In the darkness, what is there?

Some say that in the darkness, there is everything, even life itself originated from the darkness.

Others say that in the darkness, there is nothing, because there is no light.

A long time ago, there was a tiny creature that crawled in the darkness.

In a distant empire, there was a city called Sland, which was different from other imperial cities.

A hundred years ago, the empire believed in a religion called the White Faith.

In that era, the White Faith was the most powerful religion on the continent of Valora.

The inhabitants of the entire map, including federations, free alliances, and many other nations, all believed in the White Faith.

The White Faith, which believed in the gods of light and creation, miel and meirel, was so powerful that it could distort some facts, thanks to the worship of many believers.

Believers worship gods, and gods gain power from believers, eventually returning the power to their followers.

So the White Faith, with the most followers, became so influential that it surpassed the federations and the empire. The priests and paladins of the White Faith could cast powerful spells in any corner of the continent.

But that was only temporary. Even the grandest buildings decay and collapse as time goes by.

Even the sharpest sword will eventually rust due to the passage of time.

The glory of the White Faith eventually shattered in a conspiracy, turning into several fragments.

Among the people, the number of believers in the White Faith greatly decreased, and the Yellow Faith, which had a more enlightened and abstract belief, replaced the White Faith as the state religion of the empire.

However, due to the abstract nature of the Yellow Faith, the scope of its divine domain is vast but its effects are faint, unable to compare with the powerful sanctum of the White Faith.

Even today, many regions still believe in the White Faith and even host their orders of knights.

Sland is such a city. As the only port in the northern part of the empire facing the sea, Sland plays a vital role in the empire's economy and military planning.

Not only is it prosperous, but it is also the largest city on the plains behind the Dragonfly Mountains in the vast northern part of the empire.

In this city where people come and go, and where you can still see the public training of the White Faith's order of knights, there are also many adventurers.

There is an adventurer, an unnamed paladin.

She is not a paladin of the White Faith, so she is not very willing to come to this city still overshadowed by the sanctum of the White Faith.

But as an adventurer, she must travel, she must take risks.

So she came to this city.

As an adventurer, of course, she has some companions, but these companions are not important.

It's not that these companions are bad people, but they are not the focus of the story.

The focus of the story lies in her backpack, where her pet resides.

This is a Timm, still in its infancy. It has a body shape similar to a rabbit, with some parts covered in armor-like exoskeleton, but it is essentially the same as a rabbit.

With a short tail, a round body, and a furry coat, plus a pair of long ears on top of its head.

For many women, it is a nice pet.

The paladin didn't think much, she just treated this little creature as her own pet. Although it was a bit troublesome to take care of, it only required feeding vegetables and cleaning its waste every day.

This creature called Timm seemed to be considered food in the eastern plains and the paladin herself had consumed a lot of such food.

Compared to the lizard meat that is more commonly consumed elsewhere, Timm meat is indeed more tender and juicy.

She didn't have such thoughts, but her companions still said that this little animal was food supply.

However, adventures cannot be carried out with such a helpless little creature, so the paladin left it in a inn in Sland and went out on her adventure.

She originally entrusted the innkeeper to take care of the little animal, and the destination was not a dangerous place, just a coastal ruin.No one thought it would be such a long journey, so the Paladin and her companions bid farewell to the small animals with a smile and set off on their journey.

And they never came back.

The innkeeper was very distressed. He couldn't let such a small creature stay in the inn, but he also didn't want to betray the adventurers' agreement.

All he could do was to continue feeding the little thing day after day, just like before.

Ten days passed, then twenty days passed, and the adventurers still didn't return, not even a single message.

The innkeeper couldn't help but go to the adventurers' guild to inquire, only to find out that the adventurers had died, and no one knew where their bodies were, nor was there a means to resurrect them.

On his way back, the innkeeper briefly thought about turning the small animal into a dish to eat, but his friendship with the adventurers made him hesitate. However, all these thoughts were in vain.

Because when he returned to the inn, the cage was already empty, with only uneaten food left behind.

He searched for a long time, but he did not find the missing Tim, gradually forgetting about it and returning to his daily life.

But for that little animal, it was just the beginning of its journey.

When it noticed that the innkeeper had not closed the cage, it waited for the opportunity to escape. It left the cage when the innkeeper went to the adventurers' guild and explored the inn for a while.

Its innate wildness helped it avoid the people in the inn and sneak out.

But Slanthor wasn't small and it wasn't easy to escape into the wilderness. After failing to find food, it started to rain.

The drenched little animal had no choice but to flee everywhere. It eventually took refuge in the sewage system.

The sewer was not safe either, with giant rats and fierce carnivorous creatures roaming the waterways.

The small animal was attacked multiple times by rat swarms and bitten all over.

It narrowly avoided being killed by the creatures that lurked in the water pools and nearly became a meal.

In the sewer, everything edible was rotten and foul-smelling.

Its innate survival instinct made it refuse to eat these things, which might fill its stomach but would definitely poison it and cause its body to decay, just like the group of rats that ate anything out of hunger.

The sewer was the dirtiest place in the city, where all the filth and unspeakable things would flow.

Sometimes, even corpses could be seen.

The lost little animal was terrified in the sewer, fearing being devoured by the monsters in the sewer, afraid of becoming a permanent resident of the sewer.

It groped in the sewer, stubbornly resisting the attacks from the monsters in the sewer – the swarms of rats, disgusting large insects, and ferocious carnivorous creatures.

Still, it refused to eat anything in the sewer because it instinctively felt afraid, afraid of being assimilated into the decay and foul odor of this darkness, becoming one of the monsters.

In the dark sewer, nothing could be seen.

But the little animal heard it, heard the distant hymns coming from not far above.

Ah... there must be someone there.

The little animal began crawling towards that direction. It had gone over ten days without food, and no one knew where its last shred of strength came from.

Usually, a small creature like her would run out of energy in the darkness and eventually collapse, becoming food for the monsters in the darkness.

But she didn't. Despite being hungry, despite being wounded all over her body, and despite having contemplated giving up a long time ago.

But she didn't.

She just crawled in the darkness, slowly but persistently. Finally, she sensed it.

The water was becoming clean, and the smell was not as foul. The hymns were getting closer, and even the light appeared before her eyes.

She completely abandoned the idea of giving up, no longer crawling on all fours but standing up.

Oh... why did she crawl in the first place? She could have simply walked on two legs.

The rats and carnivorous creatures that were lurking in the darkness, ready to steal her food, suddenly became afraid of her.

As the little animal's footsteps got closer and closer to the bright exit, those would-be thieves gradually retreated.

But there was still something tempting her in the darkness, whispering to her.

Look, the light ahead is still far away. Why do you have to torture yourself like this?Stay here, stop moving forward, and give up pointless persistence.

"No..."

The little creature spoke up, firmly rejecting the whispers in the darkness.

There were no whispers in the darkness, perhaps only she could hear them, in the sewer, only her own voice echoed.

"I want... to go to the light, I want... to walk under the sunlight."

Ah... at this moment, the little creature suddenly realized that she could speak.

Not meaningless grunts, but actual words.

She felt her body starting to change, her vision getting higher... no, it was her own height that was changing.

The burden of walking also became lighter... why was that?

With a few crisp sounds, she looked down and saw her shell falling to the ground.

The parts without shells immediately became furry.

What kind of change was she going through? Why did these changes occur?

【My suffering elector...】

A distant voice came, the little creature looked around, there was only herself in the darkness.

【You... have endured suffering, struggled in the dark...】

【You can... become... my paladin...】

Then, warm arms embraced the little creature.

In an instant, she wanted to struggle, but those arms were so warm that she couldn't help but give up the struggle.

The warmth from the arms gradually transmitted to the little creature's body, and she regained her senses. She also became very warm, her mind filled with things she had never thought of before, things she had never known.

She was no longer a little creature, but a bunny.

【Keep moving forward...】

In this way, the little creature who became a bunny walked out of the sewer.

She found herself in the backyard of a church, at the exit of the sewer, there was a double axe and a shield.

So this is her fate?

She picked up the shield and put it on her back, using a rope as a belt to attach the double axe to her waist.

The pet brought by the adventurer, Tim, disappeared, leaving behind a newborn Paladin Bunny.

After that, the bunny who became a paladin lived in Slande for several years.

With the backyard of the church where she left the sewer as her base, she embarked on adventures in the wilderness surrounding Slande.

Her whereabouts were not as secretive as she had thought. Not only the adventurers who entered and exited Slande, but even the caretaker of the backyard where she lived knew of her existence.

But no one had ever seen such a creature. Under the silent goodwill of the people, she lived for many years.

Until one day...

"Ah~ This is the entrance to the Dragonfly Mountains, right?"

The Paladin Bunny who left Slande appeared at the entrance to the Dragonfly Mountains.

She planned to cross the Dragonfly Mountains and head to the eastern plains.

It is said that there are many monsters and strong winds under the Dragonfly Mountains all year round, making it difficult to pass through.

However, Paladin Bunny was prepared. She carried two wooden stakes on her shoulders, both connected to her belt with ropes.

She planned to stake her way through to avoid being blown away by the wind.

Having received a divine revelation, she was asked to go to the eastern plains to repel great evil and would soon be crossing the Dragonfly Mountains.

What kind of adventure would it be?

Paladin Bunny's mood surged.

"Tim Suanna Bunny, let's set off now!"