Chapter 88 – Side Story – Rabbit’s Savior

Potty slowly raised his head.

Perhaps it was because I had just woken up, my vision was a bit blurry, so I couldn’t see my surroundings very well.

I forced myself to blink and move my body in the narrow cage.
Soon after, she could see the object in front of her.

“Bread…”

A wooden bowl placed in front of the potty.
A loaf of bread was placed in it.

When you pick it up with your hand, you can feel the hardness of a stone.
But she didn’t care and brought it to her mouth.

“Ugh…”

Potty hammered his teeth into the bread in agony as if his gums would tear.
As soon as one small piece entered my mouth, I felt a bitter, gritty taste.

Of course, it wasn’t a taste she couldn’t eat, as she had only eaten this and occasional beef jerky all her life.

However, she sometimes wondered what the food that wizards eat outside tasted like.

“Forties.”

As she munched the bread and melted it with her saliva, she was startled by the sudden sound of her words.

“Come out.”

The sound of a key being hammered into our door.
Potty raised her gaze, thinking that her body was shaking of its own accord.

A man in a robe that completely covered his body.
Even the exposed face showed no emotion whatsoever.

“Today I will experiment with you.”

Forty thought she didn’t want to go out, but she got up reflexively.
Sold here at a very young age and having grown up here all her life, she knew the price of resistance.

“Huh…”

As we went outside, holding back the crying that leaked out, we saw other us too.
Each of the people of Forty’s age in it looked this way with either indifference or relief.

People who have already given up and have no interest at all, and people who are happy to pass the risk of dying.

And myself who is in danger of dying today.

“Stop procrastinating and walk.”

“Yes yes!”

Potty hurriedly followed the wizard, thinking that it would be better if he was closer to those who had given up on him.

After passing through a short hallway, I saw a huge laboratory.

Various medicinal and alchemical ingredients.
There was a strong smell of medicine in this place where huge laboratory equipment was located.

And as he smelled the scent of blood mixed in it, Potty felt his hamstrings tingle.

“Huh…”

Will he be able to safely endure today’s experiment and return to us?
No, wouldn’t it be more comfortable if I just died like this?

Honestly tired
Painful experiment repeated.
A life without meaning or pleasure.

Is there a reason to continue this life that will never change?

Of course, it is not you who decides that.
Only the wizards of this Mage Tower decide the life and death of the test subjects.

As Forty stood in front of the test bench, a group of people approached.
The man who brought Potty also saw the group and hastily lowered his head.

“Are you here, Master?”

“Is this the test subject today?”

A cold, overbearing voice.
Rather, the atmosphere that makes the wizards and alchemists I usually meet feel more human.

Potty had a hunch that this man was no ordinary person.
She turned her eyes towards the man with her sneak.

Black hair, black eyes.
A tall, monotonous black outfit.
Age is probably young.

Even when all the wizards around him are struggling, he even shows a sense of composure.

I don’t know, but this man was probably the tallest person in the place.
But it’s the first time I’ve seen this person in over 10 years of living here.

Even while Potty was watching, he was giving various instructions to the wizards around him.

“I will do the experiment myself today.”

“You mean it yourself?”

“Yes. I’m wasting precious time because of your lowly magical skills, so I’ll test it myself.”

The wizards and alchemists did not dare to reply further and scattered from place to place.
Forty, too, was led up to her lab table by her wizard, who had dragged her along.

She felt her heart pounding as she lay on it casually.

Obviously, today is an experiment that is different from usual.
No, I even think that the experiment itself was for now.

So, can he survive this experiment?

“Master.”

I heard a black-haired man ask a question next to me.

“What can animals bring?”

Upon hearing that, the dark-haired man glanced at Potty.
And he laughed.

“Bring me the rabbit. It’s an animal suitable for this fragile thing.”

Forty saw that smile and trembled with a foreboding feeling.

The man stood still for a moment, staring at the face, then suddenly thrust his hand into Potty’s belly.

“Uh… ?”

Potty froze at the sensation of stirring her intestines.
And soon he screamed in terrible pain.

“Aaaaagh!”

As expected, the experiment was painful.

* * *

How much time has passed
Potty slowly opened her eyes.

“Are you awake?”

Familiar voice.
Potty trembled at the voice of the man who conducted the experiment.

I quickly turned around and saw the man sitting in an armchair.
He continued his speech by reading his parchment.

“You succeeded. It’s been a while since I’ve done this, so to be honest, I wasn’t confident either.”

Success?
Then, did he survive the painful experiment?

Feeling melancholy as well as joy, Potty got up from where he was lying.
And then he realized that he was somewhere other than a laboratory.

“Hey, where is this… ?”

“It’s the study.”

The man tossed the parchment toward Potty.
Receiving it in haste, she looked inside.
A very simple list of sentences.

Of course, to her who did not know her writing, it was just a black line.

Looking at the bewildered face of Potty, the man opened his mouth.

“It is also a place where you will receive education instead of experimentation in the future.”

“Education… ?”

“Okay.”

Potty looked at him, feeling strangely uncomfortable around her ass.
Suddenly, her fingertips tingled and she sensed something.

“Ugh?”

“Can you feel the magic?”

The man got up from his seat and approached Potty.

“Combining humans and animals makes them sensitive to magic.”

He reached his hand over Potty’s head.

“Kyaaak!”

Potty screamed at the strange sensation she felt even though the man’s hand had stopped above her head.
She hurriedly raised her hand and felt it near the top of his head, feeling something strange.

“Hair… ?”

“Only mankind is insensitive to magic.”

The man continued his words while watching Forty’s reaction.

“There is no way the magic of the world will respond properly to traitors.”

“Ah! Please let go!”

Forty screamed and begged for her inexplicable pain.
I don’t know what she is, but she has a new body growing on her head.

It’s also very sensitive.

This man holds it tightly.

“In that respect, your body must have escaped the mold of humanity to some extent.”

As the man snapped his fingers, the mirror in his room came flying.
Still feeling the pain above his head, Potty casually looked into the mirror.

Inside, there was a familiar yet bizarre figure of Potty himself.

“Rabbit ears… ?”

“It even had a rabbit tail. The tail is my personal preference.”

Her hair, which was originally brown, turned to light pink.
The eyes also became an unnatural golden color.

The ears that were supposed to hang under the side of the head disappeared, and large, long rabbit ears were attached to the top of the head.
And if you lift your butt slightly, you can see a tuft of hair.

Potty trembled in his hand and grabbed her hair.
Although he never loved his own body, this grotesque appearance evokes a visceral dislike.

“Why is my body…”

“Learn to read and learn magic from today.”

Instead of explaining why, he tugged at Forty’s ear and brought him to eye level.

“Ouch! Turn off, cut off… !”

Potty struggled and tried to shake off his hand, but the difference in strength was overwhelming.
Realizing the gap, Forty felt a more serious fear than usual.

“Sa-save me, Master!”

She may not know what it means for her to be a master.
But I could at least know that it was a title this man had given to someone else.

If so, surely you will be satisfied?

“The master.”

The dark-haired man seemed satisfied with her title.
However, she did not seem to be satisfied with the title itself.

“I guess I learned it from watching wizards use that title for me. That’s a good attitude.”

The pain in my ears was gone.
The man holding the potty with telekinesis magic instead of grip was sneering.

“The more you learn, the more you will be loved by your savior who will come later.”

Saver?
Love?

All words do not exist in her world.
I don’t know the meaning.

But Potty nodded her head.

“Bae, I will learn!”

This man said that a savior would come later.
If so, he will spare himself until that time.

Maybe even in the painful experiment.

Relying on that primal sense of survival, Potty continued.

“Gu, I will learn hard to be loved by the person called the savior…”

The man nodded.

“Okay. Wait eagerly for him to come.”

As the man swung his hand, Potty’s body landed back on the chair and the door opened.
Several wizards entered through the door.

The dark-haired man looked at them and ordered.

“This woman…”

The man paused for a moment and looked down at Potty.
Potty noticed the meaning and responded quickly.

“Po-Poti!”

“You guys take charge of Potty and educate him. Also, choose and teach only things that are useful in practice, not the magic curriculum of useless humans.”

The wizards bowed their heads without hesitation.
The dark-haired man spoke coldly and decisively, tapping the floor with his foot.

“Anyone who lays hands on this woman’s body will be subjected to all the experiments. Of course, we will destroy it regardless of the outcome.”

A colorful magic circle was engraved on the floor and glowed.

“And when the time comes, I will come back. Until then, feel free to conduct other experiments.”

“All right.”

An old man who seemed to have the highest rank among the wizards answered.
The man looked down at him without much emotion.

“And never let Forty out of the Mage Tower, and keep the Concealment Magic active at all times.”

“Of course.”

Powerful magic power flowed from the dark-haired man wrapped in the light emanating from the magic circle.
Potty was overwhelmed by the sensation and barely looked at him.

The man looked at her curiously and spoke her last words.

“See you later, Potty.”

There was no warmth in those words.
It’s like watching a little rabbit playing in a cage.

Forty trembled as he realized that he was still a test subject.

The room was enveloped in light and the man disappeared in an instant.

* * *

“Bootop Lord!”

Potty, who was helping the old man’s experiment records in the laboratory, was startled by the sudden arrival of an alchemist.

“Why?”

The old man looked at the alchemist curiously.

“The cloaking magic was off!”

“What? Since when? No, how does it turn off?”

The old man was embarrassed and talked to the alchemist.
Potty was also perplexed.

It’s been 7 years since I learned magic and learned to write.
Although he may not know the extent of his own realm, he can feel all the magical activities taking place in the Mage Tower based on his excellent magic power detection ability.

But she never felt the sophisticated cloaking magic of this place lift.

If that’s the case, either the concealment magic wasn’t dispelled, or a wizard who was so good at fooling everyone here must have tried his hand.

It’s not like the alchemist is lying, so the latter is more likely.

“I’ll restore the concealment magic and contact the master.”

“All right. Shall we discard the experimental materials and test subjects just in case?”

“Hmm…”

The old man glanced at Potty through her cold eyes.
Potty felt the creeps, but she wasn’t frightened.

She herself will not die until the savior comes, just as the owner of this place said.

The savior who eagerly wanted to meet every day after knowing the meaning of the word.
I have endured the harsh education here, expecting the love I will receive from that person, but there is no way it will end like this.

“Discard all test subjects except Forty, and take only important test materials separately.”

The old man, as if trying to reassure her, gave her very order.
Then she took out her magic tool from her bosom and she tried to contact his master.

“Huh?”

The old man sensed her strangeness and touched her tools again.

At that moment, Potty also sensed her strangeness.

“Hey, over there, the deputy lord.”

Potty stammered at her, fiddling with the robes that wrapped around her disfigured body.

“The magical energy is wow, it doesn’t move.”

The magical power itself exists intact.
However, the magical power within the Mage Tower completely hardened as if something had blocked it.

The old man muttered in bewilderment.

“Magic Suppression? But how can you achieve such a scale that covers the entire Mage Tower?”

There was no time to talk more about him.

The door opened and this time a young wizard entered.

“It’s an intruder! They appear to be adventurers hired by the nearby city.”

There was a moment of grotesque silence.
It feels like a well-planned trap.

Everyone shared that feeling and looked at each other.
However, when a scream came from below, the old man spoke promptly.

“What about the numbers?”

“Two people.”

“We have a lot of numbers. Let’s stop it by force. In the meantime, I will dispose of the test subjects.”

People ran out of the room at the order of the sub-tap chief.

Potty felt uneasy and opened his mouth.

“I-I…”

“You stay here. Come back when the job is done.”

After saying that, the old man threw all the research journals in the room on the floor and poured oil on them.
He said angrily as he saw Potty shaking his body.

“If you’re feeling uneasy, get under my desk!”

“Yes yes!”

She got scared and immediately hid under her desk.
There is no love for each other anyway.

It’s just a bleak relationship between a faithful servant who follows the master’s orders and a rabbit who is in charge of the master for an unknown purpose.

Forty trembled under her desk, hoping that the matter would be over.

* * *

Potty was watching her crackling bonfire.
Then she heard a worried voice.

“Are you okay? Haven’t you calmed down yet?”

The man who saved me from trembling under the desk.
For some reason, he looks similar to the dark-haired guy I saw before.

“Are you okay…”

She glanced at the already sleeping hero and answered.

“My name is Hernan… Did you say?”

“Huh. But are you really going to follow us?”

The hero said he would take you to a nearby city.
However, she herself refused and suggested that a wizard be needed.

At first, the reaction was that the illegal mage tower’s test object was some kind of magic, but as soon as he showed his magic, the hero showed interest.

“Yes… I also want to work with the warrior’s company.”

“Well, to be honest, we don’t have very bright prospects.”

Hernan said with a bitter smile.

Just a hero and one of her attendants.
It must be the most shabby composition among all warriors’ parties.

But none of that mattered to Potty.

“Okay, it’s okay…”

Forty said with her golden eyes shining.

“Because I already found it.”

“Find? What?”

Potty hastily evaded her words.

“Oh no! Hey, can I go to sleep too? I was so tired because I was surprised…”

Hernan handed her a glass of warm water and gave her a blanket.

“Okay. You’d better sleep first.”

He smiled and sat down a little away to keep watch.
Potty murmured as he covered himself with a blanket that smelled like him.

“Now I just need to get your love.”

The air outside the Mage’s Tower, the first time she smelled it after her memories of it, was more fragrant than she thought.