106 – The Fairy Who Awaits Spring, Baonoi
I met Baobao Baonoi while I was struggling to heal my wounds.
The Fairy Forest had grown dark.
Strangely ominous animal cries echoed from all around!
─Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap-!
─Hoooo, hoooo-!
─Meeuuu-! Meeuuu-!
─Choorichoori Mittchurit…!
This was the world of the fairies.
Though there may have been some ferocious animals, judging by the cries, it was clear they weren’t ordinary creatures.
In this situation, I, who was bleeding, moving around would’ve been the perfect prey.
“Owww…”
First, I took out some extremely foul-smelling medicated ointment from the bag Bangdaengi had dropped and slowly covered my side, slashed from rescuing Seugal, all the way up to my back.
“This ointment sure smells disgusting.”
━Grrrrl…!
My terrible joke earned an aggravated sound from Yining.
“Don’t ever say such a thing again.”
That’s what it seemed to say.
At any rate, it was an excruciating wound.
The only fortunate thing was that it was merely a flesh wound; there was no problem with my spine or nerves, meaning I could walk and move my arms without any issues.
“Still hurts like hell though.”
If Seugal had taken this blow, a big scar would’ve surely formed on her beautiful body, which might have been cool in its own way.
After all, in the future, Seugal had a large wound on one eye and was known as the “One-Eyed Beauty Swordsman,” exuding quite an intimidating aura.
She also had a rather significant scar on her side.
Scars are sometimes marvelous medals for warriors.
However, it’s better for masterpieces not to have any scars or wounds.
“Since I saved her so heroically, I should at least get a kiss on the lips when I return, right?”
━YiningYaying.
“Yeah, if I can return, that is.”
In my opinion, the likelihood of the hunting party, which had captured Nam Woo-joo alive returning to save me was low, at least for a while.
Since the teacher responsible for transportation had over-exerted himself, he must lie down for at least half a month.
Knowing about the existence of “Darkness” and the “Fairy Knight Hameln,” it wasn’t strange for them to become less keen on exploring the Great Labyrinth.
The careful Nam Bada would perhaps even issue a prohibition to enter the Great Labyrinth.
There had been similar incidents in the world before I returned.
“Everyone must think I’m dead.”
Maybe my funeral is already taking place.
If I were to just then miraculously return alive, wouldn’t everyone be astonished, and wouldn’t all the attention be on me?
I want to go back soon.
“Yining, it’s rare to be left alone with you like this, isn’t it?”
But the forest was vast, and finding a way was not easy.
Even Yining, who had somehow escaped from the “Provision Storage,” was acting rather negatively, so we wandered around the forest.
“Hey, if we run out of food like this, you’ll become my emergency rations. So try to find a way, won’t you? I don’t want to eat you!”
━Gweeewing.
“You don’t have eyes, so how do you plan on finding the way? I don’t know either!”
First, getting through the night was the top priority.
While looking for a decent place to rest, I saw a tree that had grown impressively, like a baobab tree, with a door installed on it.
Isn’t this what happens when someone hollows out a massive tree and makes its inside a house? It looked just like a fairytale home.
Knock knock.
I knocked on the door just in case, but there was no answer.
Empty house.
Thinking so, the moment I was about to open the door, someone spoke from inside.
━Who is it…?
“Uh…”
It was a slightly childish voice.
A girl’s voice, like that of a student from the upper grades of elementary school.
I thought of the daughter of Manager Gim Jang-dong.
“I am Hanamjin.”
━You’re not fooling anyone…! Because, at this late hour, there are no visitors looking for Baonoi, and I, Baonoi, know this best…! This is definitely an illusion!
Am I the illusion?
Just as I thought it unlikely that the door would open easily,
Creak, squeak-.
The wooden door opened slightly, revealing a child barely reaching my chest.
It was a girl with orange hair and an orange mushroom-shaped hat. The impressive thing was her old orange tracksuit, which seemed to be picked up from somewhere.
“Are you really a person…!? Am I, Baonoi, imagining this illusion with my mind…? In that case, I, Baonoi, will recite words I’ve never heard before…!”
Ah, she thought I was an illusion she had created in her mind.
I used to be like that too.
If you live alone for a long time, loneliness can make you see hallucinations.
That’s why when Seugal came to the shack, I thought I was having a waking dream.
Anyways, meeting a person in this forest was lucky for me too.
Not sure if they can be called a person.
Her ears were short and pointed.
“Are you a fairy?”
“Muhehe, I am Baobab Baonoi, the nymph of stream water…! The nymph who grows the best Baobab trees…! No nymph can cultivate Baobab trees like me…!”
Tududududu-.
The fairy Baonoi ran around the cramped house.
Her tone was peculiar.
“It’s been so long since a guest has come…! Would you like to see the flowers I’ve diligently planted…? You won’t find such impressive flower pots anywhere else…!”
It seemed that this girl had lived alone in this tree house for a very long time.
When you ramble alone for too long, your speech can become strange.
Whatever it is, I understood she was harmless.
# # #
Anyways, this is how I met Baobao Baonoi.
I drank precious sap from her and felt my back wound recovering.
“Seems pretty effective?”
“Muhehe, I, Baonoi, am good at extracting sap…! Visitor… if you need anything, just ask…!”
“Is there a magic lamp that grants wishes?”
“No such thing exists…!”
“Then is there a ring of invisibility?”
“I don’t even know what that is…!”
“Then what do you have?”
“There are some chewy mushrooms that are decent to eat when dried…!”
“That sounds awesome! Mushrooms are high in nutrients!”
“What is this ‘awesome’ language…?”
“It means absolutely incredible.”
“It truly is awesome…!”
Baonoi was extremely kind.
Because I’ve only met irritable people recently, seeing such kindness made me uneasy.
This girl must not have had a conversation with anyone other than herself in a very, very long time.
So she probably wanted to keep me around for a while. She seemed hesitant, constantly checking on my reactions.
It felt like she would answer me sincerely if I asked her questions.
“Baonoi, are there other fairies here besides you?”
“Indeed, that is the case…! All the others left for the city in the sky…! I, Baonoi, was left behind because I was busy collecting Baobab seeds….”
“You mean a floating city in the sky, like the fairy palace?”
“Exactly that…! No one knows when they’ll return to the land…! But when the forest, polluted and dirtied by black rain, becomes clean again, other nymphs will undoubtedly come back…!”
Summing it up, it went like this.
The fairy forest used to be a much better place to live, but one day it started to become severely polluted. Crops and flowers stopped growing, and demon beasts multiplied.
So the fairies abandoned their homeland and sought refuge in the sky city, but Baonoi, while gathering Baobab seeds, was left behind.
“Other nymph sisters say they don’t need Baobab seeds, but I, Baonoi, don’t think that way…! However, because of that, I ended up alone….”
As sticky sap candles flickered to Baonoi’s sighs, I noticed small slashes etched into the wall.
They reminded me of the marks left by a castaway on an uninhabited island to mark the days, but also looked like cascading drizzles.
Too many to count. Each mark must represent a day, or a week, or maybe a month.
This girl must have endured a tremendous amount of time all by herself.
Easily over ten years, I’d say.
“I, Baonoi, will surely succeed in reviving this forest, and other fairy sisters will definitely return…! But there are so many terrifying demon beasts making progress slow…!”
━YiningYaining.
“That’s right…! Those horribly howling demon beasts…! Hieeek…!”
Startled Baonoi leaped over.
The girl saw Yining and freaked out, her hair standing on end.
“A lightning-spitting monster…! It’s the most terrifying monster that has appeared in the forest recently…! We must drive it away…!”
“Nothing to be afraid of. Yining is a kind demon beast.”
“Ho, have you tamed a demon beast perhaps…?”
This girl, quicker in changing her stance than I expected.
“There have been beings among us fairies who could tame demon beasts, and they became knights of the great fairy king, showing off their magnificent stances…!”
Knight.
Something came to my mind.
“Have you heard of the Grand Knight Hameln?”
That guy who controlled rats.
I wondered if she knew about his weakness, so I asked her. That’s when she shuddered.
“Hameln was a long-eared fairy who became the servant of the fairy king by taming ferocious ‘squirrel dogs’ and presenting them to the royal family…! His rats are terrifying…! You must run if you encounter them…!”
Indeed.
Until the morning, we chatted idly. When I took out chocolate from Bangdaengi’s bag and gave it to Baonoi, she was elated.
“Chocolate…! No nymph has ever tasted anything this delicious…! When the nymph sisters return from the high palace in the sky, I must definitely let them taste it…!”
Fairy Baonoi believed her sisters would return.
How long would it take?
“Muhehe, it’ll be soon…! As soon as the fairy king’s treasure is found…! If we plant the seed of spring hidden inside at the right time in the forest, it’ll be fine…!”
“Treasure?”
“That’s right…! Before lifting the palace high into the sky, the fairy king secretly buried the seed for the forest to become spring-ready…! If we just find it—.”
The day the world of the fairies suddenly collapsed.
It seemed like a certain fairy king evacuated the other fairies high up and had securely hidden seeds for the world’s development.
The fairy king’s treasure and the seed of spring.
It reminded me of something.
Could it be the ring I gave to Seugal?
The name of the ring was “Seed” too, after all.
“I, Baonoi, think that the treasure might be in the ‘Provision Warehouse’ or the ‘Treasure Exhibition’…! But the Great Labyrinth below is not easily approachable…!”
“Do you know the way to the Great Labyrinth?”
“Of course…! I know it…!”
What’s “Of course”?
I could see an English phrasebook lying around somewhere. Was it something one of the explorers of the Great Labyrinth had dropped and this girl picked up?
Anyway, the fact that Baonoi knew the way into the Great Labyrinth was immensely lucky for me. With this, we might be able to find the exit of the Great Labyrinth.
“Good, Pucao! Let’s go together!”
“Who’s Pucao? I am Baonoi…!”
