Chapter 108: Orion Fairy Village (2)

“There’s no one in the village?”

“The field suddenly appeared, so everyone must be nearby. It’s a small village with barely a hundred people.”

They passed a chapel, grocery store, bookstore, and general store—no one in sight. The shop doors were wide open, yet there wasn’t a single owner or customer.

“They just left the doors wide open and went to see the field?”

“That’s how peaceful this place is.”

“Peaceful? This is just stupid. If this were our village, everything would already be looted. If some idiot came crying that their stuff got stolen because they didn’t guard it properly, I’d personally chop their head off!”

“They left the doors open because they know no one here would steal. How is that stupid? And stop yelling so loud. The fairies might hear you.”

“What if they do? I didn’t say anything wrong, and there’s not even an ant around anyw—”

“…”

Ion and Bran, who had been talking while crossing the empty village, simultaneously turned around.

They were looking at an open music shop. Moments later, a fairy crawled out on all fours.

“Ugh, what’s that smell.”

Bran wrinkled his nose at the piercing alcohol stench… and the moment he saw the fairy’s face, every wrinkle vanished.

Ion recognized him instantly. Ah, it’s him.

“Travelers…?”

Even his voice was beautiful, like jade beads rolling on a silver tray.

Emerald-green hair with fluffy baby curls like lamb’s wool. Snow-white skin, sparkling blue eyes, and eyelashes so thick and long they looked hand-glued by a master craftsman. Slightly downturned eyes with a beauty mark perfectly placed beneath the right one—as if the creator had pondered exactly where it would be prettiest. Lightly flushed peach-like cheeks, plump cherry lips.

Long, slender limbs that looked fragile but possessed monstrous strength capable of snapping a human with a single finger.

Haidian Heroi.

The crawling beauty looked up at Ion and Bran with sleepy eyes.

Bran, who had been about to flirt with the rare stunning beauty, pinched his nose again.

“What the hell, did he bathe in liquor? That’s harsh.”

The stench was so strong it almost seemed like he’d taken a booze bath. Even Ion frowned.

“Is that alcohol smell? It’s sweet. Dam Ion, I wanna drink. Give me alcohol.”

As soon as Baba showed interest, Ion used a simple spell to blow the smell away. It didn’t help.

“Hello… So many visitors to our little village today… Did you come from the same place as the others earlier?”

Haidian weakly greeted them, forehead against the doorframe. Every time he opened his mouth, waves of alcohol wafted out.

Ion covered Baba’s tiny nose with his palm and asked,

“Others visited before us?”

“Humans in strange outfits came this morning… The elders talked with them, then called everyone to the plaza. But I’m a heavy sleeper, so I was sleeping…”

“Not just sleeping, you were drinking, right?”

At Bran’s nasal voice, Haidian flinched.

“…A bit of both… haha.”

Pure-blooded fairy, yet such a heavy drinker he ignored even the elders’ summons.

“Then everyone must be gathered at the plaza. Keep sleeping. We’ll head there.”

“Mmm… wait a second… The plaza isn’t far, but it’s strangely quiet. At this hour they should be singing, dancing, and making a racket.”

“They might have entered the field.”

“Field…? Did a field appear near the village?”

“It appeared this morning. Not near the village—inside it.”

“…”

Haidian’s emerald eyes, bleary from hangover, suddenly sharpened. The gaze he directed up at Ion was quite fierce.

“If a field appeared inside our village, how exactly do you outsiders know about it?”

“I’m a Revelation-attribute aura awakener, and I came to enter the field. …You already know that, don’t you, Haidian?”

“…”

Haidian’s expression hardened.

Haidian Heroi was also a Revelation-attribute awakener.

However, he had been hiding most of the revelations he received.

Haidian was a wastrel.

There are two kinds of wastrels: the loud, social kind like Bran who loved mingling with people; and the reclusive kind who wanted to drink alone, sleep, drink again, sleep again, and die peacefully. Haidian belonged to the latter.

For a peaceful, leisurely life, the world must not end.

He hadn’t used magic devices and had taken the lead in spirit protection not out of righteousness, but simply so he could continue living as a carefree drunk.

Yet during the Cataclysm, the system awakened him anyway.

Haidian realized his aura ability was unusual.

Revelation attribute—visions of future scenes that suddenly appeared before his eyes.

If he had known he’d awaken such an annoying ability, he never would have bothered protecting spirits.

Though he was actually Master-rank, he lied to the elders and claimed Beginner-rank, and he ignored most of the visions that appeared.

He knew the giants would invade. But since it wouldn’t affect his village or the elders, he ignored it.

He had seen scenes of the Giant War. He ignored them thinking, As if we’d lose.

And yesterday.

While drinking alone as usual… a vision appeared.

The red berries he was snacking on transformed into a red field that had appeared in the middle of the village plaza. Several people stood in front of it.

Haidian didn’t even hesitate. He chugged the rest of his drink and waved the vision away.

The more intoxicated he got, the blurrier the visions became, so he drank like water and passed out.

“Ah… why did I do that…”

Haidian deeply regretted his actions from yesterday. I should’ve looked closer. Then I could’ve prevented this.

He let out a long sigh and turned around.

“What the hell is going on…?”

Ion and Bran, who had been watching the plaza with him, also turned.

They were hiding in bushes near the plaza.

The fountain that normally spouted clear water was stopped. In its place, a red field shimmered.

The important part was the people in front of the field entrance.

Black-masked figures standing guard with drawn swords, exuding a tense aura.

Next to them, three elders and other fairies were bound. All unconscious, encased in a translucent polygonal magic circle Ion had never seen before.

Baba whispered quietly.

“Dam Ion. Those guys are wearing the exact same clothes as the humans who tried to kill Fevel.”

“Yeah. ‘System Age.’”

“System Age…?”

Ion explained briefly.

“A heretical cult that worships idols.”

“Idol worship…? What does the idol do that they worship it…?”

He had forgotten Haidian was a total airhead.

“They worship the system as a god instead of Elida.”

“That’s…!”

Even if he was an unusual fairy, Haidian was still an ordinary Idean who believed in Elida. Contempt filled his blue eyes.

“Why are those filthy idol-worshipping bastards threatening our villagers?”

“Your villagers must have tried to stop them from entering the field.”

“Our people aren’t the type to go down easily. They’re frontier warriors.”

“Those guys aren’t easy to stop either. Every single one of them is an aura awakener.”

“No way… Why would righteous awakeners do something this evil?”

Haidian was shocked to see corrupted awakeners, but Ion couldn’t sympathize.

The prejudice in Idea that “awakeners never do bad things” needed to be shattered a little.

“Are you seriously saying every awakener is righteous? Then Haidian, are you a righteous awakener?”

“…Let’s rescue our villagers first. They were strong enough to subdue warriors, so don’t let your guard down.”

Haidian’s face hardened as he pulled a weapon from sub-space.

A flail.

Haidian usually used magic and spirit arts because moving his body was too much effort, not because he lacked physical prowess. The fact that he, who preferred sitting far away casting spells, pulled out a close-combat flail meant he was taking this seriously.

Bran yanked Haidian back by the collar just as he was about to charge out.

“Hey, chill. You stay put. When a fairy elder is taken hostage, you lot lose all reason. If you come with us, you’ll just screw everything up.”

“…And who are you to speak informally to me?”

“If you don’t like it, drop the honorifics too. Anyway, Ion. I just have to kill those bastards, right? Is murder okay?”

“Kill them. They won’t talk even if we interrogate them.”

Bran gave a chin jerk and stood up. Then, without any plan, he charged straight at the Age cultists while radiating killing intent.

The cultists panicked.

“Damn, there were still fairies left?”

“Wait, his skin is dark. He’s not a village fairy. Human?”

“Doesn’t matter. Subdue him!”

Hybrids look indistinguishable from humans unless they manifest demonic energy. The cultists mistook Bran for human.

“KEKEKEKE! You’re all dead! I’ve been so stressed lately—this is perfect!”

Bran threw off his leather jacket.

Haidian shot up in alarm.

“What kind of lunatic just charges in without a plan…!”

“Wait, Haidian.”

Ion stopped Haidian from joining.

“He’s more than enough alone. Let’s just watch.”

“Huh? You’re going to let him fight alone? Isn’t he your companion?”

“Not companion. Traveling partner. Big difference. Dam Ion and I are companions. Sanse too. We’re friends. That guy isn’t. You aren’t either.”

“…Your familiar really speaks well.”

Haidian had been continuously amazed every time Baba spoke since the introduction.

Ion and Haidian watched Bran fight without interfering.

One cultist, lightning attribute, used aura.

CRACKLE!

A lightning bolt shaped exactly like real lightning struck down.

Bran took it head-on without dodging and kept charging.

“Ah, that tickles. Kek.”

“That crazy bastard…!?”

The cultist never finished his sentence.

Bran’s arm pierced straight through the cultist’s chest—pure physical strength, no magic enhancement.

GURK. The cultist coughed blood from chest and mouth and collapsed.

Another cultist quickly assessed the enemy and headed for the hostages.

But Bran was faster.

He kicked off the ground, leapt, and landed in front of the cultist.

CRUNCH!

Before the cultist could react, Bran twisted his neck and killed him.

“Next?”

He grinned, fangs bared. He wasn’t even using demonic energy—he was pure demon.

The situation was cleaned up in moments.

“Phew, been a while since I stretched. Feels refreshing. You really gotta let it out once in a while.”

Bran, fully satisfied, stepped on a cultist corpse’s back and ground his heel.

Haidian and Ion emerged from the bushes.

Haidian stepped carefully around the bodies with a disgusted face; Ion simply used flight magic.

He checked the field first—couldn’t enter. That meant the cultists were already inside.

Ion took out a few scrolls he had saved from Sevi, about to hand them to Bran and Haidian when…

“Hey, this is… a mana drain device?”

Haidian, checking on the villagers, shouted in shock.

“Mana drain device?”

“Yes. A mana dissipation device created during the mana oversaturation period. So that’s why everyone in the village fainted…”

They had completely drained everyone’s mana to render them powerless before knocking them out.

Ion’s face went pale.

There was… such a terrifying, horrific magical tool?