Chapter 197: Rabbit Tails Are Plump (1)
The mysterious disappearances at the border zone completely stopped just before the soldiers and knights set out to investigate.
"This is quite strange. It’s as if someone was deliberately toying with us—just as we were about to conduct a proper investigation, everything suddenly resolved itself."
Valian, a senior knight from the Black Panther Order, shook his head in disbelief as he gazed at the area where the Misty Forest had once stood. Now, all that remained were scattered bits of trash left behind by lost travelers, overgrown weeds, and wild animals that scurried away upon sensing our presence.
The thick mist that had blanketed the border zone was gone, and no new disappearances had been reported. In the end, the soldiers who had been mobilized for the investigation had come out for nothing.
"Should we be glad that the strange phenomenon has vanished, or should we consider ourselves unlucky?"
"It’s a good thing it’s been resolved. That mist was dangerous—if you tied a rope around your waist and ventured in, you could follow it back out for a certain distance, but beyond that, the rope would suddenly be severed."
"Yes, it was strange how the cuts appeared. Even when we used chains instead of rope, the results were the same."
Valian showed me a chain that had been cut cleanly in half. Running my fingers over the smooth surface, I could tell that whatever had severed it did so with an extraordinary force.
'It must have been the spatial distortion caused by the Fairy Forest’s barrier. The dimensional shift probably sliced through anything that lingered too long in the transition zone.'
Fortunately, the fairies had been protecting people, ensuring no one got caught in the spatial severance. Otherwise, bodies would have been cleanly sliced in half, leaving gruesome remains scattered across the area.
That was likely why the Fairy Queen, along with Laz, Viola, and Maggie, had been guarding the Fairy Forest.
'No need to mention any of this.'
There was no reason to tell anyone about the Fairy Forest, the Misty Forest, the stolen fairy sword, or my encounters with the fairies. So, I remained silent as Pandel handled the post-investigation report with Valian before calling me over.
"Since the incident seems to be resolved, let’s move on."
"...Though, I can sense an unusually dense mana aura around you. You must have done something."
As expected, I couldn’t hide it from Pandel.
"Well... I didn’t do much."
"Your mana circuits expanded significantly overnight. Either you had a sudden enlightenment or you’re hiding something. If I had the right tools, I’d inspect your body myself."
"Let’s just say I got lucky and trained all night, which resulted in an expansion of my mana circuits."
We were finally able to leave the border zone, but one thing still concerned me—Bella.
"Where is Bella’s hometown?"
"A small rabbit beastman village near the Elven Forest. It should take about five days to get there at a steady pace."
Given that Bella was a rabbit beastman, that meant five days of travel at her speed. However, since I was overflowing with mana now, I could simply reinforce my body and run, and Pandel, being a half-elf, could manage as well.
"Then we should be able to get there quickly, as long as you don’t mind picking up the pace."
"Go slower. Respect your elders, you little brat."
Of course, Pandel wasn’t the type of elf who could nimbly leap through the forest like in stories. If anything, he was sluggish compared to humans and physically weaker.
Delphine was the same way—after spending 110 years doing nothing but research, it was no surprise her body was weak.
"Ugh... I really don’t want to go."
"You’re the one who dragged me into this mission as your escort. How can you complain now?"
"My whole body aches, my back hurts, the weather is hot and sticky, and this forest is full of bugs. In the Elven Forest, we plant sacred trees to repel insects, but out here, they’re everywhere. And—pffft! Damn spiderwebs!"
Since when was Pandel this whiny?
Sure, he’d always been harsh with me—yelling, threatening to cut me down—but I had never seen him complain this much.
They say people reveal their true nature under extreme stress, and right now, Pandel seemed like the type to get annoyed at simply breathing.
"Hey, kid. Is he always ?"
Normally, he’d use training as an excuse to avoid lying around in the infirmary, but whenever he was forced to rest, he would whine non-stop. This wasn’t much different.
The only problem was that, since I was his escort, I couldn’t just ditch him and run ahead—I had to listen to his complaints the whole way.
In the end, I let Pandel trudge behind at his own pace while Bella and I took the lead. I cleared the path by cutting away obstructing branches and burning spiderwebs with my mana saber, while Bella walked alongside me, her fluffy rabbit tail swaying with every step.
After several days of traveling, what should have taken five days at full speed had stretched to over ten days, and we were currently on the third day.
"Damn it! I just want to tell you to go by yourself!"
"Then should I go ahead quickly while you wait here, Professor Pandel?"
"I’m frustrated because I can’t do that! Those old elves are so rigid in their thinking that if you enter their village without my guidance, the elf rangers will turn you into a pincushion."
It was true—back when relations between humans and elves were tense, elves marked their territory and shot anyone who crossed the boundary. First, they’d shoot an arm to warn them. If the intruder didn’t retreat, the next arrow would go straight through their skull.
Even knights clad in metal armor couldn’t escape their precise aim, as arrows found their way through visor slits. The death rate for knights was even higher than for ordinary soldiers. Some arrows even rode the wind to strike from behind after being fired into the air—an absurd but terrifying display of archery skill.
'If it’s just one or two arrows, I could deflect or cut them down... but beyond that?'
"Also, elves don’t think highly of humans. Since they lack strong sexual urges, they see humans—who, by the age of twenty, are having sex daily—as primitive and barbaric."
"...Isn’t that just their problem for having low sex drive?"
"Elves don’t see it that way. They have no real understanding of how strong other races’ desires are. Though, to be fair, among all races, humans have one of the strongest sex drives, second only to species like orcs. Think of it like how humans react when they see a mass of snakes tangled together in a mating ball for hours. That’s how elves view humans."
As someone who had once participated in such a mating ball with two lamias... what could I say?
'It wasn’t erotic—it was suffocating.'
Snakes don’t do it because it’s fun—they do it out of sheer desperation to reproduce. Though, I had to admit, lamias’ bodies provided a unique experience that I wouldn’t completely dismiss.
"But for a race that looks down on humans so much, there sure are a lot of half-elves."
"That’s because elves don’t care much for sex, so when a human—man or woman—shows romantic interest in them, they tend to fall for it. Either they feel pressured, or they’re drawn to the passionate intensity that they don’t get from fellow elves."
So... elves were easy?
"That’s one reason why they isolate themselves in the forest. If they didn’t, elf men would be seduced by human women, and elf women by human men. Eventually, no pure elves would remain—only half-elves, who can’t reproduce. That would lead to the elves' extinction."
I decided it was best not to tell Pandel about Delphine’s research. If she ever showed up with a swollen belly, declaring me the father, Pandel would probably lose his mind and come after me, yelling, 'Now that you have an heir, I really will castrate you!'
'Wait, if that happens, since Delphine is my senior, wouldn’t that make Pandel my brother-in-law?'
That thought made me suddenly reconsider how I should treat Delphine from now on.
"Enough! I’m not moving another step today."
Pandel collapsed onto a clearing, sprawling out on the ground. Bella and I, still full of energy, exchanged awkward glances.
'Damn, I really want to leave him behind...'
But I couldn’t—he was my live passport into the elf village. With a sigh, I turned to Bella with an apologetic expression.
"Bella, since we’re close to your hometown, why don’t you go ahead? There’s no real danger anymore."
"Hmm? No, I’ll stay with you. It’s not like I’m in a hurry, and it’s not like I’m going home for anything good."
Right, she had said she was returning because she lost her job.
"What will you do when you get back?"
"I don’t know... I can’t go back to my old job, and I don’t really have any special skills. My old friends all have kids now, but I’m still single, and I’ve never even had any experience... Guess I’m just an old maid."
She didn’t seem old to me, but in beastman villages, people tended to marry young—often right after reaching adulthood. For a rabbit beastwoman like Bella, she probably was considered a spinster.
'And once she’s back in her village, working as a bunny girl won’t be an option.'
After all, every woman in that village was basically a bunny girl already.
Seeing her ears droop made me feel strangely down as well. I had some time to kill, so I decided to cheer her up. Walking behind her, I placed a hand on her round, plump backside.
Bella let out a cute yelp, startled. I had given her a comforting pat on the butt—something I often did with Shuru and Silvia when they were grumpy. It always lifted their spirits and made them cling to me for attention.
Beastmen seemed to enjoy being patted on the butt.
Bella’s previously drooping tail curled up into a fluffy ball, and her ears perked straight up. As I continued gently patting her soft, bouncy rabbit butt, she slowly relaxed, her body melting into my touch.
"Why... why are you so good at this, kid?"
"I’ve spent a lot of time around beastfolk."
"That little cat girl?"
"You’re not telling me you do this to her too, are you?"
"It’s purely for comfort, nothing indecent."
"Then why does it feel like you’re rubbing my ass with your palm, huh?!"
Ah. That was just habit.