searching for the culprit

As Rigel entered the Bunnery, he let out a sigh of relief, realizing that breeding season was over and all the baby buns had grown and left the nest. The building was peaceful and quiet now, yet thankfully, he wasn't here for anything involving baby buns. He couldn't take all the screaming and crying from the baby buns, so he was glad it was all over for now. He knocked on the door to Mercy's office, then came inside once she called to whoever it was to come in.

"....H-Hello, Mercy. Hopefully you're well..." Rigel rubbed the back of his neck, hoping he wouldn't be dragged into some work she might have alongside Hops' request. He already had enough on his plate as a bun college student. She smiled softly as he walked in, setting down the papers she was organizing, "Hello, dearest Rigel, what might you be here for? I assume it's because my order of hazeblooms are ready?"

"A-Ah...w-well...about that...."

"Hm? Is Angora unable to fulfil my order? I swore I talked to her about my sizeable order..." Mercy's brows furrowed, then Rigel quickly corrected himself in worry that he was going to face Mercy's gentle wrath, "N-No no, it isn't that, it's just...the current batch of hazeblooms we had was destroyed by some apparent black-furred, horned, hooved creature. Hopefully you maybe have some knowledge of it?"

She gazed at him for a moment, then sighed and shook her head, "Yes...I know of it, though I haven't seen it myself. We have a crop of milkweed out back that we use as spare milk for the baby buns, and it was completely ravaged that and other buns' crops by whatever the culprit may be. I'm just glad whatever it was, it didn't destroy the crop during breeding season. We wouldn't of had enough milk to go around, and we would've surely had a disaster on our hands..."

"Ah, yeah, that sounds awful..." Rigel shivered about the idea of hundreds of baby buns screaming and crying from hunger. Mercy nodded, "Indeed, but back to the matter at hand, we really need to find out what's causing all this destruction, as it's destroyed much more than our crops of milkweed and Hops' hazeblooms. I've heard from other buns something has been destroying their crops of strawberries and carrots. Excuse me, but this despicable creature seems to have no bounds, does it?"

"I-It doesn't seem like it...this is awful. D-Do you think I can see your crop of milkweed to search for clues, if there's any?" Rigel shuffled his hands, and Mercy quickly nodded, leading him out back behind the church to their area of crops, Rigel quickly noticing the absolute destruction to the milkweed crop. The milkweed had been picked clean, broken down and strewn everywhere. There were a couple tufts of black fur near the edges of the garden, and hoof marks littered the dirt round and round in circles. Rigel shook his head, completely dumbfounded at how such a creature could completely destroy and pick clean such a sizeable crop. Mercy shook her head, almost a tear forming in her eye, "Terrible, isn't it? I'm still glad it wasn't during breeding season, but still..." Rigel nodded in agreement, the rubbed his chin in thought, "I thought maybe before this was an imp gone rampant, but it doesn't seem like it, no imp I've met has ever been this destructive..."

"I also thought the same, I thought maybe it could've been a freign, but those usually only show up during the winter and new year, and that has long passed, so..." Mercy sighed, absolutely stumped. Rigel was also stumped, continuing to think to himself. It couldn't of been a freign, as they don't show up during this time of year; it couldn't of been a bun, no buns have horns or hooved feet like the footprints; what could it possibly be? It couldn't....it couldn't actually be the fey king Hops mentioned, right...?

"Well, thank you for the help anyway, Mercy. You've been a great help, even if we don't know for sure what the culprit is yet." Rigel shook his head, sheepishly smiling at Mercy, to which she nodded back, "Of course, if you ever need any help involving this mystery don't be afraid to come find me or Oleander. Thank you, Rigel."

Rigel decided to head back to Hops and fill her in on the information he found, although it wasn't much help, still. They still weren't 100% sure if the culprit was a succubun or imp or something else entirely, and it bothered Rigel to no end. Hops was still convinced it was the fey king out for revenge for growing the feys' precious hazeblooms, but he was convinced she had been reading too many fanfiction, if she even read fanfiction at all...