Chapter 584: Deprived by the Fairy

If "Ms. Nilim" were still here, she would definitely run over angrily and curse at Yunus, a "good man who can sing", when she heard him call her a goblin.

But after Yunus finished speaking, nothing happened.

The room was empty, as if the little guy hiding under Aiwass's hair had never appeared.

"why is that?"

Yunus was stunned.

"Because you were carrying such a heavy aura of depression, it drove Ms. Nilim away."

Aiwass's mouth corners slightly raised as he joked with a mixture of teasing and malice.

"……Really?"

"—Obviously, it's fake."

Sherlock's cold voice came from outside the door: "Open the door."

Aiwass walked over, opened the door, and let him in.

Yunus's smile seemed a little forced and nervous, and he returned to his previous smooth chanting tone: "Dear Mr. Sherlock, I have a doubt..."

"—You want to know when I came."

Sherlock interrupted Yunus directly, skipping the long pleasantries: "I have only been here a short time, but I have heard what I need to hear."

"...In that case, it's a pity; we've already drunk all the wine..."

"—I've known your identity for a long time, Your Highness. Aiwass told me. Yes, I knew it from the very beginning. I will stand on the side of Her Majesty the Queen—no matter which queen it is. That's why I'm very angry about your attitude."

Like a player who quickly skips a conversation, Sherlock quickly responded to Yunus's questions that he had not yet raised.

Looking at the speechless Yunus, Sherlock tilted his head slightly and said calmly, "Any questions?"

Although he looked calm and rational, Aiwass felt that he was a little angry.

"I think……"

Aiwass then pulled Sherlock to find a place to sit down, and said with a smile, "Mr. Yunus is probably curious about... how you realized the problem."

"...Do you want to hear me praise you, Aiwass?"

"Why not tell me about it?"

"Of course, it's the secret knowledge you told me—the knowledge about goblins."

Sherlock chuckled and turned his gaze back to Aiwass instead of Yunus: "What they said in Eagle Point Village."

"...Eagle Point Village."

Yunus murmured, "Is this Eagle Cape Village in Muwan County?"

"I suppose you met Anastasia around there."

Aiwass, who was standing next to Sherlock, glanced at him and announced directly, "Besides, she is alone."

"That's right... What's going on?" Only Yunus was still unclear about the situation.

"That brings us to the habits of goblins," Sherlock replied, not ignoring him. "Have you ever heard of the Goblin Forest?"

"...Fairy Forest?"

"Well, I guess you haven't heard of it. Simply put, if a clean path with few fallen leaves suddenly appears in the deep, lightless, dense jungle, it means this is the Fairy Forest—and it will occasionally open a tunnel leading to the Fairy Kingdom."

Sherlock responded.

Yunus frowned. "Of course I know about the Land of Joy! It's the fairyland that poets dream of! But there are fallen leaves here..."

"—That's because it hasn't opened yet. The Twin Mirror's sacred number is two, and the passage to the Fairy Kingdom usually opens at two in the morning."

It was Aiwass who answered the phone.

He looked at Sherlock and smiled, "You noticed it too."

"I know for sure, because I was a witness. But you—how did you find out?"

Sherlock asked back.

Aiwass replied, "Because Miss Nellim is too young."

"...Wait, wait, I don't understand. Is there something wrong with Miss Nilim? Or is she Anastasia?"

Yunus was a little confused.

Sherlock raised an eyebrow and continued with the clue to the riddle: "Have you met Miss Nilim before?"

"Of course not! I just saw it for the first time today..."

"But she said she came to see you."

"But then...oh..."

Yunus was halfway through his speech when he suddenly realized something and stopped talking.

Sherlock said, "Underage fairies must live in the fairy kingdom. Fairies don't have the ability to teleport. And that melancholy ballad—the one you sang when you played the piano last night—if you didn't sing it often before, I think she came to you because of it."

Yunus was silent for a moment. "This is... a new song I wrote after coming to the Theocracy. It's true that I didn't sing it for the first time last night, but the first time I sang it was a week ago..."

Aiwass, who was standing by, knocked on the back of Sherlock's seat, attracting the attention of the two men.

He chuckled and said, "How ironic. As a famous bard, 'Happy Yunus' first song that attracted the goblins was a sad, homesick nursery rhyme."

"Maybe it's because this is the only song he truly speaks from the heart."

Sherlock commented sharply.

"—In short, the fact that Miss Nilim is here proves one thing."

Aiwass replied, “There is an entrance to the fairy kingdom nearby.

"As a bard, you should be very familiar with fairies. Only those invited by the fairies can see the invisible passage in the dense forest and enter the Fairy Forest. But it is also possible that fairies take the initiative to go to the material world and abduct those innocent, lively, beautiful, and talented children."

At this point, Aiwass said meaningfully: "And if these children enter the Fairy Forest and play with the fairies..."

“…I will forget about time.”

Yunus muttered to himself and continued.

A flash of realization flashed in his eyes, and he clearly understood. "I remember that those children who entered the fairy kingdom... when they returned, their former playmates of the same age might have become old, or even died of old age."

Sherlock nodded. "Yes, it's a painful thing for humans. Especially when you leave the fairy kingdom, you find that there is no one around you who you are familiar with. The things you have learned are completely useless in the new era; the elders you used to rely on have now turned to dust; your former companions are still friends who parted not long ago to you, but to them you are already a stranger.

"In this new world, there's no place to stay. Without talent, family, friends, or shelter... you're left alone, wandering the world. You might even forget human language, or become so accustomed to the fairy kingdom that you lose the ability to survive in the material world...

"For them, death is actually a relief. A better choice is to give up their human identity and become a fairy."

"...become a fairy?"

Yunus' eyes widened.

Could it be that Nilim is... Miss Anastasia?

"I know what you're thinking, but unfortunately—probably not. Or, it could be... but whether it is or not is meaningless."

Aiwass ruthlessly interrupted Yunus's thoughts: "You think too highly of fairies.

"Fairies are truly innocent beings, willing to sacrifice their own lives for happiness... Do you think it's possible for a human to become a true fairy? To fairies, human souls are simply too boring.

“In fact, the fairy’s transformation magic is closer to the Moon Child’s transformation ritual.

"If humans live in the fairy kingdom for a long time and eat the fairy food, they will gradually lose their human characteristics. If they are afraid and determined to return home immediately, they will probably only disappear for a few years or a dozen years; if they listen to the temptation to stay and continue to stay, it may be 40 or 50 years.

"If they were to continue to be kept here, to dine with the fairies... then it would be almost impossible for them to return. After having eaten the fairies' dinner, these children would have forgotten human language. If they stayed here any longer, they would lose their common sense, completely forget their parents and family, and no longer want to return home. They would then lose the rich emotions that belong to humanity, and ultimately, forget all memories of being human.

"At this point, can they still be called the original humans? Even the color and shape of their souls are different.

"But this is only true for humans. Staying in the fairy kingdom for too long means death. So..."

Aiwass said meaningfully: "What about the elves?"

Elves' sense of time is five to seven times that of humans.

Even if we jump over fifty years of separation, for the elves... it is only less than ten years.

——And in these "short fifty years", all the elves' numerical values ​​are solidified.

Even if the Elvish language was lost, relearning it wasn't a terrible thing for the long-lived Elven children. After all, their parents and friends were still alive, and the world hadn't changed much.

Even if one loses their feelings, it's not a big deal—it just happens to prevent amber from solidifying. The strong influence of the Path of Beauty can also prevent the influence of the Path of Dusk... This is called fighting poison with poison.

"—Now think back on it."

Aiwass said meaningfully, "Master Maxim obviously loves his daughter very much. The headband with the words 'Anastasia, wish you good health' was made by the master. This must have been made by Maxim himself...

"Such a person, when we mentioned Anastasia, he didn't feel sad about her departure, nor did he feel proud that she went to the giant tree. No matter how I tried to guide the conversation, he didn't talk about any stories about Anastasia's childhood - does he really not miss Anastasia?

"Or let's put it this way, Mr. Yunus. When you gave him this headband, did he look nostalgic?"

"……No."

Yunus shook his head slowly. "He quickly handed me the headband and told me... Anastasia died over twenty years ago, but I only met her a few years ago. And Mr. Maxim also told me that she had never been to Avalon... because she had transformed into a tree at a very young age."

"--Yes, this is the key."

Sherlock interrupted, narrowing his eyes.

(End of this chapter)