Perhaps the dew that fell early in the morning hadn’t completely dried yet.
The droplets hanging from the tips of the leaves sparkled in the rising sunlight.
The sparkling color resembled bright erald green.
It was a beautiful sight, almost like a picture painted on a canvas.
Of course, this Sky Garden was quite different from Reverse Mountain, where the third task had taken place yesterday.
The trees and grass scattered around here didn’t grow wildly but instead gave off a feeling of being neatly organized.
If Reverse Mountain felt like a place untouched by human hands, the Sky Garden seed more like a carefully crafted work of art.
It wasn’t for nothing that it was called a garden.
Just walking around it felt refreshing, like going for a stroll.
‘Is this how you keep the fairies here? It’s impressive. You can really feel the designers’ effort and philosophy.’
Unlike Reverse Mountain, the environnt here wasn’t particularly dangerous.
First of all, fairies were a peaceful species that wouldn’t attack humans unless provoked.
The ecosystem here was likely built around less aggressive animals to accommodate them.
Probably, the most dangerous animal here would be a weasel.
At the weasel level, I could chase it off without using telekinesis.
There definitely wouldn’t be any monster weasels that could tear people in half.
“....”
Anyway, it was a relief that it wasn’t dangerous.
As I thought this, I glanced down at my wrist.
On the inside of my wrist, where the watch was attached, there was a white paper band.
This paper band looked like sothing you'd get at an amusent park.
This was sothing the staff had given . It was a device to attract the fairies.
It was designed to make the wearer’s presence faint and create a wave of curiosity that would draw the fairies near.
But what made uncertain was whether the fairies would actually approach .
I knew it worked, but sotis fairies would avoid it if it seed uninteresting.
If the fairies didn’t feel curious and just fluttered around before disappearing...
‘Hmm... To get the World Tree Seed, I need to find a fairy that’s hiding it. Once I et one, I’ll know what they like, and I’ll try to lure them... But what if I can’t ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) even et one?’
Thinking about it, eting a specific fairy in this vast place seed like it might be quite difficult.
As I thought this, I slowly looked around, and a cold sweat began to form on my back.
This might end up being a real headache.
At that mont, sothing faintly shimring in the air caught my eye.
“...?”
I stopped in my tracks, narrowing my eyes as I focused on the particles floating in the air.
Instinctively, I recognized that this was a trace of a fairy.
The color scattering in the air was yellow.
The fairy I was looking for was purple, so this was probably a fairy that wasn’t the one I needed.
Should I just ignore it and pass by, so I don’t waste energy?
No, maybe I could still gather so useful information.
After a brief hesitation, I straightened up and carefully examined the trace.
Then, I took the chocolate cookie I had hidden in my pocket and placed it on my palm.
“Cookies!”
“...!”
Whoosh!
With a breeze that ruffled my hair, a loud child’s voice echoed.
Then, I felt sothing soft and warm cling to my arm.
Naturally, I staggered a little from the sudden impact.
But since I had expected this situation, I carefully supported the small thing on my arm to keep it from falling.
However, no matter what I did,
the unidentified thing clinging to my arm just munched away at the thin cookie on my palm.
“Mmm... delicious, delicious! This is even better than the honey cookies Mingling made... Ah.”
By the ti the cookie crumbled into pieces, the creature that had been clinging to my arm was staring up at with wide eyes.
And the expression on its face was one of utter embarrassnt.
It seed like it hadn’t expected to be so drawn to the cookies.
I let out a small chuckle inside my mask as I looked down at the little creature clinging to my arm.
‘This is a fairy. Surprisingly... it’s cute. I was worried it would feel like the uncanny valley, but it’s actually adorable.’
The fairy, up close, was surprisingly cute.
Considering the ratio of its head and body, it was about 2.5 heads tall?
With its fluttering clothes,
it felt more like a moving doll than a living creature.
Add to that the large eyes like bells, cute little lips, and exaggerated movents,
and it looked like sothing a person who loves cute things would go crazy for. Alice, be careful!
“This, human... I’ve fallen into a human trap! Luring Chiril with cookies! You intend to harm !”
But the fairy, Chiril, who had finished devouring all the cookies, was now on alert, eyeing suspiciously.
It was strange that she had co to and was now on guard, but...
Still, I had no intention of harming her.
I kept my steady grip on the fairy and carefully placed a new cookie on my palm.
Maybe she was surprised by the cookie appearing out of nowhere on my hand.
Chiril widened her eyes in disbelief and shouted.
“C-Cookies appeared on your palm! It’s magic! But you shouldn’t have any magic power!”
“....”
So, you’re not going to eat it?
I tilted my head and gently tapped the cookie with my thumb as if to ask her.
Maybe she felt reluctant to give up the cookie.
After a brief mont of hesitation, Chiril loudly declared she would eat it and shoved the cookie into her mouth.
Then, her wariness naturally faded away. Well, this couldn’t get any easier.
Ah, just so you know, this wasn’t telekinesis, it was the principle of magic.
I hadn’t hidden extra cookies, just like how you hide cards behind your fingers.
I had practiced it while watching shorts before bed. I never thought the day would actually co where I’d use it.
‘Fairies living in the Sky Garden aren’t allowed to co into contact with outside things for protection. They go crazy over cookies like these, which are filled with sugar, even though they usually only eat snacks made from natural ingredients.’
By the way, fairies loving cookies is a typical trait of theirs.
They usually only eat rough cookies made with natural honey on rare occasions.
They can’t resist cookies that are carefully made, no matter how hard they try.
Well, it’s different for each fairy, so getting one that likes cookies on the first try was probably luck.
But, on second thought, it wasn’t entirely a good thing.
If the goal was to pass the task, I could just lure her with cookies and beco friends, then be done.
But my real goal was to find the World Tree Seed hidden by one of the fairies in the Sky Garden.
At this point, passing the task didn’t matter as much.
After all, stopping the world’s destruction was a far more important task.
‘Hmm, maybe... I should just let her go.’
I handed Chiril more cookies as she squird, and gently patted her head.
Chiril, seemingly satisfied after eating enough to make her stomach round, looked up at with an adorable face full of cookie crumbs, proudly declaring,
“Hehe, hehe... I understand! You, who gave cookies, are a good human! I will give you the opportunity to beco friends with !”
“....”
I glanced away from Chiril, who was smiling confidently on my palm.
If we beca friends, honestly, that would be a little troubleso.
Think about it. All the actions of the candidates in the Sky Garden were being monitored through their watches.
So, if I beca friends with a fairy and kept wandering around the Sky Garden?
That would be like blatantly advertising that I had an ulterior motive.
At least, for , it seed best to go our separate ways here.
I still had plenty of ti to legally explore the Sky Garden. I didn’t want to be disturbed just yet.
But perhaps Chiril had caught on to my thoughts.
Her confidence slowly faded, and her body shrank in size as she looked at nervously.
“Ch-Chiril wants to be friends with humans...”
Maybe she had a sad experience of not being able to beco friends with soone before.
Chiril hesitated, then spoke with a trembling voice.
“You... don’t want to be friends with Chiril...?”
Drops of tears began to gather in Chiril’s large eyes.
Her innocent face was like a dagger to my conscience.
I broke out in a cold sweat as I saw Chiril pressing her soft cheeks against my arm.
This felt like she was pleading with to beco friends.
But if I rejected her here, I had no idea what Chiril would do.
She might make it so that no other fairy could approach.
That would be problematic. I wouldn’t be able to et the purple fairy I was looking for.
I might have made the worst mistake.
‘Hmm, then... Ah, I’ll just secretly beco friends without the staff knowing.’
I put the hand not holding Chiril in my pocket and grabbed the echo with my hand.
I then asked the echo if anyone nearby was holding any devices.
[ I’ll check! ...No, there are no other electronic devices within 100 ters. ]
‘Then can you hack the watch so that it doesn’t send information for a mont? I’d appreciate it if it’s done without being detected.’
[ Understood. I’ll send a repeating loop of your actions from 10 minutes ago for the next minute. ]
Good. It’s not perfect, but it’ll work as a decoy.
Plus, I confird there are no staff mbers keeping an eye on us.
I lifted the fox mask I had been wearing and looked down at Chiril.
The fairy, who had been crying out of frustration, now looked up at without tears.
“Y-Yes... Beautiful...”
“...!”
I raised my finger to my lips and made a “shh” gesture.
The fact that we beca friends should remain a secret.
That was the clear aning behind my action.
Chiril, seemingly understanding, nodded vigorously.
I gave her a small smile before gently lowering her to the ground and covering my face with the mask again.
As a parting gift, I gave her a few more cookies.
Chiril, with her cheeks flushed red, munched on the cookies and mumbled absentmindedly.
“Se, secret... The secret between Chiril and the human...”
“....”
So cute.
I stroked Chiril’s head, sitting on the ground, and walked toward the inner part of the Sky Garden, as if I was about to leave.
Now, I wouldn’t have to worry about any repercussions.
I felt like I had handled this pretty cleverly.
But just as I thought that, a loud explosion echoed from sowhere nearby.
It felt like the peaceful atmosphere up to that point had crumbled away in an instant.
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