"I've got it Mom, no worries!"
James called back to his Mother.
Actually James didn't have it whatever it was and it took another few minutes of mad scramble to save his Wilbur and put out the fire.
In the process most of his ingredients and all of his tools were thoroughly destroyed. James would have thought that something survived. He had so many ingredients and redundant tools. Why hadn't the large centrifuge survived? But, no, nothing was spared. It was almost as if the terrier and his mouse had purposely gone out of their way to make sure that nothing made it out in one piece.
'I don't need the bed! Why didn't you guys destroy the bed.'
Now, James' perfect plan to concoct stamina pills forever was ruined! He was going to have to scrimp and save to earn his way back to this level of production again.
Carefully he put aside any ingredients that hadn't been wrecked and then threw away everything else. In the end only the cauldron survived and even then it was only the iron kettle itself that remained unscathed. The wood box that served as stand allowing the kettle to swing upside down easily was turned into splinters. The heat treated wood that was so valuable was repurposed by James into repairing and fortifying the desk after it too was broken.
Unfortunately James could do nothing for the burned surface of the desk or for the carpet. The black char on the desk would be a reminder of this experience and he had to cut the burned mark out of the carpet. In the future he would have to pay someone to come in and fix it. But it wasn't as bad as the desk. Plus the carpet patch would be hidden for the most part under the desk.
Eventually after sorting everything James went down to talk to his parents. Both of whom were waiting for him in the living room. It was the middle of the night. James was keeping odd hours these days.
"Son, I think you know what needs to be said here."
Dad began.
"Yes, I know, I just haven't wanted to do what has to be done."
James hung his head and replied back.
"It is okay, son. It is all going to be okay."
As usual, Mon's serenity calmed down both her husband and her son.
"What do you think has to be done?"
Dad asked curiously now that the sting of the situation had been defused.
"Well, I can't think of anything else to do besides join SPAM for a few years."
Resolving himself James spoke what he had dreaded doing.
Shaking his head Dad said,
"You don't have to work for SPAM. There are other options. You could become an adventurer and travel around doing odd jobs until you figure things out."
Mom just nodded, she didn't want her son to be brainwashed by SPAM either.
"I know becoming an adventurer is an option, but I don't think I can do it. Not and keep my sanity. As strange as it is having an institution with rules and a consistent schedule is what I need right now. Besides to be a good adventurer I need a combat capable pet. Wilbur here is cute, but not on the same level."
Trying to to explain this decision to his mother was not getting anywhere. She was set and decided that nothing good could come from working for SPAM.
His Dad on the other hand nodded.
"Alright, go with our blessing. We won't hold you back."
At these words Mom gave Dad a death stare, but Dad just took her hand and gave her a squeeze. A firm frown etched this moment into James consciousness seeing them interact. But he knew they had a good relationship and Dad would take the responsibility for whatever happened.
Tears in her eyes Mom pulled her hand away and went into the kitchen.
"When do you leave?"
Dad asked.
"I was going to wait till the morning to say goodbye to Jane, but maybe it would be better to leave now?"
James asked uncertainly.
"No need. I am right here. You can't have a secret conversation after practically burning down the house, James. My room is right next to yours!"
Jane said as she came around the corner.
Opening his arms James didn't need to go to her, she threw herself into his arms and cried into his shoulder.
"Take care of yourself and please, please, don't turn into a mouse! That would be so embarrassing!"
She said as they hugged.
"Jane! He's not going to turn into a mouse!!"
Mom called from the kitchen. She wasn't exactly yelling, Mom never got angry, but somehow her voice carried really well across nearly two rooms.
"I'll write to you, keep in touch. I want to know how Queenie is doing, okay?"
Ignoring the comments about becoming a mouse James asked his sister to give him the household news.
"Sure, no problem. Now get out of here before you make things worse. As it is everything is going to be tense around here for days!"
Pushing him away, Jane made a good observation and James could not dispute it.
Quickly he went up to his room and packed his stuff. This time there was much less to pack. Having already taken and lost most of the things that he wanted to take. There really wasn't anything left besides some clothes. And these clothes were clothes that he had bought or his mother had bought for him in the last three weeks.
It struck him suddenly that it would be great to stash some of his things in the mouse dungeon. But it was currently inconvenient to assess their space. He had to wait for them to initiate the opening of the space pocket.
James had a feeling that if it wasn't for the ability [Fertility] that Wilbur would have stayed with him. That and the fact that Wilbur didn't have any spatial powers. He also had to come and go from the mouse dungeon on the whim of the mice.
Which meant that Wilbur had chosen to follow his heart or at least that was the way James was thinking about it.
'Can mice fall in love?'
He didn't know, but whether it was love or Wilbur had just wanted to play either way Wilbur had chosen to adventure off away from his master.
Having looked it up James knew that after 35 days mice are fertile. Which meant that Wilbur was about to be able to start using the [Fertility] ability. And James wasn't so sure how he felt about it. Of course that was assuming that the [Fertility] ability had not already been put to use.
It had to have been. There was no other way to explain the fact of contracting Kareen and the mice hoard. His Dad hadn't been able to help. All he had said was that there had been other beast tamers who had been able to tame many pets. Pet store owners aside, there were also beast masters who specialized in taming undead.
What I need to do is contract a new pet, one that has more intelligence and can provide at least some feedback.
'It would be great to be able to know more about my own ability!'
Now that his ability had proven to be much more dangerous to him than he had originally assumed James had to step up. His life could be on the line the next time he contracted a pet. Carefully picking the right pet would be extremely important.