Toby the Bunny Girl is so cute.
That was the only thought Malin had after he actually saw the girl.
Her round face, long furry ears, and fuzzy body—said to be a sign of atavism, pureblood orcs who turn into beasts more often usually also become more formidable, but this degree is difficult to grasp; too little, and it doesn’t accomplish much, girl whose partial atavism, aside from giving her superhuman arm strength, probably only resulted in her smelling really nice.
It’s one thing for the body to revert; if the head goes back too, then it might lead to over-animalization, turning the individual into a beast-man, which usually means losing intelligence and sanity, leaving a shell with only the mind for killing wandering in the world.
"Speaking of which, how is she your cousin?" Leon asked Hiddell more than once, forcing the latter to unveil his family’s information—the girl’s mother was an ordinary mage in the Mage Association, who by chance saved Hiddell’s uncle and had a daughter with him. What followed was pure melodrama: both families detested each other, resulting in a huge fallout, and even the girl was discarded.
Not the best parts to inherit for atavism, and not being a powerful combat orc, the male side did not child.
And on the female side, there was a pure hatred for the child’s paternal lineage—Toby rabbits in the Middle Ages belonged to the ’edible’ category, and the prey’s hatred for the predators never faded away.
Until her master picked her up.
"I took pity on her, so sometimes I’d introduce her to some work," Hiddell explained, glancing at Malin: "What do you say, Malin."
"Braised spicy rabbit head is delicious," Malin said very naturally in Chinese.
No one understood; Faye cocked her head to one side: "What?"
"I mean, Clovis is very cute," Malin quickly corrected himself in Common—shoot, he almost let it slip by accident.
"Right, Clovis is the cutest, much more than my drama queen cousins," Hiddell said.
"But why do you call her your cousin when she should also be your niece?" Malin asked the young man before him.
"She doesn’t use our family name, and I don’t want to upset her," Hiddell pouted.
"I heard that," said the Bunny Girl upfront without turning her head.
Malin stuck out his tongue—the girl’s ears really were too good, hearing their gossip from more than 20 meters away.
"It’s nothing, Hiddell told the truth; I’m the adopted daughter of my master. Speaking of which, I can help take care of the children for you, teaching them some basic spell formations if they have the talent," she said.
"Is this the job Hiddell introduced you to?" Malin asked.
"Yes, my magical gestures aren’t good because my fingers aren’t very flexible." Clovis said this, then turned her head to look at Malin: "We’re approaching the abandoned factory; I recommend we gear up before moving forward."
"Carmen, you can put down the equipment box now," Hiddell said, and the hulking figure of Carmen next to him crouched down, setting the enormous box he was carrying on his back on the ground.
Speaking of which, Malin truly didn’t recognize that this hulk also had giant blood, just as this big guy couldn’t believe Malin carried Frost Giant blood.
Hiddell had prepared well; although the carriage couldn’t make it down the long, narrow road, the equipment box had been brought here, providing enough for everyone to arm themselves.
Maya picked up her crossbow, with her quiver now equipped with silver-tipped bolts; the Leopard Girl helped Faye into a silver-plated breastplate and then got Faye to help her into the same armor.
"Speaking of which, it reminds me of Jon Sheringham; is he alright?" Malin said, putting on his breastplate, then looking at Leon.
"He’s fine, although he was possessed, but you dragged him out of hell. He’s still recuperating recently, so I didn’t ask him for help,"
"What about the others?" Malin adjusted the buckles between the two pieces of armor at his waist as he asked.
"Lager Stretton is busy with his graduation thesis, Richard Doorn is injured."
"How did he get hurt?"
"During the Harvest Festival a few days ago, he was watching a spell demonstration, and a misfired magic orb hit his face, knocking out seventeen teeth, an eye, and half his face; he’s still lying in the Church’s emergency ward."
"He’s the one who got half his face blown off? That’s bad luck!" Malin had heard about this incident and was wondering at the time whose child was so unlucky, not expecting it would be Richard.
"My father used to say if someone is unlucky, they can choke on water. I think this suits Richard well." Leon pulled a short sword out of the box and buckled it onto his weapon loop at his waist.
"But he should be able to get better, right?" Faye took two revolvers out of the box, buckling them to her waist.
"Of course, because it happened during the festival, the Mage Association is paying for the treatment in full, and the Church has also invested a lot. His eye has regenerated, but the pain and itch that comes with regeneration will definitely make him burst into tears," Leon said, seeing Malin take out a thick short stick from the box: "Hey, what’s that?"
"Hey, what’s that?" Hiddell echoed the question simultaneously: "Carmen, what is this?"
"Ah, how did this get in there, no wonder I felt the box was really heavy today." As Carmen spoke, he watched Malin casually swing it a couple of times as if playing with a paper toy: "I think this will be quite suitable for Mr. Malin."