Life of a Nonhuman

[Mahou-Shoujo]

The men quickly left the area upon release, and would never come back willingly, of course their tale though ridiculous would spread through their homeland, however it was dismissed as a bunch of ill equipped colonists fighting a pack of wild animals, and the attempted expansion project was shelved for the foreseeable future, though more eyes were now upon Nibbit and how he affected the great forest, eager to judge just how much of a threat this leader of a ragtag group of monsters could possibly be, most agreed purely on principal that he probably wasn't dangerous at all, or even real, and so Nibbit avoided being hunted down as a threat based purely on his name and Wabbit origins.

The pen was filthy, cramped and uncomfortable, after all hides could just be washed after they were harvested, and judging from the stench something had died in there at some point, yet still the Wabbit optimism prevailed and they quickly recovered and investigated the newcomers, they were wary of Hasuki but wholeheartedly trusted Boss and Nibbit as Wabbit kin, showing their affection to a newly discovered friend, Boss got much the same treatment, not even trying to hide her incredible delight at being swarmed by so many new kin! It looked like there were even some dires that Boss broke out of their separate, secure cages, they seemed to assume she was superior started following Boss around, the word underboss came to mind, the lesser bosses in a herd that reaches a certain size.
Though the stone was already pushing itself to work, the Wabbits minds had only just started to expand and they were still fairly, well stupid to put it bluntly, but at the very least they agreed to follow to this new place with food and safety and playmates.

Boss was very much unlike her usual self on the return trip, so overwhelmed by joy that it was kind of scary, it almost seemed like she might start humming a few time!
Hasuki was proudly brandishing the staff she pilfered from the camp, it was suitable for her needs and it wasn't like she could just find another one in the wilds, her tail was wagging at the new treasure she held. she could b useful again! Sure she still needed to learn more spells, but at least she could actually practice and use them now.
Boss insisted they escort the Wabbits to their home before returning to the village and Hasuki agreed that it was safer, so unless Nibbit had a good argument, they would head there.

The scene upon arrival was... Very fluffy, lots of excited, happy Wabbits getting to know each other, even a few new mated pairs would form over the next few days from the looks of things, it must have been nice to pick a life partner so easily and quickly.
The smarter Wabbits also started teaching the newcomers, of which there were about a hundred or so, and by the end of the day they would all have names.
This of course prompted Boss to confront Nibbit alone, approaching him quietly from behind she spoke up suddenly.
"Nibbit... I am curious... Everyone else has name... But I don't, how do I get one? I want one..."
She asked nervously, biting her lip, clearly this was important to the girl, likely critical to her developing identity as a sentient humanoid.
However, even as this conversation began a hidden neighbor took notice of them, an ancient lich was shocked to find mere WABBITS living in a ruin from his time, and prepared his goblins to destroy and devour the fluffy menaces...

 

[ayylmao]

The pen's condition was absolutely deplorable. It made Nibbit sick. He could tell that one, or even more Wabbits had died there, and they just let them rot like that!

Those bastards! Capturing Wabbits is one thing but putting them in a terrible condition like this is certainly another!

No wonder the Wabbits were all so happy when they saw them!

On their way home, Nibbit took notice on how happy Boss was being, and it made him happy as well. She was all smiling, unlike her usual, serious self.

D-damn, she's really cute when she smiles like that… he thought as he averted his gaze with a blush.

He watched in satisfaction as the Wabbits reunited with each other. It didn't take long at all until they became good friends with each other, or even more, as he took notice that some of them were definitely becoming mating couples. And they all started to teach each other, with some of the named Wabbits giving the others their own names.

"Aaah, when will I get a girlfriend of my own…" He couldn't help but sigh. "I suppose it's a mate now though, since I'm a Wabbit and all… Wabbits don't have girlfriends, they just… reproduce, I suppose…"

Suddenly, Boss called him from behind, nearly making him jump.

"O-oh hey, Boss, h-how long have you been there?" He quickly replied, blushing. Don't tell me that she heard all that!

To his surprise, she then asked him how she could get a name of her own.

"E-eh, a-a name, Boss?" Nibbit replied, taken off-guard by her sudden question. O-oh, that's right… Boss still hasn't got a name of her own. We all just called her Boss...

"R-right, a name… a name…" Once again, he had to come out with a name right on the spot. And just like before, he was really, really bad at it.

"H-how about… Mimir? Yeah, Mimir! Does that sound good to you, Boss?"

And from that day on, Boss was known as Mimir the Dire Wabbit.

-----

After making sure that the new population of Wabbits was well-taken care of, Nibbit and co. immediately returned to the elf village with the good news, that the colonists had fled and that they weren't going to return anytime soon as Nibbit had scared them all so badly.

"And that's what happened," Nibbit ended his tale to the elven chief with a smile on his face. "It went perfectly just as I planned it!"

Well, ignoring the mage, that is…

"So, can we have your carpenters now?" he asked. "We'll certainly going to need a bigger house now, with all the new Wabbits that have joined!"

-----

The construction effort began smoothly. A group of elven workers returned with them, and they immediately hatched a construction plan once they arrived back at the ruins, after they did a little surveying on the area.

"There should be no problem with using the trees nearby as construction materials," their leader, a serious-looking elven woman named Eirsha, explained to Nibbit. "We can clear the trees around to form a proper border for your future village as well as getting the needed materials in one fell swoop."

Nibbit agreed, and so the gathering wood phase of the construction began.

Afterwards, they discussed on how they should build the Wabbit house. For this matter, Nibbit decided it would be best if Boss, or Mimir, as she was called now, should be the one Eirsha "interrogated" for the matter. He was still there, of course, coming in with his own suggestions and comments here and there.

In the end, they decided on a three-story building, shaped almost like a nursery home for young kids. The Wabbits would each have their own little warm beds, and there would be a grazing garden in the middle where they could go anytime they went hungry. And it would have fruit trees and bushes, not just grass in it.

"How about making trampolines?" Nibbit suggested. "Wabbits like to jump around after all! Also, we can make a hole on all the floors so that they could jump down without taking the stairs."

"A trampoline?" Eirsha raised her eyebrows. "What is that?"

"A-ah, right, you don't know…" He forgot that he wasn't in the modern world anymore. "It's like a bouncy mattress that allows anyone who jump on it to jump higher than normal."

"Hmm…" Eirsha put a finger on her cheek. "Maybe we can use some magic for that. We'll see what we can do…"

"Anything else, Bo-- I-I mean, Mimir?" Nibbit asked her. He still wasn't quite used on calling her with her new name.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Boss cocked her head to the side as she received her name, clearly thinking over how it felt to be called that.
"Mimir... Mimir... Mimir is good!"
She declared with a grin, before blushing and turning away suddenly.
"Nibbit made a good name this time... You aren't stupid..."
She declared, before skipping away, god it was hard to take her seriously with how she got around, having seemingly kept the bounce from her life as a Wabbit, even now as her human identity became more and more present.
It was actually really comforting for her to bounce like that, it was what she was used to, of course it had the secondary effect of adding quite a bounce to her chest, distracting for both Nibbit and apparently Hasuki too from her occasional blushy glances.

Back at the village Nibbit was greeted by a few cheers, the elves knew what he had done and were clearly quite happy about it, he had likely acquired a new ally from this event, it could certainly help to have the neighbors on his side.
The elder again came to meet Nibbit and bring him to her house to eat once again.
"My scouts tell me you were quite effective, I am glad you were able to recover your kin and run off those colonists without any casualties, my people will give you whatever you need within reason, we always pay our debts".
She assured him, and would send him on his way with a team of builders and a wagon full of construction equipment.
They had some issues figuring out how to make a trampoline like surface, but with a little magic and some stretched hides managed to create a fairly effective one, that Boss and several Wabbits would test and approve of.

Boss wasn't really knowledgeable about building things, but gave suggestions as to what might make Wabbits happy and comfortable, with how communal they were she didn't need to bother with requesting privacy, though did request a large fireplace for winter, Wabbits were fortunately smart enough to not hop into fire, and got very cold in winter, it wasn't too uncommon for the snow to melt and a body or two to be found, and she didn't want a single solitary Wabbit to die on her watch! Especially not as their numbers were likely below a thousand or so... Hopefully something that could be rapidly fixed with their high rate of reproduction.
"No... This looks good to me, the others will like it too".
She was putting in extra effort to talk properly around these strangers! She had to show they were civilized and strong! An attempt only slightly sabotaged by several Wabbits deciding to nap in a pile on a rock while another bumped into an elf's leg with a broken Vase stuck on it's face, apparently it had been exploring.

After he was finished talking to the elves Hasuki came up to Nibbit, she was holding the staff she had apparently pilfered from the mage they defeated, wands were good and all but also expensive and tended to shatter after a spell or two.
"Hey Nibbit... I was curious... Have you thought about learning magic?"
She seemed nervous for some reason.
"I umm... Noticed you seem to have a lot of magical energy... Like more than me, and you could probably be a really good mage if you got proper training... I don't know a huge amount about things but I could maybe try and show you some things?..."
Her ears were down and tail wagging, she was clearly nervous about this, and also maybe a little excited?

A little later several wolves and Wabbits would ask if they could explore the local area, just a little bit of scouting, it looked like the wolves wanted to take the chance to show a few Wabbits how to be more stealthy, including several of the Dire Wabbits they had rescued, a dire Wabbit was probably equal to a wolf in it's own right so they wouldn't be in much danger, especially since they didn't plan to go more than an hour or two away from the base.

 

[ayylmao]

She really needs to stop walking like that… Nibbit thought as his eyes were caught on her bouncing breasts.

Suddenly, he imagined himself on top of her, grabbing said boobs firmly as he stared at her in the eyes.

Aaaah, what are you thinking, NiNibbit? This is no time for weird thoughts like that!

Don't tell me it's because of my Wabbit physiology! Wabbits are supposed to breed a lot when they feel safe and secure after all!

-----

Once they arrived back at the elven village, they were greeted with cheers and praises. Nibbit didn't hesitate on basking under the attention, waving around his hand to everyone as they walked towards the chief's house.

Once there, they had their celebratory feast. It wasn't much, and there was no meat in the menu, only fruits and vegetables, but Nibbit was grateful nonetheless, as he quickly emptied his third bowl of vegetable soup.

You know, I never liked vegetables this much as my old self. Maybe it's my Wabbit side speaking.

Still, I would love to have some juicy, juicy meat… Aaah, now that I think about it, I realize just how much I miss it!

There, the elder also introduced him to Eirsha, the architect that would oversee the construction as a whole.

Well, she looks… young. But since she's an elf, she's probably hundreds of years old already!

Asking a lady her age is rude so I guess I would never know the truth…

"Thank you very much for taking care of the colonists, Master Nibbit." She gave a polite bow. "I am Eirsha, and I am at your service."

She seems to be the polite, stiff type. Maybe she is old after all.

"I would be staying in your place for a while, along with my subordinates. We shall gather our food and set up makeshift treehouses on our own, so you would not have to worry about our accommodations in the slightest," she explained.

That's certainly convenient…

However, as his eyes wandered down, he couldn't help but notice something quite… perverted, for a lack of a better term.

Hey, her skirt… is pretty short, isn't it? Ends on her upper thigh…

That's definitely a class S Zettai Ryouiki…

As he stared at her thighs, the elf had her own fascination towards him.

Those bunny ears… they're all twitchy...

So cute… I want to touch it…

She had to resist however. She was a professional carpenter after all. The best in the entire village even.

She had to show how good she was to him.

-----

After their discussion on how they should build the main Wabbit house, Eirsha immediately went to work.

She used the skills she had learned over the years to draw the best blueprint she could come up with.

Back at the village, she rarely got the chance to build anything more complex than a simple house, so this was definitely a welcome challenge to her.

She remembered the era when she left the village, trying to find work as an architect in the human cities. Unlike most of her brethrens, she was not content with just making wooden carvings and selling it to the humans.

But she soon found out that humans… didn't really build wooden houses or buildings that much in their cities. Instead, they built them off stones and bricks, materials she was entirely unfamiliar with.

For an elf who only had experience working with wood, working with them was really uncomfortable to her.

Even so, she persisted. She found a dwarven construction group and begged them to take her in.

It was rough at first. They didn't take her seriously at all. They kept slapping her butt and mock her with their speech. They thought a dainty elf like her shouldn't be working with a bunch of tough, smelly dwarves like them.

And yet, she persisted. And eventually, she obtained their respect. She became one of their architects.

Alas, it didn't last long. It all came crashing down when she caught the eye of an influential human noble.

He wanted her to become his mistress. He had the taste of the exotic, collecting all sorts of nonhuman women to satisfy his perverted desires.

She couldn't resist. He threatened to jail the dwarves for some made up reason if she refused.

And so she ran. She ran all the way back to her village.

She would never trust humans. Never again.

And to her, Nibbit was, in a way, another chance for her to fulfill her dream.

To build all sorts of wonderful and useful buildings, for all the world to see.

Who knows? Maybe this new place he was building could end up thriving in the future.

She just wished she would live long enough to see that happen.

-----

"Learning magic?" Nibbit replied to Hasuki. "Oh, I would love to!" He quickly answered. "I certainly can't just rely on my kicks forever, can I? And from here, the enemies would only get even stronger, so I need to be stronger as well!" He said to her with a smile.

When the wolves and Wabbits asked for permission to patrol, he granted it right away. He figured it could be a nice way for the new Wabbits to bond with the wolves. And since they were Dire Wabbits, there should be nothing to worry about.

"Yes, you guys can go," he replied to them. "Just be careful, alright?" He smiled at them, patting the head of the nearest wolf.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

While the elves did eat meat, if not as much as the average human tended to, they would have served it to any guests normally but were still under the impression that as Wabbit folk, Nibbit and Mimir would be like the rest of their kind and not enjoy eating meat, of course they had no way to know that Nibbit had been a normal human before, or that Mimir was secretly starting to wonder what it might be like to have some good, properly cooked meat... Oh and of course they had given Hasuki some meat, it my have been a stereotype that Canine Kin liked meat, but it was one that was for the most part true at least.
The stone seemed confused by Nibbit's response to the short skirt, having apparently woken up again, not about the shortness though, but about his Zettai Ryouki comment... And in a flash seemed to suddenly understand, had it read his mind?! No... It seemed to only read surface thoughts, he would have to be careful not to corrupt the thing with dirty thoughts.

Hasuki seemed shocked by the skirt length as well it seemed.
"Umm... Nibbit... Is it normal for elf girls to have such short skirts?... I only knew a few but they wore pants or longer travel skirts... It seems like that length might be embarrassing, but at least there's no tail to push it up".
Mimir of course didn't seem to even notice, she was still getting used to clothing even being a thing to concern herself about so why would she care about length or fashion?

"Yeah... Your kicking ability is incredible, but if you found something especially well armored or magical in origin like an elemental or..."
She actually shivered as she whispered the next part.
"An imp..."
Well, judging from that reaction, as well as the almost horrified sensation from the stone in his stomach, demons were NOT liked in this world, even by beast kin and weirdly intelligent stones.
Interestingly he didn't even get the usual burst of information to explain this, implying that it might be a more primal hatred.
"So umm... I will put together a lesson plan for you, we can skip most of the channeling and energy condensing lessons because you seem to be a natural at that..."
She declared.
It seemed people who were naturals at channeling tended to be natural mages, while others needed more training.

The wolf's tongue lolled out of it's mouth as it was pet, it was recognizable as the youngest of the pack and seemingly the most willing to play with the Wabbits, so it made sense it would be going along to teach them.
They left quickly, but soon Nibbit would hear a distant, pained howl, the patrol had found something!
It would take Nibbit a short while to reach the source of the howl, and he would find the site of a battle, about a dozen goblins, several of whom were on the ground with clear wounds, were fighting his patrol, one of the wolves was laying on the ground with a broken looking leg, and the Wabbits were struggling to do much against a stronger, armored goblin with a large hammer.

 

[ayylmao]

"E-eh? H-how would I know?"

Nibbit was caught completely off guard by Hasuki's question! He could only respond by a stutter as he quickly averted his gaze away from the sinful sight!

"W-well, maybe that's why she wore a long cape over it. To make it less embarrassing."

The cape would certainly cover her panties from showing whenever she bent over!

-----

The moment Hasuki mentioned the imp, Nibbit immediately felt an unpleasant sensation coming from his stomach.

W-what was that?

T-that was… a surge of hate?

The stone… does it hate imps that much?

...N-no… not just imps…

Demons…

He noticed Hasuki shivering as well when she mentioned the word. So she doesn't like demons either, huh?

I suppose demons are the bad guys of this world. Like in Dragon Quest!

"Yeah, sure, we can do that!" Nibbit replied to Hasuki's suggestion. "Looking forward to the lesson, Master Hasuki!" He smirked. He had decided to tease her a little.

-----

"Awoooooo!"

Not long after they left, Nibbit heard a howl. A pained, pleading sort of howl. With his Wabbit ears, it was easy for him to pick up on the distant sound.

They're in trouble!

He didn't wait for Boss or Hasuki. He immediately ran towards where the howling came from.

Crap, I knew I shouldn't have sent them!

But then again, what could they be up against that they ask for reinforcements? I know for a fact that there shouldn't be any dangerous monsters around here!

When he arrived, his question was immediately answered.

Goblins!

They were fighting the wolves and Wabbits, and judging by how the latter group looked, they were winning!

Nibbit immediately went into action. He ran straight into one of the goblins and kicked him straight in the stomach, sending him flying to a nearby tree, knocking him out instantly.

He then turned his attention to the armored one, which he assumed to be their leader.

"Hey, you, you're the one in charge, aren't you? You have quite the guts to be trespassing into the great Nibbit's territory. On top of that, you attacked his patrol too."

He put on his scary smile once again.

"If you don't want to get hurt, then run. Run as far away from here as you can. The only way you're going to get a land here is to kneel and swear your allegiance to me, the Great Nibbit!"

Once again, he put up a brave front. He had to, in order to keep his family and friends safe.

Unfortunately however, the goblin didn't seem to care.

"Alright then! I see you've chosen the hard route! Then, prepare yourself to receive an ass-kicking from the great Nibbit!"

He jumped upwards, preparing himself to do a drop kick to the armored goblin. Meanwhile, the Wabbits that had been fighting the goblins quickly scattered away, knowing quite well what Nibbit was about to do. The goblin, on the other hand, didn't try to dodge in the slightest. Instead, he raised his large hammer upwards, in a shielding motion to protect himself from Nibbit's assault.

Even so, Nibbit did not hesitate. He launched the full force of his muscle and weight towards him.

"G-gah!"

As expected, his kick landed on the hammer.

And it was harder than he had expected.

O-ow, my leg!

He didn't manage to shatter the hammer. However, he did manage to bend it considerably from the force of his landing.

Naturally, the goblin underneath was still well and fine, albeit a little shocked by the blow he had just received.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Hasuki was glad that Nibbit didn't question her about demons, she doubted a Wabbit would know much about them, as she didn't know about the magical stone feeding him information about random things, and was nowhere near comfortable talking about them to other people, she'd leave that to the dusty old professors at the guild who seemed to have overcome their primal reaction to demons by sitting in basements and studying for decades, of course even they were a bit odd about it.
"I... I'll do my best!"
Hasuki declared, bowing for a moment, the action giving Nibbit a moment of cleavage within his view, which fortunately the excited puppy girl hadn't noticed.
She did appear to be blushing though, even as her tail wagged frantically, she really liked the idea of teaching him it seemed!

All things considered, the Wabbits and wolves had put up an impressive fight, for just two wolves and four Dire Wabbits against twelve goblins all armed with crude weapons, managing to knock almost half of them out of the fight was certainly an impressive feat, of course they had been overwhelmed, but that was where Nibbit came in!
There were gasps of shock from the goblins, they hadn't expected a humanoid! And almost looked like they might run until seeing that he was alone, he couldn't help but notice that they had strangely good hygiene, something not normal for goblins in the slightest, maybe something had caused a change in this group? They certainly seemed more organised too.
"This not your land! This Master's land! I not follow you!"
The lead goblin declared, apparently there was someone else willing to put a claim to the area who was in command of the goblins, and who were more intimidating than Nibbit, admittedly not a difficult task.

The blow did bend the hammer, and left the goblin momentarily stunned, but it recovered quickly.
"You are strong... Not as strong as master! Attack!"
It shouted, causing four of the remaining goblins to rush Nibbit with it, they were coming from all around him at roughly the same speed, and though it seemed to struggle a little the lead goblin was likely going to try and deliver a rather painful swing.
The stone seemed to not like that idea and suddenly Nibbit's vision changed a little... He was suddenly hyper aware of two things, a sizable crack in the lead goblin's hammer's handle, that if kicked correctly could cause the hunk of iron to land on the goblin, and one of the ones rushing him was limping and off balance, a wolf bite on it's leg.
He was also aware of an archer about to fire... But it was jumped by Mimir! She had apparently been following after him.

 

[ayylmao]

Nibbit did notice Hasuki's cleavage when she bowed, making him blush and avert his gaze.

It was pretty small though. Nibbit couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity towards her.

-----

Master? Who is he talking about?

So they're not just a wandering band of goblins?

"Tell me! Who is this Master of yours?" Nibbit shouted back. He needed to know their identity!

The armored goblin didn't answer however. Instead, he simply ordered his underlings to attack.

Right when he was in such a prone position too.

Crap crap crap, I have to retreat! I can't get surrounded!

Before he could do so however…

H-huh?

Everything is… slowing down?

W-what? What is going on?

Is this… the power of the stone again?

He had no time to think further. He had to act. Now!

Seeing the weakness of the goblin's hammer, he decided he would begin from there. He landed another kick on the spot.

Then, he scanned his surroundings. He saw that one of the goblins that were charging towards him was already wounded on his legs, from a bite he received from one of the wolves.

There! Another weak spot!

He launched himself off the armored goblin. Then, with another single kick, he landed a straight blow onto the wounded goblin's leg.

Meanwhile, he saw in his peripheral vision that one of the goblin archers was aiming for him. He was just about to perform a dodging maneuver, when Mimir came to the rescue!

Boss! Since when you're here?! He thought with a smile.

When things moved back at normal speed, the armored goblin would be confused momentarily as Nibbit was no longer there.

Until a hard lump of iron hit him straight on the head.

"Ugaaahh!"

He let out a short scream as he fell down to the ground, unconscious.

"Ugyaaaahhh!"

The other goblin, the wounded one, felt his wounded leg snap from the force of Nibbit's kick, making him fall to the ground.

Afterwards, the remaining goblins were quickly subdued, thanks to Nibbit and Mimir's effort. Like your usual goblins, once they saw themselves in a state of disadvantage, as their boss was out for the count, along with quite a number of their warriors, they quickly surrendered.

Nibbit would've tied them with ropes, but he didn't bring any with him.

Well, as long as he's there, and he remained alert to any shady business they might try, it should be alright.

"Boss! How did you get here so fast?" Nibbit greeted her once they were done. "Did you follow me here?" He asked her with a smile.

He then ordered one of the wolves to fetch Hasuki. He wanted her to cast a healing spell on the goblin leader, just so he would wake up.

They needed to interrogate him after all.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

When his burst of speed ended Nibbit was incredibly drained, like he had just done a triathlon while carrying a car! It seemed whatever that was had quite a cost in energy, the stone was 'sleeping' again too, so it looked like it wasn't just costly to him.
Fortunately the armored goblin was wearing an apparently fairly well made helmet, so he would just be moderately concussed and unconscious rather than straight up dead from the head of his hammer falling on him, the other goblin had a broken leg, but it was seemingly a clean break, so would probably heal with medical care, or rot off if this world was anything like Medieval Earth.
As for Nibbit, there was no way he could keep fighting... So it was fortunate that the other goblins gave up, attempting to flee before being cut off and subdued by the others, dropping their weapons and curling up on the ground to show that they were not a threat, as well as begging for their lives until it became apparent they were not going to die just yet... This Nibbit guy was at least more merciful than the master.

Mimir nodded, bounce walking over towards him.
"I heard the.... Wolves? Crying out, so I followed the sounds... You moved faster than me so arrived first, saved them... Thank you".
She moved to give him an eskimo kiss to show her appreciation, despite her having saved him a minute ago! His reaction would earn either a slight smile or a pout.
The wolf he sent off soon returned with Hasuki, who had ropes that she quickly made use of, Mimir watching and then helping once she had figured out how to tie the goblins up.
"Umm... I'm not a healer! I can't use any healing... But um..."
She pulled the Goblin's helmet off and proceeded to pour on his face.... Which didn't work, causing her to huff and cast something! Shooting a very small amount of electricity into him... This woke the goblin leader up.
"Ehh?! What?! Aieeee! No kill! No kill! Me surrender!"
Was the first thing the Goblin said once it became aware of it's surroundings again.
It would however refuse to answer questions at first, claiming that the 'master' would be furious.

 

[ayylmao]

H-huh, why am I feeling tired all of a sudden?

Once the battle was over, before he knew it, he was all out of breath, as if he just ran a 10 mile marathon without a break.

D-damnit, was it that weird slowdown ability? Hey, gem in my stomach. Warn me beforehand that it's going to take so much energy, would ya?

Thankfully, the battle was pretty much over then so he wasn't in any real danger from it.

"Ah, I see," he replied to Mimir. Of course she had heard it too. She had the same ears as me after all.

When she leaned over to give him yet another eskimo kiss, he was once again too late to evade.

...Nah, at this point, he might be starting to get used to it.

He still ended up with a light blush on his cheeks though.

When Hasuki came, she quickly got to work on reviving the goblin. To Nibbit's not-entirely-innocent chuckle, she did it by electrocuting him.

And so the questioning began. Just as Nibbit had expected, the goblin wasn't immediately willing to divulge the identity of this Master of his.

Haah, what should I do now? Torture? Nah, I don't have the guts for that, do I? And besides, it's apparently never that effective of a method for extracting information in the first place.

God, if only I could read minds at a time like this… surely, there are some monsters out there that could do that, right?

In the end, he decided on a more… persuasive approach.

"How about this?" I gave him an offer with a smile. "If you tell us everything you know about this 'Master' of yours, I'll be willing to give you and your friends asylum."

"Of course, you guys would have to obey by our rules, but you would get our protection from the wrath of this 'Master' you spoke of."

"Think about it. You already failed him by botching up your invasion attempt like this. What more could you lose by joining us? He would be angry with you either way."

He waited for his answer with a confident smirk, sitting cross-legged in front of him as if he was no threat in the slightest to him.

I had to look confident if I'm going to convince him after all.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

As it was currently 'sleeping' after having drained itself, the stone was unable to give a snarky reply... Well, could a stone even be snarky to begin with? Well regardless of how capable it might be of snarking him, if he wanted to know more then Nibbit would need to find a way to get the stone more energy, as it's current supply was woefully inadequate, something that would be obvious even if Nibbit's instincts didn't already let him know how little magic it had available.

Boss cocked her head slightly and smiled at Nibbit, pleased that he wasn't complaining about her Wabbit affection for once, then hopped off to help guard the surrendered goblins, as well as make sure the injured ones didn't wake up and run away, she wasn't used to having prisoners but could figure out the basics, it was kinda like keeping an eye on young Wabbits, except with more kicking... Kicking itself was admittedly also fairly new to Boss but at least it was a concept that was exceedingly simple to grasp.
She also stood nearby to watch the interrogation, curious as to how this very human concept worked.

The goblin leader seemed at first reluctant... But honestly, it wasn't completely stupid, goblin leaders tended to be smarter in fact, and this Wabbit man made sense, the master would likely kill them for their failure in a rather painful way, he needed to set an example after all, and this Nibbit guy seemed pretty powerful, maybe even strong enough to kill the master! Or at least hold him off for a while...
"M...Master is really tough... We don't see his face but he some sort of mage! Way stronger than goblin shamans... And he has walking bones in his forces!"
The goblin declared, shivering slightly.
Okay, undead were bad, didn't need outsider knowledge to know that much.
"He took over village... Made goblins serve or die, wants to rule forest!"
The goblin would go on to give directions to the goblin town, but warned that there were a couple hundred goblins within, and the village itself was built out of an old castle.
The master apparently only had six undead, and was waiting for a specific phase of the moon to summon more.

 

[ayylmao]

Thankfully, Nibbit's persuasive tactic seemed to have an effect on the goblin, as he immediately spilled the beans afterwards.

He didn't know much. But enough to tell Nibbit that his Master was a genuine threat to them and the forest in its entirety.

Turning him uncharastically pale.

So, a powerful mage… that has walking bones, skeletons, as part of his army…

He's a friggin' necromancer!

And not only that, he has hundreds of goblins already under his control, and his base is a friggin' castle!

T-this is far different than those humans we fought off before!

It took Nibbit a moment to compose himself from the revelation, before his brain started working on what their next step should be.

Certainly, we have to attack him before he could summon more undead, worsening our situation even more. But how are we going to do that, with how many there are? Not to mention the advantageous position they have!

We definitely can't do it with just us three! No, even if we added the DIre Wabbits and Wolves, it still would be nowhere near enough!

"Boss, Hasuki, I-I think we got a problem."

-----

They then all returned back to the village, with the goblins in tow. They were still tied on their hands, with their weapons taken away, but they were allowed to walk, under Mimir and the wolves' stern supervision.

Nibbit, on the other hand, was still trying to figure out how they would tackle this new threat.

M-maybe we can ask the elves for help? But they don't really look like fighters to me… they're just wood carvers and carpenters after all…

O-oh, that's right! I still have the gem inside me! It should have a good advice for me! Or even maybe a powerup that allows me to fight against that many goblins with ease!

However, he soon realized that the gem wasn't responding.

E-eh? I-it's not answering?

...O-oh right, it had run out of juice… maybe doing that slow down thing from before made it shut down once again…

I can't just wait for it to recharge again for days! There must be a way to quicken the process!

Maybe Hasuki would know!

"H-hey, Hasuki!" He approached the dog girl. "How do you usually recharge a magic item?" He was pretty sure that the gem belonged in said category.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Hasuki seemed shocked by this revelation too, having much more of an idea about the power needed for something like necromancy, not to mention understanding the logistics of their situation, even if all the Wabbits could fight on the level of a dire they would likely still lose, especially if the castle's defenses were still usable, they didn't have anything that could break through a gate and stone walls! And even if they were not exactly renowned as archers, enough goblins together could still hit targets from atop a wall!
Mimir didn't seem that worried, more confused than anything, she probably had a sum total of zero idea what was going on, but wanted to help anyway! It seemed really important and for the first time in her life, Mimir wished she could think more like a human, understand these non Wabbit topics... It would be something for her to think about later.

Unable to come up with a solid plan right then the group headed back home, where the goblins were quickly mobbed by the Wabbits, while the wounded wolf was consoled by his pack mates, Hasuki had managed to splint his leg, but he'd be unable to run for a while.
Fortunately it didn't take long for the wolves to find a lockable room to shove the goblins into until they had a better idea of what to do with them, and also assigned themselves as guards, it looked like they wanted to be as helpful as possible.

Hasuki was clearly quite anxious about the situation, her fluffy ears were flattened against her head and tail was swishing about, though clearly not happily, when Nibbit approached and asked her about charging magic items she was visibly relieved to have a distraction.
"Umm... Well it depends on the item usually... Most aren't valuable enough or don't need charging... But for those that do you usually need either an artificer who knows a lot about it... Or Mana Converter, which can then take magic either from a mage or even other items to charge something, but that's usually only for super expensive stuff that no one knows how to make anymore... Why do you ask?"
She questioned, head tilted ears pointed forwards.

 

[ayylmao]

"W-well, you see, I swallowed a magic gem a while back. And I believed that it is the cause of my rapid evolution, from a normal, ordinary Wabbit into a humanoid one like I am now," Nibbit explained. "It's also capable of sharing its power with others I see as allies. That's what made me able to evolve Mimir as well."

"It also gives me advice and information from time to time, which is quite weird, I suppose, if you think about it," he continued with a grin, scratching the back of his human ear.

"But lately, it hasn't been responding. And I believe it's all exhausted and tuckered out from using its magic. Which is why I thought I should charge it back."

"I… really need it's advice now." He looked away. "I seriously don't know what to do with this necromancer guy."

But then, all of a sudden, an insight came to him.

Wait, hold on, we don't necessarily have to face all the goblins. Like that goblin said, they were just captives after all, forced to fight for the mage against their will.

If we just can take out the necromancer, then the threat would be over! The goblins wouldn't bother us anymore! Hell, they might actually be thankful to us!

So, the best option is to do a stealth entrance and take out this Master guy, bypassing the goblins entirely!

"I just got an idea!" Nibbit announced brightly. "An assasination mission! We take out the necromancer without fighting against his goblin slaves!"

"And that's the more reason why I need to recharge the gem!" he said to Hasuki. "I need to get stronger! And Mimir, a-and you too, assuming you want to participate in the attack, that is!"

"Ah, Master Nibbit, excuse me for interrupting."

They were suddenly interrupted by Eirsha.

"I just finished my talk with Lady Mimir, and I've heard the news. This necromancer… he would also be a threat to our people," she declared with her usual seriousness.

"And so I offer you my people's service. We can do a reconnaissance mission to the ruined castle where this necromancer is. We cannot fight like you could, but at the very least, we are well-trained in the art of stealth."

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

"Ehh?"
Was Hasuki's only response for a minute, he had eaten an apparently unique and powerful magical artifact... And while it certainly explained Nibbit's uniqueness, shouldn't it have... Well... Come out of him by now? Then again she had heard of Wabbit stomachs being incredibly good at digesting things, as well as being oddly reluctant to give up things that hadn't yet been digested, so perhaps the artifact in question was indestructible and stuck within him?
"That... That is VERY weird! I thought it was the transformation ring you swallowed that did it... Though, I suppose that is still inside of you too..."
She mumbled, a little red and very confused.
"Well... I've never heard of any sort of magical object that can give advice, but it sounds incredibly useful... Only problem is I have no idea how to charge something that is inside of you, unless you ate a Mana Converter or something... But that would probably hurt your stomach, not to mention the fact that I only even know of three that are still functional".
Well it looked like Hasuki couldn't help with charging the stone, and didn't even know what it was exactly, maybe Nibbit would need to handle this by himself, well, at least he already figured out that stealth would be the best approach.

The Elven scouts would find it surprisingly difficult to approach the Goblin castle, while normally lazy and with ineffectual patrols at best, and weapons that were rarely more than crude slings and clubs, were surprisingly well coordinated, with weapons that while clearly old and not entirely reliable looking, were far beyond the crude rocks and sticks that most tribes used, the castle was also sadly well fortified, the old stone walls had been patched with wood and rocks, and the gates were still sturdy, sneaking in wouldn't be super easy, it did seem to have similar architecture to the ruins though... Perhaps that included underground tunnels? Of course finding any entrances to said tunnels might not be easy if they existed at all.
There was no sign of the undead, it seemed this Master was keeping them close, likely as bodyguards until he could raise more.

 

[ayylmao]

"Y-yeah, I suppose it is…" Nibbit scratched the back of his head somewhat nervously. Oh how he was glad that he didn't get any stomachaches from swallowing the two objects!

"...Well, thanks for the advice anyways!" Nibbit smiled, trying to make Hasuki not feel too bad for being unable to help him. "I guess I'll have to figure this out on my own!" He patted her on the shoulder.

"Sure you guys can go!" he then replied to the elf's offer. "Just be careful, alright? Don't take any unnecessary risks!"

"Of course, Master Nibbit," Eirsha nodded. "We shall depart at once. In two or three days, we should return."

Nibbit knew that elves should be great on recon missions like this, especially since this took place in a forest, a terrain they should be well familiar with. Combined with their agility and their sharp sight, they could see the enemy from afar and retreat immediately if they were to get spotted.

As he waited for the elves, he told Mimir what his plans were to take care of the necromancer.

"Basically, we have to beat him up so fast that the goblins wouldn't be able to come to his rescue!" He explained as succinctly as he could, so that she could easily understand the plan.

"Oh, and while we wait for the elves to return, why don't we do a little training together, Boss?" He suggested. "And by that, I meant a little sparring together. Not a serious fight by any means. Just a way for us both to sharpen our fighting skills a little before the actual fight."

"To be honest with you, I feel like this time around, we'll need to be as prepared as we can. This necromancer guy—I have a hunch that he's on a level above any enemies that we have fought before all this time," he admitted to her, a flash of fear visible on his face.

"Hasuki, how about you? Do you want to do some training with us as well?" He also offered to the dog girl. "You're a mage so maybe you can simulate how the necromancer would most likely fight? Of course, you don't have a bunch of walking corpses that act as your bodyguard but we could pretend that you do. Come on! Tell us the best way to deal with mages! All I know is just to kick him really hard in the face before he could cast any of his nasty spells!" Nibbit admitted with a laugh.

There was no need to be all nervous and scared. That would only make things worse. If you were already afraid of the enemy before the fight even started, you pretty much already lost in the mental department.

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Nibbit's words seemed to cheer Hasuki up a little about her inability to help charge the stone, the wag returning to her tail and ears perking back up a little, she was just glad he wasn't upset about her failure, a far cry from her guild superiors, honestly acting as a go between for Nibbit and the guild would probably get her more respect than anything she could have done as a member even though only a year ago she had never even entertained the idea of doing anything else.
"Yeah... But let me know if you have any other questions about magic! I can probably help with most umm... Normal situations".
Well at least as much as magic could count as 'normal' even in a fantasy world.

Mimir nodded at the admittedly very simple plan, a boss rush effectively, though she had no idea what a boss rush was exactly, and trying to explain it would probably get her confused or thinking it involved her running around or something similar.
"That is smart... Fighting lots of enemies is dangerous, we would lose, but fighting one enemy is easy, we would have more numbers than they do".
Huh, well she could understand the basics of the plan, whether it was due to the simplicity of it or she was getting smarter was hard to tell.

Training seemed to excite Mimir quite a bit, she actually bounced a little, eyes practically sparkling.
"Yes! I want to train... Get stronger! Get used to human body!"
Her speech simplified a little from the excitement, as she wasn't able to concentrate on speaking 'properly' like Nibbit did.
It was apparently normal for Dire Wabbits to train a lot, and Since Mimir had been alone for so long and then so very different from the new Dires, she hadn't been able to for quite a while, it almost looked like she might lick Nibbit or something, but restrained herself at the last moment, though when she realized he sounded a little afraid, she hugged him for a moment, this was instinct, if a Wabbit was scared or cold or hurt, affection was the first thing most would try, closely followed by food.

Hasuki seemed a little less eager.
"Umm... I can try! Necromancers are really strong though so I doubt I fight anything like them... But a few givens are that he will have a barrier, like those golems did but much stronger, he will also have his undead around, as for how to beat a mage... It depends wildly, but generally if you can interrupt his chants and incantations and keep up in his face it becomes very difficult to cast spells, and breaking his staff will knock out at least most of his spells".
She explained, before sighing.
"There is another problem though... If he's strong enough to have undead and has made the castle his home, he may have a magician's workshop... It's an area filled with magic and traps, and fighting someone within their workshop is vastly more difficult... You'd need to find and eliminate whatever they are using as a focus for the workshop before even trying to fight them".

Training against Mimir would go well, she was fast, strong and very agile, bouncing and jumping and kicking, but seemed to have no idea what to do with her hands, struggling to figure out how to block or punch, and admittedly her arms were a lot smaller and less muscled than her legs, which made sense, while her legs were likely created from the muscles Wabbits used to bounce, the arms were seemingly completely new.
Ultimately Nibbit would be able to beat her in a fight, but it was certainly a lot more difficult than any other foe, except maybe for the Hell Hound i it had been a one on one battle.

The Elven scouts would find the castle to be surprisingly close, a Day's travel at the most, and on closer inspection it seemed like it shouldn't even be standing, something was holding it up, most likely the Necromancer's power, a sign of an incredibly skilled mage or at least one with a large surplus of magical power at hand.
The goblins were actually seen to be training, warriors led by the skeleton of a half giant, which was not so much a half breed species as a race of very tall, incredibly strong horned humanoids, even if this one was undead it would be difficult foe, the mages however seemed to be taught by some sort of incorporeal undead... So this necromancer had a spirit of some sort at his disposal! Binding a ghost was a horrible art, but not unheard of even among non necromancers, usually to commune with ancestors or victims.
Ultimately they did manage to find a way in, goblins were digging up a large mound of dirt, extracting bones from the hill and carting them into the castle, likely as a delivery for their Master, if they were to use that as a way in, hide in the carts of bones and maybe even use their captured goblins to do it, they could get in undetected.

 

[ayylmao]

"Mmm! I'll make sure to keep that in mind!" Nibbit replied to Hasuki with a nod and a smile. Well, at least for now, she would be his magic expert, it seemed!

Mimir's sudden hug took him by surprise. To him, it came completely out of nowhere. He was just explaining his battle plan against the necromancer and then suddenly Mimir walked over to him and gave him a great big hug!

"B-Boss! W-what's wrong?!"

He didn't struggle out of it though. He knew that once she decided she wanted to hug him, he was going to get it, no matter what.

And besides…

Well, this feels… nice… she's all warm and fuzzy... just like her Wabbit form…

Her breasts are kinda pressing into my chest though…

Before he realized it, he already calmed down completely—his worries regarding the necromancer melting away in the warmth of her skin...

He was about to return the hug, even daring to go after her tail. But then, Mimir released the hug, so he quickly stopped himself.

H-hey, you can't do that! You're not her boyfriend, you know! He scolded himself. He honestly didn't know how Mimir would react if he actually did it. Maybe she would slap him for it. Yeah, that seemed to be the most likely outcome. A Wabbit's tail was really sensitive after all.

Nibbit listened to Hasuki's explanation on how the necromancer might fight with full attention. Mimir might not understand it, which was all the more reason that he had to really understand it. He would be in charge of the operation, so he would be the one to decide what movements and strategies they would employ in combat. If he were to doubt himself, everything would fall apart. And against someone like that, they would certainly lose their lives in the process.

He gulped. Now his nervousness was slowly starting to ramp up again.

"I see…" Nibbit tried to summarize her explanation. "So first and foremost, we need to find this 'focus' thing and destroy it, before even attempting to fight them. I assume it would have a unique magical presence, correct? As we do, we have to keep in mind any traps, both magical or not. Then, we have to fight the necromancer and his undead, with the former having a magical barrier that would protect it from attacks. Hmm, I would like to be able to dispel it ideally, but if just kicking at them really hard could work, like with the golem, then we could just do that. We could take out the undead first before engaging the necromancer in earnest. They shouldn't be able to resurrect them mid-fight if we keep the pressure up. Breaking their staff would be a big one too."

"Did I get everything?" He asked Hasuki at the end. "I think that's everything, right?"

-----

For the next few days, the three would be training together. Not in the middle of the barely constructed village, of course, but outside, in a nearby clearing. Didn't want to end up accidentally kicking a half-constructed house down after all.

At first, Nibbit found Mimir to be his equal. She was as fast as she was deadly, jumping and running around with an agility that honestly surprised him. Was he actually that fast?

Well, since he could keep up with her, he must be.

But then, he began to notice the blatant weakness that she had.

She never uses her arms in combat. Not even once!

In his case, he could use his arms with ease. He even had learned to use the same weight distribution technique that his kicks used, allowing his punches to land much, much harder than normal. Such was the perk of being a human from his past life. For her, who never had any arms before, it must be unnatural to her.

He decided that he had to teach her this before they went to fight the necromancer.

"Hey, Boss." He called up to her when they had their break. "I notice that you never use your fists. Why is that? And your blocking with your arms is pretty shaky. Still not used to having them?" He gave a curious smile. "I could teach you how to use them better if you want."

As for Hasuki, Nibbit asked if she could learn any dispelling spell or any other spell that could help against other magic users. Other than that, he also wanted a stealth spell if she could, like turning them invisible or making their footsteps completely silent. Or even a spell that made their smell not noticeable, as there was certainly a possibility they could be detected by their distinct, non-goblin and non-undead smells!

A few days passed, and finally, the elves returned from their mission. To Nibbit's relief, it seemed none of them got hurt or caught.

"We have returned, Master Nibbit," Eirsha gave a short bow. "I am ready to draw you a map on the ruined castle." Her skill in constructing blueprints came in handy, it seemed. "It would be just a rough outline however, as we could not manage to gain a good look inside. The place was well-protected, and it was impossible for any of us to sneak in. However—"

Wait, was that a proud smirk he just saw from her? That's… uncharastically expressive for her.

"—I have managed to find out their weak spot. Here. Let me show you."

Inside one of the rooms inside the ruins that they had appropriated to become their meeting room, she began to draw on a large piece of parchment—the same one she used to draw her blueprints. Using a feather pen and a small bottle of ink, her hand flew gracefully all over the paper, drawing with such speed that Nibbit was staring with his mouth open.

S-she's fast! Really fast! I-I'm pretty sure even a master carpenter back in my world won't be able to draw this fast!

As they watched, Eirsha couldn't help but glance a little at their reaction, knowing that she actually could draw the sketch even without looking on the paper. And once again, that proud smirk appeared on her face.

"Done."

It didn't even take her five minutes.

"Here's the weakspot I was talking about." She pointed at a hill outside the castle walls. "They're digging a lot of dirt from this spot. Corpses, I believe. No doubt to be used by the necromancer. If you ask your goblin friends to hide you inside one of the carts they used to carry the skeletons inside the castle, you might be able to sneak in that way. Would be messy and risky, but that's the most sure fire way we have now."

"Another way might be through underground tunnels. I cannot confirm their existence, but seeing how similar the architecture of this ruin and that castle, there's a possibility that it also has underground tunnels that you might be able to use to sneak in."

Hmm, if only we have some dwarves around…

"I don't believe we can delay any further." Nibbit declared. "We have to take the corpse route. If we go looking around for underground tunnels, who knows how long it would take, especially without anyone who's actually skilled in the matter." He then turned to Mimir and Hasuki. "This will be seriously uncomfortable, by the way. Unless we have oxygen spells that allow us to breathe normally under dirt, we would have to make due with using wooden tubes for our breathing."

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

"You needed it..."
Mimir answered simply, she didn't think this needed a complicated explanation, she felt he needed affection and gave what her new humanoid brain seemed to classify as a 'hug' she also didn't think it was necessary to admit that she kinda needed and very much wanted it herself, Mimir had actually been an oddity among Wabbits, not spending as much time snuggling and playing with others, of course it's not like she didn't want to, but being the only Dire for so long at such a dangerous time for Wabbits had a big toll on her, she simply didn't have time to play when stray wolves and other predators found them such a great target, even if wolves would only eat a Wabbit if starving... If anything that could make them more dangerous!
Honestly if Nibbit did grab her tail Mimir would certainly have kicked him, not out of anything intentional, but as a reaction to the sensation itself, her tail was after all in a brand new place, linked to brand new nerves and a brand new spine... She would lash out purely from shock! As such tail grabs would have to wait, and surprise tail grabs were a big no no.

Hasuki nodded along as Nibbit repeated what she had said, smiling and clapping a little at the end, she was glad he was smart enough to understand it! She and several other mages had once helped teach a militia how to fight criminal mages and the amount of blank stares she received was incredibly frustrating, and more than a little unnerving.
"Exactly! And dispelling a barrier is by definition incredibly difficult... Unlike ancient barriers modern ones are designed to be resistant to magic as well as physical damage, since there are so many more mages these days... Of course that means they are easier to break with physical force... Undead are hard to make guesses about though, are they greater or lesser? Do they have barriers or other enhancements? Do they have some measure of free will or need commands? Until we see them in person making a definite plan about them is impossible".
Hasuki explained.

Mimir had actually been growing increasingly frustrated trying to figure out what to do with her arms as they fought, Nibbit clearly had it all figured out! So why was she struggling so much?... At this point she didn't even care that arms were Un Wabbit like, having decided to use and abuse her human traits to protect the herd, as long as she was a Wabbit at heart her body didn't matter.
"Arms feel weird... I don't know what to do with them... Carrying things is weird too".
She explained, partially hiding her now red face with the soft scarf Hasuki had purchased for her in town, and which seemed to be a source of comfort and reassurance for her.

"Umm... Well leaning magic isn't easy... But I already a basic spell breaker, I can try and make it a bit more powerful by switching around the control verse and maybe adding a power word... Hopefully it will work and not explode or something".
Judging from the slight shudder Hasuki was familiar with new spells not quite working right.
"As for smell... Things like dirt and plants and maybe some moss or something should take care of that, I know I couldn't smell you at a distance over something like that, and I highly doubt a goblin has a better nose than me".
She seemed a little proud of her strong senses.
"I can look into making our steps silent though, a spell like that should be easy".

After the briefing both Hasuki and Mimir looked uncomfortable but agreed that the corpse route was the only real way in... They could just bathe really, REALLY thoroughly afterwards, and maybe shove some flowers up their noses...
"Something like that... I don't know if I could mange without several days of waiting at least... And that could be far too late... Umm... Something like a wooden tube would be super easy though! I can deal with some discomfort to stop this necromancer from filling the forest with undead!"
Hasuki declared.

 

[ayylmao]

"I see… Thank you, Boss…" Nibbit returned with a smile after the hug. To think that she took notice of my fear and nervousness just like that… Boss really is amazing!

"True enough," Nibbit replied with a sigh to Hasuki. "We really can't rely on a detailed plan without really knowing how the necromancer and his minion work. I suppose we'll just have to improvise on the spot then." He gave a wry smile towards the dog girl. Inside his mind however...

That's no good! That's not good at all! He never liked just "winging it on the spot", especially when he's up against a task he considered to be difficult. And this was certainly, absolutely one of those!

At the very least, Hasuki could cast some anti-spell magic! And a spell to mask their steps could certainly be useful! The problem of their smell was already taken care of as well. If some dirt and plant smells were enough, then they could just get it from the soil they would be hidden in.

"I see… So you really are not used to your arms yet…" Nibbit gave a sagely nod. "I really don't have an easy solution for that unfortunately. You just need to keep using them, then eventually it will become second nature to you. Like me!"

"Good! Then it's decided!" He declared once the two of them agreed with his plan. "Eirsha, I'll leave the village to you while we're gone, alright?"

"O-of course, Master Nibbit." The elf seemed to be taken aback by the sudden declaration. "You can leave it all to me!"

"Oh, and we'll be taking your map. I believe we should memorize it first before we go, just in case we get separated there. Can you make two more copies? For Hasuki and Boss?" He asked with a smile.

In a flash, they got two more maps ready to go.

-----

Persuading the goblins to be their accomplice wasn't an easy task. After all, they were a cowardly bunch, still too afraid to go against their former Master even though they had now swore their allegiance to Nibbit. Even now, they were still kept inside the ruins. They had turned one of the many rooms there into a makeshift prison of sorts. The goblins were taken care well, of course, given food and drink three times a day, with an elf guard standing guard outside.

"No, no! No fighting against Master! Too scary!" Their leader told him once he gave his request.

"Aww, come on! You won't be fighting anyone! We'll do all the fighting!" Nibbit tried to persuade him with a smile.

"No! Get caught… we dead! Dead!"

Oh boy, this is going to be harder than I thought. Nibbit thought as he scratched the back of his head with a sigh.

"Alright, how about this?" He decided to sweeten the deal. "If you guys do this for us, we'll let you go free. No strings attached, alright? You are free to go anywhere you want. You can go back to the other goblins, or you could leave the forest entirely if you don't want to live under a Wabbit's rule."

"Y-you confident… you can beat Master?"

"Of course! I'm the strongest Wabbit in existence after all!" He patted his chest proudly. He didn't know whether that was true or not, of course. He was just that—bluffing.

The goblins paused for a second, and then they began to furiously talk with each other. Nibbit decided to stay quiet and let them discuss the offer with each other.

"We've decided!" The lead goblin exclaimed just five minutes later. "We'll help you Wabbits sneak inside! No more, no less! Then, we can all go afterwards!"

"Deal." Nibbit replied with a smirk, offering his hand to the goblin. The monster looked at said in a confused manner, since no one ever offered him a handshake before. He quickly realized what he meant however, and he immediately gave it a good yet awkward shake.

Rough yet small, almost like a child's hand. Well, just what you would expect from a goblin, I suppose.

-----

They departed in the middle of the night. It might be foolhardy to assault a necromancer in the middle of the night, but it was also the best time for the goblins to be able to easily blend with the other goblins that were tasked with digging the corpses. They would distract them first, pulling their attention elsewhere, leaving an opening for the goblins to bring their own dirt-filled carts. Then, they would pretend that they had always been there, before bringing the carts inside the castle. And then, once inside, they would wait until there were no other goblins around before giving the signal to Wabbit and co. that it was okay for them to come out.

And then, the rest would be up to them and them alone.