Idiot...
After a long silence, the Ancient Serpent accepted the basket from the little girl beneath her hopeful gaze.
Grrr...
But the instant he took it, a loud growl of hunger came from Freya's stomach.
"You haven't eaten because you were busy gathering all this?"
"I ate yesterday..."
"Forget it. It's about time for a meal anyway. Come eat with us."
"Mm-hmm!"
Freya's throat bobbed as she swallowed hard, then nodded vigorously.
Samael rubbed his forehead in exasperation and grumbled inwardly.
Seriously, couldn't she have eaten some of what she gathered to fill her stomach first? What a stubborn little fool... I've never seen a fairy this stupid!
Despite thinking so, the gaze in his vertical pupils grew even gentler.
Fortunately, fairies were omnivorous and had no particular aversion to meat. The Nameless Forest was rich in resources, making it perfect for an improvised outdoor meal.
Besides, he had an excellent hunter right beside him. It would be a waste not to make use of her.
After giving it a little thought, the Ancient Serpent made up his mind and released the valiant Black Dog Duke from her swaddling clothes.
Before long, Barghest, who had been racing around chasing animals and gleefully claiming territory, returned to the campfire carrying two large, plump rabbits and a pheasant, once again presenting tribute to her caretaker.
Just as a hunting dog was rewarded by its master for bringing back prey, Barghest's favorite part was seeing the ingredients she provided turned into delicious food and ultimately ending up in her stomach.
So the Black Dog Duke sat obediently to one side, unusually quiet. Her heterochromatic eyes remained fixed on the cleaned meat skewered on pine branches and sizzling over the fire, drool running from the corner of her mouth.
Once Samael had prepared the meal with practiced ease, the three figures around the campfire, one large and two small, began eating to their hearts' content.
Barghest was particularly fond of large, meaty portions and gnawed away until grease covered her mouth.
Freya preferred grilled mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and juicy chicken legs. Despite her tiny frame, she somehow ate an amount that seemed to exceed her own body weight.
The unfamiliar dishes, which had nothing to do with fairy cuisine, along with the techniques used to prepare them, made Freya yearn even more for human civilization. Her eyes practically shone with excitement.
After enjoying a simple meal with the two little ones, Samael finally asked the question that had been bothering him.
"If you get bullied so easily, why did you come all the way outside Gloucester?"
"I live outside the city..."
Freya stole a glance at Samael, lowered her head, and answered somewhat sheepishly.
Seeing the confusion on her human friend's face, the little fairy began explaining Gloucester's rules to him.
There were social classes even in the fairy world.
The standards by which fairies were judged closely followed the law of the jungle. The amount of Ether within their bodies and their personal strength generally determined their social standing.
The Mana accumulated within them, which sustained their existence, also served as their common currency.
Aside from the leaders of the six major clans, Wind, Earth, Tooth, Mirror, Rain, and Wing, ancestral A-Ray sub-elves approaching the ranks of [Grandfather] and [Grandmother], the rest were essentially divided into upper, middle, and lower tiers.
Because of limited productivity and development, fairy cities were scarce and could not accommodate every fairy.
Anyone who wanted to live inside Gloucester and enjoy the protection of its walls and Barrier had to regularly pay rent in the form of Mana or equivalent tribute.
Unfortunately, Freya had little natural talent and weak Mana, making her a lower-tier fairy from birth.
On top of that, she had no particularly useful talents or specialties. She simply lacked the means to live inside the city. Recently, the unrest caused by insect and beast infestations had spread throughout the Nameless Forest, and she could no longer even scrape together the tax required to enter Gloucester.
So Freya's actual home was in one of the villages outside the city, where lower-tier fairies gathered.
No wonder I barely saw Freya after entering Gloucester yesterday.
Thinking back to his confusion from the previous day, Samael finally understood.
But as he recalled what he had just witnessed, the Ancient Serpent's brow furrowed.
That so-called village was probably no pleasant place to live.
Given the fairies' usual rotten temperament, someone like Freya, weak, timid, gentle, and lacking either backing or any useful specialty, would rank at the very bottom even among those already at the bottom. Naturally, she would also be one of the easiest targets for ridicule and bullying.
What had happened in the flower field earlier was the clearest proof of that.
When Samael gently pulled back Freya's sleeves, he found both of her slender arms covered in bruises that had yet to fade.
A pang of pity ran through the Ancient Serpent. His left hand closed around the pale wrist Freya instinctively tried to withdraw, while his right applied a magical ointment to improve circulation and disperse the bruising.
After a brief silence, the Ancient Serpent's eyes flickered. He glanced toward Gloucester, his voice turning low.
"I remember you getting along fairly well with Muryan. Does she know about this...?"
"I'm just too weak and useless. It isn't Muryan-sama's fault..."
Freya shook her head as she defended Muryan. Her small face was utterly sincere, without the slightest resentment. There was only a deep sadness directed at herself.
"Besides, whenever Muryan-sama goes out, she says I'm too clumsy. Now she has humans to keep her company, and Habee-Miao is going away on a journey. They probably won't come play with me very often anymore..."
Then the little girl lifted her pretty face. Her amber eyes were still timid, but filled with hope. Gathering all her courage, she nervously asked Samael,
"Samael, I..."
"Hmm? What is it?"
"Can you come play with me sometimes from now on? I won't take up much of your time! I promise! I can give you all the honey nectar and flowers I gather too! Really! I..."
"Don't say something so silly!"
Samael flicked Freya on the forehead, his expression openly reproachful.
"If you want to, of course we can go on picnics like today, or just sit around chatting over tea! We're friends, remember? We even made a pinky promise in the carriage!"
Though his words sounded like a scolding, Freya reacted as though she had been given a treasure. Overjoyed, she wrapped both arms around Samael's arm and hugged it tightly against herself, her face glowing with happiness.
If even friendship between equals had become something she felt the need to beg for, then what kind of life had this child been living?
Samael pressed his lips together and cut off the thought, unwilling to imagine it.
Muryan, Muryan...
The Ancient Serpent silently mouthed the name, turning it over in his mind for a moment as faint mockery appeared in his eyes.
As the current leader of the Wing Clan, if she truly wanted to help Freya out of her situation or change her circumstances, a single word would have been enough.
Clearly, a lower-tier fairy like Freya, one among countless others in Gloucester, was nothing more than a temporary source of amusement to Muryan. She had never truly taken her to heart.
Whether it was humans, fellow fairies, or something precious, when fairies wanted something, they would use it and seem unable to let it go. Once they grew bored, they tossed it aside and could hardly be bothered to invest any more emotion or effort.
That was the nature of most fairies, and Muryan clearly was not much better.
If this was how she treated Freya, someone she supposedly played with, there was even less reason to expect her to put real effort into finding the leader of the Earth Clan.
Sure enough, there was no point placing any hope in a rotten fairy like that.
Tsk. In a place like this, fairies such as Freya and Habetrot, the ones who had somehow grown up without becoming twisted, were the real misfits, and therefore the ones most easily singled out and mocked.
Having seen through the nature of these creatures, Samael abandoned that faint and unreliable hope. Instead, he gently stroked Freya's head and smiled.
"I happen to have some free time today. Come on, lead the way to your house. I'll learn the route while I'm at it, so it'll be easier to visit next time."
"Mm-hmm!"
The moment Freya heard that her good friend was coming to visit her home, she nodded with barely contained delight. She quickly cleaned up their things, then hurried ahead to lead the way.
To Samael, she looked like a blue-gray butterfly that had finally drunk its fill of nectar, shedding the gloom and oppression that had weighed upon it as it danced joyfully in the breeze.
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