Chapter 47

<046. Easter Egg (2)>

The land of fairies, the sacred ground of fairies. This land only reveals its appearance through the royal route.

To be more precise, it only opens when you raise Eve's affection to a certain level and, after the vacation ends, Eve suggests a small adventure based on the clues she has found.

It's truly a hidden, extra map.

Eve, who was about to use the levitation spell, was stopped by a hand.

"Why? Why not?"

"There's no point in using magic here."

As I said this, a wolf passing by smirked and laughed.

"Correct. You seem quite smart despite having no stats to speak of, don't you?"

"Intelligence can't be read, you know."

"···Ha! I like it. You're worthy of being his descendant. Follow me in."

The wolf slowly walked ahead, and I took a step without any sign of tension. Just as I was about to step on the cloud, I heard a small, startled cry from Eve.

But it's nothing to worry about.

This place is truly fantastical.

'Fantastical' because when I stepped on the cloud, it felt as solid as the ground.

"Uh···?"

Eve also took a step and, realizing it was a flat surface, her eyes widened.

"···Aren't you afraid of stepping on the sky? Ha. You're really something. If it were really the sky, what would you do?"

"Let's get on with the guide, wolf."

"Tsk."

We silently followed the wolf and soon arrived at the castle where the queen resides.

This castle, carved out of the trunk of a giant tree that seems to touch the sky, is a symbol of the fairy queen's authority.

"Is the queen inside?"

"Be careful with your words, descendant."

"Whatever, don't get so worked up. I've brought a gift suitable for the queen."

I smiled and opened the door to the throne room.

Inside, I saw the queen sitting at a table, looking at us.

Her sky-blue hair cascaded down, and her eyes matched the color perfectly. Her dress, reminiscent of flower petals, enveloped her entire body.

She was beautiful, a beauty that defied all adjectives.

Literally, the most beautiful being crafted by fantasy. The fairy queen.

Though she was only about half the size of a human, she didn't seem small. She was simply noble and majestic.

"Wow···."

Even Eve, standing beside me, couldn't help but exclaim at her beauty, and honestly, I was a bit surprised to see her in reality.

However, I didn't feel any affection, let alone love, in my heart.

"Hic. Moya? You really look like a human. A human, hehe. Where do you live, fairy? Really, really like a human. Wow, human! We have a human guest in our fairy realm, cha-ja-wa-syeo-yo-m!"

Honestly, holding a bottle of brandy and looking at us, it was hard to feel any affection.

"Wow! Really a human? Or a fairy pretending to be a human? I can't tell!"

He's just a three-hundred-year-old alcoholic.

***

Let's think carefully.

D/Z SAGA has various regions coexisting. The ecosystem of the eastern forest or the sleeping mountain range, and the distribution of monsters, plants, and animals are completely different.

But why is that possible? There's no intermediate area, no overlapping ecosystem, and everything is neatly divided.

This is naturally impossible.

But this is not a natural phenomenon.

This academy island, Jefrin, is an artificial island personally established by the great first emperor. Naturally, there are barriers everywhere, and the ecosystems are distributed accordingly.

It's an absurdly grand setting, even if it was created by humans alone, or even with the help of the surrounding magic priests. But Jefrin explains the division of each map in this way.

"Human-like fairy···! Fairy-like human! Wow, your face is so similar to his···."

And that's what made this fairy queen an alcoholic.

"Your Majesty, a guest has arrived. The descendant of the great one···."

"Again, again! Such a joke. I, Elpharane, won't be fooled. Won't be, cha-ja-wa-syeo-yo-m!"

The wolf tried to advise, but the fairy queen hit the wolf's head with the bottle and lay down on the throne. The sound of her deep breathing indicated she had fallen asleep.

···Elpharane is still the same.

We paused for a moment, and the wolf, who had been hit on the head with the brandy bottle, sighed deeply and led us out.

"Let's go outside for a moment."

"Hmm."

As soon as we stepped out, the wolf looked at me with a pitiful expression and asked.

"···Do you have any cigarettes?"

"Do I look like I have any?"

And even if I did, how would he smoke them?

***

Holding Eve's hand, which had stiffened at the sight of the drunken queen, we stepped out into the corridor, and the wolf sighed deeply.

"Quite a challenge."

"Ha. A challenge···. You're making assumptions, aren't you?"

The wolf didn't press for an answer and just stared at me before sighing again.

"You have the eyes of someone who knows everything."

"More or less."

"Considering you're the first guest in 300 years, what do you know?"

"···"

"I have a feeling you really do know. And ··· it reads that way. You don't lie with your words, and you don't lie with your emotions."

"You can't lie in front of a fairy."

"···Ha. The human I meet after 300 years is a rare breed."

Clack clack. He laughed like that. Watching the wolf laugh felt strange.

"How much do you know about fairies?"

"Legends. The rest is inference. I think I know most of it."

"Can you tell me? It'll be faster if I correct you as you speak."

I shrugged and began reciting what I knew.

"Three hundred years ago, the great ancestor wished for Jefrin to be an ideal place that condensed the entire continent's environment."

This means that everything living within it was also released. Slimes and goblins in the grasslands, sandworms and blue dragons in the desert, and the land of fairies in the deepest part of the forest.

"According to the legends, the fairy queen and her followers saw this as a fun game and made a bet with the great ancestor. They lost the bet. After that, fairies disappeared from the continent and were confined to Jefrin."

"Right. Correct. And we fairies started to become strange."

"Because we can't leave. We have to keep living in this land."

This is the problem with fairies.

Born from nature, they are naturally pure, straightforward, and easily influenced by mischief.

They also love freedom and wandering. They hate lying.

"So, the queen, who loved wandering the most, turned this land into a fantastical place."

"Everything is a fantasy. A utopia that fairies most desire to wander."

I know that every part of this forest, except the forest itself, is a fantasy.

"Right. The queen, who comforted the children's whining and maintained the fantasy, was the first to break down after turning this small land into a fantastical place that fairies dream of."

"···"

I didn't answer. I know, but I don't need to say it.

Well, if you're trapped here and just use magic, and then have to take care of the children's whining, and can't go outside even if you want to, you'd want to drink, right? And if you drink too much and it becomes a habit, eventually...

"The fairy queen, Elpharane Owen, became a drunkard."

"···Tsk. I can't argue with that, even though you're speaking bluntly. But the land she created is truly fantastical, so don't look down on it too much."

"I know."

This place is a massive magical barrier created by the fairy queen over 300 years. Even Eve, with a magic power of 22, would be countered and thrown out if she used magic incorrectly.

That's why I told her not to use magic.

"Then, what are you here for?"

"To make a deal. Go wake the queen. After the preliminary explanation, call us in."

"···You're really taking advantage of me."

"Or do you want to refuse?"

"···Tsk. Just wait a moment."

The wolf opened the door to the audience chamber and went in, and the room became momentarily noisy.

"···Wolfram. How did you know all of this?"

"It's written in the royal chronicles."

"···You don't want to explain, huh? I understand. But I have a slightly better opinion of you now."

"···What do you mean?"

"When you were the student council president, you weren't just playing around."

"···?"

"You created the concept of convenience stores, investigated fairies, and made buff-type snacks. All of that pointed to one thing."

"···??"

"You wanted to show everyone, and yourself, the outside world that you only read about in books. You genuinely, yes, genuinely wanted to do that."

"···???"

"Is that why you collected magic books and swords during your term? A little, I have a better opinion of you now."

"Uh, um. Uh···."

"Enough. Forget what I said. It's just embarrassing to acknowledge each other's praise and recognition."

"···"

Eve chuckled.

Well, what can I say.

So, you did all that without me knowing. Impressive, Wolfram von Loewen.

"?"

So, who is this Wolfram?

***

After pondering the identity of Wolfram, the revolutionary who would liberate them all, for ten minutes, the door to the audience chamber opened.

"The queen commands you to enter."

Following the wolf's words, we entered, and the audience chamber was cleaner than before. The scattered appetizers were cleared away, and the bottles were pushed aside. The bulge in the curtain at the back of the audience chamber suggested they were stashed below.

Eve, noticing this, quickly averted her gaze, and a beautiful voice echoed from the throne.

"Descendant of Hark, welcome to the land of fairies. Hic."

She tried to hide her drunkenness, but her slurred speech and the alcohol on her breath couldn't be concealed.

"I come to see the fairy queen who has kept the three-hundred-year-old pact with the great ancestor."

"Yes, your eyes are exactly like Hark's."

"It's an honor."

"···You're really going all out, aren't you? Pak."

"···"

Is the three-hundred-year-old grudge this deep?

"So, why did you come here? To mock us after confining us? Ha. That sounds fun. I want to do it too, Pak."

"We can't fight unless we make a bet, due to the pact."

"I know, right? We can't even leave here, right?"

Really, this is so annoying, even in reality.

"Today, I come with a request and a gift."

"Gift? What gift? I love gifts, you know."

"First, the request. Please stop the annoying pranks on Jefrin."

"···Pranks? What are you talking about?"

"Spreading pollen through the wind spirits to Jefrin."

"···Really?"

Eve looked back and forth between me and the queen, her eyes wide.

"···You noticed?"

"It flies to Jefrin excessively. It should just scatter normally."

"···Hee. I like it. Since you found this place, I'll set the tribute."

"This is a snack I made myself. Fairies like sweets, right?"

"Not really? It's true, but the trend is different now."

I know.

"The snack contains alcohol."

"···Oh, you know well. Then, I'll take it."

I handed the chocolate popsicle to the fairy. The queen shook it a few times and nodded.

"Does it release alcohol when you bite it? That's quite innovative."

"Indeed."

"But if the alcohol inside isn't good, I won't eat it."

"I guarantee it's so good that you'll collapse as soon as you eat it."

"Is it a drink I know?"

"No."

"Then, can you tell me what it is? What kind of drink is this?"

I smiled.

To come to this fairy realm in the future, I always need to bring alcohol instead of an entrance fee, but alcohol is a hard-to-find item.

However, if I raid Wolfram's secret stash, I can use the alcohol inside as an entrance ticket.

So, this Easter Egg.

The last asset left by the useless Wolfram. A joke written by the game developers. The entrance ticket to the fairy realm.

A legendary drink that, after one bottle, you end up fighting a utility pole, getting slapped by a sidewalk tile, and waking up in a jail cell two days later.

I quietly mentioned its name.

"Captain N."

"Captain Nn?"