#109
“I’m curious.”
“Our child thought that you would come to this island someday. For whatever reason. So, she fixed the overflowing things here with magic. And ta-da, you really came.”
It wouldn’t have been an easy magic. Whether it was memories or the soul of a fairy, fixing something non-material like that wouldn’t have been easy. Jin-ha, confused, unconsciously blurted out his thoughts.
“Why would you do that? There was no reason for you to do this much for me.”
“No, there was enough reason.”
As Jin-ha looked at her with doubt, the Fairy Queen smiled with the kindest face.
“Because she loved you.”
Jin-ha closed his mouth, feeling a complex and strange emotion. Certainly, Master Senistry in his memories loved him very much. She was an adult who risked danger for him and was also his benefactor who helped him save Riyekan with information he wouldn’t have known if he weren’t a magician.
No matter how he thought about it, Master Senistry didn’t seem like someone who would have an affair with his father knowing he had a wife. Then the culprit was his father. His father must have hidden the fact that he was married and had such a relationship with Master Senistry. Otherwise, the Fairy Queen, who loved Master Senistry very much, wouldn’t have accepted his father. And she wouldn’t still think of him as her grandson and treat him so well.
Until recently, he didn’t think his father was capable of such a thing, but the evidence was too clear to blindly believe otherwise.
“… “
Jin-ha looked at the queen with a sense of guilt. He, the child of the father who deceived Master Senistry, didn’t deserve her affection. But cowardly, he didn’t have the courage to confess the truth.
His father, who had done a trashy act and didn’t hesitate to throw away his life to save his father and son, still felt like a different person to him. He didn’t intend to deny reality with the cowardly excuse of ‘my father wouldn’t have done that’ in a situation where the evidence was clear, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell the Fairy Queen about the shameless act his father had committed. He just couldn’t open his mouth.
The queen, who had been smiling as she watched Jin-ha, leaned her body slightly towards him.
“Now, can I take care of my business?”
“Yes, please.”
With the intention of sincerely responding to the queen’s request, Jin-ha bowed his head politely.
“Come, this way.”
The place the queen guided him to was one side of the attic wall. The unpainted, flat wood was old, cracked, and had holes here and there.
As she placed her hand on the wall, a vine-like pattern spread out from her palm and quickly covered the entire wall. The patterns intertwined and rotated clockwise. And gradually, they began to draw something in the shape of an arch.
And the moment the arch door was completed, Jin-ha felt a pulsating sensation in his left hand.
“Ah…!”
Something hot was revealing its presence inside his hand. At the unfamiliar sensation, Jin-ha raised his hand. As he turned his palm up, something slowly began to rise from within.
At first, he thought it was a brooch with jewels, but as a round pillar gradually appeared below, he had to change his thought.
It was a key.
“Why is this here…!”
Unlike the last time he saw it, there was no pink ribbon tied to it, but he could immediately tell what key it was. It was the key that the fairy had forcefully given him when he fell into Master Senistry’s report. He thought it was lost after escaping that place with Riyekan, but it had been inside his body all this time?
Before he could think any further, the queen urged him.
“This way. Come on, open it.”
Jin-ha hesitantly pushed the key into the keyhole in the middle of the arch door. The key, which was pushed in smoothly, turned on its own and the door opened with a clank. Just like when he was sucked into Senistry’s report.
But this time, Jin-ha walked into the door of his own will.
* * *
It was the second time he visited Master Senistry’s report.
Well, the first time was more like being kidnapped, so it was the first visit. Tension and fear passed by. If the numerous doll soldiers he had faced before rushed at him, Jin-ha would be caught without any means to resist. Of course, there would be no problem with the queen who promised safety, but…
“…It’s quiet.”
It really was. Jin-ha looked around the quiet surroundings, unlike before. The door they entered was an arch-shaped structure in the middle of the garden, with white roses climbing up, looking like a place where a bride and groom would stand for wedding photos. The flowers seemed to be managed by a skilled gardener, fresh and beautiful. Incidentally, there were gardeners nearby, and when he glanced sideways, the animal dolls the size of a person he had seen last time were seriously trimming the rose flowers one by one. Fortunately, they seemed so engrossed in their work that they didn’t pay attention to this side.
“Does it look like that?”
The queen, leading Jin-ha by the hand to the mansion in the center of the garden, giggled.
“Look closely.”
“What? What…”
Puzzled, Jin-ha cautiously looked around and soon changed his mind. The dolls were paying a lot of attention to this side. At first, he didn’t notice, but every time they moved, there was a strange tension among the dolls. Even though they didn’t openly shift their gaze, they kept glancing at this side, pretending to trim the trees meaninglessly without leaving the vicinity.
Could they be looking for a chance to attack?
While Jin-ha was sinking into bad thoughts, a clanging sound cut through the space. Reflectively turning his body towards the sound, Jin-ha was faced with the sight of doll soldiers holding real swords and fighting.
How could they be holding swords? The bear and the lion, with their thick limbs, glared at each other and slowly moved, then suddenly charged. Clang! The sound of swords clashing rang out fiercely again. Captivated by the strange sight, Jin-ha unconsciously stopped walking, and the other doll soldiers started fighting among themselves.
‘Why are they suddenly fighting? And in the garden?’
If it had been a training ground, Jin-ha would have thought it was natural. But this was a garden where a large flower tree, grown for decades, was beautifully trimmed. The space between the trees was not a suitable place to practice swordsmanship.
As Jin-ha rolled his eyes in disbelief, the queen came close and whispered.
“Look, they’re trying to get a glance from you. They’re so diligent. How about giving them some applause?”
“Me?”
“Yes, they’ll like it.”
Unable to refuse the queen’s suggestion, Jin-ha awkwardly clapped his hands.
Clap, clap, clap, clap. At the sound of applause, the doll soldiers straightened their backs, raised their chins, and puffed out their chests. They looked very proud.
But that was just the beginning. Somehow, the word had spread, and as the queen and Jin-ha moved, the dolls subtly approached, showed off their skills, and then looked at Jin-ha with sparkling eyes. Jin-ha had to clap each time. It was a completely different sight from when they had rushed at him with a terrifying momentum to catch him, so Jin-ha couldn’t help but be bewildered.
However, the queen just laughed at the sight and didn’t explain why this was happening. She opened her mouth only after they arrived at the mansion.
“Now, this is…”
“The squirrel that attacked me.”
“Oh my…”
The squirrel standing in front of the mansion door seemed shocked by Jin-ha’s words and stumbled backward, then plopped down on the ground. The way it covered its face with both hands looked as if it was about to burst into tears.
“Well, yes. It’s not unreasonable for you to think that.”
“Was I wrong?”
Jin-ha furrowed his brow as he looked at the sobbing squirrel. Its outfit was not that of a nurse but a butler, but it was definitely the same squirrel.
“Clearly, it shot a net gun at me…”
The squirrel, which had jumped up, made a squeaking sound and protested.
“That was just trying to catch you because you were trying to escape during treatment. To finish the treatment.”
“Treatment?”
“Yes. I heard you were treated for magic overcharge?”
“That was treated by Riyekan… Ah.”
At that time, Jin-ha was not fully recovered. Riyekan had shattered the hardened magic inside Jin-ha’s body, but there were aftereffects, and he couldn’t use magic. But after falling into Master Senistry’s report and returning, he passed out and when he opened his eyes, his condition had improved, and he could use magic. The Information Eye had also leveled up.
Was it thanks to that squirrel’s treatment?
“Riyekan’s treatment was rough, fierce, and… anyway, compared to Senistry’s skills, it was a mess.”
“… “
“Really.”
“Well, yes… I’m sorry. I thought I was kidnapped.”
Jin-ha sincerely apologized to the doll as he looked at it.
“It was a kidnapping, though.”
“What?”
At Jin-ha’s reaction, the queen giggled.
“Come on, let’s go up first. I’ll explain more when we go up. I have something to show you.”
The queen quickly jumped into the mansion to avoid Jin-ha’s questioning. The squirrel was holding the open door and waiting for Jin-ha. Jin-ha, blankly looking at the queen waving from far inside the door, finally sighed. He had no choice but to follow.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
