Those Who Lost Their Souls (3)
The next day, I went back to the sanctuary where Kant lived.
"Excuse me."
"...Who are you?"
When I spoke to the woman sweeping near the entrance, she looked up at me with wary eyes.
Her name was Loshuka — a 3-star Fairy whose short, light-green hair, fresh as spring grass, was her most striking feature. The gloom hanging over her face, however, stripped away whatever charm she might have had.
"Hello. My name is Alan Han."
"...Right. And what business do you have here?"
Loshuka was on her guard. A perfectly reasonable reaction — I wasn't offended in the slightest.
"I was referred here by Max, the innkeeper. He said I might find work if I came."
"...The innkeeper sent you?"
"Yes."
Loshuka stared at me, her eyes thick with suspicion. But I had nothing to feel guilty about. That morning, when I'd mentioned I was looking for work, the innkeeper really had recommended this place.
He'd called it the Fairy Sanctuary — a refuge for Fairies who'd lost their Masters and fallen into despair, something akin to an orphanage or a nursing home. And the man protecting the Fairies here was, of course, Kant Kepri. My assassination target.
"If you don't believe me, you're welcome to go to the inn and check."
"...Come inside for now."
With that, Loshuka gathered up her broom and headed in. I followed after her.
She led me to a reception room, then turned and left without a word. Not long after, the director of the sanctuary walked in — Kant Kepri. The first thing that struck me, as always, was his dark skin. A rare complexion in this world.
"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Kant Kepri, the director here."
"Alan Han. A pleasure, Director."
"You're looking for work, I hear?"
"That's right."
"Hmm... And why is that?"
"The money I'd saved has run out, and more than that... I've been looking for a place to settle down."
"A place to settle? Forgive me, but could you explain a little more?"
"Well..."
In answer to Kant's question, I recited the same lie I'd told the innkeeper the night before. I'd lost a precious Fairy while hunting monsters. The guilt of failing to protect her had left me disillusioned with the work I did, and so I'd been searching for a village to put down roots.
From start to finish, it was a lie of the purest grade — not a single percent of truth in it.
"I see... You've been through something terrible. I'm truly sorry you had to speak of it."
"It's all right. It's in the past now... and besides, if I keep grieving, Aquaril — the one who left first — would only be sad."
"You're a remarkable man."
"I'm not remarkable at all. I could only stand there and watch Aquaril die."
In my lie, Aquaril had become a dead Fairy. Sorry, Aqua-chan! When I get back, I'll pound that womb of yours until you can't walk straight.
"Then you've come to the right place. This sanctuary is home to many Fairies who've lost their Masters. A great many people treat Fairies as little more than useful tools, but that isn't the truth of it. Master and Fairy are bound by the soul — lose one, and the grief is beyond anything words can capture."
"I hope this isn't presumptuous of me to say, but because you understand the pain of loss so well, I believe you could be a great comfort to the Fairies here, Mr. Han."
"Ah... Does that mean..."
When I asked cautiously, Kant smiled brightly and held out his hand. His white teeth stood out sharply against his dark skin.
"I look forward to working with you, Mr. Han."
"Thank you. Ah, and please — just call me Alan."
"May I? Then please, call me Kant as well. Let's get along, Alan."
"Yes, Kant."
I took the hand he offered.
I had gotten close to my assassination target.
Kant seemed to have taken a liking to me. He gave me a personal tour of the sanctuary and introduced me to the Fairies living there.
The Fairies here fell into two types: those who still couldn't accept their Master's death and remained sunk in despair, and those who had endured that crushing grief and begun to live a new life.
Naturally, their faces told opposite stories. The former were gloomy and withdrawn; the latter were bright and full of hope.
"So you're staying at Max's inn for now?"
"That's right. I only arrived in this village yesterday."
"Then why not stay here? You'd save money, and you'd get to know the Fairies that much faster. I think it would be for the best."
"Oh — would that be all right?"
The dark-skinned Battle Monk hadn't the faintest idea that I was an assassin sent to kill him. Instead, he invited me to live at the sanctuary.
"Aila? This is Alan Han. He'll be staying with us from now on."
"Ah, I see. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Han. I'm Aila."
"A pleasure, Aila. Please, just call me Alan."
Kant had been showing me the room I'd be staying in when he called over a Fairy who happened to be passing by. She was the same one who'd come out to greet him when he'd returned to the sanctuary the day before.
Aila had clearly overcome her Master's death — she greeted me with a bright face.
"Ah, and Aila?"
"Yes?"
"Alan here..."
"...Ah."
Kant whispered something in Aila's ear. For a fleeting moment, sorrow touched her eyes as she looked at me. He'd told her my fabricated past, apparently.
"I hope we get along well, Alan."
The honey-haired beauty's eyes welled with tears, then she broke into a wide, bright smile.
"Yes, Aila."
I smiled back and nodded.
That was when it happened.
"Kyaaaaaaah! Rina!"
A woman's scream tore through the air from somewhere far off — a sound like fabric ripping.
"Hm?"
"...Oh no!"
"Don't tell me Rina's at it again?"
"Hurry, Aila!"
"Yes!"
Kant and Aila sprinted toward the scream. Standing around felt awkward, so I followed them.
We arrived at the room the scream had come from.
"Let go of me! Let go! I have to follow my Master!"
"Please calm down, Rina! Doing this won't bring your Master back!"
"Get away! Leave me alone! Just let me die!"
There were two women in the room. One with short orange-red hair was thrashing about, while a woman with long black hair clung desperately to her waist, trying to stop her.
An overturned chair lay in the center of the room, and a rope hung from the ceiling — looped into a noose. The orange-haired Fairy, Rina, had been trying to hang herself.
"You can't, Rina!"
"I said... let go!"
A reddish aura the same color as her hair gathered around Rina's fist. Her eyes snapped open with a vicious gleam, and she swung at the woman clinging to her waist.
"Hhk!"
That was when Kant stepped in. He'd assessed the situation the moment he arrived, and the instant Rina threw her punch, he lunged like a tiger and caught her fist.
"Calm yourself, Rina!"
"Let go! Let go of me! Why do you keep getting in my way?! Just let me die!"
"I will not! Heni, step back."
"Master, but..."
"It's all right. Step back."
"Yes..."
At Kant's word, the woman holding Rina's waist released her and retreated. Heni — Kant's Fairy.
"Nngh!"
Rina twisted like a madwoman, trying to wrench her fist free. But Kant was a 6-Star Battle Monk with a Strength stat of a full hundred points. The arm he'd locked down like a shackle wasn't going anywhere.
"Don't interfere!"
Enraged, Rina swung her other fist at Kant.
Thud—!
"Master!"
"Kyaah! Kant!"
"Oof."
Kant didn't dodge. The small fist landed square on his nose. A trickle of red blood ran down his dark skin.
"Ah...!"
The sight of blood seemed to snap Rina back to her senses. She flinched. Sensing she'd calmed, Kant released her hand.
"Rina. Have you settled down now?"
"...Why do you keep stopping me?! I can't live without my Master! I don't want to live!"
"Nonsense!"
"...What?"
Kant roared back even louder than Rina's desperate scream.
"Do you truly believe Christopher would be happy if you followed him into death?"
Christopher was the name of Rina's dead Master.
"Th-that's..."
At Kant's words, Rina's pupils trembled as if an earthquake had struck them. At a loss, she hung her head, all the strength gone from her.
Wow. That's impressive.
I had to admire Kant's rhetoric — talking a suicidal Fairy down in a single stroke. I'd never imagined he'd persuade her like that.
...There's a lot I can learn from this guy.
I was glad I hadn't killed him right away. Kant was a man with far more to teach me than I'd expected.
"Hah..."
"You've been through a lot, Kant."
"Ah, Alan. You've seen me at my worst, I'm afraid."
"Not at all. Worst? I was impressed. Talking a Fairy in despair down that easily... I truly was impressed."
"Talked her down, talked her down... Alan, do you really think I persuaded Rina just now?"
"What? You didn't?"
Kant gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
"I may have broken her will to die for the moment, but that's nothing more than a stopgap. Before long, Rina will try to take her own life again."
"What? Why...?"
"Because Rina is a Fairy."
"Because she's a Fairy... she'll keep trying to kill herself?"
"That's right. You lost a Fairy named Aquaril, Alan, and I'm sure the grief was immense. But forgive me for saying so — the loss a Fairy feels is far greater than anything you experienced. It must feel as though the world itself is collapsing."
"As though the world is collapsing..."
"Rina still hasn't accepted Christopher's death. The only thing I can do for her... is somehow plant a seed of hope in her life. Though that's no easy task."
"I see."
Hmm... If I play this right, I could have some real fun with this.
Kant said it was extraordinarily difficult to plant hope in a Fairy who'd lost her Master.
But I could do what Kant found so hard — and I could do it easily.
Why were the Fairies in this sanctuary suffering so much? Because they had lost their Masters — that was all.
Which meant that if you wanted to plant hope in a Fairy's heart, all you had to do was give her a new Master.
And I knew a very easy way to become one.
This place... is this heaven?