"Hmph! Just you watch. I'll find the most."

Skire, who had come into the forest with his group, was engrossed in searching for mana stones with his head buried towards the ground.

It was the best method for Skire, who didn't know how to wield mana.

"Hmm... I don't think this is it..."

Skire, who was squatting on the ground picking out stones, tossed one behind him.

"Ouch!"

"Huh?"

Startled by the sound from behind, he turned his head to find the source of the voice.

"...A pixie?"

It was a pixie he had only seen in books. He didn't know why a pixie, known to live only deep in the forest, was here, but it was definitely a pixie.

Moreover, he thought it would be palm-sized, but it was a little bigger than that. The pixie, about the size of Skire's head, had wings larger than its own body length.

Was it because of the stone he had just thrown? One of its wings was crumpled, and the pixie, which had collapsed onto the ground, had the form of a young girl.

Long, flowing green hair and even brighter green eyes. Tears welled up in the pixie's eyes as it tearfully examined its wing.

"Sob... my wing... my wing..."

Skire cautiously approached the pixie, which was clutching its wing.

"Uh, um... are you okay..."

Skire carefully opened his mouth.

"Does this look okay to you?! Huh?! Damn it all!!!"

"Ugh! I-I'm sorry!"

The mouth of the small pixie, with the pretty, girlish appearance of a five or six-year-old, was...

"You son of a bitch human! Haven't you ever heard the saying that a pixie can be killed by a carelessly thrown stone?!"

"Th-that's about a fro..."

"Won't you shut your mouth?!"

...as rough as a back-alley delinquent's.

"Waaah... my wing!! What are you going to do about my wing!!"

"I, I... I... how..."

Seeing the pixie's fiery rage, Skire seemed flustered, his hands trembling as he looked like he was about to cry.

"Hey, forget it. Just take me home. I can't fly like this. When I get home, the village elder grandpa will fix it somehow. Tsk! I snuck out, too..."

"...Where is your home?"

"Ah, it's not far, not far. Don't worry. You broke my wing, so you have to take responsibility, right!?"

Skire, who had ended up carefully holding the pixie in his hands, felt an unfamiliar terror, and tears welled up in his eyes.

"Hmph! I'm not gonna eat you! Don't be scared, don't be scared. Now, straight ahead!"

***

Skire, having ended up holding the pixie, walked deep into the forest for a long time.

By faithfully following signals like straight, left turn, and right turn, he soon found himself in the middle of the Escar Mountain Range.

"Ugh... can't we go back?"

"What is this thing saying?! Then what about me! What am I supposed to do!"

The pixie shot up and shouted.

"Ah... I get it... how much further do we have to go?"

"We're almost there, almost there. Just a little bit more."

He had already heard that line several times.

"Hey, how old are you?"

"...Fifteen."

Fifteen. Skire's age was by no means young, but for him, who had never been alone like this, the current situation was extremely unfamiliar and frightening.

"Hmm... but why are you so tiny? Didn't you eat?"

"N-no! I may be a little slow, but I'm going to grow up to be huge! My older brother and my father are huge too!!"

"Hmph! Who said anything? You're so damn fussy."

"And what do you mean, didn't I eat! My family is super rich, you know?!"

"Really? Then what were you doing in this forest? What kind of rich person stares at the ground picking up pebbles!"

Hearing Skire's words, one corner of the pixie's mouth curled up in a smirk.

"I'm on a camp trip from the academy!!! I was looking for mana stones, not rocks!!"

"Huh? Mana stones? Why? Are you a magician?"

"O-of course! I'm a magician!"

"Liar! Use magic! Use it!!!"

"...Knghhhhh."

At the pixie's provocation, Skire held out one hand into the air and made a groaning sound. She burst out laughing.

"Kyahahahaha!! Hey! What are you doing? Hahaha! That's a whole new level of crazy!"

"Sob... sob..."

At her words, the tears Skire had been holding back finally burst forth.

"Uh, uh... hey, what's wrong... a-are you crying?"

"Waaaaah!!! Waaaaah!!!"

Even while crying, Skire held onto her tightly, not letting go, his shoulders now shaking as he sobbed.

"Hey... s-sorry. I mean, why did you make a pooping sound when I told you to use magic... Hey, I get it. I get it, so stop crying. Huh?"

At the 'pooping sound' part, Skire cried even harder. She flailed her small hands, busy trying to soothe him.

"Hey, hey. Sit down over there. I'm sorry... let's just sit for a bit."

The pixie, having barely managed to sit him down on a small rock, began to soothe him with nice words(?).

"Hey. Shut up for a bit now. Huh? Crying your eyes out here is the perfect way to call over any nearby monsters. So if you don't want to die right this second, you'd better shut up. Huh?"

At the word 'monster', Skire clamped his mouth shut and let out small hiccups.

"Right, right. Aww, good boy. Looks like you don't want to die. So, what's your name?"

"Hic, hic... S-hic! Kire O'Neil..."

"Skire? Right, right. I'm Allin. Allin Salerno."

"A-Allin... hic!"

"Stop crying. We know each other's names now. Huh?"

"Yes... hic!"

The pixie named Allin began to soothe Skire by telling him her story.

Stories like how she gathered honey from huge flowers, and which flower's honey was the most delicious. She also occasionally mixed in tales of valor, like how she defeated a bee bigger than her own body.

Listening to her stories, Skire's expression gradually began to brighten.

"And so! That bastard stole my honey pot without a word! That son of a bitch! Huh? So what do you think I did? I immediately chased after him! And what do you think I said!"

"What did you say?"

"Hey! You son of a bitch! You bastard who wouldn't be worth it even if I snapped your wings off, steeped them in honey, and brewed them into tea! Give me back my honey pot right now! I said."

"Hehe... and then?"

"And then! Huh? Are you done crying?"

Skire, who seemed to find Allin's story amusing, smiled faintly and gave a small nod.

"Phew! Good thing you're done crying. I'm already raising a child at the age of seventy... I'll be a good mother later on!"

"...Seventy?"

"Yeah! I'm exactly seventy this year! In the prime of my youth, that's what it is!"

"A seventy-year-old..."

"Hey! We pixies can live for five hundred years without a problem! Seventy isn't the prime of youth, it's still a kid, a kid!"

"Ah... I see."

"Hey, you go to an academy and all, how come you don't even know that?"

"People don't know much about pixies..."

It was true. The pixie race was not only rare, but their swift and nimble wing beats made them so fast they were barely visible to human eyes.

At one time, it was fashionable among nobles to capture pixies and keep them as pets, but after all the humans who captured pixies met terrible and unfortunate ends, no one captured pixies anymore.

The rumor that misfortune follows those who capture pixies had already become solidified, to the point where there was even a proverb, 'May you run into a pixie on the road!'

"Well, you humans are afraid of us, aren't you? Why did you have to bother us when we were just gathering honey... Tsk!"

"But... is that really true? That you become unfortunate if you encounter a pixie..."

"Hey! Do you think we're some kind of race that brings misfortune!? Of course! It's true that we cast curses if you capture or harm us. We're the shamans who protect the forest."

"Shamans?"

"Yeah. Otherwise, how could a small creature like us who can't do anything have survived until now?"

"Ah..."

Skire nodded his head slightly, as if he understood Allin's words.

"So don't worry. Nothing bad will happen to you. Skiya!"

"...It's Skire."

"Whatever! Hey, the sun's going down. Move it, move it. I have to go home."

"...Okay."

***

'Where on earth did this kid go?'

Lucas, who was tracking Skire's traces, was starting to get annoyed. He thought about turning back now and passing this task off to Aman, but he had already come too deep.

If he were alone, he would have just teleported back, but the problem was the one sticking to his side.

"Hey. Are you some kind of hunting dog? Are you tracking by smell?"

"..."

"As expected~ Since you're a high and mighty no~ble, you won't even exchange a single word with me."

"If you're going to keep being noisy, go back."

"I don't know the way. You're the one who dragged me here, aren't you?"

"What kind of nonsense is that? When did I ever drag you?"

"I don't know, you dragged me. If I say so, then it's so."

"You're crazy."

"How old are you?"

"Hmph, what do you need to know that for?"

A fire was raging inside him. He wanted to shout, 'I'm 5012 years old!', but that would just sound absurd, so he ended up becoming childish along with her.

"Hey! I'm thirteen, you know? I'm the older sister! I heard you're eleven!"

Lucas felt like it wouldn't matter if he killed this little human right here.

"Hey, why are you looking at me like that? No matter how much of a noble you are, this is an academy! We're the same students, so of course I'm the older sister!"

"Ha! What about you, then? Why do you treat Skire so casually? Isn't he fifteen?! Skire is the older brother, isn't he?!"

"Th-that's! Because he's not worthy of being treated like an older brother..."

"It's the same for me! I don't know why I have to treat the likes of you as an o-older sister!!"

The debating skills he had honed over half a millennium were pathetic. It was as if the eleven years had made him completely adapt to a human body, and even his debating skills had become that of an eleven-year-old.

"Hey, forget it! It's not like I want to be called older sister either!? Just keep searching like a hunting dog!"

"Hmph! Look who's talking!"

Paula, who had acted as if she were turning sharply to leave, came back after just a few steps.

"I'm not following you because I like it!! It's because I don't know the way!!"

A kid was a kid. A smirk escaped Lucas's lips at the sight of Paula protecting her pride to the end, and he focused his mind again.

***

"Are we still far?"

"No! I told you we're almost there!!"

"Uh... I think we passed this place before..."

"N-no!"

"...Tell me honestly. You're lost, aren't you?"

"..."

Seeing Allin's lack of response, tears welled up in Skire's eyes.

"Hey, hey! Don't cry, don't cry. Ah, this is strange. The path was so clear when I was flying..."

-Crack! Craaack!

"Wh-what's that sound...?"

Allin turned her head at the sound of wood breaking from behind.

"Ugh... Uwaaah!!!!"

"What the f-ck, why is an orc popping out here!?"

Allin, who cursed as soon as she saw the orc and the backpedaling Skire.

"Uwaaaaaah!!!!"

"R-run!!!"

***

"Huh?! Isn't that Skire?!"

"Looks like it."

Lucas's group, who were crossing the forest tracking the traces, quickened their pace at the sound of the scream.

'What kind of hellish trouble is this because of a pea-sized human?'

Lucas, running through the forest, felt curses rising up to his throat from his shortness of breath.

"Lu-Lucas!!!"

The figure running from a distance was definitely Skire. And chasing after him was...

"An orc?"

"R-run away!!!"

Paula, who recognized the orc's identity, turned pale and ran away.

"Run away!!!"

Skire, who had run right up to Lucas's nose, shouted.

'What should I do? Run away?'

In this situation, running away was the wisest choice. It wouldn't be a problem to use magic to catch something like an orc, but if he did, they would find out about his skills.

But Lucas, who was already in a very bad mood just from running this far, was not in a state to seek wisdom.

"Sleep."

As Lucas's word fell, the shouting Skire and Paula, and the orc chasing them, all collapsed and fell into a deep sleep.

The wisest method Lucas chose. First, put them all to sleep, then think again.

"Where did he drag an orc from? Huh? What's this... a pixie?"

He was dumbfounded when he saw what Skire was clutching tightly, unwilling to let go even at the moment of falling asleep.

"This isn't a daycare... he picks up all sorts of things."

He shook his head once and approached the orc.

A sense of pity washed over him as he looked at the orc, which had fallen asleep without a care in the world.

'It will die without even knowing it's dying... Well then, shall we start cleaning up.'

(End of Chapter)