shame I can't use tracking magic." Zalroth remarked as he spun the pocket watch on the tip of his index finger.

"Umm, if you're looking for someone with tracking abilities then I'm sure Ruby can help." Luna offered before Ruby jumped out of the wagon and used her mana tendrils to launch herself onto the roof of the wagon next to Luna.

"You called?" Ruby excitedly asked before noticing Zalroth and his abundance of tails.

"Oh shoot he really is a kitsune; I ah- salutations my fluffy breatharian." Ruby said as she bowed to Zaloth. Lola giggled at the way Ruby addressed her and Zalroth.

"You're funny." Lola mentioned as she grabbed the pocket watch from Zalroth and presented it to Ruby.

"Do you think can help papa find the bad man?" Lola asked while looking at Ruby with large puppy dog eyes.

"Of course, I can and if ya pops can still sense the guy, then I'll be able to easily pinpoint the villain's location." Ruby proudly proclaimed as Lola gleefully handed Ruby the pocket watch. Ruby activated her tracking magic, on the pocket watch, and while she was doing that Lola fully climbed into one of Zalroth's tails with a smug grin on her face.

"Mission accomplished" Lola whispered to herself as she quietly giggled to herself from within the tail.

"So... Luna, what were you going to say?" Zalroth asked.

"Huh? Oh about that... I think it would be better to talk about it later, given what you said earlier." Luna explained as she put all her equipment back in her duffle bag. Ruby dispersed her aura and tried to spin the pocket watch on the tip of her finger, like Zalroth, but almost dropped it. Ruby quickly placed the pocket watch on one of Zalroth's tails before it sank into it.

"Did you locate anything?" Scarlett asked as she rummaged around the tail that the pocket watch sank into.

"Yeah... it was actually a little hard to make out since the guy's mana changed slightly around the mountainy area but I was able to pinpoint the guy's location; he seems to be close to the city north-east of here, in the Dusty Plains area." Ruby explained.

"Talkia, huh? So the guy's scouting out his next target, best to deal with him before he hurts anyone else." Zalroth remarked as he went to stand up but was stopped by Ruby as she frantically waved her arms.

"Y-you don't need to do that; the guy hasn't moved for over three days, so either he's down for the count or has knocked himself out. So you don't need to push yourself otherwise lady Akari might get mad at you again." Ruby pleaded. Zalroth sighed and layed back down.

"Don't worry, if anything happens involving the guy I'll let you know, I promise." Ruby added. Zalroth gave her a thumbs up as he closed his eyes and yawned.