Bunny Girl Evolution (BOOK 2 COMPLETE) (STUBBED!)
112 – A Busy Day

Oberon put on a show while everyone else ate lunch. It was a full-scale production of the original Dragon and the Princess with a full cast starring Oberon as the princess, Oberon as the dragon, Oberon as the knight, Oberon as the faithful squire, Oberon as the deceitful prince, and all background characters were, of course, played by Oberon. Elise knew this because she used {Inspect} on every single one.

Normally, she would never dare use the skill on a 9th tier, but she knew Oberon didn’t mind it, and in fact found it funny when she tried to distract him while he was in the middle of important scenes. He even encouraged her to use {Suggest} to try and make him mess up his lines to help her train the skill. She had yet to succeed even once, but the skill had leveled up twice already, so the training was clearly effective.

It also doubled as excellent entertainment that enraptured Sophie and even had Irylax missing her mouth with her fork sometimes. Nick and Bianca looked a bit less interested and more uncomfortable, but with how much Sophie was enjoying it, they did their best to hide it. Elise herself wasn’t too keen on it either after what had happened at the Blood Syndicate, but she also knew that Oberon was probably doing it on purpose, so she did her best to remain unbothered.

When the production finished, Sophie clapped loudly, and another 12 Oberons blinked into existence to join in with the applause, while the 15 or so that had roles in the play bowed and waved.

How many clones can he make? Elise wondered.

She had yet to see any sign of a limit from the man. She had to assume that creating them came with some kind of downside, but if it did, he didn’t act like it. Perhaps if she had {Aether Sense}, she’d be able to notice something, but for the time being, Oberon was the exact last person she wanted to make an enemy out of. Even more so than Irylax.

“Tsk,” said Irylax. “What was that? How did a dragon lose to a human? That was ridiculous!”

“It was the power of love,” explained Sophie. “Sir Percival loved Princess Arianne so much that his class evolved and let him beat the dragon.”

“That’s not how class evolution works!” protested Irylax. “You can’t just upgrade your class in the middle of combat!”

“Why not?”

“What do you mean ‘why not?’ It’s impossible!”

“Actually, Irylax, not anymore,” said the nearest Oberon. “System version 6.1 added that feature.”

“What?! Why would the gods do that?”

“For fun?” Oberon suggested with a shrug.

“Bah! I’m going to have a talk with them when I ascend.”

“Good luck.”

“Well, I thought it was great,” said Sophie.

“Thank you!” said Oberon.

“It was a very… high quality production,” agreed Nick with a forced smile.

“So, Snowberry, what are your plans today?” said Bianca, changing the subject.

“I’ve got a dinner party tonight,” said Elise.

As soon as she woke up, Oberon had gotten her working on keeping up appearances through written correspondence. “The least fun part of roleplaying,” he called it. Elise had to agree. Writing letters to Franz and Jeannette, the lady from the spa, was necessary, but tedious, especially since she needed good penmanship and flowery language befitting her alleged rank. Fortunately, penmanship was something she was good at on Earth, so that wasn’t difficult, but it took a few tries for her to get the language right.

“That means you’re free this afternoon?” asked Bianca.

Elise glanced at the nearest Oberon.

“You’re always free,” said Oberon, smiling. “I can teach you more if you stay, but I would never force you to do anything. Everything is up to you.”

“Well, if you want to, we’re going shopping,” continued Bianca while Elise thought through her options. “We’re going to get some clothes, books for Sophie, some seeds and saplings for me, some new armor for Nick, and maybe a few other knick knacks along the way. Everspring has one of the best shopping districts in the continent, so we figured we’d make the most out of it.”

Elise thought about it for a few seconds, then shrugged.

“Sure,” she said. “But I’ll have to be in rabbit form.”

“Ooh! I’ll get a basket!” said Sophie. “And a bow! So that people know you’re with us.”

“That’s fine with us,” said Bianca.

Elise glanced at Oberon.

“Have fun!” he said. “Irylax, will you be joining them?”

“Of course. You keep telling me I need clothes, so I’m going to get clothes.”

“Well, try not to blow anything up!” said Oberon cheerily. “I’ll send one or two of me along as well. When are you leaving?”

“In a few minutes,” said Bianca. “We were planning on going right after lunch.”

“Excellent!”

Elise finished off the last couple bites of her sandwich, then switched to rabbit form as Sophie ran off with one of the maids to find a basket and a blanket. Elise wasn’t sure how that would all work out, but it ended up being surprisingly comfortable and convenient, and half an hour later, she was hanging from the half-elf girl’s arm as they walked through the city.

Their group drew a lot of attention. Despite having reverted all the way back to her tier 2 form, Elise’s Charisma was unaffected, and she was still very eyecatching, but Irylax was even more so. She was an inch or so taller than Nick, and as a 9th tier, her Charisma was actually even higher than Elise’s. She was fortunately wearing an appropriate outfit this time, but even so, she cut a striking figure, with hair hanging down to her legs and slitted yellow eyes. Elise thought that the eyes would have drawn some scrutiny, but Irylax had a certain aura about her that made people avert their gazes when she looked at them.

The first place they stopped was a tailor. They originally tried just going to a lower-end clothing store, but Irylax scoffed at the thought and brought them to the fanciest tailor in the area. When they walked inside, she slammed a gold bar down on the counter.

“Clothes for me and my subordinates,” she demanded.

“P-pardon?” said the trembling attendant.

“Is that not enough?” asked Irylax producing another gold bar from thin air and setting it beside the first.

“S-sorry, Madam!” said the attendant. “I’ll fetch the owner immediately!”

The poor attendant scurried off, tripping over her own feet and almost falling to the ground in her haste to get to the staircase. Oberon, who had two clones disguised as a butler and a maid with them, chuckled lightly as her footsteps faded upstairs.

“That may have been a bit much,” he commented.

“Thank you for your generosity, but you don’t need to spend this much for us,” said Nick.

“Nonsense!” said Irylax. “This is nothing. I have tens of thousands of these, and I won’t have my disciple and her family be dressed in anything less than the best.”

“We just feel like we might be taking advantage of your generosity,” said Bianca. “We have our own money as well, and don’t want to be dependent on you.”

Irylax nodded. “Independence is a good trait. However, I will be paying for these clothes. You may purchase the rest at your own discretion. But don’t try and buy that low quality scrap again.”

“Thank you, Iris- I mean Irylax!” said Sophie.

“You may call me Iris, if you wish,” said Irylax, not quite making eye contact with her disciple. “But no one else can.”

“I can?”

“It is a good name.” Irylax still didn’t meet her disciples eyes, and instead glared at everyone else. “But only you may use it.”

Elise still wasn’t adept with {Sense Emotions}, but she was fairly certain that the dragon actually enjoyed when Sophie called her Iris for whatever reason.

The owner of the tailor shop arrived shortly after, wringing her hands and smiling obsequiously. Elise thought it was a bit much, but Irylax seemed to approve, and the rest of the visit proceeded without a hitch. Much of the time was spent on Irylax’s own clothes, as she allowed the owner to fawn over her and compliment her figure and her poise at every opportunity, but Sophie got quite a bit of time for herself too, and Bianca and Nick got a few outfits as well. Even Elise got a new bow to go around her neck and a headband, at Sophie’s request. The bow was a bit over the top, and Elise felt a little ridiculous, but Sophie delighted in how “adorable” she looked, so she bore with it.

After they had gotten their clothes, they next went to a very fancy looking bookstore where Nick spent over 100 gold on books for himself, Bianca and Sophie. No one seemed to question his high spending, but Elise was confused, so she asked with {Whisper}.

“Compensation for my time in the Blood Syndicate,” replied Nick in a whisper after checking that no one else was watching. “That Freddy person gave it to me. He said it was taken from the Blood Syndicate during the raid, and that I should take it because of the time I suffered there. Apparently, they’re doing it for all the former slaves. Also, I was rewarded by Jelor. I’ll be receiving official recognition when I return, but for now, they just sent money.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

After the book store, they stopped for a snack at a street food stall that was selling something that was very similar to ice cream, but not quite. Irylax refused to purchase any “filthy street food” at first, but after Sophie coaxed her into trying a bite, she ended up purchasing two of the largest size, eating both before the rest had finished their single servings. Elise even got a bit of her own, since the stall sold a pet-safe version, which was just as delicious as she hoped it would be.

By this time, it was close to four in the afternoon, and Elise had to leave. It had been a pleasant afternoon, and she was a bit regretful about not being able to see whatever plants Bianca would end up purchasing, but she had to prepare for her dinner date. Her outfit from the previous night wouldn’t do, so she would need either Oberon or one of the maids to help her change it into something more appropriate, and then she needed time to take a carriage ride over to pick up Franz, then meet at the restaurant with the others. She bid farewell to the others, accepted a bear hug from Sophie, then Oberon the maid carried her back to the castle.

Once back at the castle, she changed to her human form and Oberon helped her adjust her dress to something more appropriate for a casual dinner engagement, and one of the maids did her makeup, and after half an hour, she switched back to her rabbit form and mentally prepared. As she thought about Franz and what she had experienced last time with him, she came to a conclusion.

“I’m going to expose him.”

“Pardon?” asked Oberon, who was back in his kingly garb.

“Franz. I’m going to expose him as a con artist.”

“Oh?” he said leaning forward. “And how are you going to do that?”

“...I’m not 100% sure yet,” said Elise. “But I’m going to do it. I’m going to find evidence, and I’m going to bring it to whoever needs to see it to get him arrested.”

“Why?”

“Well, he’s a con artist, traveling the world and probably scamming tens of thousands of gold from people,” she explained. “And he’s creepy. You saw some of the things he was saying to me, right?”

“I did, yes,” he said. “Well I, for one, think this is an excellent idea. Next time though, you don’t need to run it past me though. You’re a fey. You can do whatever you want.”

“I know,” said Elise. “I just wanted to let you know.”

“I see. Well, if you wanted help, I do have some evidence that could help you.”

“...Maybe,” said Elise. “I think I have an idea of how to get it myself. I want to try that first.”

“Well, color me intrigued. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens tonight. By the way, you just received another letter from Jeanette while you were getting dressed.”

He handed her a sealed envelope, which she opened with {Telekinesis}, as her human form was still on cooldown.

“...She says that a friend of hers just arrived for vacation, and she was hoping it would be fine if she came to the dinner.”

“And?” asked Oberon.

“I guess it’s fine. Can you write the response for me please? I can’t right now.”

“Of course.”

Oberon wrote the letter and then made it vanish, and the two returned to a relatively silent relaxation until it was time to get ready to leave. Elise was still a few minutes away from her cooldown being ready, but she would be back in human form by the time they arrived at Franz’s inn. Elise was still thinking about ways to expose the man when they arrived, ultimately settling on the one idea she had. It would be a bit bullheaded, but she thought it would likely work. And if it didn’t? Well, Eliza wasn’t real anyway, and Oberon already had the evidence, apparently. She still wanted to do it independently though.

When Franz entered the carriage, Elise flashed him a radiant smile.

“Well, hello again,” he said, returning the smile, though he looked a little confused.

“I’m terribly sorry about last night,” said Elise. “I had a bit of a long day and was very tired. I just wanted to get home and sleep.”

“Oh, it’s no problem at all,” he replied. “I’m afraid I myself was a bit forward. I was simply enraptured by your beauty and got ahead of myself. I’m grateful that you don’t seem too bothered by it.”

Ugh.

“Of course not!” said Elise, forcing herself to blush. “And tonight… I maybe wouldn’t mind if we…”

“Yes?” asked Franz, leaning forward in excitement.

“...if we spent a bit more time together afterward?”

“I would love to,” he said.

Elise barely refrained at making a disgusted face as she saw his look of excitement and wandering gaze. She almost wanted to just try right there and then, but that would stop them from making it to the dinner engagement, and she would feel bad if she left Jeannette and the others hanging like that. It would have to wait until afterward. However, once she finally got to it… She couldn’t wait to see Franz’s face when he saw the trap she was setting for him.

The restaurant they were eating at was called The Wonder Terrace and it was located on the top floor of the Wonder Inn, which was the inn Jeannette and her husband were staying at. On the way over, Franz talked about how the Wonder Terrace had some of the best food in the world, and that at one point, they had even had a 9th tier chef heading it. At the moment, the head chef was only late 8th tier, but there were many who believed he would reach 9th tier within the next decade.

When they got into the restaurant, Elise had to admit that it smelled like it had a late 8th tier chef running it. She almost felt like she was in a trance just from the scent alone as she and Franz were guided toward a table in the corner of the terrace where the others were already waiting for them.

Jeannette was just as Elise remembered her, though with makeup and a fancy dress on, while her husband was… not quite what she expected. He was even shorter than Elise, and a bit pudgy, but he wore a jovial expression, and his eyes seemed to sparkle. {Inspect} identified him as a [Warrior Count, lvl ???], which Elise found a bit difficult to reconcile with his stature, but she filed the information away to make sure she didn’t accidentally do anything that would cause him to attack her.

“Welcome!” he said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Count Humphrey of Rymia, and it’s an honor to host the both of you tonight. This is my wife, Countess Jeannete of Rymia. Lady Wagner, I believe you’ve already met. And this final guest is an old family friend, Miss Erin.”

The last person present was a young woman with bright orange hair and a mischievous grin. Her gown was in a completely different style than any of the others around, looking much more like something Elise would have seen in East Asia back on Earth. She stood up to give a small curtsey in greeting, and Elise used {Inspect} on her. As soon as she did, the other woman winked and smiled, and Elise let out an internal sigh.

I really need to stop using {Inspect} immediately on suspicious people.

[ 8-tailed Kitsune, lvl ??? ]