Somewhere on the Korean peninsula, a candidate for king was born.
It was the reason why the villagers and elders were holding a council.
Levinas watched the villagers from a distance.
This was because Levinas was considered the weakest among the beast-kin, a horned rabbit.
Under no circumstances were the horned rabbit tribe included in the council.
So, out of dissatisfaction, Levinas used her specialty in hearing to eavesdrop on the village council.
"We must find and kill the king candidate, but if they are useful, we should accept them into our tribe."
As she listened to the adults' endless debate, Levinas decided to find the king candidate herself.
She was intrigued by the existence of a 'king,' something she had never seen in her life.
She hoped the new king would not ignore her.
With such expectations, she spent days searching for the king across the peninsula.
And soon enough, Levinas found the king candidate.
Thanks to the many people talking about a beast-kin who had taken up residence in the Daybreak Guild.
The moment Levinas saw the young beast-kin girl in the park, she knew.
She instantly recognized that this naive-looking child was the candidate for king of this generation.
Isn't the king candidate too frail?
Levinas even thought she might be able to make the king candidate her subordinate.
But she quickly realized that this was a misconception.
"Gasp...!"
From the girl's pocket emerged a mana stone of a long-lived horned rabbit, considered the pinnacle of the horned rabbits.
The reason why Levinas, the weakest among the beast-kin, could live in the village was thanks to this long-lived horned rabbit.
Only Levinas, a horned rabbit herself, could handle it.
She was allowed to live in the village solely because of her ability to handle the horned rabbit, but now the king candidate had killed it.
She had lost the right to live in the village.
"Ho, ho, horned rabbit..."
"Horned rabbit?"
Levinas trembled in fear.
She despaired, realizing that her value had vanished.
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As I moved to the garden to plant dandelion seeds, Levinas fell to the ground nearby, trembling all over in fear.
"Ki, killed the horned rabbit, killed it...?"
The girl's gaze turned to my pocket.
She must be talking about the crystal orb of the giant horned rabbit I had just shown.
I took the orb out of my pocket again and showed it to her.
"Yeah. This is from the giant horned rabbit I caught..."
"Lo, long-lived, Lord Long-Lived Horned Rabbit—!"
"Lord Long-Lived Horned Rabbit?"
Was the name of the giant horned rabbit I caught 'Lord Long-Lived Horned Rabbit'?
As I imagined the giant horned rabbit in my mind, Sophia approached me.
"What's a Long-Lived Horned Rabbit? I've never heard of it before."
"Lo, Lord Long-Lived Horned Rabbit is the guardian deity of the horned rabbit tribe..."
"Guardian deity?"
Sophia and I expressed our doubts simultaneously.
Levinas looked down and muttered quietly to herself.
"Oh, don't tell me..."
"Ah, I see,"
Sophia nodded as if she had realized something.
Even with only a few words, she had figured out about the Long-Lived Horned Rabbit.
Indeed, Sophia was remarkable.
"Do you understand what that means?"
"Yes, now I understand why the radical faction accepted a horned rabbit tribe. It must be because of this Long-Lived Horned Rabbit."
A horned rabbit that could block the opponent's mana.
If one knew how to handle such a being, even the weak horned rabbit tribe couldn't be recklessly provoked.
In fact, they were considered valuable enough to be kept close as a 'secret weapon,' as Sophia explained.
"But there wasn't a Long-Lived Horned Rabbit in our world, right?"
"They must have believed it would appear someday through the gate."
"Ah, I see."
Indeed.
The gate that spat out anything from other worlds.
They must have believed that someday it would spit out a Long-Lived Horned Rabbit.
I felt sorry for Levinas.
We had killed that remarkable being.
It was as if I had personally diminished Levinas' worth.
"Here, do you want to take this?"
I took out the mana stone of the Long-Lived Horned Rabbit and offered it to the girl.
Sophia quickly stopped my hand, preventing me from giving it.
"Gyeoul, giving away the mana stone might not be a good idea."
"Why?"
"It would be like giving the power to block mana to the radical faction."
Right.
I nodded and replied to Sophia.
"But I've been wondering, what is this radical faction?"
"Oh."
I hadn't explained that yet.
As Sophia murmured to herself, Levinas suddenly stood up.
"I, I am... the great Levinas of the horned rabbit tribe!"
"Uh, okay."
She seemed frightened a moment ago, but now she had regained her composure.
Maybe she was a child suffering from mood swings.
'Such a strange kid.'
Or rather, a pitiable one.
Feeling sympathy, I was about to put the horned rabbit mana stone back into my pocket when Levinas lunged at me.
"Levinas will prove her worth, even if it means death!"
The kid grabbed my pocket.
Surprised by the sudden turn of events, I also gripped my pocket tightly.
Creak—
The struggle continued, and the old pocket's stitching began to tear.
Just as I worried the pocket might burst open.
Boom—!
The stitching tore apart all at once, spilling its contents.
Gardening tools, the Long-Lived Horned Rabbit's mana stone, and fifty unsold horned rabbit mana stones.
In a world that seemed to slow down, the contents of the pocket scattered into the air.
"Yikes!"
Levinas' eyes widened at the sight of the falling mana stones.
She looked as if she had seen a bug, then suddenly, Levinas collapsed backward.
"Hey, are you okay...?"
She stood frozen, arms raised above her head as if turned to stone by Medusa.
She had fainted without any warning.
'What's going on?'
I was trying to figure out the situation, blinking in confusion.
As I gently poked Levinas' cheek, Sophia crouched down next to me.
"The horned rabbit beast-kin must have been scared seeing the horned rabbit mana stones."
"Horned rabbit beast-kin?"
"Yes. Horned rabbits are known to be very timid."
"Ah, I see."
Now that I thought about it, Levinas did mention she was from the horned rabbit tribe.
Perhaps the horned rabbit mana stones looked like human corpses to Levinas.
'Wow.'
Dozens of corpses falling from the sky would indeed be terrifying.
I scratched the back of my head and grabbed Levinas' arm.
"We should move her inside the container."
"…Yes, let's do that."
✧✧✧✧✧
After planting dandelions in the garden and taking a break, I felt someone's presence inside the container.
Had Levinas regained consciousness?
As I entered to check on her, I locked eyes with Levinas, who had just woken up.
"I, I am the great Levinas of the ho, horned rabbit tribe—!"
"Uh, okay..."
She seemed to really like introducing herself.
Not sure how to respond, I just rolled my eyes.
"I, I admit defeat this time! So, le, let me go—!"
"That's not possible."
Sophia, who had come in with me, answered Levinas in my stead.
I wasn't sure why we couldn't let her go, but I had no intention of arguing with Sophia's decision.
"Why, why not?! I admitted defeat..."
"If we let you go, you'll probably run to the radicals and blab everything about this place."
"Uh—!"
This was a dangerous conversation.
Not wanting to get involved, I quietly slipped out of the container.
'Are the radicals and moderates fighting each other?'
I wasn't sure what was going on, but I didn't want to get involved.
For now, I decided to just sell off all the horned rabbit mana stones in my pocket.
It seemed like the girl was scared of them.
'…But I wonder if I'd be scared of mana stones too?'
My ears and tail were similar to those of a cat.
Would I be terrified like Levinas if I saw a mana stone of a feline monster?
I pondered for a moment but concluded it was unlikely.
After all, I was originally human, not a beast-kin.
"Hmm…"
Still, I felt a bit uneasy.
Maybe I should experiment for future reference.
Lost in these thoughts, I was moving away when Yeoreum approached, calling my name.
"Gyeoul, what are you thinking about so deeply?"
"Ah... I just encountered a horned rabbit beast-kin."
"Horned rabbit beast-kin?"
"Yes."
I told Yeoreum all about my recent concerns.
I wondered if, like the horned rabbit beast-kin who fainted at the sight of horned rabbit mana stones, I might also be terrified upon seeing mana stones of feline monsters.
"Are you just curious?"
"Yes. It's better to know in advance."
"Hmm... I'm curious too, shall we try it?"
Yeoreum's eyes sparkled as she placed her hand on my shoulder.
It seemed I had piqued her interest.
"Where do we get the mana stones?"
"There are plenty over there."
Yeoreum pointed towards the guild building.
Now that I thought about it, that was where the mana stone storage was.
If we went there, there would surely be hundreds, if not thousands, of mana stones from feline beasts.
I nodded and followed Yeoreum towards the guild building.
Honestly, I didn't think I'd be startled by the mana stones like Levinas, but it was still a good idea to be prepared, just in case.
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