The Cleaning Fairy
Ian’s answer made the child nod slowly, only to lower his head again and curl deeper into himself. Ian didn’t miss the opening. He swiftly activated his Positive Aurora skill.
A faint magic circle shimmered where he sat, then vanished. An almost invisible golden aurora spread outward, too delicate for the naked eye to fully catch.
In a much gentler voice, Ian spoke again.
“Hey, kiddo. Don’t your legs hurt from sitting like that? Want to step outside with me for a bit?”
“...?”
The skill must have taken effect instantly. The dull, tear-clouded eyes slowly regained a spark of life. The boy looked up at Ian.
“I heard all the other kids are in the playroom. Is it okay if you don’t go play with them?”
“...Yeah. It’s fine.”
“I see… Would it be all right if I asked why?”
“…. I just… don’t play with anyone.”
The loneliness hidden behind the boy’s short answer gave Ian’s heart a quiet nudge. He deliberately kept his tone bright and changed the subject.
“Then how about watching me clean the classroom? It’s pretty cool.”
“...Okay.”
Ian rose slowly so the child wouldn’t feel threatened. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, he introduced himself.
“My name’s Ian. Can I ask yours?”
“…. Derek.”
“Got it, Derek. I’m going to show you something amazing now.”
Ian moved quickly, soaking the mop with a generous amount of bubble solution that glowed soft blue. Then he began lightly scrubbing the stained floor. Every pass of the mop erased the stubborn dirt and muddy footprints in an instant, leaving the boards gleaming like glass.
Watching the scene, Derek’s face gradually brightened.
“Pretty neat, right?”
“...Yeah. You look like… a cleaning fairy.”
“Whoa, a cleaning fairy? Derek, I’m honestly honored.”
When Ian placed a hand over his heart and gave an exaggerated bow, a tiny giggle escaped Derek’s lips.
Just then the classroom door burst open and someone hurried inside. It was a kind-looking male teacher whose gentle face reminded Ian of a teddy bear.
“Oh, Derek! You were here all along. Teacher was so worried about you.”
The moment he spotted the boy, the teacher strode over and carefully extended his hand. Derek stared at Ian for a second, then stepped out of the cubby on his own and took the teacher’s hand.
It must have been quite the shock for the teacher. His eyes widened and his mouth fell slightly open. He turned to Ian with a dazed expression and offered his thanks.
“You must have taken good care of him. Thank you so much.”
“It was nothing.”
Ian bowed again, then crouched to meet Derek’s eyes.
“Take care, Derek. It was short, but I had a really good time.”
Derek gazed at Ian with obvious regret. Then, as if hiding a treasure, he whispered so softly it was almost inaudible.
“Bye… Ian hyung.”
The whole way out of the classroom, the boy kept glancing back while clutching the teacher’s hand. Ian waved kindly each time. When the door finally closed, he let out a quiet sigh.
Whew… I feel a little sad too, somehow.
The image of the child’s tear-streaked face kept floating in front of his eyes.
Still, there was one small hope. Since they lived in the same city, maybe they would run into each other again someday. It was a modest wish, but it was enough.
After that, Ian cleaned the remaining five classrooms with slower, more careful strokes. By the time he finished, the sky had already begun to glow with the soft hues of early evening. As he left Lumina Lower Academy with a hefty payment in his pocket, his steps felt strangely heavier than they had that morning.
He stood on the roadside for a moment, recalling the boy’s small back, then shook his head hard.
Hah, what can I do by worrying more? Let’s just go get the completion stamp first.
As if shaking off the bittersweet feeling, he strode briskly toward the main road.
He walked without stopping until the pale scarlet sky burned deep with sunset. Only then did the heaviness in Ian’s chest finally lighten.
Ah, right. I’m completely soaked in sweat.
He could always clean his sweat-drenched clothes with Perfect Bubble, but he still didn’t want to stay a “one-outfit gentleman” forever. If his only set of clothes got damaged, he’d be in real trouble.
Yeah. Let’s buy a few more outfits.
Slowing his pace, Ian looked around for a suitable clothing shop. After a while, he spotted a modest store on a street corner that sold everyday wear. He spent three gold there and bought two tunic shirts and two pairs of sturdy-looking leather pants.
With his bag now pleasantly plump with new clothes, he quickened his steps. Soon the familiar building of the errand runners’ guild came into view. When he stepped inside, the usual receptionist was sitting at the counter with her expressionless face.
“Hello.”
“Yes. Have you completed the request?”
“I have. They even gave me snacks in the middle because I cleaned so well.”
For the briefest moment, the corner of the receptionist’s mouth twitched upward before settling again. It was a gentle smile, the kind one might give a proud younger sibling. Ian felt his ears grow hot for some reason and hurriedly handed over the request form.
She stamped “Request Completed” with a firm thud right beside the verification mark. At the same time, the form dissolved into tiny motes of light and scattered into the air.
“New requests have piled up again. Feel free to check the board before you leave.”
“Ah, yes!”
At her calm voice, Ian rushed over to the bulletin board. Just as she’d said, it was covered with fresh request sheets.
As he examined each one carefully, a peculiar request caught his eye. It was posted across every rank—the search for a rare herb called “whitefoot flower.” The client was the Gelian Advanced Healing Center, and the request had flooded the board from highest to lowest rank.
The rewards were nothing short of outrageous. The phrase “Maximum Completion Payment” immediately grabbed his attention.
Lower rank paid 50 gold for one stalk. Intermediate paid 200 gold for three. Advanced offered a staggering 1,000 gold for ten. And the highest rank, which had no limit on reward, promised 2,000 gold for fifteen stalks.
Ian stood there with his mouth hanging open, staring at the sheet until he finally snapped out of it. The rewards were enormous, but so were the advance fees. Lower rank was a cheap 6 silver, but intermediate jumped straight to 7 gold. Advanced required a whopping 17 gold.
Maybe… I should try for the intermediate one?
He had been planning to prepay seven days at the Dream Shelter inn today. Paying all at once gave a discount, bringing the weekly rate down to just 6 gold.
Wait, I have 13 gold and 5 silver left… If I pay the 7 gold advance for intermediate, I’ll still have 6 gold and 5 silver. That’s enough for the inn too!
His heart began to race wildly. If he was lucky enough to find just three stalks, he could pocket 200 gold in one go. That kind of money would be a solid emergency fund that could keep him safe in this unfamiliar world for quite a while.
That was when the receptionist’s voice shattered his rosy daydream.
“I’m sorry, but temporary errand runners can only accept the lowest and lower-rank requests. Once you become a full lower-rank runner, you’ll be able to challenge up to intermediate.”
“Ah…”
Ian scratched the back of his head sheepishly. He gave a polite bow to thank her for the information, then without hesitation tore off a lower-rank request sheet.
Haha… Of course. Things were never going to be that easy.
He tried to console himself. Maybe the whitefoot flower was an incredibly difficult request where even seeing a single stalk was rare. Given how absurd the rewards were, even a lower-rank job was clearly no walk in the park.
And Ian’s hunch turned out to be eerily, spine-tinglingly accurate.
The next day, Ian stepped into the Arsilene Forest that stretched beyond the western gate.
The entire place looked like a kingdom of snow. Trees with pure white branches and pale pastel leaves grew densely together, and even the nameless flowers blooming at his feet were all soft pastel or white. It was a spectacle worthy of being called a forest of fantasy, but the real problem was that the forest was vast.
Ian poured Detection into the area until he had only 10 mana left, yet the results were miserable. Clutching the hollow feeling that came with mana exhaustion, he switched to relying on his eyes and thrashed through the sea of white flowers, screaming.
“Aaaah! Where the hell are you, whitefoot flowers!”
Eventually he staggered over to a nearby tree trunk, slid down, and collapsed. He had been bent over searching flowerbeds since lunchtime; his spine felt like it was about to snap.
That wasn’t all. Some of the flowers must have been especially heavy with pollen, because he had been sneezing nonstop and his nose was now swollen and stinging. His eyes burned from the pollen too, stinging so badly they felt ready to turn bloodshot at any moment.
Heh… Guess there really is no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
The bold confidence he’d felt about earning 50 gold in one shot had vanished without a trace long ago. The one silver lining was that the request’s completion deadline was a full month.
No, wait… The fact that they gave a whole month for a single lower-rank request should have been a warning. This really is one vicious job!
Still, today’s suffering hadn’t been completely in vain. He had almost finished sweeping the outer edges of the Arsilene Forest. Though the woods were as large as an entire city, if he kept at it for another ten days or so while using Detection, he should be able to cover the whole area.
And maybe, just maybe, I’ll stumble across the flowers by some miracle in the meantime.
As his positive thinking circuit slowly restarted, the brutal fatigue seemed to ease a little. Ian stood up, twisted his stiff body, and stretched with a huge yawn. At that exact moment, a thunderous growl erupted from his stomach.
Oops. I skipped lunch and spent the whole day just looking for flowers.
From beneath the emptiness of mana depletion, the ferocious hunger he had forgotten surged up like a volcano. Ian clutched his belly and staggered out of the forest path. It looked like he would have no choice but to head straight to Roscal’s Red Brazier for dinner tonight.
All right. Tonight it’s definitely meat! I’m getting those juicy sausages too!
His mouth watered. With nothing but pure determination for food burning in his eyes, Ian hurried toward the city gate.