Chapter 185: A Bunny Girl Should Be a Real Bunny (1)

Without much thought, I placed my hands on her pelvis and started massaging up along her spine as instructed. But upon realizing the position we were in, it struck me just how obscene it looked.

It was as if I was pinning down a defenseless woman from behind, or rather, I had already pinned her down…

"......"

Even Bella, who had been panting from exhaustion, remained silent for about five seconds after I grabbed her hips, muttering a faint "I'll be in your care." Then, she suddenly fell into deep silence, stiffening up as she realized how inappropriate our position seemed.

However, if she suddenly told me to stop now, it would imply that she had been having inappropriate thoughts herself. Not wanting to reveal that, she stayed quiet. And so, I continued pressing down on her pelvis without hesitation.

Crack.

"Hiiiiiik!"

A mixed sound of pleasure and pain escaped her lips.

'Yep, this is the problem area.'

Even an amateur like me could tell that there were parts of her back where the muscles had become rock-hard. I avoided unnecessary touches and focused solely on pressing along the spine, carefully kneading the stiff areas.

Pop!

"Kiiiiyah!"

With a cry that sounded almost like a rabbit’s squeal, I continued to move my hands upward, releasing the tension one spot at a time. I channeled a bit of mana into my fingers as I pressed, forcing the muscles to relax and gradually smoothing out the knots.

'Should I continue a bit longer? Or stop here...'

I had already worked out the most knotted muscles in her lower back, and I was about to let go, but...

'Her reactions are better than expected, so maybe I should keep going?'

If this were just a normal massage, I would have stopped the moment I did enough. But considering how she was trembling slightly and panting in a way that suggested she was feeling good, I had the urge to help her relax even more.

Besides, the way the sweat trickled down my fingers and the curve of her feminine waist beneath my hands was...

"That's enough. Let go and come over here."

Of course, Professor Pandel was right there above me.

Deciding that my treatment was sufficient, he casually gestured for me to come to his side. Reluctantly, I withdrew my hands from Bella’s back, feeling a bit disappointed.

"Professor Pandel, seriously..."

"Yeah, yeah. My dick doesn’t get hard. Must be nice being young and full of energy."

'Good for you, old man. Stay that way forever.'

"......"

As we continued traveling by carriage, we came to a sudden stop before a large tree trunk completely blocking the road.

'A trap.'

It wasn’t just a simple fallen tree due to heavy rains or erosion. The branches had been neatly trimmed, and the trunks were stacked in an interlocking pattern, making it impossible to just push them aside.

Clearly, someone had deliberately set this up to block passage.

"Is there a detour?"

Professor Pandel, sensing danger, immediately considered changing routes, but the coachman shook his head with a troubled expression.

"There is, but there aren’t any villages along the way, so we might run out of food."

"Didn’t we bring extra supplies?"

"Well, since we have an extra mouth to feed now, our rations are running low..."

"Huh? I don’t eat that much," Bella protested as she wiped away the sweat from her run.

But if the one managing the supplies said we were running short, there wasn’t much we could do. We just had to accept it.

"Could just be simple bandits. What’s going on with kingdom security?"

"It’s the borderlands, nothing we can do. Especially on the Sytorax side, where war golems occasionally swarm in to attack centaurs and horses."

"Damn, those crazy hunks of metal don’t give a damn about international laws. This area used to be safe because of the elf rangers patrolling it."

So then, did something happen to the elf rangers?

"Looks like the issue I suspected has come up."

"What issue?"

"You wouldn’t understand even if I told you. The reason is just too pathetic."

Even so, his expression showed a hint of reluctance, as if he was holding back criticism for the elves.

'He sure talks a lot of shit about humans but gets defensive about elves...'

"You think I’m defending elves? Actually, I consider myself closer to humans."

"You say that, but you trash-talk humans way too passionately."

"I only criticize them because I care. You nag at those who show potential for change. If there’s no hope for them, you just give up and leave them be."

'...So does that mean he thinks elves are hopeless?'

Considering Delphine and Pandel’s immense lifespans and their mastery over their respective fields—alchemy and ecology—it's hard to say elves lack potential. Frederica, who had been researching alchemy for 300 years, was second to none in the kingdom, and Pandel was considered one of the foremost experts in ecological studies.

Then wouldn’t a more complete elf than a half-elf be an incredible expert in various fields due to their longer lifespan and intelligence?

'Well, I need to know more about elves.'

In the knight novels I read, elves were excellent swordsmen, skilled magicians, adept in spirit magic, proficient healers, beautiful, tall, and had large breasts—a truly perfect race.

Of course, after observing the twin half-elves, they didn’t seem like such a perfect race. However, they were still more impressive than ordinary humans.

"Even without elves, beastkin often roamed this area, hunting bandits and turning them in to the city, or hunting monsters for bounties..."

"Ahaha... That was back in my grandfather's time. Nowadays, who would want such a tough, low-paying, and unregulated job?"

At Bella's words, Professor Pandel clicked his tongue in disapproval.

So originally, this place was patrolled and kept in check by elven rangers or beastkin bounty hunters, but now, with a security vacuum, such incidents were occurring.

"Whether they're bandits or not, we just need to take them all down."

After all, I was a knight-level combatant, and although Professor Pandel modestly claimed to lack combat ability, he was a magician skilled up to intermediate-level spells.

As long as we ensured the safety of the coachman, the horses, and Bella, eliminating a bandit gang should be an easy task.

"If detouring is impossible, we must push forward. Can you clear this log?"

"I'll cut them apart with my Mana Saber and move them aside."

Zzzzt!

Although the logs were as thick as a person’s torso, they lacked any special mana coating. With a simple slash of my Mana Saber, I cut through three logs in the middle, causing their weight distribution to collapse. Activating my mana circuits, I kicked the log fragments aside, clearing the path in just a few minutes.

"Just in case, I'll check behind us... And right as I say that, I found a trap."

The traps weren't deadly, like flying blades or arrows, but simple snares for small animals and some scrap metal that would make a loud noise if anyone tried to remove the logs. Judging by their neglected state and the frayed wires, it seemed that a bandit group had once occupied this area but abandoned it.

The snare, crudely woven from vines, appeared to be made by a creature with much smaller hands than a human.

Jingle, jingle, jingle.

Intentionally tugging on an old wire to create noise, rustling sounds emerged from beyond the logs, followed by loud shrieks.

"Kieeeek!!"

A group of over ten goblins came charging at us, wielding clubs and rusted farm tools like plows and hoes with broken handles.

"Hah..."

As I mentioned before, where there is one goblin, there are usually thirty. I thought we had put enough distance between us, but I didn’t expect to encounter them here as well.

"Need help?"

"No."

I didn't even need to use my Mana Saber.

Swish!

Drawing my dagger, I charged straight at the goblins, who foolishly relied on their numbers and rushed toward me.

If the others stepped in, the goblins might hesitate and flee. So, I deliberately ran in alone, letting them see my size and hesitate, only for them to gain confidence in their numbers and charge at me.

"Kiek! Kieeek!!"

The goblin that seemed to be their leader—wearing some kind of tattered hide—screamed and led its subordinates toward me. I effortlessly weaved through them, slicing through their spines with precision, granting them a swift journey to the afterlife.

Thud!

Each goblin collapsed in a shuddering heap, their spines severed. With no excessive blood splatter, there was no overwhelming stench, and best of all, I wouldn’t need to clean my dagger or wash myself afterward.

"Kieek, kiiiik!"

The supposed goblin leader, who had been lurking safely at the rear, finally turned to flee after watching all its subordinates die. Fortunately, it wasn't hiding in a cramped cave but in what seemed to be an old hideout abandoned by bandits. I stormed in without hesitation and slaughtered every last goblin inside.

Thud!

After granting the last fleeing goblin its final rest, I checked the interior of the hideout. There were rotting deer carcasses, random belongings likely lost by travelers, and one peculiar bag that stood out as less dirtied by goblin filth than the others.

"Let’s see..."

The moment I saw the black clothing inside the bag, I immediately recognized its owner. I grabbed the bag and returned to the carriage, which had just crossed the log trap.

"What took you so long?"

"You’re not hurt, are you, kid?"

At this rate, it was hard to tell who originally set out together and who joined midway.

Professor Pandel, noticing that I wasn’t stained with even a single drop of blood, nonchalantly boarded the carriage first. Before getting on myself, I handed the bag I retrieved from the hideout to Bella.

"Oh, this is my bag!"

"Is it? I checked the contents and figured it was yours."

The contents weren’t particularly notable—dried fruit for travel, some spare money, and a change of clothes. However, among them was a tight-fitting black outfit and fishnet stockings.

Yes, a bunny girl outfit.

In the capital, human women wore rabbit-ear headbands and fluffy tails, but here, the ears and tails were real, so the outfit even had a hole near the butt for the tail.

"Thank you so much, kid! I had given up on getting my bag back since the goblins had taken it..."

Bella, after checking the contents, immediately went quiet upon seeing the bunny girl outfit, then quickly stuffed it back in and shut the bag.

"Mhm! It’s definitely mine! But you didn’t look inside, did you?"

"I did."

"Why?! So you saw this outfit too?"

"You mean the bunny girl costume?"

At my words, Bella's cheerful expression froze completely.

"You saw it..."

I mean, isn’t it natural for a rabbit beastkin to work as a bunny girl?

Although calling her a 'girl' felt like a stretch given her age, as long as she was pretty, did it really matter?

"Ah, since I retrieved your bag, can I ask you for a favor?"

"Huh...? Oh, yeah, sure. I should at least repay you somehow, even if I don’t have much."

"Can you wear the bunny girl outfit and show me?"

At my request, Bella's smiling face froze in place.

"Y-You kids these days have such weird requests! No way, absolutely not!”