chapter_0526

526 – The Rival of the Horned Rabbit

526 – The Rival of the Horned Rabbit

“A famous moron,” huh.

Why was I the only one who didn’t know?

Was it because I lived a life cut off from society?

“Ugh.”

I slammed my face into the dirt and grass-covered ground.

As I wiggled my legs up and down in that position, Haneul approached me.

“Master, what’s wrong?”

“Well… the moron I was just talking about… is actually me…”

I glanced back at Haneul as I spoke.

For a split second, Haneul’s pupils stretched into long, vertical slits before returning to normal.

‘Huh?’

That was kind of scary just now.

Did her inner beast instinctively come out for a moment before quickly retreating?

As expected of a tiger beast-person.

It was surprising, but not exactly frightening.

The Haneul I knew was a very kind child.

“Master is definitely not a moron…!”

“That’s right! How can you be a moron for losing to the strongest Horned Rabbit!”

Ahem.

Levinas puffed out her chest.

Come to think of it, Levinas was here.

I was so gloomy that I ended up acting rudely.

“Now that I think about it, that’s true. Horned Rabbits are as strong as cats, after all.”

“Yeah! And now Wang is even stronger!”

I had been diligently leveling up all this time.

I nodded in agreement, but then Levinas said something unexpected.

“Wang is part of the Horned Rabbit family! Horned Rabbits don’t attack Wang! That’s why Wang is stronger!”

“Oh, yeah. But I don’t attack Horned Rabbits either?”

“Gasp! Then you’re both the strongest!”

Hehehe.

Levinas covered her mouth and giggled.

Bomi and Gaeul approached Levinas.

“Levinas, are dragons as strong as Horned Rabbits and cats?”

“Yeah! Dragons are the strongest too!”

“Gaeul?”

“Yeah! Doggies are super strong too!”

“Woof!”

The children were excited by the conversation where they respected each other’s races.

In the meantime, Levinas approached two men who were talking and gave them a stern look.

“It’s a big deal if you ignore the Horned Rabbit’s horns!”

“Uh…?”

They were ignoring Horned Rabbits when a real Horned Rabbit appeared.

The adventurers and aspiring adventurers couldn’t help but be greatly embarrassed.

“The Horned Rabbit’s horns can pierce even steel…!”

“Ah… okay. We won’t ignore them… Horned Rabbits are really strong…”

“…Sorry.”

Levinas was satisfied with their apologies and returned.

Around that time, I could see the anxiety that Hanyeoreum had been showing disappear.

“Did Gyeoul recall some bad memories?”

“No, they’re good memories now.”

“Ah, that’s right. You did, didn’t you?”

Hanyeoreum helped me up from the ground.

She hugged me without caring about the dirt on me and looked around as she asked.

“What should we do first when we come to the beginner hunting grounds?”

“I want to check out the marketplace first.”

“The marketplace?”

“Yeah. I need to see if they’re paying the right price.”

They sold me ten-thousand-won worth of meat for three thousand won, thinking I was a clueless homeless person.

If I had gotten the right price back then, my life would have been more comfortable.

“Ugh.”

A sound mixed with resentment and lamentation escaped me without my knowing.

Hanyeoreum, who knew my situation, patted me on the back.

“Th-that’s true. I didn’t even think about that. But those bad people got punished, so don’t worry too much.”

“They got punished?”

“Yeah.”

Hanyeoreum made a quick gesture of slitting her throat.

I was shocked and my eyes widened.

“Did you kill them…?”

“…What do you think of me?”

“Uh… Merciless to enemies…?”

When I answered with a question, Hanyeoreum pinched my cheeks hard.

“…That’s not wrong, but I wouldn’t kill someone just for scamming me. I just fired them. That spot is given out by the government, you know.”

“Ah.”

It’s a relief she didn’t kill them.

It’s a shame they got fired, even though it was their fault.

I could only hope that nothing like that would happen at this Horned Squirrel hunting ground.

**

We caught a Horned Squirrel to find out the price of the meat.

Levinas was the most enthusiastic about hunting Horned Squirrels.

“Woohoo!”

Levinas grabbed the legs of a living Horned Squirrel and held it upside down.

She looked quite fierce, unlike her usual self.

“Levinas, what’s wrong?”

“Wanga…! There can’t be two horns under the sky…! Except for dragon horns…!”

I could understand through Levinas’s words.

Perhaps Horned Rabbits and Horned Squirrels were rivals.

But she excluded Bom, so it was better to see it as a healthy competition.

“The strongest of the horns are only Horned Rabbits and dragons! Get out of here, Horned Squirrel!”

With those words, Levinas handed the Horned Squirrel to me.

Even though her words were harsh, she didn’t seem to want to kill the squirrel.

Actually, I didn’t want to take the life of the Horned Squirrel now either.

I had learned from Hanyeoreum to respect weak lives.

“Just hold on a little longer. I’ll let you go later.”

“Squeak! Squeak!”

The Horned Squirrel was thrashing around.

I handed the Horned Squirrel to Haneul.

“Haneul, can you go to the shopping district and ask how much they’ll give us for this? Wear this hat.”

“Yes…!”

Horned Squirrels were small and fast, but there were more of them than Horned Rabbits.

Thanks to that, the unit price of Horned Squirrels was low, but there was nothing better than Horned Squirrels for practicing how to catch fast Monsters, so many people caught them.

Haneul took the Horned Squirrel and moved to the marketplace.

When Haneul held out the living Horned Squirrel, the man at the marketplace stall held up three fingers.

“Horned Squirrels are numerous, so three thousand won is the fair price.”

“Yes…”

Haneul returned with the Horned Squirrel.

Three thousand won was indeed the fair price.

Hmm hmm.

As I nodded in satisfaction, Levinas picked up the Horned Squirrel’s legs again.

“I’ll spare you, so admit that Horned Squirrels are below Horned Rabbits…!”

Levinas chuckled and gently put the Horned Squirrel down.

What the Horned Squirrel chose to do after regaining its freedom was to attack Levinas.

“Squeak!”

“Eek!”

Poke- Poke-

The Horned Squirrel attacked Levinas’s legs with its horns.

Levinas, startled, ran around and then ran towards me.

“Wanga! Wanga! Wanga!”

Levinas jumped into my arms.

She seemed quite frightened by the Horned Squirrel’s attack.

I hugged Levinas tightly.

Just as I was about to unleash my wildness on the Horned Squirrel, Saebyeok stood in front of us.

“Get lost.”

At Saebyeok’s sharp voice, the Horned Squirrel hesitated.

The Horned Squirrel, crouching and backing away, soon began to run into the bushes.

“W-wow…! That was a surprise…!”

“Yeah. I was going to spare it, but the Horned Squirrel attacked.”

“That’s right! That’s cheating!”

Tsk.

Levinas, who had gotten down from me, stomped on the ground.

It was anger at the Horned Squirrel who had cheated.

“I won’t let you get away with it next time!”

Levinas shouted, pointing at the bushes where the Horned Squirrel had gone.

Perhaps drawn by the loud voice, a familiar voice came from behind.

“Hey guys! Hey guys!”

It was our friends, Im Dahee and Kim Woosung.

“Why are you angry? Take this and calm down.”

Kim Woosung gave Levinas a card.

It was a tiger card with seven stars on it.

The two of them often exchanged cards like this.

“Levinas showed mercy to the Horned Squirrel, but the Horned Squirrel betrayed her!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! But what are you two doing here?!”

“I was practicing to become an adventurer when I grow up.”

“Gasp! Really?!”

As Kim Woosung nodded, Dahee next to him laughed playfully.

“Woosung said he wants to be a cool adventurer like you guys.”

“Gasp! Really?! Then will Levinas teach him how to hunt?! Will Levinas be the teacher?!”

It was the moment Levinas clasped her hands together and her eyes sparkled.

The bushes in the beginner hunting grounds began to shake violently.

“Guys, something’s weird over there…”

Bomi pointed to the bushes with her finger.

What appeared from the bushes that shook like an earthquake was none other than a swarm of Horned Squirrels.

“Squeak! Squeak squeak!”

“Squeeee!”

I quickly rolled my eyes and counted the number of Horned Squirrels.

I stopped counting when I counted a thousand with my slow-motion ability.

Because there was no end to counting.

“Eeeek!”

“Eeeek!”

A huge number of Horned Squirrels were running towards us.

To be exact, they were running towards Levinas, not us.

No, why are there so many Horned Squirrels all of a sudden?

At this point, it was safe to say that all the Horned Squirrels in the hunting grounds were running towards us.

“W-what is that…”

“Hey, let’s get out of here.”

The aspiring adventurers and the seemingly skilled adventurers also fled the scene due to the strange situation.

It was a rare sight to see Horned Squirrels running all at once.

“This is war! The cowardly Horned Squirrels have declared war!”

“W-war?”

“Yeah! Horned Squirrels and Horned Rabbits have been enemies since ancient times!”

I see.

They’re bitter enemies.

I wondered why the habitats of the Horned Squirrels and Horned Rabbits, which are both herbivorous Monsters, didn’t overlap.

If they didn’t get along, it was definitely possible.

“B-but are they so bad that they’re attacking in such a group…?”

Levinas made a firm expression in response to my question.

“Very bad! They fight as soon as they meet!”

“Ah…”

When I said I was going to the Horned Squirrel hunting grounds, Levinas was happier than usual.

Now I could fully understand why she reacted that way.

“Master! Master!”

Gaeul, who was near the swarm of Horned Squirrels, ran towards me with wide eyes.

I might be able to handle Horned Squirrels well enough, but nonetheless, a scream reflexively came out.

“Nyah!”

It couldn’t be helped that such a scream came out in an emergency situation.

Author’s Note

PIA1747014585384 Thank you so much for reading again today!

Thank you for the comments and recommendations! It’s always encouraging!!!

In fact, when the Horned Rabbit appeared in the early part of the story, it was certain that the Horned Squirrel would also appear…!

The Horned Rabbit in the beginner hunting grounds was inspired by the game “The Kingdom of the Winds”…!

(I’m letting you know again since it’s been a while since they appeared.)

(Woosung is the friend who used to bicker with Levinas over cards, and Dahee is the friend who became close through the Swimming pool playground incident…!Thank you, person who likes to create, for the 40 coin donation!