CH 8

On the following day,

“So, Aris,”

Victor approached me with a serious face.

“Where do you plan on going now?”

That was undecided, of course.

“To the city. There’s definitely something there.”

I had no choice but to make stuff up.

“Then, you must be planning to go to Daglen.”

Daglen? In the novel, Daglen was the first city to which Jarrod entered, and there was an episode where Jarrod won in the match in the basement colosseum.

“Yes. That thing is there, right?”

To make sure, I asked Victor to find out more information.

“Yes. There is talk that in that city’s subground, there is an illegal colosseum. That there is a great organization of power that even the lord of the land lets it pass by.”

Victor immediately spat out the information that I was looking for. It was to my expectation. Jarrod was the one to gain fame at the colosseum, but I will be the one to destroy it. 

“Can you give me a ride, by any chance?”

When I asked Victor, since I didn’t feel like walking the entire way, he answered.

“Of course, that’s no big favor for a friend.”

And so I followed Victor to the entrance of the village.

“Hmm? Is that the act of the townspeople?”

The dead body of John Palestine was stripped naked and dangling from a big tree. Looking at how terrible the condition of the corpse was, the townspeople seemed to be punishing him even after his death. 

“Yes, because the townspeople had a lot of pay back to do.”

And, next to him was the middle-aged man who I kicked in the balls. Hearing from his moans, he still seemed to be alive.

“Him, too?”

“Yes, we went easy on him…since…he can no longer be a man.”

To be honest, I felt a little pity for him, but he deserved it. If I were a regular bunny, he would have become the mayor of the town and made the townspeople suffer even more, and Victor would have been dead.

“Peter, give Aris a ride along the way to Daglen.”

The name of the carriage owner seemed to be Peter, who appeared to have just turned 18. In the luggage, there were eight logs of hardwood. To be an entrepreneur at such a young age, Peter seemed to be a smart kid.

“This…this person?”

Peter, as if giving me a ride was a shock, dropped his jaws.

“Why? You don’t want to?”

From Victor’s question, Peter turned his head to the right and left strongly.

“No, mayor sir! I will give her a first-class ride experience!”

He was very diligent for his age.

“I would like to come along as well, but I have a lot of work to do.”

Victor looked at me with a sorry face. To be honest, there was no need for him to go out of his way.

“It’s all good; I’m not a kid.”

It would have been too much as well. And just like that, I tried to get on the carriage, and 

“Please take my hand, Aris!”

Peter let his hand out, as if I were some royalty.

“How thoughtful.”

I didn’t have a reason to refuse his kindness, so I held his hand without thinking.

“Gasp!”

At that moment, Peter let out a choking sound then seemed to be lost.

“What’s wrong?”

When I asked with my eyes blinking, Peter came back to his senses then shook his head again.

“It’s noth..nothing!”

I sat next to Peter after his help.

“Gulp.”

I could hear Peter making a dramatic gulping noise.

“Are you all right? Why are you so stiff?”

When I asked, Peter stood up from his seat.

“I’m not nervous at all! I’m fine! Really!”

“Is that so? Victor, can I trust this guy?”

I asked Victor, who was looking at Peter with a pathetic face.

“You can, he has been doing these kinds of errands ever since he was little.”

I guess I can trust Victor’s words.

“Let’s get going, Peter. Farewell, Victor!”

“All right. Take care. Let’s meet again if we are meant to do so, Aris.”

Victor gave me a farewell good-bye, and the townspeople who followed and the ones working outside waved good-bye.

And the carriage headed towards Daglen, slowly following the path.

While heading, I was asked questions such as 

“Your name is Aris, right? Let me know if your seat is uncomfortable.”

or

Everytime the carriage shook a little bit,

“Aris! Are you all right?”

Peter would try to take better care of me, still stiff and awkward.

“You don’t have to try so hard, I’m really fine.”

I thought that in the beginning, he was taking care of me because I saved his village.

“No way! As long as you are on my carriage, I have the duty to protect you!”

And everytime he would talk to me, he would glance at my face or my thighs, which made me think that he had ulterior motives.

“Peter.”

“Yes?”

“I get shy when you look at me like that, you know?”

And to tease him, I smiled and acted to be shy. Peter turned bright red.

“I am sorry! I showed the savior of our town disrespect!”

Peter freaked out. Haha. He has a cute side to him.

“No, I wouldn’t go that far to call it disrespect…it’s something that just happens at your age, I understand.”

It’s not that I didn’t understand him. If I were a man and there was a bunny like me riding along, I would not be able to help myself but keep staring. He just didn’t have that much experience with pretty women, so acted without experience.

“….”

Blushing, Peter only looked ahead, gripping onto the reins tightly. Looking at this made me just want to tease him more.

“Don’t you think that you are only looking straight ahead?”

“Not at all! I will be aware of all the surroundings!”

“It’s okay. If you want to look, look all you want. I’m fine.”

As soon as I finished saying this, his eyes gazed directly towards me, and then returned. He then closed his eyes tightly.

“Can you see with your eyes closed?”

“It’s all right. I have taken this road so many times that I can go with my eyes closed.”

“All right, then. I will take a nap, please wake me up when we get there.”

I crossed my hands behind my head to use as a pillow, then closed my eyes. Peter kept focusing on driving the carriage, without replying.

And after a while,

“Aris?”

Peter called my name with a shaky voice, but I felt as if we were still far from the destination. If we had reached Daglen, I wouldn’t be hearing the carriage moving, and would hear noises from the city. And he whispered, as if he wasn’t really trying to wake me up.

“You are still sleeping, right? You are not going to wake up?”

Since he asked like this, I pretended to keep sleeping, without replying.

“No, way Peter. You are crazy. You must endure it. You are not a little kid anymore. Don’t .”

And Peter talked to himself. I started to get curious about what he would do.

“Gulp.”

After Peter took a loud gulp, I could feel something like a hand on my thighs.

That was a shocker. I could feel his hands on my bare thighs and began to wonder whether I should wake up. Did he really think that I would not wake up from him touching me just because I didn’t answer him?

I didn’t know how to react to this, whether to beat him up being the man I am, grossed out, or to understand him being a woman. He wouldn’t have done this if he knew that I was a man. I didn’t think that he was gay…but then wouldn’t this be considered a serious criminal offense? Should I get angry? How did the women who I have been with react to these kinds of things?

And as I debated inside my head, Peter’s hands started to move slowly. I guess he got the courage after noticing that I was still asleep.

But, because I was so ticklish, I moved a little.

“Gasp.”

With the sound of his surprised voice, the hand on my thighs disappeared.

“Haaaaaawwww…”

It would be more awkward if I kept on sleeping. When I made a loud yawn stretching and pretended to have just woken up, Peter was bright red and looking ahead. 

“Peter, do we still have a long way to go?”

When I asked, pretending to not know anything, Peter glanced quickly towards me.

“Huh? Oh, yes. We will be there soon!”

And of course, after that, nothing happened. 

When we reached Daglen, everyone stared at me, as expected.

“A dual specimen?”

“She looks like a bunny, right?”

“A dual specimen in our city..unbelievable…”

The reactions were similar to that of Eradora. The only difference was that there were more negative reactions.

“I arrived comfortably, all thanks to you, Peter.”

As I thanked him hopping out of the carriage, Peter nodded.

“Sure thing! I arrived well thanks to you, too.”

Peter had a face of relief. He seemed to be relieved that I wasn’t mentioning anything about what had happened earlier,

Which made me want to tease him more.

“Yes, I’m sure you did. Touching my thighs and all.”

“Yes..I…..wHAt?!”

Peter almost fell off his chair, as if he had no idea that it was coming.

“You really thought that I wouldn’t notice?”

“Ummm…well….I…this is..umm….”

Peter, as if he were so shocked, couldn’t even talk in complete sentences. I laughed and walked away.

“Oh, and Peter.”

I wanted to tell him these words before I left.

“If you do the same to other women, you will get slapped in the face.”

“Other women…huh?”

Peter seemed to be spacing out, as if my warning paralyzed him.

“First, I should head over to the saloon.” 

And so I left Peter and headed to the nearest saloon, to get more information.