ITBFL | Chapter 36

Episode 36

Captain Denver said that he had “disappeared.”

In other words, he hadn’t appeared before the captain since that day.

“Why hasn’t he shown up?”

As I twirled my fountain pen in thought, I wrote another sentence.

“Is he trapped?”

If he hadn’t appeared in front of people, that meant he was in a situation where he couldn’t reveal himself.

If he was trapped somewhere, that would make sense.

But…

‘That was definitely Cassium yesterday.’

He had appeared before me.

‘He’s trapped, but he can come out occasionally?’

I wrote the sentence but immediately crossed it out.

‘If he’s trapped, he could just escape whenever he gets out.’

Then…

I wrote a new line.

‘Has he been turned into something else?’

What if he had transformed into something that couldn’t move freely and only occasionally reverted to his original form?

Leaning back in my chair, I folded my arms and stared at the sentences I had written.

‘Come to think of it, Lily was the same in the original story.’

Between turning back from a rabbit into a human, there were a few times when she changed intermittently.

Cassium could very well be in the same situation.

Who did this to him?

And into what?

Where is he now?

Looking down at the now densely filled notebook, I realized there wasn’t a single sentence saying that Cassium was dead.

Because he wasn’t dead.

Just then, I heard a “Beep.” sound behind me.

When I turned around, Golden Bunny hopped onto my desk with a light thud.

“Ah! Gold Bunny, no!”

I hurriedly tried to snatch my notebook away.

“Beep…”

But it seemed like Golden Bunny had already seen the contents.

Feeling as if something had been exposed, I folded the notebook paper into a tiny square.

“Beep.”

“Huh?”

Golden Bunny reached out a paw and tapped my hand.

It seemed to want to see the notebook again.

“No.”

I refused firmly, but when I met its round eyes, I felt my resolve waver.

In that moment, Golden Bunny swiftly snatched the paper from my hand.

“Golden Bunny!”

I tried to take it back, but Golden Bunny calmly pressed its paw down on the notebook, holding it in place.

The pages under its paw bore the traces of my thoughts.

<Has he been turned into something else?>

<Who did this to him?>

“Beep…”

Golden Bunny stared intently at the sentences beneath its paws.

Then, it lifted its head.

Perhaps it had taken the idea of being turned into something else as something that applied to itself.

“It’s about a knights’ mission.”

I quickly made an excuse and retrieved my notebook from the Bunny.

Come to think of it, who had turned Golden Bunny into a rabbit?

‘Ah, I can’t remember.’

Even though I had retained memories of the original story after reincarnating, it wasn’t like I could recall every detail instantly.

‘I barely remember things from a week ago.’

Claiming to remember every tiny detail of an entire novel down to its specifics would just be boasting.

‘But the culprit was a key part of the setting, so I should try to recall it… Who was it?’

I stared at Golden Bunny, straining to remember.

‘I feel like I’m close to remembering…’

Just then…

Golden Bunny suddenly hopped toward the bookshelf.

Then, with its paw, it nudged a particular book.

“What is it?”

“Beep.”

Could it be that our clever Golden Bunny wanted to start reading now?

Despite the situation, I felt oddly proud and pulled out the book it had pointed at.

Since it would be hard for it to open the first page with its paws, I flipped to the first page for it.

“Beep.”

However, Golden Bunny suddenly shut the book with a flick of its paw.

Then, it lay down on top of the book with its tiny paws resting on the cover.

“Well, reading later is fine too. Reading is great, but what’s most important is developing a habit of being around books.”

“Beep!”

Golden Bunny tapped its paws on the book’s cover as if playing a piano.

I joined in, tapping the desk in rhythm with it.

“Haha.”

“Beep!”

“…?”

Golden Bunny, as if to correct me, tapped the book even more insistently.

‘There must be a reason for this.’

Golden Bunny was always smart and adorable, but it never deliberately acted cute just for the sake of it.

If it was behaving this way, there had to be a reason.

Narrowing my eyes, I closely observed the rabbit.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

“Tap, tap, tap, tap?”

At first, I thought it might be some kind of message in rhythm, but that didn’t seem right.

Looking closely…

“It’s pointing at the letters, isn’t it?”

Golden Bunny was tapping a specific letter in the book’s title.

The letter it pointed to was “Sel.”

“Sel…?”

“Beep.”

The golden rabbit tapped its paw again.

This time, it pointed to my notebook—the sentence “Who did this?”

“Is it… giving me a hint about the culprit?”

From the rabbit’s perspective, directly telling me that it had been a human transformed into a rabbit would be risky.

So instead, it was dropping hints in a way that looked like playful mischief.

‘It knows. It knows who did this to it.’

Then that meant the culprit’s name included “Sel.”

“Wait. I feel like I’m about to remember…”

Pressing my fingers to my temples, I shut my eyes.

Sel, Sel…

Selberdin?

“That’s right!”

Of course!

I jumped to my feet.

‘Baron Selberdin—Lily’s father—was the one who turned her into a rabbit in the original story!’

I had to go find Baron Selberdin immediately!

“Vice Captain, did you not get any sleep?”

Deserus asked, handing me a glass of water.

I yawned once and nodded.

That morning, I had gone straight to Baron Selberdin’s estate, but he was out.

I had rushed over in urgency, but with time to spare, I found myself reconsidering the situation.

‘Even if I ask Baron Selberdin, will he tell me the truth?’

It didn’t seem likely.

If I asked outright, who would ever admit it? He would just deny it.

‘I won’t get what I want by asking directly.’

How could I find out?

Of course, I couldn’t be entirely sure that Baron Selberdin was also the one who had done this to Cassium.

But at the very least, I could get some clues.

Even just finding out where he got the potion that transformed Lily would be useful.

Right now, I had no leads on Cassium’s whereabouts. Even that small detail could be a significant clue.

‘Then how can I make him confess…?’

The easiest way would be to find evidence of where he got the potion.

But suspicions alone weren’t enough to conduct a proper investigation.

If I couldn’t search his house, it would be difficult to find proof.

‘There must be another way…’

***

“Vice Captain, are you all right?”

“Yeah. Deserus, if you’re done, step out for a moment.”

“Understood. But I do have a question.”

“Go ahead.”

“Didn’t you bring Golden Bunny with you today?”

“Deserus, it seems like the knights are more eager for the rabbit to show up than for their vice captain.”

“Yes.”

“…What?”

“I mean—no! I misspoke. Not at all.”

“Gold Bunny is resting at home today. Every time it comes here, you all pester it so much—of course, it must be exhausted.”

“Pester it? I swear on the honor of Erne and the Golden Lion, we get along wonderfully with Gold Bunny!”

“Sure. Now get out.”

“Understood!”

Deserus, who had come to report, vanished at lightning speed.

“Gold Bunny should be fine at home, right?”

After sending Deserus out, I buried my head in my hands and forced my brain into overdrive.

The strongest advantage I had in terms of information was the original story. I searched my memory for anything useful.

“Come to think of it, Baron Selberdin was said to believe in fortune-telling and prophecies.”

He had transformed Liri because of a prophecy—one that warned of disaster if he didn’t.

“In that case…”

I jumped to my feet.

“That’s it!”

Just as I was about to rush out, a summons arrived.

It was Captain Denver again.

‘He’s been calling for me a lot lately.’

With one vice-captain position vacant, it made sense.

But that was all the more reason I needed to find a clue about Cassium.

‘I need to take care of this quickly and then go after Cassium.’

I hurried toward the captain’s office.

“Captain, it’s Lize. May I enter?”

When I opened the door to the captain’s office, I saw Captain Denver seated with his back to the window.

Standing before him was Senior Knight Yannis, the division leader of the White Fox Division.

Yannis gestured with his chin for me to come closer.

At the sound of my footsteps, Captain Denver turned toward me.

“You’re here, Lize.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“I just told Yannis, but…”

The captain hesitated.

“I’m not sure how to put this.”

He wasn’t the type to hesitate when speaking.

He usually acted and spoke without reservation, but today, he was uncharacteristically cautious.

What was going on?

“Lize. You know how much time is left until the Council of Elders meeting, right?”

“Two days.”

“Right. Two days.”

The captain nodded.

Then, looking straight at me, he spoke.

“Cassium has been found.”