Jack's revelation was akin to a bomb for the fairies.
"W-whaaat?!"
They couldn't believe it, and yet it made so much sense. They were frozen in surprise as they tried to think about all the ramifications.
Still, the snobbish fairy wouldn't let herself be slandered that easily:
"No, I swear! This human is lying! Why would I ever do that?! There's no way!" She vehemently protested.
Jack had to strike while the iron was hot:
"She obviously did it all out of hatred for the protector. There was no way for her to destroy her nemesis under normal circumstances." He explained.
This was sufficient to paint her as the villain. With this blind accusation, Jack was now out of trouble for his reckless assault.
The second-strongest fairy came forward to escort the target away.
Thus officially ended the Fairy Village episode, with the calm returning. Well, a calm filled with incessant fairy chatter, of course.
[Discovered what happened to the village!]
[Congratulations, Saved the Fairy Village!]
[Receive Quest Rewards? Y/N?]
"As if!" Jack chuckled to himself.
The system sure was sneaky, asking him if he wanted to lock his rewards right now. It would be like picking a single egg instead of the whole chicken!
"How about we celebrate our victory at my place?" The alchemist fairy cheerfully proposed. Would he miss a party? No way!
Before the time it took to say "drunk fairies have trouble flapping their wings," they were back at her place drinking merrily!
"Damn, this peach nectar sure is amazing!" Jack thundered, his face flushed.
"Y-yeesss! It's pretty great!" She raised her cup along with him, drinking it whole. "What are you planning now?"
"I'll obviously go back to the human realm, but before that, I need some magical soil." Jack glanced at the silent fairy in the corner. "Protector, you can get me some, right?"
"I'm no protector, but yes." She rose and headed to the palace to grab some from her secret garden.
As soon as Jack and the alchemist fairy were alone, his aura suddenly changed. The red even left his face as he seemed extremely solemn.
"So, how was the test?" He inquired.
"Test? What test?" She asked, puzzled.
"Let's drop the facade, shall we. How was it, little fake fairy? Did you have fun with the village?" He chuckled.
His gaze conveyed his meaning. He knew who, or rather what she was. There were too many things that didn't add up:
1. She had been conveniently safe inside a cage while all the other fairies were getting ripped apart.
2. She had known too much (situation + antidote) yet had gone out of her way to show doubt at times. An example was when she wanted to talk to her brethren.
3. Most importantly, she was the only fairy in the village able to shut her trap. Arguably the protector could, but only since she had suffered the trauma of losing her wings. (Not a fairy anymore)
He could see her brain working at full speed. What if this was all a bluff? What if he was just fishing for information? Should she neutralize him? Could she? What if—
"Unseelie." He softly murmured. (Dark fairy)
That's when her aura completely changed!
Gone was the joyful and pure fairy. What stood before him was a dark and malevolent tiny evil. She began oozing mana so dark it would have made anyone sick!
Her translucent wings suddenly whithered, akin to the flowers in the outer garden. They then crackled with Demonic Energy as she got ready for a fight.
She gave a self-deprecating laugh, half smiling, half grimacing.
"You knew since the beginning, didn't you? That's why you didn't release me from the cage. Now shall we see who's stronger between the two—"
"Are you an idiot? Of course, I'm stronger." Jack glanced at her as if she were an utter fool.
He didn't even bother to take a battle stance. He simply sat on his throne as he carved pumpkins….wait, what the hell?! Where had all this come from?!
Above his head floated symbols and a title:
የአጋንንት ንጉስ —> Demon King!
The unseelie froze.
She suddenly found herself unable to take her eyes away from him. Who the heck was he?! She was showing off all her mana, and he didn't care?!
He glanced at her up and down like an experienced haggler at a marketplace. Before enumerating one by one:
"Let's see….
Eyes —> Illusion
Wings —> Curse
Blood —> Poison
Teeth —> Alchemy
Bones —> Divination
Tendons —> Music, the bad kind."
The more she heard and the more the unseelie shook. This human looked at a wicked fairy, but all he saw was meat on a cutting board! He wasn't done either:
"Oh, did I mention cooking? Unseelie meat is quite delicious, you know. Perhaps I'll taste some today. Well, except if you can convince me you have more value alive."
She believed him. This man had slaughtered and devoured her kind in the past: this much was blatant!
"W-what do you want?" Her voice shook.
"I want you, little fake fairy, haha. Now whether dead or alive matters little to me…." He chuckled as he rose, slowly approaching her.
She needed to kill him, now! She'd summon darkness tendrils and destroy him! She couldn't let him get close!
But as soon she truly moved her mana, she was suddenly shocked by the flow. The output was many times greater than she had expected, and she instantly lost control of her magic!
What the hell?! That's when she noticed. All the human had done was to wave his finger gently, and it had screwed her magic?! How was he so powerful?!
It was too late to attack. She had to defend! She quickly gathered the strongest shield around her, ready to endure his attack.
Jack couldn't help but rejoice as he felt her panic.
Her spell going haywire? He had just spiked her drinks with Lunar Blossoms. It would very temporarily boost her power, a perk of being an unseelie.
Had she been cool-headed, she wouldn't have been so shocked and would have simply finished him. After all, she just needed a single attack to connect.
But, it was too late for regrets.
Her current shield was very resistant but was tailor-made to her tiny size. It just happened that his Weapon Aspect was very powerful, but the size of a needle!
He approached a single finger toward her face, his mighty toothpick hidden underneath. A second later, he was shattering her last defenses.
"?!?"
The unseelie had never felt such intense fear. The human had defeated her offense with a wave and her defense with a poke! How was this even possible?! Monster! Utter monster!
The unseelie froze, not daring to twitch a muscle.
Jack playfully approached his index, gently tracing her figure. He felt her tremble under his touch as an antelope would when facing a lion. This was his complete victory.
She was stronger than him, and yet she was paralyzed by fear. A damp spot had even appeared between her legs. At this moment, she was looking for any path for survival….
"P-please let me serve you." She suddenly uttered in a small voice.
"Tch— You don't seem that eager." The Demon King showed displeasure.
"Master! Please accept this lowly one as a servant!" She begged.
"Sure, whatever since I'm in a good mood today. You have 5 seconds to complete the unseelie servitude vow before I change my mind." He grumbled, but internally he was jubilant.
"Y-you know about that?!" She exclaimed, astonished but proceeded with the vow.
Never had anyone rushed into slavery as quickly as this poor unseelie…well, besides the Village Chief.
As soon as she was done, she plopped on the ground in relief, her whole body still shaking. Giving her freedom away meant that she'd live!
She couldn't help but glance at her new master with wonder. Who and what was he?! What kind of dark secrets hid beneath his simple exterior?!
He was back to drinking peach nectar as if nothing had ever happened. She only knew that what happened before was real because of the restrictions on her soul.
That's when the fairy protector came back.
"I got the magic soil you asked for and— What happened here?!" She glanced at the drenched in sweat and weak-looking fairy.
"Oh, nothing much. I simply gave her some pointers on her magic. Oh, and she decided to serve me." Jack nonchalantly replied.
"What?! A fairy following a human?!" She cried out.
"What can I say. My handsomeness moved her." Jack shamelessly replied.
The unseelie simply nodded. She couldn't reveal his secrets, but it wasn't like she wanted the world to know she had been toyed with by a human only using a single finger.
Still, she had the feeling that this protector fairy would be next as she saw his predatory smile: he was far from done! God bless the poor naive fairies back in the village!
What made Jack smile was actually the system:
[Discovered what truly happened to the village!]
[Congratulations, Saved the Fairy Village?!?]
[Receive Quest Rewards? Y/N?]
Oh yeah, now was as good as any other time! He honestly had no clue what it entailed, and he was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to make friends with the unseelie. (He was human)
[Acquired Mark: Fairy Hero!]
[Acquired Mark: Unseelie Villain!]
[Acquired Title: Great Fairy Disaster!]
[Acquired Fairy Village Entry Token!]
[Acquired Basic Fairy Treehouse!]
The marks and title mostly impacted his relationships with the fairies and the unseelies. It could be read as +Chain Quest unlocked!
The entry token would allow him to skip the whole long process to open the portal to the Dungeon.
The treehouse was as the name implied. It looked like a birdhouse but worked as a loft for a fairy.
With this, he was done with this area.
"Alright, let's go." Jack cheerfully proposed.
"Go where?" The protector asked, confused.
"Where else? The human realm!"
This would be entertaining…
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[A/N] Thoughts on the Fairy Village?