episode_0011

No matter how dreadful the nightmare, it eventually came to an end, and a warm morning arrived.

The sun’s heat began to warm the slightly chilled ground and air as night turned into day. In just an hour, the warm morning breeze would disappear, replaced once again by the early summer heat.

Nocturnal creatures like owls and moths had returned to their shelters, while larger and smaller beings that had awakened from slumber started roaming the forest in search of delicious morning meals.

A fox approached Vina, who was still asleep without fear. Sniffing around, the fox caught Vina’s scent. It was a strange smell that it had never encountered before.

“Squeak!”

Startled by the fox, Vina opened her eyes and grabbed the fox’s neck with both hands.

“Squeak! Squeak!”

Struggling with painful cries, Vina tried to break free from the fox. Before she could attempt to bite with her sharp teeth, the fox twisted Vina’s neck.

Vina’s head made a cracking sound as it turned impossibly in the wrong direction.

“Are you trying to eat that? There must be plenty of parasites in there.”

Maya, who had woken up an hour earlier, spoke to Vina.

Maya was lighting a fire with matches to cook breakfast. Two pots filled with water were hanging on sticks over the fire, waiting to heat up.

Vina held onto Vina with both hands, silently observing Maya.

“…It’s even creepier in the light.”

Vina stared at Maya without saying a word.

“…Are you just going to keep staring?”

Silence.

“Well then. Maybe you can’t speak. I’ll try to understand with an open mind…”

“Is your name Maya?”

When Vina mentioned her name, Maya responded to Vina’s question with a bitter smile.

“Yes, that’s right. The mysterious mutant lady. If you knew how to speak, you should have answered sooner…”

“Mysterious mutant? How rude. Have humans completely forgotten basic manners? I knew they were a stupid race, but I didn’t expect them to forget even the most basic etiquette as living beings.”

Maya frowned upon hearing Vina’s disrespectful words.

“Judging by your speech, it seems like you’ve also messed up basic manners. At least you should have first revealed what species you are before making such remarks, shouldn’t you?”

“There are many titles that sound more polite and pleasant than ‘mysterious mutant.’ Why did you choose to call me that? Were you planning to provoke me into committing suicide? Removing the head of feeble humans like you is child’s play.”

“…Fine, you’re something else. It’s only me who takes this seriously…”

“Vina.”

“Yes?”

Maya was taken aback when Vina suddenly revealed her own name.

“Vina. That’s my name. I don’t have a surname. And I’m not a mutant; I’m a fairy. A race far nobler than humans.”

Upon hearing Vina’s self-introduction, Maya burst into laughter.

“Why are you laughing? Are you losing your mind out of fear now?”

Vina bluntly addressed Maya, not bothering to hide her discomfort.

“No, it’s just that something so unexpected came out of nowhere. Fairies are too out of place. Hahaha.”

“…Even that male said such things. How on earth have humans distorted fairies?”

Vina muttered while squeezing the lifeless body of the fox. Bones and organs of the enraged fox crunched as Vina’s anger intensified, emitting an eerie sound. Blood began to flow from the limp mouth and stiffening fur, staining Vina’s hand.

“…I shouldn’t mess with this… This…”

Even the formidable Maya felt fear at the sight of the brutally crushed fox by Vina.

Timing was perfect as bubbles rose, signaling the water was starting to boil. Meisa shifted her focus from cooking spaghetti and remarked, “Oh, the water’s starting to boil.”

“…Why is it so noisy…”

Awoken by the commotion around her, Eliza looked around and exclaimed, “Hey, Meisa!”

She spotted Meisa, whistling while dropping spaghetti into the pot.

“Meisa! I was worried! Where on earth did you disappear to?”

Struggling like a caterpillar without realizing she had zipped up her summer sleeping bag, Eliza finally managed to recall the zipper, unzipping it and sitting up. Her sweat-drenched gray t-shirt clung tightly, outlining her nipples distinctly due to not wearing a bra.

Blushing at the protruding nipples, Eliza stammered. It was fortunate that she wore gray; if it were a white t-shirt, the contours would have been even more revealing.

“Ahh! Vine! What are you holding, exactly?”

Momentarily embarrassed, Eliza pointed at the blood oozing from Martyr, held in Vine’s grip.

“It’s breakfast,” Vine casually replied, as if what he held was just sausages.

“That’s… that’s unacceptable to eat!”

“Elza, want some too? I’ll split it exactly in half.”

Vine began pulling Martyr’s limbs apart. As the flesh tore, a crisp sound echoed, and blood seeped from the torn flesh.

“It’s okay! Please, Vine, enjoy it yourself!”

“…Just kidding. I never intended to share in the first place.”

Vine responded seriously, his tone devoid of any hint of jest.

“Sigh, I’ve endured for ten years. Hey, Meisa, why are you looking at me like that?”

Meisa gazed at Eliza with a horrified expression.

“Um, Meisa?”

“…Hyung, what happened while you were away taking a bath?”

“…Ah.”

“Why do you speak like a girl, claim to be a fairy king, refuse to eat with friends, and even go by the nickname Elza…?”

“…”

“Hyung, can I call you Elza too? It’s sticking in my mouth.”

“…Do as you please.”

Blushing, Eliza crawled back into the sleeping bag.

“Haha! Just kidding, Hyung. I’ll keep calling you Hyung till the end, so don’t worry.”

“…Thank you.”

“But that way of speaking really doesn’t suit you. It’s like… trying too hard to fit in…”

Silently observing their melodrama, Vine removed Martyr’s skin.

“I can’t tell just by looking at the shell.”

Tossing the shed skin to the ground, Vine pondered, “Is there really a fairy sleeping inside?”

The Moon Fairy. Always captivated by madness from the love of the moon, spreading madness around and about, a beautiful fairy.

If she could return to her original form even for a moment, she must have accumulated considerable power.

Perhaps they might meet soon.

“And inevitably, blood will be shed.”

He had witnessed the tragedy caused by the Moon Fairy before.

Humans and fairies, livestock and birds, wild animals and Ailenees screaming madly, killing each other in a frenzy.

At the center of it all was the Moon Fairy, dancing joyfully under the moonlight, singing songs.

Vine helped his friend kill the Moon Fairy, saving many lives.

Killing one’s own kind was implicitly taboo among the fairies, but Vine killed the fairy with his own hands for his friend.

“…Why did I make that choice?”

Asking himself a question, Vine tore off a piece of Martyr’s red flesh with his teeth, chewed, and swallowed it.

*

While Eliza and Meisa chatted and Vine focused on breakfast, Victor woke up.

“Victor, awake? Did you sleep well?”

Meisa was the first to greet Victor.

“…I think it’s fine. Meisa, how are you?”

“I’m feeling great.”

Ellaiza, who saw Victor wake up, greeted him with a smile.

“Good morning, Mr. Victor. I’m glad Meisa is safe.”

“I brought her here from sleeping in the woods.”

“The woods?”

Ellaiza looked puzzled as she glanced at Meisa.

“I don’t know anything. I was definitely on guard at the campsite last night, all tense, but when I came to my senses, she was sleeping on the sleeping bag.”

“Oh! Could it be that?”

Realization spread across Ellaiza’s face.

“Is that so?”

“It’s sleepwalking! A condition where you walk while asleep!”

Ellaiza answered Meisa’s question.

“Hmm… I’m not sure.”

“If it’s indeed sleepwalking, it could explain the disappearance incident from last night.”

Victor agreed with Ellaiza’s opinion.

“Perhaps Meisa had symptoms of sleepwalking that she wasn’t aware of. Or maybe it just started today.”

“That makes sense. Victor, next time, tie my whole body to the bed until I wake up in the morning. I can’t afford to go through this again.”

“I refuse.”

As Vene regretted and longed for the past, Ellaiza trembled due to the secret she heard from Vene, Victor interacted appropriately with the women, and Meisa pondered whether to sprinkle tomato sauce or soybean paste on her spaghetti, thus concluding Meisa’s disappearance incident for now.

Once the noodles were cooked, Meisa drained the water and added about half a can of tomato sauce, stirring it with a ladle.

“I feel like we had that for dinner yesterday, is it spaghetti again…”

Ellaiza complained at the sight of the monotonous menu. There was no cucumber pickles like yesterday; even that was missing from this meal.

Meisa was about to scold Ellaiza for her picky eating habits, but Vene intervened first.

“Would you like to eat some leftover intestines? Intestines are nutritious, the more you eat, the better.”

“Eeek!”

Ellaiza recoiled from Vene trying to put intestines on her spaghetti.

“Hahaha! Your expression is priceless, Eliza!”

Meisa laughed at Ellaiza’s horrified expression.

“You can’t be picky, Ellaiza.”

Vene expressed regret about Ellaiza’s picky eating habits.

“…I’m not really picky… I just don’t eat things like mushrooms.”

Ellaiza returned to her seat and said to them with a sullen expression.

Watching Vene eat intestines closely, Victor spoke up.

“Is it really okay to eat like that? If it’s food, I can provide.”

Vene glared fiercely at Victor.

“Are you saying our way of eating is uncivilized by human standards? How rude. You’re truly a race that doesn’t understand manners.”

“I can’t seem to find the right words.”

“Vene, I’m sorry, but… um… could you please be a bit kinder when dealing with… um… that human? They are helping us after all…”

Ellaiza pleaded with Vene, watching his reactions carefully.

“Don’t beat around the bush, just say it straight, don’t act like a jerk.”

“No, no, no! Vene, what Meisa said earlier was a joke, so please don’t mind it!”

When Ellaiza interpreted Meisa’s correct response to her frowning expression, she squirmed and begged Vene.

“If Elza weren’t here, those guys would have been dead a long time ago. Especially you.”

Vene said, glaring at Meisa.

“I hope you realize I’ve been putting up with your rude behavior a lot.”

Although Meisa felt an instinctive fear (longing) from Vene’s sharp eyes, she didn’t back down.

“We’ve been tolerating a lot too, you know? I may not know how you treat humans in general, but isn’t it something you shouldn’t reveal to humans? We’re living together, so if you treat us kindly, wouldn’t that benefit everyone?”

“Then it doesn’t matter to us if we leave, right? Eliza, let’s go.”

Bine, pretending not to notice the tense atmosphere, grabbed Eliza’s right arm while she was eating spaghetti.

“Huh? Bine? Wait a moment, aaah!”

The plate Eliza was holding with one hand fell to the ground. Fortunately, it was an empty plate, so the precious spaghetti did not end up on the floor turning into dirt.

“Wait, who are you to just take my brother like that?”

Meisa also grabbed Bine’s left arm forcefully.

“Eliza and I were destined to meet. Humans trying to interfere in our relationship without understanding the situation? You should give up cleanly now, or I’ll let you escape with your life intact.”

“Hah! We’ve been through life and death together! How many Aleynis and Raider scumbags have the three of us taken down? The noble fairy lady might not know about it!”

“It’s a connection made among humans, how amusing. Elza, let’s create our own fairy bond together.”

“Brother! If you go with that psycho woman, you’ll be dead within a week! You’re almost certain to be miserably murdered by her! So, snap out of it!”

“Huh?”

“Ah?”

Eliza yelled in confusion.

In her younger days, she had imagined a happy scene where two beauties fought over her, but after undergoing a sex change and experiencing it firsthand, it was far from happy.

“P-please… help me…”

Eliza pleaded desperately to Victor in a trembling voice.

Eventually, Victor intervened (with great effort), and the two reluctantly reconciled.

“If you act rudely one more time, I’ll cut off your limbs and carve out your mouth, then throw you into Ant Hell.”

“If you act like a bastard one more time, I’ll beat you so badly your own parents won’t recognize you!”

“Hah?”

“Ah?”

“…Please, please stop.”

After the dispute involving Eliza came to an end, excluding Bine, the three of them cleaned up the campsite, refueled the car, and prepared to depart for Libreville.

“Bine, could you help here? If you don’t want to look more hateful…”

Approaching Bine to ask for help, Eliza stopped speaking when she saw Bine vigorously digging the ground with bare hands.

“….”

Bine, who had dug a small pit, placed the leftover maggot corpse inside it. Then, using the dirt pile created from digging, she covered the pit.

Bine, perhaps sensing Eliza’s gaze, sat down and looked at Eliza with a smile.

Eliza flinched at Bine’s smile.

“We are grateful for the strength to live today. May you rest in peace.”

Bine turned her head towards the makeshift grave and clasped her hands together briefly in prayer.

Eliza stared at Bine with her mouth agape.

“…Elza? Are you okay?”

Bine, getting up from her seat, worriedly looked at Eliza who had been lost in thought watching the maggot burial.

“Why didn’t you bury the bear?”

An unexpected remark slipped out of Eliza’s mouth.

Realizing her words might sound impolite, Eliza covered her mouth with both hands in surprise.

“I’m sorry! I misspoke!”

“You were too big to bury. I wanted to say a prayer at least, but I got too excited seeing Elza spraying milk everywhere.”

Bine responded calmly without showing any signs of being hurt.

“What should I say… You’re really kind to non-human races.”

“Of course. Humans committed unforgivable sins against our kind even after death. Showing respect to those we hunt or kill is rare even among fairies like me.”

“…The image of fairies is starting to improve a bit.”

Bine smiled once again.

“Thank goodness.”

Vine finished speaking and walked towards the truck, engaging in a dispute with Meisa about how ugly the steel carriage looked.

Meisa retorted, “Back in your time, we didn’t have such nonsense. Why make a fuss now?”

Eliza began to wonder what humans had done to offend the fairies so much that they were erased from this world.

“…I’ll have to ask later for sure.”

Leaving the resolution of her curiosity to her future self, Eliza ran to stop the two who seemed ready to resume fighting at any moment.