“What is that… a fairy?”
-＼(´◓Д◔`)／!!
Incomprehensible language poured out.
It soon became clear that there wasn’t just one fairy-like creature.
-⁀⊙﹏☉⁀
-ヘ(°◇、°)ノ!!
Creatures covered in leaves were making unintelligible sounds at us.
“Ara, what are those?”
“I don’t know either!”
Following the deer, another creature appeared that Ara didn’t recognize.
Perhaps Ara had been trapped at that altar longer than I thought? Maybe new life forms had emerged in the dungeon during that time.
It didn’t make sense that she knew about the Shiny Tree but not these fairies.
“This is really unexpected.”
Setting aside the existence of fairies, we first needed to confirm if they were dangerous.
Physically, these small creatures didn’t seem capable of harming us, but who knew? They might have abilities or magic.
‘Hmm, natives?’
Sometimes, dungeons contained natives from that world. Since dungeons were believed to be fragments of other worlds, it was entirely possible.
“Can we communicate?”
“I will try speaking to them!”
Ara struck a proud pose, arms crossed, and stepped forward. I wondered why she did that, but her following words explained it.
“I am Ara! The master of this dungeon!”
Ah, she was proud because she was the master.
From Ara’s perspective, it might feel like strangers had moved into her home while she was away.
But would they understand Korean? I thought she might speak the monsters’ language with such confidence.
-(‘◇’)?
“Arfheim? Alfheim?”
What, they can understand?
Come to think of it, Ara could communicate with slimes too. I hadn’t realized she could talk to other species or monsters.
‘Good thing we have Ara.’
Ara was acting as our translator.
After listening quietly to the fairies for a while, Ara exclaimed.
“It’s okay to live here!”
-ヽ(;^o^ヽ)
Seeing the fairies suddenly happy, I asked her quietly.
“What were you talking about?”
“They asked if they could live here, so I said yes!”
The pure conversation between the two species made me pause and try to grasp their innocence.
“Hm.”
“If you have any questions, tell me! I’ll pass them on!”
I had many questions.
But first, I should say this.
“Tell them we’re not bad people and they don’t need to be scared.”
“Oh! As expected of Kyu-seong Kyu-seong ! So smart!”
I wasn’t sure what her standard for “smart” was, but if Ara was satisfied, that was enough. She relayed my words exactly in Korean, and the fairies nodded.
Nodding seemed to be a universal gesture.
-(｡・ω・｡)?
“They’re asking why we’re here!”
“Tell them we’re just looking around. To the Shiny Tree. You’re the original master here, right?”
“Oh? Now that you mention it, that’s right! I am the master!”
When Ara explained we were just looking around, the fairies, who had seemed frightened, began to relax.
“There’s no need to be scared! We’re just visiting!”
After a few more words from Ara, the fairies calmed down and came down from the tree to approach us.
-ヽ(•̀ω•́ )ゝ?
“Oh, that’s nice!”
“What are they saying?”
“They’re going to guide us to their village.”
There’s a village?
That was definitely intriguing.
I hadn’t expected a fairy village.
Two fairies perched on Ara’s shoulders and guided us. Their direction was the same as the tree we were heading to.
“So, what were they doing here?”
“They were looking for food.”
“Food?”
Ara translated my question.
The answer came quickly, and Ara spoke.
“Honey from flowers is their food. But…”
“But?”
“It’s honey from a flower called Meluca. They can’t use honey from other flowers.”
“They’re picky eaters.”
“They said they came far to find Meluca.”
As we chatted, we soon reached the base of the Shiny Tree.
“Wow.”
Up close, the tree trunk looked less like wood and more like a cliff. An endless cliff.
‘It’s not a cliff, more like a canyon? It stretches endlessly not only upward but also to the sides.’
After walking for two days, we had finally reached the tree.
Normally, we would have set up camp nearby to rest, but we decided to visit the village of the fairies, who called themselves Alfheim.
-⸜(｡˃ o ˂ )⸝~~~~!!!
At that moment, a fairy nearby made a loud noise. Suddenly, fairies appeared from all directions, surrounding us.
‘Are they here to stop intruders? But their expressions…’
They looked frightened.
It seemed they weren’t a belligerent race, but the sudden situation still warranted caution.
“Hey! There’s no need to worry! I am Ara, the master of this dungeon!”
Ara stepped forward with a stern expression, waving her hand dismissively.
The fairies who had come to confront us looked startled by Ara’s sudden action.
– The master of the dungeon?
“Oh? You can understand?”
The mysterious voice suddenly became comprehensible.
Looking for the source of the voice, I saw a winged fairy emerging from a gap in the trees, quite far above us, looking down.
It wasn’t flying, but the wings set it apart from the other fairies.
– I am Frey, the ruler of this land. Who dares to claim the master’s title?
A beautiful appearance and a mysterious voice.
However, her tone was quite rude.
“Huh? I am the master!”
Ara stammered, taken aback.
The fairy who introduced herself as Frey sneered and began to descend from the tree.
“Can’t you use your wings?”
– I choose not to use them. It’s not that I can’t.
Frey, climbing down like a rock climber, made an excuse.
‘So she can’t use them.’
Despite her arrogant demeanor, it seemed Frey was also quite innocent.
Once on the ground, Frey puffed out her chest and spoke.
– So, what is your name?
“I am Ara!”
– Ara? Ha! I’ve never heard of such a name in the 300 years our Alfheim have lived here!
Frey, who had been mocking, now turned her gaze to me.
– And what about you?
“Me? Hmm, I’m…”
As I pondered how to introduce myself, I glanced at the slimes quietly standing behind me.
“I’m the Great Slime Lord.”
– …The Great Slime Lord?
Frey murmured, then began to tremble slightly.
– Th-The Great Slime Lord?!
“Why are you reacting like that? Do you know the name?”
Frey’s behavior had clearly changed, trembling noticeably.
She tried to shake her head in response to my question but ended up asking again.
– Is it really true that you are the Great Slime Lord?
“And the tone suddenly got polite.”
It seemed Frey knew about the Great Slime Lord.
-…
“Don’t be too upset, I was just joking. But I am the Great Slime Lord. You can see the slimes behind me, right?”
Squirm!
Mark2 stepped forward and bowed, or at least mimicked a bow.
“And Ara here really is the master of this dungeon.”
– Th-That can’t be! The previous master of this dungeon was the terrifying demon, Gluttony Gula!
“Ara is that Gluttony Slime. Now she’s Ara.”
– Gasp!
Frey’s eyes began to tremble violently. Seeing this, Ara asked worriedly.
“Frey! Are you okay?”
– I am fine, no, I am fine.
Frey, now extremely polite, gestured to the fairies around us. Then she shouted.
– They are guests! Treat them with the utmost care!
“Frey, so about what you said earlier? You claimed to be the master here.”
– M-Me? H-Haha. I don’t quite remember…
Her actions were quite endearing.
Compared to the other fairies, Frey was quite arrogant, but she also had a certain purity about her.
“But I’ve been wondering, why can I understand everything you say?”
– Ah! It’s magic. Or rather, it’s a unique ability of mine as the queen of Alfheim.
At the end, I faintly heard her mumble that it might also be a curse. Was there some story behind it?
Anyway, we followed Frey’s guidance and entered the tree. Fortunately, there was a separate entrance, so we didn’t have to climb up the tree.
“Ara, have you ever been inside the tree before?”
“Yes! I nibbled on the tree a bit!”
-…Ha, hahaha.
Contrary to my expectations, the interior was bright.
And it was incredibly spacious. I thought it might be cramped for me since the small fairies lived here, but the scale was no joke.
‘Humans could live here too.’
As I looked at the intricately decorated fairy dwellings, I felt like I had entered a giant dollhouse.
“It’s changed a lot!”
– Well, yes. We’ve decorated the areas you nibbled on to make them livable.
The current space alone looked larger than six or so soccer fields put together. Did Ara really eat all of this?
‘Ara must have been a monster before becoming human-shaped!’
I wished I could have seen that form, but oh well.
Regardless, we continued to marvel as Frey showed us around the fairy village.
Inside the tree were beautiful scenes reminiscent of a fantasy fairy tale.
-(ू˃ o˂ू )
-(╹ਊ╹)/
The fairies we encountered seemed curious about us. Because of Frey’s presence, they didn’t appear scared.
“Wow, this is quite amazing.”
“Hoong!”
Following Frey’s lead, we arrived at an intriguing location.
– This is the training ground for the Starlight Bugs. There are also breeding grounds, nurseries, and honey collection areas.
“You raise those bugs?”
– We don’t raise all of them, but we do take care of about half.
The fairies were raising the bugs I had thought were fireflies. But why raise bugs?
“You said the Alfheim eat honey earlier, right? Do these bugs…?”
– The Starlight Bugs help us find flowers and collect honey. Processing the honey is our job.
Hearing my question, Frey seemed pleased and gave some instructions to a nearby fairy. The fairy quickly went somewhere and returned with a small box.
“What’s this?”
– It’s honey we’ve processed ourselves. It’s mostly used as food for the Starlight Bugs, but other creatures like it too.
Honey!
That definitely piqued my interest.
The box was small because the fairies were small, but it still contained a drop of honey. Each of us—Ara, the slimes, and I—received one box.
Drip!
Just one drop.
But it was the sweetest honey I had ever tasted.
‘Wow, this fragrance is incredible.’
The floral scent remained, subtly blending with the taste without being overpowering.
“This is amazing.”
– Hoho. It’s not such a big deal.
Frey’s beaming smile was both funny and cute. However, her expression soon turned somber.
-…But recently, we haven’t been able to find the flowers we need. No matter how much other honey we make, it’s meaningless.
“Meluca?”
– Yes. The Starlight Bugs can eat any honey we process, but we Alfheim can only consume honey from the Meluca flower.
Hmm, it seemed we had visited during a difficult time for them.
A thought occurred to me.
“Can’t you cultivate this Meluca flower?”
– We’ve been trying for over 200 years. But we’ve never succeeded. Meluca is rare because it’s a difficult plant to grow…
“Then how about this?”
– Yes?
“Would you let me try to cultivate Meluca?”
Frey tilted her head, then gave a bitter smile, as if she thought she had misheard.
– We appreciate your willingness, but even we, who know the plant’s nature well, have failed for over 200 years.
“Right. I’m not asking because I expect success. I just want to give it a try.”
– Of course. I have no reason or right to stop you.
“Really?”
If this goes well…
I might be able to get this delicious honey indefinitely.
Cliche Novel 