CH 9

Before I even entered the saloon, there was cheerful music ringing from the inside.

“Phewww.”

Daglen, from what I knew, was an advanced tourist city. And as much as it was highly decorative, it lacked much in public safety, and was unfavorable towards dual specimens. So, I would get treated poorly as well, as Jarrod did in the novel.

“All right then.”

I opened the door, after promising myself not to get angry as much as possible.

Ring!

When I entered the door, there were a lot of people drinking early in the day, and some having lunch. 

“…”

And as soon as I entered, the place became silent as if they planned this together. 

Tap.Tap.Tap.

It was so quiet that the only sound you could hear was my footsteps ringing across the floor.

“What brings a dual specimen here?”

Unlike Eradora, the bar owner with a scruffy beard and a smudged apron was very rude.

“I came here to get some information.”

When I said this, the bar owner raised his brows.

“Huh, you decided to talk informally from the start!”

Even with the shouting of the bar owner, I stood firmly on the ground and made an amused laugh.

“I am a dual specimen. Although I look like this, I bet that I am much older than you.”

Even though I was a dual specimen, since I just graduated from the academy, I was probably still younger than the owner. I still made a bluff, since I heard that Rabbitmen are a rare kind. 

“Hmph, you are one lousy talker.”

The bar owner was still uncooperative, but my bluffing seemed to have worked and he no longer complained about my informal speech.

“So, you asked me why I am here, right? I came here to get information.”

I got straight to the point, when I noticed that the gaze around me changed from a vigilant gaze to a more sinister one.

“Information? Not with those empty hands.”

I knew what that was saying. It was telling me to buy something.

“Really? All right. What’s everyone’s favorite drink here?”

I tried to order something first.

“Why would you need something popular? A baby dual specimen like you just needs milk!”

But the drunk crowd nearby joked about milk and laughed out loud.

“Well, everything on our menu is popular at our saloon.”

I nodded at the reply of the owner, ignoring all the laughter nearby.

“Well, then. Just give me the simplest drink you have.”

“A drink? No way.”

But the bar owner refused.

“Why not?”

“We don’t sell alcohol to little kids.”

The absurdity made my ears flap.

“I told you that I should be way older than you?”

“Hmph, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. I do not sell drinks to people who look like kids.”

The people next to me kept laughing about how I should drink milk. I wanted to beat up all of them, but since I wanted to avoid making a scene, I calmed down and then smiled.

“Then, how about food? I can order some food, right?”

The bar owner looked at me.

“There’s nothing suited for a rabbit here.”

“Meat is okay, too.”

The bar owner had a disgruntled face, but when I placed gold coins on the table, he finally moved into the kitchen.

“Hey bunny! Join us and play!”

“Did you come here all alone? Should I accompany you so that you don’t get lonely?”

“If you walk around dressed like that, scary men will kidnap you!”

“Yes, this is not a safe neighborhood for a dual specimen girl like you to be alone. You will be safer with us, how about it?”

The men in the bar kept catcalling and making jokes, but no one really approached me in person due to the rapier on my waist. I looked at them pathetically and waited for the bar owner to come outside from the kitchen,

“Hey bunny, your food is ready.”

I heard the news that my food was ready. But the voice came from the entrance, not the kitchen.

“Rabbits eat grass, right?”

Some tan men with blonde hair, who appeared clearly to be gangsters, approached me.

In their hands were a bunch of weed and grass piles that they seemed to have picked from outside.

“Is this for me to eat?”

I asked in case they were joking.

“Yes. Aren’t you touched?”

They placed the pile of grass on top of a plate slobbered in brown sauce and then waited standing there, as if they wanted to hear words of gratitude.

“What the hell are you doing? Rabbits don’t eat like that.”

And as if that was not enough, one guy flipped over the plate then sprinkled the grass onto the floor.

“Rabbits eat with their mouths, hunched on the floor, you idiot!”

The folks were having fun amongst themselves. My fingers flinched a bit, but I let it go. They didn’t know any better. I just need to get some information and get out.

“Whatcha doin’?”

At that moment, some kid placed his hand, opened wide, and placed it on my head. He pressed so hard that my ears were covering my eyes.

“Go on and eat, would ya? We got this prepared just for you, ya know?”

He then held on to my head and spun it around. My hair was a no-touch zone when I was a man, and my ears when I became a bunny.

“Hmm?”

I grabbed onto the hand of the guy spinning my head.

“Take it away.”

I gave them my final warning.

“Say that again?”

But he ignored my warning.

Crack!

So I grabbed onto his middle finger and twisted it upwards.

“Arghhh!”

His finger was completely curved backwards, and then just like that he fell and rolled on the ground in agony.

“I told you to take it away.”

I had used the same method to get rid of guys who messed with me in the other world, but didn’t know that it would still work in this world.

“How dare a low-life dual specimen like you do this!”

In the end, the ones who flung out their sword first were the ones who picked on me first.

“Guys! Let’s show this bunny how scary humans can be!”

They flung out their weapons and ran towards me.

“Just to make it clear, y’all started this, okay?” 

I flung out my rapier, as I could not take it anymore, and counter attacked them.

“Huh?”

The gangsters were taken back by my fighting skills and couldn’t even get their heads straight. It was as expected from their embarrassing fighting techniques, which was just flinging around the sword as hard as they could. It was not a surprise that they could not win against my high level systemized tactics.

“What are you doing just watching? Come help us out!”

One of the guys who were in pieces from my attack screamed out to the watching men.

“The winner is the one who catches that bunny!”

Others in the bar also crammed in to fight me, but they seemed to have their personal interest to seize me then play around.

Well, of course, that wouldn’t happen no matter how hard they tried.

“This is no regular bunny!”

“Just do something!”

“Well, stop saying that and why don’t you actually do something yourself?” 

The ones in the saloon did not know how to handle me, who was standing on the tabletop and blocking every attack.

“So, is that it? No more? What happened to all the confidence earlier? Are all humans such cowards?”

Although I was once human myself, I provoked the men and bluffed.

“That’s the last of it!”

One of the guys seemed to be triggered from my words and came above the table, but

“Ahhhhh!”

He couldn’t even fling his sword once and fell to the ground.

“This won’t do! Let’s get the security officers!”

In the end, all the people inside the bar scurried away without a second glance behind.

“Hmph. That was nothing.”

I got off the table, dusting off my hands. The saloon seemed to have finally regained its peace.

“Hey bunny, your food is ready.”

The bar owner brought out a steak dish with a whole carrot placed on top of it.

“What the…?”

And then started to panic when he saw the empty place.

“Where is everybody?”

“They all went home.”

“Did you kick them out?”

The bar owner made a frightening face.

“No, they went out by themselves.”

Since they had all run out mentioning some security officer, it was practically true.”

“…I will think of this as a little break.”

Although I worded it so, the bar owner was quick to take notice of what had actually happened.

“So, what was the question that you had for me?”

The bar owner took a seat on one of the bar tops and then asked. 

“Is this carrot for me?”

“Rabbits do like carrots.”

I rolled the carrot over, and then asked while gnawing on the meat.

The bar owner replied as he took his seat on the high-top.

“Not really, I honestly dislike carrots.”

Ever since I was a human, I didn’t like carrots, and the same applied to my current situation.

“Fine, whatever. I don’t think that was the question you were intending to ask. What is it that you really want to find out?”

The bar owner scoffed, then asked me to spit out my true intentions.

“Fine. I heard that there is an illegal colosseum here. Do you know anything about that place?”

When I asked right away, the bar owner let out a sigh.

“Why are you asking about that? What are you going to do?”

As I chewed on the meat, I made a face that questioned why he was asking in return.

“To participate, of course.”