#024. Rabbit (1)
District 2, entrance to the Witch Detention Center.
A small table was set out, and a pot-bellied man straddled atop it.
At its creaking sound, over a dozen soldiers reorganized their ranks.
-Kyaack!
"I love this sound. Just hearing it gets me all fired up, you know?"
-Kiiack!
-I'm not a witch! Please!
-Save me!
"Don't you all think so too?"
The warden said to the surrounding soldiers.
Whenever they met his beady eyes, the soldiers were busy forcing out giggles.
"Oh my, how could you think exactly what I was thinking? We all feel the same. Hahat."
"I'm going to bury my bones here."
"I wish to join you!"
"Keke, yes, yes. Once the opening ceremony is over... Hey! Where do you think you're going!"
The warden roared.
Because the soldier at the very back had been trying to sneak away from his position.
At the thunderous bellow, the young soldier turned around, fidgeting restlessly.
"I... I can't hold it."
"What?"
The warden's face twisted.
The faces of the surrounding soldiers hardened at the sight.
Crossing that crazy warden meant not knowing what the rest of the day would bring.
Not to mention the tasty kickbacks would dry up too.
"What... do you mean you can't hold it?"
The warden picked up the flintlock pistol on the table and asked.
His upper lip twitched, making it obvious he was severely offended.
Seeing that, the soldier's lips curled up in a smirk, as if he'd been waiting for this.
"I suppose I'll have to slip away on my own. I've been holding it in desperately, but hearing the warden's words, I simply cannot hold it any longer. Whew...."
He made a show of wiping sweat with the back of his hand.
The warden made an absurd expression looking at him.
"What? You little..."
He strode forward then stopped.
A brief silence fell.
Then the warden clapped his hands loudly.
"Ke, kehahaha! Is that the kind of joke youngsters make these days? That guy's quite the comedian!"
The warden, who usually tried to act young, forced a laugh despite it not being funny.
At that sight, the soldiers glanced at each other and followed suit with laughter.
"Pu, puhaha!"
"Oh, my stomach!"
"Kehaha!"
But their eyes were all fixed on the new recruit.
You bastard.
Once roll call was over, they would give him a thorough attitude adjustment.
The highest-ranking senior soldier, who had been pretending to laugh hard, approached the warden with a bow.
"Oh dear, Warden, it's almost the Hour of the Moon now. You should prepare."
"Already? Alright, everyone back to your positions."
At his words, the soldiers scattered.
The warden took a swig of whiskey from the table and tucked the flintlock into his belt.
"Open the door."
The soldiers began slowly pushing open the detention center's door.
The emblems of the Sun God and Lown were stamped large upon the rectangular iron door.
This massive door, requiring four adults to push, exuded a gloomy atmosphere like the entrance to hell despite bearing sacred emblems.
"Kyaack!"
"P-please! Stop!"
Even more breathless, intense screams poured through the gaping door.
At the same time, a foul stench of perfume and blood wafted out.
"Sss, haa...."
The warden's face flushed red.
The front of his pants bulged.
Apparently, this fantastical melody had triggered a reflex response.
"Keep up the hard work."
After briefly encouraging the soldiers guarding the main gate, the warden went inside.
It was dark.
As if aware that this place should never be shown to God, not a single window existed in the building.
The warden lifted one of the torches hanging on the wall.
As shadows draped across his face, his upturned lips became even more pronounced.
"Chung!"
"At ease."
The soldiers saluted each time the warden passed.
And behind them.
Inside the cold iron bars.
A scene more horrendous than the screams heard outside was unfolding.
Cruelty and filth.
The most extreme environment expressible with these two words filled the surroundings.
"Keke."
The warden smirked and waved at the women called witches.
Their conditions varied wildly.
Some hung from walls, some collapsed on the floor, some were covered in wounds, some were pristine, some wore clothes, some were completely naked, some thrashed about, some crouched holding their breath.
Money was the standard for everything.
Those who brought in money were cherished; those who didn't were treated like trash.
They had only one thing in common.
Expressions devoid of life.
"Hey."
The warden called to a soldier beside him.
"Yes! Warden!"
"That one's dead. Clean her up before she starts to smell."
"I-I'm sorry!"
The soldier opened the door to a place worse than a cowshed, went inside, and dragged out the limp woman.
The warden clicked his tongue and asked a soldier following behind.
"You've cleaned Rooms One through Six, right?"
"Yes! Perfect!"
"Let's go."
Passing through hell, they crossed the thick door.
Before them appeared six rooms that didn't match the surroundings.
On the ceiling, faintly glowing mana-infused luminescent orbs shimmered, and around them, aromatic candles emitting a bewitching scent were lit.
In the very center, a luxurious fur bed sat conspicuously.
The warden nodded in satisfaction at the clean environment that met his expectations.
"Good, wash the witches. I'll be greeting the guests."
The warden hitched up his sagging belt and headed toward the back door of the detention center.
A door wide enough for one person to pass through.
It was called a back door, but it was actually a secret entrance converted from a former warehouse, made so only those in the know could come and go.
"Hmm-hmm~"
The warden hummed a tune, unlocking the multiple locks one by one.
Imagining the bags of silver coins that would pour in from the nobles today as well.
"Damned bitches... A world like this should have come much sooner...."
The warden knew there wasn't a single real witch inside the detention center.
So what if there weren't?
He was here to make money.
Guilt? Fuck that.
It was punishment for those who had looked down on him like a bug for forty years.
A smile never left his lips.
Click.
He unlocked the final lock and swung the door wide open.
Little pigs, I've arrived!
"Now! Gentlemen! Line up... Oh...."
The outside was quiet, unlike usual.
Normally, the pigs should have been clinking silver coins and huffing hot breath.
Not today.
They were all sprawled on the ground, only occasionally letting out groans.
"Kehek, keheok...."
"Stop.... Stop...."
"Heok...."
Some were vomiting blood, some had lost their minds.
Only one person stood completely intact.
A man wrapped entirely in a black cloak, wearing a rabbit mask.
In the hand of his burly frame hung a blunt club.
The warden shouted, aiming his gun.
"Y-you, who are you!"
Then, a deep voice came from behind the mask.
"Rabbit."
"What? You crazy bastard!"
The moment he tried to pull the trigger.
A dagger flew out from inside the Rabbit's cloak.
Sswhaek!
"Kuaack!"
The dagger embedded itself in the wrist holding the gun.
At his scream, the soldiers escorting the women burst outside.
"Wh-what is all this!"
The soldiers panicked at the unexpected scene.
The warden screamed, clutching his wrist.
"Kill that bastard!"
The soldiers reflexively drew the swords at their waists.
It was something they always did when the women's families came rushing in.
Some soldiers naturally grabbed the decorative shields hanging on the walls.
Nine in total.
They surrounded the Rabbit, stepping over the people sprawled on the floor and through puddles of blood.
'He must be scared by now, right?'
They were gravely mistaken.
The delusion that they could win by overwhelming him with numbers.
They had grown numb from constantly seeing dead witches among the corpses strewn on the floor.
Only the newest recruit at the very back was trembling.
The Rabbit tucked both hands back inside his cloak.
Only the blood-soaked rabbit mask floated up against his black body.
At that bizarre sight, the soldiers couldn't approach and only circled around, repeating the same demands to surrender.
"Keheuk... you idiots...."
The warden, watching his subordinates, stealthily reached for the flintlock that had fallen on the floor.
Sswhaek!
"Kuak!"
Another flying dagger pierced through the warden's wrist and embedded itself in the floor.
"Keuak! Kill him! Kill him!"
At that scream-like command, the soldiers swung their swords.
Three at the head, three at the waist.
The remaining three swords thrust forward, avoiding their comrades.
Fitting for a city of knights, the soldiers' attacks were fierce from rigorous training.
However, they didn't know.
That the Rabbit could jump incredibly high.
Pasasak!
The swords swept through empty air.
Thrusts that lost their target couldn't overcome inertia and stabbed comrades on the opposite side.
"Kuak! Hey, you bastard!"
"Ack! S-sorry!"
The uninjured soldiers looked around for the Rabbit.
"Up, up there!"
A soldier shouted.
The Rabbit was hanging from the lower part of the ceiling with one hand.
As the soldiers' gazes focused on him, he dropped down and swung his club.
Thwack! Thwack!
Skulls crushed with ease.
It was not the destructive power of an ordinary human.
"H-hiik! Save me!"
The newest recruit at the very back ran toward the open door.
The Rabbit turned his head toward him and held the club in a reverse grip.
A stance as if throwing a javelin.
Sswhaek!
Along with the whistling sound of splitting air, the blunt club pierced the soldier's chest.
Pueok!
Then screams burst from the women who had been watching the soldier's front.
"Kyak!"
"Kyaak!"
The Rabbit spoke to them.
"Close the door."
When they were too frightened to move, the Rabbit spoke louder.
"It's noisy."
One of the women mustered her courage.
She slowly approached the door, passing the dead soldier.
Her face was lavishly adorned, but stained all over from streaming tears.
As she tried to close the door, the warden, sprawled on the floor, shouted.
"Don't close the door! You fucking bitch! Come here and pull me! Now!"
At those words, the other women joined in and all closed the door together.
"Hey, you f—"
Slam!
-You fucking bitches... keheok!
Due to the heavy soundproofing, it came through as a very small sound.
After that, from beyond the door, only the sounds of flesh bursting and death throes echoed.
"S-sister... what... what will happen to us...?"
"I... don't know either...."
"What... what is that Rabbit...? Is it a demon...? A monster?"
"Girls, don't cry. They were the demons. The Rabbit killed them... so he must be a good person...."
"Sister...."
The women trembled in fear and embraced each other, crying.
They missed their families.
"Mommy...."
"Girls... don't cry...."
After a brief moment.
Hearing the commotion, soldiers came rushing from everywhere.
The highest-ranking senior soldier pointed at the new recruit's corpse.
"Wh-what is that! Who did this!"
He raised his sword sharply toward the women.
At his threat, the oldest woman raised her finger and pointed at the back door.
"R-Rabbit...."
"What? You fucking... where is the Warden?"
A soldier beside him answered.
"H-he went to greet the guests."
"Then he should be in there.... Agh, this is crazy.... What the hell is going on...."
He tugged at his own hair, then grabbed the oldest woman's jaw tightly.
"You witch! You cast a curse, didn't you? Huh? You fucking bitch! If you don't talk straight!"
The women screamed along with his shout, and as the sound echoed, the back door slowly opened.
Creeeak.
The soldiers flinched and raised their weapons.
A moment later, the fully open door.
From there, the Rabbit, covered entirely in a black cloak, walked out.
Behind him lay soldiers reduced to bloody pulps, demonstrating poetic justice with their own bodies.
"...Wh-what are you!"
The senior soldier mustered his courage and asked a clichéd question.
And the answer that came was.
"Rabbit."
With those words, the Rabbit sprang forward, and only the sounds of slaughter rang through the detention center.
Louder than the screams they had created through torture.
Shortly after.
"Kkeuheok...."
The screaming stopped.
Now the corridor was filled only with the women's sobs and the haphazard footsteps of the bulky Rabbit.
He seemed to be searching for something, very frantically.
Time passed again.
As the Rabbit's footsteps faded, the warden, who had been playing dead, slightly opened his eyes.
It was dark. The stench of blood was overwhelming.
Curses welled up inside.
How dare he touch me.
Right now....
"Shiiit...."
When he opened his eyes fully, he saw the Rabbit crouched right in front of him.
He was aiming the flintlock pistol at his own eye.
"How fortunate that you're alive."
"P-please spare m— keuk keuk!"
The gun barrel was shoved into the warden's mouth.
"Kehek!"
"Answer my questions properly."
"Yesh!"
"Where is the woman captured from the cloth shop earlier?"
"Ihonnow..."
Unable to understand, the Rabbit pulled the gun from his mouth and aimed at his eye again.
The warden pissed himself from the surging terror.
"Uuugh...."
"Talk."
The Rabbit said, stepping back slightly.
"I-I don't really kno— kuak!"
The Rabbit slightly twisted the sword embedded in the warden's wrist.
"Too many women get captured in front of the cloth shop!"
The warden spoke without breathing.
The Rabbit stopped twisting the sword.
"A worn robe, no, perhaps a fancy robe. A beautiful face."
"...A beautiful face? You mean the woman who came from D-Denrip?...."
Denrip was the place Virgil and Hanna had passed through.
"Yes."
"Tha—"
He pressed the gun muzzle firmly against the forehead.
"If you don't talk quickly, you'll die from excessive bleeding."
"I-I sold her with an indulgence! The one who brought the indulgence was a servant, so I don't know exactly!"
"Hand it over."
"It's in my pocket!"
The Rabbit rummaged through the warden's clothes and pulled out a small rectangular paper.
A large seal of the Sun God and a three-digit number.
This signified that the witch's sins had been pardoned and she had been handed over to an individual.
"Goddammit...."
Things had gotten more complicated.
"Th-then I... should get treatment now...."
The warden slowly crawled toward the door.
The Rabbit pulled the dagger embedded in the floor and slit the warden's throat without hesitation.
"Kkeureuk...."
A torrent of blood flowed out, as much as the thick lump of flesh.
The Rabbit took a ring of keys from the warden's belt and approached the sobbing woman, handing them to her.
"Run. At the innermost part of the commercial district, there's a sewer that leads outside."
The woman took the keys with trembling hands.
"Th-thank you...."
The Rabbit shook the blood off his club and exited the warehouse.
***
District 3 of Lown, inside the Temple of the Sun.
The District Chief's room, dyed in gold.
The blood-soaked Rabbit held the naked Priest by the throat.
Below them.
Young boys who hadn't even come of age were trembling naked.
"The list."
"You wretch! Do you know who I am!"
"A horny old man."
"H-how dare you! Where are the Paladins!"
"They were busy too."
"Keuk!"
When the top rots, the bottom naturally rots too.
Normally surrounded by Paladins, living in safe luxury, but at night they all become faithful to their instincts and neglect their duties.
Moreover, his room was plastered with soundproofing magic, lest his personal tastes leak outside.
The Rabbit had known this from the start and exploited it easily.
"I'll say it again. Where is the indulgence list."
He pressed the flintlock pistol firmly against the Priest's eyelid.
"Keuk! You wretch! Aren't you afraid of my holy power!"
"I know you lost it. I'm asking for the last time. The list."
"sōl noster, qui es in caelis...."
(Our Sun, who art in heaven....)
As the Priest closed his eyes and feigned holiness, the Rabbit let out a short sigh.
"You're making this troublesome."
He drew a dagger and tore the Priest's cheek.
"Kuaack!"
Blood pattered down, tapping the backs of the boys lying flat.
"Next is the eye."
"Aack! You're from the Blood Cult! Die! You demon!"
"Huu...."
Stab.
"Kkeueok!"
The Rabbit kept his promise, and the Priest finally revealed the secret safe at the head of the bed.
"Here it is."
He found whose number was written on the indulgence.
The Rabbit, having taken the ledger, looked down at the boys on the floor.
"If you leave now, there are no Paladins."
"Even if we run, we'll be caught immediately...."
The only child who raised his head spoke.
His eyes were clear and sparkling, yet showed emptiness.
'A child who senses mana.'
To meet a mana prodigy in a place like this.
If he had been a player, a quest to recruit and raise this child as a companion might have appeared.
But to the Rabbit, it was irrelevant and of no interest.
He turned away as if he had no more business here.
"Then continue living like this."
He spoke coldly and pulled three daggers from his breast, throwing them on the floor.
The already deeply brainwashed boys couldn't immediately act even though the means to break their collars was right before their eyes.
"There is a sewer at the innermost part of the commercial district that leads outside; escape through there. If you survive, go to Javelin. It's slightly better there at least."
The Rabbit leaped out the window.
And among the remaining boys, the child with clear eyes gripped a dagger.
"I don't want to live like this...."
"I-I favored you the most! I shall send you to Mule! Put it down at once—!"
The boy stabbed the Priest's heart.
"Keok!"
The dagger was embedded halfway.
Because the Priest had grabbed the blade with his hand.
But a large amount of blood had already drained, and strength was gradually leaving his body.
"Keuk... a-aren't you afraid of God...."
"God?...."
The boy brought his lips close to the Priest's ear.
"If there is a God in this world, it would be a demon...."
"Y-you... heretic..."
"I'd rather believe in the Rabbit."
"Kkeueok!"
The dagger pierced deep through flesh and embedded itself in the heart.
Red blood gushed out in spurts.
The blue-eyed boy turned around and looked at the other children.
"Let's escape...."
At his words, the children blankly stared at the window where the Rabbit had disappeared.
It was dark and quiet.
There was still much time before the sun rose.