Chapter 18

Son-con – Vol . 3 Ch . 18

Lucia crouched on the ground and stared at the empty prairie before me to determine the direction . Ah, she wasn’t trying to determine our location but rather where the white deer king ran off to .

White deer king and elves are the same because they’re both beings that possess powerful mana . As such, traces of mana will be left behind once they move . Subsequently, if you want to pursue a white deer king, you need to trace the track of mana it left behind . If we can’t find the white deer king, we’ll need to spend a lot of time searching for a white deer king .

Most of the time at a deer hunting festival is spent searching . Once it has been found, pursuing and killing it is a quick matter . Hence, Luca and I were already ahead of the other groups . We’ve already completed half of the event . We just need to locate the white deer king again and then kill it .

“Alright . ”

Lucia stood up with satisfaction and then said: “Your highness, please come this way . It looks like the white deer king ran back into the forest . I think the probability of us finding one in an open area is quite low, so it looks like we’ll have to kill it in the forest . However, it’s late now so it wouldn’t be wise to enter the forest now . Let’s set up camp here . Your highness, please help me find some branches around the perimeter of the forest . ”

I nodded, looked at the sun setting and replied: “Alright . ”

To be honest, this is a little different to the deer hunting festival I imagined . We walked hand-in-hand, chatted and flirted the whole entire time . When Lucia saw berries, she plucked them and shared them with me . We haven’t even left the open area here yet . This feels more like a honeymoon or a date!

But we were earnestly searching for traces of the white deer king . I have mom’s acts of cheating to thank for allowing us the luxury to be relaxed .

I arrived at the perimeter of the forest and glanced at the forest . There’s a faint light inside the forest when the sun is out . It looks really holy and beautiful, but once the sun goes down, the forest becomes dark . A cold wind blew towards me from inside the forest, whistling like a cry which made me shudder .

I sneezed . I don’t want to enter the forest even if Lucia asks me too . I went around the forest and collected snapped branches one after another while Lucia was at a large tree in front of the forest using rocks to try and light a fire . To be frank, I still don’t know what we’re going to eat tonight… . Lucia didn’t mention what she wanted to eat either . Perhaps it’s because elves are able to withstand hunger . It’s common for elves to not have proper food sources, and settle with grilled meat, beer and berries for the day .

As for me, I’m a half-blooded elf . I won’t die from starvation if I don’t eat in the evening, but it feels like something is missing if I skip dinner .

Rustle, rustle!

Just as I was thinking about food a rustling sound suddenly came from behind me in the forest . I turned my head around and saw a lump of white . It was about as tall as me, furry and white, had two long ears and it looked at me with a pair of blood-red eyes . It flapped its mouth as it chewed something .

Is it sitting or is it crouching? Its two forepaws were curled up by its chest . It looked at me as if it were struggling to determine what I was . I think it weighed roughly double my weight! A big thick white blob ball of flesh just appeared before me like that and focused its gaze on me .

You must be a rabbit!!!

A rabbit as tall as a human!!

You’re a rabbit no matter how I see it! That’s it, you’re my dinner tonight!!

I threw the branches I had collected down and leapt at the rabbit like a tiger leaping at its prey . It may be a rabbit as tall as a human, but it’s just a herbivore . It can’t possibly be crueller than me . I don’t know why I didn’t pull out my gun and leap at it either . Maybe it was because my imagination told me to leap at it and bring it under control, and then skin it and it’ll be edible . That’s what army veterans say, right?

And so, I leapt at it .

And then, I got rocked… .

The rabbit punched me on my chin with its forepaw . It struck so hard I saw stars . I felt humiliated . If I lose to a group of white deer kings then so be it, but even you think you can push me around?! I’ll put all my pride as a human on the line today to beat your ass! I grabbed its fur in one hand and then viciously smashed its eye with my other hand .

It cried out in pain . It was the first time I heard the cry of a rabbit . I then got sent flying . My lower abdomen felt like it took a deathblow that nearly made me puke . I rolled around on the ground several times . No wonder why people call it the “rabbit’s rising kick” . The kick hurt like hell .

I had a handful of rabbit fur in my hand . You might not believe me, but I was hit so hard by a rabbit I was wailing on the ground… .

The rabbit didn’t run . It instead roared and then started hopping aggressively . It looked like it intended to stomp me to death! You may be a rabbit, but you must weigh like two-hundred kilograms . If you stomp on me, I really will die!! I didn’t care about honour or pain anymore at that point . I clumsily reached for my gun at my waist, whipped it out at fired six consecutive shots at it .

After the smoke passed, it became a blob of meat before it could jump on top of me and landed heavily on top of me . It dropped so hard it nearly winded me . I mustered up my strength to push its corpse away and then stumbled to stand up . I sat on its furry corpse and reflected on life .

I got bashed by a rabbit dammit! I got bashed by a rabbit! And I almost got bashed to death by the rabbit… . It looks like this world doesn’t suit me well . If I can’t beat humans, then so be it, but even a rabbit…?

Lucia appeared in front of me with her dagger still in hand . After scanning the surroundings nervously, she saw me leaning on the rabbit, and said in a surprised tone: “Your highness! Are you alright…? Ah… A rabbit . ”

“Yeah, a rabbit . ”

I nodded and then struggled to get back on my feet . Did that kick injure my organs or knock a lumbar disk of mine out? Whatever the case, my body was hurting . I was in a bad mood . I felt a sense of helpless powerlessness .

“You killed a rabbit, your highness! This is great, we can grill a rabbit tonight… . But why do you look so down, you highness?”

“The rabbit hit me… . ”

“…Sorry, what did you say?”

“The rabbit hit me… . ”

I beg you, stop asking me . I’m about to cry here .

“You wrestled with the rabbit?!”

Lucia was surprised and puzzled at first . Immediately after, she burst out laughing . She grabbed her belly as she laughed . She was close to rolling on the floor laughing . I looked at her helplessly . I got beat by a rabbit like this and yet instead of being concerned about me, you’re enjoying my suffering? This is the first time I’m suspecting the authenticity of your feelings for me, Lucia .

“Hahahahahaha… . Sorry, your highness . It’s not… I just don’t understand why you wrestled with a rabbit… . You have a gun and yet you wrestled it . I don’t quite get it . And you didn’t win either . Hahahaha! This is hilarious!!”

I beg you, please don’t kick a downed man… . And who said I didn’t win?! Look who’s lying dead here! I helplessly smiled wryly and then said: “I… I…”

“It’s alright, your highness . Rabbits are very strong combatants . It’s not strange for you to not be able to defeat it . It’s just that the reason that you’re the first person to not defeat a rabbit is because you’re the only one who has attempted to tussle with a rabbit . We all either use bows and arrows or traps to kill them . I don’t think there’s another who’d wrestle with a rabbit like you . But isn’t that good? We’ll have more meat for dinner, and you can treat that as revenge . Come, your highness . Please grab its other leg . Let’s drag it back . ”

And that was how the future Hero King, Troy Galadriel lost his first fight miserably . That rabbit could brag to countless others and those of the next generation for a long time .

It could boast: “You may not believe me, but I fought that guy and even beat him! And he was the one who started the fight first!”