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Chapter 9
Fairies. In history books, they are described as mythical beings that appear only in the early days of the nation’s founding, featured in legends claiming that the Empire was born under the protection of fairies.
Fairies were regarded as fantastical creatures that appeared in children’s storybooks. However, about a hundred years ago, a scholar once turned the academic world upside down by insisting that fairies truly existed. His claim began with a small pebble. He argued that the shimmering substance embedded in the stone was fairy mana.
Believing his theory, people attempted to verify it through the imperial court mage, but the conclusion was that it was merely an abnormal phenomenon caused by freezing. And so, the possibility of fairies’ existence was completely dismissed, remembered by people as nothing more than a myth.
I was no different. Fairies? I thought it was utterly ridiculous.
In this world, mages did exist, but they were extremely rare. The Kyros Empire had struggled to preserve the lineage of magic, but it was now in a weakened state. The only mage left was a single court mage whose mana was nearly exhausted and who stood on the brink of death.
And yet…
I lay sprawled over the table, staring at a fairy who was nibbling away at chocolate cookies.
“Are you really… a fairy?”
“I told you I am.”
The fairy replied curtly, stuffing a piece of chocolate she’d found into her mouth and chewing. Could this be worth a lot of money?
There were countless possibilities. A quick and profitable route would be to hand her over to the imperial family; another would be selling her to a wealthy scholar. Or no—maybe I should study her myself. If I wrote a paper, I could gain fame as well.
“If you sell me, I won’t let you get away with it.”
At that moment, the fairy shot into the air, clutching her cookie to her side. She shoved her face right up close to mine in a threatening gesture, but I wasn’t scared at all.
She was small, and with cookie crumbs stuck to her nose and cheeks, she actually looked cute.
“What would I ever do?”
I shrugged and smiled nonchalantly. The fairy let out a deep sigh and pressed her palm to her forehead.
“To think I chose a greedy human… I really misjudged this.”
Even while regretting it, the fairy didn’t let go of the chocolate cookie tucked under her arm.
So, to summarize what the fairy said…
“There’s a fairy realm located between the sky and the human world?”
“That’s right.”
The fairy nodded and went back to focusing on eating her cookie.
Fairies once maintained friendly relations with humans, but after being exploited by human greed and wounded by it, their trust gradually faded.
Eventually, the Fairy King erased humans’ memories for the sake of the fairy realm.
In the fairy realm, fairies with different types of mana coexist, and the Fairy King governs them under a structured system.
Out of curiosity, this fairy stepped into a forbidden zone called the Gate of the Middle Realm. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in the human world, and as a side effect, she lost a significant amount of mana.
Instinctively seeking the place closest to nature in the human world, she came to Sent. Sensing the energy of plants from me, she followed me.
So the reason the fairy followed me was—
“You want me to help you until you recover your mana?”
“Mm-hm! If I secretly return to the fairy realm without the Fairy King knowing, I can avoid punishment.”
“How do you recover mana?”
“Human vitality! I get along well with plants, but plants in the human world have limits when it comes to absorbing mana, so I absorb human vitality instead!”
“Vitality?”
“Yeah. Share a bit of yours with me. As long as you let me stay by your side, I’ll absorb it on my own.”
“So you recover mana through vitality?”
The fairy rolled her eyes in the air and tapped her chin with a finger.
“Hm… but it won’t fully return. There’s a limit to absorbing human vitality. I absorb small amounts of vitality, store it as mana, and then consume it. For a complete recovery, I have to return to the fairy realm.”
“And what do I get if I help you?”
The fairy tilted her head, frowning slightly.
“Rude human. Isn’t it a benefit just having me around?”
How shameless. I shot her an incredulous look, but her confidence didn’t waver. She crumbled the chocolate cookie in her hand, wrapped it in a handkerchief like a bundle, and slung it over her back.
“Then how about this? Once my mana recovers to a certain level, I’ll help you specially.”
Specially? Shouldn’t that be a given? Before I could argue, the fairy added,
“Of course, only when it suits me. Act wisely, human. Otherwise, I’ll look for another human.”
“And the other conditions?”
“You must keep the existence of fairies secret from others. I don’t want to erase my contractor’s memories.”
But… how much vitality would she take?
“If you take all my vitality, couldn’t I die?”
The fairy flailed and leapt into the air.
“Are you crazy, human? Who wants to see someone die?”
“Die?”
“If a fairy kills a human, she gets sentenced to annihilation in court!”
She hugged her arms, her face pale with fear, and muttered,
“The Fairy King would never let me off…”
Punishment for wrongdoing. The fairy realm really wasn’t so different from the human world.
“What if you tried to harm me? If you seriously wanted to hurt me, I’d have no choice but to suffer it.”
As if hearing a foolish question, the fairy’s eyes instantly sharpened.
“What a stupid question! Fairies are beings of peace. If we harm humans, we receive proper punishment. And if we enter a contract, a fairy is obligated to protect the contractor. Ah—though I can pull some rather rough pranks.”
She shrugged as she spoke, which made me suspicious. What kind of “rough pranks,” exactly?
Still, thinking calmly and rationally, this could be a fairly good opportunity for me. I had been worried because I lacked the financial means to support myself.
I had time to spare, and vitality could be recovered. From what she said, it didn’t sound like she would drain me to the point of harming my body.
I wasn’t simply trusting her words. The reason I believed her was that parts of her claims matched what I’d read in books about fairies—such as contracts between fairies and humans. I organized my thoughts and nodded.
“All right. Let’s do it. The contract.”
At my affirmative answer, the fairy soared energetically into the air.
“Great!”
From her toes, shimmering particles poured down in a dazzling cascade. I stared at the dreamlike mana in a trance when suddenly pain flared at my earlobe.
“Ah.”
Letting out a soft groan, I felt around my ear and found an earring—something I rarely wore. Tracing its shape with my fingers, I realized it was a finely crafted circular earring.
“Proof of the contract. This is how humans used to make contracts with fairies.”
“Can I sell it later?”
“Greedy human.”
“I won’t deny it.”
“Fine. Do whatever you want.”
The fairy waved her hand irritably, looking sleepy. Unlike her lively self from earlier, her shoulders drooped.
“I’m tired from using mana.”
She fluttered upward, rubbing her eyes, gripping the bundle on her back tightly with both hands so she wouldn’t drop it.
“Oh, right.”
Just as she flew toward the basil pot, she suddenly turned back, looking as if she’d remembered something important.
“I sleep about twenty hours a day. Just so you know.”
Having fulfilled her duty, the fairy yawned and turned away.
“Oh… fairies sleep a lot.”
I murmured to myself, eyes sparkling with interest. At that moment, the fairy froze midair. Her green eyes stared at me with open disdain.
“‘Fairies sleep a lot’? What a narrow-minded way of thinking. I’m just someone who sleeps a lot.”
“….”
“You think all fairies are like that? Tsk. Humans, honestly.”
As if it were something to boast about. There wasn’t a shred of embarrassment on her confident face.
“Oh, and speak casually. I may be older than you, but I look younger, don’t I?”
Watching the back of her head, I thought: I really want to flick her forehead just once.
Dusk settled in, and the room grew quiet. After reading a foreign book about fairies by the light of a single lamp, my eyes began to ache, so I placed the book on the bedside table.
Suddenly wanting some night air, I got out of bed and headed toward the window.
“Um, Fairy?”
As I passed by, I checked the basil pot on the console, but the fairy was nowhere to be seen.
Well, according to the book I’d just read, fairies could choose selectively whom they wanted to be visible to.
I’d hurriedly asked a peddler for books and gathered information about fairies, but if it was true that human memories had been erased, there wasn’t much information to be found.
What the foreign texts did confirm were fairies’ appearances and abilities. Judging from the recorded cases of fairy annihilation, the claim that they couldn’t harm their contractors also seemed credible.
“But isn’t she sleeping too much?”
Right after our conversation, the fairy hadn’t shown herself for over eight hours. I almost wondered if I’d imagined everything.
“Whatever.”
If I talked to her for no reason, she’d probably scold me for waking her up.
I passed the basil pot and walked leisurely on. When I reached the oval balcony rimmed with gold trim, my previously constricted chest felt wide open.
“Ah, this feels nice.”
The cool breeze tickling my cheeks felt unfamiliar, carrying the rich scent of a summer night.
“It’s a bit chilly in the evening.”
Feeling the curtains sway more violently, I gently rubbed my arms.
“I should go to sleep.”
Otherwise, I’d catch a cold and have to endure Donna’s overbearing worry. I reached out to close the door.
Tap.
At that moment, a shadow suddenly appeared against the moonlight.
As my eyelids lifted and my vision cleared, a man became distinctly visible behind the curtain.
“You…”
The man, appearing like a flash of light, vaulted over the railing. Perhaps I was too startled—I couldn’t even exhale, like someone who’d forgotten how to breathe. Someone I saw every day, yet never grew used to.
“Basil.”
It was Ero. He was holding a bouquet of roses so large it nearly obscured his facial features.
Smiling languidly, he approached and knelt on one knee.
“Ero… how did you—?”
“I came because I missed you, Basil.”
Even now, glimpsed in the pale moonlight, his face was breathtakingly beautiful.
