Chapter 1847: Suspects
All that the group could do was wait for the first round of bunnies to come back out, but that gave them plenty of time to speculate on just who the father of their upcoming baby bunnies might be.
There were many theories, mostly about the various enhanced Golems that were in the Tiny World. But that was mostly because the living males were in limited supply.
Rashid and Oban, the two Bronze Dragons, were possible options, but that seemed unlikely. Librarian Ike was a fan favourite, mostly because he would read stories for the bunnies, and Lotus thought it was adorable.
Raist, the silver dragon, was clearly one of the culprits. Despite his refusal to admit to anything.
But other than that, there was just Axel, the Patron of the Orphanage and Thor. Both of them were taken men, and even the bunnies waiting for their turn were adamant that no such thing would happen.
So, the most likely options were the enhanced Golems that Karl had made.
Sitting in the Library with a sleeping bunny draped across his lap, her head on the arm rest and her back serving as a book rest, Ike sneezed. Someone was obviously talking about him behind his back, but he had no idea what they might be saying.
They were out of range of his mind reading abilities, and the only other person nearby was sleeping.
The bunny was dreaming of the new species of radishes that had been introduced to the gardens, so it definitely wasn’t her that was plotting against his reputation. He strongly suspected that it was either Raist, who loved to compile notes for the Library to organize, or Opal had come up with another of her fan fictions.
That Fae was a menace to a good man’s reputation.
Opal laughed as she saw the suspicion on the blue dragon’s face. This footage was definitely going into her next film. Perhaps after she altered the outfits a little.
If the blue dragon didn’t want her to ship him with the bunnies, he had to stop giving her reasons to ship him with the bunnies.
And that wasn’t going to happen.
They loved story time.
But Opal was also curious about which of the constructs had managed to impregnate the bunnies. If she knew that, she would know how to tweak future creations so that they were either more or less fertile, depending on customer requests.
That could actually be a lucrative market if she coordinated with the Puppeteers among the Bunnies.
Unlike Cara, Opal didn’t actually care about the money. She wasn’t the loot obsessed sort. However, if she could spread an army of Darklight Host branded companion dolls across the Immortal Realm...
But more than that, the possibilities for inspiration were endless. Staying here in the Tiny World was great for content, but she really did need to spend a bit more time in the Clan compound while they had more visitors.
With an influx of guests, there would be one-night stands, whirlwind romances, fated reunions, even tearful dramatic breakups and heroic interventions by spurned suitors.
Everything that a cultured romantic like herself could ask for.
Karl heard Opal’s thoughts on the matter and waited to see if she had any unique guesses on the answer. She loved to "observe" the various situations around her, while Karl opted to give everyone privacy and not closely observe the occurrences within the Tiny World.
If he wanted, he could see everything, and Opal made full use of that connection. But nobody else did. In fact, most of the others weren’t even capable of it.
Skills were shared among the team, but while Karl had a skill that made him compatible with everything that his beasts were compatible with, that didn’t go both ways. So, there were still some limits on what the others could use and do with his abilities.
Cara seemed to care very little about limits, and mostly used whatever she pleased whenever she pleased. But the others each had a specific portion of his skill set that they could access.
All this talk of fertility had dragged Remi out of her research lab, and the Naga had appeared next to the Black Dragon Avatar with an armload of measuring devices and a notepad.
These were the days that she was glad to have four arms. She needed them all if she was going to measure the aura he gave off while properly taking notes. If her suspicion was right, the aura of divinity might be just the thing that she needed to complete a fertility charm that didn’t use nature magic.
The Immortals from species that were slow to reproduce would pay well for a pill that would greatly improve their chances when nature magic struggled.
"Good afternoon," the Avatar greeted the curious Naga, unsure what she was up to.
"Hello, Avatar! I’m just taking a few readings from your aura, in the name of Alchemical research."
"Do you prefer not to socialize with the rest of the group?"
"Actually, I enjoy being around people. I’ve got a whole team down in the labs to talk to. I just get a bit focused on my work and forget that there is a world outside the lab. That reminds me, it should be almost time for a dungeon or something, right?
We haven’t gone on a trip for some time.
Were you sent here to make sure that Karl wasn’t trying to get a baby dragon? I figured there would be one of you soon enough after Lotus got one."
The Avatar chuckled at the distracted tone Remi was firing off questions in while she wrote her notes.
"Indeed, I was sent here to make sure that Karl was not intending to subvert the hatchlings into following another pantheon. While the world dragon is a dragon, in the most literal sense, he is not a part of the same pantheon. Letting the young ones be corrupted was deemed unacceptable."
Remi nodded as she continued to scribble notes.
"That makes sense. While Lotus is questionable as a guardian in many ways, she is a follower of the Green Dragon."
"HEY!"
Remi shrugged all four shoulders. "What? Am I wrong? If it was possible to suffocate to death in fluff, you might have done it by now."
Ophelia burst into laughter, while Lotus glared at Remi.
"I will have you know, I contribute to this group."
"I didn’t say that. You’re our best healer, and arguably our best chef as well. But if you didn’t have a Werebear to cuddle you, there is a solid chance you would end up in the lake, sleepwalking toward the prospect of new friends."
Lotus frowned. She couldn’t argue with that. Tessa had often stopped her from sleepwalking out of the room by blocking the door.
