"Rei, did the fairy... get away?"
Elena asked with a hint of surprise as she watched Rei approach.
She never expected Rei to be the type to let a fairy escape.
"Yeah. I definitely thought I had it in my hand. But it vanished from my palm as if it were an illusion."
"Then perhaps it actually was an illusion? I've heard that fairies are skilled in magic. Would it not be strange to think that a spell had been cast on Lord Rei?"
Ara's words prompted Rei to shake his head.
"No, it wasn't an illusion. I definitely felt the sensation of touching the fairy's wings in my palm, even if only briefly. ...Well, if the fairy's magic can deceive even your sense of touch, then I'd be stumped."
"...I wonder. I think it's a distinct possibility. What do you think, Lady Elena?"
"I have heard of such magic existing. But whether an ordinary fairy could use it... that is a delicate question. I know fairies are skilled at magic, but—"
Elena appeared to be mulling it over, and Rei thought there was at least some possibility of that.
After all, fairies prioritized pranks above all else.
For such a fairy, magic that creates illusions—and not just ordinary illusions, but ones that even carried a sense of touch—would be the most convenient magic for pranks imaginable.
That said, Rei still believed the sensation he had grasped was not an illusion or anything of the sort. It had been real.
Most importantly, even though it was gone now, glowing scale dust had actually been left behind on his palm.
Considering that, he could only conclude the fairy was real.
And if it was a real fairy, then for it to vanish from within his palm...
"Since it wasn't an illusion—have you ever heard of fairies possessing teleportation ability?"
"...Teleportation? There are tales of fairies using fairy rings, so-called Fairy Circles, to teleport, but those are merely fairy tales, you know?"
Elena responded to the mention of teleportation ability, but Rei actually found himself nodding in understanding at her words.
The fairy had escaped from a situation where another moment—just an instant—would have meant capturing it.
Hearing that it had teleportation ability made sense of that.
(Fairy Circle... I've heard that word somewhere before.)
The term "Fairy Circle" from Elena's mouth sounded familiar. He thought about it for a moment, then recalled.
(Right. It was when I was in Japan. I think it was something about mushrooms and slime molds... I don't know why mushrooms and slime molds came to be called Fairy Circles, though.)
In reality, a Fairy Circle was also called a fairy ring—the phenomenon of mushrooms growing in a circular formation on the ground.
It came to be called a Fairy Circle through folklore and fairy tales.
Rei had heard the term because he had watched a TV special about it.
"But... it was a bit surprising that the fairy has teleportation ability. This increases the importance of making contact with it."
Teleportation ability carried significant meaning.
That was clear just from looking at the seven-colored scaled Dragonias Rei had fought in the other world.
Even short-distance teleportation had made it a troublesome opponent.
If the fairy could perform long-range teleportation to the point of vanishing from sight, then its importance had risen by one level... no, two or three levels, and it wouldn't be strange to think so.
Above all, if they could unravel that teleportation ability and Rei's group could teleport as well, the implications would be enormous.
...In fact, the Bestia Empire had succeeded in developing a Magic Item for teleportation, but while it could teleport, it came with many restrictions.
(Even if developing a Magic Item is impossible, if we could at least establish a friendly relationship with the fairy, it might cooperate with its teleportation ability. ...Given the fairy's personality, that seems difficult in various ways, though.)
Even with teleportation ability, the fairy's prank-loving nature would not change.
Since it would casually pull pranks that could kill people, relying on such a fairy for teleportation would be extremely dangerous indeed.
If anything went wrong, there was a possibility of being suddenly thrown a hundred meters into the sky—just like Rei, who couldn't even use the sky as a foothold.
Ordinarily speaking, that would be the same as killing someone, and it shouldn't fall under the category of pranks.
But... in the case of a fairy, it would still casually do such a thing as a normal prank.
From the incident on the Seremuse Plain, Rei understood this better than anyone else present.
"In any case, I've confirmed that the fairy exists. Ara, you too, right?"
When Elena directed her gaze toward Ara, Ara nodded in reply. "Of course."
"I believed in the fairy's existence from hearing Rei's account, but being able to definitively confirm its appearance with my own eyes like this is significant. ...Wouldn't you agree?"
"Well, I suppose so."
Rei responded to Elena's words, though with a hint of dissatisfaction.
Elena and the others had never seen a fairy, but Rei had firmly confirmed its existence himself.
Given that, if Elena claimed that what she saw was the real harvest, he couldn't honestly say he'd accept it.
"I hear that fairies love pranks. Whether what the fairy did to Rei qualifies as a prank is debatable, but given that its prank failed, what do you think it will do next? I believe that precisely because it failed once, it will come back to pester Rei again."
"That's a possibility. ...The question is whether it will come alone next time or bring companions. Which do you think?"
"I don't know that much about fairies, so I can't say either way. But... from what I observed when it briefly interacted with Rei, I got the sense it would come back on its own."
Baka, baka.
Recalling the fairy that had taunted Rei before fleeing, Elena spoke her assessment. Rei wondered, Is that how it works?
Given that it had nearly been caught by him, it wouldn't be strange for it to gather more fairies and come in greater numbers.
(Then again, if more fairies come, that means more chances to catch one. ...But if they have teleportation ability, catching them would be meaningless. If so, we'd need to talk before trying to catch them... but who knows if they'll even listen to us.)
Given the fairy's personality, even if Rei called out wanting to talk, he couldn't expect it to straightforwardly comply.
And if catching it would just result in it teleporting away, then honestly there would be no way to deal with it at all.
"If the fairy has teleportation ability, that's extremely troublesome."
"Indeed. Given that Rei tried to catch it and couldn't, it seems it can teleport whenever it wants."
In this regard too, it differed greatly from the Magic Item developed by the Bestia Empire.
If it could teleport to any place it wanted, whenever it wanted, capturing it would be virtually impossible.
"In that case, we really do need to call out to it without getting angry, even when pranked."
"...I suppose that's the only way."
Ara's proposal was the obvious one.
But being told not to get angry after such a prank was difficult for Rei.
...Still, if that was the only option, they had no choice but to take that approach.
"Then I suppose we're back to searching for the fairy. ...Oh, before that."
The Daar Wolf's corpse, which had apparently fallen from a considerable height, was in a truly gruesome state.
Though none of it had gotten on Rei, blood and fragments of brain matter were splattered across the ground and the surrounding trees, and its head was barely recognizable.
Still, he hadn't yet extracted the magic stone, and since he couldn't just leave the corpse there, he needed to take it with him.
Wearing an expression of reluctance, he gently touched the corpse and stored it in his Misty Ring.
Though only the head was damaged, given that it had been dropped from a significant height, the internal organs were likely ruptured and the bones shattered.
Dissecting such a corpse wasn't exactly an enjoyable task for Rei either.
Even so, since he couldn't ask someone else to do it, he had no choice but to handle it himself.
(Ah, but all I want is the magic stone... would it work to ask a low-rank adventurer in Gilm to handle it? I don't know what the subjugation proof part of a Daar Wolf is, but the meat should be edible, and the other materials could probably be sold.)
Since Beast Magic required only the magic stone, Rei had no need for Daar Wolf materials.
Given that the Daar Wolf was a D-Rank monster—a low rank by Gilm's standards, at least—its materials wouldn't be rare.
If it possessed some rare material, Rei would have been motivated to put effort into harvesting it, but...
"That takes care of the Daar Wolf corpse. The problem now is how to find the fairy again."
"Wouldn't we just have to walk around the Treant Forest as before and wait for the fairy to pull a prank? ...Like earlier, Set might be able to sense the fairy's location."
"Right. ...Set, your five senses are what we're counting on to find the fairy. I'm relying on you."
"Gruu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a cry as if saying, Leave it to me!
For Set too, finding the fairy was absolutely something it wanted to do.
...After all, the fairy had dropped a Daar Wolf corpse onto Set's beloved Rei, trying to hit him with it.
Such an opponent was something Set could not forgive by any means.
Perhaps understanding Set's state, Rei stroked its head to calm it down.
"Calm down. I don't want to kill that fairy—I want to capture it. ...More than that, I want to learn its circumstances. And on top of that, I want to establish a cooperative relationship. Given that, killing it... should be avoided as much as possible, as long as we're not in danger."
"...Gruu..."
Set purred in response to Rei's words.
It was dissatisfied, but since Rei was saying it, it must have decided there was no helping it.
I'll need to let it blow off some steam somewhere.
Thinking that, Rei climbed back onto Set alongside Elena and the others and resumed moving through the Treant Forest.
"Hey, fairy. Come out. I want to talk."
Thinking it was better than doing nothing, Rei called out to his surroundings... but naturally, the fairy showed no sign of appearing.
He fully understood that given the current situation, no matter what he said, the fairy wouldn't respond.
But... since there was nothing else in particular to do in this situation, he needed to keep at it.
"Come to think of it... Rei. What does Lord Daskar intend to do once the fairy is found?"
"He probably intends to build a friendly relationship."
"Hmm, I thought so. But... if word of that spreads, it won't end quietly, you know?"
"It's too late for that."
Rei replied to Elena's words, but honestly, something of that degree was old news by now.
The Treant Forest aside, there were the Lizardmen and Green People who had teleported there. Then the Birth Tower and the lake.
Additionally, in the underground space of the Treant Forest, the Wisp connected to the other world where the Centaurs and Dragonias dwelled.
Even one of these, if someone other than Daskar learned of it, would unquestionably become a major incident.
...To the point where Daskar himself worried about how long he could keep these matters hidden.
That was why, at this point, the fairy situation being added to the list wasn't something to be so concerned about.
(Then again, thinking about it like this, all of those matters are centered around this Treant Forest. ...Since the Wisp is causing the teleportation-related ones, it's not strange they'd be centered on the Treant Forest, but the fairy matter is strange no matter how I think about it.)
What in the Treant Forest was drawing the fairies to gather there?
The fairy Rei had just seen was an entirely different fairy from the one he had seen yesterday.
In other words, there were at least two fairies in this Treant Forest... no, if Rei's predictions were correct, the likelihood was high that there were far more.
This Treant Forest was special in many ways—had they been drawn by that uniqueness?
He thought so, but... ultimately, he couldn't convince himself of the reason, and so he continued searching for the fairy alongside Elena, Ara, and Set.