A Misunderstanding Over Rabbit Stew
The old woman’s face, flickering in the torchlight, looked more eerie than ever. Shadows pooled in the deep furrows of her wrinkles, and her eyes glinted with a sharp, unsettling intensity. She approached me slowly, her lips trembling. I swallowed hard, tightening my grip on the Nail Gun. Eve had already assumed a firing stance, her gaze fixed on the Village Chief, ready to pull the trigger at a moment’s notice.
However, the words that left the old woman’s mouth were not what I had expected.
“Oh, my goodness, sir! What is the meaning of this! Are you quite alright?”
The old woman hurried toward me, shouting in a flustered tone before coming to a stop. But her voice wasn't the sharp, hostile tone I had anticipated; it was filled with deep confusion and genuine concern. As if to prove her distress, her hands shook as she glanced around nervously.
“It seems something has invaded the village! Seeing the alarm go off in the middle of the night, it must be a Crystallization Demon that has slipped in. It’s dangerous here, so please, hurry inside and take shelter. We will see to your safety!”
The old woman acted like a frantic guard who was terrified of failing to protect me. She gestured urgently to the women dressed in men’s clothing who had followed her.
“You lot, don’t just stand there! Move! Half of you, go to the western palisade where the alarm sounded and search every inch! The rest of you, provide thorough cover for our honored guest right here! If the sir is even slightly startled, it would be a grave insult to our village, so keep your wits about you!”
At the old woman’s command, half the women grabbed their torches and weapons and rushed off into the darkness. The remaining ones turned their backs to me, taking up a defensive posture against any external threats.
I could only stand there, dumbfounded, watching the situation unfold. Eve seemed confused as well; she didn't fully lower her weapon, but she glanced at me without pulling the trigger.
“Uh… Chief, what exactly did you say invaded?”
When I asked, flustered, the old woman reluctantly opened her mouth. She wore an expression of deep regret, as if it were painful to even relay such grim news to a noble guest.
“To think such a terrible thing would happen at a time like this…. It is highly likely that a Crystallization Demon has breached the perimeter. As you surely know, sir, they are cursed beasts that destroy civilization and have turned the world into this wretched state.”
“A demon? Do you mean the ones with crystals on their bodies?”
“Yes. They are animals that grow jewel-like crystals on their bodies and run wild, having lost all reason. They are occasionally spotted in the forest near the village. Before we built those high palisades, they broke into the village several times, stealing our livestock and hurting our children. To think such a commotion would occur on the very night you arrived, sir… I am truly ashamed.”
The old woman’s explanation felt like a blow to the back of my head. Crystallization Demon…. She was clearly talking about the crystallized deer-like creature I had seen in the forest. The villagers weren't staying up all night and raising the palisades to trap me; they were doing it to protect the village from those monsters.
I exchanged a look with Eve. Her eyes, too, were filled with bewilderment. I swallowed dryly and cautiously asked the old woman about the scene I had witnessed earlier. If it was a misunderstanding, I had to clear it up quickly.
“Um… I came out for some air earlier and accidentally overheard a conversation. You and the others were gathered, saying things like ‘Don’t let it get away’ and ‘Are you ready?’ And on top of that, weren’t you holding a kitchen knife with blood dripping from it?”
The old woman thought for a moment, and then her face turned deathly pale.
“Oh, my! You saw that! I am so terribly sorry for causing you such unnecessary worry! My thoughts were too narrow. I wanted to show you our best side, and to think I would show you such a gruesome sight!”
The old woman waved her hands repeatedly, apologizing for exposing me to such an unsightly scene. She had wanted to hide it, but when I kept pressing, she had no choice but to lead me to the backyard shed I had seen earlier. Eve and I followed her, still unable to lower our guard. When the shed door opened, the place I had assumed was a human slaughterhouse revealed a completely different scene.
It was a breeding pen. A few scrawny brown rabbits were sniffing around in a narrow cage. And on the large wooden table next to them lay two rabbits that had just been slaughtered and skinned, along with clean, fresh-red meat. The ‘eerie kitchen knife’ I had seen earlier was resting quietly on the table, wiped clean of blood.
“The food we had to offer you was so meager that we decided to catch a few of the village’s last remaining rabbits. You didn’t seem to enjoy the meat during the day, so I was in a hurry to serve you fresh meat by tomorrow morning, no matter what.”
The old woman clasped her hands together, looking genuinely distraught.
“We don’t have much meat left in the village, so the children were hesitant to catch the few precious rabbits we have. So I scolded them. I told them that since such an honored guest has come, it doesn’t matter if we catch a few rabbits—that we might not get another chance to serve such a noble person in our lifetimes, so they should hurry up and prepare to serve you with the utmost care. The knife you saw earlier was the one we were using to dress them. To think you misunderstood… I’m so worried you might have been offended.”
I stood frozen, as if nailed to the spot.
‘…It wasn’t kidnapping, imprisonment, or cannibalism—it was rabbit slaughter?’
The words I had heard—‘catch them even if we have to force it’ and ‘prepare to eat them’—had been directed at the rabbits, not me. ‘Are you ready?’ must have been a question about whether the slaughter was prepared. As the misunderstanding dawned on me, my face felt like it was burning, ready to explode.
Eve realized I had misunderstood as well, and she turned her head to look at the distant mountains. I felt so embarrassed that my ears were burning and I could feel my own heartbeat in them.
“…I’m sorry. I was looking for a path to relieve myself earlier, and since I couldn’t see well, I wandered off and must have tripped the line installed under the palisade. It wasn’t an intruder; it was my mistake. I’m truly sorry.”
At my confession, the old woman looked blank for a moment. But soon, she let out a sigh of relief and patted her chest.
“Oh, thank goodness! That is such a relief! It’s a blessing that it wasn’t a demon. We were so terrified that you might have been hurt or that something terrible had happened to the village.”
The old woman smiled in relief and hurried back to where the palisade was. She shouted toward the villagers who had gone out to check for signs of intrusion.
“Everyone! Come back! It wasn’t a demon; someone just tripped the line by mistake! I’ve confirmed it, so everyone rest easy and go to sleep!”
At the old woman’s shout, the women looked puzzled but relieved, extinguishing their torches and scattering one by one. Silence returned to the village, but my heart was still swirling with embarrassment.
Back in the room, an awkward silence flowed between Eve and me. Eve closed the door and sat quietly beside me. I slumped onto the leather blanket and covered my face with my hands.
“Eve, can you explain to me exactly what happened?”
“Yes… well….”
I explained to Eve in detail what the old woman and the others had said, the scene I had witnessed, and the misunderstanding I had formed while watching it. As I spoke, I realized once again how narrow and biased my perspective had been.
‘I spent so much time playing games before coming to this world that my way of thinking only went in that direction! Ugh! This is so damn embarrassing!’
I’d probably be kicking my blankets in shame over this for a while….
“I’m really sorry… I think I completely lost my mind when I saw that blood-stained knife. I really made a fool of myself because of me, didn’t I?”
Eve shook her head quietly.
“Not at all. In that situation, anyone would have misunderstood. Their conversation was fragmented, and the surrounding environment was so alien. Still… I am truly glad it wasn’t a dangerous situation.”
Eve leaned her head on my shoulder, looking relieved. I stroked her soft hair and sighed for a long time. While I felt pathetic, I also felt grateful to the villagers.
They were preparing to slaughter rabbits in the middle of the night just to serve me, and even when they thought a monster might have invaded, they had provided an escort to protect me. I hadn’t realized it at the time because I was so flustered, but thinking about it now, it was incredibly moving.
“Tomorrow morning, I’m going to eat that rabbit meat with a truly grateful heart. And let’s think about what we can give to this village.”
It was a paradise of people who were a bit crude and poor, but who were so desperate to treat me with the utmost care.
***
“Be careful, we have to sell the hides, so don’t damage them, and keep the meat well-preserved.”
The old woman encouraged the young women, having them sharpen their knives and catch a few rabbits. Her eyes were shining ten times more seriously than usual.
“This meat isn’t just a simple meal. It’s the best means we have to bind the heart of that noble guest to our village. How picky must the palate of a noble person from the city be? It would have been better if they were plump, but we must catch the rabbits while they are at their freshest and roast them with the utmost care.”
“But Grandma, these are the last of our rabbits. They haven’t been breeding well lately, wouldn’t it be better to give him something else?”
When the woman beside her asked cautiously, the old woman replied softly but firmly.
“Child, do you think we will ever see such a noble person again in our lifetime? What do a few rabbits matter? If he remembers our village fondly and gives us even a small bit of help later, that’s worth more than thousands of rabbits. Now is the time to offer the best we have.”
The old woman was resolute. As if agreeing with her, another woman came over and said:
“That’s right. Looking at that man, his face is… he’s breathtakingly handsome, so we have to do something for him.”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’ve never seen a man like that in my life.”
“Exactly, we absolutely cannot let him go. It’s such luck that we met him, so we have to make sure he leaves with good memories.”
The village women recalled the handsome man’s face in their minds. They could feel their cheeks heating up just thinking about it.
“If they don’t breed this time, what if we force him to stay in a narrow cage and make him breed?”
“Yeah, yeah, let’s catch him and lock him in a small place.”
“We ate some last time, so there aren’t many left, but if we’re going to eat rabbit, now is the chance. We’ll regret it if we don’t treat him this time.”
All the village women nodded, gathering their opinions. Once it was decided that they would catch rabbits for him, they debated which ones to catch.
“But they’re all scrawny, so which ones should we give him? We can’t catch them all, anyway.”
“Hmm, that one! The one that always acts up when we feed it! Shouldn’t we catch and eat that one?”
“That’s true. That nasty thing has been eating our food, so we should use it for this.”
Once the consensus was reached, the old woman entrusted one person with the slaughter and the rest with skinning and dressing the meat.
“Hey! Drive them this way so they can’t run! Grab it by the scruff near the door.”
“Come here! …Yeah. That’s it, this one! Hey, bring the tool. Let’s finish it in one go with something sharp.”
“Hold it tight, are you ready?”
Watching the young ones catch the rabbits, the old woman smiled contentedly.
‘I have to make him feel comfortable here, no matter what. Such a noble person won’t return if he’s offended even once, so we have to give him everything we can.’
The old woman was desperate for the village’s survival. When would such a tall, handsome man ever come to this backwater village again? It was an opportunity that had to be seized while it was there.
“Now, everyone, work hard. As soon as the morning sun rises, we must cook this meat to perfection and serve it to the sir. We must do our best until the end so there is no lack of anything. It’s hard now, but you’ll thank me later.”
“Yes!”
“Yes, Chief!”
It was hard to work without sleeping at night, but they knew what they were doing it for. It was possible that the man’s grace might descend upon the village. Under the old woman’s encouragement, the village’s hospitality was being prepared with great effort. In the old woman’s heart, there was only one goal: to give everything the village had for this precious man who had appeared like a miracle.