If that happened, Beni would have to spend the rest of his life in rabbit form. But he didn’t particularly dislike that. Though there were many more restrictions than when living in his original form, living as a rabbit wasn’t bad either. Rather than being caught and kicked out while sneaking around like this, living as a rabbit for life was much better.
However… there was no guarantee the Demon King would accept just any rabbit.
Perhaps the Demon King’s rabbit possessed something truly amazing. For example, having golden fur, or jewel-like eyes, or being very smart and helpful to the Demon King.
The rabbit crouching in the corner suddenly examined his own appearance. His long fur couldn’t be groomed properly, so it was tangled in places and grimy with dirt and dust.
The Demon King wouldn’t like such a dirty rabbit.
Beni belatedly licked his plump, short front paws for no reason and rubbed his face, but the dust accumulated all this time couldn’t become clean in an instant. Just as he was about to give up and return, something sparkling in a corner of the corridor caught his eye.
When he approached with both ears perked up, it was a yellow button-shaped brooch that seemed to have fallen from someone’s clothes. The rabbit’s equally bright yellow eyes sparkled at the brooch with round yellow cubic zirconia.
‘Th-this is it…!’
The rabbit looked down at the brooch happily, but was hesitating because it looked much more valuable than the button he’d picked up before.
Hssss—!
At the rough hissing sound, Beni jumped and turned around. A giant snake was puffing up its body while baring sharp teeth.
Eek! A thin, high-pitched scream echoed through the corridor. Where did it suddenly appear from? Beni’s whole body froze at the suddenly appearing snake. The dark green snake shook its tail rapidly left and right as it crawled toward Beni.
Its S-shaped body wriggled and moved at fast speed to eat the delicious-looking prey. Beni watched that scene in instinctive fear for only a moment.
Kyaak! The snake bared its sharp teeth and sprayed something. That liquid dropped right in front of the rabbit’s front paw, narrowly missing. There was only one liquid that came from a snake’s teeth.
‘P-poison!’
It wasn’t just any snake. Only then did Beni snap to his senses and immediately ran backward. In the midst of it, he didn’t forget to bite the brooch in his mouth.
However, the snake was not slow either. At this rate, he’d surely be caught soon and die. Beni was innately not very good at stamina, so his breathing was already getting heavy.
‘What should I do? What should I do?’
Inside his small head, all kinds of warning sounds beeped loudly. When he glanced back, the snake was following with its mouth wide open trying to bite his hind legs. Just as he thought he was going to die now, the stairs going up to the fourth floor came into Beni’s view.
If he had to choose between dying bitten by that snake now or getting caught by the Demon King and kicked out, the Demon King was much better. The rabbit nimbly turned his body toward the stairs as if bouncing.
At the sudden change of direction, the snake slipped, but for a monster that had lived eating all kinds of monsters in the wild, it was familiar work. Without panicking, the snake turned its head and chased Beni who was hopping up the stairs. The snake also climbed the stairs without hesitation and soon caught up to Beni.
The precarious distance suddenly narrowed, and the snake opened its mouth wide, coiled its body like a spring, then extended and flew up.
Chomp.
Squeak! Finally, Beni’s hind leg was bitten firmly. At the pain of his flesh being pierced, the rabbit screamed and frantically flailed his hind leg. The sparkling yellow brooch fell to the floor with a thud.
He felt something being injected into his body, and soon after the snake released its mouth.
Wheeze, wheeze—the rabbit’s breathing instantly became rough. It was surely poison. His vision seemed to blur strangely, his heart pounded rapidly, and his head became dizzy. Especially the bitten area went numb as if paralyzed, drooping down as heat spread.
Looking at the panting rabbit, the snake licked its tongue in victory. Its thin tongue came out and went back into the air with swishing sounds.
The snake that attacked Beni was a monster called a ‘Drunk Juice Snake,’ known to cause paralysis along with loss of sense of direction when bitten, soon making one lose consciousness and faint.
However, this was when the snake bit beasts or weak monsters—for strong monsters or demons, it gave a feeling like downing hard liquor, so they more often caught them to make snake wine instead.
The snake waited for the white rabbit before it to faint. Nothing was better to tear and eat than prey that had drooped down with muscles losing strength.
However, the rabbit didn’t faint even as time passed. Just as the snake felt something was strange, the rabbit’s eyes that had been trembling in fear until just now looked directly at the snake. That gaze was somehow off.
Beni wasn’t a simple rabbit. He was a half-blood with demons.
Thump thump! The rabbit stomped his hind legs violently. At the instantly changed momentum, the snake instead panicked and began to back away. Just as it wondered what was happening, the rabbit jumped up and flying-kicked the snake’s rigidly raised head with his hind legs.
Kyaaak! The snake’s head snapped sharply to the side with its mouth still open and staggered backward. Did the rabbit that had been running away like a mouse just now hit me? Unable to grasp the situation, the snake stared ahead stupidly, then this time was continuously beaten by the front paws.
“Hiss, kyaaaak!”
The snake being hit became indignant at the fact it was truly being beaten by a mere rabbit. It puffed up its neck even larger and stood up abruptly to threaten the rabbit.
However, the rabbit with fluffy white fur tilted its head at an angle, glared, then clicked its tongue.
At the rabbit’s appearance, the snake recalled the group of three monsters it had seen when wandering the forest. Those thugs who blocked off the spring water area and didn’t let anyone drink the spring water unless they offered food…
The snake finally realized something had gone wrong, but it was already too late. The rabbit bared sharp teeth and charged at the snake. Beni was a carnivorous rabbit.
* * *
“Mm.”
Ruan, who had his eyes closed on the bed, frowned. Not only were curtains drawn on all the windows, but there was even a sound-blocking spell cast in the room. Yet for some reason, it seemed noisy outside. Eventually, his red eyes snapped open and flashed in the darkness.
There were occasionally those who invaded the castle trying to kill him. Ten times just last week. Of course, they were all caught before entering inside the castle walls. After issuing the slave-hunting prohibition order and crushing several merchant groups that had been kidnapping other races from the surface, there seemed to be a lot of dissatisfaction here and there.
Not that he cared.
Ruan strode toward the bedroom door and flung it open. And the scene that appeared before Ruan’s eyes was—
For some reason, a fluffy ball of white fur covered in red liquid was lying sprawled on the floor, and beside it a giant snake lay collapsed bleeding. Just as Ruan froze with bewildered eyes, the rabbit that had been facing away slowly turned its head.
Hup—Ruan had no choice but to cover his mouth, too surprised.
Because his rabbit, cute, adorable, lovely Beni, was glaring at him with blood smeared around his mouth.
“Ra-rabbit, no, Beni…”
Thump thump—the rabbit with both long ears rigidly raised stomped its hind legs fiercely. Ruan hadn’t expected to encounter the rabbit like this, and that appearance was so different from what he’d known all this time that he froze in place. For a moment he wondered if it was a different rabbit, but there was no way Ruan wouldn’t recognize Beni.
Even with a fierce gaze like a wild monster, those bright yellow, sparkling jewel-like eyes and silk-like white fur were all uniquely Beni’s. Only then did Ruan realize the snake Beni had bitten was a Drunk Juice Snake.
Ah.
He’s drunk.
If he drank the Drunk Juice Snake’s blood directly, it would be the same as downing hard liquor. Realizing why Beni was suddenly like this, Ruan couldn’t help but burst into laughter. He covered his mouth slightly and laughed quietly, and in the meantime, Beni turned direction and approached Ruan.
The white rabbit staggered toward Ruan and stopped in front of his feet. Then he stood up abruptly and put force into both front paws, whack, scratching Ruan’s calf.
‘Move, you handsome bastard.’
Drunk Beni didn’t have a very good temperament.
