A Fairy's Oath, Slightly Misdelivered
"Would you believe me if I said I knew the secret of the ore here?"
What is with this guy?
Shin Yeji of BOND's Dungeon Research Team. For a split second, her eyes spun at the words coming out of the man's mouth, but her cold, scientific reason quickly returned and steadied her.
She looked the man up and down — a man who had just blurted out something straight out of a cult recruitment pitch. Judging by the chatter she'd caught in passing, he was supposedly the guardian and kindergarten teacher of that young healing Awakener.
She couldn't have cared less whether the mine turned into a marketplace or a pigsty; right up until that Appraisal Hunter Lee Jooshin called for her, she'd been napping in a corner.
I'm dying of exhaustion here. Who cares who's fighting with whom?
The only reason she'd struck up a conversation with him was that he'd acted like a newbie seeing ore for the first time, and she'd found herself launching into an explanation before she knew it. In other words, this was not a relationship where such a bizarre conversation should have been happening.
From the level of his questions, he looks like a complete layman about all this.
And yet, suddenly—
He brings this up?
His look, though….
A yellow kindergarten backpack that clashed horribly with his gym clothes. His face was perfectly fine, but he gave off zero sense of strength — hardly an inspiring type. And his eyes were as lifeless as a dead fish, so why were the corners of his mouth curled upward?
…Is he, like, sick or something?
Shin Yeji deliberated. The worry that she might get tangled in an uncomfortable conversation warred with a fierce, rising curiosity. It didn't help that her current research topic was precisely the causal relationship between the Elumis and the ore.
So… after an agonizing internal debate, she made her choice.
So what if he's sick? I'll at least hear him out.
Even if it was just a passing dog barking right now, the moment anyone said "Wait — the Elumis?" she'd be all ears.
Five years' worth of research funding was riding on this study, after all!
She gave a light, socially graceful smile — doing her best impression of a well-adjusted colleague.
"And how exactly did someone visiting the dungeon for the first time today discover the secret of the ore? Did you perhaps see it somewhere else?"
Of course, that couldn't be it. The only gate leading to the F-rank Elumis sanctuary was the one in BOND's underground dungeon.
And the man's answer largely matched the information she already had. Except…
"No. I've never seen ore like this anywhere. But… the thing is, I actually have a special skill that lets me communicate with monsters. Not a high-grade one, but…"
"…!"
the man said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. It wasn't a completely absurd story.
No — it was, in fact, the most plausible of the dozens of answers she'd anticipated.
"So someone with a skill like that really does exist."
But this was something even Shin Yeji had only ever imagined, never dared to confirm. People with monster-communication skills were simply that rare.
Someone with a skill that had always fallen under the category of "vanishingly rare, but technically documented" was standing right in front of her.
"Then why… when Team Leader Lee Gyeon was calling for you, didn't you step forward?"
"I panicked. Someone suddenly says they're looking for a nobody like me — of course I was startled. I'm… an Awakener, but I've lived my whole life as an ordinary person, so this kind of environment isn't familiar to me."
…Was that really true?
Going by his expressions and gestures, it didn't seem like a lie.
Shin Yeji now hid her impatience and licked her lips.
If it's real… it's a jackpot.
"I see…. And this secret of yours would be?"
The key here was to exploit the fact that he was a civilian and extract the information easily.
He looks like a total pushover. Shouldn't be hard.
Feign ignorance, gently coax the answers out of him—
The moment she thought that, the man's face changed.
The upturned corners of his mouth descended. Instead, a light came alive in his eyes, and a rather shameless voice rang out.
"That depends on whether you grant my request."
I'm sorry, what?
I now stood between the Elumis and the humans who had been dispatched to rescue us — and who were currently being held in detention by the fairies.
The shaggy-haired researcher stood there with me.
The researcher who had successfully struck a deal with me began explaining, eyes gleaming.
"First off, from everything I've observed of Elumis behavior patterns over the course of my research, the reason they're acting this way seems perfectly clear."
The researcher recited, word for word, the list of Elumis grievances I had relayed. And the reactions of those who heard it went roughly like this:
"So this whole time, we've been using the Elumis's… dung?"
"…Well, I'll be. They got angry because we mined all the ore they were saving to use as fertilizer for their forest."
"I never would have guessed. Honestly."
The researcher glossed over the flimsy parts and the open questions with a rough sketch of her expertise and a generous sprinkling of impressively technical-sounding jargon… and in the end, everyone understood, then heaved a collective sigh.
"So what do we do now?"
But here was the real problem.
Finding common ground between the two sides.
When the crucial question was raised, the researcher snapped her fingers with an audible pop and answered.
"Now we find a point of mutual agreement. First, the Elumis will most likely… demand that we limit ourselves to a reasonable amount of ore mining."
That was because I had eavesdropped on the Elumis chattering among themselves and passed it along to the researcher.
At last, the mood turned grave, and the humans put their heads together in earnest discussion. After a brief but fierce exchange of opinions, the conclusion the human side arrived at was…
"Let's do that. We'd rather not make enemies of the Elumis at the cost of exhausting a resource."
As long as the Elumis stayed alive — and kept up their friendly relations — humans, too, could continue obtaining ore steadily.
It was the result of a thoroughly calculated cost-benefit analysis.
I discreetly clenched my fist.
Yes.
The biggest hurdle was behind us.
"But how do we convey our position to the Elumis?"
Right — if this problem went unsolved, finding common ground would be useless no matter how good the terms.
But who were we? Everything had been prepared ages ago.
I surreptitiously glanced at Taejae hiding behind a boulder.
Or, more precisely, at the Elumis squirming in Taejae's grip and shrieking.
"Let go of me, you tiny human! I shall bury you all in this forest and use you as fertile compost in place of our excrement!"
"You insolent wretch, ignorant of the virtue of moderation! Die!"
Whoever told me these fairies were gentle, step forward. Where, exactly, is the gentle part?
I let out a deeper sigh as I watched the Elumis wriggle in Taejae's grasp.
"Is there a particular reason you're tormenting the Elumis…?"
Standing beside Taejae, Lee Jooshin had been watching the whole spectacle with restless, anxious eyes, and now asked me in a voice that was creeping down into his throat.
Come to think of it, he's been glued to Taejae's side this whole time.
Not that I minded — it actually put me at ease as I moved around.
But just before I could answer Jooshin, Taejae cut in.
"I'm not tormenting her. She's smiling right now."
"What? You tiny human, I am not smiling — I am furious!!"
"There, there~ I'll give you lots of love."
"Unhand me! My— my face! Stop squishing my face!"
Watching this, Jooshin turned to me with a face drained of color.
"…I'm not tormenting her. I need to speak with the Elumis, and this was the only method I could think of."
"A conversation? With the Elumis?"
"Yes."
I had no intention of standing in front of all those people and openly advertising, "I can talk to the Elumis," so this would have to do.
I'd already closed the deal with the researcher using this, and Jooshin… I figured it was safe enough if he found out.
The man is currently dying of guilt toward Taejae, after all.
It felt like capitalizing on a circumstance, but Jooshin was completely at my mercy here.
If I asked him to keep whatever he saw or heard secret, he'd promise on the spot.
Just look at a minute ago — he'd been so busy glancing between me and Taejae that he couldn't even openly intervene, just fidgeting in place.
"…Is there anything I can do to help?"
And sure enough, Jooshin nodded without a shred of doubt at my words. He was even showing this level of cooperation.
Still, I shook my head.
"No, this is more than enough."
Grabbing the Elumis for me at Taejae's request was already plenty.
Once I'd steeled myself, I spoke first to Taejae.
"Taejae, could you loosen your grip on the fairy a little? She looks uncomfortable."
"…Okayyy."
"So the big pale human has some sense after all! Hurry and take this tiny human and that cruel beast and get out! I'd sooner drown in the river of life than experience those ignorant, brutish hands again!"
Tiny human being Taejae, and the cruel beast being Jooshin, presumably.
"Actually, I have a proposal to make."
"A proposal? How dare you speak of proposals! You can't even understand a word I say! Better to not listen at all! You're unbearable, honestly!"
"Won't you at least hear it first? I promise it's not an unbearable one."
"……You can h-hear me?! You can hear what I'm saying?!"
"Perfectly clearly."
"Hey! Then you should have said so first! I nearly burst a vein! If there was a human who could understand me, what were those fools over there even doing?!"
The Elumis worked herself into a frenzy, spitting tiny firework-like bursts of light from the top of her head.
Whether she'd nearly died of frustration at one-way communication or not, the lights flashed so brilliantly they hurt my eyes.
Jooshin, witnessing the strange scene of me and the Elumis communicating, did nothing but quake in his pupils, offering no comment of his own.
"So, we — the humans, I mean — have no intention of feuding with you either. From now on, as you wish, we'll only take a reasonable amount of your… excrement. How does that sound?"
Excrement? Jooshin tilted his head as though he'd misheard.
"You should have said that in the first place. Everyone's already furious."
"…Then is there something else you'd like?"
The Elumis slowly crossed her arms and glared at me with eyes like emeralds.
"You humans have already taken far too much fertilizer. That our sanctuary can no longer keep its former beauty is entirely your fault! At first you brought gifts, offered them up so nicely… and now nothing! Every single day you're loud enough to disturb our rest! Just get lost! Never come back!"
"You… you dung-crazed humans!"
I had no idea why I was being lumped in with the dung-crazed humans, but it was abundantly clear that the Elumis had been swallowing down a great deal of pent-up resentment all this time.
Hmm… let's see, now.
"Have gifts ever been given to the Elumis before?"
At my question, Jooshin knitted his brow as if giving it some thought, then slowly produced an answer.
"Uh… yes. Early on, once it was confirmed the Elumis weren't a dangerous-class monster, upper management told us to establish as friendly a relationship as possible. In terms of bribes… we offered quite a lot."
"What kind of bribes?"
"It changed every time, but mainly sugar cubes, unicorn feathers, pearls…. Oh, we gave money too. They didn't seem to like the money, though…"
Money? Whose idea was it to offer money to a fairy?
Forget the fairy — give that money to me.
And sure enough, the fairy who'd been listening to our conversation reacted just as expected.
"Pearls… those radiant, beautiful white orbs are lovely for adornment. And unicorn feathers make the finest seasoning."
Come to think of it, I couldn't tell from far away, but—
Several large pearls were woven together like a flower crown atop the Elumis's head.
Looking closer, that whole thing was pearls.
So she does care about her appearance.
…The picture was slowly coming into focus. I could roughly tell how the deal should be structured.
"So you're interested in pearls and unicorn feathers. Then how about… something like this?"
Cut the current ore quota in half, and in exchange, supply unicorn feathers and pearls every month.
Did I run the numbers on the company's profit margins?
Not my problem. Why should I worry about a mega-corporation's bottom line?
And the judgment call was theirs to make. My one and only goal was getting out of here fast.
First, I'd push this side through on momentum; if the other side had any brains, they'd accept a reasonable offer.
They bribed a fairy with money to make money, which means the ore is worth that much.
A brief silence followed.
"…That much, then. Fine, I accept. Our side has convened through shared consciousness and decided to accept your proposal."
The Elumis's answer came more easily than I'd expected.
Were the pearls really that tempting?
Whatever. Whether they made hair ornaments out of the pearls or threaded them through their noses, that was their business.
"Mr. Jooshin, could you send a message over your watch to the researcher over there?"
"Yes? Oh… yes! Right away."
After Jooshin sent the message exactly as I'd instructed, the shaggy-haired researcher glanced back at me for a moment. Then, after conferring with the people once more—
"Ah! We've got our answer! They say to proceed!"
At last, a dramatic agreement had been reached.
"Now we swear the Fairy's Oath. The party who breaks the contract shall be tormented by the fairy's curse for all their days."
"Fine by me."
"Wonderful, so agreeable! When the fairy's curse manifests, you'll know it naturally — no need for me to explain, yes? As long as you don't break the promise, nothing will happen."
"Yes, yes. Of course."
"The parties to the oath shall be me, representing the Elumis — and you, the tiny human over there!"
?
I'd been hurriedly grabbing my backpack to stand up, and I spun toward Taejae in alarm.
At some point, the Elumis in Taejae's hand had spun around while still caught in his grip, extending what appeared to be a hand toward his forehead.
"…!"
Light began to emanate from the tiny fairy's hand, like a beret-sized glove.
As I watched strange characters etching themselves across the golden glow—
I snatched up both the Elumis's body and Jooshin's head at once.
Clack!
And I pressed the two of them together, face to face.
"What are you—!"
"…"
"What… what did you just do…"
The oath was sealed.
Between the Elumis and…
Lee Jooshin.
A bizarre pattern etched itself onto Jooshin's forehead and then faded away.
Only then did I sheepishly release the head in my hand and let out a small sigh.
"Phew… that startled me."
Taejae, still dangling from my other arm, let out a small gasp of awe.
"Whoa… Teacher, that was so fast."
Naturally.
Why on earth would Taejae swear an oath with an Elumis?
"Why did you butt in! I meant to make the oath with that tiny human!"
"…What is this."
The Elumis glowed with fury.
I had no idea what kind of situation this was, but Jooshin was looking at me with the expression of a man betrayed.
Yes, fine — I panicked and threw Jooshin into the oath instead of Taejae.
But still.
"Parties to a dispute should settle it between themselves."
It was never our problem to begin with, was it?
Call it coldhearted if you must. I can live with that.
"We can go home now, right?"
"…"
"…"
"…We're allowed to leave, aren't we?"
Out! Quickly, out!
"…Then get lost. Get out! You coldhearted human! Take that beast with you and be gone!"
"I can't say I'm sure, but… yes. Judging by the response, I think we're free to go."
Only then could I finally manage a smile of pure relief.
"Take care, everyone."