"Oh, no!" Cater cried out in horror as their magic collided with Lotus.
"Lotus!" Yuu cried out in alarm as he jumped up with eyes wide.
"Lotus!!" Grim followed suit in horror.
Dust was kicked up in the air as a burst of energy went by their bodies. To their surprise, Lotus remained standing there with a metal chain and crystal pendulum in hand as she flicked her pendulum back into her palm with ease. She frowned as she spoke, "That's enough. Withdraw your magic attacks right now. You too, wood fairies."
The sound of defiant chimes could be heard as Lotus frowned whilst standing her ground calmly, "Yes, I understand that they lit up a fire in the forest and, as someone involved with both parties, I should remain as a third party witness. However, though I am here as a witness, I also have to make sure both parties are not harmed, especially at life-threatening risks. I believe your chief have also warned you this too when the first batch of students came in. Up till now, you have warned them well to the point of not putting their life at risk. However, right now, a life is in danger. Humans can't fly, and they are incapable of utilizing magic safely without a magic stone. While you fight, time is being wasted away. You've also heard the merman talk about it. Not even he would be able to help him. If he goes down, how do you think you would have to report this to your chief, especially as the supervisors are busy watching the other group of people?"
There was more chiming of defiance and hesitation as Lotus replied, "If I recall this correctly, there is a truce proposed between the kingdoms and species for a long time. If the truce is threatened now by the loss of a young human for this matter, can we still say that it was in defense of potential second crimson flower when witnesses proved otherwise? The crimson flower is not even here in this part of the mines. Can we still use this to defend yourselves when we explain this to the chief? The most it would do is keep you from imprisonment and death penalty, but it will leave you a bad reputation to bear in the fairy society. A reputation that you could've easily avoided."
The fairies looked very upset, but there was no chime this time. Lotus opened her mouth as she added, "I understand that you believed it would be better to stop them at their most vulnerable to prevent another Crimson Flower incident that could claim more lives, and I believe the fairy chief and the royal family would not fault you for thinking about the forest and its inhabitant as this is your home. In fact, the reason why the humans did not blame you for your attacks is that they understand the fears the fairies have, but what you're about to do would have defeated the whole purpose of what you are trying to do. Was it not to prevent more harm and deaths? If one death occurs now, could you really say you have completed your purpose?"
"You've dramaticized it with the cool tense vibe and all, but you're not exactly wrong there." Cater nodded with a frown, "Look. I won't exactly sugar coat it too much, but… We understand that you are afraid of the forest fire, but the nights are cold and we are worried what may lurk in the dark. Perhaps it is different for the fairies, but a fire is our only defense against these things. So, that's why even though we know that, we still light a fire here. Also, even though this is a serious talk and all that, can we first put this to the side and help save Kalim?"
"Please!" Yuu pleaded anxiously, "He's stopped sinking as fast as earlier, but he's still sinking!"
The fairies looked to one another and nodded with a chime. Together, the group of fairies flew over and magically grew a vine before pulling them off for the students to bind together and help pull Kalim out from the quicksand swamp.
"PHEW! Safe, solid ground!" Kalim heaved a sigh in relief as he sat up wobbly after that whole ordeal before thanking everyone with a big and bright smile, "Thank you so much, guys! Boy, that was terrifying..."
"Think nothing of it." Jade responded with a wide smile, "We all have to look out for one another in times of need."
"Whatever, Jade." Cater sighed in relief, "You just watched in amusement until the last possible second. Still, I'm glad Kalim's okay, but now we're all covered in mud."
"So, we are. Perhaps we should wash ourselves off in the lake before it dries... Hm? Wait, look, isn't that?" Jade pointed at a flower from afar.
"Oh! Isn't that a lanternblossom?!" Kalim shouted with renewed enthusiasm upon seeing the flower on one of the solid islands amongst the swamp.
"It sure is. It's on that floating island over there. Not that we can get to it..." Cater muttered nervously.
"We can, actually." Jade pointed out, "It's like I said before - the more surface area that's touching the water, the harder it is to sink. So, if we find, say, some large planks of wood, we can lie down on them and ride across."
"Oh, I get it." Cater nodded with renewed hope and understanding, "Okay, let's go find some!"
"Sure!" Kalim cheered as he tried to get up, "Not like we can get anymore muddy than we already are- WOAH!"
He quickly fell back down on his butt and gave a weak chuckle, "Ah, sorry. I don't think I can stand right now. Haha..."
"Once you are out, you should be able to walk around just fine." Lotus frowned, "Did you scrape your arm or something when you fell?"
"Now that you mentioned it..." Kalim looked to the back of his muddy arm and Lotus took out a bottle of water as she quickly washed away the mud on the arm.
She frowned, "There's a stem growing out from this cut."
"Fgna? A plant is growing out of Kalim?!" Grim shuddered in horror as he and the others stared at it in disbelief.
Lotus shook her head and sighed as she pulled Kalim aside.
"You stay here." She ordered and took out her first aid kit before turning to the others, "As for the two of you, you should go find that plank for now, if you want to finish the challenge."
"Eh? W-Will he be all right?" Cater muttered nervously.
Jade patted his shoulder, "Let's leave this to Lotus. It seems, he knows what to do. I'm sure Kalim is in safe hands."
He turned to the fairies and said with an appreciative nod, "Thank you very much for saving our team member."
There was a chime as Cater hesitated in confusion, "Um... What are they saying?"
"They accepted the gratitude and apologized for their actions earlier as well. That being said, what happened here does not change the fact that they will still try to stop you if they feel threatened by your activities." Lotus explained bluntly, "Fairies are as diverse as humans and other species in character. Just because they are going easier on you now does not mean that the others would feel the same. After all, their perspectives are not the perspectives of others. So, you best be more careful not to let this happen again."
"We understand." Jade smiled with a nod, "Then, perhaps-"
"Then, we will hurry back to our challenge." Cater finished quickly.
With that, Cater pulled Jade away quickly before he could finish his sentence. The fairies had a look of confusion across their faces as Lotus opened her mouth while examining the cut, "It's best that he doesn't finish what he was about to say anyway."
"Hahaha! It's very likely that he's just nervous meeting fairies up close like this for the first time. Even though our school also has a few fairies, they don't really interact with us very often. Anyway, thanks for saving me earlier! I would've been a goner if you hadn't arrived and helped us!" Kalim exclaimed with a wide and beaming smile despite wobbling to and fro, "Haha! Are those butterflies? Do fairies make friends with butterflies? That's so cool!"
Seeing there were no butterflies around them, the fairies looked to one another with a look of very deep concern. Annoyed and feeling as though her head was ready to split into two, Lotus scowled, "Quiet or you and the others will have nothing but fish curry for dinner tonight."
"Curry? But..." Kalim muttered hesitantly. How did Lotus know he hated curry the most? Maybe, Jamil told her that when cooking in the school kitchen? No, he trusts Jamil, so maybe she overheard him or something?
As Kalim grew hesitant, Lotus took out her needles and inserted them around the arms. Swiftly, she took out a scalpel and cut open the wound a little more before carefully removing the deeply burrowing roots are Lotus grumbled to herself, "It's anchored so deep too... How did you not react in pain?"
She dabbed away the blood and splashed the wound with the bottle of hydrogen peroxide. After she stitching the larger vein and wound together, she began to remove the needles only to discover that Kalim was staring at the wound in bewilderment. She scowled and pinched his cheeks, "Are you done gawking? If you are, start taking the pain medication. Otherwise, I'll make you have curry tonight."
"Y-Yes, sir!" Kalim jumped with surprise just as Lotus swiped away the last needle, "Ouch!"
"You only started feeling the pain now?" Grim cried out in bewilderment.
"Is Kalim all right?" Yuu questioned her nervously as she dumped the plant sprout into a sterilized beaker, "How about you? You took on the full brunt of the attacks earlier."
"I'm fine. I crafted a pendulum from a magestone and iron ore earlier. It absorbed the magic attacks back there." She replied as she pulled out the item from her pocket.