The White Cat Fairy
The fairy Aegir was up for auction.
“Alright, everyone! How about this elegant specimen? Just looking at him, doesn’t he practically scream fairy? We’ll start the bidding at ten million magica!”
“Fifteen million!”
“Twenty million!”
Why is there another fairy…?
Of course, the setting never claimed Porim was the only fairy in existence. Still, why would another fairy—one who never showed his face until after the Demon King was defeated—suddenly appear now? And that wasn’t the only problem. The fact that a fairy I knew nothing about had surfaced meant any number of new fairies could pop out of the woodwork.
The Great Mother had never once mentioned the existence of other fairies. This called for a formal complaint.
Fairies existed to assist magical girls. For someone like me, who had to fight them, they were nothing but a threat. What if this Aegir fellow could view other people’s information the same way I could? What if he decided to support a city-level magical girl?
…It was a possibility I didn’t even want to consider.
I need to handle this.
In the middle of the feverish bidding, I quietly raised my hand.
“Stop. That one’s mine.”
I’d only murmured it under my breath, yet the words rang crystal clear throughout the auction hall. The crowd fell silent in an instant. The auctioneer’s face slowly twisted.
“Ha… Fuck. What rotten luck…”
The auctioneer grumbled, head hanging low. My eyebrow twitched at the attitude, but considering how many times our group had already disrupted the auction, I chose to ignore it.
Unfortunately, one person had no intention of letting it slide.
“You son of a bitch! What the hell did you just say?! How dare you use such disrespectful language toward the magical girl! Apologize at once!”
It was Kwak Seong-heum, who had been guarding our seats until we returned. He jabbed his finger repeatedly at the auctioneer, voice booming. The auctioneer’s face drained of all color.
That was understandable. Kwak Seong-heum had been officially recognized as a direct subordinate by the magical girl herself. At this point, his status might even surpass that of the slum village’s mayor.
“I-I’m sorry! I misspoke! Please forgive me!”
Realizing his voice had carried farther than intended, the auctioneer threw himself flat on the platform. I waved my hand to show it wasn’t worth worrying about, then beckoned toward the cat.
“Why do you want the cat? What are you planning to do with it?”
Pania eyed me suspiciously. As I waited with a rigid expression for the cage to be handed over, she seemed to catch on.
“No way… Is it actually…?”
I didn’t answer. Her eyes widened.
“Why that one…?”
“Is it really a fairy?”
The rest of the audience seemed to share Pania’s thoughts. To ignore all the numerous cages behind it and immediately claim the white cat the moment it appeared—it wouldn’t be strange for them to assume this was the real thing.
It wasn’t good for the existence of fairies to become common knowledge. With that in mind, I deliberately raised my voice so everyone could hear.
“There are no fairies among them. Release all the animals in the back as well. I’m only taking the cat because I personally like how it looks.”
Whether they believed me or not, it was better than staying silent. I accepted the cage from the staff member and stood up.
“Mr. Seong-heum, wait here for a moment. Pania, come with me.”
The heavy downpour had eased into a drizzle. It hadn’t stopped completely, but it was light enough to walk through without too much trouble. I led Pania out and cautiously scanned our surroundings. We were in the deepest, most secluded corner of the market—a dead-end alley where almost no one passed by.
“Meow~”
The cat inside the cage let out a plaintive cry, eyes half-lidded.
“He really is a beautiful cat…”
Pania stared at him, completely entranced. I sighed and pushed the cage back slightly.
“He only looks like a cat. Biologically, there’s no relation whatsoever.”
“Meow~”
“Enough. I’m not falling for it.”
“Mew…”
“I said stop!”
He refused to budge. It seemed he was determined to keep his identity completely hidden. Pania burst out laughing at our little exchange.
“Pfft!”
“What? Why are you laughing?”
“It’s nothing… You just look ridiculous talking to a cat like that… But is he really a fairy? No matter how I look at him, he seems like an ordinary cat.”
“He’s not. This bastard is probably peeking at our information and laughing to himself right now. I’m certain of it.”
But why wasn’t he reacting at all? There might be some kind of hint. I checked his information again.
Name: Aegir
Type: Fairy
Affiliation: Valton Empire Fairy
Aegir. A fairy affiliated with the Valton Empire. No mistake about it…
Huh? Now that I think about it…
He wasn’t marked as a villain?
Most beings that appeared through information checks were judged as villains, so I had overlooked this detail. There was no “villain” label in his type field. That meant he was the genuine article.
“If he really is a fairy, maybe he’s just wary of us?”
“You think so?”
I pulled him out of the cage and grabbed his hind leg. He hung upside down in the air without so much as a struggle. That only confirmed it further. This wasn’t normal cat behavior. He was definitely a fairy.
In that case, how about this?
I released a thread of magical power from my fingertip and slowly sent it drifting toward his neck. The moment the thread hovered right in front of his throat—
“Stop. I understand. You win. I don’t know what exactly you want to hear, but could you put me down first? I’m getting dizzy.”
The cat spoke in a completely deadpan voice. I set him on the ground. He deftly brushed the dust off his body with his front paws.
He had opened his mouth as I wanted, but jumping straight to the main point left my thoughts in a tangle. What should I even ask?
Before I could decide, Pania spoke first.
“Um, excuse me! Do you happen to know someone named Porim? She’s a fairy too.”
Why did she keep searching for me? Was the memory left inside Pania’s body still trying to hunt me down and kill me?
With that thought in mind, I listened carefully to her question. I knew nothing about this cat. Would he recognize me—Porim?
“I have never met her, but I have heard the name.”
“What did you hear? From whom?”
“It is a matter I cannot disclose without permission from my superiors.”
“Who are your superiors?”
“Without permission from my superiors…”
“……”
The conversation refused to connect. Pania stopped asking questions.
Then it was my turn.
“Why did you pretend to be a cat in the first place?”
“Both of you carry villain judgments, and one of you was clearly contemplating my death. How could I possibly reveal my true identity?”
This time I was the one left speechless. The moment I first saw this cat, I had indeed considered killing him. He had read that intent?
From the current exchange, I learned two things. First, he possessed the same ability to view others’ information that I had. However, he apparently hadn’t detected that I was a Valton-affiliated fairy, which meant the precision of his ability was lower than mine. Second, he could read the emotions his opponent was currently feeling.
He didn’t seem capable of reading deeper thoughts. If he could, he would have attempted negotiation immediately.
He can read currently felt emotions…
I had no need for another information-reading ability, but emotion reading was something else entirely. In negotiations, it was practically a cheat skill.
Wouldn’t it be better to take him for myself?
After thinking it over, I concluded that persuading and recruiting him would be smarter than handing him off to someone else. The other magical girls were already hostile toward the Great Mother anyway. At present, the Great Mother’s only direct subordinate was me. And fairies were also directly under her, weren’t they? When you thought about it, he and I belonged to the same faction.
“I’ll apologize for that part. I’m Xena. This is Pania.”
“Aegir.”
“So why were you trapped in an auction house? What have you been doing all this time? Were you with the Great Mother?”
At my question, Aegir’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Great Mother? Who might that be?”
“…What? Hold on. Aren’t you a fairy? Affiliated with Valton?”
“Correct.”
“Yet you don’t know the Great Mother?”
“No. I do not. Could you please tell me who you are referring to?”
“No? I can’t speak without permission from the higher-ups either.”
Aegir pouted at my response. So he didn’t like it when the same treatment was turned on him.
This time Pania, who had been quietly listening, asked a question.
“Then are there other fairies besides Mr. Aegir?”
“Yes. The Porim you mentioned earlier, myself, and finally Sir Jesper. There are only three fairies in total.”
“Jesper? What does that guy do?”
I cut into their conversation. Jesper wasn’t in the original story either. What the hell was he?
“He is the fairy overseer. Perhaps… Sir Jesper might know something. He holds full authority regarding disclosure.”
Fairy overseer? Wasn’t the fairies’ direct superior supposed to be the Great Mother? I felt like I was sinking deeper into a labyrinth. An unknown fairy appears, and this fairy doesn’t even know who the Great Mother is.
“You said you can’t speak without permission from the higher-ups. But you can say the overseer’s name?”
“He is a superior, but that particular detail is not covered by the non-disclosure clause. In any case, my knowledge about him is quite limited.”
“What does this Jesper do? Where is he located?”
“He is the one who created all magic tools and Souls. He has no fixed residence. He can only operate from within the Valton Empire’s research laboratories scattered across various regions. It means that wherever he is, he can appear as long as it is inside a Valton-affiliated laboratory.”
He created all the magic tools and Souls? That Jesper guy? Weren’t those things supposed to be made in the magical realm?
Ah. Since Jesper was affiliated with Valton, the statement wasn’t technically wrong. But then what was the Great Mother? And research laboratories…? What were those?
By this point my head was starting to throb. In the midst of my confusion, only Pania—who knew none of the background—remained perfectly calm.
“Wow! All the magic tools and Souls? How are they made?”
At Pania’s question, Aegir’s body gave a visible flinch. Beads of sweat began rolling down his face.
“It would be better if you did not hear the answer. I refuse to answer. I dislike it.”
This was the first time the fairy—who had only ever cited “permission from superiors”—had given a different response. I was curious too, but since he clearly hated the topic this much, pressing further seemed pointless.
“So where is this research laboratory?”
“Are you planning to meet Sir Jesper? Hmm… Well, it doesn’t matter. If he does not wish to be found, you will not be able to meet him regardless. Fortunately, the third branch of the Valton Empire’s research laboratory is located near this city. It is inside an air-raid shelter approximately twelve kilometers northwest of here.”
“What…?”
Twelve kilometers northwest of this slum village. An air-raid shelter.
That was one of the ancient magical girl sanctuaries I had been planning to visit.