As he said this, he pulled out Rhea's signed card to show me.
On the card, it read,
"Thank you for your constant support, Itsuki! Rhea☆"
The writing was so stylish, very much like an idol's.
At that moment, Phoebe, who was peeking from my chest pocket, suddenly shouted, "Aaaaah!!!" Her voice echoed through the ruins of the earth.
Wait a minute, Phoebe! What was there to shout about!?
The male cleric knight looked astonished. "W-What was that? What happened?"
"Um, that was… the voice of the fairy, Phoebe, who's in my pocket…"
With no option left to hide, I decided to inform Lily about Phoebe hidden in my chest pocket. Even though Lily had cautioned me to keep it under wraps from other players, it was turning out to be impossible.
"Um! The weapon you're looking for, it's a larger version of this, right?! The wand of Daiji Yuki!" Phoebe exclaimed, popping out of my pocket to display the Neige Flower to the priest-knight.
Wait, what?
"Wha—!? Why do you have that?!"
"Uh, um…?"
The priest-knight's eyes widened in shock, almost causing him to fall back again. My mind began to spin—did this priest-knight have a connection to Yuki?
"Lena! Remember, in my memory replay, there was something about Ituki, Yuki's childhood friend!"
"Hold on, let me sort this out…"
This was bad—my memory of the All Mosquito battle was too vivid, drowning out everything else, including Yuki's lessons.
So, just to confirm, the item Ituki was searching for is Yuki's wand, right? What kind of perfect twist is this? Ituki is looking for something I already have?
Taking a deep breath, I pulled out the broken and shattered wand of Yuki.
"Um, just to check, is this what you're looking for? Yuki's wand—which was destroyed by an enemy and buried in the ground."
"Wait... this can't be true! I had it made to withstand enemy attacks, and yet it's bent up like this? You mentioned you're a blacksmith earlier—can you fix it? I have the recipe!"
Iguchi was asking for repairs. Was this the staff he commissioned from another blacksmith?
"I was planning to fix it anyway, but I've never done repairs before… If you're okay with that, I can take on the job."
"Even if you're a beginner, this must be fate! Please, I need your help! I couldn't ask that guy why he suddenly retired, but then he told me that if I found my staff, he would tell me everything! I've been searching for it! But how can I present this broken staff to him? They say it'll cost 2 million! Is that acceptable?"
"Uh, yeah… I'll give you a rough idea about the reason for the retirement, but could you step back a bit?"
I was slightly flustered as I received the large bag of money. I intended to do it without the payment, but since it was offered, I accepted it.
Along with the bag of money, a recipe was given to me—it must be for fixing the staff.
"I need to know—what caused Yuki's retirement? If possible, I want to fix whatever it was and play with Yuki again! I've never seen him look so miserable!"
"Got it, then I'll tell you."
We informed them that Yuki had been tutoring Phoebe at Fairy Garden, that a monster had revived there and attacked first, leading to the loss of her partner Caleb, and that there might be a misunderstanding that Phoebe had died. Additionally, we mentioned the possibility that Fairy Garden itself had been destroyed.
"How could this happen... Why didn't you tell me?"
"I think it's probably forbidden to disclose that in the Number Quest."
"That makes sense. Yuki mentioned keeping it a secret while saying that Itsuki has been prying into things, which has been problematic."
As I conveyed my and Phoebe's thoughts, Itsuki knelt down, placing both hands on the ground. Did Itsuki know about Caleb? Perhaps Yuki had perfectly concealed it from us.
"I didn't realize it was like that…"
"Well, once the staff is repaired, please let Phoebe know she's alive and that the fairies are still fighting to survive."
"Got it, I'll definitely pass that on! By the way, I'd like us to be friends for communication purposes!"
*You have received a friend request from Itsuki.*
As I accepted the request, a message from my sister popped up.
"Big brother, you haven't moved in a while, respond! Big brother!!!… Did you game over?"
"Don't just kill him off! We fought together in a raid battle, and by a strange twist of fate, I ended up chatting with him. After that, I received a request for repairs," I explained.
"Wow, it's odd to take repair requests in such a situation. But more importantly, hurry back—I'm bored!"
Bored, huh? Well, my little sister is calling, so as her brother, I can't just ignore it. Plus, there are things I want to ask about the repairs, and I want to fix my staff as soon as possible.
"Sorry, Itsuki, but I'm being called by family, so I need to go."
"I see. It felt like you were being held back. Sorry about that... but thank you. You've helped me make significant progress on my goal. Please contact me again once your staff is repaired!"
"Sure, see you then."
We bid farewell to Itsuki and rushed back to Lily's house.
"Hey, Lena, is there a chance I might see Yuki?"
"Well, the possibility has definitely increased…"
At that, Phoebe beamed with delight.
I really want to bring them together…
After defeating the golem with the ice-enveloped Archie using Resonance, we escaped the Earth Spirit ruins and returned to Lily's home.
"Welcome back, big brother!"
"What's with this mountain of sweet rolls…?"
"Wow, it looks super tasty!"
Beside Lily were heaps of sweet rolls, different from the cookies we got from TT. My appraisal revealed they could be enjoyed by both NPCs and players alike.
Phoebe flapped her wings and flew toward the pastries, drawn to their delicious aroma. Lily offered one of the pastries to Phoebe, who happily began to eat, her cheeks puffed out in delight. It was such a charming sight.
"I thought you might need some treats since you said you'd be transporting snacks," Lily said.
"Isn't that a bit bold? What if you didn't need all this? You bought so much for nothing..."
"It's fine. I accidentally miscalculated the quantity before you started your game, so I won't take any money. Honestly, I'd be happy if you could just enjoy them."
"With this much, nobody will go hungry! Let's take some, Lena!"
How do you even mess up a tally this badly? There had to be around 200 pastries here. Since Phoebe wanted them, it was a no-brainer to accept them for free.
"Well, I did want a good amount of food, and if you're offering, I'll gladly take it," Lena replied.
"In return, I hope you can teach me a few things—like transporting snacks and repairs. What's been going on? I'll brew some tea while you tell me."
"Uh, it's a long story…"
I shared the tale of my time in the Fairy Garden and the events leading up to my return, deciding to hold off on the details about the Number Quest for now, as I didn't want to confuse Phoebe. I hinted to Lily that I would explain later.
"It's a tough situation, big brother... It was a wise decision to flee from the boss on instinct. Battling a boss capable of breaking weapons when you're exhausted is a fight with slim chances of victory. Sometimes, it's necessary to escape—especially when survival is on the line."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Back then, I had more of a reflexive urge to run... I can't tell if that was a calm judgment or a gut reaction fueled by a fear of the insects.
Still, a boss capable of breaking weapons? Just as I was pondering this, Lily jumped in to explain.
"So, you want to repair your staff, right? Basically, weapons only break from extreme use in a very short time, prolonged use over long periods, stepping onto certain traps, or weapon-breaking attacks from advanced or some intermediate class bosses.
As for repairs, you'll need a recipe and the broken equipment. If it's damaged, you'll require additional materials, so be careful. To repair something, just set the item you want to fix along with the recipe as materials."
"You sure know the details, even when you're not in a crafting class."
So, the all-mosquito that can break weapons is strong… Come to think of it, with the firelight, it was about manufacturing, not repairing. Maybe it turned into the falchion form instead of reverting to the original great sword?
"If you help the leader, you'll pick up most of the necessary information. I have all sorts of info that I think you might need."
"What does it mean that you seem to have all the information I might need on hand?"
"For example... information about items effective against bug-type monsters."
"What do you mean? Is there something like insect repellent? If we could spray it out like gas, that would be ideal."
"I don't think a fantasy world has modern weapons like that... But there is this: a potion to attract bugs. When you open the lid, it releases a sweet scent that draws them in."
What Lily pulled out was something resembling an aroma diffuser.
"If we set this up, we can gather a swarm of bugs in one place, and then we can take them out all at once with a wide-range attack... Interested?"
"Are you kidding? That's a recipe for a hellscape... No way. It's barely manageable to fight in small numbers; I wouldn't survive facing a horde."
But... if it's for the number quest to battle a bug army, it could work... Luring them all in and then burning them with a fairy fire might cut down their numbers by a few percent... but I'd rather not go that route.
Still, the bug-attracting item might have its uses.
"Well... I might as well take it."
"Wait, are you sure you're okay with that? It's technically effective, but from what I've heard, you might end up witnessing some pretty intense scenes… There's a good chance it could draw a boss to you."
"If that happens, I'll just use it as an escape tool."
Concern hung in the air. Amidst this, Lily looked up at the sky.
"Big brother, it's almost dinner time; you need to log out."
"Is it that late already? I lost track of time while in Fairy Garden... Phoebe, I'm going to grab a bite to eat."
"Okay, enjoy! See you later!"
So, Lily and I returned to the real world.
After dinner, I explained the details of the Number Quest to Lily, now called Yuna.
"As I thought, we can't rely on other players for help on-site..."
"Yeah, I think it will be tough to fight the army just the two of us, but maybe we can manage with the bug-catching potion... Should we fight?"
Given how peaceful the Fairy Garden used to be, defeating bugs in the wild might weaken the army's strength, but I wondered how long that would take.
I was worried that spending too much time on it could lead to food shortages and a high chance of the barrier collapsing.
"If only we knew where the boss is, we could ambush him... Have you found anything?"
"I'm not sure; there might be something if we search..."
"Well, we should probably look. Either way, our chances of encountering the boss are high, so it's best to locate him early. Plus, given your situation, a quick confrontation might be the way to go."
Indeed, a short battle would be ideal. I'll keep searching for the All-Mosquito's lair in mind as one of our goals.
"However, your Number Quest is pretty tough, isn't it? If it takes too long, we might face food shortages that make it hard to maintain the barrier. Plus, cooperating with other players—regardless of level—is a fail condition, and you end up fighting those disgusting bugs you hate... Seriously, you were born under a lucky star, weren't you, Lena? Do you have some sort of protagonist privilege?"