Fairies Behind the Fake Wall
The first to react was Agartha. “…Yup, total psycho! You just casually do shit we’d never even dream of! It’s thrilling! Makes me wanna stan you!”
“What.”
I’d been trying to set a serious mood, but this damn woman was straight-up calling me a lunatic. …Okay, I’d admitted it myself. But still!
Thinking Hunter would be different, I turned to her, and there she was, chin resting on her hand, looking like she was seriously pondering something.
Yeah, I knew I could count on you!
Staring at her expectantly, wondering what she’d say, Hunter nodded.
“Mm. Definitely a psycho.”
“You bitch!”
I’d trusted her! Hunter of all people! How could she smack me with that out of nowhere?!
At my devastated expression, Hunter smirked and stood up.
“Well, if it’s bullshit, just ignore it.”
She turned her gaze back to me. Not getting what she meant, I just stared back with a big question mark over my head, and she jabbed a thumb at me.
“You said you had a way, right?”
“…Oh, ah!”
Ahh, as expected of Hunter! What did I ever do to offend you, my moonshot coin?!
I couldn’t help but open my mouth in an excited tone.
“There’s probably something around here that can take down that Outer God.”
“How do you know that?”
“Uh… a hunch?”
“Psycho hunch, huh. And?”
Argh, seriously. She kept dragging that psycho meme back in. Did she not trust me at all?
“Okay, fine. Remember how I said I could read the writing on the wall? I got the vibe from that! Check out my sanity, haha.”
“…You believed what I said about psychos being able to read it without going mad? I was just messing with you.”
Agartha suddenly piped up from the side. You bitch! Shut your trap! One wrong word from you and we’re all dead, got it?!
She caught my glare, flinched a bit, then looked away and started whistling innocently.
I was debating whether to flick her forehead when Hunter let out a thoughtful “hm.”
“…Surprisingly useful.”
“Huh?! You’re buying this?”
Agartha yelped in panic, her voice pitching up. No more hiding it now.
“I might be chill, but this is life-or-death! Shouldn’t we think it over more?”
“Or we could just sit here and starve together?”
“W-Well… heh heh.”
The thief deflated at Hunter’s words, her momentum gone. Yeah, that’s right—obey like a good girl. Stay that way forever.
“So, where’s this ‘something’?”
I flashed an awkward smile. When Hunter furrowed her brow, I let out a strained laugh.
“…We gotta look for it now.”
I swear I felt a flash of killing intent from Hunter. Nah, had to be my imagination.
# Wandering around, we spotted a few items the guards had left behind when they vanished. The most useful was a lantern. It didn’t matter to me since everything looked bright anyway, but they said it was dark for them, so whatever.
With better visibility, Agartha finally started showing her skills. Guess a thief’s a thief, huh? Even I, with my Super Coward Mode passive brightness buff, hadn’t spotted it—but she found something in seconds.
“There’s something here!”
According to Agartha, it was a fake wall.
“It’s a transparent wall made with illusion magic, but this is imperial magic, not common stuff. Kinda tricky to dispel.”
See? I told you. Knew there’d be something!This is my gamer cred!
Hunter stared blankly at the thief, then closed her eyes and sighed.
“…Now we’re doing shell games?”
She sounded like she was lamenting her fate, so I scratched the back of my head sheepishly.
“But… we found it, right?”
Oblivious to Hunter’s mood, Agartha chattered on excitedly.
“I’ve been killer at finding these since I was a kid! There’s this technique I use—it’s a hereditary thief skill. Not every thief can do it, only the elite ones…”
“I get it, so shut up already.”
Hunter recoiled in disgust, and the thief pouted. Then, like she remembered something, she perked up again.
“This is important! Oh, right—and unlocking this wall is key, but only high-skill thieves can even attempt…”
“Even if you drowned, that smug mouth of yours would keep floating.”
“No! I! Found! The wall! Can’t you at least hear me out? No empathy?!”
…Listening to them, I realized: empathy whores like her exist everywhere, across time and worlds.
…Maybe I should’ve let Hunter tell her to fuck off and leave it at that. Regret was creeping in.
Now ignoring Agartha completely, Hunter turned to me alone.
“So, what now?”
“W-Well, I think what I mentioned is inside, but…”
I was hedging since I had zero confirmation, when suddenly a snort came from Agartha.
“Fine, be petty about it.”
She stepped up to the transparent wall and placed her hand on it. Sparks flew like there was resistance, but she just grabbed a needle with her other hand and—rip—tore through it like fabric with precise movements.
The wall shimmered rainbow-like for a second, then vanished, revealing the space beyond.
Agartha looked triumphant, but kept up her sulky face to sell the grudge as she turned away.
“I’m going in first—follow if you want!”
And just like that, she charged headfirst into it. But Hunter, who’d been indifferent till now, shot forward and yanked her by the scruff right before she entered.
“Kyaa!”
Agartha yelped in shock, but Hunter didn’t care, dragging her face close with a murderous glare.
“Acting all high and mighty like you know everything—suicide wish?”
“…What the…”
“For all your talk of fake walls and busted imperial magic, you didn’t know jack.”
Hunter shoved the thief away roughly, looking down with utter disdain.
“Didn’t know this place is packed with ‘Lesser Outer Gods’?”
“…Lesser Outer Gods?”
It was new to me too, so Hunter shook her head.
“Fragments that couldn’t become full Outer Gods. Think you can handle them?”
“Hic!”
Unlike me, Agartha knew what that meant—she turned pale and started hiccuping in terror. Her freaked-out face was so funny, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Y-You laughed?!”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re proud of it!”
Well, I didn’t really get it. Plus, seeing Agartha—who’d been roasting me nonstop—scared shitless was kinda hot? Looked like an angle to smack her around periodically for my happiness meter.
Did she sense that? She pulled out her needle with venomous eyes, so I looked away.
Hunter sighed at our antics and refocused.
“So, what’s the plan? You’re not seriously saying ‘let’s suicide inside,’ right?”
I scratched my head blankly at her words.
“That scary, huh?”
Lesser Outer God—the “lesser” made it sound weaker than a regular Outer God.
At my question, Hunter sighed and approached the former-wall, holding up the lantern. The room beyond lit up, and what I saw was…
“Oh.”
“…Hiiik!”
My reaction and Agartha’s split. Hunter pointed inside.
“One alone, I might’ve risked it. But look at that swarm. Can you handle them? Grouped up, their weak power amplifies, shredding the mind of anyone who gets close till they go insane.”
With her explanation, Agartha started backing away from the passage. But I was just full of question marks.
Because to me, they looked like fairy-tale pixies chilling on the wall.
“They’re cute, though?”
“What?”
Hunter’s voice cracked with confusion. But what could I do? That’s how they looked.
Then one Lesser Outer God stretched and floated off the wall, locking eyes with me.
“Human?”
Not like it was talking to me—just marveling at the sight of one.
Hm.
“First human you’ve seen?”
I answered casually, and it glanced around, pointing at itself like, Me?
I nodded, and its face bloomed into a bright smile. Then it started poking the sleeping ones around it awake.
“…Nngh, why?”
“A human who understands us!”
“For real?!”
Starting with that one, the wall-full of pixies grinned and started zipping around the room.
“What the hell did you do?! Why are the Lesser Outer Gods going berserk…!”
Hunter yelled at me in shock, but a Lesser Outer God cut her off, so I couldn’t respond.
“Human, you really get our language?”
“Yeah.”
“No way! Amazing!”
“Guys! Not now.”
The leader-looking one calmed the excited bunch, then fluttered over on butterfly wings, resolve hardening its face. Not super friendly toward humans.
“Never thought I’d ask a human this, but I’ve got a favor.”
“What?”
“Come inside, and I’ll explain.”
Uh. Isn’t this a death flag normally?
But some inexplicable confidence? Like when I read the writing unharmed, I felt immune to whatever mindfuck they had. Plus, they didn’t look scary. Cute, even.
“…I don’t know what happened, but plan’s scrapped. Already dangerous, and now they’re rampaging…”
Stopping here meant Hunter would ditch us, so I picked the higher survival odds and stepped into the passage before she could react.
“Nothing much in here.”
“You crazy…!”
I heard Hunter cursing outside, but whatever. As I thought that, the packed Lesser Outer Gods all took to the air and swarmed me.
“Wha—wh-whoa?!”
They piled on. One stretched my cheeks, another poked my belly—straight-up sexual harassment from the pixies.
“Whoa, first human who doesn’t freak when we touch!”
“And it talks! So this is a living human body!”
“Guys, chill already!”
…Not the best experience, I gotta say.