Regressor Instruction Manual - Chapter 352. Kim Hyun-Ah (2)

“It’s only natural that you haven’t seen them yet because the environment they live in is extremely important for their survival,” Elena said.

“Environment?” I asked.

“Yes. When our ancestors were still alive, I heard that fairies could be found all over the continent, but now, you can only find them in the Everia Kingdom. Basically, fairies can only live in untainted forests,” she continued.

“They sound similar to creatures that are on the verge of extinction. So they can only live in grade one areas?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“Yes, you’re right, Mr. Park Deok-Gu. Because of the humans’ thoughtless development, they lost their homes, and—Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to tell you that…” she apologized.

“It’s fine since you’re not wrong,” I told her.

“As expected!” she exclaimed.

“But you can’t always think like that, Miss Elena. Unlike the elves being protected by the World Tree, the humans had never been spoonfed. If you think about how the materials to build wooden fences and castle walls all come from the forest, sacrifices have to be made for the survival and development of mankind. You’ll find it interesting if you try to imagine a world where elves didn’t have the World Tree,” I explained.

“Ah.”

“I’m sure the elves would have had to build wooden fences and castle walls. Since no tree gives an infinite amount of fruit, you would need land to farm and feed the large population. You would also have to create a waterway for the sake of drinkable water, and your life would have definitely been completely different from what it is today,” I continued.

“I-I guess you can think of it that way,” Elena stuttered.

“Of course, at the current stage, it’s hard to differentiate whether it’s simply for our survival or it’s to fulfill our greed, but if something like the World Tree was given to mankind, I believe that things would be a bit different than today. I also find this to be unfortunate, but if the environment changes, many things will change as well,” I added.

“I see…” she muttered.

“Looks like I have been talking nonsense,” I said.

“Not at all, Father Lee Ki-young. You’ve explained it from a different point of view, so it helped me widen my narrow mind,” she said.

“Anyway, we should be…” I mentioned.

“Yes, we should be entering the Fairy Forest right about now,” Elena answered.

“Are we here already?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“Because we’ve been moving without taking any breaks. The carriage won’t go any further, so we should get out and travel on foot. Miss Jung Ha-Yan and Miss Sun Hee-Young, please prepare,” Elena informed them.

“Okay.”

“…”

I saw Jung Ha-Yan and Sun Hee-Young nod.

‘They don’t look so good.’

Surprisingly, Jung Ha-Yan looked to be in a better mood than Sun Hee-Young. Seeing that she hadn’t blown up while I was talking to Elena made me think that the proposal had a huge effect on her. It could also be because she thought that my health was in Elena’s hands. Unlike her, Sun Hee-Young looked kind of serious, and I had an idea why.

‘Does she think I was taken from her?’

Before this lie became an act, Sun Hee-Young was previously in charge of taking care of me. There were a lot of times when we had to be apart, but now that her job had essentially been taken away from her, I could understand why she was in a bad mood. Taking care of me was basically the connection she had with me, so it was understandable for her to feel that way. Of course, I wasn’t sure if she still had the same feelings for me as before, but I was slowly pushing her away because she seemed like she was showing interest in me. However, I couldn’t help but think that my plan wasn’t that successful when I saw her serious expression. Her ways simply weren’t as extreme as Jung Ha-Yan’s. Since I had already noticed Sun Hee-Young’s strange changes, I had to watch how I behaved. I had to take care of her mental health bit by bit. I smiled at her, and my smile definitely made her feel better because she brightly smiled in response. I had this thought for quite a while now, but her appearance was close to my ideal type. Of course, it was just her appearance.

I exited the carriage while having silly thoughts and saw the other party members exiting their own carriage as well. To be honest, this sight was brand new to me. Usually, we would all ride in a huge carriage, but since the road wasn’t wide enough for a large carriage, we had to split the party.

The surroundings caught my attention.

“Wow…”

Jung Ha-Yan exclaimed.

“It’s really beautiful. This place is…”

Sun Hee-Young was at a loss for words. My jaw dropped as well. I reacted the same way when I first arrived in Everia, but the sight of a sea of flowers in colors that couldn’t be seen on Earth was a sight to behold.

“Are there no monsters here?” I asked.

“This is one of the regions under the protection of the World Tree, so there are no monsters here. Wild animals do come here, but those children don’t really visit this place… As I mentioned before, the fairies like to play tricks, and those who aren’t immune to their tricks will be surprised and end up running away,” Elena replied.

“So it’s better to travel quietly at all costs,” I commented.

“That’s right.”

While I was talking to Elena, the guild members were unpacking the luggage in the carriage and wrapping up their preparations. Kim Hyun-Sung gave his signal, and the guild members immediately got into formation. The elves did the same as well. I knew the elves were trained well, but it was still a surreal sight to see them moving personally. I was sure they spoke to Kim Hyun-Sung in the carriage because the two formations complemented each other pretty well. It wasn’t a perfect harmony, but the formation was still harmonious. In other words, it was satisfactory. The part I was most satisfied with was how they considered my safety more important than the healers’ safety. The party seemed the same as always, but it felt good to know that others were attentive to me.

Anyway, the party started marching slowly. Kim Hyun-Sung was at the front, and even though I didn’t know if he had been here before, he was leading the party. He was walking in an extremely cautious way, but it wasn’t because it was dangerous. He seemed like he wanted to avoid an annoying situation. Honestly, walking like this was boring and tiring, and I couldn’t help but despise my cursed stamina. When I frowned after drinking a stamina potion, I saw Elena looking at me.

“Are you alright, Father Lee Ki-Young?”

“Yes, of course,” I replied.

“Please let me know if you’re getting tired. Like how a weak soul can damage the body, the same thing will happen the other way as well. Actually, I should tell the leader about this,” she suggested.

“No, it’s fine, Miss Elena. I’m not that tired,” I told her.

“You don’t have to reject it. It’s getting dark, and everyone looks tired anyway… I should bring it up to them,” she repeated.

“I’m really fine. Really,” I repeated.

However, it had already been decided that we would rest. When Jung Ha-Yan expressed that she was exhausted, it only took a moment for Kim Hyun-Sung to receive the news. The elves also stopped walking, and they started unpacking their belongings to find a decent place to camp.

It was getting dark, and that was when I saw something shining.

“Huh?”

“Oppa, just now…”

“I saw it as well, Ha-Yan,” I said.

It seemed like a firefly, but the only difference was that I could hear it chirping quietly. It was a language foreigners wouldn’t be able to understand even if a translation spell were cast. The suspicion only lasted for a moment because when I recalled the conversation we had all day today, I instantly recognized it.

‘Fairies.’

They looked similar to what I had imagined. They were a little bigger than the palm of my hand, and light kept on gushing out of their dragonfly-like wings. They looked more like elves than humans, and they looked extremely cute as well. It was strange that many of them gathered near Jung Ha-Yan, but after considering the fact that they often gathered in places with deep, pure mana, the sight wasn’t really strange at all. It was only natural that they gathered around Jung Ha-Yan since her mana was extremely pure.

“Thankfully, there aren’t many of them,” Elena commented.

“This isn’t many?” I asked.

“Yes. I think it’s all thanks to how we’re moving quietly, and it’s dark as well,” she replied.

There was a lot by my standards, but that wasn’t the case for elves.

‘They’re pretty.’

It seemed that the elves had long gotten used to the fairies because they continued to set up camp and weren’t really bothered. In contrast, the members of the Blue Guild kept looking around. We had seen a lot of interesting things, but this was a brand-new sight, so I was sure it grabbed their attention. Kim Ye-Ri had always been pretending that she didn’t like cute things, but she completely fell in love with the fairies. Of course, some members were struggling because of the fairies’ tricks.

The fairies snatched Lee Chang-Ryeol’s red mask, and Park Deok-Gu was turned into a Christmas tree. Strangely enough, some of the fairies were throwing small rocks at Han Sora. She didn’t seem to be in pain, but it was definitely a shocking scene for her. Since she was a girl, she wasn’t happy about being hated by cute things. She and I knew the reason why the fairies were doing that to her, but she pretended as if she were unbothered.

The others showed their interest as well. Hwang Jung-Yeon turned into scholar mode as she looked at the fairies pulling her hair and glasses with wide eyes, but Yoo Ah-Young’s situation was even worse than hers. Many fairies started pulling her clothes, and to make things worse, there was a fairy trying to fly between her large breasts, so it was a pretty embarrassing sight.

“Kyah!”

“Stop. S-Stop it now…” Elena stuttered.

It was the same for Elena. A few fairies were jumping on her ears as if it were a trampoline, and the fairies looked extremely happy as they jumped around.

‘They’re really annoying.’

A few fairies started charging toward me. They weren’t causing me any harm, but they were annoying to deal with.

“Is there a way to prevent them from approaching?” I asked.

“Ah, there is a way to make them go away, but that will cause them to bring more friends. It’s almost time for them to sleep anyway, so once dinner time is over, it’ll become quieter. Before that…” she trailed off.

It was because Kim Hyun-Sung was slowly approaching us. Many fairies were on him as well, but there had to be something he wanted to tell us. However, I suddenly noticed something strange, and I wasn’t imagining it. Kim Hyun-Sung’s body was changing bit by bit, and he definitely noticed it as well because he looked down.

“Huh?”

His voice sounded higher.

“This is annoying,” Kim Hyun-Sung commented.

His hair came down to his shoulders, and I realized that he became the first victim of their tricks.

“Mr. Ki-Young, are you okay?” he asked.

‘I should be asking you that.’

The person looking at me was a woman in her late teens.

“Oppa… became a little sister.”

Kim Ye-Ri’s mutter sounded loud and clear.