Chapter 40: Chapter 39 – Good News [1]

After a few minutes they reached the barricades that protected the Dort. And finally they understood why the Rabbitmen were so nervous. It was not the monsters in the forest that worried them. The entire barricade was spiked with arrows, there were signs of flame magic and other long range attacks. There must have been a big fight here. The tracks seemed to be older, many of the barricades had been rebuilt and reinforced. And there were no bodies, only small traces of blood could be seen on the ground.

Nemu and Trewy stopped. Both of them had a shocked expression. "What... happened here?" Stuttered Trewy.

The elder sighed. "Humans… After Veldora's disappearance, more and more of them came into the forest and attacked us. Almost every day. We could just barely defend ourselves. But more everytime more of them came. Until we no longer dared to leave our village. If it had not been for the dryads who frequently visited us, we probably would have lost a long time ago. But still... Even when the dryads fought back the bandits, only more of them came after they left us again. We offered them... No, we begged them to stay with us. But the forest is big and some other tribes had the same problem. Of course, it was disappointing for us, but we understood."

The guards just looked resignedly at the ground as the elder told them. Nemu and Trewy hadn't noticed before because they had seen Rabbit men for the first time, but when they looked closer they realized how exhausted they looked. Not physically, but mentally. They didn't look like they had slept properly for a long time. And they didn't get much food either.

"Why bandits?" Nemu was curious. The elder immediately said that they were bandits and not soldiers. If there were so many of them, it was more likely to be an organized group.

"We suspected something like this from the beginning. We don't know much about tactics since we don't leave the forest, but from what we've heard, humans specialize in fighting in large groups using tactics." Explained the elder. They were still standing in front of the barricades protecting the village. There was a gate in which deep gaps were cut. Obviously from axes and other heavy weapons. They were about to break through. There was no question about it.

After a short pause, the elder continued. "The people did not use tactics, even the armor and weapons were of poor quality and they showed no insignia of soldiers. It was as if someone was gathering bandits and mercenaries and sending them to us without a plan. That was... until we caught one of them. We thought we had to threaten him or... or use worse methods to make him talk. Fortunately, bandits and mercenaries have something in common. They aren't loyal. So after we told him he can go if he tells us everything he immediately started to talk.“ And they are stupid, Nemu thought. The Rabbit Tribe are a peaceful people, but to let a man go who would fight them again the next day? He did not ask this question because he already knew the answer. “He told us that there is a criminal organization that pays a lot of money for beastmen. Only a beastman would bring them enough money to retire them. And so, all the criminals, bandits and mercenaries gathered and attacked us. At the beginning, they were enough to surprise and capture the scouts who were in the forest, but apparently it is female and young Rabbitmen who bring the most money, so they started attacking us directly." He said, while looking at the damaged barricades.

With a decent and skilled adventurer group, they would have already destroyed the walls. However, adventurers would never agree to something like that. Slave trading was strictly forbidden and whoever gets caught wont only lose his adventurer license. They will spend a long time in prison.

Unfortunately, Trewy was still naive about this world. Even Nemu already knew the answer although he had not been in the company of others for long. "But why are young female Rabbit people worth more?"

"Slaves." Answered the Elder hesitatingly. "They capture us and sell us as slaves. And for reasons, female slaves are worth the most." He didn't want to say it. "For the male Rabbit Men.... They cut their ears off.. ears from beast men are very valuable to some people and the corpses were just thrown away. You know, Rabbitmen are rather weak. Since we lived here in the forest, Veldoras presence protected us, because humans feared him. We are a little faster and have a better sense of hearing than humans, but that's about it for our advantage. We are one of the few races among the Beastmen that aren't physically superior to humans. As most beast men are strong enough to fight with their bare hands, we can't handle a human with a weapon and armor. In the Beast Kingdom, humans would certainly not have attacked us. But here... Although we lived deep in the forest, we were a good target for greedy slave traders. We even thought about going back… But it was already too late when they attacked us and we lost a lot of our people. Surviving in the forest until we reach the beast kingdom would have been impossible."

This also answered a question for Nemu. For him, it made little sense that humans would venture so far into the forest. But if there was a criminal organization that promised the bandits a lot of money without getting their hands dirty, it explained the attacks. Countless people must have died on both sides. For the human side? They just don't care. After all, dead bandits does mean that the organization has to pay less money. Even bandits would fight each other if it is about money.

"If it wasn't for the Dryads, we would have lost long ago." Said the elder quietly, looking at Trewy. Although it was not Trewy who had protected them, there was gratitude in his eyes. Trewy was proud of her sisters. They protected the forest, something she will also do in the future.

Trewy nodded. Judging by the walls they would have broken through them in a day or maybe two. That leads to another question. Why didn't they attack again after the dryads left? It doesn't look like there was any fighting in the last few days. And it wasn't just the walls. There were only a few Rabbitmen on the barricades as well. Much less than there should be at this time. And they didn't take a break. Of course Nemu could already feel how many Rabbitmen were still in the village and there were few men left. Only women and children.

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"So... Why were they not attacking again? It doesn't look like they attacked the last few days and, well.... It doesn't look like you could have defended your village much longer." Nemu didn't want to be rude, but the question interested him since they arrived here. Besides, the elder's story must be almost over. Even with his magical senses, he had not sensed any humans on the way here. If they were only mercenaries, there was certainly no one who could trick his slime senses. If that was possible for humans at all.

"To be honest... We have no idea. A few weeks ago, the attacks stopped all at once. Every day we expected more attacks, but they never came. In the beginning we thought that this must be a tactic. Maybe they wanted us to feel safe so they could attack us at night, you can see that everyone here is exhausted as we are still prepared for more attacks. But after a few days we sent out our best scout to find out where the people stayed." Suddenly, one of the rabbit men and the guard who first noticed them had a proud look on his face. That must be the best scout. "He searched everything, after a while he even found the humans' camp. Abandoned. There were no signs that people had been there after the last attack. Besides, everything worth something was gone. No horses, no armor or weapons, the wagons were gone, not even food was left behind. There were no bodies, though. We don't know why, but they seem to have left without a fight. They had almost defeated us. Physically we have recovered, our wounds have healed and we were able to repair our barricades, but mentally... We still expect an attack every day and hardly move out of our camps.

It's not like we're not happy about it." The elder shrugged. "But we would really like to know what happened and why the humans retreated. The dryads haven't been with us since then either, so we figure something must have changed in the forest."

Something has changed in the forest. "Ah..." Said Nemu aloud. A red light bulb suddenly appeared over his slime body. Metaphorically.

"What is it?" The elder asked with a curious look. All of them were looking at Nemu now.

"Remember when I said there are two reasons why we are here?" Nemu asked. Trewy smiled. She understood, too.

"Yes?" The elder had almost forgotten after sharing his sad memories.

"Well, the reason the attacks stopped and the reason we are here are actually connected."

All of the Rabbitmen looked at Nemu in confusion.

"Let's go inside first. It's a long story." They stood in front of the barricade for some time now and the guards began to look nervously into the forest again. The story the elder had told had unsettled them again.

"Okay. Please follow me.” The elder was still looking at Nemu. Does the little slime know something?

Nemu smiled and followed them. Finally, he can deliver some Good News.

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