Chapter 29 - A Precious Challenge with a Fairy
Is this what you call a stressful development? It continues.
People's hope was right there.
Within reach, if only they ran to catch it.
Elenoa's spine froze. Her stomach tightened with hot tension, and her mouth went dry.
What did she just say? she wondered. She couldn't understand.
—The name of a taboo drug.
The voice, projected from a distance of ten meltor without even a megaphone, was so terrifying that Elenoa's eyes flew open.
"That child is a fairy, isn't she?"
The woman said. Her eyes held a firm resolve, yet they seemed devoid of malice. A mother's intense gaze blamed Elenoa.
If a fairy were here?
She knew what would come next; it was plain to see!
No, the female fairy shook her head vigorously, letting out a hoarse voice.
That woman must want to save her child. Clutching a child who had surely been abandoned even by healers, with death imminent—perhaps already dead—she was merely clinging to hope.
Elenoa understood. She could sympathize, but.
Even so, was she being told to die in the child's place?
It's a lie. It's a lie. "Ah…" A meaningless sound leaked from the back of her throat.
Elenoa looked around, seeking help, but all she found were sharp, hard gazes, keen as blades.
Elenoa had done nothing. She had merely fled here.
"Why…?"
Why was I about to be cast aside?
"A fairy, huh. So you weren't a monster."
A young woman's voice came from the distant left.
"No wonder. There was no way Louis-sama would be deceived by a monster."
Was that her friend? Another young woman's voice followed.
"So he was keeping a fairy. I see, I see."
This time, it was an older man.
No, Elenoa began to tremble in fear, but Lumina protected her with her slender arms.
Kneeling to shield Elenoa from everyone's gazes, Lumina blocked the people from Elenoa's view.
Lumina turned to face the stares piercing her back and glared directly at the crowd.
"What do you intend to do with our Elenoa?"
Intimidated by her cold voice and beauty, the people fell silent before the sixteen-year-old girl.
But soon, whispers of "fairy" began to spread.
It wouldn't stop.
"Wait, Elenoa is the Chief's…"
"But she's a fairy."
"Right, maybe Louis-sama even intended to use her for medicine in times like this."
"Don't say whatever you want, you bastards!"
"That's right, Fairy Tale is forbidden, isn't it!?"
"But it was Louis-sama who banned it, which means he was being instigated by that fairy."
The only ones who sided with Elenoa and Lumina were the court mages, unable to move from the wall. Tasked with erecting barriers to protect the citizens, they tried to take a step forward but snapped back to their senses, remaining where they were. They were caught in the middle, isolated between the two girls and the citizens they were supposed to protect.
—Come to think of it, did the court mages know I was a fairy? They didn't seem very surprised, so they must have known.
While being protected by Lumina, Elenoa moved her head, which felt almost numb.
She had been observing from outside the frame, but before she knew it, she found herself in the midst of disaster, with no way to protect herself.
Even as she stood there, malice-free killing intent tormented her body.
Words were blades, and gazes were ropes.
"There's a research institute there, so they must have the equipment to make the drug."
"Everyone, calm down! This can't be allowed!"
"Allowed by whom!? If just one fairy disappears, everyone might be saved!"
There was no longer any room for reconciliation.
Elenoa had originally been suspected of being non-human, so the fuel had been scattered from the start.
What was to be feared was that collective consciousness. If only that woman were sacrificed, their children, their families, or perhaps their lovers, would be saved. It was not good to give up. They should try and error.
Believing in a sliver of hope, the people's collective will united and bore down on the female fairy.
Sacrifice one to save many. No one thought this was strange, nor could they say so.
Because it wasn't strange.
Lumina shouted,
"Fairy Tale isn't that kind of drug! It's not a panacea!"
"Don't mages live long lives! If there's magic power, maybe she could survive!?"
"Are you going to kill Elenoa on a 'maybe'!? I can't accept that!! Besides, what proof is there that Elenoa is a fairy—"
"That's something we can find out if she takes off her clothes."
A girl standing beside a bloodied man who looked like her lover glared at Lumina. The black-haired girl was Lumina's friend.
Faced with several men approaching from the crowd, the two retreated step by step.
They were all serious. They captured the two who tried to stand and flee, forcibly pulling them apart.
"Stop it! Do you intend to humiliate her!?"
"Elenoa… no, let go, let go!"
No matter how desperately the female mage and Lumina shouted, the people's fervor did not subside.
Elenoa shrank back, her teeth chattering, as two men pinned her arms. A rough hand covered her mouth. A man behind Elenoa grabbed her collar,
"Gh…!"
—And yanked it down in one go, tearing her clothes.
Visible there was a white, smooth back. From around her shoulder blades grew something thin like glass, skillfully aligned along her body. Several black lines ran across it like a net.
Freed from the constriction of her clothes, it was beautiful—wings that humans should not have.
"Gh… Wings…"
"It really is… a fairy…!"
The people's faces visibly softened.
"It's not like that! Everyone is misunderstanding that drug—"
"We have to try."
"Stop…"
"I'm sorry. But, Lumina-chan… it can't be exchanged for a human life."
One of the men holding Lumina admonished her sadly. He covered Lumina's mouth as she began to mutter something, fearing the use of magic. The fact that the girl was somewhat of a mage was known to everyone in the Royal Capital.
Next, Elenoa herself began to struggle.
She resisted desperately, trying to break free from the arms grabbing her.
—No, no…
Tears seeped from the corners of her tightly shut eyes. Reacting to her emotions, her wings began to flutter. The man behind her clicked his tongue lightly and roughly grabbed her wing.
—No, let go, don't let anyone but Louis touch my wings!
Elenoa simply writhed.
There was no difference in physical strength between fairies and humans. Therefore, the strength disparity between the sexes could not be overcome.
Even with her arms held with enough force to cause bruises, she couldn't escape, and then.
Snap.
Along with the sound of something being pulled out, Elenoa's vision rapidly faded.
Her mouth gasped heavily. Her eyes widened fully, reflecting a torch swaying in the distance.
She twitched two or three times with a jerk, then collapsed all at once.
Her bent knees hit the ground, and she hung her head, her long hair disheveled. Not allowed to lie face down while her arms were still held, she fell silent, offering her head like a criminal.
In the hand of the man behind Elenoa was a single fairy wing.
"…Why… why…"
That lament came from Lumina. The hand covering her mouth loosened for an instant, but tried to cover it again. Lumina raised her voice before it could happen again.
"Give back Elenoa's wing…!"
The wind that whipped up around Lumina and Elenoa injured the men. Lumina didn't care if they got hurt.
Seizing the momentary gap, Lumina jumped to Elenoa's side and hugged the hanging-head fairy, repeating "I'm sorry."
"I couldn't chant silently quickly enough,"
"…………."
"I couldn't do it properly, like Big Brother…"
Clinging to the fairy who said nothing, Lumina began to create a barrier. It was a precise, flawless defensive wall, impossible for a third-year magic student.
Inside a small, hemispherical transparent wall, Lumina held the motionless Elenoa.
Into the ears of the two, the people's selfish consultations flew.
The girl,
"Stop it already, Elenoa will really die, please, no more…"
Even as she pleaded through tears, the adults ignored her. For the sake of their loved ones.
"A fairy… at human size, it's definitely rank A or higher. In that case, the effect would be…"
"But we don't know how to make Fairy Tale."
Another person approached, this time a woman. It was the mother who had spoken first.
She was still holding her child in her arms, but the child was no longer breathing, eyes slightly open. The mother smiled faintly at Lumina,
"Hey, Lumina-chan, do you know? How to make Fairy Tale."
The tear tracks illuminated by the torchlight were painful to behold.
＊
She hadn't heard the court mages' voices trying to stop them.
She felt she couldn't stay there.
Even if it was the wrong choice, at that moment, it felt like the best option.
Lumina led Elenoa, whose steps were unsteady, out through the main gate. She judged that people wouldn't chase them outside, and indeed, they didn't.
"Lu-mi, na, cha…"
"Absolutely, absolutely, here, no, you can't…"
From Elenoa's back, where the wing had been plucked, bright red fairy blood seeped out slowly. It ran down her exposed back and soaked into her clothes.
With just one wing gone, she couldn't even find her center of gravity.
Elenoa ran, looking painfully at Lumina's hair as she moved ahead.
"It's no good, it's dangerous, okay? Lumina-chan, please go back alone."
"No! Don't say such cool things!"
"…Your throat will get painful again."
"I'll endure a cold or anything, so please nurse me as much as you want!"
The main street, which had been clean on the way there, now retained only traces of its former self.
They ran through it, obstructed by cracked cobblestones, fallen streetlights, and rubble.
"Hey, why are civilians…"
"A fairy…!?"
She thought she heard the voices of knights scattered about, but she didn't lend an ear. If she were protected, she might be thrown back to those people, so she couldn't obey.
Many pairs of red monster eyes glared at the two from the shadows of building rubble.
From a building they had just passed, a hard object collapsed with a crash.
Elenoa turned and saw something black coming toward them.
—A long-necked dog.
Its eyes were bloodshot, pupils facing the wrong way, whites exposed grotesquely. The muscles of its hind legs were repulsively developed. Veins bulged and twitched.
Elenoa recognized that repulsive creature. It was a monster considered trash in the game.
They were surrounded by four dogs. It was a given that trash mobs attacked in groups.
Elenoa had just lost her ability to fly, and now even walking on two legs was precarious. —What could she do in this state?
"We're going home. We're going home together."
Lumina said so.
When a strong wind blew, sparks joyfully flew up. Some grazed Lumina's cheek.
"Until Big Brother comes home, I will protect Elenoa."
She was a sickly girl. It should have been dangerous for her to engage in such intense exercise in a single day, yet she desperately pulled and guided Elenoa.
Lumina occasionally turned one hand toward the pursuing monsters, slicing them with wind. Elenoa also whipped her body, countering with water magic.
Although they managed to defeat the dog-shaped monsters, both had reached their limits.
Elenoa lost most of her magic power and returned to fairy size. With only one wing, she couldn't fly, so she breathed shallowly while being held by Lumina.
What wings meant to a fairy.
What happened to a fairy who lost a wing.
Lumina had been told this by her brother.
Wanting to cry, wanting to fall to her knees, wanting to rest, yet driven by the sole desire not to lose the fairy, she moved her heavy legs. Her spirit was crushed. Nevertheless, because there was someone she had to protect, Lumina couldn't stop.
She had to deliver her. To that house. Because soon, her brother and the fairy should be able to be together. She believed in that future. It was the only thing she could see.
She found a familiar roof. It was the Stylus house.
A soft space, like a children's secret base, for just the three of them.
Even with this much damage to the city, that house alone remained unchanged.
"Gh… there, it's there!"
Elenoa moved her eyes. And seeing the fairy let out a sigh of relief with a "hah," Lumina was encouraged.
Forgetting fatigue, pain, and everything else, the girl ran. Even at an unreliable speed that could rather be called a fast walk, she stepped firmly on the ground.
What appeared casually to interfere was a Troll.
The Troll had targeted the two, swinging its club playfully.