Capítulo 9: Rabbit and Flower

"Damn you, crazy girl! I hope you rot in hell!"

Two hunters, walking like deer just freed from jaw beaver trap, helped each other get away from Hunter Tavern.

Felix and five rabbits that popped from the bucket were stunned, their eyes following them without moving from where they stood. Whatever or whoever was able to throw those hunters out of Tavern, must be an extraordinary monster.

"Oh no, my time is almost up!" Felix burst through Tavern Hunter swinging doors.

Inside a wooden building piano strains accompanied the laughter and chatter of hunters. Some hunters stood like mannequins in front of rows of quest boards, others feasted on ale and grilled meat at the tavern's round tables.

With his slender frame Felix slipped through the sea of people to the long bar. Strangely, there were many empty stalls at the bar. Few were occupied seemed to form a distance from the three beautiful flowers dressed on dark-blue coat, that caught Felix's attention.

Those hunters whispered while taking a peek at Felix. They might think Felix was stupid, or brave, for occupying the empty stall closest to three girls.

"I told you to keep your distance, why are men so stupid?" The girl with long black hair that was like a waterfall covering the back of her petite body pounded on the table. Her gaunt face was cold, and her beautiful eyes shaped like bamboo leaves challenged Felix fiercely.

"Sweetie, calm down. He just came, not the herd of hunters you beat up." The woman in her thirties gave a soft smile with her eyes closed. Her brown bob hair was slightly folded outward, partially covering her shoulders. "Don't worry, you're safe, young man."

A question mark appeared in Felix's head while putting a bucket of five rabbits on the bar table. He had no idea what had just happened. After all, his reason was not to approach three beautiful flowers, but to hand over five rabbits as a quest item to Quest Master.

"Felix? Why are you here now?" A thin man in a white shirt over a black vest approached while placing a glass of carrot juice for the angry girl. "You know the quest deadline, right?"

"I'm helping a deer whose leg got caught in a trap in the forest, so I'm waiting for it to heal first before came in."

The fierce girl laughed while holding her stomach. "What kind of hunter are you? Seeing a game animal, instead of killing it, you help it. Men are so stupid."

Felix turned his head sullenly. He felt his actions were right. "That deer is not my target, I have no business with deer. Poor deer begged for help, so I helped him. What's wrong with helping a living creature?"

"Begged for help? Hah! Of course helping living creatures is not a bad thing to do, but where's your logic?" her voice rose as forefinger prodded her temple repeatedly. "Men's logic is brain-dead. That deer was probably your college target, you understand? Baka."

"Anastasia, Sweetie, don't talk like that." The woman with the motherly face let out a short sigh and turned to Felix. "Forgive Anastasia Von Elrik. She's in a lot of trouble. I'm Roselin Gardenia, and this is Linsy Windernail." She introduced the girl with glasses next to her.

"I'm Felix, Felix Longsword."

The girl named Anastasia was truly poison. Just a few sentences in, Felix's body heated up like water in a boiling kettle.

"Wow, what a cute rabbit." Linsy moved to sit next to Felix. She was interested in the five rabbits. "Ah, cute, how did they end up in the bucket?"

Felix smiled as he answered, "They were in a small cage before, but sadly the cage was destroyed."

"Ara ara, they look healthy for quest items." Roselin came down and rubbed the rabbit's chin with a faint smile.

"Because I took care of them. Look, they're eating fresh carrots." Felix excitedly pointed at the carrots in the bucket.

"Bakaa. You feed games like that. Useless, soon they will be roasted into delicious meat."

"Don't listen to her." Linsy's voice was barely audible. "She had a lot of problem."

Felix didn't understand what was wrong with Anastasia. But what she said was true. Felix was sad to think of the five bunnies living happily would end up on the plate. During their three days together, Felix even named them, A bi, A ci, A di, A fi, and A gi. Look at the innocent faces of bunnies, with their sweet white teeth, adorable eyes, and cute long ears, which monster would let them die?

"Felix, here is your reward. Where you license book, let me accumulated your exp." Itiar put the coins on the table next to the bucket, then went to get the bucket.

"Ouch uncle, sorry, I'm not going to finish the quest." Felix put his licence book, pulled the bucket away.

Itiar's thick white eyebrows jumped up. "Oh? Are you sure? You could lose your exp for failing the quest."

"Ah, it's okay. It will go up again tomorrow after doing the quest." Felix smiled wide and carefree.

"Baka, it's not just releasing deer now it's saving five rabbits. I wonder how you're doing as a hunter? You should work as a zookeeper instead, you stupid man."

Felix took Linsy's advice, for now he didn't think Anastasia existed. "Uncle, what about my order? Did you find the book?"

Itiar opened his lodge book, wearing reading glasses his face seriously following the finger movements in the book. "No, not yet. For nine years you have been asking about a book containing information on how to restore lost memory. Why do you need to restore your memories? Isn't your life happy with the Longsword family?"

Felix was silent for a moment. He felt that if he didn't know his past, he was like a puppet. "I'm not a puppet who lives without knowing the past. For me, my past shapes my future, and now I want my past."

Anastasia smiled, sipping her juice. Roselin was holding her rabbit with a smile, and Linsy was turning her glasses up and down with a smile. For them, Felix's answer had deep meaning.

Itiar closed the lodge book loosely. "I think whoever found that book would sell it at a high price to The Faith, Akademiya, or whoever has money. They wouldn't give that book away for ten silver."

Anastasia's contemptuous laughter returned. "What fool would sell a valuable book for the price of a horse? At the very least, you should buy it with a thousand gold coins."

"A thousand?" Felix's black eyes nearly fell out. He counted his fingers. "One gold coin equals ten silver coins. That means ten thousand silver coins. That means doing grade D quests ten thousand to twenty thousand times. Is my life long enough for that?"

"No, you don't have a long life to do all that. Ah, a man who can count. You're better than most men."

"Shh, Anastasia, you should drink and eat, and stop saying anything," Roselein said, shaking her head slowly, disappointed with his colleague's attitude, turning to Felix. "Forgive her, Sweetie, she had a lot of problem with a men lately."

"No problem." Felix closed his heart and ears to the poisonous flower. The more he responded, the happier she would be.

Itiar cleared his throat to get their attention. "If you want the book for free, there is actually one path you can take."