Back to school, back to roll. I had just gotten back in my room and was laying on my bed that was the same as before.
Most of the school was repaired but every so often you could see the crater made by big spells.
The school itself had been completely reformed and repaired. The castle look of the school from before was totally gone and if I’m not mistaken the school was actually bigger now. The track was remade and many of the buildings that weren't attached to the school were completely remade into a more modern look.
The castle used to have a cold cobblestone like look from old european castles but now you can’t even see the stones because of the layer of what I would guess is cement or maybe a different kind of earth held together by magic.
The school was now a light gray color but seems to reflect more light now unlike before and no longer has the gloomy look it had.
A large tower was made on the left side and from what I heard from Kawi, it was the place for a library and magical research classroom.
The basement was made similar to the basement under the Tamer guild building.
I can’t wait to visit Shai as well. Recently she said she spoke with nearby dungeons and they wanted ponds and water flowing through their land to improve the look, and to house aquatic monsters.
Because of this the dungeons called a truce and together they sent monsters that are good at digging to make several pathways into the dungeon land and make the pond without using magic so that it would remain there even without magic being supplied.
During the time we were away the pond was completed. The water flowed, filling all the space before it flowed back to the main lake.
The water channels were small to not allow water monsters we breed to invade other places but the lakes in each territory were large. To gather water faster all the dungeons invested mp into filling their lakes to top capacity and letting it all flow naturally.
The effect was that it changed the natural environment of the previous plains Shai was situated on, making it turn into a natural forest and making real-non-monster trees grow.
I planned on taking the massive stockpile I have soon. The first day is off to get situated again before going back to classes and during that time most of the dungeoneering students were planning to go and give their stockpiled magic power to the dungeons.
I was among those who planned to supply their dungeon with magic power, but before leaving, I headed to the dormitory’s dining hall, and found the others already there.
They ran up to me, and then Kumi, Stephanie and Nova hugged me saying they were worried because of what had happened.
“I was more worried about all of you since… you know.” I said.
“HA! If those idiots tried daddy would have scorched the world looking for them and burning their dirty carcass after returning to the capital to be tortured.” Nova said with a dangerous glint in her eyes.
“Fufufufu, I would have loved to see mother vent her anger on those players. I warn all of you, don’t underestimate the fury of a mother, not to mention one with a god's blessing.” Stephanie said with a smile.
“Woah… did you two change?!” Kumi said, hiding behind me away from the two rather extreme princesses.
“In the demon kingdom several volcanoes erupted because of father's anger. If we didn’t have the dungeons as a location to vent our anger, I was sure a huge number of players would have died.” Owen said rather sullenly.
“My father didn’t do anything or at least I didn’t notice but I remember some strange movements around with the guards. I think there were several requests for soldier recruitments and intensive training for all guards no matter if they were Royal guard, City guard or part of the army.” Asher said.
“I think that is part of the countermeasure to protect the academy’s island right?” I asked.
“Yes it is. The dragons that live below the island in the mountains took a serious hit but luckily the eggs were hidden but at least 80% of their population was decimated by the warships of the players. The school is contemplating on what to do and talk of letting students from the tamer classes take up training some hatchlings has become a possibility.” Kawi-san said appearing behind us.
“Um… I was wondering, has Eleonora arrived yet?” I asked.
“Yes, she is currently arriving by car.” Kawi-san said with a sigh.
“Something wrong?” Stephanie asked.
“Well… Kuroko-sama has the blessing of the fairy queen now right?” Kawi asked. “I know because I have seen images of high humans and they told me the features of almost pureblood.”
“Yes I gained that blessing.” I replied.
It makes her sulk and slump down a bit.
“Then since it’s true, I am almost certain the crowned prince of Monville will be coming after you.” Kawi san says
Before I could say anything Eleonora entered the room with her face sulking and a bit of her hair over her eyes.
Behind her was a boy taller than her with a poker face. He had similar blonde hair as Eleonora but the aura around him made me want to puke. The feeling of a narcissist and the disgusting noble type that the world would be better without.
He looked around with a look of disgust as if looking at bugs below him which made everyone in the room frown at him.
He looks at Eleonora and lifts his right hand and suddenly smacks the back of her head.
“Come on worthless, show me the brat that father said I was to bring back.” The brat said.
Instantly everyone from our group began to leak killing intent. It was weak since we aren’t like the trained teachers but anyone with skill can tell we were pissed off. Over the first half of the year we have become friends with Eleonora and she has opened up with us so to see this shit head weakling hitting her who I could easily tell was stronger was pissing me off.
Eleonora walked over without saying anything and stopped next to me.
“This is her big brother.” Eleonora said.
The boy scowls and suddenly raises his hand and brings it towards Eleonora to slap her. She receives it without looking up or complaining.
I was ready to pounce at him and my small wing ears which are normally light pink were standing and were turning bright red in my anger.
“You insignificant worm. Even as your other brother you are to refer to me as Crowned Prince! A weakling, worthless, piece of trash like you isn’t worthy of being in “my” family.” He ridicules her in many manners and we just watch as more and more of our rage piles up.
The last insult he looks from Eleonora to me.
“If you can make the top 10 of this year and maintain it then this group must be as shitty as you. Pathetic, you brat with the silver hair, you have my kingdom’s blessing so you will return with me so that you can be put to use and return our blessing to our kingdom!” The brat says and turns around.
That was the last straw.
“Like I would ever follow a weakling like you that can only live in the shadow of your father and under the skirt of your mother. A little piece of trash like you isn’t even compared to Eleonora who is stronger than you by leagues.” I tell him
He turns around with an amused grin which was outright disgusting.
“Fine then prove it that I am pathetic. The great me that gained the unique class Scarlet Knight can’t be beat by a pathetic brat that isn’t even one year into her school life yet while I have had training for two years already not to mention the years I spent before coming to this place that isn’t even required anymore since the players have already discovered it.” He says. “Come on, let’s see if your little punches or kicks hurt. I’ll even let you hit me once. Come on, show me what you have brat!” He says grinning confidently.
Hearing his last remark makes a small and innocent smile appear on my lips.
Even the two demons in our group felt a shiver run down their spine when they saw the small smile filled with hidden malice and rage.
I took slow steps forward while I gathered mana on my right leg. The largest concentration was just on the curve of my foot where I intended to make contact.
After half my mana was packed like a cast around my leg I was about four steps from him and taking three quick steps and finally on the fourth I swung my leg as hard as I could, connecting right in between his legs. He instantly fainted as the whites of his eyes showed and some white foam appeared on his mouth as he flew straight up and crashed through the ceiling and the floor above leaving the building completely.
Everyone looks above as the prince goes like a star like in the anime where you kicked something too far.
I turned around with a refreshed smile on my face and let out a sigh of relief.
“Haah~ That felt really nice!” I said, smiling the brightest smile I probably have ever made.
All the boys in the room took several steps back while protecting their family jewels. On the other hand a few girls were looking at me with sparkling eyes filled with awe and admiration.
The only one that was in shock was Eleonora that was standing with her mouth hanging.
I walked over and closed it and looked at where the idiot hit. It was red and held a small handprint but thankfully my limited knowledge of healing magic was enough to heal this.
I healed her small wounds as I said.
“There, you should be alright now.”
“W-WHAT DID YOU DO!” She suddenly shouted.
“I taught an annoying idiot his place. Weak trash shouldn’t be arrogant to someone stronger.” I tell her, making her eyes widen before she frowns.
“I’m not strong, everytime I spar with him I fall and trip, I feel the killing intent he releases and get slower and can’t fight properly.” She says sulking.
“It’s more than obvious that there are others using magic to make you lose. When we spar here, do you lose balance, do you trip there?” I asked
“...No… but I… get nervous against my brother.” She says.
“That is because you lost confidence against fighting him. If he is in school he can’t boss you around because this island is a political neutral zone. Why do you think I even thought of hitting him at all when I knew I could get in trouble? I wouldn’t even think of attacking unless it’s self defense outside of this island.” I said
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
She is still wide eyed hearing what I say but at this time we heard the sound of something falling and saw her brother landing head first into the ground. Knowing the training of this school he should be alright since he was unconscious and not tense.
“Wow, he fell down faster than I expected. Did I hit him too weakly? I was hoping to make him go to space.” I said with a frown.
“Oi Kuroko! Don’t say something so scary! Did you hold back on your kick!?” Owen asked pale.
“Yeah, a lot actually, I only had half of my mp loaded on my foot and not to mention I didn’t put my back into it. I’m sure I could have kicked him much higher if I went full power.” I said smiling
All the boys were pale as ghosts and the girls were only showing more admiration towards me. With my current MP count and the recent boost from the new traits and skills I think I was rank 1 in my year now. I wonder what kind of training I will get from the teachers now that I am more in tune with magic in general.
Well for now it doesn’t matter, we ignore the pile of filth on the ground and our group goes to the dungeon field.
Along the way we see lots of damage to the forest. Forest fires, broken trees, areas empty of any life at all. We could only frown at the destruction and hope for nature to recover soon.
The dungeon fields didn’t show much damage because the dungeons have fixed them up themselves. We split up towards our own dungeons to drop off the magic power we gathered within our rings.
We can’t do much with the MP now but next year we will be able to rapidly rebuild our dungeon so no problem.
Shai said something strange when I finished releasing all the magic power into her core.
“This magic power, it’s different from before.” She said.
“How so?” I asked.
“Maybe the blessing you gained and the change from human to High human altered your mana a bit. Who knows but MP is MP so I can only store it and wait for a chance to use it.” Shai said.
We shrug it off as nothing and with Eleonora who was following behind we go check out the pond that was dug out.
The small stream that brings the water was small and entered the large pond from a waterfall to prohibit fish from climbing up.
The water was crystal clear to the point of magnifying the lake and showing the bottom as if it was not that deep and not 5-6 meters deep which was its true depth.
“Wow this is beautiful!” I said with sparkling eyes.
The scene was amazing, the new natural trees plus the slime trees turned the sunlight dim but let enough in to lit the area. The pond reflects the sunlight completely and almost seems to glow.
For some reason I felt totally at peace here and looking at my feet I take off my shoes and sit at the edge of the pond and dip my feet.
“AH~! This feels so nice~!” I said in a sort of dreamy tone like someone who was eating something favorite.
“Do you like dipping your feet in natural water?” Eleonora asked quietly.
“Hmm… I didn’t know it felt so nice~!”
“Of course it feels good you dimwit. Water of a fairy pond is amazing.” I heard a high pitched quiet voice and turned around with a frown.
“Something wrong?” Eleonora asked.
“No, just the wind.” I replied and looked back to Eleonora.
“I~dio~t! You’ll never spot us in our own space ahahaha!” said the small voice again.
I was starting to get pissed off by this time. I know the general direction of where the voice came from so I looked towards the right side of the lake from my perspective.
I look at Eleonora and through eye contact she understands something is going on and to act naturally. I pull my feet out of the water and use water magic to remove what clung on and put my shoes back on.
“Hmm! That felt nice~! I might come here just to relax like this.” I said and started walking slowly in the direction of the voices.
“Still, was it so comfortable? Aren’t monsters going to inhabit the pond soon?” Eleonora asked.
“NO! Our pond will never have monsters!” said the voice making me pinpoint closer to the voice narrowing the search.
“Yeah but I need to wait for them to naturally appear since Shai has no idea what a fish looks like besides one cooked on a plate.” I said giggling. “Still with the pond here it should attract a lot of animals and monsters, I wonder how well Shai will profit from this.”
“NO~!” The voice shouted just from where I passed.
I instantly stopped and looked at where the voice came from. It was from a small bush of flowers and looking close I could see a slight distortion in the air. I calmly go up to it and stroke the flowers as if admiring them while watching the distortion move ever so slowly away. I didn’t know what it was so I covered my hand with mana and very quickly grabbed both the distortions.
At once the distortions vanished and what was revealed in my hand were two girls, no two fairy girls.
I look at my hands where each of them has small bodies squirming on it.
In my left hand was a fairy with short scarlet hair. It was shoulder length and made her look like a tomboy with the feisty personality she was showing. She had a slightly tanned skin tone and green eyes and wore a single piece green dress. On her back were four long dragonfly-like wings.
Unlike the one in my left hand that was feisty, on my right hand I found a really timid fairy that was actually trying to hide herself inside my hand. She is so cute~!
Her skin was blue in color and her hair white with a myriad of hues of blue and green. Her hair would fall down to her waist and she had a pair of small blue sparkling butterfly-like wings that seemed to glow many kinds of blue and blueish green colors along the veins.
"Hrrrr~~!" the feisty one muttered as she struggled.
I turned to the feisty fairy that was trying to open my hand but her small body didn't have the strength.
"LET ME GO! UGLY! STUPID!! Hrrr~~!" She shouted, the same high pitched voice I heard before.
"So you're the loudmouth that called me a dimwit and idiot." I said as I stood upright.
She freezes and stops her attempts to escape. "You heard me? No way! We were hiding mid way to the fairy world!" She shouted.
"Was that the distortion I saw?" I asked.
"No way! Have humans found a way to find fairies?! I need to go back and warn the queen!" She blurted out.
Me and Eleonora just stared at her now.
"These are fairies right? Why are they here?" Eleonora asked, probably ignoring the fairy that says what she is thinking.
"Hmph! Idiots! They don't even know that this is a fairy pond." The feisty fairy blurted out.
It was then that I felt the other one move a bit as she raised her face looking at the feisty one while shaking her head.
I feel her sigh of disappointment towards her friend.
"Mimi, you're speaking your thoughts again." The timid one said in a quiet and cute tone before hiding in my hand again.
"Ah… that was… cute." Eleonora said as she eyed the blue fairy.
Calling her cute resulted in the blue fairy turning violet and burying her face more into my hand.
"I-it's not l-like I liked that… but thanks." She said quietly.
We both were stunned stiff. Are fairies so entertaining that they have such defined anime-like personalities. First a feisty hot head that can't keep her thoughts in her head then a timid tsundere. I was worried it would turn out like this.
"Momo, don't get so caught up in these ugly human’s compliments. Even if they call you cute, adorable, loveable, the smallest and sweetest eye candy in the world that could melt even the heart of the coldest demon and all those things that don't get flustered easily." The feisty one named Mimi said.
I was certain my hand was starting to heat up because the blue fairy was violet now down to her wings.
"H-hey are you okay?! You're turning violet!" I asked
"I-its nothing!" She said in a timid but flustered voice. "I-its not like I l-like being called all that! N-No way!" She said in a louder voice and when she realized she had raised her voice and started to look dizzy.
"Hey cup some water in your hand and toss it on her. It feels like she is about to burst into flames." I told Eleonora who nodded.
She ran over quick and cupped waters into her hands and brought it over my right hand and dropped it over the fairy.
A small rising cloud of steam could be seen rising but soon faded as the violet fairy cooled down and returned to blue.
We both looked at her as I opened my hand. What we find is her curled up like a baby sleeping with a small smile.
The amount of cuteness was increased to an unmanageable degree.
"H-hey… w-what do we do now?" I asked Eleonora.
"How would I know?" She replied.
"Big dumb idiots, fairies sleep where they are comfortable or in a flower related to their nature. I'm sure Momo would sleep in a lily flower." Mimi said in my left hand.
I looked at her for a moment before looking around. I was thankful there were a few nearby so I took her and gave it to Eleonora as she carefully laid her on top of the flower. As if by instinct, the fairy crawled into the flower as if going into bed and now hid inside.
"Wow you guys knew about that, you aren't dumb after all." Mimi said.
We both could only smile wryly at the simple minded fairy. She was looking at us without hostility for some reason unlike before, after I caught her. I wonder if she also had a short attention span or short term memory. She could always be a bird brain and forget things moments after doing something.
I open my palm and leave it flat for her to stand on.
"Ah freedom, anyway I’m Mimi, I'm a forest fairy that one sleeping is Momo, she is a water fairy." Mimi said.
"I'm Kuroko and this is Eleonora." I reply.
"Hey silver girl, how did you spot us, humans shouldn't be able to hear or see the distortion in space we make." Mimi asked.
"I heard you, then when I spotted you was when i was really close." I said.
"Humans still can't hear through the distortion..." She said and paused for a moment looking at me. "Hey~! Why do you have high human ears? Besides the three or four families that couldn't escape, all the high humans should be in the fairy world." Mimi said.
"These appeared some time ago, I seem to be the descendant of the family that has the blessing of the fairy goddess." I said nonchalantly.
The fairy just looks at me blankly as she starts digesting what I said.
The next moment she quickly flies off my hand and circles me and lands in front of me sliding on her knees and finishes bending her body with her face nearly on the ground in a dogeza.
"FORGIVE THIS UNRULY ONE GREAT PRINCESS!!! I HAVE INSULTED SUCH AN IMPORTANT PERSON AND SHALL REPENT WITH MY LIFE!!" She shouts but before she does anything I grab her by the wings and lift her eye level.
"Cut that out, I'm no princess and I don't know if I really am a descendant or someone the goddess made to rekindle the dead blessing." I said.
I let the fairy go and she started beating her wings making small sparkles fall off with every beat.
She was now very timid but she did nod.
"Um… I think I get how you spotted us now. It’s because your ears are unique to high humans. It gives a racial trait to hear through our distortions and your eyes can visually see us well." She said.
Really? I don't have those skills or traits. As if on cue I heard the ding that is followed by the screens.
You have gained new skills
High Human Ears
Basic Level 1
Racial skill of the High humans that possess high enough purity of fairy blood.
Your unique wing-like ears are capable of picking up voices through rifts or distortions. If fairies are hiding nearby you will be able to hear their voices through the veil between dimensions.
Can pick up voices through space distortions. The voices become clearer as you level up the skill.
Further advancement unlocked at higher level.
High Human Eyes
Basic Level 1
Racial skill of the High humans that possess high enough purity of fairy blood.
Your eyes can pick up the distortion fairies make when hiding between dimensions.
Further leveling will unlock new abilities.
Should have seen that coming. I knew that simply learning about a skill or trait grants it but to simply forget so quickly and be caught by surprise is a shame.
"I have it now… do you know of any other abilities unique to high humans?" I asked.
"No, high humans are like noblemen in the fairy world. They still possess human egos so we fairies shy away from them by nature." Mimi said shyly
"Well, I'm not a noble or a princess, just a girl who seems to be pulled by fate to something troublesome." I said with a wry smile while looking at Eleonora who was forcing a weak smile.
"Anyway, how did you both get here, if I'm not wrong the fairies all vanished and hid in the Fairy world?" I asked.
"The world is actually called the Spirit realm and not the Fairy world. It's only called that because fairies are the most well known kind of spirits. As for how we got here, well all the nature in a place with lots of mana in the air made a weak spot connected to the spirit world. We just happened to find it about ten minutes ago just before you two appeared." She explained.
"Ten minutes ago was when you poured all your stored mana into Shai." Eleonora said.
"The presence of fairy magic near a pond of pure water and a high nature mana concentration can connect the spirit world here. Though a pond this small will have trouble supporting more than ten fairies coming through but us fairies can make it much nicer so more fairies can visit." She said smiling.
"What exactly do you do?" I asked.
"We make life flourish near the pond and the result of that would gather more mana in the lake making it grow bigger and strengthening the connection to our world. Before, there were supposed to be tons of fairy ponds but they were all destroyed so we lost all connections to this world though the other worlds are still open." She said.
“Other worlds, does she mean the other VR worlds, so they can connect to them. So the spirit world is a single world connecting all of them or are all worlds connected and we just don't know.” I thought.
"Hey Kuroko, it’s getting late. We should head back." Eleonora said, poking me out of my thoughts.
"Really?" I said and looked up at the sun and saw it had dropped considerably. "Wow, time sure goes fast! Mimi, you can stay if you like and invite other fairies. I'll make it so the creatures from my dungeon here don't attack." I said and we both left, leaving the fairy a bit shocked by suddenly being left.
I called Shai and told her the new orders and was done with the problem.
We met back with the others and returned to the school to get ready for tomorrow since school returns and we have lot to catch up on.