Night fell. After enjoying a lavish dinner, Samael checked the supplies for the carriages and horses, then took a stroll through the corridors to help digest the meal.
Meanwhile, Freya had been taken to the bathroom by the maid Dail to wash away the grime and change into a fresh set of clothes.
The sound of running water reached Samael's ears, along with the fairy girl's muffled little whimpers, making him smile.
Although he had been the one to bring Freya back, Muryan had shown no displeasure whatsoever. She had chatted and laughed with Freya the entire way without the slightest awkwardness between them. She never once mentioned what had happened in the village outside the city and had even sent over a set of clothes tailored by the Wind Clan.
Yet the more amiable she was, the colder Samael felt.
Relying on his friendship with Muryan was probably pointless. When it came to finding the Earth Clan Chieftain, they would most likely have to handle it themselves.
The Ancient Serpent stroked his chin thoughtfully. After another lap around the corridor, he returned to his room, shut the doors and windows, and sat down at the table. Pouring himself some tea, he activated the Magecraft array that had been prepared there while taking a sip.
"How are things on your end?"
...
At the Wind Clan's headquarters, inside the magnificent Great Cathedral, the audience seats were packed.
The Grand Sage sat near the back with her legs crossed. Sensing the resonance of Ether, Mari pulled up her white hood and casually snapped her fingers. She answered lazily through a series of yawns, clearly showing little interest in the serious task at hand.
"The person you're looking for is ridiculously good at hiding. I haven't made any progress..."
As she spoke, the air around her distorted, and an invisible barrier shut out the surrounding noise.
"But I did stumble across something unexpected. Want to hear it?"
A faint chill seeped through the Magecraft array.
The Grand Sage, who had been leisurely slacking off, paused and straightened slightly. Lowering her purple eyes toward the Magecraft array engraved on the back of her hand, she asked with growing interest.
"You'd better give me a reason not to beat you up..."
Back in Gloucester, the wielder of the Holy Sword of the Planet interlaced his fingers and cracked his knuckles. The teeth-grating pops of his joints, accompanied by a chilling laugh, echoed faintly in Mari's ears.
"I found quite a few humans living in the Wind Fairies' territory."
The oppressive tension surrounding Mari immediately eased.
Trashy as this woman was, she really was clever. She always managed to dance right along the edge of disaster, perfectly judging how far she could slack off and amuse herself without giving Samael a proper excuse to punish her.
"Go on..."
Samael's expression turned serious. He separated his hands, his brow furrowing.
"They're... very popular."
The Grand Sage answered meaningfully, the corners of her lips curling upward in amusement. With a slight motion of her fingertip, she opened a crack in the Magecraft barrier isolating her from the outside world.
At that moment, the red cloth covering the stage was lifted, revealing the final auction item. Cheers and excited shouts immediately erupted from the surrounding seats.
"I bid thirteen Dragon Teeth!"
"You think you can outbid me? Fifty Phoenix Feathers!"
"Shut up! Twenty Barbarian God Hearts! They're mine!"
"One thirty-gram Mana crystal! Who can beat that?"
A small fairy wrapped entirely in a black robe jumped onto a seat and triumphantly raised a fingernail-sized crystal overhead.
"Excellent! Buyer No. 155 has bid one thirty-gram Mana crystal, estimated at 200 million QP! Any higher offers?"
"200 million QP once! 200 million QP twice! 200 million QP three times! Sold!"
"Starting today, the four members of the Georgia family will belong to Buyer No. 155 for the next three years!"
On the stage, the Wind Fairy dressed in fashionable Britannian clothing brought down the gavel with obvious delight and announced the ownership rights.
"Hahaha! I have humans too now! You idiots, they're mine! Don't even think about touching them!"
Led by a fairy attendant, the buyer excitedly rushed backstage to collect their new treasure.
...
Back in Gloucester, the Magecraft array on the table gradually dimmed, and the noisy voices faded into silence.
Samael leaned back in his chair and repeatedly massaged his aching temples, silently complaining to himself.
They're auctioning off the right to live with humans? The fairies at the Great Cathedral are certainly creative.
Still, in a certain sense, humans really are incredibly popular among fairies...
To fairies, humans were somewhat like pet cats and dogs were to humans, perhaps even more intimate than that.
The richness of human emotions, a quality somewhat reminiscent of Divine Spirits, could indeed bring fairies a sense of happiness.
But the relationship was obviously unequal.
Tsk. The Great Cathedral...
Looks like I'll have to pay it a visit.
The Ancient Serpent frowned. For now, he could only make a note of the matter and deal with it when he had the opportunity.
If there was nothing useful at the Great Cathedral, then the next hope was Morgan.
...
Meanwhile, northeast of the Nameless Forest.
Thick mist drifted through the surroundings. Across dozens of miles, trees had been snapped and shattered, while craters from explosions covered the ground. A fierce battle had clearly taken place here.
According to the information currently available, the insect plague had apparently first erupted in the Nameless Forest.
At the time, countless Insects of the Abyss had awakened beneath the ground and built nests here, intending to rouse the many corpses buried beneath the forest.
Fortunately, fairies were natural spellcasters and extremely sensitive to disturbances in the earth.
This area was also close to the Earth Clan's territory. Before the Insects of the Abyss could emerge from their cocoons and trigger an even greater disaster, the Earth Clan Chief had used his innate talent to detect them in advance, then either driven them away or eliminated them.
The insect plague had consequently begun receding from the Nameless Forest and spreading outward.
That was precisely why the Nameless Forest had remained so peaceful despite the natural disaster raging elsewhere.
However, the fairies' attempt to prevent the disaster had not been entirely successful.
During that period, revived corpses had still crawled out from the soil one after another and attacked nearby living creatures.
Many fairy villages in the surrounding area had suffered as a result. Only after the fairies organized a large-scale purge were the awakened undead finally wiped out.
Morgan had come here hoping to uncover some clue as to how the Earth Clan Chief had dealt with the Insects of the Abyss.
After investigating the area several times, the Witch crouched down and stared at the ground, gradually becoming lost in thought.
The loose soil was dark and glossy, carrying a faint stench of rotting flesh. Wherever she disturbed the earth, pale fragments of bone could be found everywhere. The mold-like death energy clinging to them was extremely faint, while the newly sprouted plants nearby were growing with remarkable vigor.
It seemed that the death energy and corruption had all been reduced to nutrients and absorbed by the surrounding earth and vegetation.
Morgan pinched up a small amount of soil between her pale fingertips and held it beneath her nose. As she carefully examined the scent, the furrow between her brows gradually eased and a thoughtful look appeared in her eyes.
This ability... devouring and conversion?
Using the vitality of the earth to dissolve the death energy of the Insects of the Abyss and the corpses.
It doesn't feel like a spell. It's closer to a fairy's innate talent, which means it can't be replicated. Looks like we'll have no choice but to ask Fawol Visser for help.
"Come look! I think there's something over here, meow!"
A moment later, Morgan heard the call and stood up, heading over to join Habetrot.
Passing through the dense white mist, the Witch arrived before a pit several dozen meters across and leaned forward to look inside.
The pit was wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, forming a triangular shape like an inverted pear. For some reason, its outline gave her a strange sense of familiarity.
At the same time, the bone fragments scattered around the rim spread outward like the petals of a flower bud. Their arrangement had a peculiar order to it, as though they had originally been part of one whole.
Habetrot was crouching at the center of the pit. From a pile of debris whose origin was impossible to identify, she picked up a purplish-red fleshy membrane. After giving it a brief sniff, she immediately turned away in disgust and coughed.
"It smells fishy and rotten. It looks a little like... a fetal membrane?"
Morgan's expression shifted.
A realization suddenly struck her. She immediately manipulated Ether and shot into the air, looking down from high above.
Her pupils contracted sharply.
No wonder it looked familiar.
This pit was shaped like... a womb?!
When she had studied artificial insemination, she had created similar vessels before.
The difference was that the vessels she created through Magecraft were molds formed from fused flesh and blood, designed to provide nutrients for artificial life.
What lay before her now, however, was a spiritual womb born from a mutation in the earth itself.
And the fleshy membrane Habetrot was holding was probably the fetal membrane.
Could the Insects of the Abyss that first appeared in the Nameless Forest have had another purpose?
Something had been born from this land of corpses!
"Look what I found! Something new!"
Just then, sharp-eyed Habetrot pulled a slender strand of hair from the dried fetal membrane and excitedly held it up for Morgan to see.
Several strands of pinkish-purple hair gleamed vividly, almost as though stained with fresh blood.
She had seen that color somewhere before...
Morgan's expression grew distant.
The small figure in that dim little house, always wearing such a bright smile, surfaced unbidden in her mind.
Death and vitality intertwined, causing the earth to mutate.
A fairy born from decay and rebirth, one who feared sunlight and survived by drinking blood.
So that was it...
Everything about that child finally made sense.
Having resolved a mystery that had been weighing on her mind, the Witch quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
"There's nothing else worth investigating here. Habetrot, head back to Gloucester first. While you're there, pass a message along to my companions."
Morgan swept the area once more, confirming there were no other clues worth noting. Then she called over the fairy companion she trusted and entrusted her with the task before the two parted ways.
Leaving the land of bones behind, the Witch turned toward the desolate village shrouded in miasma to the northeast.
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
What she had lost in one place, she had gained in another.
She had failed to find any information about the Earth Clan Chief, but discovering someone connected to the insect plague was still a worthwhile windfall.
Perhaps that child could even help put an end to this disaster.
Baobhan Sith... Baobhan Sith...
As Morgan murmured the name, she found herself remembering their first meeting the previous day, and her thoughts drifted back.
...
Under the moonlight, disturbances in the earth had caused several stiff corpses covered in rotting flesh to crawl from the soil. They staggered around, searching for living creatures nearby.
Behind a large rock, a small pink-haired fairy peeked nervously at the dangerous scene outside while tightly gripping the woman beside her, refusing to let the stranger who had been wandering through dangerous territory at night make any reckless moves.
Gathering her courage, she repeatedly whispered,
"In a moment, I'll lure them away. You run in the opposite direction and don't look back, no matter what!"
"Why are you trying to save me?"
Morgan asked in genuine surprise.
"If you see someone in danger, of course you should help them!"
The pink-haired little girl answered with absolute conviction, her eyes pure and bright.
"Aren't you afraid of dying?"
"W-who's afraid?!"
The pink-haired fairy forced herself to look calm, but she had not even moved yet and her face was already deathly pale. Her teeth chattered, and her hands and feet had gone cold.
"Why don't I do it instead?"
"No! I can do this!"
The little fairy stubbornly held back the outsider who intended to take her place and "sacrifice herself," making her declaration with all the solemn resolve of a warrior marching toward certain death.
Then the girl cautiously stood up and peeked at the hideous, rotting corpses outside. She kept muttering under her breath, trying desperately to convince herself.
"Baobhan Sith, you can do it! If you do something good, everyone will thank you! The villagers will praise you! Everyone will like you! I'm the most popular one here!
"It's not the first time I've been bitten anyway. It doesn't hurt! No crying!
"It'll be fine! It'll definitely be fine!"
Amid this ridiculous stream of self-encouragement, both pitiful and amusing, the little girl named Baobhan Sith shut her eyes and charged straight toward the corpses like someone offering herself up on a platter.
Even then, she did not forget to shout through a trembling, tearful voice,
"Now! Run!"
BOOM!
But when the muffled thunderclap sounded, the pain she had expected never came.
"N-nothing happened?"
Realizing that everything around her had suddenly gone quiet, Baobhan Sith cautiously opened her eyes.
The corpses nearby had all been blasted into ash.
She stared blankly at them for a moment.
Then, once she recovered from the shock, the fairy girl drooped her head and scuffed her heels against the ground, looking utterly dejected.
"What the heck... So you were that strong all along. You must be laughing at how pathetic I looked just now..."
"Winning through overwhelming strength is nothing worth boasting about. Knowing you cannot win and still stepping forward, that is true courage."
Morgan quietly spoke as she approached the fairy girl.
"Really?"
"Of course."
At the firm answer, brilliant hope blossomed in the little fairy's eyes, filling her with delight.
Morgan's warm fingertips brushed across the side of the little fairy's cheek, gently wiping away a few glistening tears.
"So cheer up, Baobhan Sith. For someone so brave, you'd be perfect if you could get rid of that habit of crying next time."
Having only just been praised, the little fairy immediately flushed with embarrassment.
"You're traveling this late at night, so you must not have anywhere to stay, right?"
"Mm..."
"Then stay at my house! You helped me, so that makes us friends, and friends are supposed to help each other!"
Enthusiastically, Baobhan Sith grabbed Morgan by the arm and insisted on giving her new friend a place to stay.
The tall and small figures walked side by side toward the village.
"I wish I could become as strong as you someday."
On the way, Baobhan Sith glanced back at the smoking crater in the forest. Replaying that magnificent and powerful attack in her mind, she looked openly envious.
Morgan looked down at her own hand and casually asked, "If you had this kind of power, what would you do with it?"
"Ah... If I could use my own strength to make the village prosperous, do you think everyone would treat me kindly...?"
As she spoke, Baobhan Sith suddenly seemed to realize something.
Her bright and cheerful smile froze.
She turned her small face away from the moonlight and toward the darkness, her tiny figure sinking into shadow.
That shadow came from the village...
...
BOOM!
At the same time, violent tremors rolled in from the distance.
Morgan snapped back to the present. An inexplicable sense of dread tightened around her heart, and she suddenly raised her head.
In the distance, blazing flames surged high into the night sky, dyeing half the heavens crimson.
No.
The village!
Morgan's expression changed sharply, her pupils contracting.
She immediately drove her Mana to its limit, transformed into a streak of light, and shot through the air at tremendous speed.
***
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