—–
Syllis had finally reached back to the village of rabbit-kin survivors after being lost for several days.
He surprised all the people there as the guards looked at him with surprise.
“It can’t be…! Syllis!”
“You’re alive!”
The guards quickly jumped toward him and hugged the young man. As his older brother figures, they were very worried about him and where he was.
The thing they were the most surprised about was that he looked healthy and even seemed to have gained a lot of weight all of a sudden. Did he eat somewhere?
“Everyone, I am so happy to be back… Quickly, we must gather the rest of the people! I found someone that can help us!” Said Syllis and a cheerful smile quickly moved everyone.
As his voice reached far and wide, only those incapable of moving, such as the bedridden elderly, were not able to gather around him.
“I-It’s Syllis!”
“It’s really him?!”
“You’re back!”
“By the Beast Gods, I am so happy to see you back!”
“Big brotheeeeer!”
A little rabbit-kin girl with almost the same appearance as Syllis but way younger and cuter rushed towards him, jumping over his chest and hugging him tightly.
“Ah, Bellerine! I missed you!” Cried Syllis.
“I missed you too, Syllis! Where were you?! Sniff… I thought you were dead, eaten by the demon spiders!” Cried the little girl.
“I-I was wandering around for food but ended up losing myself… And when I thought I was about to pass out, someone showed up and rescued me… They brought me into a camp and even healed my fever… I think I ended up catching the disease, but I am healed now!” He said.
“Y-You caught the spider demon’s disease but were healed?!” Asked his little sister.
“Unbelievable, so there’s a cure?!”
“The disease that took my husband away….”
“But you’re so healthy now. Look at you!”
“W-Who is this person that healed you?!”
“It was a group of people, but their leader, Maria, came here to bring us all outside the forest! She says that she’s going to build a small village where many people of different races can live together in peace! She saved my life, so the least I can do is trust her… She’s also a beautiful woman, and I am willing to give my heart for her….” Said the young rabbit man, as the many surrounding him were surprised.
“A-A village where all races can live in peace?”
“But aren’t humans the only ones allowed to make villages?”
“Is this really okay? Is she not lying?”
“Fool! She and her friends healed our good friend. How can they be untrustworthy?”
“Big brother, I don’t know… I don’t like her!” Said Bellerine.
“Eh? Why?!” Asked Syllis.
“Because she’s going to steal you from me!” Roared Bellerine.
The little rabbit girl got all angry as steam began to come out of her pointy rabbit ears, and her chocolate-colored skin suddenly turned red as her cute face was pouting furiously!
“Hahaha, please, calm down, Bellerine. You’re my beloved sister. I will never leave you,” Said Syllis and his gentle smile charmed Bellerine once more, and the other people also felt his charisma slowly affecting them.
Indeed, he had a special innate charisma that Maria had found out but didn’t mention before. She had used her ability to see through other people’s Soul Books and saw through his Skillset.
In there, she found a special Title Skill named [Charismatic Young Leader], which he had acquired by guiding and leading the people of the rabbit-kin tribe that survived the first spider attack.
Using this title skill, he gained an innate charm effect that helped him in wording his ideas better and naturally inspiring others. This received an extra bonus in these people too.
It wasn’t brainwashing in the slightest. It was something that simply created a large impression of him, but this could very much backfire if the impression the people had for him were to be negative, only worsening the situation, but because everyone here already had good impressions of him and cared for him, they instead began to trust his words and decided to believe him.
After a while, he led the people towards Maria, as everyone greeted a very unusual-looking woman.
Compared to the slim and small chocolate-skinned and brown-haired rabbit-kin, who mostly wore simple leather clothes and fangs around as decorations of their bodies, she was a pale-white woman with bright crimson-red eyes. Her long hair was silvery-white, with the tips being purple-colored and having snake-like heads at the tips… she also had a long dress and sharp heels, resembling a woman straight out of royalty.
To boot, she had a strange and eerie scaled snake-like tail behind her, which waved around, making her resemble some sort of Majin or even a monster…
“T-This is Maria, Bellerine, don’t look at her with those eyes. She’s good!” Said Syllis, a little rabbit girl greeted Maria’s sight.
Maria instantly thought that she was adorable and that her name was just as cute-sounding. She smiled gently at her and tried to make her lower her guard, but she looked way too tense before her.
“Hmm… O-Okay…” Said Bellerine, looking at Maria while squinting her eyes.
“S-So you’re Bellerine! Your brother spoke to me about you before. I am glad you’re healthy, little girl… And hello, everyone. I hope we can get along better! Is there anyone left in the village?” She asked.
“T-There are some people, the elderly. We’ll go look for them now….”
“Syllis said that you were able to heal the disease… Is this true?”
“Please, heal them! They’re all sick and might die soon!”
“M-My little boy has a strong fever… I don’t know when he might… be taken away by Hel….”
Maria quickly realized there were more people that were sick and that what they called the “demon spider disease” might be what Syllis was having when they found him back then!
“Sure, leave it to us!” She said.
—–