“You caught it?” Yula asked as she trotted up to Henry’s side, only to make the same face as him when she saw who, or rather what, was under Henry’s claws. “What the hell is this? A rabbit?”

Both Henry and Yula stared at their stalker with absolute perplexity. Their stalker turned out to be a rabbit, or rather, it was the closest thing their stalker resembled to. They only related it to a rabbit due to its pair of rabbit-like ears. As for its body, it resembled nothing like a rabbit. It was practically a ball of fur with cute and googly eyes that seemed to be able to enrapture anyone who stared at them for too long.

All in all, their stalker was an adorable ball of fluff with rabbit ears that looked nothing like whatever they had imagined or anticipated in their heads. For whatever reason this ball of fluff was peeping on them for, it was out of their mind as they just wanted to pinch and pat the adorable thing to their hearts’ content.

However, the ball-rabbit was the opposite of how it was treated by its marks. It pouted and made a few hushed grumpy noises to express its dissatisfaction.

“Oh? Our stalker here is upset,” Henry remarked, brushing a finger across the ball-rabbit’s round cheeks. “How amusing. Shouldn’t we be the one who’s upset here?”

Hearing the implications of Henry's undertone, the ball-rabbit lost its discontent and hung its gaze down as it began to tremble. It was reminded of its misdeeds and its mission.

“So cute!” Yula squealed as she snatched the ball-rabbit from Henry and squeezed it tightly in a hug.

The ball-rabbit was tapping out with its ears.

But that only made Yula hug it tighter. “Oh my god! It’s tapping out with its ears. So cute~!” Yula squealed even louder.

“It’s gonna pop like a balloon if you squeeze it any harder.”

“Oh, don’t be dramatic. I’m not that… strong?” Her credence turned into a question when she no longer felt the ball-rabbit struggling in her arms. When she looked down, she found the ball-rabbit gasping for air and turning purple. “Oh, dear! I’m so sorry!” Yula quickly let go.

Once free, the ball-rabbit recovered its breath as fast as it could before hopping away from the pair and hiding behind a tree.

“What a curious creature,” Yula mused. “Where do you think it came from?”

“East?”

“Geez, thanks, Captain Obvious.”

“I’m as clueless as you are, sweetheart. I have not exactly explored the entirety of Ulrum. I don’t think I have even explored the majority of it.”

“Why haven’t you?”

“Sadly, the unexplored places are not freeholds. They essentially all belong to someone. I can’t exactly just tread into those places at my whims, not unless I wish to go to war.”

“You’re the Kivu Princess’ saviour. Aren’t you pretty much their honorary guest or something? I’m sure they won’t mind.”

“Being an ordinary guest doesn’t give you the right to just walk into someone’s lawn.”

“Well, you can’t exactly compare a territory to someone’s lawn.”

“Touche.” Henry sighed. “Anyway, what to do with the rabbit?”

“What can we do?” Yula mulled as she attempted to drag the ball-rabbit back with her shadows. But the ball-rabbit cut her shadows down with its ears that transformed into claws. “Whoa, did you see that?”

“Huh, so that’s where its claws came from and I thought it was a conjuration spell. Well, conjuration or not, we can’t just leave it.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t believe it’s just the curiosity of an intelligent animal. This ball rabbit doesn’t carry the scent of Ulrum. It’s not of the forest. But how can a creature or an animal not smell of the forest?”

“That’s… odd. How’s that possible?”

“It’s possible. If it’s a Familiar, for example.”

“Ah, you mean like a summoned pet?” Yula narrowed her gaze at the ball-rabbit. “Someone used their Familiar to spy on us? Who and why?”

“Certainly not someone we’re close with. We’re in the east, so it’s gotta be a Kivu. Certainly not Vira. She’s straightforward. If she wants to know something, she won’t be so furtive.”

“So in order to find out, we’ll have to capture this ball-rabbit.”

Perhaps the ball-rabbit caught their words with its large ears, it looked frightened and began to turn tail and run.

“Oh, no, you don’t.” Yula cast a net of darkness over the ball-rabbit before it could run out of their range and sight.

The ball-rabbit tried to cut through the net but having gotten used to its rapid cuts, Yula repaired the net as soon as it was cut. The ball-rabbit kept cutting and Yula kept mending the damages the instant it was done. Eventually, the ball-rabbit ran out of breath and gave up resisting. It slumped in defeat as if it was melting. The couple couldn’t help but b at the ball-rabbit’s state.

Yula hauled the ball-rabbit to them with her shadows and Henry had it pinned under his paw like before as Yula dispelled the net.

The ball-rabbit was shivering with its whole body, looking like a massage device on vibration.

“Wait, Henry.”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna eat it. You’re not going to, are you?”

“What do you take me for, Yula?”

“You did tell me about that one time you tracked down a Necromancer by consuming one of his mind-controlled pets.”

“Relax, I’m gonna eat this adorable ball of fluff unless it’s uncooperative.”

The ball-rabbit seemed to understand Henry’s words as it completely stopped moving and stared at him with eyes that were completely subservient to whatever inquiry he might have.

“Well, someone’s smart. Now, tell me, who’s your master or mistress?” Henry asked as he lifted his paw off of the ball rabbit.

It plopped up onto its non-existent feet and shrugged.

“You don’t know?”

The ball-rabbit transformed one of its ears into claws and began to draw on the dirt.

“Wow, I understand what it is writing even though I have not seen this language before,” Yula exclaimed. “It’s this Nadea’s powers at work?”

“It is. Our brain is hotwired with the basic spoken tongues in Ulrum.”

The ball-rabbit slumped back onto its rear once it was finished with its writing. It had written the words; Princess Rinea, or at least that it was trying to write as its writing was messy and sloppy.

“The Princess? This ball-rabbit is the Familiar of the Kivu Princess? Oh my, Henry, you got a princess for a stalker.” Yula giggled. “How nice.”

Henry raised an eyebrow. “Nice?”

“Isn’t it so? You practically have a princess wrapped in the palm of your hands.”

“You sure it ain’t the other way around?”

“Perhaps.” Yula tittered. “Anyway, what are you gonna do now?”

Henry stared at the shivering ball-rabbit for a while before gesturing for it to leave. The ball-rabbit did not dawdle and immediately sprang away in an uninhibited manner.

“You’re letting it go?”

“I don’t have any reason to keep it in my captivity. I just wanted to know who its owner is.”

“Well, that's a shame. I want to cuddle with it more.”

Henry rolled his eyes. “Come on, Yula. Let’s go back. Don’t wanna be late for lunch.”

“Oh, right. We’re having fried fish again! I hope it’s haddock this time.”

****

The leisure days came to a tentative end one afternoon and it was two days after Henry and Yula discovered Rinea, the Kivu Princess, was stalking them using a Familiar.

It just so happened to be on the day Henry decided to take it easy. He didn’t even hunt any game this morning. He was lazing about with Yula and Sarynn having some kind of girl conversation that he wasn’t allowed to participate in. Rayne was sitting beside the cave entrance, meditating. It was all that she did whenever she had free time.

Henry was about to let the sweet allure of a nap take him when a dreadful and outlandish feeling shook him wide awake. As he was in his Dragon form, his sudden movement caused quite a tremor.

“What’s wrong?” Yula was the first to ask, as always.

“I don’t know but not something good.”

“Are we being attacked?” Rayne asked with a voice of indifference. She did not sound the least bit concerned.

“I wish, but this dreadful feeling isn’t that simple.”

“Henry,” the voice of Nadea, the Dragon God, reached Henry’s ears.

“Nadea. I assume this has something to do with demons?”

“Oh? You felt it?”

“I did.”

“That’s good. You’re growing. You can already sense the irregularities. Good”

“Demons?”

“No. It's an anomaly but the demons aren’t involved which honestly, makes it even more worrying.”

“What exactly is the anomaly here?”

“A dimension rift has appeared.”

“I thought you said this world is stable and whatnot.”

“This is an artificial rift and it ain’t the work of Demons.”

“Oh… then what or who is responsible?”

“This is where you come in, Henry. You need to investigate this but first, you must close this rift as soon as possible. And I’m afraid you’ll have to go alone. Bringing either Sarynn or Yula would only slow you down.”

“I know. I’ll leave straight away.”

And the link with Nadea was cut.

“Was that Nadea?” Yula asked.

Henry nodded. “It was.”

“That bad, huh? Demons?”

Henry shook his head. “Nope.”

“I assume I can’t follow you along to solve this problem since Nadea didn’t let me listen in on the conversation.”

“I’m afraid so.” Henry smiled wryly.

“Well, Henry. Be safe.”

“I wish you good fortune and glory in all of your battles to come,” Sarynn said.

“...Thank you, Sarynn,” Henry replied with a wry smile. He then turned to Rayne who maintained her air of apathy but her elevated heartbeat said otherwise. “Don’t worry, Rayne. I’ll be fine.”

“Who said I was worried?” Rayne scoffed.

“Your heartbeat.”

“Alright, fine. I’m worried. Cause if something happens to you, this spell of enslavement might just stay on permanently. Worst of all, I might even die with you.”

“Is that how it works?”

“I don’t know but just come back in one piece. At the very least, come back alive, breathing.”

“Of course,” Henry said and dashed out of his abode. He could take flight there but it would mess up his home and break quite a few utensils and plates in the process. He walked until he was at least a hundred metres away from his home before ascending to the skies.

“Which way?” Henry asked.

“Northwest, to your two o’clock.”

With a slight twist and a heavy beat, Henry soared towards the direction of the northwest with all the winds behind him. No matter how many times he had done it, it felt refreshing and invigorating every time he flew. Next to physical entanglement with Yula, flying was probably the next best thing he enjoyed as a Dragon aside, on par with getting a good harvest after a tough battle.

However, that vivifying feeling did not last long as he drew near the source of his unease. It was near the territory of the Lavans, across the chasm where he had fought with thousands of bug monsters. Contrary to the last time he was here, the chasm smelled and looked nicer than he remembered, probably due to him having culled all of the bug monsters.

Around a few kilometres away from the chasm, there was a crater that was neither too big nor small in a clearing. The clearing looked like the aftermath of a napalm explosion, most likely the work of the rift’s appearance. In the centre of that crater was the rift, much like the one he used when he travelled across worlds for his assignments but this one was incredibly unstable. The rift was shuddering like a bad animation.

Hmm? Are those the Lavans?

Henry mused in his head as he noticed a small group of armoured figures standing around the rift. He knew they were Lavans from the animal-like ears and tails protruding out from their armour. When the Lavans also noticed Henry’s presence, instead of getting down on their knees and receiving his arrival, they scattered and ran into the trees.

Okay, that’s new.

Henry could smell the fear off of them and then he remembered his relationship with the Lavans wasn’t even at the level of acquaintance.

Hmm?

As he closed in on the rift during his descent, Henry noticed two Lavans walking towards the rift, anticipating his arrival. He could hear the other Lavans shouting for them to take cover from him but the two Lavans did not listen and waited by the edge of the crater.

Henry realised that he knew these two. In fact, he was acquainted with them for a very brief moment in the past. The two Lavans were none other than the Lady in white and her guard, Iluna and Iora, respectively.