I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 290: Fire in the Mountains

In the world of horned rabbits, rabbits without horns were only dead rabbits.

That's why Levinas's mouth fell open as she watched a hornless rabbit moving around alive.

"There are no horned rabbits...?"

"Yeah. This world doesn't have horned rabbits."

"Not even a little bit...?"

"N-no..."

Levinas kept asking questions, as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing despite having seen the hornless rabbit.

"King, how do hornless rabbits survive...?"

"Um... I'm not sure...?"

"Horned rabbits can't even beat bad snakes without their horns...!"

Thud.

Levinas fell to her knees on the dirt.

As if despairing at the sight of hornless rabbits, she lay flat on the ground.

The lack of horns on rabbits must have been more shocking than I imagined.

I gently poked Levinas's ears.

"Levinas."

"Yeah...?"

"Couldn't you help the hornless rabbits?"

"Ah?!"

Levinas sprang up from her spot.

Her wide eyes sparkled brightly.

"That's right! Levinas can make the hornless rabbits strong!"

"Yeah. That should work."

I nodded at Levinas as we faced each other.

Immediately, Levinas's eyes began to narrow fiercely.

"King! Levinas has a job to do!"

Pitter-patter-!

Levinas ran towards the rabbit.

I called out to her retreating figure.

"Levinas, could you help with this first? We don't have a home right now."

"Got it!"

Levinas made a U-turn and came back at the same speed she had run off.

We desperately needed Levinas's help right now, so the meeting with the rabbit would have to wait.

"I'll make the tent, and Levinas, you dig around the tent area."

"Yeah! Levinas is good at digging!"

Levinas, who loved digging, raised her hands and started to dig the ground.

Even without mana, Levinas was better at digging than anyone else.

'Everything's going smoothly.'

Gaeul and Saebyeok were catching minnows.

Levinas was building fortifications through digging.

And I was setting up the tent.

'The tent is a bit small...'

It wasn't so small that the five of us couldn't fit if we huddled together.

Since we all liked hugging each other, it shouldn't be a problem.

'After the ground is all dug...'

As I was thinking about what to do next, I heard the sound of footsteps in the distance.

"Oh no."

Even though I couldn't hear as well without mana, my hearing was still much better than an average person's.

I quickly realized these were human footsteps.

Is it that girl from before?

We're not ready yet.

I glared warily in the direction of the footsteps.

To be honest, there wasn't much I could do even if I glared, but I did it anyway.

Then I realized the footsteps sounded quite familiar.

"Sophia!"

I ran towards the source of the footsteps.

Sophia, holding her cane with a tense expression, looked relieved when she saw me.

"...You're safe."

"Yes. We're all okay."

"That's good. I was worried when you didn't come out for so long."

"So long? How much time has passed on that side?"

"Four hours have passed."

Four hours was about the same as the time we'd spent here.

I'd heard that time flows differently between the two worlds, but now it seems to be exactly the same.

It must be related to the end of the time reversal.

'The flow of time is the same...'

No, wait.

That's not what's important right now.

I urgently tugged on Sophia's arm.

"Sophia, we've got a big problem."

"Already in trouble?"

"Yes. Someone from this world found out we're beast-kin."

"That is... a big problem indeed."

We'd been discovered as beast-kin in a world without beast-kin.

It was a situation that could lead to all sorts of headaches.

"She said she'd come back to us, you know? We need to prepare to meet her before then."

"Alright. This old lady will help too. Let's do it your way."

"Okay."

Having Sophia here makes me feel several times more secure.

I decided to finish all preparations before the girl returned.

**

Yoon Da-in packed food from home and climbed the mountain again.

Thinking it might be hard for them to cook rice, she also bought a set of instant rice from the supermarket.

'I'm sure it was around here...'

She had climbed the mountain twice in one day but wasn't particularly tired.

The worry that the adorable yet pitiful children might go hungry kept her going.

There was also some desire to see the animal-eared girls again.

Arriving at the deep part of the mountain like this.

Yoon Da-in looked around.

She could see a completed tent in the distance, but the children were nowhere to be seen.

"K-kids...?"

Did they run deeper into the mountains?

To escape from people, from me?

With a heavy heart, the fatigue she had forgotten suddenly hit her all at once.

And that's when it happened.

Long rabbit ears suddenly popped up from under the ground.

Starting with the rabbit ears, the children's faces emerged one by one from underground.

They peeked out only up to their eyes, and there was one more child than when she first saw them.

"Don't move any closer. This is our base."

"O-okay..."

"You might get hurt if you come any further."

Gyeoul pulled back the rubber band of a makeshift slingshot.

She had brought a bow, but thought it would be too dangerous to aim at a person, so she opted for the slingshot.

"Oh..."

Unfortunately, the slingshot posed no threat to Yoon Da-in.

It looked infinitely weaker compared to guns and knives, and Gyeoul's arms pulling the slingshot were so thin and delicate.

Will it even reach this far if she shoots?

Yoon Da-in thought this but pretended to be scared anyway.

"Okay. I won't move from here."

"G-good. So what did you bring...?"

"Just some food and..."

Yoon Da-in took out the food she had brought.

There was meat, fish, canned food, and instant rice.

"Master! Meat!"

Seeing the meat, Gaeul stuck her body out of the underground den.

She stretched out her upper body and flailed her legs, trying to get out of the den.

Gyeoul pulled Gaeul back in.

"Gaeul, we can't go out yet."

"Can't?!"

"Yeah."

Saying this, Gyeoul turned to look at Saebyeok.

Saebyeok held out a container full of minnows.

"Should we give her all the minnows?"

"Hmm... Is it too much...?"

"No, I think it's just right."

"Then let's give her all of them."

"Okay."

Nodding, Saebyeok crawled out of the den.

She approached Yoon Da-in carrying the container full of minnows.

"What's this?"

"These are super precious minnows, but I'll trade them with you specially."

Ahem.

Saebyeok puffed out her chest.

With a completely expressionless face.

Yoon Da-in didn't know what to do with the minnows, but she could tell that the children valued them highly.

"W-wow, such precious things..."

Yoon Da-in accepted the container of minnows.

It was a mix of dead and live minnows all jumbled together.

'What should I do?'

They threaten me not to come closer with a completely non-threatening slingshot, and then exchange minnows for food.

Their clumsy actions only made them seem more pitiful.

'Where are these children really from?'

Are they a hidden species living on Earth?

Or were they really experimented on...

As Yoon Da-in was lost in thought, Gyeoul took the food Yoon Da-in had brought and went down into the underground den.

The children must have crouched down, as even their heads were no longer visible.

"I traded these for the minnows."

"Meat!"

"We can eat something delicious today."

The children's happy voices could be heard from underground.

They were so excited about food that could be easily obtained just by opening a refrigerator or cupboard.

Yoon Da-in felt an inexplicable bitterness.

"Let's make this last for a week."

A week?

They're planning to stretch one day's worth of food for that long.

Unable to hold back, Yoon Da-in approached the children.

"Um, kids?"

Yoon Da-in peered down into the underground den.

She met eyes with Gyeoul, who was clutching a mackerel to her chest as if it were precious.

"...!"

Startled, Gyeoul retreated to the back of the den.

She looked up at Yoon Da-in with pure but frightened eyes.

"W-well, I was thinking we could trade again tomorrow."

"T-tomorrow too...?"

"Yeah. We can trade for minnows or something else. You mentioned dandelions, right?"

"Y-yes... Dandelions are really delicious..."

Gyeoul nodded cautiously.

It was truly an adorable sight, but she was still in a scared state.

For the children's sake, Yoon Da-in decided to back away quickly.

"Then I'll come again tomorrow. Oh! Take these too."

"What are these...?"

"I thought you might need to hide your ears and tail sometimes."

"Oh... Okay..."

It was a hat and a hoodie that could hide the tail.

Gyeoul watched Yoon Da-in put down the hat and thought to herself.

Maybe she's a good person after all.

**

Before sunset.

I quickly made a campfire.

I dug a knee-deep hole in a clearing without grass or trees, and lit a fire in it.

I also prepared plenty of water and sand nearby in case of fire.

We had to minimize any factors that could cause a fire in the mountains.

"I'll go look around the area."

"I'll go catch more minnows with Gaeul."

"Levinas will go see the hornless rabbits!"

As Sophia and the children left the tent for their own reasons, I was left alone in front of the campfire to prepare the meal.

I should start by cleaning the few minnows we have left.

Just as I was putting the minnows down on a plastic board I'd found outside-

"Hey, you little shit!"

Someone came running up from the bottom of the mountain, shouting loudly.

It was a middle-aged man, and he was sweating profusely and panting heavily, as if he'd run all the way up from the foot of the mountain.

'Oh no.'

What's going on?

I hurriedly put on the hat Yoon Da-in had given me.

I also hid my tail inside my clothes.

"What kind of crazy bastard would start a fire in the mountains...!"

The middle-aged man who approached me stopped mid-sentence and closed his mouth.

The tent, the minnows I was cleaning, and me crouching in front of it.

His face gradually turned pale as he took in everything.

"I-I'm sorry..."

His outfit looked like someone who manages the mountain.

Did he come up after seeing the smoke?

My body started trembling at his angry appearance.

After all, I was the one who had done something wrong.

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