Chapter 15
The rabbit in front of wasn’t a real rabbit.
It was sothing like a spirit, serving as the ssenger of the Beast God ‘Bestia.’
No, in this case, perhaps “holy spirit” was a more accurate expression.
After all, this was sothing influenced by a divine being.
The black rabbit statue I had picked up today was apparently a divine relic of Bestia, and by awakening Bestia’s ssenger, I had been chosen as its contractor.
When great hardships ca to the Beastman tribes, the divine relics of each tribe would seek out contractors like this, and those contractors would be burdened with the duty of guiding the Beastn as leaders.
By contracting with the rabbit statue like this, I had beco the guide of the Rabbit Tribe.
“Beast God Bestia?”
The na was very unfamiliar to , but it wasn’t sothing I couldn’t accept.
In a world where Divine Power obviously existed, the existence of a Beast God worshipped by Beastn wasn’t that strange.
A world where Divine Power existed, where temples and priests existed.
It wouldn’t be strange if saints suddenly appeared, nor would it be unbelievable for a Beast God to send down its ssenger.
And since its very na was Beast God, it was only natural that its ssenger was an animal.
To begin with, I had transmigrated into a world full of monsters and even had a diary that warned of the future. What was the big deal about a rabbit holy spirit being added on top of that?
Especially considering how the Rabbit Tribe had been living these days, they did seem to need a guide.
No matter how skilled they were at guerrilla tactics, living in a forbidden place like the Forest of Illusions was far too hardcore.
“But why ? Shouldn’t the guide of the Rabbit Tribe obviously be soone from the Rabbit Tribe?”
-That’s my question as well. Until now, the guides had never been anyone other than their tribe’s own.
The ti when Bestia’s ssengers had been most active was when the Beastn, enslaved by the Empire, were fighting for independence.
At that ti, Bestia’s ssengers appeared to as many as six tribes, and six guides led the Beastn to freedom.
‘Of course, each guide had been a mber of their own tribe, working within their own domain to help their people.’
The Rabbit Tribe’s contractor back then had even died a glorious death while helping his tribe escape.
Even this rabbit admitted that this was the first ti a contractor who wasn’t a Beastman had appeared.
-Could it be sothing like this? Perhaps my master has rabbit DNA.
“…Are you saying I’m a rabbit? You’re asking for a fight, aren’t you?”
-Why are you angry? What greater creature is there than the rabbit? Besides, doesn’t my master also like rabbits very much?
“? Not at all. I don’t even like rabbits.”
-For soone who claims that, isn’t your taste rather obvious? Strange rabbit ears, fishnet clothing…
“Wait—how do you know about that?”
-Now that we’re contracted, I know everything about my master. To think you’re a soul from another world. You’re truly fascinating, master. And human, at that.
“Damn it. So there’s no such thing as privacy here?”
-Why should that matter? I can only communicate with my master anyway. To put it in the terms of your world, you could think of as a high-performance AI chat bot.
“You really do know everything.”
Unintentionally, I seed to have stumbled into a scam contract that leaked all of my personal information.
‘I have no idea what the hell is going on here.’
While I stood there dumbfounded, the rabbit only tilted its head.
The black rabbit stood on two legs, its ears twitching as it tilted its head.
Uselessly, it looked extrely cute.
Maybe that was why it pissed off even more.
“This contract… there’s no canceling it, is there?”
-If my master dies, I will return to Lord Bestia’s side.
“Wow, so this is basically forced sales, huh?”
It seed like even termination wasn’t possible.
My head started to spin at the absurdity of it all.
And then, the rabbit said sothing rather aningful.
-But master, you carry a strong beastly scent. Could it be that you possess sothing related to Lord Bestia?
“I told you, I’ve never even heard the na Bestia before.”
-I see. Well, my master is human, and a soul from another world.
I really had no idea what this was about.
Although to be honest, most knights in the Johnson Territory were beastlike in their own ways.
Iron was especially beastlike.
But even in Iron’s mories, there had been nothing about Bestia.
This rabbit had no reason to lie to , so there must be so kind of connection, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.
The strangest thing I possessed was probably…
“…The diary?”
-The diary? Ah, you an that diary my master has. Yes, if it’s that diary, it might hold so divine power. But it’s not Bestia, I think. Lord Bestia doesn’t give off that kind of feeling.
“Really?”
-Well, he is the Beast God, after all.
“Ugh, I suppose so.”
-But it will be worth checking. Once I see that diary myself, I might understand more.
If this rabbit could examine the diary, then maybe I hadn’t been scamd completely.
‘Since I transmigrated into another world and don’t have anyone I can openly talk to, maybe having this guy around isn’t such a bad thing?’
He was a rotten bastard for bringing up rabbit DNA right from the start, but his appearance was decent enough. He even looked like a healing pet, so he might not be too bad to have around.
Just as I was trying to accept this situation positively sohow, I learned this rabbit’s true use.
-But even aside from that, I am a very useful existence.
“What exactly can you do?”
-Though much of my power is sealed right now, I am quite a capable assistant. Supporting the growth of the Rabbit Tribe is my basic role. Of course, for now, it won’t be anything too great, but if many of the Rabbit Tribe gather under my master, I will beco quite helpful. For a master who intends to take in the Rabbit Tribe, doesn’t this make for a promising prospect?
“Right, the Rabbit Tribe… Ah, co to think of it, if I’m the guide of the Rabbit Tribe, shouldn’t they be obliged to follow ?”
-Not necessarily. Lord Bestia despises blind faith. And the Beastn themselves aren’t the kind to follow their god blindly either. Still, it does give you a certain degree of justification.
“That’s a bit disappointing. But right now, even that ‘certain degree’ is enough. After all, communication hadn’t been going well at all until now.”
Well, too much blind faith always beca a problem anyway.
And in a world like this, where Divine Power truly existed, it was easy to slip into fanaticism. But it seed that the Beast God Bestia wasn’t particularly fond of such things.
Considering that, the fact that he still sent down ssengers to care for the Beastn suggested he might actually be a rather devoted sort.
At any rate, since I had obtained this rabbit statue, it seed I at least now had proper justification to hold serious talks with the Rabbit Tribe.
“Now that I think of it, Tito reacted pretty sensitively earlier, didn’t he? I guess Tito must have recognized this as a divine relic.”
This was turning into quite a favorable situation.
A statue I happened to stumble upon had significant aning to the Rabbit Tribe, and I had gained justification to absorb them into our fold.
Sure, I had also ended up saddled with a strange contract and this rabbit along with it, but it didn’t seem like this fellow was going to get in my way.
The purpose of this ssenger of Bestia, this rabbit, was simply to have lead the Rabbit Tribe well. And if the Rabbit Tribe joined our territory, that was sothing I would naturally have to do anyway.
“Hey, that’s all fine and good, but as you know, I’m human. Not Rabbit Tribe.”
-I understand what you an. I cannot force my master. That is not the nature of the relationship between ssenger and contractor. The fact that the contractor is not Rabbit Tribe is painful indeed, but this too must be Lord Bestia’s will. It is enough if you simply guide the Rabbit Tribe according to your own discretion.
“Really? Well then, I suppose we’ll get along.”
-Considering the current state of the Rabbit Tribe, no matter what happens, it doesn’t seem things could get much worse than they already are.
“That’s true.”
That much of a confirmation was enough for .
After all, I already wanted to bring the Rabbit Tribe in as residents of our territory, so all I needed to do was proceed as planned.
If they beca residents of the territory, the territory’s developnt would naturally beco their prosperity.
Using the guide as justification to lead them didn’t bother at all.
And the power of the rabbit statue revealed itself the very next day.
“You discovered the divine relic…”
“Ah, yeah. They say this statue belongs to the Rabbit Tribe, right?”
“Ohhh, indeed. This is the Black Rabbit Statue we lost long ago.”
At the break of dawn, the Rabbit Tribe elder Luxa ca to , stroking the black rabbit statue with tears of emotion.
He explained that it was the divine relic lost back when the Rabbit Tribe had fled into the Forest of Illusions, and he never expected it to return to them like this.
I had heard that Beastn’s faith tended to be relatively light, but Luxa seed to be a Rabbit Tribe mber with particularly strong devotion.
“So, the thing is… I’ve apparently beco this so-called guide. By contracting with the statue.”
“…The guide, you say?”
“Yeah, that’s what happened.”
“You are not Rabbit Tribe, yet you say you’re the guide?”
Proving that I had beco the guide turned out to be extrely difficult.
After all, it was far from normal for a human—not even a Beastman—to beco the Rabbit Tribe’s guide.
Of course, even now, the black rabbit this Black Rabbit was perched on my shoulder.
But Black Rabbit was visible only to .
Because the Rabbit Tribe’s power had weakened too much, most of Black Rabbit’s abilities were sealed. Among them, his ability to manifest had been sealed, aning he couldn’t show himself to anyone else.
Which ant, of course, there was no way for to prove that I was the guide.
‘You’re a lot less useful than I expected.’
-…How rude, master. If the Rabbit Tribe’s numbers increase even a little, I will be able to manifest.
‘And that “little” is the problem. To gather the Rabbit Tribe, I first have to be recognized as their guide. But who’s going to believe a human guide?’
Looking back, I realized how naive I had been yesterday, thinking that simply possessing the rabbit statue would be enough to be recognized as guide.
At the very least, I should have thought of a thod to prove it.
For Beastn with strong tribal pride, there was no reason to lie to their own kind. But I was human, wasn’t I?
Why would they believe ?
“…I believe you.”
“Huh, seriously?”
But there was soone.
A Beastman who believed my words.
And it was none other than the Rabbit Tribe elder, Luxa.
Perhaps he had unusually sharp insight, because he accepted my words without hesitation.
“Tito said so. That the lord seed like a good man.”
“Really? But just that much? That’s hardly proof I’m the guide, is it?”
“The fact that you, a human lord, even know of the guide’s existence is enough to convince . For this is a secret of the Beastn, unknown to humans.”
“Hmm, I suppose that makes sense.”
He said he had agonized greatly when I first proposed migration.
That was why he had sent Tito to observe us, and Tito had confird that we bore no ill intent.
Even so, he still felt uneasy and could not decide on migration. But now, with the matter of the rabbit statue, he had made up his mind.
Even the re discovery of the missing rabbit statue was enough to give him a vague but hopeful expectation.
“Even if it isn’t true, it doesn’t matter. Rather than continue to endure here until destruction, following a good man’s proposal is a better chance for survival.”
Of course, there was another calculation behind it.
A very practical calculation.
At any rate, it seed I had found a cooperative Rabbit Tribesman.
I would have to gather the Rabbit Tribe around Luxa.
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