"Come on, Celeste… say something… I know you can…" I said helplessly.
"…"
How could this be true? Was I really suffering from some kind of dungeon madness? Was I really just talking to myself? Celeste cautiously came out of Lydia's hair and then flew to me. She looked curious. Did she even really recognize me? Was this even Celeste? She looked like Celeste, but what did I really know about fairies? For all I knew, they all had the same face or something.
Celeste landed on my shoulder, and the familiarity of her weight there instantly brought a tear to my eye. "Celeste, you remember me, don't you?'
Celeste looked at me for a moment, and then put her hand out, wiggling it from side to side. Sort of. That was the kind of response she gave. We had traveled together for weeks. We remained close to each other. I even enslaved her. After all of that, she could only kind of remember me.
"Master… it's okay." My behavior was making the two other girls anxious, and Lydia's tail was twitching unhappily while Miki's tail was drooping.
I let out a low sigh. "I'm sorry, it's fine. I'm just having a hard time coming to grips that this was all a figment of my imagination. What do you guys know about fairies?"
"Nothing!" Lydia declared, raising her finger excitedly.
I bonked her on the head.
"Ah… Master… s-sorry… but I didn't learn anything about fairies."
Miki stepped forward. "I don't know that much either. We'd have a better time in Chalm getting these answers. Perhaps at a library. The only thing I know is that fairies for a nest, usually stay at a source of strong mana. They're kind of like bees, in that they're controlled by a queen fairy who gives them commands and coordinates them. The other fairies are basically drones. They only regain individuality if they get far enough away from the Queen.
"A Queen?" My eyes raised up. "Would it be possible that a Queen fairy could speak through one of the other fairies?"
Miki's ears twitched, as she looked at me uncertainly. "it's possible… Master… I think. I'm sorry, I just don't know that much about fairies."
"Is that who you are?" I asked Celeste. "Are you really the Fairy Queen asking for help?"
Celeste's face wrinkled for a second, but she didn't say anything else. I sighed and stood back up.
"Will you be able to help my party fight? Can you use wind magic?"
To demonstrate, I created some wind and sent it spiraling out. When Celeste saw that, she seemed to grow excited and then nodded. She flew up and around my head three times before landing back on my shoulder.
"Hehe… she seems to like that, Master." Lydia clapped her hands.
"Well, there is no use continuing this discussion here," I said. "If we want to know what is going on with this fairy, the answers are in those murals. We need to see the 25th and 29th-floor mural. Hopefully, they'll finally explain the holes I have when it comes to Karr's story."
"Does Master wish to complete the lore?" Lydia asked.
"Ah… no… actually." I shrugged. "The last time we completed the lore, it was purely by accident. It also almost killed us, if you remember. I'll be happy as long as we're able to destroy the final boss and break the dungeon lore. Once there is no dungeon in Chalm, the mansion should return to normal. Then, I can claim the mansion and the city of Chalm will be restored."
As we spoke, Celeste listened but gave no sign she understood what we were talking about. However, she seemed to be comfortable on my shoulder. Maybe it was muscle memory? We continued on, growing deeper in the dungeon.