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Chapter 58

  Inside the book, Shokei awakens from unconsciousness. She recovers from the fall after she was being pulled inside of the book that the enemy have trapped her in. Shokei looks around to see that she is in the fantasy world of the book. She sees that there are mountains along with trees at a distance. She can see that the world appears to be in bright daylight.

  "Hmm, it's nothing like the cover that I have seen." Shokei said to herself. "It could be part of the stories plot. But is it really a children's book? I wonder..."

  Shokei stands there as she sees that there is a walking path. She starts to walk into the forest as she is trying to figure out what the plot of the story, she got herself into.

  "Whatever the story is, I have got to get out of here." Shokei said. "I really don't want to be stuck in here forever."

  Shokei continues her trail on the journey to the story of "Woodnd of Dreams." She feels worried that her allies would find her missing and unaware that she fell for a Necromutant's trap. As Shokei walks on, she can see that there is no life forms in the forest and the atmosphere appears to be quiet without any sign of disturbance. Taking caution, Shokei explores the area of the book that she is imprisoned.

  Morning came into the forest of Euna. Shokei's party wakes up from their resting spot. Marie yawned and stretched out her arms. Then, she looks down to see that there is a book near her feet.

  "Huh? What's this?" Marie asked as she picks up the book.

  Looking at the cover of the book, she sees that the cover appears to be a castle with trees in between. Looking at the cover carefully, she can see that there is a figure with a sword walking down on a path.

  "That's...weird..." Marie said, seeing how strange the book is to her. "Hmm?"

  Marie notices a note has been attached on the book. She takes the note and reads what it says.

  "If you are curious to where your leader is, just flip the pages." Marie read the message.

  "Huh? Where's Shokei?" Saeko asked, looking around. "Where did she walk off to?"

  "I was just about to ask the same thing." Rei said to her.

  Marie flips the page of the book. She became shocked as she gasped.

  "What you got there Marie?" Rei asked, noticing the book that her ally holds.

  "Uhhhh..."

  Rei walks over to see Marie. Marie then showed a page of the book and Rei looks into it.

  "Oh my god!" Marie said in surprise.

  "What? What's the matter?!" Rei asked her. "Why you're holding a book..."

  Rei looks at the page and there she sees Shokei trapped in the book.

  "Holy hell!! Is that for real?!" Rei asked in a surprised look. "Can't be..."

  "No joke! I turned the next page, and she appears to be moving inside." Marie said.

  "B-but how did this book get here?" Rei asked. "W-what kind of cursed book is this?!"

  "I don't know, but I found this book lying next to me." Marie said.

  "Hmm?" Rei notices that Shokei's illustration is moving on and turns the next page to see her walking out of the forest. "She's moving along in the book all right...but how the hell did she get trapped in there?"

  "What's that?" Mizuki asked, coming over to Rei.

  "It's Shokei." Rei pointed out to her. "It's really her inside that book!"

  "Wait, what?!" Mizuki asked as she looks at the page of the book.

  "This is bad..." Marie said, feeling worried. "Really, really bad...who could have put our leader inside this cursed book?"

  Out of nowhere, an evil ughter brought to everyone's attention. The party turn their direction to the sky.

  "Aren't you amused to see your Emissary of Light being trapped inside my precious novel?" Hauntmystic asked them.

  Snapping her fingers, the book that Rei had in her hands disappears. The book reappears into the hands of the Necromutant.

  "Hey! You horror galoof!" Rei called out to her angrily. "Give it back!"

  "If you're that desperate to save your Emissary that is imprisoned in this book, try to come after me if you can." Hauntmystic tells her.

  "What did you do?" Rei shouted at her. "How did she get trapped inside there?!"

  The Necromutant ughed as she vanishes along with Shokei being trapped in the children's book.

  "Shokei!" Rei calls out to her. Then, she angrily stomped her foot. "No way! She's in great danger! We have to go after that bastard if we want to save her!"

  "Rei, wait!" Marie shouts out to her as she sees Rei taking off into the forest. "Wait for us!!"

  The rest of Shokei's party went after Rei as they all went further into the forest.

  Back at the "Woodnd of Dreams", Shokei continues walking down the road. She has no clue on what she has got herself into. The walk was long, and she has no idea of what the plot of the story is all about. As she continues down the road, she looks up to see that there is a town just ahead. There, Shokei sees a sign, which reads "Hogsfeet", indicating the name of the town.

  "Oh good. A town." Shokei said. "Let's see if I can find anyone that would tell me what's going on."

  Shokei walks up ahead until she reached into the town of Hogsfeet. Visiting the town, she looks around. The town of Hogsfeet is home to humanoid hares, or Harengons. The town appears to be a stunning settlement with cypress wood rooftops, chiseled stone walls and fields of farmnd.

  Entering into the town of Hogsfeet, Shokei can see that the town is quiet. She can see that there is not much activity going on. She looks at the citizens in the town as they are all Hares.

  Hmm...the looks on the faces are...depressing...

  Shokei can see that the people of Hogsfeet are in a state of depression. She sees that some of the citizens are living in fear and anxiety, and some are hiding in their homes as Shokei continues to walk on further in the town. As she continues exploring, Shokei decides to go over to one of the citizens that appears to be sitting next to a pop-up shop with quilts.

  "Excuse me." Shokei said and asked. "I'm curious what is happening in this town. Everyone looks...droopy."

  "I'll never succeed in selling quilts." The resident said in a depressing state. "My quilts won't stand out to be popur."

  "Umm..." Shokei tries to think of what else to say. "Perhaps, you can tell me what is going on here."

  "Get away from me!" The resident said with an attitude. "Leave me alone!"

  Shokei backs away. She looks to see the dark aura surrounding the Hare as her depressing mood grows. She looks elsewhere as she can see that the other Hare's are not motivated, and they are id back in being active.

  What is this? Shokei thought. Something tells me that this town is cursed...but how?

  Shokei continues to walk around Hogsfeet. Feeling concerned, she explores further until she came across a water fountain statue in the center of the town. The fountain is made of white marble with a figure of a dy hare posing. The edges of the fountain are all flowers that are for decoration. The water fountain is not active as it appears to be empty. Shokei inspects the dy statue as there appears to be a missing item at the chest of the figure.

  "Interesting." Shokei said, checking out the statue. "This water fountain doesn't appear to be working..."

  "That's Hogsfeet's main attraction you're looking at." A voice said out of nowhere.

  Shokei hears someone making a comment on the statue and looks around to see that there was someone standing there. The person turns out to be a sheep-faced figure with horns, wearing gsses, and its body looks feminine. The figure appears to be wearing a druid outfit.

  "Who are you?" Shokei asked.

  "I am Egoh." The figure introduced. "I am a traveler that lives far from this town."

  "I see." Shokei said.

  "This is a first." Egoh said. "I have never encountered a human that has come into this nd before."

  "Well..." Shokei wanted to expin how she got sucked into this unknown world. Instead, she said, "It's a long story."

  "Human..." Egoh said to her. "You should not remain here for long. The Queen's guards are looking out for a witch that has put Hogsfeet in a world of despair. You must leave here if you want to survive."

  "W-what do you mean?" Shokei asked him. "What witch? Who is responsible for this curse?"

  "Halt!"

  Just then, Shokei looks to see that there are guards approaching up to her. Egoh quickly makes a run for it as he hides himself somewhere in an open barrel. Shokei can see that she is surrounded by four guards with their halberds in hand. She does not show any threat as the guards points their weapons out at her.

  "Are you the witch that put the townspeople in your curse?" The guard asked her.

  "N-no!" Shokei replied, shaking her head. "I just came to your town. I'm new to all of this."

  "Don't give us that! We know you're the one who cursed our town. You must be the witch after all." The guard said to her.

  "Actually, I don't know any magic." Shokei said to him. "And I'm not responsible for any of this."

  "You can tell that to the Queen." The guard said, pointing his halberd at her. "Come with us if you want to keep your head."

  "Sheesh..." Shokei said with a sigh.

  Complying to orders, Shokei is being escorted by the guards and she is heading for the castle. Egoh looks to see Shokei being taken by the guards as she heads for the castle. There was nothing he can do to as he only watched at a distance.

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