Heyo, readers! I had quite a bit of fun with this chapter and the antics Kiana gets up to! I hope you enjoy it and have a happy new year!

 

 

I've Been Reincarnated as a Bunny Girl?! (Chapter 9)

 

 

by

 

 

Elite Shade

 

 

The high priest gulped as he checked the stack of papers he was carrying for the eleventh time. He knew that the grand bishop was not going to be pleased with his latest report, and he was hoping and praying that he had missed a typo. Unfortunately for the long red-haired elf in the flowing magenta robes, the report was still the same nonetheless. He steeled himself as he came upon the large marble door, carved with the face of a roaring lion, partially framed on the left side of its mane by a crescent moon. He didn't have to knock as, while he stood before it, it simply silently swung inwards on well-oiled hinges. The high priest looked around the darkened chamber, only seeing pale blue lights in wall sconces, illuminating very little. As he walked further in, their dim light grew in brightness, revealing the grand bishop sitting at his desk. The older human man was bent over said desk, scribbling away furiously.

 

"What have you brought me this time?" the old man gruffly asked. His robes were also magenta, but around his neck hung a golden amulet with the same symbol as what was on the door. Said robes hung off his bony, crooked frame. The face that looked up from the table with a scowl was eerily similar to a skull with jaundiced skin pulled taut. The whites of his eyes were a faint brownish color, while the irises themselves were a pale yellow. His nose was hooked, giving him a bit of a bird-like appearance. Atop his head were wispy white scraggly threads of what could only generously be called hair, with the rest being bald, wrinkled, and dotted with liver spots.

 

The high priest bowed low, and placed his report on the high bishop's desk. "I have the latest report from my contact, Grand Bishop," he said, inadvertently wincing when the old man took the papers and began to scan them. The old man's scowl deepened.

 

"This is not good, Percival," the old man said to the elf, not bothering to acknowledge his subordinate's rank. "The disruption of the supply lines to Shuta was supposed to last longer. Not only that, but the Shadow Moon has been eliminated ahead of schedule. Those vile mongrels, an abomination to our lord, were very useful. So... am I correct in assuming, without reading ahead, that the special cargo that they were to deliver to our hand-off is no longer en route?"

 

"... Yes, Grand Bishop," his subordinate said.

 

The old man let out a weary sigh and resumed reading. "Well, no matter. It says here that they were defeated by some adventurers, variables in the grand equation that we can now account for and deal with should they crop up again. Actually, it might be a good idea to nip that potential annoyance in the bud. Perhaps we could coordinate with that necromancer, Zrathk, and have one of our operatives request them personally for the task of eliminating him?"

 

At this, Percival frowned and looked away.

 

"What?" The old man asked, an irate tone entering his voice.

 

"Grand Bishop, if you'll read a bit further... you'll find that some of our operatives attempted to make their usual delivery to the mad necromancer... only to find that his tower had been destroyed..."

 

"Was it one of his experiments?" the old man asked in a quiet tone.

 

"No, Grand Bishop," Percival gulped again, pressing onwards with the unpleasant task of being the bearer of bad news. "The land within the area had been purified, no doubt by a follower of one of the many false gods. Upon asking around, they learned that a paladin and a rabbit beasta were responsible. And... I believe that the same paladin and rabbit beasta were also the same ones responsible for the defeat and arrest of the Shadow Moon's crew."

 

Slowly, and with some effort, the old man stood up. He looked balefully at the high priest before him, then waved his finger, and his desk and everything on it went flying to his right. He hobbled forward towards the elf, who was resolutely trying to flinch away.

 

"How long ago was it that Zrathk was defeated?"

 

"... According to the local villagers, it is believed to be almost a month ago."

 

"AND WHY ARE WE ONLY NOW HEARING ABOUT IT?!" the old man roared, his voice echoing in the chamber.

 

"The last operative who had been sent out to deliver the corpses of the heathens had become one of his experiments, and that disruption in our supply chain to him was difficult to refill."

 

"BAH! You and your excuses do nothing to deal with this interference in our lord's machinations!" The old man turned and stalked away. With a flick of his finger, the desk was picked up by some unseen force and levitated, papers and all, back to where it had been. The grand bishop retook his seat behind the desk, steepling his hands, while looking up at Percival.

 

"As of now, the quiet elimination of these adventurers is a priority. Make contact with the Emerald Eyes assassin guild and set up a contract with them."

 

"Yes, Grand Bishop."

 

"With Zrathk gone, the equation is going to have to be adjusted. He was to be a major distraction and a drain on resources and manpower for our enemies to deal with, him and the unholy abominations he was to continue creating and unleashing out into the countryside. But... it helps to have a contingency plan." The old man pulled out a scroll from a drawer and unfurled it. On it was a map of the continent, and he tapped his bony finger on a dot representing a city.

 

"The city of Ghostflower is a major trading hub. The Duke as well as several other high-ranking officials need to be eliminated to allow our operatives to fill their positions."

 

"Shall I have the Emerald Eyes draw up some additional contracts?"

 

"No, Percival," the old man said with a wry smile, "we cannot have someone getting wind that intentional assassination was at hand. Instead, I want you to make contact with the mercenary country of Zettim. Have them make it look like a bandit attack... using a group of their wyvern riders."

 

"Right away, Grand Bishop," the high priest said, bowing low before turning on his heel and walking quickly back out the door he had entered from. The old man frowned and leaned back in his chair. He then reached down and opened one of the drawers of his desk. Out from it, he plucked a black box with a speaker, some switches, and an antenna, a red light slowly blinking on it.

 

"Not the first plan I've had to change," he said to himself. "Between Zrathk and that damned machine in that mountain, things could have been easier. Still, our lord's will be done."

 

 

One week later...

 

 

"Ah, it's just so wonderful to be back in Ghostflower," Kiana said to Geth as they walked along the well-kept cobblestone street. Behind them was the city gate they had entered. Geth looked around and smiled beneath his mask as he took in the sights. The houses were all bright colors, many of them being two or more stories tall. Many of them had large numbers of flowers growing in their small patches of fenced off yards. Ahead of them, the town square was coming into view. There was an impressive fountain carved entirely from amethyst, depicting an elven maiden spitting a stream of water up and into an arc that led down to the rest of the fountain. With the afternoon sunlight, the fine mist from this created a rainbow.

 

All around the square, colorful shops and game booths were being set up. From a nearby bakery, smells of freshly baked sweets wafted out and made Geth and the much larger Mirabelle, who was now slightly bigger than Bolt and thus too big to ride him, turn to look in the shop's direction. Geth was following the source of the smell with his nose, and Mirabelle with her tongue.

 

"I love the Moon-Lily Festival," Kiana said, giving a twirl. She was wearing a cream-colored sundress and a short, light-yellow cardigan. When Geth had pointed out how much more femininely she had dressed, his bunny adventuring partner had lightly socked him in the arm. The spot was still a tad tender. "It's my favorite holiday of the year! Back home, I just loved dressing up in costumes and going around to different houses with my friends, getting free candy and wrapped mini cakes! Sometimes, a few of the parents would act as chaperones, and all us kids would come here to Ghostflower to do our Meet-and-Sweet-ing!"

 

"Do you think that your family will be here this year?"

 

"Nah," Kiana said, looking down before she snapped her fingers, making Mirabelle freeze just before she tried to enter the bakery, much to the silent shock of the owner and the patrons inside. The snake quickly slithered over to the bunny's side. "I talked to my mom on the crystalarium at our last rest stop, and she said with the new baby due so soon, traveling to Ghostflower wasn't a good idea." Kiana smiled, remembering getting to talk to Malay and Valay. The young wolbets had been so excited to hear from their big sister, and bombarded her with questions about her adventures. She promised to tell them all about it when she made it back home shortly after the festival.

 

"What about your mom?" Kiana asked. Geth had been a bit cagey when it came to information about his family, but in the time that they had traveled together, she had learned that his mother was some kind of a priestess.

 

"She and the other priestesses and priests at the temple like to set up a haunted hedge labyrinth for the nearby towns. They actually set up two. An easier and not as scary one for the little children, and a larger, harder, and much more scary one for the older kids and adults. They like to go all out with the magic in them two, creating areas with thick fog, some of which make creepy sounds as you walk through them to give you the feeling that there's something near you that you can't see, with the prizes in the center always being guarded by a statue that will let you pass if you can answer the riddle it asks."

 

"WOW!" Kiana said, amazed. "Now that sounds like a lotta fun! And here I thought that they would be all stuffy about a holiday or something."

 

"Well, they do make sure to pass out pamphlets about the dangers of drinking and driving carts," Geth admitted, a wistful smile beneath his helmet. He then stopped as a statue caught his eye. It was carved out of granite, and depicted a young bunny girl in a dress, propped onto a pedestal. The statue was hugging a stone version of a very familiar plush wolf he had seen on accident a few times.

 

"Now there's something you don't see every day," Geth said with a smirk. Kiana turned and saw the statue, and smiled.

 

"Oh yeah, that was from back when I was little and helped to save my town from a bandit attack," she said.

 

"So it was a massacre then?"

 

"Only a little," Kiana said, defensively.

 

"Over a thousand bandits had attacked the town of Starlight Rose, and not one of them survived," a voice said, drawing the two's attention. Standing near them was a slender silver dracofian, wearing a linen dress shirt with dark blue trousers. His bright purple eyes twinkled like the golden medal pinned over his heart. It was in the shape of a square with a rune inscribed in the center.

 

"Callum!" Kiana shouted, running forward and wrapping the dracofian, who was a head taller than her, in a near bone-crushing hug.

 

"Air, Kiana! Air!" he choked out, coughing a little after Kiana set him back down and let go.

 

"Geth, this here is my unofficial cousin, Callum Everheart! Callum, this is my adventuring partner, Gethonlon the Mystic! Also, Callum, it was more like thirty bandits," Kiana said, looking excited. The armored orc bowed before holding out a hand for Callum to shake, which he did.

 

"I've heard tales of your exploits," Callum said, "and it makes me glad to know that you are helping to keep my cousin out of trouble."

 

"I am honored," Geth said, looking up at the scaled gentleman before him. "Although I must say, I am a bit confused. I was unaware that Kiana was of dracofianian lineage."

 

"Oh she's not. My father simply unofficially adopted her and her family as part of our own, shortly after he gave her her medal."

 

"Speaking of Uncle Regis, how is he?" Kiana asked, curious.

 

"He is doing fine. Although, he did have a minor situation that he wanted to ask you to look into..."

 

Kiana sighed as Callum trailed off, but she smiled nonetheless.

 

"Figures he'd ask me on the day of the Moon-Lily Festival." She turned to regard Geth. "Feel like tagging along, Geth? I can't say that it'll be very exciting, knowing Uncle Regis."

 

Geth smiled behind his helmet. "You go on and meet with your uncle. I'll watch Mirabelle, and take in some more of the festival," he said as he patted the large blue-green snake, who thumped her tail happily in response. Geth wasn't looking at them, he was instead looking at a group of men who were following behind a woman down a dark alley. She looked nervous.

 

"Oh, good call. I actually forgot all about Mirabelle... and I didn't know how big she'd gotten. I can see some of Dad's advisors not being too happy with her slithering about the manor. Especially considering the last time she got into the larder." Geth didn't hear them as he was leading Mirabelle over to the very alley.

 

As Kiana and Callum left, Geth walked further in the dark alley, already hearing a struggle and quickening his pace. What he hadn't been expecting to find was the five ruffians on the ground, unconscious, with a familiar face standing over them.

 

"When a lady says she is not interested, then the answer is she is not interested," Archibald said aloud.

 

"Thank you, sir," the woman said, looking at the man with his mechanical arm up and down, clearly liking what she saw.

 

"It was a pleasure, madam," he said, giving her a bow. She thanked him again before hurrying away. It was then that Archibald looked up, surprised to see Geth standing there. "Gethonlon, it is wonderful to see you! Are you and Kiana here for the festival?"

 

"Yes, actually. She's currently off seeing to a request by the local Duke. What brings you to Ghostflower?"

 

"I was running an errand for Father. I actually had just finished meeting with the Duke earlier, Kiana and I must have just missed each other."

 

"I would have gone with her myself, but as it turns out, Mirabell here tends to get into trouble when food is involved and..." Geth had motioned to the large snake that was supposed to be right next to him, but was now gone. "Oh no."

 

"Perhaps we can look for her together?" Archibald offered, which Geth was thankful to accept.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Kiana felt excited as she and Callum walked towards the estate, which was located further in the city, and was a massive sprawling building. It was three stories and overlooked the clock tower. It was made from limestone with flecks of gold visible in each brick, adorned with many beautiful stained glass windows. Kiana and Callum had enjoyed playing games all around the estate. Callum had always loved going off and getting into mischief when they were kids, and that certainly hadn't changed when he had returned from his time at the military academy. It didn't appear to be the case either as he looked around, before leading Kiana to the servants' entrance. He double-checked to make sure that they were alone before he reached up and pulled out a loose brick from the wall. From the hidey-hole, Callum produced a single dark green corked bottle.

 

"Is that... Telsiberry Wine?" Kiana asked, her eyes wide.

 

"Yup. I snuck a bottle out from the wine cellar earlier today. I've been wanting to try it for so long!"

 

"But isn't it supposed to be... kinda strong?" Kiana asked, now looking unsure.

 

"Well sure, but I only plan on having a few sips. It's supposed to taste delicious and bring the drinker good luck," Callum explained. "Especially if the drinker shares it."

 

"I don't know..."

 

"C'mon, what's the worst that can happen?" Callum said with a wink.

 

"Well, I know of a guy named Murphy who might have a thing or two to say on the subject... but what the hells. Okay, maybe a sip or two," Kiana said. Callum wasted no time in uncorking the bottle.

 

 

A few hours later...

 

 

"Kiana? Where'd you go?" Callum asked under his breath as he looked in the next guest bedroom. He was starting to worry that she was likely to wander off and get into trouble.

 

"Callum?" The silver dracofian froze and slowly turned in the direction of the voice's owner. There he saw his father, Duke Regis Everheart, standing behind him. The much larger gold-scaled dracofian was standing with his arms crossed, wearing his navy blue military coat and trousers. "Would you care to explain why several servants are claiming that a mad bunny girl has been running around and terrorizing them, overturning tables in the dining hall, and is now currently up on a chandelier in the main hall, asleep and loudly snoring?"

 

"Uh... superstition?" Callum offered, giving his father an attempted smirk. Regis frowned and did not look at all jovial. "Or... maybe I heard from a friend that Kiana was in town for the festival, and I brought her back here a little while ago..."

 

"And?"

 

"And I may... have gotten ahold of some Telsiberry wine..."

 

Regis let out a sigh and shook his head. "So not only did I not get to see my darling niece after she's been an adventurer for a little while, but now I find that my own son has decided to get her drunk and run amok. Did you make her go and drink the whole bottle?"

 

"Dad, she only had two sips!" Callum said, holding up the mostly full bottle as proof. Regis took the bottle from his son and looked it over.
"So apparently she cannot handle her alcohol," he said.

 

"No she cannot. Before she ran off, she kept saying she was going to go streaking through town, and I had to practically tackle her just to try and keep her from pulling her clothes off... before she tossed me through the third storey window..."

 

"... Well, let's see about getting her down and maybe putting her to bed in a guest room until she can sleep it off," Regis said, offering a smile to his son. They both walked along and entered the main hall. Sure enough, snoring loud enough to cause all the windows nearby to rattle, there was Kiana, her mithril knuckles donned, sprawled across the top of the chandelier, out like a light. The Duke was just about to ask a servant to go and fetch a ladder, when the alarm bells from the watchtowers along the wall surrounding Ghostflower began to chime. Looking confused, Callum and Regis did not have to wait long for an explanation. In burst a guard.

 

"M'lord," he said, taking a knee before the Duke, "there is an attack. Bandits from the looks of them, riding wyverns."

 

"Wyverns?!" Regis exclaimed. "How many?"

 

"We counted thirty, m'lord."

 

Regis ran a clawed hand through his head scales. "Alright, any and all civilians not currently taking shelter are to be escorted to the nearest one at once. All non-active duty guards are to be called in immediately. Any and all adventurers or able-bodied citizens willing to fight are to be deputized at once."

 

"Yes, m'lord," the guard got back up and ran off back out the door, pulling out his short-wave crystal communicator in the process to convey the Duke's orders with the other guards.

 

"Callum, get Kiana down, even if you have to rip the chandelier down, and take her to the safe room," Regis said, striding down the steps towards the direction of the armory.

 

"Father, I want to fight!" Callum said. Just then, there was an ear-piercing roar, and the large stained-glass mural of a peaceful lake was smashed inwards as a white reptilian creature with bat-like wings came crashing through. It was three times the size of a horse and was covered in shining white scales, signifying it to be an ice wyvern as opposed to the dark gray scales of a fire wyvern. It was carrying eight men, all dressed in black leather armor, who hopped off. They drew their swords and immediately headed in the direction of the Duke and his son. Regis felt the fire in his belly burn hot and let loose a jet stream of pure fire that engulfed two of the attackers, their screams of agony doing nothing to dissuade the remaining six. The wyvern let out a shriek, gearing up for a frost-laced breath.

 

"I'M TRYIN' TA SLEEP, YA JACKASS!" Kiana yelled, surprising the attackers. She lightly leapt down from the chandelier and backhanded the wyvern in the face, sending the confused creature crashing through the solid wall outside, knocked out cold. She looked at the six black-leather attackers and swayed a little on her feet. Two rushed towards her, but her swaying movements caused her to bend out of the way. A punch caused one to go flying through another stained glass window, while the second one went through a thick solid hardwood door.
The remaining four tried again for the Duke, but in a blink an agitated Kiana was standing before him. She grinned wickedly, and uppercut the nearest one. He started to go flying up, until she caught him by the ankles and slammed him into the tiled floor, smashing the tiles to pieces. She then swung her captive like a club, sending another attacker through a brick wall, smashing another one down into the tile, and knocking the last one a little into the air. She swung her clearly broken and dead meat club like a bat, sending the final attacker flying through the ceiling and off into the distance, a perfect home run.

 

"Kiana, sweetheart," Regis said, while Callum looked on in surprise. Kiana turned to regard them and smiled, making a peace sign. "Are you feeling okay?"

 

"I'm great, Umncles Regis! Imma go an Hic make a sammich," Kiana said starting to try and pull off her cardigan over her head, with little success. Callum jumped in.

 

"Maybe we keep our clothes on while we go looking for the sandwich, okay, Kiana?" He tugged it back down into place, noticing bits of blood had splattered part of it. Suddenly, he was pulled into a bone-crushing hug, and he was worried that this time, he was hearing his bones actually creak.

 

"You are the bestest cousin ever, Callum! When Hic I gets smarried, you're gunna be Hic my maid of honor!" She dropped him and then giggled while jogging out of the gaping hole that was next to the front door. Callum winced as he stood, certain that at least some of his ribs had been bruised.

 

"Well, Callum, your cousin is drunk and on the loose, and during a bandit attack," Regis said, clapping a hand on his son's shoulder, passing Callum his trusted spear. Regis had grabbed his scimitars and started to head out the hole as well. He began to jog towards the nearest guard station with Callum in tow. Callum wordlessly followed, looking up and seeing several more wyverns nearby, flying about, some blasting frost breath attacks, and some blasting fiery ones.

 

 

* * *

 

 

At another guard station, Geth and Archibald had their swords out, clashing with another group of the bandits. Three already lay dying on the cobblestones, along with the bodies of two unfortunate guards. Geth's sword was blazing in its brilliant purple fire, while Archibald was a whirlwind of blade strikes and punches from his mechanical arm.

 

"These bandits seem really intent on attacking this guard station," Geth remarked, decapitating one of his opponents, whose body became immolated in purple fire.

 

"Agreed. And the ones with the crossbows seem to be only aiming for the good Captain here," Archibald said, referring to the Captain of the Guards, Nillis. The halfling in question, while short in stature and clearly developing a bit of a middle-aged paunch, was still quick on the draw with his twin flintlock pistols. Geth noticed how the pistols themselves, about thirty seconds after being fired, would shine with a dim gold light, and then be ready to be fired again. He deduced that they were enchanted to automatically reload. But in the interim, the shaved-headed halfling defended with a dagger that he proved to be very skilled in using, practically flaying the wrists and forearms of his attackers, somehow always slipping it beneath their leather armor through the joints. Another two shots, and another two bandits crumpled.

 

"Bandits my arse," Nellis yelled, once more whipping out his dagger and going to town on a charging opponent, dodging another crossbow bolt. In the back of his head, he took note of how their aim was getting better. "This lot ain't trying to loot or nuthin'. Just raising hell, trying to get me, and anyone between them and me. I know a setup when I see one!"

 

"Do you think it's possible that the others that went off elsewhere in the city also have specific targets in mind?" Geth wondered aloud as another of his own opponents caught fire.

 

"Perhaps so! In that case, we need to make short work of this and lend aid elsewhere," Archibald said, a charged up punch sending two of the attackers he was facing sprawling into the other four, sending them all skidding a bit away. His mechanical arm started to whir and hum, the palm opening up to reveal the hole again while the fingers became the sights. Just as they got back to their feet and began to charge, he held up his arm, took aim, and began to fire rapid bursts of bullets made of green light. All six dropped. Archibald then turned and started to focus on the crossbowmen, of which there were four. One peeked around and a sudden burst of more of the energy bullets took the top of his head off. He heard a scuffling movement nearby.

 

"I think they're retreating," Nellis said, taking a breath and pulling out his own communication crystal. He spoke for a moment in harsh tones, giving orders to help coordinate the men and women under him, and nodded, turning to the remaining guards as well as Archibald and Geth. "Right, the majority of the attackers are over in the financial district. What an odd coincidence that that would also be where a number of high ranking city officials would be located at this time," he said wryly.

 

There were suddenly a series of loud booms that shook the ground. Off in the distance, a handful of black-clad figures went screaming up into the night sky, before coming crashing down. There was another boom, and another handful went up into the air.

 

"It looks like Kiana has joined the fight... I hope that she doesn't cause too much destruction to private property in the process," Geth said with a wince. Checking and seeing that Nellis and his guards were regrouping, ready to head out to the financial district, Geth whistled. There was a whinny, and a black and blue blur suddenly stopped before him. Bolt's blue mane and spiral horn were glowing with raw power. The tenebricorn waited patiently for his rider to mount him, which Geth did. He then offered a hand to Archibald, who took it and saddled up right behind the paladin samurai. Above, wyverns were starting to circle. Bolt began to race through the streets, with Geth slashing at bandits while Archibald, after adjusting his mechanical arm, fired green beams of light at the airborne wyverns.

 

A large group of the attackers seemed to be barring their path on the cobbled street, but Bolt didn't slow. His blue horn gowed brighter, and discharged a massive blast of electricity, scorching the ground and killing a large portion of the bandits. More started to form up again until they were engulfed in a yellow cloud. Mirabelle appeared from around a corner, having just used her paralysis breath attack. Bolt leapt over the corpses and paralyzed bandits and turned a different corner, coming to a stop in the financial district to an odd sight, Mirabelle right behind them. There was a pile of broken bandit bodies next to a pile of ten dead wyverns, all of them partially crushed, as Kiana swayed drunkenly with each step.

 

"Hi Geth! Hi Hic Archie! I'm a little losht," she slurred. Callum and Regis were right there beside her.

 

"You did a good job, sweetheart," Regis said, gently taking Kiana by the shoulders. "Maybe you should lie down and take a little rest while we finish up here, okay?"

 

"I'm fiiiiiine, Umncle Regish!" Kiana said, batting his hands away. Just then, her ears twitched, and she pushed him and Callum down. She spun as a dark shape came hurtling towards where Regis had been standing. Using her hands, she readily summoned her inner power and created a miniature air-funnel around the object, a crossbow bolt. As she continued to spin, she turned its trajectory in a full circle, releasing it back in the very direction it had come. It struck the surprised bandit right between the eyes. His body slumped over, dead.

 

There was a sudden crash, sending up chunks of cobblestone and kicking up a cloud of dust. With the dust settling, they could all see a much larger wyvern, with wicked ram-like horns on its reptilian head. It hissed as its rider dismounted. His polished jet-black armor wasn't leather, it was steel. He was an imposing and massive figure, easily over seven feet tall. His arms and legs were thick with corded muscles, and he deftly held a broadsword in one hand. There was a gold strip around the crown of his helmet, differentiating him from the rest of the attackers.

 

"You have slain many of my men this night, and I recognize your strength and skill as a warrior, and you have earned my respect," he said in a deep voice.

 

Kiana blinked and giggled as she turned to look at Archibald with a blush. "I think Hic that you're really cute, Archie. Which is weird because in my previous li--"

 

"EXCUSE ME!" the miniature giant exclaimed, sounding annoyed. This drew Kiana's attention as she blinked at him.

 

"Oh shut up with that Hic recognishing strength and respect nonsensh! If you had any respects for anyone, you wouldn't be attacking a town like thish. You'd go and fight them person ta Hic person, and leave everyone else outta it. Yer not an honorable warrior or whatever ya tell yershelf in your head. You're just play-acting, and it's Hic pisshing me off!" Kiana put up her mithril-knuckle armed fists, taking a stance. All around citizens, officials, and even the other attacking bandits, watched the scene unfold. The leader of the bandits stood there and stared.

 

"You... dare to disrespect me?!" he yelled and pointed at Kiana. Taking the hint, his wyvern roared and breathed a cone of fire onto the bunny girl.

 

"KIANA!" Geth, Archibald, Regis, and Callum all yelled simultaneously. The fire breath attack stopped, leaving an unharmed Kiana, her mithril knuckles, which seemed to be as affected by the heat as she was, standing there nude amidst the large scorch mark, her eyes glowing blue.

 

"My turn," she said. She was gone in a blur, punching the man in the black armor and sending him flying backwards, only to run behind him and kick him in another direction. She did this again and again and again, denting his armor and causing sickening crunches to be heard from inside, along with groans of pain. Blood started leaked out in rivulets from cracks in the dents she made as well as from in between the joints of the armor. When she was done with the barrage, her opponent was a pile of twisted metal and pulp. The wyvern roared again and lunged for Kiana. With a single punch and a loud snap, its snout and skull was caved in, causing it to flop over, dead.

 

"RETREAT!" one of the bandits yelled, causing a stampede to get to the remaining wyverns and fly off. The town guards, initially stunned, broke free from the mesmer of what had transpired, and started to pursue the fleeing bandits.

 

"Absolutely magnificent," Archibald said, transfixed on the swaying bunny. He ran forward, grabbing a sheet of cloth from an overturned booth, and caught Kiana just as she was about to fall, wrapping her in the cloth a bit to help cover her. He held her in the classic princess carry.

 

"Kiana, are you alright?" Callum asked, rushing forward as well, his father right beside him.

 

"LET'S GET TACOS!" Kiana joyously yelled before passing out in Archie's arms, loudly snoring.

 

Callum looked around at the chunks missing from buildings and the streets, at the literal piles of dead bandits and wyverns, and then at his sleeping unofficial cousin. "So she really can't handle alcohol well," he said, Regis clapping a scaled hand to his face and letting out an exasperated sigh.

 

 

The next day...

 

 

Archibald walked along the streets, seeing the repair crews hard at work. All in all, despite the severity of the attack, there had been very few casualties other than the bandits, now revealed to be Zettimese mercenaries, one of their wyvern units. This had been revealed by some of the ones who were caught in the retreat that were unable to get away. Unfortunately, further interrogation had yet to yield the identity of their employer. Not that they would. Only the captain of their unit would have that information, and Kiana had obliterated him last night. He came to the Everheart estate, which also had repair crews working to patch up the hole in the side of the wall, which he strolled right through. He spotted the Duke talking to some servants and bowed.

 

"Ah, Archibald, nice to see you again. I would like to once again extend my thanks in helping with the fight against the wyvern riders," Regis said to the young man.

 

"I am honored, your lordship," Archibald said with a smile. "How is Kiana doing this morning?"

 

The Duke smiled and shook his head. "My wayward son is currently attending to her to help see her through her first hangover. Honestly, after getting her drunk like that, it is more than fair in my book that he help look after her. She already accidentally kicked him through a door once. But at least she seems to have overcome the nausea, although her hearing appears to be extra sensitive for the time being. I'm a bit more concerned about her pet snake getting into our larder again. Geth was so kind as to offer to try and lure her out."

 

Elsewhere in the manor, up in one of the rooms, Kiana lay in bed, moaning, as Callum entered holding a glowing red concoction in a wine flute.

 

"Here we go, dear cousin, I have managed to scrounge up my own personal hangover cure," he said, setting the drink down on the nightstand next to the bed.

 

"Eugh... what happened last night?" Kiana asked, drinking down the entire concoction, coughing from the potent taste of cinnamon. "And why won't he leave me alone?" Kiana pointed out a window to reveal the wyvern that had broken into that manor last night, sitting perched right outside, thumping his tail on the roof and cracking some shingles in the process.

 

"I think you found yourself a new pet, Kiana," Callum said with a laugh that made the bunny girl wince.

 

 

Hehehe, Kiana seems to be suffering from Night Before Syndrome. Symptoms include nausea, sensitivity to sounds, pounding headaches, and a wyvern hanging around (at least in her case.)