The day after being made to promise never to sell fairy-sweat-soaked clothes to an alchemist, Rei was in the Treant Forest as planned.
"Is it because of Set? There are hardly any monsters or animals around," Vihera observed.
"Gruu..."
Set let out a regretful cry at Vihera's words.
From Set's perspective, he wanted companions who would play with him.
Alternatively, if something attacked, he could defeat it and get meat out of the deal.
For completely opposite reasons, having animals and monsters distance themselves was not an amusing prospect for Set.
"When Set is sleeping, they do come close, though."
Rei, who had been watching the exchange between Set and Vihera, murmured this while recalling a scene he had witnessed before.
Small birds and squirrels had been perched on the sleeping Set's back.
Other animals had gathered around the area as well, and none had shown any sign of fleeing.
"Oh, I'd like to see that sometime. Byune, you think so too, right?"
"Mm!"
Byune nodded at Vihera's words.
As they chatted and made their way through the Treant Forest, they eventually arrived at their destination.
However, the moment they reached the area just outside the fog's boundary, leaf after leaf after leaf came flying toward Rei's group.
Like a storm of leaves, truly.
"Uwah!"
Rei was wearing his Dragon Robe, but the area around his face was naturally exposed.
Thanks to the simplified air conditioner function, cold or warm air wouldn't escape even through those openings—but with a massive amount of leaves swirling about, there was nothing he could do to keep them out.
"Kyaa!"
A scream from a short distance away reached Rei's ears.
He could tell from the voice that it was Vihera who had let it out.
...Though he hadn't expected such a cute scream to come from Vihera's mouth.
"Wah! Hey, what's this all of a sudden!"
And naturally, if leaves came flying at Rei and got inside the Dragon Robe, Nielson, who was hiding inside it, would also suffer the consequences.
She had been enjoying the comfortable conditions when, suddenly, leaves assaulted her.
It would have been unreasonable to expect her not to panic.
Granted, those leaves were just ordinary leaves.
They possessed no lethal capability whatsoever.
They were simply leaves whose sole purpose was to make their target miserable.
The scene, which could only be described as a blizzard of leaves, continued for about a minute before finally settling.
"I thought all the leaves on the trees had vanished, but they're completely unaffected."
Rei had already known this, but there was no mistaking that the flurry just now had been a fairy prank.
Naturally, Nielson, who had been inside the Dragon Robe, also understood that the leaves were the work of her fellow fairies.
"Hey! Whose idea was this!?"
Nielson burst out of the Dragon Robe and shouted.
But perhaps finding Nielson's reaction amusing, small laughter echoed through the forest from the surrounding trees.
"Haa, this is a new kind of prank, isn't it."
At Vihera's voice, Rei, who had left Nielson to her own devices for the moment, turned his gaze toward her.
What he saw was Vihera, drenched in leaves.
Vihera was wearing a thin, sheer garment—the kind a prostitute or dancer might wear—that left little to the imagination.
Because of that, the leaves clinging to her clothes were prominently emphasized.
Normally, Vihera's attire would be extremely stimulating to a man's baser desires, but covered in leaves as she was now, it was hard to think of it that way at all.
Vihera seemed to understand her current state as she looked down at her own clothes, and began plucking the leaves off one by one.
"Yesterday you mentioned getting pranked too, but was this one not among them?"
It looked like this was the first time she had been on the receiving end of this particular prank, so Rei decided to ask. Vihera nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"That's right. There wasn't this kind of bothersome prank before. ...Still, it doesn't look like the trees have lost any leaves from their branches. I wonder how they prepared all of these."
"That's just fairy pranks for you. It's better not to worry about the details. It's quicker to just accept that this is how it works."
In truth, fairy pranks were largely incomprehensible to Rei.
Thinking too deeply about it would only lead to confusion.
That was why it was better to just accept it as fairy nature.
"Seems that way. Byune, come here. You've got quite a few leaves on you too."
"Mm."
Having removed most of the leaves from her own clothes, Vihera called Byune over and began picking the leaves off her as well.
While watching the two of them, Rei was also brushing leaves off himself... but eventually, Nielson returned to him wearing a proud expression, and he got a general sense of how the dispute had turned out.
"Did you win?"
"Yes, I won."
Nielson declared this and turned her gaze toward Rei as if to say, How about that?
"Well, at least it wasn't a life-threatening prank like Marina warned about. That's fortunate. I don't know whether they've actually stopped pulling that kind of prank or if it just happened to turn out that way, though."
"...At the very least, I'd like to think it wasn't just a coincidence."
For fairies living in the Treant Forest, there was no opportunity to meet Marina directly.
But it was not unusual for Nielson to stay at Marina's house.
If that were the case, then if the fairies broke Marina's prohibition and pulled a life-threatening prank, the first one to be scolded would be Nielson.
Bearing the anger of Marina, the Shrine Maiden of the World Tree, was something Nielson absolutely wanted to avoid.
That was why Nielson always told the other fairies not to pull life-threatening pranks. ...This time, perhaps because she herself had been caught in the prank, she had gotten into an argument with the fairies for an entirely different reason.
"I see. Then, please guide me to the Chief. Is it alright if Vihera and Byune come along too?"
"I don't mind. They've already met her a few times. Besides, the Chief seems to have taken a liking to Vihera and Byune."
At Nielson's words, Rei wondered if that was really the case.
Then again, Rei had only met the Chief once himself.
He had no idea what kind of people the Chief favored.
If so, it wouldn't be strange for her to like Vihera and Byune, just as Nielson said.
"So she says. Is it alright for Vihera and Byune to come along?"
"I'm going. If I stay here, I feel like I'll just get pranked again. I've had enough of being covered in leaves."
Vihera said this and proceeded ahead with Rei and the others.
Originally... if it had been anyone other than Rei's group trying to advance, the fairies would have pulled even more severe pranks.
However, the ones advancing this time were Rei's group, traveling with Nielson.
Since they were people who had already met the Fairy Chief before, the fairies must have judged there was no need to obstruct their progress this time.
Rei and his group pressed forward, and eventually fog began to appear around them.
The effects of the Fog Sound were already on full display.
(With fog being generated all day long like this, are the trees and plants around here fine? ...I suppose they must be.)
Since this fog was created by a Magic Item, there was likely no harm to the plants enveloped in it.
In particular, the ones using this Fog Sound were the fairies.
And fairies made their homes inside trees.
Considering that, Rei couldn't possibly imagine they would use a Magic Item that adversely affected the very trees they lived in.
Led by Nielson, they advanced through the fog... and eventually emerged from the fog-covered area.
"Oh, Rei. What brings you here?"
The Chief, nearly three times larger than the other fairies, spoke to Rei the moment they emerged from the fog.
She had probably noticed their presence the instant they entered the fog.
Given the capabilities of the Fog Sound, that would not be surprising at all.
"Ah, actually, I came directly because I have a request for you. I understand that you and Nielson can communicate over long distances, but I thought it would be better to discuss the details in person."
"...Is it trouble?"
At Rei's words about wanting to talk face-to-face, the Chief asked this.
Given the incident with Antelme, it was only natural for her to suspect that some kind of trouble had occurred again.
Noticing the Chief's concern, Rei shook his head to deny it.
"It might be trouble, but it's not like someone is going to attack this settlement again, so please don't worry."
At Rei's words, the Chief looked visibly relieved.
Pranks aside, matters of life and death were never something the Chief enjoyed.
Rei had said this wasn't that kind of situation, and that was likely why she was relieved.
Rei briefly wondered whether it was really wise for her to believe him so easily, but reconsidered that it was better to be trusted at face value than to cause complications by being met with suspicion.
"So, could you tell me what you've come to discuss?"
"Specifically, it's about the Fog Sound I'm scheduled to receive."
"Have you decided to change to a different Magic Item?"
"Not quite. I was wondering whether it might be possible to add several functions to the current Magic Item—the Fog Sound."
"Functions?"
At the words "add functions," the Chief wore a troubled expression.
"Can it not be done?"
"If you're asking whether it's possible or not, then yes, it can. But doing so would undeniably extend the time until completion, and depending on the case, magic power consumption would increase as well."
"The matter of time aside, an increase in magic power consumption isn't a problem."
Time aside, when it came to magic power, Rei had no issues whatsoever.
He possessed the Skill called the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, and had experienced depleting vast amounts of magic power through it many times.
"Is that so? From the look of you, I wouldn't have thought you had that much magic power, though."
"Ah, the Ring of the New Moon... this Magic Item makes it so my magic power can't be sensed. Would you like me to take it off? That said, from your words it seems you have some ability to detect magic power, so in that sense, I wouldn't really recommend it."
Rei's magic power was, no joke, something that could fittingly be called inhuman.
There had been many who panicked after sensing Rei's magic power through some method of detection.
In that sense, even for the Chief, feeling Rei's magic power could be dangerous.
That was what Rei thought, but perhaps piqued by his words, the Chief opened her mouth.
"It'll be fine, so show me your magic power, Rei. Otherwise, I really can't tell whether I can add additional abilities to the Magic Item. Plus, the range of abilities that can be added depends on your magic power."
"...Does that mean the higher my magic power, the more abilities can be added to the Fog Sound?"
Originally, Rei had wanted to have several abilities added to the Fog Sound.
However, given that it was a fairy-made Magic Item, he hadn't assumed it would be so easy to bestow multiple effects.
If so, wouldn't it be fine to have the Chief properly assess his magic power, just as she said?
It was only natural for Rei to think so.
"That's how it works. Of course, since there are limits to everything, even if your magic power is as great as you say, Rei, there would still be a ceiling. ...What do you say? Shall I take a look?"
"Yes, please. I want to know specifically how much additional functionality can be added. By the way, if we do end up adding effects, how much would the time until completion be extended?"
Even if all the effects Rei desired were granted, if completing the Magic Item required time on the scale of decades, much less centuries, Rei would have no choice but to give up.
Alternatively, if it were only a few months, that would fall within his acceptable range.
To make that judgment, he decided to have the Chief look at his magic power.
"Then, I'm removing the Magic Item that conceals my magic power... the Ring of the New Moon. I'll say it again—my magic power is massive. If you start feeling unwell, tell me immediately."
"Understood. Go ahead."
At the Chief's words, Rei gently slipped the Ring of the New Moon off his finger...
"Pii!"
In that instant, the Chief let out a strange scream and dropped from her floating state toward the ground, prompting Rei to immediately slip the ring back on.