After seeing how bright the day was, Tibaut decided to have a little walk. With Elizabeth out of commission, he had more free time than he knew what to do with. And by little I mean he decided to explore the parish.
"I already know about the town but surely there is stuff here other than that right?"
While walking at a relaxed pace he also had another thought.
"Also what the hell is this place called anyway? Elizabeth just says 'the parish' so whenever I look at that map she has, I have no idea where we are."
He could have just asked Elizabeth or anyone else but he wasn't in a rush to know so that could wait. He soon reached a plain and continued walking. He soon noticed the grass changed colour a few hundred meters away. It was brown.
Was that area devoid of water or did this world have some sort of brown grass? Vaguely curious he approached to see what it was. It was a field of wheat and it looked commercial in scale.
"I suppose I did hear this place was big on farming."
He then made sure to walk around the field and soon noticed a village nearby. While making his way there he felt something hit his feet. Although 'hit' might have been generous. It felt more like someone knocking on his foot like a door. He looked down and saw the troublemaker.
It was a rabbit. For some reason, this little guy had decided to test its might against Tibaut. He couldn't help but giggle at this little creature's effort. He then picked it up and got a closer look.
"This really is just a regular bunny."
While Tibaut had seen creatures unique to this world before, it shocked him even more when he saw animals that looked like they had been plucked directly from Earth in a world of magic.
The bunny made no attempts to struggle and just moved his lips. Tibaut then placed back on the ground, gave it a pat on the head and shooed it.
"If I remember, rabbits get easily stressed, so I'd probably accidentally kill the little guy if I made him my pet."
He soon continued on his way.
"What am I even gonna do when I go there? Are they alright with some random just showing up to their village? I mean, people here don't seem unfriendly but that doesn't mean everyone here is friendly."
As was considering turning back around and going somewhere else he noticed something. A dead bunny. However, the fact it wasn't bitten and instead had what looked to be two holes stabbed into it suggested the culprit.
His expression straightened upon seeing this.
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"Tch, I guess people are gonna be bastards anywhere you go."
He then noticed another and another and another and…
"Holy shit, how many of these things are here and who the hell has a vendetta against rabbits?"
When he approached the village he noticed a small pile of them at the entrance of the village. They all looked like they had been killed today.
"Man, I do not like the vibes this place is giving off."
Despite saying that he entered the village regardless. If they were a village that loved animal cruelty he would give them a word of his mind.
Upon entering, someone quickly made their way over towards him.
"I've said it once and I'll say it again. If you bastards don't knock this shi- who are you? Wait a minute." The villager said as he approached.
He then moved his hands as if to call people and a bunch of other villagers soon appeared.
Tibaut wasn't sure what to think of this.
"Um, what is this about?"
Before he could even get his answer a bunch of children ran up while grabbing onto his clothes.
"Can you show that fire?"
"Are you stronger than Furor?"
"Are Ms. Elizabeth's boyfriend?"
"Can you do what you did with that sword again? I'll use this stick"
Some of the children even had the audacity to start climbing him and sit on his shoulders.
("What the hell is going on?")
He then looked beyond the children and noticed a small crowd that gathered. They seemed to be observing him as if he were a carnival attraction. The various smiles and looks of awe were overwhelming for someone who barely had any human for the past four years. After feeling a bit shy having this crowd watch him, he quickly (with the children still on him) made his way to the villager that caused the commotion.
"Uh, excuse me but what's going on?"
"Sorry about this," said the man while smiling and rubbing the back of his head. "We don't usually get to see one of you around, especially higher up like yourself."
Looked even more confused by his explanation. What did he mean by one of you and higher up?
"Higher up?"
"Sorry, I'm not too familiar with adventurer lingo so I don't know the proper term. But you must be something if you can fight with Ezekiel."
"Ah."
He finally got it. For some reason, the people here had assumed that he was similar in importance to Ezekiel. He felt like he'd be here all day if he tried to explain to them otherwise so he didn't bother.
"You guys were watching that?"
He then heard a collection of "yeah"s follow after saying this.
"Of course we would. Even if my wife were giving birth we'd still show up."
("Just how boring was life here?") Tibaut thought to himself.
Tibaut then got back to the pertinent question.
("I kinda feel bad if talked down these people after this reaction but I better figure out what's going.")
"By the way, I noticed some dead rabbits outside. What's that about?"
As soon as he said he could feel the entire mood drop.
The man he spoke to clicked his tongue.
"Sorry about those little bastards getting harder and harder to dispose of."
His face twisted in shock. They were unapologetic about this.
"(What bastards.) Why are you killing them?"
The villagers then had a realization and became flustered.
"Wait, wait, oh you probably don't know since you aren't from here."
("How does he know that?")
The villagers and a few others then grabbed his hands and dragged him outside.
They soon made it to the field.
One of them then kicked wheat and two rabbits popped out. Another one close by then stepped on them as they came out.
Tibaut's heart dropped when he saw this but the villager clarified.
"I suppose since you're not a farmer you would know but these little bastards are everywhere."
He kicked another section and more appeared.
Tibaut slowly opened his mouth and realized what was going on. These weren't innocent little creatures. They were pests eating away at the livelihoods of these people.
("But still, this is a ridiculous amount of them. Isn't this just from the field alone?")