episode_0010

Thanks to Eliza’s desperate intervention (if we can call appealing to emotions with a face that seemed on the verge of tears mediation), they managed to suppress their animosity towards each other, but it was still a precarious situation that could explode at any moment.

Amidst the palpable awkward silence, the three were walking back to the base camp.

“…Fairies, huh? They’re quite different from the fairies I knew. The fairies in fairy tales seemed smaller and more benevolent.”

Perhaps wanting to break the uncomfortable silence, Victor spoke first.

“It’s not like there aren’t tiny ones. Kind ones… I’m not sure either.”

“…In the end, a fairy tale is just a fairy tale, right?”

“Of course. You all pay the price of distortion. Twisting natural phenomena to fit your own interpretations, distorting them completely from reality, and packaging it as truth is truly disgusting. I’ve always thought human imagination was arrogant.”

“…”

“Huh? Why the sudden silence? Seems like you have nothing to say about the sins you’ve committed. Well done, I appreciate that repentant attitude. May you repent until you die.”

Eliza cautiously spoke up to defend Vina against Victor’s insults (at the risk of her life).

“When we first met, you were speaking in a language I couldn’t understand at all, but seeing how fluent you are in our language surprised me.”

However, fearing death, Eliza chose a safe topic to divert Vina’s attention.

Vina responded to Eliza’s somewhat random question.

“Your language has changed a bit over time, making it hard to adapt. There are too many new words for me. But more importantly…”

Without stopping, Vina pinched Eliza’s right cheek.

“Wha-wha-what?”

“Can you stop using that tone? I told you before, it sounds like a tightly sealed male speaking. If you’re female, speak like one.”

Afraid that she would tear her cheek if she disagreed, Eliza desperately nodded her head.

“Okay. If you use that tone again, I’ll kill you right then and there as the savior of our species or whatever.”

Eliza obediently followed Vina’s instructions.

“Got it…um…yes.”

“It’s still a bit awkward. But it’s much better than your original tone. Keep trying, Elza.”

Vina gently stroked Eliza’s head.

Eliza felt oddly pleased by the praise and was shocked by how good it made her feel thanks to Vina’s compliment.

Shaking her head from side to side, Eliza brushed off Vina’s hand and the happy feeling.

‘Don’t forget, the creature praising me now might be the monster who assaulted me. Don’t ever forget that behind kindness lies the devil’s cunning.’

Though tempted to ask if Eliza wasn’t honestly feeling good or if she wasn’t more intense than when she was a man, Eliza simply ignored it.

Vina wasn’t particularly upset. He decided to act mercifully towards Eliza for now, despite hating all of humanity.

It wouldn’t do if she broke down before reaching the prison.

“So, Mister Male, didn’t you mention there’s another female around?”

Victor rudely responded to Vina’s inquiry.

“Right. Her name is Maesa, and she’s guarding our camp. Since no one’s around, wild animals or passing travelers might steal supplies like food or ammunition.”

“Not a great idea. Being alone in the dark forest is suicidal for weak humans.”

“We already know there are no threatening creatures in this forest. We’ve been camping here and have never been attacked by wild animals.”

“Then what was the bear I killed? Are humans just too stupid to fear bears or something?”

“Vina…please stop…um….”

Victor was being mocked by Bine, and Eliza intervened with a weak voice.

“I’m fine. It’s not like you’re insulting me or Maisa, and I can tolerate jokes about humans in general.”

Victor said to Eliza, “You seem to be taking it well. You tried to save Elsa courageously. If she were a fairy instead of a human male reeking of sweat, you would have been praised for embracing her. Humans, especially those who smell like they’ve been rolling around in sweat, are a different story.”

“…Thank you for the praise.”

As they exchanged various conversations, the three arrived at the campsite.

“Is this the place? It’s quite chilly.”

“Sorry for the cold campsite. Maisa! Eliza is safe. And an unexpected guest…”

Maisa was nowhere to be found.

Maisa should have been approaching the group, hiding her tension with jokes.

“…Miss Maisa?”

Not seeing Maisa, Eliza called out in a bewildered voice, “Maisa! Maisa!”

Victor urgently shouted and searched around. Eliza joined in, and both frantically searched for Maisa.

After yawning once, Bine casually looked around and first noticed the purple powder scattered on the ground.

“….”

There was quite a bit of powder. The two had yet to recognize the purple powder.

Bine sniffed the powder after touching it with her fingers and bringing it close to her nose. It smelled like lilac mixed with moth pheromones.

“Moon… fairy.”

Bine whispered quietly so that the others couldn’t hear.

This was the first time Bine had found traces of her kind since emerging from prison.

A similar excitement to when she found Elsa surged within Bine, but she remained composed.

Her intuition was shouting that the disappearance of the human female named Maisa and the scent of lilac left behind were closely related to the moon fairy.

“She must have been hiding with some sort of concealment magic. It’s unlikely that our kin dragged the helpless human female to devour her in a secluded place…”

There were no signs of a fight at the base camp, and they hadn’t heard the loud firing sounds of guns (which Eliza informed Bine was the name of the weapon she was wary of) coming all the way here. While it wasn’t impossible that they had subdued and taken away their prey without leaving any traces…

Bine quickly covered the powder with dirt and searched for faint footprints. There were a few, but they weren’t deeply imprinted, possibly due to the dryness of the soil. It seemed acceptable to pass them off as Bine’s footprints given the circumstances.

“…I hope she’s still alive.”

Of course, these words were directed not at Maisa but at the unidentified moon fairy.

The death of one human meant nothing to Bine.

“Bine! Haven’t you found Miss Maisa? She’s the woman with the spiky blonde hair…”

“Eliza, I’m sleepy.”

“What?”

Ignoring Eliza’s question cleanly, Bine lay down on the ground.

She had no intention of going to meet her kin. It would be more convenient if there was at least one more person on her side, but she couldn’t trust fairies who used concealment magic.

Concealment magic made fairies less like fairies.

“Let’s sleep together. We’ve had a lot happen today, right? We need to rest now to conserve energy for tomorrow’s expedition.”

“If you want to sleep, do it alone. I’m going to find Maisa with Victor…”

“If you’re going to sleep, do it alone. I’m going to find Maisa with Victor…”

“No, Miss Ruesta needs to rest as the fairy said. Meisa will find her alone.”

“Look, even that human male thinks the same way. I have sharp ears, so it’ll be safe for us to sleep together.”

Although Eliza tried to protest actively, she couldn’t speak due to Victor’s persuasion and Vine’s threatening gaze.

“…I will bring another sleeping bag.”

Saying this, Eliza weakly walked towards the truck.

Vine, seeing Eliza walking unsteadily, felt something and grabbed Eliza’s right hand.

“……?”

Then, she pulled Eliza’s arm and snugly pressed it against her as if leading a dance partner at a ball.

Thanks to this, Eliza’s face was buried in Vine’s ample chest.

“Uh… I’m not used to this…”

Eliza said, blushing from the subtle excitement brought by the soft touch of Vine’s bare chest.

“It’s good to get used to it. Fairies like physical contact accompanied by sexual pleasure.”

“Are fairies perhaps from the city of Gomorrah mentioned in the Bible?”

Smiling, Vine answered Eliza’s question.

“There is a city where fairies from fairy tales live called Hada de Cuento. It’s a city of disgusting hypocrites who imitate humans. I’ll tell you more when we have time. For now…”

In a hushed voice so Victor wouldn’t hear, Vine whispered, “We have a secret story to share, it seems.”

*

Confirming Victor’s figure disappearing into the dark forest to find Meisa, pushing aside her uneasy feelings about the despicable fairy, Vine lay down on the black sleeping bag Eliza had brought.

“So, what exactly is this secret you want to talk about? I hope it’s not something dreadful.”

Perhaps affected by Vine’s threat, Eliza was now speaking with the composure of a refined noble lady. It seemed forced, but Vine liked it. After all, it was an improvement from her previous unfortunate manner of speech.

“I like that tone. It’s cute.”

“I feel like I’m dying trying to force it.”

“Still, it suits you well. Much better than the vulgar tone of a stubborn male.”

About 3 meters away from Vine, Eliza unfolded the sleeping bag and entered it, turning her head to hide her flushed face.

“…Even if you praise me, it doesn’t make me happy.”

“Whether Elza is happy or not isn’t really important.”

Speaking in a cold tone, Vine’s words sounded no different from when she was praising Eliza.

“…What am I to you, Vine?”

“The key to saving our compatriots.”

“…Do you treat me like a person?”

“I think I treat Elza very well. I haven’t killed you since we first met, and I’ve been indulging your whims. Without Elza, that male would have died long ago.”

Eliza turned her head back towards Vine.

“…You’re not wrong.”

“Am I? Elza is currently enjoying tremendous privileges. Be grateful.”

“…Thank you. May blessings accompany your kindness.”

A single owl perched on a pine branch observed the two lying inside/outside the sleeping bag with interest before flapping its wings in place.

“…It seems like it found some kin.”

“What?”

Surprised, Eliza exclaimed.

“There was fairy dust scattered around. There were too many for it to have been shaken off by a moth flying away. Undoubtedly, it came from the wings of a moon fairy.”

“So, Meisa… did she die because of that fairy?”

“That’s unlikely. I think that human and the moon fairy are the same entity.”

“What? What do you mean by that?”

“Changeling.”

“Changeling? What does that mean?”

Vine began to explain chainjilling to the bewildered Elaiza as unfamiliar English words popped up.

“Chainjilling is the ultimate desperate measure that can be used when cornered.

The usage is simple. Every fairy instinctively awakens to it upon birth in this world, but unless their life is threatened, they cannot recall a spell that they have memorized and extract their own heart. Then, if you feed the heart to a human female subject to chainjilling, it’s over. Even though it’s said to have no effect on males.

Once the female consumes the heart entirely, the original fairy’s physical form disintegrates and vanishes, while the heart completely assimilates with the human’s brain, nervous system, and reproductive organs.

Humans who undergo chainjilling, along with human witnesses, even forget that chainjilling occurred, reducing the likelihood of suicide or murder.”

Vine paused briefly, looking at Elaiza.

“A fairy subjected to chainjilling loses its sense of self, but after decades to centuries, they can awaken again.

Humans evolve to protect fairies. Their sexual desires intensify, or their drive for species preservation strengthens….”

Upon hearing the last words, a sinister question arose in Elaiza’s mind. An unsettling and dreadful possibility emerged.

“Perhaps… chainjilling doesn’t end with the person affected by it….”

“Yes. It’s hereditary. The individual’s lineage itself becomes a sacrifice for the fairy’s resurrection.

Females bear fragments of the fairy’s essence within their ovaries and uterus, while males are born with a body containing fragments within their testes. Even if all perish except one, as long as there are tiny remnants, the fairy can reclaim its essence and revive.

The human lineage becomes a sacrifice for the fairy’s resurrection.

When one of these scattered fragments regains its essence, the remaining humans are no longer needed, so they all commit suicide.”

“…So, there are quite a few fairies disguised as humans concealing their true forms, aren’t there?”

“Yes. Perhaps even Victor over there might be a fairy.”

Thanks to Vine, Elaiza was gradually accumulating a negative image of fairies. Chainjilling piled as much hatred as the Amehain King’s castle toward humans.

Truly, it was a technology brimming with concentrated malice towards humans.

“What did humans do to fairies, after all?”

Elaiza sighed, unable to comprehend the fairies’ resentment and hatred towards humans.

With an inscrutable expression, Vine gazed at Elaiza and replied with a sigh.

“They committed unforgivable sins.”

The owl watching them let out a cry upon seeing the brightly shining full moon in the night sky before flying off.

That night, Elaiza had a nightmare.

In the nightmare, Elaiza stood in a black space where the floor, ceiling, and walls seemed nonexistent.

“Is this a dream….”

Eliza murmured softly, pinching her cheek. It hurt, but she didn’t wake up from the dream.

“It’s a dream… That’s not wrong.”

Someone spoke to Elaiza.

The voice addressing Elaiza was filled with unpleasant noise.

“Who are you?”

Elaiza spoke to the darkness.

Whether the darkness responded to the voice, a thin white line appeared in front of Elaiza’s eyes, cutting through the darkness vertically.

“I am you. The true you who has just opened your eyes and started breathing.”

“What are you talking about? I’m Elaiza Rusta. The eldest son of the Rusta family. Even if trampled and defiled by others, that doesn’t change who I am.”

“Unfortunately, Elaiza Rusta is no more. That nun, the ageless foreigner, and the one who wields the authority of the five rebellious stars, including Satla, have completely killed him.”

Like denying the words of a white line, a vivid image containing a pivotal event in Elaiza’s life emerged from the darkness.

Elaiza felt a warm relief as she gazed at those vivid forms that affirmed the history her ego had crafted.

“No! That can’t be. The fact that I am Elaiza Rusta does not change. Look, the memories are still here. This is when we went to the beach with the whole family, this is when I went hunting with Father, this is when I received a cauldron from Mother…”

Without any warning, the vivid forms containing Elaiza’s precious memories burst apart.

As she watched the vivid forms shatter miserably like balloons filled with proof of her identity, Elaiza screamed, “What are you doing! Stop it! Stop!”

“I didn’t make them burst. The fragments left by your dying ego are also beginning to die.”

“What a lie! It’s a lie! I am Elaiza Rusta, the eldest son of Count Rusta, and… the proud son of Mirayu Rusta…”

“You’ve forgotten your father’s face.”

Elaiza cleanly ignored the words of the white line.

“…the alchemist inheriting Mother’s skills, Christina’s… Christina’s…”

Elaiza was speechless.

Clutching her head with both hands, Elaiza screamed, “Why? Why aren’t they coming back?”

“Because they are no longer important.”

The white line sympathetically addressed Elaiza’s cries of anguish for failing to recall her memories.

“At the moment when that nun awakened me, the ego you built as Elaiza Rusta became utterly useless. It’s fortunate that the nun showed mercy by killing the ego; otherwise, dealing with the insane coexistence of your old and new selves would have been even more challenging. Your mother’s face will likely remain until the end. As for Christina, I’m not sure if she’ll linger. Both are like nails embedded in your ego. Nevertheless, unimportant figures will be forgotten. Faint memories may remain, but think of them as meaningless.”

“…What nonsense is this? I don’t understand at all! I don’t understand!”

With a bewildered expression, Elaiza stared at the white line.

“Look down.”

Elaiza did as the white line said… and once again, she screamed.

Just moments ago, Elaiza had been standing on darkness, but now she stood on a fairy sprawled out with crimson eyes wide open. Given the shared features with Vine, they seemed to belong to the same type of fairy.

The sprawled fairies were not few. Just by what was visible, it seemed like thousands were lightly passing by, with many fairies resembling Vine but some looking entirely different.

The fairies intertwined to form walls and floors made of flesh.

They all gazed into the void with expressions full of pain and anger.

“Elaiza, please save the fairies. Retrieve the fairies trapped deep in the invisible abyss. Unlock the locks.

Save these children who want to frolic under the authority of the sun.

To open the gates of the long-lost paradise,

Save the fairies, Elaiza.

Save these children from a miserable fate.”

“Stop!”

Elaiza covered her ears with both hands, crouching down and shouting, “Stop! Stop it! Stop!”

They cried out to Elaiza for help, and Elaiza begged them to stop.

“Why me?”

Elaiza wept as she looked up at the flesh wall of fairies.

“Why does it have to be me?”

There was no answer.

“Why on earth…”

Eliza sat down hesitantly, crying endlessly.

She just wanted to live happily. That was all she desired.

Ever since her mother’s death, everything had started to go awry little by little. Her father adopted a child born out of wedlock, remarried, and the children from his new marriage tormented that illegitimate child, ultimately providing the trigger for the massacre of the entire clan. The journey she embarked on in search of hope after meeting that nun also deeply twisted Eliza’s dreams of simply wanting to live happily.

Why? Why did this tragedy befall Eliza, who only dreamt of happiness?

……

“There is no reason not to.”

Vine lifted Eliza up.

“Vine…”

Eliza weakly called Vine’s name.

The Vine before her was dressed in a billowing white dress.

“You weren’t deluded into thinking you would live happily ever after, were you?”

Mockingly taunting, Vine smiled as she stroked Eliza’s head.

“No one is the protagonist of this cruel world. Everyone is just passing through, playing minor roles. Exiting the stage so emptily.

So it’s okay. You’re not the only one suffering.”

“Vine… Vine…”

Though subtly worded for comfort, it was warm enough for Eliza at that moment.

“Elsa. Let’s walk together.

On the path to our compatriots’ salvation. On the path to humanity’s salvation.

Even if many suffer along the way, the end will be happiness.

Even if there is inevitable death while walking that path, let’s walk joyfully to make that death appear beautiful.”

Eliza’s heart brimmed with hope upon hearing Vine’s words.

“Yes, let’s be together, Vine. Creating a new self, a more beautiful self than before.”

Just as Eliza was about to respond to Vine’s words,

Vine vanished, replaced by another person.

Not a fairy. A human like Eliza, with a ghastly pallor as if suffering from a terrible illness or lying dead.

Eliza knew well who this person was. Someone she trusted and followed until death. Someone who was once everything to Eliza.

“…Mother?”

Eliza’s mother, Mirayu Rusta, looked at Eliza with cloudy eyes, then groaned in pain, contorting her body.

“…Mother! Mother!”

Eliza quickly tried to support her mother, but

“Aaaah!”

Seeing her mother split in half, Eliza screamed, recoiled, stumbled backward, hitting her tailbone, and sat down hesitantly.

“Everyone will die!”

Emerging from her mother’s split form was Lisa Plague, covered in blood and gore.

An immortal foreigner, a nun with Elenis hands.

Amidst the upper body of her mother, displaying organs affected by cancer, and brains, Lisa, smiling as if delighted, shouted at Eliza.

“Everyone will die! Blood, brains, tears, organs, everything that can flow out will flow out and everyone will die! A bloodbath unprecedented in human history will occur! Ahahaha!”

Lisa spread her arms wide towards the sky.

“Doesn’t it seem really fun? Noble lady.”

Seeing Lisa sneering with sharp teeth bared, Eliza screamed, and screamed, and screamed…