Littleberry (1)
Montblanc waved her staff, and the scenery before us shifted instantly. We had been standing in the middle of the desert, and in the blink of an eye we were inside a city. What the hell kind of magic is this?
“You can live here.”
“Hah…”
Montblanc personally escorted us to the residence. I let out a dry laugh at the magnificent three-story mansion. It was far too spacious for five people including the fairies.
“Montblanc-nim.”
“Yes?”
“By the way, where exactly is this place?”
“Littleberry.”
“Have you heard of it?”
“… Littleberry?”
“Yes.”
“Hah…”
Her utterly natural answer made me laugh again.
It was only natural that I had assumed Montblanc would establish a base in some place where Palos’s Bird had never appeared. After all, I had fought the organization throughout my time as a Fairy Master, yet there had never been any record of storming their headquarters.
The image of a secret conspiracy society had only reinforced that assumption.
But my thoughts had been completely wrong.
The Snake Bandits’ hideout, the Kutlanka Ruins, lay thirty kilometers west of here. The city of Littleberry was Montblanc’s actual base.
‘This is even a city that appears in Fairy Masters.’
Littleberry was also the stage for the sixth chapter.
In other words, if I had not accepted Montblanc’s proposal, this would have been a city I would eventually visit someday. The cruel joke was that Palos’s Bird never appeared in Littleberry.
“Will you be living here together with Montblanc-nim?”
“No. I must live in my own house. Why? Do you wish to live with me?”
“…”
“Alan.”
“Ah.”
Montblanc smiled bashfully and asked the question. I stared at her as if hypnotized. If Kanisia had not poked my side, I would have kept staring.
‘I need to stay sharp.’
This woman understood perfectly that her beauty was her weapon. If her face had received a grade, Montblanc would have been myth-grade.
I had to remain vigilant. She was not the only one using me. I also needed to use her to grow stronger than I was now.
If I fell under her spell, I would gain nothing and lose everything.
“Let us enter. I will explain how to live here.”
Montblanc walked into the mansion first, and we followed.
“Snap out of it, Alan. You’re drooling.”
“…”
Kanisia poked my side repeatedly. It seemed she disliked my blank stare at Montblanc; her fist carried real force. Sigh… It actually hurt.
*****
“Anywhere and nowhere.”
I muttered while lying on the bed.
“Anywhere and nowhere.” Was there any sentence that captured Palos’s Bird better than this?
Montblanc had explained much about Littleberry and Palos’s Bird.
Because her base was in Littleberry, I had assumed she was the city’s ruler. Who else could rule if not a nine-star master?
Yet my thoughts were wrong again. Or rather, only half of them were wrong.
First, Montblanc was not the ruler of Littleberry. She was the owner of a trading company centered on Littleberry, and the actual ruler of the city, the Dizzy King Samael Prisico, had no connection whatsoever with Palos’s Bird.
But the true ruler of Littleberry was indeed Palos’s Bird.
What this meant was that every bureaucrat except the Dizzy King and his fairies belonged to Palos’s Bird.
The city’s highest authority was the king, yet it was impossible to run a city with one man’s power alone. All the hands and feet required to operate the city were Montblanc’s subordinates. In the end, the city was no different from being ruled by Montblanc herself.
When I heard this from Montblanc, I felt a chill run down my spine.
Watching a single king was easy. Watching the people beneath him was far harder. It required both money and many people.
So Montblanc filled every position except the king’s with her own people. She gave the Dizzy King only an empty title and hollow fame, keeping everything else for herself.
Montblanc could truly be called the ruler of Littleberry.
What if every other city operated the same way?
If they only moved in the shadows, there would obviously be limits. Yet I had always wondered how Palos’s Bird had built such a massive force. And now I had learned part of their method.
‘Fuck. I really have to be careful. I cannot afford even one mistake.’
At the same time, I realized I was once again inside the tiger’s mouth.
I did not know why Montblanc had told me so much. Perhaps because I had won her favor.
But the important thing was that I had learned so much. The more one knows, the more dangerous it becomes.
If one day Montblanc abandoned me, that day would be the day I died.
“I won’t be the only one dying.”
I forced a bitter smile.
Honestly, I did not care if I died.
Because I could revive.
But Aquaril, Oralisa, Kanisia, and Abraham could not. There was no afterlife for them.
Kwonkkwonkkwonkkwon-
Imagining the party members dying made my heart race. Just the thought made my body react this way. What would happen if they truly died? And what would become of me?
No, what kind of person would I become?
“… Mine. I will never let it be taken.”
Aquaril, Oralisa, Kanisia, Abraham.
They were all mine. I had not the slightest intention of giving any of it away.
Knock knock-
“Master. It is Aquaril. May I enter?”
“Come in.”
The door opened and Aquaril entered. Oralisa came with her. Udadada- Oralisa ran forward and threw herself into my arms with a whoosh.
“Hehehe! Master!”
“Aigoo, our little poop dog has arrived?”
“I am not a poop dog! I am Oralisa!”
“Ah, really? Not a poop dog but Oralisa? Oh my, I didn’t know that!”
“It’s fine! From now on, if I know, I’ll understand! Oralisa is kind, so I’ll understand!”
“Thank you, our Oralisa~”
“Hehe!”
Oralisa’s bashful smile was incredibly cute. I pinched her soft, doughy cheek fat. It was truly soft, carrying a strange addictive quality.
“…”
Aquaril watched Oralisa with envious eyes. As someone who was subtly shy, she would never have done such a thing.
“Hmph! Room assignment is complete, Master. Now we must distribute the Growth Stones.”
“Really? Then shall we go down?”
“Kinkakinkaki!”
I lifted Oralisa, who clung to my waist like a koala, and stood up. Oralisa continued sniffing my body scent intently.
“Here? Come quickly, Alan!”
Descending to the first floor, Kanisia and Abraham, who had already arrived, waved at me. On the table lay 399 medium Growth Stones given by Montblanc, stacked high. So many had fallen onto the floor.
Kanisia and Abraham’s faces were flushed red. As the name implied, Growth Stones were stones that aided growth. There was no master or fairy who did not wish to become stronger than before.
“First, let us classify what we have. Strength this way, agility this way, stamina this way… Okay?”
“Okay! Hurry up, Abraham!”
“Yes, Master!”
Was I that anticipated? Even Abraham, who usually remained quiet and serious as a rock, raised his voice.
We completed the classification of the Growth Stones. The results were Strength 40, Agility 56, Stamina 48, Endurance 53, Wisdom 75, Mana 35, Luck 92.
‘That bitch Montblanc… she really processed it…’
She had said she was giving 400 medium Growth Stones.
There were seven stats in total, and the most popular Growth Stone was the one that raised the Mana stat. Mana was essential for using skills, so it was required for every class.
Next came the body stats: Strength, Agility, Stamina, Endurance. The least popular were the ones that raised Wisdom and Luck.
And the Growth Stones Montblanc provided had fewer of the popular ones and the fewest of the Wisdom and Luck ones.
In other words, she had given mostly items with low demand.
Of course, converting them to gold would be an enormous sum, yet I could not help feeling sorry and aggrieved.
‘Let me see…’
I felt sorry, and now checked the party members’ status windows to distribute the Growth Stones. My stats had risen with various buffs, so I intended to prioritize the party members.
‘Kanisia obtained the Mana Swordmaster class, so give her Mana… Abraham stamina and endurance… Aquaril and Oralisa overlap. Ah, but Oralisa is not yet four-star; she can go up to sixty points? Then it’s fine.’
By the way, Aquaril, Kanisia, and Abraham had all become four-star. Currently only Oralisa remained three-star in our party.
‘Ah, right.’
“Everyone, tell me the stats shown on your status window. I will decide based on that.”
I could view others’ status windows, but even Aquaril, who had been with me the longest, did not know this. I had no intention of telling others, so I asked the party members to share their stats.
Originally, asking about others’ stats was taboo. It was asking for their information— who would like that?
“Yeah. Here it is!”
“Here it is, Master.”
But my party members handed me their stats written on paper without hesitation.
Aquaril and Oralisa were my fairies, so of course. Yet Kanisia and Abraham showed no reluctance to my words either.
Was this trust in me, or did they simply want the Growth Stones quickly?
Probably the former.
“Hmm… Okay. I will distribute like this. Do not complain. This is distributing under the party leader’s authority, so rejection is not permitted.”
After thinking for a moment, I distributed the Growth Stones to the party members arbitrarily. My hand moved without restraint, and the party members’ eyes widened.
“Hey, hey wait! The distribution seems strange!”
“Y-yes, Master! My share is too much!”
“Me too! Mine is a lot too!”
“… The most is mine. Alan, did you make a calculation error?”
The party members who received the Growth Stones all spoke at once.
Aquaril 65, Oralisa 50, Kanisia 125, and I gave Abraham the most—150.
Out of 399 Growth Stones, I had taken only nine, and even those were eight Wisdom and one Luck.
In a situation where I could have taken the most, I gave most to the party members, so they could not help but be surprised.
“I told you? This is distributing under the party leader’s authority. So do not complain. Do not eat them all at once; eat only five a day. Then the distribution is complete. After that there is free time, so rest well. From tomorrow I plan to dungeon dive hard, so prepare yourselves. Then dismissed!”
“Wait, Alan!”
“Alan!”
“Master!”
“M-Master!”
But I did not accept their objections. With eyes wide open, I told the party members, then stood up from my seat. Behind me they called out, but I did not turn around.
*****
“… I do not think I will receive this much. Aquaril, Oralisa. You take more of my share.”
After Alan ascended, Abraham, thinking this was wrong, pushed the Growth Stones he had been given by Alan toward Aquaril and Oralisa. He gave most away, leaving only about ten in front of his seat.
“It cannot be helped, Abraham. Those were given by the Master to you, so you must take them all.”
“But…”
“My Master is the party leader of this party. Are you challenging the authority of the party leader now, Abraham?”
“… No.”
“Then do not say anything else. It means the Master has high expectations for you.”
“Hahaha…”
Abraham burst into a hollow laugh. His face was flushed red. Somehow, thinking that Alan thought so highly of him, loyalty that had vanished returned.
Up to now Abraham had shown no loyalty to Alan. After all, his master was Kanisia, not Alan.
Even though his fairy was not his own, giving the most Growth Stones… I had guessed Alan was not an ordinary man, but I had not expected such generosity.
“… I will go up for a moment.”
At that moment Kanisia, thinking something, stood up from her seat and followed Alan.