Chapter 5

‘She’s absolutely not the sort of person who’d go easy on him just because he’s a god. Consider yourself lucky.’

‘…….’

Having done her best to comfort her tearful younger brother, Elliot returned.

“That’s right. There are plenty of them, so just eat.”

Just as Elliot had said, there were still several peaches left in the subspace. Of course, even if there had only been one, she would have given it to Kainel anyway.

Only then did Kainel properly turn his gaze toward the peach held out before him.

‘If I eat this…….’

He had witnessed his father, the former Grand Duke, die right before his eyes. His father’s heart had slowly frozen as he died……

Hadn’t Kainel himself suffered terribly from the unbearable cold that froze his entire body ever since he was young, unable to control his own power?

In the end, he had been certain that he, too, would die with his heart frozen, just like his father.

‘But…….’

Because of Grace, his time had stopped, allowing him to live on for a long time.

A world where time had stopped for him alone.

Grace left.

And Artia had also left his side……

He could do nothing but watch countless people meet their deaths.

It was empty.

His heart was still beating, yet instead of feeling as though the heart that should have frozen was the one becoming cold, it felt as though everything in the world had frozen over.

Protecting her corpse was the only purpose that allowed him to continue living.

But then her corpse shattered into pieces and disappeared……

‘And then you appeared.’

You were the one who painted warm colors back into his cold, empty, colorless world.

“…….”

Kainel quietly gazed at Ceres, who still had not withdrawn the hand holding the peach out to him. Only after a long while did he slowly take the peach.

One bite, then another……

Kainel’s eyes widened slightly as he bit into the peach. He had never shown the slightest trace of gluttony, yet the speed at which he bit into the peach gradually increased.

A faint smile returned to Ceres’s lips as she watched him.

‘He must like the taste.’

Its sweet yet refreshing fragrance was strong enough to reach Ceres beside him. They called it a treasure of the Divine Realm, and it seemed that wasn’t an exaggeration.

Before long, the fairly large peach was reduced to nothing but its pit, and at some point, Kainel had quietly closed his eyes.

Whoooosh!

A faint light flowed from his body. But the light that had enveloped his entire body disappeared in an instant, and after a long while, Kainel slowly opened his eyes.

“Are you all right?”

“…Yeah.”

Kainel nodded and let out a long breath. He knew immediately.

His power had grown stronger.

‘But…….’

It was incredibly stable. Not even a trace of the sharp chill that had always attacked his heart could be felt. It was a sense of comfort he had never experienced before.

“Then…….”

Ceres gently took Kainel’s hand. Knowing exactly what she was about to do, he clasped her hand in return.

Whoosh!

Once again, a faint light began in Ceres’s hand and enveloped Kainel’s entire body.

Watching the light slowly disappear, Ceres let out a long breath.

Kainel……

After having been stopped for so many years, his time had begun to flow once again.

Who are we? The Rabbit Expedition Squad!

“Haah, there’s no end to this.”

“Tell me about it.”

“When are we supposed to restore all of that?”

“We’ll be lucky if it can even be restored.”

“Exactly. Our entire field burned down, so there’s nothing left to salvage.”

“I don’t even know if there’ll be anything left for us to salvage.”

The damage inflicted on the Empire during the brief period when the Red Moon dominated the world was immense. The dead were beyond counting, and above all, everyone’s livelihoods had been completely destroyed.

The Imperial Family was quickly providing manpower and resources, but it was nowhere near enough. Above all, the farmers were suffering the most.

All the crops that had been just about ready for harvest had been completely destroyed by the monsters’ attacks.

They desperately tried to salvage even a single thing, setting up supports and patting down the earth, but it was of little use.

“Haahhh.”

As time passed, the people’s sighs only grew heavier, especially as they thought about how unusually cold the coming winter might be.

“Good grief.”

Even Heri, a farmer who grew wheat and apples, could not stop sighing.

Seeing the crops that should have been heavy with grain all crushed and lying flat made his vision go dark. He couldn’t even begin to figure out where to start.

Whoosh!

“Hmm?”

But just then, Heri’s eyes widened slightly as he fiddled with the ruined crops. That was only natural, because a faint light had suddenly begun to seep from the ground.

Had it been a reflection of sunlight?

Rustle, rustle—

“Huh? Huh?”

The farmer frantically rubbed his eyes with both hands. There had been that strange light just now, and it seemed he had witnessed another bizarre sight as well.

“Why does it look like the crops are suddenly moving?”

Were his eyes playing tricks on him?

Rub, rub—

Flash!

“Gasp!”

But it wasn’t an illusion.

The crops that had been lying helplessly before his eyes suddenly sprang upright.

Flash! Flash!

And that wasn’t the end of it.

The crops throughout the entire field came back to life, returning to the state they had been in before the monsters attacked—or rather, they became even fresher and more abundant than they had been back then!

“W-What in the world……!”

So shocked that he collapsed onto the ground, Farmer Heri stared blankly at his field. He had absolutely no idea what was happening.

[Pii!]

“Eek!”

A strange cry suddenly rang out!

Fearing that a monster might have appeared, Heri looked toward the direction of the sound in terror.

Although the monsters that had covered the entire Empire had disappeared along with the Red Moon, there were still occasional cases of monsters that had failed to disappear hiding in various places, only to suddenly emerge and attack people.

[Pii, pii!]

“…A rabbit?”

The terrified farmer’s expression instantly went blank.

A baby rabbit was hopping around his field.

Well, it wasn’t unusual for rabbits to come down from the mountains and steal crops from farms here and there……

Whoosh!

“Gasp!”

But this was different.

Every time the baby rabbit passed by, the surrounding crops became even greener and more vibrant!

Even the apple trees that had been burned and broken came back to life and began bearing fruit.

“Could it be…….”

At that moment, something came to Heri’s mind.

There was a certain rumor circulating among the people these days.

A pure-white baby rabbit, said to be a Tamer Relic, was traveling throughout the Empire and bringing countless crops back to life!

“That rabbit……!”

When he had first heard the story, he had thought it was nothing more than absurd nonsense.

It was the first time he had ever heard of a Tamer Relic possessing such an ability, and even if such a relic existed, he had never thought it would use that ability on people as insignificant as them.

But……

[Pii!]

The baby rabbit wasn’t just using its ability on his farm. It hopped over to nearby farms belonging to other people as well and unleashed its power.

Flash!

And without fail, wherever the baby rabbit passed, the dead plants instantly came back to life as though by magic.

“My goodness……”

“Look at that!”

“T-That’s the rabbit! The rabbit from the rumor!”

“That’s right! It is!”

The people who had been utterly despondent couldn’t hide their excitement when they saw the rabbit. Their despairing sighs turned into cheers in an instant.

[Pii~]

Apparently enjoying the sound of the people’s cheers, the baby rabbit, Irielle, puffed out her chest proudly and hopped around even more energetically.

As though determined to receive even more praise, Irielle poured all her strength into using her ability.

Trees that had been burned and killed came back to life, while the crops that had been just about ready for harvest once again bore fruit, transforming into a lush and abundant sight.

“Waaaah!”

Cheers erupted everywhere Irielle passed.

[Piiii~]

As though responding to them, Irielle’s shoulders rose even higher.

Flap, flap!

Chomp!

[Pii, piiii!]

But there was one creature that found Irielle’s behavior absolutely unbearable—a black creature that clamped its teeth tightly onto the baby rabbit’s ear!

[Ppuu!]

Flapping its tiny wings and throwing a tantrum, it was none other than Kkamang.

[Ppuu, ppu!]

I’m the one who flew all the way here from there and brought you along, so why are you the only one getting praised?!

Kkamang’s dissatisfaction boiled over when only Irielle received praise, even though he had also done his best to help revive the crops.

[Pii!]

Whack!

Irielle wasn’t about to just take it, either. As though asking why Kkamang was picking a fight for no reason, the baby rabbit immediately launched a kick.

[Ppuu!]

[Pii!]

Rapidly, rapidly—

And so the two creatures spent quite some time running around and bickering as they batted at each other.

Press.

[Ppu, ppuuu!]

[Pii, piiiiii!]

After a while, there was someone who could no longer stand watching the two of them and lightly subdued them in an attempt to calm them down……