With their bizarre encounter with a superior monster, it was fortunate that it didn't bear ill intent towards them. Rather, Wilhelm had found himself a key to get to know the Monster species.
They were diverted from their purpose in the forest when a small glowing sphere of light was slowly approaching them.
"You must be the Blue Magician!" The light ball spoke. The closer it got, the more vivid the form it was taking. A small human, about the size of a palm with translucent butterfly wings.
Fairies are rare species that are hard to come by, they usually live in rural places that are far away from other races. They prefer to keep themselves hidden and are shy in nature.
"Yes."
"Greetings! I am Isabelle! I was tasked to guide you to our Master's lair!" She was quite energetic and had this joyful radiant vibe around her. Isabelle was different, she was more social than the rest of her kind.
"Zain is not around?"
"Zain is currently helping out with something, I forgot to ask what it was though."
Zain is the first to welcome Wilhelm into Welrok's lair.
"Oh? You have a companion?" Isabelle only noticed Runa just now, she was so focused on Wilhelm. Runa had her eyes locked on Isabelle, it was making her eyes sparkle seeing an actual fairy fairy!
"She's Runa, my student."
"Ah! I see! Wait here, I'm going to ask if she's allowed to follow us! I was only told to welcome you sooo~ I hope you don't mind!"
"It's fine... It was my fault for not informing, to begin with."
Isabelle left.
"Master! Was she a fairy?! She is right??" The girl was so excited.
"Yes, she is."
This is my first time seeing one! She's so adorable! I want to hold her!"
Wilhelm laughed politely, "It's great that you think that way but be mindful of your actions, fairies are shy creatures and they don't like to interact with other creatures, which is why physical contact without consent is considered an act of offense."
"Really?"
"Yes, you should be friends with them first if you want to hold them."
"I will!"
The Giant Tortoise Welrok sheltered the fairies after the great war, they were on the verge of extinction and had to recover their numbers. Prilea the queen of the fairies asked for the great turtle to help them. Welrok after agreeing to shelter them uses his body to create a safe space for them.
Isabelle escorted them to the lair, she circled some of the rocks around the area, and they began to float forming a stone archway. She then started to raise her hand and a yellow swirling magic began to show itself, a portal appeared.
The fairy entered the portal first then Wilhelm and Runa followed, it was like passing through a door but more magical since the slightly dark forest that they saw was replaced by a forest beaming with nature's radiance.
"Welcome to our Sanctuary! Beautiful isn't it?"
"Yes, it is..." The entire view that the eyes can reach is filled with life, trees, plants, and other creatures. If ordinary forests show harmony, the lair only portrays tranquility and peace.
"Master, I'm curious about the magical archway. Is it similar to teleportation magic that you use?" Runa knew that they weren't in the same location as they were a moment ago.
"That's a nice observation, to answer your question... Yes, it is similar but slightly different. What Isabelle just used was Portal Magic, this magic allows you to jump into another location. In order for this magic to work, it needs a 'gateway' that links the portal altogether, and because of that they can only transfer you to a specific location where gateways are linked."
"Then does that mean you have to build a gateway first before you transfer? Is it like the summoning circle that you taught me last time?"
Wilhelm was amazed because she related it to the Summoning Magic, and yes, they are similar. The main idea is to use magic to transfer from one location to another in a short span of time.
Summoning, Portal, or Teleportation have similar principles but have different functions and conditions for them to work as a spell.
Teleportation allows the user to instantly travel anywhere he wants as long as he knows the coordinates of the spot he wants to go.
Portals need gateways that are linked together in order for them to function, the gateway has runes and special components of magic stones that are printed to determine the which location it will link.
Summoning is by creating a gateway using magic circles, allowing contracted spirits to pass and be summoned from a different world.
"And, that's the answer to your question..."
"Does that mean I could also use it?" There goes the sparkle in Runa's eyes.
"Ahahaha, Yes you may, with enough practice."
"Are you curious about Portal magic?" Isabelle butted in, she heard about their small discussion.
"Yes! You were amazing! How did you learn Portal magic?"
The praise was enough to make Isabelle feel proud of herself, "Kuku! I studied it of course! Our Queen has selected some talented individuals to learn this magic! I happen to be one of 'em!"
"Wow! That's amazing! Aside from being cute, you are also talented!" Those are honest praises from Runa.
"Hehe! That's right!" Isabelle was starting to like Runa, "Human girl! You are now one of my friends!"
"Really?! Are you sure??"
"Yes, of course!"
"T-then, can I hold you?"
"Sure!" Isabelle flew to Runa and landed on her palms.
"What's your name?"
"Runa"
"I'm Isabelle! I'll remember your name, Runa!"
Like a child who got her dream toy, Runa was joyous to have befriended a fairy.
Was it that easy? No, Even Wilhelm had trouble befriending this race. Fairies are extremely difficult beings to make connections with. They would only treat outsiders as outsiders. Being friends is basically saying that she welcomes you wholeheartedly.
Wilhelm is sure that Runa is very charismatic, her influence grows stronger as she develops her mana. Dale who was snobbish and Isabelle a fairy which is supposed to be difficult to approach were easily befriended.
As they continued to walk, more fairies flocked around Runa wanting to befriend her. Wilhelm began to feel curious as to how she was able to attract so many of them.
"How have you been doing Wil?" Now that was a voice Wilhelm was familiar with.
"Just the usual, exploring the world. How about you?" Wilhelm asked the fairy with silver wings.
"I've been busy repairing some of the Portals that are linked outside and I was assigned for maintenance."
"No wonder Isabelle welcomed me."
"Yup, Our Queen temporarily assigned her to escort you. So, how was she?"
"She's loud..."
"AHAHAHA! I expected that you'd say that. Anyways, what brings you back to the lair?"
"Welrok told me to pay a visit. I'm still not sure what he wants me to do but he already gave me my payment."
"Maybe a little help mining some minerals."
"Are you having a shortage?"
"To be honest, a little... The mine that we used to dig collapsed and it will take a couple of years to fix, luckily no one got hurt."
"Accidents huh, that sounds troublesome... Is that the only reason?"
"Nope, it was just a guess as to why you were told to pay the lair a visit. Talking to the Queen would quench your questions."
"By the way, Zain..."
"What is it?"
"Did your race change customs while I was gone?"
"No, not that I am aware of, why?"
"Your friends are flocking around my student."
Zain laughed again, "Are you jealous?"
"You know I'm not. I'm just curious."
"I noticed it while I was heading back, seeing how they welcomed her warmly took me by surprise too but then I got the idea as to why they were acting that way right after I got a glimpse of your student."
"What have you noticed?"
"I don't know but I just feel like I'm drawn to her... Maybe you should ask the Queen about that because being surrounded by this many fairies is uncommon."
"I get what you mean, I've only visited for a couple of times and you're the only fairy that would come to talk to me inside the lair, and Isabelle, I guess."
"Well, you are the first human to ever reach the lair. Elves are our usual visitors so I wanted to know as to how you did it."
"Speaking about visitors, have you guys spotted some monsters?"
"Monsters..? No, we have not but the elves informed us about them... It was quite alarming if you ask me since we have been hiding from them for centuries."
"Is that the reason why you guys wanted help in mining?"
"Probably."
"Why not ask for help to the elves?"
"We would love that idea but as you know, they are busy dealing with stray monsters that invade their borders. They do not want monsters to swarm so they sent squads to deal with them while their numbers are few and besides, the lair is unreachable since we have Lord Welrok's protection."
"So the reason why you wanted to mine a lot of minerals is not to strengthen your defenses but to deliver them to the elves?"
"That's right! Fairies rarely leave the lair so the best way we could do for help is to provide them with materials, the lair has plenty of them and we already asked permission from Lord Welrok."
"Is that so..."
The two of them reached a flowery field with giant yellowish crystals around them. Isabelle announced their arrival, "Mother Prilea, the child of magic and his student is here."
Mother is what every fairy calls her in her presence but addresses her as Queen whenever there are outsiders around, this is to show her position and indicates that they respect her as their leader to those who are not within the lair.
Flower petals were blown away and were gathered together by a light energy. A beautiful pair of pure white wings and a majestic figure. Prilea the Queen of Fairies floating towards them.
Runa expected a small figure but the queen that was approaching them was the same size as them. Her face looks very kind and demure as she looks like she is sleeping with her eyes closed like that.
"Child of magic... We have met again..." Her voice was heard despite her lips not opening. It was echoing in a soft tone, Runa would want to hear her voice every day and would not get fed up with it.
Prilea slightly opened her eyes to get a peek at Runa.
"And... Callisa's descendant..." She added.
Strangely, Runa didn't know why she was called Callisa's descendant since she never knew anyone named Callisa. Even Wilhelm who scanned Runa's memories doesn't know who Callisa was. Just whom was she referring to?
"You... do not know... your roots?"
Runa was confused and looked at Wilhelm. Was she talking to her master or was she talking to her? Wilhelm tapped her shoulder and said, "She is talking to you, Runa."
Runa replied after hearing that, "I-I don't..."
"Hmmm... Callisa's name must have not... been remembered but... it is not mine to tell... Child of magic... curious as you have always been... you can ask Rowas' Guardian for answers..."
And it all went back to Lagus, he knows something about Runa and that was the reason why he asked Wilhelm to look for her and help her. He was not curious about Runa until recently after she showed unique traits such as the ability to draw others around her.
"I will, that topic aside... What does Welrok want?"
"He wants your magic... to transfer the lair outside the elven territory... Because he does not want his body... to be the battlefield of this era's war..."
"If I do that, there would be a large crater in the elven territory."
"Yes... It is unavoidable... but since Lord Welrok is considerate... He wanted you to figure something about that matter..."
Wilhelm thought that all he had to do was deliver the crystals that he made but it was already suspicious that they would offer him such extravagant gifts if they only wanted the communication crystal, he was sure that they would ask him to do a lot of work.
Wilhelm was already surprised when he inspected that the seed he received from Welrok was the seed of the world tree. The seed is very valuable knowing the potential growth of the tree. There are only 4 world trees and three of them can be found inside the elven territory. These trees are named Frol, Masha, and Ionas which divided the elven territory into three sectors.
After receiving such a reward, it wouldn't feel right to refuse now. Although, he was sure that he would drain all of his energy for this job.
"I should have thought that there's a load of work after receiving my payment. I really am considering not getting more chores from these Beasts..." Wilhelm commented.
Prilea let out a soft giggle. "But are you not enjoying tasks that seem... to be impossible, child of magic?"
"I do."
"My children already collected enough mana stones for you to use... Good luck..."
Prilea was fading away and returned to the field of flowers. Wilhelm walked out of the field along with Runa. Isabelle and Zain were waiting for them outside of the field, completely out of clue as to what they talked about inside.
"So, what did the queen say?" Asked Zain.
"I'll move Welrok outside the elven territory."
"You will what??!" Isabelle and Zain exclaimed.