Theodoren was groaning on the floor, but he managed to lift his head. "Did we win?"

"We did." Daisy moved over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "I'll get you back to the school."

He waved her hand away, swatting it. "Get the tablet! It's what we're here for, isn't it?" Theodoren groaned in pain. "I can get myself home. Just go grab that tablet so this isn't a waste, you foolish mouse."

Daisy shook her head, and went back to the golem's remains to dig around its various mechanical innards. Hm. She pulled free a flat plate with a handle.

─Rivet Plate Shield

Various statistics appeared in her eyes. "Nice." She tossed it onto her back to examine later and returned to searching for that tablet. It didn't take her long to find it, a thin sheet of stone with a spell written on it.

─Stone Tablet

─Use: Learn the spell contained on this tablet.

She picked it up and carried it over to Theodoren. "Pretty sure this is it." She held it out towards him. "Right?"

He nodded. "Yes, that's it. Now go turn that in, and I'll get back to school."

She frowned at that. "I'm not going to just leave you here, damn it." She grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and hauled him up onto her shoulder. "You might have been a complete jerk, but I don't abandon teammates at the bottom of dungeons. I'll get you back." She turned to the stairs, and began the long climb.

Theodoren was groaning in pain, but he managed to keep himself upright. "You know, you're a lot nicer than I thought." He looked over at her, then at the tablet. "Pity you're not a healer of some kind."

"I could say the same." She patted herself down and found a vial of her milk, drawn so long ago. "People say it tastes good, but is it worth anything else?"

"What is that?" He couldn't get a good view of it, dangling on her shoulder and facing backwards. "What have you got there?"

"My milk." She looked over her shoulder. "No, seriously, I produce milk. Welcome to brood mouse life." She held it up, peering intently.

─Milk(brood)

─Effect: Heal(minor)

She held it up for him to see. "Well, it says it heals. You willing to give it a try?" She paused. "I'm pretty sure the mutagens in it are dormant, so you won't end up like me, but it might be nasty, who knows." She shrugged her free shoulder. "Most people say it's tasty, for what that's worth."

"Are you serious?" He looked at the vial, then at her. "You're really a lactating mouse woman, aren't you?"

She snorted with annoyance. "May I remind you that you wanted to rape me because of what you'd heard. Didn't hear anything about why brood mice have big fat knockers on their chest?" She jiggled herself, her body bouncing. "Well, this is why. I produce milk, and apparently it heals minor injuries."

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Theodoren considered that, and he nodded. "Fine. If it can make everything stop hurting, and you promise no to tease me forever, alright then."

"Deal." Daisy popped the top off of it and let him drink, and his eyes opened wide at the sweet flavor. "Oh damn, that is good. I'm starting to see why those men wanted to drink it."

And women, but Daisy felt no need to correct him. "Feel better?"

He was standing upright, and his wounds were closing. "Yeah, actually." He flexed his arm, and looked at the vial. "How did you make this?"

She laughed at that. "Give me a bottle and I can make more right now. But I'm not going to. Let's get out of here."

***

By the time they had reached the top of the stairs and stepped back into the daylight, Theodoren was fully healed, and he was smiling at her. "Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?" He clapped his hands on his chest. "See, I'm not all bad. When I'm not getting into trouble, most say I have a rakish charm, and I'm not bad at magic classes, which I won't be kicked out of."

"Good, and you're not bad at fighting." She smiled at him, her tail swishing. "Look, I won't say you were great. You were helpful, though. So let's get back to the school and turn this in." She marched past him, drawing the shield as she went. "And I have two things to consider. Learning magic, and a fighting style that includes a shield. This one is nice." The shield's statistics floated before her, and she smiled. It was worthy of the creature she pulled it from.

Together, they made their way back to the school.

The guard in front eyed Theodoren suspiciously, then nodded at Daisy. "You return with success?"

"I did." She showed him the tablet, and he smiled. He opened the gates, and Daisy walked inside with Theodoren in tow. "Where do you think we can find a teacher?"

"Right here." The teacher that had made the promise was approaching, hovering over the ground quickly. "And you two are far faster than I had expected. Was he much trouble?"

"None at all, really." She gave him a smile. "We worked together to get the job done." Daisy held out the tablet. "Here you go."

The teacher ran her eyes over it. "Amazing. Wonderful." She waved the tablet at Daisy. "If you learn enough about magic, you can get the spell you learned out of it. I will hold onto it for precisely one year. I hope to give it back to you before that year ends."

She turned to Theodoren. "You have proven that you have what it takes to be a student here. I am glad to have you back in the halls and classes of this place." She turned and led them away from the gate, back towards the main building. "I made a promise, and I will keep it. We will begin remedial magic lessons, starting tomorrow. I'll see you in the morning, and you will start learning." She gestured at Theodoren. "As for you, you need to attend the rest of your classes. If you cause more problems, I will expel you. I do hope you've learned how not to pester your fellow students."

Daisy was quiet as the teacher walked away, and she turned towards Theodoren. "Well, I have to admit it. I had fun, and you were a good teammate, in the end." She raised a brow. "But, real question. Is sexual assault just not a thing in this world? I feel like she rates what you did like getting into a fight and not much past that."

He blinked, and rubbed the back of his head. "Um... Well, no. I don't know that term except for context clues. Attacking someone, you know, sexually? That isn't a specific crime I ever heard of before. I guess that means you can't do that, in your old world? That's strange, though. Why would you get punished differently?"

Daisy frowned at that. "Because it is a horrible thing to do to someone." She threw her hands up. "What do you see it as?"

"Fighting someone?" Theodoren shrank back a step. "I don't know what your old world is like, but that happens, a lot. There are monsters that won't kill you, but will, uh, get kinda busy. There's magic that forces you to breed." He shrugged. "Not common, but not unheard of. I didn't know that was different where you were from. Here, it's not much different from fighting someone."

He threw a fist at Daisy, aiming at and hitting nothing but air. "If you're so against this, why aren't you wearing a chastity amulet anyway?"