The morning sunlight was shining through the spaces between the trees.
Together with the magic beast that acted like a loyal dog, we searched for medicinal herbs and food in the forest together. I named him… 'Kotarou'.
"What about this?" -Ruri
『It's safe.』
『It has an interesting biting texture~』
Fairies do not eat or drink personally. However, they exist in almost every corner of the world and has their own sophisticated information network. Fairies that lived in places still untouched by civilization would get their information from fairies that are and vice versa.
There were a lot of magic beasts in this forest, and Kotarou is at the top of the food chain. When I praised him about that matter, he squeaked in delight.
In the beginning, I was scared of him because of his scary face. However, I started getting used to the quirks of Kotarou. He'll lower his tail in dejection if scolded and wag his tail like a delighted dog if he was praised. I even started to find him cute with his easy to understand demeanor.
Once I finished filling up the basket that Kotarou was holding with its mouth, I returned to Chelsea's.
The barrier around the house was modified to allow Kotarou to enter.
Chelsea was waiting for me in front of the house with a huge cloth spread open on the ground.
"I'm home." -Ruri
"Oh, it seems you had quite the haul." -Chelsea
We started sorting the things I've collected in categories on the cloth.
We are going to selling these off at the market in the city we will be heading to later.
Ruri was feeling ecstatic from the morning after hearing that she would be able to visit a city with demi-humans.
As she was humming away while sorting the merchandise, Chelsea laid her eyes upon the things Ruri had harvested from her little field trip.
Ruri didn't realize it at that time, but almost all of the things she harvested, that was pointed out by the fairies were herbs with incredible effects or fruit that rarely appears in the market.
After calculating the total value of the content, Chelsea felt a little bit dizzy.
(I'd better teach this child the value of things in this world or else who knows what'll happen in the future.)
The fairies probably wanted to please Ruri, because herbs that weren't even supposed to be available in this season was among the harvested goods.
With them selling so much rare items, they would definitely be the topic of attention even if they don't plan to be.
It would be dangerous if they caught the eyes of someone evil.
Chelsea wasn't actually worried about Ruri, but the consequences that would result from retaliation of the fairies protecting Ruri.
Chelsea decided to sell just half of their harvest instead of everything.
She stored the rest of the half in a separated dimensional s.p.a.ce to prevent bruising and stop it from going bad.
Ruri was taken by surprised when she saw a tear of light appearing from nowhere in the air.
"Chelsea-san!! What is that?! THAT!!" -Ruri
"What, you say. I just opened up a dimensional s.p.a.ce." -Chelsea
"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!" -Ruri
Chelsea looked at Ruri like SHE was the one who is weird. But then remembered the difference in common sense between their world, and came to an understanding.
"This here is a dimensional s.p.a.ce that connects the s.p.a.ce between our world and the s.p.a.ce the fairy of time is staying in by utilizing its power.
The items placed in this dimensional s.p.a.ce does not experience the flow of time." -Chelsea
"Could I do that too?" -Ruri
"Give
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it a try." -Chelsea
Something like this was easy for Ruri to imagine since she was used to playing games with such concept. In no time, a circle hole was flashing in front of her.
Although she felt a more heavy outflow of magic power with this magic, she promptly forgot about it upon laying eyes on the tear in s.p.a.ce in front of her.
"Oh~ oh~!" -Ruri
Seeing Ruri effortlessly create the dimensional tear that was supposed to at least be challenging, Chelsea smiled bitterly.
Leaving Chelsea who was in that state aside, Ruri looked into the s.p.a.ce created by the glowing tear.
We then have Chelsea, who's eyeball almost fell out of its socket.
From her point of view, she was laying sight upon a horror-filled scene where a body without a head was sitting on a chair.
Chelsea pulled Ruri's body back in a panic.
"Uwah! What are suddenly doing?" -Ruri
"You took the words straight out of my mouth! What are YOU doing?!" -Chelsea
"I was just wondering how the inside looks~" -Ruri
"Even an idiot would know not to put their head into that s.p.a.ce!" -Chelsea
"Really?" -Ruri
The danger of ignorance.
Unlike the trembling Chelsea, Ruri resumed poking her head into the hole while muttering 'but…' with no care in the world.
"The inside is quite s.p.a.cious and bright you know?" -Ruri
"Huh?" -Chelsea
"Chelsea-san should have a look too~" -Ruri
I was coaxing the confused Chelsea to look into the tear in s.p.a.ce by pushing her.
Although she was showing some rejection to the thought, she finally gave in to her curiosity. She held on to the border of the tear with both her hands and held her breath while simultaneously poked her head into the dimensional rift.
"This is quite the surreal scene…"
When I saw the state of Chelsea without her head, I could kinda understand why Chelsea acted the way she did earlier. When Chelsea was done, she pulled out her head with a sh.e.l.l-shocked expression.
"Chelsea-san?" -Ruri
Chelsea regained her sense after I waved my hands in front of her.
"Are you alright?" -Ruri
"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just a little bit surprised. Who knew the inside of the dimensional s.p.a.ce was like that." -Chelsea
"You really never entered the dimensional s.p.a.ce before?" -Ruri
"I suppose it was a stereotypical idea between magic users, that you couldn't enter it.
Besides, the dimensional s.p.a.ce I make isn't as big as that, so there was no way for me to enter one anyway." -Chelsea
I pondered the thought.
I didn't want to do anything dangerous. I want to try to enter the s.p.a.ce with my whole body, but listening to Chelsea's word, there was no guarantee it'll be fine.
However, I confirmed that breathing is possible in it with my head-in-the-hole experiment.
"Uu~ I really want to enter it… What should I do?" -Ruri
What if the tear closes the moment I step into it?
While I was having a troubling moment over whether It's alright or not to proceed, the fairies spoke while laughing amongst them.
『It'll be alright.』
『She is saying that it's fine to enter.』
"Who is?" -Ruri
『You'll know once you enter.』
Since the fairies are saying that I'll be alright, I took their word for it and entered the dimensional s.p.a.ce after enlarging the tear to a size I could step into.
The inside was as s.p.a.cious as what I had seen previously.
The place looks like a huge warehouse with a high reaching ceiling and is totally colored in white, both the walls and the ceiling. And the surrounding was brightly lit even though there was no single light fixture in sight.
Chelsea followed after me.
"This is awesome." -Chelsea
"So who was saying that it was okay for me to enter?" -Ruri
『That would be me.』
Surprised by the voice of a third person, both Chelsea and me looked around for the source.
After doing so, a beautiful girl with a translucent body suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Gyaaaaaa, It's a ghoooooooost!!" -Ruri
I made a scream no girl should ever make and hid behind Chelsea's back, trembling.
"Now now there, stay calm! It's not a ghost, It's a fairy." -Chelsea
"A fairy...?" -Ruri
I peeked timidly from behind Chelsea and was greeted with the sight of a long silver haired young girl with golden eyes that is probably around the same age as me with a troubled expression.
She had a very gentle look. Although her body was translucent, a pair of wings like the one found on all the other fairies was growing on her back.
"But her size is totally different…" -Ruri
The fairies I know were all palm sized. However, the fairy standing in front of me is at the same height as a normal human.
『It's because those children are of the lower rank, whereas I'm a higher ranked fairy.
The appearance of the fairy changes according to the amount of power they hold.』
Once it was clear that she wasn't a ghost, I apologized for the big deal I made out of the whole situation.
"I'm sorry." -Ruri
『It's alright. Just as rumored, your magic power is strong.
Not many people are able to create a dimension as big as this.
When I first heard about you, I had wanted to meet you at least once.
It's because I can't leave this s.p.a.ce.』
The fairy made a sad face.
"Why? This s.p.a.ce is now connected to the outside world. Wanna go outside with me?" -Ruri
『… I appreciate the gesture. But I can't leave this dimension because I'm the fairy that governs time.』
"The fairy that governs time?!" -Chelsea
I was taken aback by the sudden exclamation of surprise by Chelsea.
"Chelsea-san, if you shout like that, even I would be surprised." -Ruri
"As if I could stay calm! The fairy that governs time is a fairy that was thought to be a myth. It was said that the time fairy never shows itself in front of people." -Chelsea
"I see…" -Ruri
Chelsea was probably discouraged by the fact that I had no idea how big of a deal that was as she made a dejected pose.
"You won't understand even if I told you huh?…" -Chelsea
"Well, I'm actually looking at her right now. Oh by the way, since you're the fairy that governs time, are you able to control time? Like, you know, show me the world 10 years from now?" -Ruri
I was, of course, talking about things like time leaping. I waiting anxiously for an answer.
『The task of controlling time requires a huge amount of magic power.
Even with the total power of every single magician in this world, It wouldn't be enough to control the time of the whole world.』
"But the time here is not moving, right?" -Ruri