"Don't worry. I am not a bad turtle. Living in the wartorn area is hard, but you should not lose hope yet." Ate misinterprets Lily's condition.
'This turtle is really…' thought Lily helplessly.
"Anyway, I was on the way to catch two sneaky rabbits. Little girl, did you happen to see two sneaky rabbits here?" asked the turtle.
"Rabbits?!" asked Lily as she felt the talking turtle become more nonsense.
"Yeah. It is two sneaky white rabbits. They actually stole something precious from me. Those sneaky thieves are truly evil. After a long pursuit, I managed to corner them. Unfortunately, they fight back and flip me over, leading to my previous state."
"If it is not for your timely help, I may already go under the painful death of starvation. Still, I never thought they would come to this war-torn area. Those sneaky thieves must be plotting something evil." said the turtle Ate.
"I don't think there are rabbits around here. No ordinary animal could stay on this land, especially with its current condition." replied Lily.
"Are you talking about the evil in this land?" asked Ate.
"Evil?" asked Lily confusedly.
"Yeah. Although I am just a turtle, I could still feel the presence of Evil in this land. I am not sure what makes Evil come to this land. But you don't need to worry. It is just a weak Evil. As long as no horrible beast comes and feeds it, it will die soon." explained Ate.
"Evil? Horrible Beast?" Lily becomes more confused at this strange turtle.
After chatting more, Lily finally understands the talking turtle in front of her. She may not be as bright as her father or Angus regarding new inventions. However, she has a large data bank inside her brain collected from her father's knowledge.
She assumes the turtle is talking about Miasma when it refers to Evil. According to the turtle's story, the sneaky rabbits stole a precious item used to court his mate. Lily didn't know about this precious item, but she was intrigued by the rabbits.
She knows the talking turtle is strong from her previous kick, but it can still beat it. Lily also finds the turtle is too kind and gullible. Even Lily, who has low social interaction and is a bit dense, is not this naive.
The first lesson she gets from her father and everyone is to not trust others in anything. Her father even strictly tells her to not even trust himself.
As a result, she developed some kind of trust issue. Still, she understands this is necessary since she knows the secret lying in her body is too precious. Once leaked, it could create endless war and bloodshed.
"Are you sure? You don't want to get out of this area? I may only be a turtle, but I could still help your family out from this land." asked the turtle Ate.
"No need." refused Lily shortly.
"I see… Then, just call me with this whenever you need my help. I will stay here for a while to search for any trace of those sneaky rabbits." said Ate while giving a small living turtle to Lily.
Receiving the living turtle, Lily couldn't help but be confused about what to do. But she also does not fully trust Ate yet. Therefore, she could only let Ate go after silently putting a special mark on it. She decides to call on her father and talk about it.
Meanwhile, Angus is inside the underground research room doing various research for Jayna's new sword. Since they are still in the middle of wartime, Angus doesn't plan to create the sword now. However, he could still make a plan about it.
After some research, he finds the red-veined wood that he finds in the Heart kingdom's royal vault has many unique properties. One is that it is genuinely impervious to high heat, even Jayna's current fire. In contrast, it has wood characteristics and is non-malleable.
Therefore, it will be hard for him to combine it with other materials like Phoenix Feather or others. Currently, he doesn't lack any material since he manages to loot a lot of stuff from their journey at Nirvas.
In fact, he feels like the trip to the Nirvas is very bountiful. The amount of things he gets during this journey is enough for him to create anything outrageous. Unfortunately, he lacked the knowledge to make the sword using all this material.
He also needs more advanced tools and facilities to create something at the artifact level. Angus may not be a true crafter and blacksmith.
However, he often hears Vigo, Draught's disciple, and Balrug argue about the smithing and craft. Using his enhanced mind, he could easily pick up many things just by hearing their banter.
'At this rate, I need to ask that stubborn old dwarf to borrow some of the dwarf tools.' thought Angus while releasing a deep sigh.
During this time, Benjamin quickly approaches Angus while holding a communication tool.
"Master Angus, you need to hear about this." called Benjamin in a hurry.
"What's wrong, Master Benjamin?" asked Angus in worry.
Not long ago, Lily met a strange talking turtle…" Benjamin starts to tell Angus about Lily.
After hearing the story, "Two sneaky rabbits?! Talking turtle standing on two feet? Wait a minute.. Don't tell me those two rabbits are real, not just hallucinations I get from overwork." said Angus.
"Did you meet those two rabbits?" asked Benjamin.
"Not exactly meeting them. It is more like Anna caught them out of nowhere before they somehow disappeared into thin air. I thought I was too tired after researching red-striped rabbits too much." said Angus.
"Moreover, those rabbits are too idle and not even moving like dolls after getting caught by Anna." added Angus.
"Really?! Is it possible those two rabbits are playing possum since you know how terrifying little Anna could be towards beastly creatures." replied Benjamin.
"True. Still, this is bad. I don't know what kind of rabbit they are, but they could be anywhere, even in this room. I will tell the Duchess about this matter later. Just call Lily back, asking her for more information. Thanks for the information, Master Benjamin." said Angus.
"Don't worry about it. I am also intrigued by these two rabbits. Anyway, what should we do to the small living turtle on Lily? Should we get rid of it?" asked Benjamin.
"Don't worry about it. Just bring it over here. Besides, the whole fortress is already on high alert. Even if that turtle planned something, we could easily cope with it. We also have the H squad on standby. You should know what they are capable of." replied Angus before leaving the room.
While Angus reports about the two invisible rabbits, Anna sleeps peacefully while hugging her fluffy ball. Currently, she is only accompanied by Jayna. At this moment, two hidden silhouettes similar to standing bunnies slowly appeared near the bed.
The two invisible bunnies slowly approach Anna silently without waking up the girls. As their distance gets near, Anna suddenly jumps at them before catching their ear rapidly. This sudden attack surprised them.
This movement is so fast and smooth that it does not even wake Jayna. However, the next moment is more surprising. While grabbing the two bunnies, Anna slumps on the bed while snoring. She is still holding and even hugging the two captured invisible bunnies.
In the end, the two bunnies could only stay invisible and stay still. Although not many people know, these two bunnies' weakness is their ears. If someone grabs their ear base, the rabbit will become powerless. All it could do was play possum and hope not to get killed.
They didn't expect that these monster girls could somehow catch them twice while they were still invisible. Unfortunately, they didn't know about Anna's terrible sleeping habits.
During the whole night, they finally realize why Onyx and Magen choose to sleep far away from Anna. Unless it is Angus, Jayna, and Mira, no one will be left unscathed while sleeping beside Anna. The little troublemaker's sleeping habit is too absurd.
Sometimes, Angus even though she is not sleeping but going berserk and tries to wrestle everyone. If it is not for her peaceful sleeping expression, the couple may think it is one of her mischievous pranks.
Meanwhile, Angus finishes his reports to the Duchess about the two invisible rabbits.
"So, you say two unknown invisible rabbits are wandering in the fortress? And they are also holding something important for this unknown talking turtle, right?" asked the Duchess.
"Yeah. That's the gist of it." said Angus.
"Just to be sure. This is not one of your pranks, right?" asked the Duchess sternly.
"No, of course not. I know it sounds ridiculous. But, this is true." said Angus seriously.
"*Sigh* Fine. So, do you know how to find these two invisible rabbits? According to your story, the rabbit could even bypass all of our security and detection systems." replied the Duchess.
"That's the problem. They could even bypass my detection skill. If I am not wrong, they are similar to the red-striped rabbit. They can blend with nature and erase their presence. Even if they are in front of us, we may not be able to detect their presence."
"The only one that may find them is that talking turtle. Since he could trace the rabbits all the way here, it means it has something or the capability to find the rabbits." explained Angus.