* * *
I looked over at him, and Kaindel flashed a playful smile.
“There’s always a way to kill a monster besides piercing its core. You just have to find its weak spot.”
“Do you know what Mother’s weak spot is?”
Hearing the mention of Mother’s weakness, Owen’s eyes gleamed with curiosity. His gaze, glowing in the darkness, was full of anticipation.
Kaindel glanced at Owen indifferently.
“No.”
“Then what is it?”
“I can only make guesses.”
Kaindel shrugged, responding to Owen in a tone as if soothing a frustrated child. Then, sighing at Owen’s continued curiosity, he changed the subject.
“I’m more interested in Seriel Lake.”
He withdrew his fingers from my hand, which had been lightly brushing over the back of it.
As the warmth disappeared, the evening chill crept in. I huddled up, lowering my arm between my knees and thighs. The hand that had been in contact with Kaindel was now hidden from view.
Come to think of it, Kaindel had shown interest in Seriel Lake ever since the dining hall. Almost as if he had left something there.
Seriel Lake…
I slowly sifted through my memories about it. Since I’d heard a lot of different things, I tried to extract what I could remember.
Someone once said that Seriel Lake was home to a monster that could control time. If you got lost there, you might end up in the past or future, depending on the monster’s whims.
Another person said that Seriel Lake was near the Gayat Mountain Range, but no one knew its exact location because the lake itself was a monster that moved around at will.
That’s why people were warned not to get lost at even the smallest, unnamed lake in the Gayat Mountains.
What part of this is Kaindel interested in?
What could it be that makes him so focused on Seriel Lake?
As I tried to organize the flood of information in my mind, Owen clapped his hands, having suddenly remembered something.
“Oh, now that I think about it, there are rumors that a fairy lives at Seriel Lake.”
“A fairy? Not a monster?”
Ruen, who had been tossing cherries into his mouth, frowned.
One cherry, which had soared into the air, fell and rolled on the ground. he cursed under his breath, picked it up, and rinsed it quickly in the water jug.
“…Yes.”
Owen, shocked as Ruen immediately popped the rinsed cherry into his mouth, continued with a slightly disgusted expression.
“They say people bewitched by the fairy fall into the lake.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Fairies don’t exist.”
“In a world where spirits exist, why wouldn’t there be fairies?”
“I’d believe in a demon king before I’d believe in fairies.”
“Why are you suddenly bringing up the demon king? That’s sacrilegious. There’s only one true divine being in this world.”
Listening to their banter, I stifled a laugh. For me, both demon kings and fairies only existed in fairy tales.
The only exception would be spirits.
Though I hadn’t seen a spirit directly, I had often encountered spirit mages who had contracts with them while working at the restaurant.
Most of them were mercenaries employed by noble parties, and their ability to manipulate elemental powers left a lasting impression on me.
I wondered if fairies were similar to spirits.
With my limited imagination, I tried to picture the fairies that were said to live by Lake Seriel.
Something ethereal, floating, blending into nature—warm and friendly…
But my imagination stopped there. It wasn’t easy to envision something I had never seen before.
I gave up imagining the fairies and pressed my lips together firmly.
Still, the idea that Lake Seriel was home to fairies sounded strange to me. As far as I knew, Lake Seriel was the habitat of monsters.
Then again, Owen could be right. There was no way to rule out the possibility that the lake could also be a fairy habitat.
After all, if the monsters weren’t harmful to humans, calling them fairies wouldn’t be out of place.
Even if they led lost people to random points in time, they did let them go if they knew where they were headed, which wasn’t very monster-like behavior.
As I mulled over this, Ruen sneered in a low voice.
“I’ve been sailing for over ten years, and I’ve never seen a siren. What makes you think fairies exist?”
“Sirens and fairies aren’t the same. Just because sirens don’t exist doesn’t mean fairies can’t.”
“Yeah, right.”
Their argument, which was going strong today, showed no signs of ending.
It wasn’t unusual for them to bicker when they were face-to-face, but it had been a while since their quarrel lasted this long.
Daniel, who seemed drowsy, and Sehir, who was engrossed in the map, seemed content to let them continue.
I, on the other hand, considered stepping in to mediate when Kaindel, adding more firewood to the dying campfire, spoke up.
“I believe in them.”
“Sorry, what?”
“What did you say?”
Ruen and Owen, who had been glaring at each other, turned to look at Kaindel, as if they couldn’t believe what they’d just heard.
Owen twitched the corner of his mouth, and Ruen picked his ear with his pinky.
“Is something wrong with my ears?”
“Seems like it.”
As they exchanged these words as if their fight had never happened, Kaindel reaffirmed his statement.
“I believe in fairies.”
“…….”
“…….”
A sudden silence fell over the group.
Even Sehir, who had been poring over the map, lifted his head to stare at Kaindel.
Only the crackling of the campfire, now fueled by the fresh logs, filled the stillness.
The silence, tense and fragile, was abruptly broken by Ruen’s loud laughter.
“Did you dream about it?”
“No. I saw it.”
“In your dream?”
“No. In real life.”
Kaindel decisively cut off Ruen’s doubt.
His eyes, curved into a gentle smile, masked a hidden resolve.
Though he was humoring this absurd conversation with kindness, it was clear he wouldn’t tolerate crossing a certain line.
Ruen seemed to pick up on this silent message, and his lips moved soundlessly.
Kaindel, who wasn’t one to speak lightly, was so firm in his stance that even a far-fetched story about seeing fairies in reality became oddly believable.
Lake Seriel and fairies.
The two words became inseparable in my mind. A sudden sense of urgency washed over me, and I turned toward Kaindel.
“Uh…”
“How did the fairies look?”
Sehir asked the question I had been about to voice.
Kaindel hummed softly at Sehir’s inquiry, gently stroking his chin, as if recalling a distant memory.
“They were tall. Their bodies were so slender that I could have easily wrapped my arms around them.”
His description was so detailed that it felt like he was placing the fairy right in front of us.
Even I, who had never seen a fairy, could picture it clearly in my mind.
“But whenever I tried to touch them, they would disappear. So I had to be careful if I wanted to stay with them. Oh, and their voices were kind too, though I can’t remember them well. It was a long time ago.”
“…….”
“Their entire bodies were pale, except for their lips, which were a striking red. Maybe that’s why—there were moments when they smiled, and it was just…”
Kaindel trailed off with a soft smile.
It was obvious his smile was directed at someone not present.
His eyes, tracing something invisible in the air, grew distant, filled with a mix of innocence, longing, and a strange, subtle desire.
“They were so beautiful.”
The final sentence carried a peculiar excitement.
I swallowed nervously, feeling as though I, too, had come face-to-face with the fairy Kaindel described.
A person—no, a fairy—with red lips and a beautiful smile.
I bit the inside of my cheek and corrected my own thoughts.
I knew full well that the being Kaindel was talking about wasn’t human.
But the way he described the fairy, almost like it was a person, made my heart sink.
The restless feeling in my chest grew still, but the heaviness that remained made it hard to breathe.
Through the rising tension in my heart, I heard a low voice cut through.
“For something that happened so long ago, you sure remember it clearly, don’t you?”
Owen, apparently thinking Kaindel’s story was too fanciful, chuckled quietly and asked the question.
Kaindel answered immediately, as if he’d rehearsed the response a thousand times.
“I liked them a lot.”
* * *
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Ughhh Kaindel 🤦