Fight. Level. Survive.

Chapter 35 - Bunny Wabbit

He didn’t go back to sleep. He couldn’t. He had far too much on his mind.

Did he want to be the kind of person who put his friends in danger? No, of he didn’t, but alternatively, did he want to be alone for the rest of his life, terrified of what getting close to people would mean? Also no.

He was also mad at Mayry for telling her father about the others and scared about what else she might have told him. He trusted her, but he still didn’t know her particularly well.

To top it all off, his mind couldn’t stop wondering back to his fight with Gler. He really shouldn’t have won… he had felt rage like nothing he’d ever experienced and the thoughts he had had. What was happening to him?

After hours of trying and failing to fall asleep, he got out of bed and wandered downstairs, wondering if breakfast was being served yet. To his surprise, a bored-looking Nays was still sitting at the reception, her face buried in a book.

Mason snuck up to her, only a few inches behind the book. “HI, NAYS.”

She jumped, let out a squeaking noise and disappeared into a puff of yellow smoke.

Shocked, Mason leaned over the desk and saw a only bundle of clothes where Nays had been sitting. Oh shit, what had he done?! The clothes started to move. A tiny rabbit poked its head out of the clothes and looked around. It was breathing fast, obviously terrified.

“Nays? Is that you?! What the hell?!”

He pulled the rabbit into his arms and, without thinking, stroked its back, trying to calm it down in hopes it would turn back into the Elf.

After a few minutes of this, there was another puff of smoke, and Mason felt the weight of the rabbit increase dramatically. When the smoke cleared, in his arms was a wide-eyed, very pink and very, very naked Nays. When she had appeared, whatever magic had done, it had also managed to readjust his hands, so he was holding her in a bridal carry.

Neither of them moved for a few seconds. Mason’s own face heated up rapidly.

Eventually, Mason came to his sense and put her down. “I’m so sorry! I don’t know what I did, but I’m sorry!” He was still looking at her, trying to make sense of what was happened, plus he was a guy, so he couldn’t help but-

Nays shouted. “Mason! Stop looking at me! Turn around!”

Mason immediately followed the order and spun around.

After a few minutes, where he heard the rustle of clothes and a few muttered swears, she said. “Ok…

You can turn around now.”

He did. She had retreated behind her desk and gotten dressed. Her face was still very pink and she seemed intent on looking anywhere but at him.

He didn’t know the proper etiquette of what to do after stroking the rabbit form of a girl and then having her appear naked in your arms, so he just said, “Are, um, you okay?”

She sat back in her chair and sighed. “Yeah. That happens sometimes….”

“What do you mean that happens sometimes? You just turned into a rabbit!”

Mason hadn’t thought it possible, but she got even pinker. “It’s my Chaos Ability! Okay! I turn into woodland creatures when I get scared.”

Mason let out a small laugh, then held it back. Then let out another and another until he couldn’t stop.

Nays glared at him, but he couldn't help himself. It was just too absurd. "I'm sorry," he said between laughs. "I don't mean to laugh, it's just...wow."

Nays huffed and crossed her arms. "It's not funny, you jerk! It's embarrassing. What if someone had seen me like that?!”

Mason sobered up and nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do to help? Maybe we can find a way to control it?"

Nays shook her head. "I've tried. The only thing that would help is getting enough Chaos Energy to upgrade the ability. From what I’ve read about people who have had similar abilities, if it did upgrade, it might even be useful.”

Mason frowned. “Then why don’t you go kill some monsters?”

Nays rolled her eyes. "Because it's not that simple! I’d like to see you try and kill a monster while you’re a rabbit!”

Mason chuckled “Okay, fair point.”

He had an idea. He used his Identify skill on her and saw,

Nays Nettlewood - Elf Level 12

While most Elves live in their own communities, some, like Nays, prefer to live in human towns and cities as they find the Elven need for perfection to be suffocating.

“Why don’t I take you hunting? You can’t be that far off from upgrading your ability.”

Nays looked at him sceptically. “You want to take me hunting?”

Mason shrugged. “Why not? It’ll be fun! We’ll stick to really weak monsters. Plus, I’m a Hunter, so I can show you the ropes and heroically save you if anything goes wrong.”

Nays hesitated, looking uncertain.“Will your girlfriend be coming? Maybe don’t mention the whole naked thing to her. I don’t think she likes me much.”

He frowned, “Girlfriend? Who, Mayry? She isn’t my girlfriend, we’re just friends.”

She perked up and smiled, “Oh well, in that case, feel free to mention it to her.”

She stared at him as if she was expecting him to talk next. “Err, so the hunting? Do you want to come with me?”

Nays considered it for a moment before nodding. “Oh, right. Okay, yeah, let’s do it. But if I turn into a rabbit and you laugh, I’m kicking your ass.”

Mason grinned. “Deal.”

“Great! When do you want to go?”

“Whenever, really, my shift ends soon, I don’t know why they even have me here for the early morning shift; nothing ever happens. If you’re not doing anything, we can meet you back here in an hour?”

“Sure, sounds good. Do you know how to use any weapons? Just so I know.”

“Yeah, all elves are taught the bow when they’re young, and I can swing a sword pretty well.”

Huh, this might be easier than he had thought. “Okay, great, I’m going to head to the Hunters Association and find an easy contract for us to do. Then I’ll pick up a spare bow and sword for you. Then I’ll meet up with you in an hour!”

Mason turned to leave before he remembered something. “Oh, what about the people I bought in yesterday did they get settled, alright?“

“Yep, no problem. They have the room until tonight.”

“Good to know. They have some money, so hopefully, they’ll find somewhere in Town they can rent.”

======================

After 30 minutes, Mason left the Hunters Association with a contract perfect for him and Nays. The contract involved dealing with a group of slimes that had been causing trouble for nearby farmers.

Slimes were generally considered harmless unless they reached a significant size, but according to the contract, these were relatively small. There were three or four of them that had been eating crops, and despite the farmer's attempts to scare them away, they kept returning.

Even in this world, slimes were at the absolute bottom of the food chain. If he killed them, they probably wouldn't net him much experience at all, but hopefully, they’d make a good place to start for Nays.

Before he got to the weapon shop, he saw Mayry walking his way.

He had decided he would let Mayry decide if she continued to spend time with him. It wasn’t his place to tell her what to do.

As she spotted him, Mason could tell she wasn’t happy with him.

She marched up to him and pointed a finger into his chest. “What did you say to my father?”

Mason was taken aback. He had no idea what he could have said to would elicit such a response from her, and her accusation really annoyed him. "What do you mean? Are you talking about when he broke into my room, accused me of nearly getting you killed? Or do you mean when he told me that you told him about the 'Others'?"

His reply seemed to catch her off guard, and she recoiled slightly in response. "That's not what I meant. My father said you're going to stop spending time around me because you're scared I'll get hurt again."

“No, he offered me a bag of money to stay away from you, but I told him no. The conversation did make me wonder what else you might have told him, though?”

“I only told him about the ‘Others’ because he had a right to know who kidnapped his daughter! If you’re asking if I told him about you? No, I didn’t.”

There was silence for a few moments while they stared at each other.

Mayry was the first to break the silence. “I haven’t told a soul anything about you. I wouldn’t do that.”

Mason had calmed down a fair bit and sighed. “I believe you, I trust you, I just… your father really got in my head.”

She chuckled suddenly, “Yeah, he does that. Try being raised by the man. He’s actually gotten a lot better, I had a boyfriend when I was younger, and to this day, I don’t know what my dad said to him, but he refused to speak to me again.”

Mason couldn't help but laugh at that. "I can imagine. He's a force to be reckoned with."

Mayry smiled at him, and Mason felt relieved that they could laugh about the situation. He knew that he had grown attached to her, and he didn't want to lose her but he was still very aware that she had nearly died twice because of him.

"Look, Mayry," he began, "I know your father is worried about you, and I don't want to cause any trouble. But I also don't want to stop spending time with you if you don't want me to. So, it's up to you. If you want to continue hanging out, I'm here. If not, I'll respect your decision."

She smirked, “You can’t get rid of me that easily. I think I’ll stick around for a while.”

Mason pulled her into a hug.

“So what are you doing up so early anyway?”

“Oh… after your fathers late night visit, I couldn’t sleep, so I went to go for a walk and bumped into Nays-”

There was a flash of a sneer on Mayry’s face, but it was gone so fast he thought he might have imagined it. “You bumped into her?”

"She was at the Inn reception and…."

Mason recounted all that had happened, him trying to scare her, her transforming into a rabbit, and her then transforming back naked in his arms.

Mason couldn’t help but laugh during several parts of the story, but Mayry seemed to be trying to hold in her laughter. She was getting redder and redder by the second.

“…and so yeah, I’m taking her hunting; I’m pretty curious to see what her ability upgrades into.”

Mayry was red as a tomato by now, “I have a Chaos ability, too, you know! But have fun on your little date.” Then stormed off the way she had come, leaving a very confused Mason standing there in the middle of the street. “What the hell just happened.” Mason shook his head, trying to process the sudden change in Mayry's demeanour. He couldn't understand why she was so upset about him taking Nays hunting, but he decided not to dwell on it too much. He’d get answers whenever he saw her next.

*Ding*

Achievement unlocked! So dumb, so so dumb.

I’m not even fully sapient, and I can see why she’s mad.

Reward 2 points added to intelligence (because apparently, you need it)

Ok, what the hell was going on? This was the first time he had heard from the system in a while, and it was pretty much just talking to him now.

Mason wanted to just have one relatively normal day in this world, so he tried to put it all out of his mind and headed to the nearest weapon shop.