HTACS 46

Chapter 46

The land of fairies. The sanctuary of fairies. This land only reveals itself on the Imperial route.

To be precise—it’s a route-exclusive map that only opens when you raise Eve’s affection above a certain level, and after the break, Eve finds a clue and suggests going on a small adventure with Kelterus.

It’s literally hidden and extra. Without Eve’s affection, no dice.

“Wow…”

“Hmm.”

But the moment you enter this map—the world turns upside down.

Literally. I swallowed hard at the sight before me. Seeing it in reality—the impact is no joke.

How should I describe it? A forest floating in the sky. Clouds serve as the ground, flowers taking root, and if you cast your gaze outward slightly, you get the feeling of floating above the sky.

Right below the sun, on a land of clouds, lush trees grow—a fantasy where one step could send you plummeting to the ground.

Naturally, there are no paths for humans. A fantastical space where walking is no different from not walking unless you fly.

“H-how do we get through here? Ah, right—levitation magic…”

“Don’t use it.”

“Why? Why not?”

“It’s a place where using magic won’t do you any good.”

I stopped Eve from using levitation magic with my hand.

At those words, the wolf that had been passing beside us lifted the corner of its mouth and smiled.

“Correct. Your stats are unimpressive, but you’re quite smart, aren’t you?”

“You can’t read intelligence, after all.”

“…Ha! Good. I like you. You’re truly that bastard’s descendant. Follow me inside.”

The wolf walked slowly ahead, and I stepped forward without any sign of tension. Just as I was about to step on the cloud—”Ah”—I heard Eve’s flustered little yelp beside me.

But there’s no need to worry.

This is truly a fantastical place.

Since it’s a ‘fantastical’ place.

*Swoosh.* Even stepping onto the cloud, what I felt beneath my feet was solid ground.

“Huh…?”

Eve, beside me, also tentatively stepped forward, and after realizing it was flat ground, her eyes went wide.

“…You’re not afraid of stepping on the sky? Ha. You’re really something else. What if it really were the sky?”

“Just guide us already—wolf guide.”

“Tch.”

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

This castle, carved from the trunk of a massive tree that seemed to touch the sky, was literally the symbol of the Fairy Queen’s authority.

“Is the queen inside?”

“Watch your words, descendant.”

“Don’t be so upset. I’ve brought a gift worthy of the queen.”

I smirked and swung open the door to the throne room.

And inside, I could see the queen sitting at a table, looking our way.

Light blue straight hair. Matching vivid blue eyes. A dress reminiscent of flower petals enveloping her entire body.

Her form rejected all descriptors other than—beautiful.

Literally, the most beautiful being crafted by fantasy. The Fairy Queen.

True to fairy nature, she was about half human size—but she didn’t feel small. Just noble and majestic.

“Wow…”

Even Eve beside her let out a sigh of admiration at the beauty—and honestly, seeing her in reality, I was a bit surprised too.

But somewhere in my heart, not even a hint of affection—let alone romantic feelings—sprouted.

“Hic. Moooya? You really look like a human! Human, hehe. Which fairy are you? Really, really human-like! Wow, a human! Even our fairy realm has a human visitor!”

Honestly, with a bottle of liquor dangling in one hand as she looked our way—romantic feelings, my ass.

“Waha! Are you really human? Or a fairy pretending to be human? I dunno!”

She’s just a three-hundred-year-old alcoholic.

—

Now. Let’s think carefully.

D/Z SAGA has multiple coexisting regions. The ecosystems of the Eastern Forest zone and the Sleeping Mountain Range, and the distribution of monsters, plants, and animals within them, are completely different.

Why is that possible? There’s no transitional zone, no region where ecosystems coexist—they’re neatly divided?

That’s impossible naturally.

But—it’s not natural.

This academy island, Zephrin, is an artificial island personally built by the great First Emperor. Naturally, barriers are laid everywhere, and ecosystems are distributed accordingly.

It’s a massive setting that’s unbelievable even as the work of a single person—or even with the help of surrounding magic priests—but that’s how Zephrin explains why each map is separated.

“Human-like fairy…! Fairy-like humaaan! Wow, your face even looks like that person…”

And that—played a part in turning the Fairy Queen into an alcoholic.

“Qu-Queen. Guests have arrived. The descendant of that person…”

“Again, again! That trick won’t work, hehe. This Elpirane won’t be fooled! Won’t be, won’t be!”

The wolf tried to advise her, but the Fairy Queen tapped the wolf’s head with her bottle and flopped down on her throne. Soon, *puff, puff*—breathing sounds indicated she’d fallen asleep.

…Elpirane hasn’t changed at all.

We paused our thoughts for a moment, and then the wolf—whose crown had been struck by the bottle—let out a deep sigh and dragged us outside.

“Step out for a moment.”

“Hmm.”

As soon as we were out, the wolf looked at me with pitiful eyes and asked:

“…Got any cigarettes?”

“Would I have any?”

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

—

After seeing the queen’s drunken rampage, Eve’s hand had stiffened—I grabbed it and led her into the corridor, and the wolf let out a deep sigh.

“Hard life, isn’t it.”

“Ha. Hard life, you say. You’re quite presumptuous, aren’t you?”

I didn’t bother responding to the wolf’s words, and he stared up at me and sighed again.

“You have eyes that say you know everything.”

“Well, to some extent.”

“Three hundred years since a guest last came to this fairy realm—and you claim to know things. How amusing.”

“……”

“But strangely—it really feels like you do know. No—it reads that way. Your mouth doesn’t lie, and your emotions don’t lie either.”

“Lies don’t work in front of fairies, do they?”

“…Ha. The human I meet after three hundred years is quite the odd one.”

*Cackle.* He laughed like that. Watching a wolf laugh felt strange.

“How much do you know about fairies?”

“Traditions. The rest is inference. I think I know most of it.”

“May I hear it? It’d be faster for me to correct what you say.”

I shrugged and recited the setting lore I knew.

“Three hundred years ago. Our great ancestor wished for Zephrin to become an ideal place that compressed the environments of the entire continent.”

To claim ecosystems meant releasing the creatures that lived within them as well. Slimes and goblins in the grasslands, sandworms and blue dragons in the desert… and at the deepest part of the forest—the fairy realm.

“According to tradition, the Fairy Queen and the fairies who followed her thought of it as a fun joke and made a bet with His Majesty the Ancestor. And they lost that bet. Afterward, fairies vanished from the continent and were trapped in Zephrin.”

“Yes. That’s right. And we fairies began to grow stranger and stranger.”

“Because you can’t leave. Because you have to keep living on this land.”

That’s the fairies’ problem.

Born from nature, they’re pure, upright, mischievous, and easily influenced.

Added to that, they’re free-spirited and love to wander. That includes hating lies.

“Eventually, the Queen—who loved wandering most of all—made this land into a fantastical place.”

“Everything is fantasy. The ideal paradise where fairies most want to wander.”

I know—that among this forest’s scenery, everything that isn’t forest is fantasy.

“Correct. After soothing the children’s whining and maintaining the fantasy, the Queen—who had made this narrow land into the fantastical place fairies dreamed of—was the first to break.”

“……”

I didn’t answer. I knew, but I didn’t need to say it.

Well—if you’re trapped in a place like this, using magic, taking care of whining children, and can’t go outside even if you want to—you’d want to drink. Then you drink too much, it becomes a habit, and eventually—

“The Fairy Queen—Elpirane Owen—became a drunkard.”

“…Tch. You speak freely, but it’s correct so I can’t argue. Still—please don’t look down on this land she created—it truly is a fantastical place.”

“I know.”

This place is a massive magical barrier created by the Fairy Queen over three hundred years.

Even Eve with mana 22—if she uses it carelessly, she’ll take counter-magic and be knocked out cold.

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

“Th-then…”

“Hm? Something—descendant with much mana.”

“Does the Fairy Queen have no way to leave this place?”

“……”

“……”

We both fell silent. There is a way—but it’s not easy.

Defeating the Fairy Queen and the countless fairies she leads—’defeating them with full force.’

Then the bet with the Fairy Queen is re-established, and the fairies can be freed.

“It’s impossible for you right now—descendant with much mana. And the perceptive descendant—it’s completely out of the question.”

“I know.”

Eve might be able to do it someday.

“Anyway—I didn’t come here to play guessing games with you.”

“Then why did you come?”

“I came to make a deal. Go wake the queen. Finish the preliminary explanation and call us in.”

“…You really know how to boss people around.”

“Are you not going to do it?”

“…Tch. Wait a moment.”

Saying that, the wolf opened the door to the audience chamber and went inside. After a moment, a commotion came from within.

“…Wolfram. How do you know all this?”

“That’s also written in the Imperial archives.”

“Fine—you just don’t want to explain. I understand. Still—I see you in a slightly different light now.”

“…What do you mean?”

“That you weren’t just slacking off during your term as student council president.”

“…?”

“You conceive the concept of a convenience store. You research fairies. You create buff-type snacks. All of it was pointing toward one thing.”

“……??”

“You want to show everyone—and yourself—the outside you’ve only read about in books. You genuinely—yes—genuinely thought that way.”

“………???”

“That’s also why you gathered magic books and swords during your term, even if they were expensive. I see you in a slightly different light now.”

“Uh, um… uh…”

“Never mind. Forget what I said. Compliments and acknowledgment between us are just embarrassing.”

“……”

Eve chuckled.

Well, yeah.

I see… So I was doing that without even knowing it. Amazing, Wolfram von Lohengrin.

“?”

So who exactly is that Wolfram?

—

After pondering for about ten minutes on the identity of the revolutionary lord who would liberate them all—the audience chamber doors opened.

“The Queen commands you to enter.”

Following the wolf’s words, we entered the audience chamber—now somewhat tidier than before. The snacks that had been scattered on the floor were cleaned up, and the bottles had been pushed somewhere. The bulge in the curtain behind the throne suggested they’d been stuffed underneath.

Eve must have noticed too—she quickly averted her gaze. A beautiful voice rang from the throne.

“Descendants of Hark—welcome to the fairy land. *Hic*”

She was trying to hide the drunkenness as much as possible, but the slurred pronunciation and the alcohol on her breath were unmistakable.

“We pay our respects to the Fairy Queen, who has kept the three-hundred-year oath from our great ancestor.”

“Yes. Your eyes look just like Hark’s.”

“An honor.”

“…You’re really just like him, down to the way you get on my nerves. Damn it.”

“……”

The grudge of three hundred years runs deep.

“So—what’s the reason you came all the way here? Gonna keep me locked up and now mock me too? Ha. That sounds fun. I want to try that too—drive you crazy.”

“Due to the oath, we cannot fight unless we make a bet.”

“I know that! And I can’t leave here either!”

Ugh, this drunkard—seeing her in reality is incredibly annoying.

“Today, I came to make a request along with a gift.”

“A gift? What is it? I do like gifts, you know.”

“First, the request. Stop your annoying pranks toward Zephrin.”

“…Pranks? What are you talking about?”

“Deliberately scattering pollen toward Zephrin through wind spirits.”

“…Really?”

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

“…You caught me?”

“It’s flying toward Zephrin too much. You could just let it scatter normally.”

“…Heh. Fine. You’re the first descendant to find this place. I’ll decide based on the tribute.”

“This is a snack I made myself. Fairies like sweets, don’t they?”

“No? Well, yes, but that’s not the latest trend!”

I know that.

“The pastries have alcohol inside.”

“…Oh my, you know. Then I’m in.”

I handed the chocolate bonbons to the fairy. The Fairy Queen shook them in her hand and nodded.

“Crunching releases the alcohol inside? How novel.”

“Right.”

“But if the inside isn’t good enough, I won’t eat it.”

“I guarantee it’s amazing enough to knock you out the moment you eat it.”

“Is it a liquor I’ve heard of?”

“No.”

“Then tell me—what liquor is it?”

I smirked.

To enter this fairy realm, you always need to prepare liquor as an entry fee—but alcohol is a difficult item to obtain.

However—if you raid Wolfram’s corruption warehouse, you can use the alcohol inside as a ticket.

That’s the Easter egg.

The final currency left by the useless Wolfram. The game company’s prank. The entry ticket to the fairy realm.

The legendary liquor with a record of making one fight a telephone pole, get slapped by a sidewalk block, and wake up in a holding cell two days later.

I quietly uttered the name.

“Captain Qoo.”

“Captain Qoo?”