Wendy, the village girl from Sanchos

　The mother in my dream tells me a story.
　It's a story about a boy with a little fairy who takes me to the land of the everlasting youth.
　If such a country exists, I want to go there too.
　Why do I dream about this?
　I'm sure it's because I remembered that my sister Nana was taken.
　I don't want to grow up.
　If I remain a child, I won't be taken away by scary people.
　I wake up.
　I look out the window.
　The sky is dark as usual.
　I haven't seen a beautiful blue sky since I was brought to this village in San Shos.
　The sky is still dark here, even after the night has passed.
　The cold wind from the northern sea is blowing against the mountains and dumping snow on this village.
　It's okay now, though.
　I get up from my bunk.
　My brothers are still asleep. It's time to wake them up.
　I'll have to be the oldest one to be the mother when Nana's sister is gone.
　But I have some things to do before I wake my brothers up.
　I get dressed and get ready to go outside.

'Wendy, big sister ......'

　Mikal, who was sleeping with me, calls my name.
　Mikal is four years old. He is a spoiled child and wants to sleep with me.
　But he should learn to sleep by himself soon.
　I'm twelve years old.
　I'm going to be gone soon.

"I'm sorry, Mikal. You just need to go to your usual place so you can go back to sleep, okay?

　Soothe Mikal.
　He's a boy and he has to put up with it.
　Mikal gagged a bit, but he finally agreed, probably because he always does.
　I go outside and head to a place.
　An abandoned house where no one lives.
　There is a secret flower garden here.
　The miasma in this area is so intense that it is difficult to grow beautiful flowers.
　But flowers bloom here.
　Many years before I came to this place, someone had grown these flowers.
　And now I've taken over the plant.
　Before I came here, my sister Nana was taking care of it.
　She told me that this flower is resistant to the miasma and doesn't need much care.
　But I make it a routine to check on the flower every morning.
　I walked into an abandoned house.
　The roof is broken and the skylights are gone, and the floor is bare, the ground is bare.
　The bare ground is covered with tiny purple flowers.
　I love looking at these flowers.
　I want to be as strong as this flower.
　It was then that I noticed something strange. I notice something is wrong.

Who's there?　Who's there?

　Behind the abandoned house, someone is there.
　I look into the back with my eyes. Someone is lying there.
　Are they scary adults?
　But it's not like that.
　As I get closer, I see a man sleeping.
　I've never seen his face before. They're not scary adults.
　And that's when I looked away from the face for a moment.
　Something is moving on the man's chest.
　At first I thought it was a clean cloth or something. But it seemed to be moving of its own volition.
　Curious, I sat down beside the man and took a closer look.
　It was a small man with butterfly wings on his back.
　The lapis lazuli butterfly wings were pale and shiny.
　It was those butterfly wings that I thought were beautiful cloth.

'What?　Really?　Are you a little fairy?

　The little man looked like a fairy in a fairy tale.
　The little fairy was sleeping peacefully on the man's chest.
　It was definitely a fairy tale.
　My heart thumped.
　Why?　There are faeries here, right?
　A lot of emotions are building up inside me.
　I have never felt like this since I was brought to this place.
　I look at the man.
　He has jet black hair and a well-defined face. If I look closely, I see that he has a face as beautiful as my lord's.
　The man is asleep as if he is tired or dead.
　Who could it be?
　At least it doesn't seem to be the adults of this village.
　I don't think they are with the adults in this village. If they were, they wouldn't be sleeping here.
　The man with the faerie must have come from outside the village.
　And then he washed up in this village.

　It was going to be the beginning of a story of some kind.
　If you can, take me into the story, too.
　So I reached out to the man.

'No. ......'

　I hear a voice from the little fairy.
　I look at the little fairy and see her sitting up and rubbing her eyes.
　And our eyes meet.

'No!　Humans?　Why?　Why?　You didn't notice that?　Mr. Kuroki!　Mr. Kuroki!　Oh, my God!　Please wake up~!

　The little fairy (faerie) sees me and starts to panic.
　And then she tries to wake up the man in a hurry.
　Seeing that, I panic too.
　If I don't, they will find me. These people have to keep it a secret from the adults.
　I feel like that.
　So I have to get them to be quiet.

'Wait!　I'm not doing anything!　Calm down!

　When I said that, the little fairy looked at me with quizzical eyes.

''Hmmm!　You can't trust anything humans say!　I'll do this with magic!

　The little fairy (faerie) waves her hands at me.

'Wait, Tiber: ......'

　I look towards the voice and see that the man is awake.
　The man jolts himself up a little and shakes his head.

''Kuroki-sama. You must still be asleep~

　The little fairy (faerie) makes a worried sound.
　Apparently, the man is not feeling well.
　His complexion is also pale.
　But he seems to be conscious.
　He looks at me and the little fairy with gentle eyes.

"It's all right, Tiber. She's not dangerous. Because I didn't notice Tiber until she got this close to me.

　Saying that, the man patted the little fairy (faerie) on the head.
　The little fairy (faerie) called Tibel still looked uneasy.

"But, Mr. Kroki, you can go to ......
I believe in Tiber's power, she's not dangerous.

　And then he looks at me.

'I'm sorry. I went into your flower garden without permission. ......

　The man apologizes to me.
　I shake my head in a hurry.

'Nope. It's fine.'

　Perhaps your sisters will forgive you.

'Yes, thank you. I'd like you to miss this if you can: ......

　The man called Kuroki looks at me as if he is squirming.

'Yes!　I'm fine!　I won't tell anyone!

　I nodded vigorously.
　The man and the little elf (fairy) look at me in surprise.

''That me!　My name is Wendy!　If you'd like, you can stay here until you're better!




Raina, Goddess of Wisdom and Victory

　The land of Alemania.
　It's a region north of Luvania, controlled by Zarxis.
　Alfos and his men are now waiting in the skies above.
　I come from Elyos and board Alfos' empty ship.

"This is Lady Raina. It is a pleasure to meet you.

　He is greeted by Hyasis, Alfos' kinsman.
　He may look like a girl at first glance, but he is a man in his own right.

'Where is Alfos?　I just came to check on you.

　Hyasis gets a troubled look on her face when I ask.

'Master Alfoss is that ......'

　He let out a sigh when he saw the look on the hyasis' face.

'You always do. I'll let you in.'

　We enter the empty ship.
　I enter Alfos' private quarters and am greeted by a half-naked Alfos sitting on his bunk.
　He seems to have put on the bare minimum of clothing when he heard I was here.
　I don't know the woman beside me who is sleeping on the bunk. She must have picked them up from somewhere.
　From the clothes she's taking off, I'm guessing she's a princess somewhere.

Hello, Raina. I wasn't expecting you to come voluntarily. Are you worried about me?

　Alfos says happily.
　I was certainly worried.
　But it wasn't about Alfos.

'I was worried for sure. The angels you sent to Maudgar must have returned. How did they do?'

　I say this and Alfos thinks about it.

'Yeah, we're back. I'm glad you're all okay. But there's something else that worries me. It seems that the Dark Knight helped them escape. And, for some reason, no one came after them. Strange.

　My mind boggles when I hear it.
　Stupid Kroki. You should have abandoned Alfoss's men.
　I came here because I thought it might be possible.
　Kroki is hurting. That's what the information from Kuna tells me.
　That's why he'll need help.
　That's why we have to get Alfoss to work.

'They didn't come after you?　I'm sure that Zarxis wasn't even close to going after the angels. If that's the case, then the Dark Knights may have gotten some important information. It might be worthwhile to do a little digging. Alfoss.

　I don't know if this will work.
　My brother Alfos is a bit of a fickle man.

"Of course it works. "Of course it works, Raina. 'Of course it will work, Lena,' he said, 'because apart from the ones I've infiltrated in Modogal, there are many others who are working on intelligence in Luvania. I think I'm aware of the situation.
'What?　Really?

　I'm a little surprised.

"That's terrible, Raina. You don't think I'm going to do anything but play with you?

　I'm sorry. I thought we were just playing around. I apologize in my heart.
　Alfos explains.
　It seems that they have infiltrated a large number of people who are not conspicuous angels, but people who are excellent at covertness.
　Some of them might be discovered, but as long as they don't get wiped out, they will certainly be informed.

'I see. So you're getting the information smoothly?
That was a bit harsh. Some of them have been grabbed by Zarbut's minions and have gone straight to being spies for the enemy.

　I know about the cult of the maggots who worship Zalbute.
　This cult is anathema to the humans.
　Because after they pass through, a serious pestilence will spread.
　The pestilence rots the body and becomes a nursery for wigs.
　Most of those who have the plague will die. But the rare ones who survive become the new followers of the plague and act to spread it further.
　It is likely that some of the Hand of Alfos have fallen victim to the disease.

'Yes, ....... So you haven't gotten any particularly important information, then?
'No, it's not that, Lena. The Dark Knight is apparently hurting. And the silver-haired girl isn't with him. This is an opportunity.
What?　No way, Alfos?　You?

　Could it be that they're going after the weakened kroki?
　That must be stopped at all costs.

'That's impossible. If the dark knight is dead, we must comfort him. Come on, let's go to the silver-haired princess.

　I almost faltered at the words of Alfos.