A tiny figure no bigger than the palm of my hand wore a green dress.
Wings that blended dragonfly and butterfly fluttered without pause.
Tinkerbell.
Not the giant moths I often saw back in the army, but the fairy straight out of Peter Pan.
In a world packed with every kind of bizarre creature, I could accept this much.
The real problem was the massive battle axe the little thing carried.
—Die! Oh wait, you’re already dead, aren’t you? Still, drop dead anyway! You rotten bastards!
Its cute looks clashed hard with that filthy mouth.
Yet it swung the battle axe with ferocious speed.
It staggered under the weapon’s weight but kept attacking relentlessly.
All of it aimed at the specter that had just shown itself.
Swooosh! Thud!
The black shape twisted, then reformed.
The sound of ripping air and solid impact rang out sharply.
But the shadow I assumed was the specter paid it no attention at all.
It simply drifted toward us as we backed out of range.
“Hey. Vargas.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Am I the only one who doesn’t get this situation?”
“No. I feel the same. But one thing is clear, at least.”
“What?”
“That thing is a half-fairy.”
“A half-pint fairy, huh.”
“Exactly.”
Half-gods and half-demons existed, so why not half-fairies.
The idea made perfect sense.
Still, the creature’s attacks did nothing to the specter.
Vargas shook his head slowly.
“A weapon like that can’t harm a wraith-type monster. A half-fairy should know better.”
“Maybe it has no other options. Something really pissed it off, but it couldn’t fix the problem itself?”
“That’s possible.”
“If we help it finish off the specter, maybe we can get something out of it.”
“I’m not sure. Half-fairies are extremely rare.”
True enough. Half-gods and half-demons popped up now and then in old texts.
Half-fairies, though, were almost impossible to find.
Even I, who got along well with those half-pint types, had never heard of one.
Either way, this friend was clearly in trouble.
I had planned to deal with the specter anyway. Might as well handle it now.
Wraith monsters like that were a real pain to fight.
An unprepared mercenary company could get wiped out.
Stories like that had already spread around the city.
People said you shouldn’t even go near the back side of Mount Berkal.
Better to clean it up for everyone’s safety.
“I had no way to respond when I didn’t know its location, but now things are different.”
I started stacking my skills one by one.
Whoosh!
The Beast’s Heart activated with an effect like blazing red flames rising.
Next came the Extreme Choice.
This one’s obviously for raw attack power.
The finishing touch was Ruinous Retribution.
Ruinous Retribution Activated.
Twitch!
A mighty force welled up inside me and flowed down my arm.
In the past I could barely control it and would hurl it the second it went off.
Now I could fine-tune the power level however I wanted.
Vrrrrrm—!
A strange vibration hummed as blue light gathered on the Hector Punisher.
The specter must have sensed the threat, because its form began to twitch.
It looked ready to flee.
“Not happening. Hah!”
Swoooosh—! Kwooooom!
I thrust the warhammer forward with a shout, and a brilliant beam of light tore through the air.
It happened in an instant.
The specter’s torso blew open, and everything behind it shattered to pieces.
The overwhelming energy had reduced it all to dust.
Hsssss! Fwoosh—!
One fierce gust clawed across the ground, revealing toppled trees and melted rocks.
Vargas’s jaw dropped at the sight.
“Whoa! Hah!”
“What?”
“I’m reminded all over again.”
“Of what?”
“That you should never mess with His Grace the Duke.”
“Haven’t you known that the whole time and still talked nonsense?”
“Oh, come on. Not at all. I only have one life, so I wouldn’t do that on purpose.”
“Weird. The way you usually act, it really seemed like you didn’t know.”
“Ahem!”
Vargas cleared his throat loudly and looked away on purpose.
The sight was so ridiculous I let out a small snort of laughter.
“Anyway, I’m curious how it turned out.”
I had poured in nearly full power in case the specter tried to run.
You could never be too sure.
The opponent was an incorporeal wraith monster, after all.
But the worry proved unnecessary.
No matter how carefully I scanned the area, I felt no trace of the specter left.
“It’s definitely finished.”
I murmured quietly while looking over the devastated surroundings.
Then a thought hit me.
Ah, this is the half-fairy’s territory. What if it gets mad about the mess?
Fairies were usually very fond of nature.
I had just smashed trees and rocks everywhere, so it might hold a grudge.
I turned around, a little tense, when I heard the familiar wing-flapping sound again.
Bzzzzz!
—Whoa! What are you?
It wasn’t the angry reaction I had feared.
The half-fairy studied me closely, as if I were some fascinating new toy.
It circled me with the battle axe still in hand.
“Just a passerby. The specter was annoying me, so I took care of it. Problem?”
—No? That’s amazing! Those rotten things wandering around my land really pissed me off. Thanks for cleaning them up.
Luckily the half-fairy’s response was positive.
I took the chance and offered my right hand, trying to build some rapport.
“I’m glad it helped. I’m Abel Carrius. And you?”
Fairy!
“It probably has a name…….”
Come to think of it, Shugly had only ever called himself the mountain devil.
It had so little contact with humans that it never bothered with a name.
“Does it not have one?”
Saying it out loud sounded a bit like a dad joke, but I meant nothing by it.
I was simply asking.
—Yeah.
“Then it’s awkward to call you anything.”
—Up till now there was no need. Nobody ever tried talking to me.
Made sense.
A fairy swinging a giant battle axe at people’s heads.
Anyone would run the second they saw it.
The specter ignored it because physical attacks did nothing.
“Want me to give you a name?”
—Oh! Really?
It looked adorably cute, but its behavior was pure monster.
Something rugged would fit better than a delicate name like Tinkerbell.
“Mosra sounds good.”
Whoa, what does it mean?
It was actually the name of the giant moth monster from the Godzilla series.
I couldn’t say that directly, so I made something up.
“It means ‘noble one’ in the ancient tongue.”
Wooooah! I love it!
Mosra flew around shouting its new name everywhere.
It seemed incredibly happy.
No suspicion at all. Looked like a very innocent type.
Vargas crept closer and whispered in my ear.
“That was a lie, right?”
“Shh! No spoilers.”
“Heh heh! Got it.”
Leaving the chuckling Vargas behind, I called out to Mosra.
Time to settle the score.
“Hey. Friend.”
—Hm?
“Why were you trying to chase the specter away?”
—This is my land. A filthy wraith barged in, so I had to beat the crap out of it. Too bad it didn’t do much.
The creature looked down at its battle axe with a gloomy face.
It had probably smashed monsters and people left and right with that thing until now.
But it never worked on wraiths.
“I took care of the specter for you, so I’d like you to do something for me.”
—If it’s a request from the friend who gave me a name, I’ll do anything.
“What are you good at?”
—Nothing in particular?
“Really?”
—Yeah. I just fly around here absorbing the earth’s energy. That’s all.
“Is it okay if trees or rocks get smashed like that?”
—Stuff like that? Whatever. It has nothing to do with the earth’s energy.
“Ah…… I see?”
The little thing was far more useless than I expected.
Shugly could wield mountain and land powers, and Feltron excelled at gathering information.
But this half-fairy friend seemed to have nothing but flight.
It did turn into a berserker whenever something entered its domain.
But that really was it.
Rare, but a total dud.
No need to drag it around like Shugly and Feltron.
Mosra also showed no interest in leaving its territory.
I had already handled the specter, my original goal, so it was time to head back.
Then Vargas’s excited voice suddenly rang out.
“Whoa! Your Grace!”
“Why the sudden fuss?”
“Come quick and look at this!”
He made such a racket that I had no choice but to walk over.
Vargas pointed at the spot where the specter had been.
The area turned to ash by Ruinous Retribution.
Fires had broken out on the trees from the massive energy release.
If left alone it might start a forest fire.
“What’s the big deal? Put it out before it spreads.”
“No, that’s not it. Look at the color of the flames.”
“Fire is fire. Huh? Why is it blue?”
“Wow, that’s complete combustion. High temperature, yet incredibly stable!”
Now that he mentioned it, the flames on the trees burned as blue as a gas stove.
They blazed brightly in several places, but there was no smoky smell at all.
Extinguishing them looked easy too.
When Vargas covered one with his robe, the fire vanished instantly.
“Seriously, what is this?”
“I don’t know either. The light beam Your Grace fired touched the trees and they ended up like this.”
“Whoa!”
They were just ordinary evergreens you could find anywhere.
Just to check, I moved far away and lit another fire the same way.
I cast Ruinous Retribution again.
The result was completely different.
Kwooooom! Whoosh!
This time red flames roared upward.
“The trees inside Mosra’s domain cause complete combustion.”
In a short time Vargas had already figured out quite a lot.
He had excitedly run all kinds of experiments.
My own heart was pounding too.
That 3-centimeter cube burned for a whole day. This is revolutionary fuel.
On top of that, the wood was extremely light and easy to carry.
With this wood alone, creating something as effective as a gas stove would be simple.
Make a well-insulated base, set up an iron frame for a pot on top, and install a simple way to cut off the flame.
Just like Vargas had done by smothering it with his robe.
I have to take this back no matter what.
The only problem was that Mosra’s territory would get noisy.
If the Daepan Group came in and started cutting trees, the half-fairy would obviously lose it.
The hot-tempered little thing would probably go around smashing workers’ heads.
Negotiation was clearly needed.
You want to take the trees? Please, just clear them out. They make it hard for me to feel the earth’s energy!
Wait a second.
Things were working out this well?