Chapter 11

Carrots...

Those sweet, delectable treats.

I, Cornelius Bun Bun, am a sophisticated rabbit.

Unlike my simple brethren, I do not eat any common cuisine.

Carrots and apples are my diet, yes-sir.

And today, as I climbed out of my burrow. I caught a whiff of a precious delicacy.

"Carrots!"

I immediately watched my surroundings before dashing to the source of that smell.

The scent became stronger and more prominent as I shortened the distance.

Running at full speed, I stopped.

There it was. A thick and beautiful carrot.

"Oh~" I was mesmerized by its beauty.

I crouched and slowly neared that yummy goodness.

My ears were perched in the air, any notice by humans and other beasts is certain death. I had to be careful.

Despite my gracefulness, the other animals are unable to appreciate my uniqueness and only see me as an ordinary rabbit.

But make no mistake, I am no ordinary bunny.

I eventually stood before it. My ears wagging for any suspicious noises.

My nose began to twitch by the clean scent of the carrot. My stomach grumbled.

I opened my mouth and took a small nibble on the carrot.

Delicious!

While I ate, the sky suddenly darkened. My ears picked up on a noise behind me.

I shrieked before running away. But it was much too late.

I saw a red light coming from beside me. I immediately commenced my bun bun maneuver.

The red light missed me. I began to run in a zig-zag pattern, my tongue flapping as I forgot to close my mouth.

"Damn it..." I heard a voice coming from behind me.

A human! I immediately picked up my speed.

I heard heavy footsteps grow closer. But I was already approaching the bushes, it was impossible for him to catch me.

The shadow behind me then suddenly shifted in shape. The light of the sun began to shift toward me.

I was near to my freedom, just a bit more. But then the shadow appeared once more, it flew over my head and landed in front of me.

Squeal~!

I cursed as my body's inertia had become too strong for me to stop.

The red light appeared again. I watched as the light flew toward me and passed my neck.

I felt something block my throat. A warm liquid spilled out, followed by a stinging pain.

This was it. This was my end.

My eyes glazed over the heavens. There I saw it, the appearance of my hunter.

I felt at peace.

"The red blade... It looks so beautiful."

***

"..." Standing over the body of his recent kill.

Mikael examined it with strange incredulity.

"It's smiling..." Mikael saw this rabbit displayed an array of emotions during his hunt.

He felt uncomfortable.

This rabbit was nothing more than pixels and data. Yet, it felt alive.

"Maybe I'm more human than I thought."

This was the 7th rabbit he had killed since he started hunting in the forest.

Other than a few materials, like rabbit leather and claws, he amassed quite an amount of copper coins.

"This should be enough for the fee." Mikael wanted to leave quickly, this place was far too weak for him to have any actual fun.

He cleaned up the mess before trudging out of the forest. Mikael walked for a few minutes before finally reaching the town.

He met with the guards once more and paid the fee for entry.

Inside, the streets had people walking to and from. Mikael saw as vendors try to sell their wares in small makeshift shops.

Npc's walked in abundance as they interacted with others in peace, as if they were real humans that lived their lives.

Mikael walked down the central path where the small shops, bars and weapons smiths were lined in order.

"Hey, granny. Can't you sell me that charm for 5 copper?"

"AH! This dog shat all over my shoes!"

"Weapons for 3 silver! 3 silver each!"

He took his time in sight seeing. It wasn't common to see such an atmosphere. An atmosphere that seemed ancient.

He arrived at the central plaza a while later. Players loitered around here the most.

He saw a large crowd of players huddled in front of a wooden board. Singular pages of paper were stuck to the wall, each depicting a title, description and a rating.

Mikael glanced at a few in curiosity. He figured they were quests.

[ Slay the Beast King of Mountain Nerth ]

[ A savage and powerful monster has migrated to the mountain of Nerth. Slay the beast in order to protect the town's trade. You will be rewarded: 10 Gold Coins, 8 Flame Enchanted Arrows, and +50 reputation points throughout the entire dukedom. ]

[ Rating: Level 30 at the bare minimum. ]

Mikael was interested in this mission but unfortunately he was only level 3 right now. Unable to meet the basic requirements.

Mikael walked around the plaza for a bit before leaving.

He went and asked a few of the more experienced players for advice regarding faster level ups.

"A yeah, man. I'd recommend the mountains near us. They have the weakest monsters, so if you just grind you can reach level 10, no problem."

"A faster leveling method? Haha, if I had one, would I still be a level 12 noob?"

"Fuck off, I have no time for newbies!"

Mikael really wanted to punch the dirt bag at the end but held back, he was nowhere near strong enough to fight a level 14 player.

In the end, Mikael sat on a curb near a stable. He learned that you can regain your stamina much more quickly under a roofed construct so he considered renting boarding here for a while.

"Inns and houses are so expensive..." Mikael complained, his hands fiddling with the ruby sword.

A young woman stopped as she walked past him. She exclaimed,

"That's one pretty sword."

"Mm? Thanks." Mikael responded indifferently.

"You see, I've been looking for a new sword, my old one broke. Where'd you get yours?"

"I bought it in the I.R. store."

"...The I.R. store? Weapons are very expensive there. You must have quite a bit of money, don't you?"

"Nah, I just made a dumb decision and ended up buying an overly expensive item."

"Hehe, there's no need to be modest. I noticed that you're still wearing your beginner clothes, if you'd like... I can show you where good armor can be bought."

"Really?! But, I don't have a lot of money."

"That's fine, don't worry. The armor in this shop is very inexpensive."

"Okay sure, I'll take a look."

The woman smiled and she amiably offered to lead the way to the shop. Mikael excitedly stood up and agreed in following her.

***

They stopped in front of an old and run down shack. The young woman spoke a few words to him as she led Mikael inside.

The inside was dark with barely any lighting. A few pieces of weapons and armor were on display.

"This is my friend's shop, he sells very high quality items. Plus, his deals always leave people with a gracious smile."

"Yeah? Well, where is he?"

"Um... I guess he's still out. You can take a look around while we wait for him." The young woman smiled brightly.

"Sure." Mikael shined a bright smile as well.

'Bull$#!^, I ain't staying here for him to come back. I'll ransack as much as I can under your guys' noses!'

Mikael already found it suspicious of how the woman would ask about his RL economical status on their way here. But the nail that really hammered him in was how shit the surrounding neighborhood is.

What kind of good and lawful shop owner would sell his wares in an area where criminals and thieves were rampant!

Mikael had just finished forming this possible explanation when he was brought to the front of the shop.

But nonetheless, Mikael still chose to come here. His reasoning being,

'If you're planning to steal my sword, then I might as well reciprocate and steal everything that I can get my hands on!'

Mikael was dirt poor and he felt bad killing rabbits. So he might as well steal from these players who seemed to have bad intentions.

Whenever she looked away, Mikael would swiftly pocket the nearest item to him.

He moved around as he tried not to arouse suspicion. He glanced at the weapons and armor with feigned interest.

'What if she's actually a really kind person and not a scammer?' Doubts then began to form in his head as he shot a few looks in her direction .

The woman had a seemingly kind and pure appearance but Mikael knew not to trust the external looks of a person, he wasn't sure if she was truly a bad person.

'Could it be that I'm actually stealing from a couple of law abiding citizens. And that my excuse of paying an 'eye for an eye' is actually just my way of comforting my good conscience.'

As he pondered, he suddenly heard the woman shout,

"Ah, Darren, you're finally here!"

He turned to look at the direction she was staring at.

Walking through the back door, he saw a tall gruff male enter the shop, tattoos covered the entirety of his arms and neck.

He didn't seem kind. Mikael knew that. The eyes of this man weren't of a decent human being.

Another monster, just like Lowell.