Chapter 165
Chapter 165
After entering into a contract with Villed, a change occurred in Lapin.
The witch’s snake crest that had been on her shoulder had vanished in the blink of an eye.
That mark—the very one she had once tried to scrub away until her skin turned red and bled.
No matter what she did, she could never erase it. The crest had become a knot lodged deep in Lapin’s heart, forcing her to live in fear every single day.
But thanks to Villed, Lapin had severed her ties with the witch.
After that, Lapin found herself thinking constantly.
She couldn’t go on living forever by relying only on Villed’s help.
She felt that she herself needed to change too.
……But reality was always the same.
When a monster appeared in the abandoned mine, Villed told her to hide behind a rock.
Lapin gathered her courage and tried to speak up.
‘I want to be of help too.’
She wanted to say just that one sentence.
But in the end, Lapin swallowed her voice.
“……Okay.”
Once again, all she did was follow his instructions.
Because Lapin had no power. She didn’t possess any remarkable mana, either.
She was ordinary. And because of that, she was powerless.
Wanting to help Villed wasn’t something that could be solved by feelings alone.
If she rushed in recklessly with only her heart leading the way, she would only end up getting in his way instead…….
In the end, Lapin hadn’t chosen anything for herself.
It felt less like they were moving forward together, and more like she was being dragged along.
At this point, wasn’t she no different from excess baggage?
Of course, she knew very well that Villed wouldn’t abandon her as useless.
Though he looked frightening on the outside and pretended to be cold, he was someone warmer-hearted than anyone else.
But Lapin didn’t want to receive one-sided help.
……She wanted to become someone Villed could rely on too.
Could it be that desperate wish had reached somewhere?
Lapin sensed a presence at her side.
Kyupit-?
Something about the size of a hamster…… a cute rabbit?
“……?”
Lapin tilted her head in confusion.
A rabbit wearing a silk hat, with a watch necklace around its neck. She remembered seeing it somewhere before.
Yes, that was it. Rate—the gentleman rabbit she had seen in her dreams.
They used to run around and play together in the blue fields of her dreams.
But compared to back then, it looked much smaller now.
And besides, this wasn’t a dream, was it?
Just in case, Lapin pinched her cheek and let go.
……It hurt. So it wasn’t a dream.
“Rate, it’s good to see you.”
With tears welling up from the pain in her cheek, Lapin hugged Rate tightly.
Honestly, rather than just saying she was glad, she wanted to cheer out loud. She wanted to tell him all sorts of things.
But maybe because of Lapin’s inherently quiet personality, it was hard for her to express more than that.
Kyupi-!
“Hmm?”
‘You want to help Villed, right? Then let’s join forces!’
Rate looked at Lapin as if he were saying exactly that.
“Can I…… help Villed too, like the others?”
Kyupi~!
“How do I do that?”
Kyupit-!
Rate slipped out of Lapin’s arms and began to glow. Then, it soon changed into another form.
Back when she had been trapped in the witch’s Black Tower.
The trigger that had allowed her to break free on her own, without relying on anyone else.
“……An egg?”
Lapin placed the egg on her palm.
An egg wasn’t something another person broke for you. You had to hatch it yourself, breaking out from within.
Breaking it was painful, but at the same time, it marked the beginning of birth.
“……I want to change.”
Lapin carefully clasped the egg in both hands.
“So that I can help Villed, I too……”
……wanted to be reborn.
She wanted to become a more proactive and capable version of herself—someone confident enough to say, out loud, that she would help.
As she gazed at it with those feelings, the egg began to shake.
Crack, crack!
Cracks appeared along the surface of the egg.
Pashak-!
As the egg hatched, a dazzling radiance enveloped Lapin.
“……?”
Before she knew it, a silk hat rested atop Lapin’s head, and a watch necklace hung around her neck.
On nights when the full moon rose, cat ears would sometimes appear—but this was the first time rabbit ears had grown.
“……Ha, ha.”
Faced with this unfamiliar phenomenon, her breathing refused to settle.
But…….
“Ha, hahaha, hahahaha……!”
Lapin was laughing. Had she ever laughed out loud like this before?
It was an exhilaration she had never experienced. It felt as if the tightness in her throat had been blown wide open. Everything felt exciting.
She was definitely still Lapin, yet something felt different.
“Ahahaha!”
Unable to contain this surging power, her legs bounced upward uncontrollably.
Just then, a bear was about to launch an attack toward Villed.
”I have to protect Villed!“
Even the thoughts in her head spilled straight out of her mouth.
It was at that moment, as Lapin dashed toward the bear.
Tick, tick, tick…….
The second hand of the watch around her neck began to move rapidly.
Acceleration.
And then, acceleration once more.
Acceleration stacked all the way to its limit.
Everything around her began to move in slow motion.
Even the arm swinging down toward Villed now looked incredibly slow.
She didn’t know the detailed logic or the principles behind it.
But there was one thing she knew for certain—at this very moment, she was faster than anyone else.
Paaang-!
Bang-!
Lapin kicked the creature’s arm several times, forcibly twisting the angle of the strike as it came down.
To get a full view of the situation, Lapin repositioned herself behind Villed.
She could see it clearly. She had completely diverted the monster’s attack trajectory. This was enough—Villed was safe.
As the rapidly moving second hand returned to normal, time began to flow as it originally had.
Kwaaang-!
The attack missed its mark. Not a single shock reached Villed.
Lapin was overwhelmed by the realization that she had helped Villed in battle for the first time…….
But the situation wasn’t over yet. She had to prepare for the next attack.
”More! Faster!“
Tick, tick, tick.
The acceleration continued.
Once again, she pushed the monster’s arm aside so that Villed wouldn’t get hurt.
Like this…….
Bang!
Kwaang!
Kwaaang-!
Not even once did the monster manage to touch so much as a single hair on Villed’s body.
In the end, Villed was able to defeat it with ease.
“We won, we won! Ahahahaha!”
Laughing to her heart’s content, Lapin felt a refreshing sense of relief.
***
“Villed, Villed! I’m so happy!”
Lapin, wearing a silk hat, hugged me as if burrowing into my arms.
She even rubbed her face all over my stomach, and it tickled a little.
Lapin looked up at me with her eyes sparkling.
“Villed! Praise me, praise me! Pat my head!”
“…….”
Lapin’s aggressiveness caught me a little off guard, but…… just as I was about to raise my hand to do as she wanted—
Bang-!
With a limp sound, Lapin returned to her usual expressionless face.
Lapin quietly pulled away from me and fled behind a rock.
I followed after her.
Lapin’s face, hidden behind the rock, was bright red.
Was it because she was cold?
“Why are you suddenly acting like that.”
Lapin looked up at me, made a slightly teary face, then lowered her head.
“……I’m embarrassed.”
Hearing that answer, a hollow laugh slipped out.
I sat down beside Lapin.
I thought about how the monster’s attacks had kept missing earlier.
There hadn’t been a problem with the monster’s focus.
It was probably…… thanks to Lapin’s ability. I still didn’t know exactly what kind of ability it was, though.
‘Her personality and even her appearance changed, too.’
It wasn’t a form where she had an attribute or gave me a spirit card.
“Lapin, what happened earlier? You even wore something like a hat.”
“I don’t really know either.”
Had her ability awakened unconsciously?
‘That silk hat and necklace… I feel like I’ve seen them somewhere.’
I realized it almost immediately.
“……Rate?”
One of the spirits that had been modified into Lapin’s body. We had even raced inside Lapin’s mind before.
“Villed, you know Rate too?”
The dejected Lapin suddenly lifted her head.
“Rate appeared and said we should help Villed together…… so that’s what happened.”
Hearing that, I let out a sigh of relief without realizing it.
‘So Rate is still living inside Lapin’s heart.’
I recalled the cheerful 모습 Lapin had shown earlier.
‘Then does Lapin use the abilities of the spirits inside her heart? Fusion? Integration? Is this Lapin’s ability?’
There were as many as fifty spirits inside Lapin’s heart.
‘She can fuse with those spirits?’
That was more than the spirits in my Animal Farm……?
A chill ran down my spine.
“Then, can you try doing something with the other spirits too?”
Lapin shook her head.
“The other kids…… I can’t see them.”
It seemed that, for now, only Rate was possible.
Only Ren and I were said to be capable of using six attributes in this world.
Which meant, in theory, Lapin was possible too.
‘Lapin…… isn’t she going to become stronger than me?’
That seemed likely. Each spirit’s ability was already considerable, and if she could handle fifty of them…… her upper limit would be extremely high.
“Here, Villed.”
Lapin held out her hand toward me.
……Then, with a small light, an ‘egg’ appeared.
At the same time, a system message appeared as well.
Time Leap Rate’s Heart
‘As expected, it really was Rate.’
She could even interfere with ‘time,’ apparently.
‘……That’s an absurdly broken ability.’
In the game <Yggdrasil>, there had been only one character capable of interfering with time.
Only ‘Narrow-eyed Luga,’ who reigned at the very top of the world setting.
But now there were two.
‘Lapin’s potential…… is insanely high.’
The more I learned, the more I could only admire it.
‘Is there room for the ability itself to grow? I should also look into the possibility of it awakening into other abilities.’
Lapin was both a spirit and a companion I could entrust my back to.
Compared to obtaining any incredible piece of equipment, having Lapin alone felt far more reassuring.
“Lapin, you’ve definitely grown stronger. You’re on par with me, or even beyond.”
“……!”
Lapin’s eyes sparkled.
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
“……That’s a relief.”
“What’s a relief?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
When I asked, Lapin shook her head.
‘She’s become calm again, like usual.’
It seemed that fusing with spirits also changed her personality. Since each spirit had a different personality, I found myself wanting to see Lapin in many different forms.
‘For now, I’ve roughly figured out Lapin’s ability, and I’ll need to experiment later…….’
I stood up from my spot.
The reason I came to this abandoned mine—recovering the ‘Thousand-Year Butterfly Larva’—came first.
I moved closer to the cave wall and carefully peeled off the larvae stuck under the sunlight.
Then, I took out a Spirit Grass leaf from the Subspace and placed all of them on top of it.
Wriggle, wriggle…….
They seemed to have good appetites; the larvae quickly started gnawing on the Spirit Grass leaf.
Fortunately, they looked healthy.
The natural silk emitted by the Thousand-Year Butterfly Larva depended heavily on what it had eaten most recently.
‘That’s why I’m feeding them Spirit Grass for now.’
They were very young individuals, so it seemed some time would be needed.
And if Lapin was going to participate in combat with me…… I’d have to pick out and equip her with good gear, no matter what.
Even if it took time, I wanted to give her the best items.
I looked toward the place where the bear monster had fallen. The black ash scattered in the wind, and only one thing remained.
‘Then first…… should I try making something temporary with this?’
I picked up the fur.
Ice Rishi Bear Fur
High-grade defensive equipment material
Even if its combat performance was uncertain, it was an optimal material for cold protection.