Chapter 584
What was taken by the fey
If Ms. Nilim were still here, she would surely rush over and scold Yunus for calling her a “good singing person” like a fey.
But after Yunus finished speaking, nothing happened.
The room was empty, as if the little guy hiding in Eivass’s hair had never appeared.
“Why is this?”
Yunus was dumbfounded.
“Because you’re too gloomy, you’ve scared Ms. Nilim away.”
Eivass’s lips curled slightly, and he made a teasing and malicious joke.
“…Really?”
“—Obviously, fake.”
Sherlock’s cold voice came from outside the door: “Open the door.”
Eivass walked over and opened the door, letting him in.
Yunus’s smile was a bit forced and nervous, and he resumed his previous smooth singing tone: “Respected Mr. Sherlock, I have a doubt…”
“—You want to know when I arrived.”
Sherlock directly interrupted Yunus, skipping the lengthy pleasantries: “I didn’t arrive long ago, but I’ve already heard what I needed to hear.”
“…In that case, it’s truly a pity; the fine wine has been drunk by us…”
“—I also knew your identity a long time ago, Your Highness. Eivass told me. Yes, I knew from the very beginning. I will stand on Her Majesty the Queen’s side—whichever queen. That’s why I’m angry with your attitude.”
Like a player who has fast-skipped through dialogue, Sherlock quickly responded to Yunus’s as-yet-unspoken doubts.
Looking at the speechless Yunus, Sherlock tilted his head slightly and said calmly, “Are there any other questions?”
Although he appeared calm and rational, Eivass felt he was a little angry.
“I think…”
So Eivass pulled Sherlock to a seat and said with a smile, “What Mr. Yunus is curious about is probably… how you realized what the problem was.”
“…Do you want me to praise you, Eivass?”
“Feel free to say it.”
“Naturally, it’s the secret knowledge you told me—the knowledge about fey.”
Sherlock chuckled, no longer looking at Yunus, but turned back to Eivass: “What they said in Eagle Cape Village.”
“…Eagle Cape Village.”
Yunus murmured, “Eagle Cape Village in Shepherd’s Bay Country?”
“I guess you must have encountered Anastasia near there.”
Eivass, standing beside Sherlock, glanced at him and declared directly, “And, she was alone.”
“Indeed… What is going on?” Only Yunus was still a little unclear about the situation.
“This has to do with the habits of the fey,” Sherlock said, not deliberately ignoring him. “Have you heard of the Fairy Forest?”
“…Fairy Forest?”
“Well, I guess you haven’t. Simply put, in those deep, dark, dense forests, if a clean path with very few fallen leaves suddenly appears, it means this is the Fairy Forest—it opens a tunnel to the Fairy Kingdom from time to time.”
Sherlock replied.
Yunus frowned: “Of course I know the ‘Land of Joy’! That’s a fairy tale wonderland that bards dream of! But there are fallen leaves here…”
“—That’s because it’s not time for it to open yet. The Sacred Number of the Twin Mirrors is two, and the passage to the Fairy Kingdom usually opens at two in the early morning.”
The one who chimed in was Eivass.
He looked at Sherlock and smiled: “You’ve noticed it too, as expected.”
“I definitely know, because I’m a witness. As for you—how did you discover it?”
Sherlock retorted.
Eivass replied, “Because Miss Nilim is too young.”
“…Wait, wait, I’m a bit confused. Is there something wrong with Miss Nilim? Or is she Anastasia?”
Yunus was getting confused.
Sherlock raised an eyebrow and continued with the cryptic clue: “Have you met Miss Nilim before?”
“Of course not! I only met her for the first time today…”
“But she said she came to find you.”
“But that… Oh…”
Yunus was about to say something when he suddenly realized something and stopped mid-sentence.
Sherlock said, “An underage fey would definitely live in the Fey Kingdom. Fey don’t have the ability to teleport. And that sad folk song—it’s the song you sang while playing the piano last night—if you haven’t sung it often before, I think she came to find you because of this song.”
Yunus was silent for a while: “This is… a new song I wrote after coming to the Church. It wasn’t the first time I sang it last night, but the first time was only a week ago…”
Eivass tapped the back of Sherlock’s chair, attracting their attention.
He chuckled, “How ironic. As a famous bard, the first song that ‘Happy Yunus’ used to attract fey was actually a sad, homesick children’s ballad.”
“Perhaps it’s because only in this song did he truly speak his heart.”
Sherlock commented sharply.
“—In conclusion, the fact that Miss Nilim could come here indicates one thing.”
Eivass replied, “There is an entrance to the Fairy Kingdom nearby.
“As a bard, you should know a lot about fey. Only those invited by the fey can see the invisible passage in the dense forest and enter the Fairy Forest. But it’s also possible that the fey actively go to the Material Realm and abduct those innocent, lively, good-looking, and talented children.”
Eivass said meaningfully, “And if these children enter the Fairy Forest and play with the fey…”
“…they will forget time.”
Yunus murmured, then continued.
A flash of realization crossed his eyes, and he obviously understood: “I remember, those children who entered the Fey Kingdom… when they return, their childhood friends might have become old, or even died of old age.”
Sherlock nodded: “That’s right, for humans, this is a painful matter. Especially when you come out of the Fey Kingdom and find no one familiar around you. The things you’ve learned are completely useless in the new era; the elders you used to rely on have now turned to dust; your former partners, to you, are still friends you parted with not long ago, but to them, you are already a stranger.
“You can’t find a place in the new world. No talent, no family, no friends, no residence… alone, wandering. You might even forget human language, or get used to the fairy-tale-like Fey Kingdom and lose the ability to survive in the Material Realm…
“For them, death is a release. A better choice, however, is to give up their human identity and become a fey.”
“…Become, a fey?”
Yunus’s eyes widened.
Could Miss Nilim be… Miss Anastasia?
“I know what you’re thinking, but unfortunately—probably not. Or rather, it’s possible… but whether it is or not is meaningless.”
Eivass mercilessly interrupted Yunus’s thoughts: “You think too highly of the fey.
“Fey are indeed innocent beings, they can even give up their own lives for happiness… Do you think it’s possible for humans to become true fey? To fey, human souls are far too uninteresting.
“In fact, the fey’s transformation magic is more akin to the Child of the Moon’s transformation ritual.
“If humans live in the Fey Kingdom for a long time and eat fey food, they will gradually lose their human traces. If they feel scared and are determined to go home immediately, they might only disappear for a few years, or a decade or two; if they heed the persuasion and stay here, perhaps forty to fifty years might pass.
“If they are still persuaded at this point and have dinner with the fey here… then it’s almost impossible for them to go back. Because these children have eaten fey dinner, they have already forgotten human language. If they continue to stay here, they will lose their common sense as humans, completely forget their parents and family, and thus no longer want to go home. Afterwards, they will lose their rich human emotions, and finally, they will forget their memories as humans.
“At this point, can they still be considered the original human? Even the color and shape of their souls would be different.
“But this is only the case for humans. Staying in the Fey Kingdom for a long time means death. Then…”
Eivass said meaningfully, “What about elves?”
Elves’ sense of time is five to seven times that of humans.
Even if fifty years pass in a flash, for elves… it’s less than ten years.
—And within these “short fifty years,” all of an elf’s stats are frozen.
Even losing Elven Language is not a terrible thing for long-lived elf children who have to relearn it. After all, their parents and friends are still alive, and the entire world hasn’t changed much.
Even losing emotions isn’t a big problem—it can even prevent Amber. The strong immersion in The Path of Beauty can also prevent the immersion from the Twilight Path… this is called fighting poison with poison.
“—Let’s think back now.”
Eivass said meaningfully, “Maxim the Mage clearly loved his daughter. That hair ribbon inscribed with ‘Anastasia, wishing you well’ was the mage’s handwriting. This should have been made by Maxim himself…
“Such a person, when we mentioned Anastasia, didn’t feel sad about her departure, nor was he proud of her going to the giant tree. No matter how I steered the conversation, he didn’t talk about any stories from Anastasia’s childhood—doesn’t he really miss Anastasia?
“Or let me put it this way, Mr. Yunus. When you handed him this hair ribbon, did he show a complicated, nostalgic expression?”
“…No.”
Yunus slowly shook his head: “He quickly handed the hair ribbon back to me and told me… Anastasia had already died more than twenty years ago, but I met her only a few years ago. And Mr. Maxim also told me that she never went to Avalon… because she had petrified from a very young age.”
“—Yes, this is the key.”
Sherlock narrowed his eyes and interjected.
(End of this chapter)
