Ch.143143. Rabbit Knight (1)

After my first experience with creating a different world had ended.

“Gregory, I’ll be talking with this person for a while.”

“Okay. Then I’ll go out and look around Totler City in the meantime.”

Perhaps it was because Sophia was a druid with exceptional aptitude for celestial magic, like Grand Master Hecate.

While Grand Master Hecate, who had graciously accepted Sophia’s request for guidance, stayed in this tree house, I stepped outside to tour this ‘Totler City.’

-Creeeeak.

As I opened the door of the charming round-topped house and went outside, the slightly worn hinges creaked, and the somewhat dimming cityscape came into view.

Perhaps it was because the sun was just setting. As the sunset gradually faded between the branches of trees stretching in all directions, painting the sky red, I suddenly…

‘I’m… hungry!’

Maybe because I’d been fasting all day, despite being a druid who doesn’t need food, I felt hunger slowly creeping in. I turned my head this way and that, looking for any local restaurants nearby.

This ‘Totler City,’ true to being built in the middle of a forest, maintained an incredibly complex structure, but looking at it again after some time, I could see it had its own kind of regularity.

Although I was just a low-ranking superior, my enhanced perceptual abilities allowed me to somewhat grasp and navigate the city’s complex patterns.

…Of course, it was still chaotic enough to be described as a complete mess, but as long as I could find my way around right now, that was good enough, wasn’t it?

‘Ah, this way.’

After finding some pattern and wandering the streets, it didn’t take long before I reached my goal—a restaurant district where eateries selling elven cuisine were lined up.

‘Ooh. The atmosphere is killer.’

The restaurants in Totler City were completely different from any I’d experienced before, with designs reminiscent of sophisticated modern restaurants from my previous life.

So while I was contemplating which one to enter… this deliberation didn’t last long.

‘…Ah!’

Following my principle that one should eat local food when traveling, I chose one with a sign explicitly advertising regional traditional cuisine…

※ ※ ※

“Have a good day!”

-Creeeeak.

After finishing my meal at the local restaurant and hearing the server’s farewell, I left… unable to contain my rising irritation, I exploded with anger inside.

‘Argh, seriously!’

And the reason was, naturally, the restaurant’s appalling culinary skills.

In truth, when I first entered that restaurant, I had believed it would meet my expectations.

The elf who owned the restaurant had, surprisingly, shown a professional attitude as a food service worker, suppressing their characteristic arrogance and treating me, a non-elf, kindly.

So, sensing something different, I ordered the chef’s recommendation, but…

The quality of the food that came out was so terrible that I couldn’t possibly overlook it no matter how I tried.

A stew made by throwing in vegetables without any consideration for balance or proportion, bread that was unevenly baked to the point where one side was burnt.

And to top it off, a piece of meat that seemed to have been boiled in water without any seasoning, disgustingly tough with absolutely no flavor.

At first, I wondered if some human-hating extremists had deliberately committed an act of terrorism, but seeing other elven customers happily devouring this awful food quickly dispelled that theory.

The problem was simply them.

While the difference between elven and human taste buds couldn’t be ignored, the bigger issue was the elven race’s fundamentally different approach to food.

Basically, for elves, eating wasn’t about enjoying fine cuisine, but about refueling their bodies with some minimal taste stimulation.

With such a mindset, it’s no wonder these guys produced such garbage when cooking.

Of course, considering that elves might be the equivalent of British people on Earth…

‘Damn it, this is still unacceptable!!’

No, even with that in mind, I refuse to make excuses for them.

The food quality was even worse than ‘those’ British people’s cooking, to an extent that couldn’t be justified no matter how I looked at it.

What made me even more irritated was that the ingredients used to make this garbage were actually top quality.

It was absolutely unacceptable to see ingredients worthy of any high-end restaurant being essentially thrown into a gutter…

‘…They’re really something else.’

My disgust reached its peak when I passed by restaurants specializing in ‘poppy’ cuisine and ‘cannabis’ cooking.

Of course, even in my previous life, certain poppies, especially poppy seeds without opium content, were commonly used in baking for their sweet and crispy texture.

And the drug component of cannabis, being fat-soluble, was easy to mix into various dishes—I remember in some countries in my previous life, it was used in jellies, candies, and even in any food using oil or butter…

But seeing places advertised as ‘poppy specialty restaurants’ actually using ‘opium’ rather than ‘poppies,’ and witnessing opium-laced wine being sold at premium prices in the market, I abandoned all expectations.

If this had been some other kingdom, I might have dismissed it as just ‘medieval being medieval,’ but seeing it in a somewhat developed place made the shock all the greater.

It’s like the difference between viewing drug trafficking in an impoverished country versus in a developed nation.

If I hadn’t had any expectations to begin with, I wouldn’t have been disappointed, but because I had some hopes, my disappointment was all the greater.

‘Sigh, calm down. Let’s calm down…’

But my excitement ends right here.

Having vowed in my heart never to buy food in this city again, I started walking back to the tree house along the now-darkened streets.

The streets of Totler City, with the sun almost completely set and growing dim, were well-lit by floating lights reminiscent of fireflies.

Their slightly yellowish glow gave a warm, fairy-tale-like feeling—this beautiful scenery created by the forest’s mystique momentarily captivated me.

I tried to take in this night view, pausing briefly before moving to a better spot to appreciate the scenery.

And after walking for about ten minutes, immersed in the atmosphere…

[Ugh… ugh…]

From somewhere, a sound like someone groaning in pain reached me, so faint that only a superior-rank being could hear it.

[Urgh, ugh…]

‘…Huh?’

At first, I thought I might have misheard, but when I realized these groans were repeating several times, things changed.

‘…!!’

Quickly focusing my senses and using my enhanced awareness as a superior-rank being to scan the surroundings.

My life energy detection ability, which worked almost like a radar in my mind, sensed some life energy nearby.

‘…Hmm?’

From what I could tell, it was definitely mid-rank, but the life force was faint and flickering as if it could be extinguished at any moment.

No matter how conscienceless and hypocritical I might be, I couldn’t just stand by while someone was dying.

So I hurriedly moved toward where I sensed the life energy…

“…!”

The being at the source of the life energy was none other than a rabbit with a peculiar appearance.

This rabbit, about 1 meter tall, had a body shape that seemed designed for bipedal walking… a form that certain ‘specific humans’ would absolutely adore.

What particularly puzzled me was that this rabbit was wearing clothes and had an appearance quite different from the beastmen I commonly knew.

As far as I remembered, beastmen in this world typically had a human-like appearance with just animal ears and tails. Unless this was a primitive beastman from the New Continent… a bipedal rabbit like this was truly rare to find.

Moreover, according to my senses, this rabbit I was facing wasn’t even a beastman… but a type of magical beast.

In other words, this small being was essentially a bipedal rabbit straight out of a fairy tale.

“…”

So after standing there dumbfounded for a moment, I suddenly realized this wasn’t the time for that and approached the rabbit to see what was wrong…

-…Growl.

After a clear growling sound from the rabbit’s small stomach echoed through the narrow alley,

I finally realized that this creature was near death simply due to hunger. With a deflated feeling, I thought:

It felt like all my energy had just drained away.