Originally, the Parent Tree intended to cast them aside from a punishment close to the death penalty or exclude them from dispatch missions.

However, Chrys couldn’t believe the insane Parent Tree.

A mass of black magic is revealed beneath the Parent Tree’s roots. It was unfamiliar and discomforting, almost repulsive. It seemed to be a magic not of this world.

Also, there was that unusual dream.

If it wasn’t a nonsense dream, she still didn’t know what it meant.

However, one clear fact remained. She had an absurd dream where fairies set fire to the sacred tree, and when she acted according to her dream in a crisis, the Parent Tree’s vulnerability was exposed.

It wasn’t an entirely baseless dream, perhaps indicating an ability of Twilight’s she hadn’t known before.

Chrys tried to recall the faces of the fairies from the dream who burned the Parent Tree… but no matter how hard she tried, Sol Noctis’s siblings were not there.

She had never made such an emotional judgment in her life.

Still, Chrys didn’t want to simply overlook the uneasy feelings originating from the dream. Thinking of it as an extension of her responsibility for disrupting Sol Noctis’s ritual or considering its loyalty to his siblings for treating her kindly was much more comfortable.

Though she knew that anyone could say to just leave, if she truly wanted them to act, she needed to offer a suitable solution.

“Well then, you can do something else.”

“Huh?”

As the two fairies gazed at each other with confusion, Chrys took something from her pocket that might catch their interest.

“I’ll give you this.”

It was the Parent Tree’s fruit that she had picked up amidst the earlier chaos. As soon as the fairies saw it, their ears perked up cutely.

A reaction was more adorable than greedy.

Chrys hastily took out a piece of paper from her coat pocket and scribbled something on it. Along with the Parent Tree’s fruit, she extended it to them, and they eagerly accepted it with both hands.

“Take this, and here’s my lair’s location. Stay there for a while. Just go from Sedition to here. Get the detailed mission from the guys over there.”

They, with their distinctively elongated ears, first flattened them at right angles and then perked them up again. It seemed like a reaction that initially didn’t make sense, but eventually understood.

“Ahh, understood, Twilight! Did you meet the Sacred Tree before us?”

“Um… are you saying our mission has changed in this direction?”

“No, just coming under me, okay?”

This would unintentionally increase the workforce to twenty-two people, but it couldn’t be helped feeling awkward if left as is.

“…Did you hire us, Twilight?”

“Oh, really? But, um, about that, I need to ask Brother… And.”

Chrys moved the Parent Tree’s fruit, and the note in her hands left and right. Their gazes and heads followed like cats playing with prey.

“We originally have… missions to do, and… our abilities aren’t exactly cool enough to be compensated with an advance payment… so it’s a bit… troublesome…”

“….”

As Metius continued speaking slowly with his gaze fixed, Astell lost all words, fixating her gaze on the fruit. The Parent Tree’s fruit was undeniably attractive to the fairies.

Chrys, not wanting to give them more time to hesitate, gave the Parent Tree’s fruit in each hand.

“Just do it if you’re going to! Why so many words even after receiving the advance payment?”

While urging them to leave, she even pretended to kick them, saying two were too many. Meanwhile, Astell and Metius accepted that attitude differently.

‘…Indeed, it seems the Sacred Tree has passed a mission to Twilight.’

Logically, the Parent Tree’s fruit wasn’t something handed out to anyone. Putting up the fruit and even extracting it from the mission they originally had to handle. The two fairies thought this mission was quite important.

Astell and Metius nodded with serious faces. Carefully, they took the fruit and saluted neatly.

“This is an honor. I, Astell, will undertake the mission!”

“I will do my best, whatever task you entrust to me!”

The innocent-looking fairies bowed and headed towards the exit of the Spirit Realm.

Watching them move away with confident strides, she felt an uneasy feeling.

‘They seem to be misunderstanding something.’

Anyway, with this, she had sorted out everything to do in the Spirit Realm. Chrys didn’t want to think about Sol Noctis or his siblings’ affairs anymore.

* * *

‘D*mn it. How far did they fly? Why does all the Spirit Realm look the same?’

Without a guide, the Spirit Realm was no different from a random forest.

‘I should have asked those younger siblings for directions…’

She didn’t want to admit it, but it seemed like she had lost her way. If she had searched by flying through the sky, it would have been much easier, but doing so would attract too much attention. In fact, she had been on edge since earlier, and it was tiring.

Chrys knew her frail body well. This was almost her limit. If she pushed a little harder, she might actually faint.

That was when it happened.

“Kyak!”

She couldn’t think for long in that state. It was because someone silently approached and touched her shoulder.

“Hello, Twilight.”

“We didn’t expect to meet someone so precious in the Spirit Realm. Nice to meet you.”

“Hi, hi?”

They were two fairies she had never seen before.

While there were fairies in Sedition who acted as if they knew Twilight, they seemed more curious about why the Twilight who was being treated so preciously in the Divine Realm. Later, she received occasional light mockery, thinking she might come to seize even a single achievement for herself.

The improvement in Chrys’s standing was due to rumors about the effectiveness of the potion she created.

“Why? Do you need my help with something?”

The two fairies, not as tall as Naskan but quite charming, smiled slightly. It was a very attractive smile.

“It’s been a while since the flower of the divine realm has finally graced the spirit realm. What happened?”

“The sky doesn’t look good to you right now. We’d like to guide you to the beautiful places in the spirit realm. Would that be okay?”

“Guidance is welcome, but…”

Whether Chrys permitted it or not, they tried to get close as she had developed her alertness to small animals or potential threats.

“Wait, I haven’t heard what’s going on yet.”

“Oh, beautiful Twilight. We just want to guide you.”

“There are much more beautiful places in the Elemental Realm than here. You’ll surely like it.”

After that, the fairy extended their hand with a fairly elegant posture. Among fairies, they were quite attractive. In a different setting, there might be quite a few women who would scream and be delighted at that attitude.

When she continued to be cautious, they seemed to be trying to lighten the mood and spoke more.

“You must be tired coming all the way from Sedition to here. It seems like you’re staying in that halfwit’s home, and you might not be satisfied with the hospitality. How about we introduce you to a place where you can relax and become good friends?”

The mention of halfwit made Chrys’s expression stiffen. However, getting angry here wasn’t good for her pride or Sol Noctis’s reputation.

Even though she didn’t like them already, she had no intention of accompanying them, even if it meant getting lost further. Using the mission directly assigned to her by the Lord as an excuse seemed appropriate.

“I have a task directly assigned to me by the Lord, so I don’t think I have the leisure for that. I appreciate it, but I’ll have to decline.”

The fairies didn’t easily back down with that either.

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