Chapter 589
Bird – Thus Spoke James Moriarty
When Eivass realized the cake cart beneath him was slowing down, he knew they were close to their destination. He gradually slowed the tempo of his piano playing. Finally, after opening the last door, it stopped right in front of the ice throne.
The piano before Eivass dissolved into glittering dust and transformed back into the blue-haired fey named Lilia. She was clearly a bit dizzy from being spun around, so she slumped onto Eivass’s lap as soon as she returned to her original form. Eivass gently scooped her up and put her in his pocket before respectfully bowing to the Queen of the Fey.
“May you be eternally happy, Queen Titania.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Eivass,” Titania’s voice was elegant and rational. “I have heard your story for a long time, and I am very curious about you.”
Although her voice was still that of a young girl, compared to the boisterous fey, just listening to her calm voice made her seem at least a decade older.
Eivass had finally seen the Fairy Queen Titania with his own eyes. The true form of a great being at the Heavenly Envoy level… not a dream, nor a Dream Realm, but right before him… less than five or six meters away.
She was a giant fey, three to four meters tall, with a beauty surpassing any being in the world. She had curly, milk-candy-white hair that reached her waist, her hair being incredibly voluminous. Her pupils were amber, and she had delicate, pointed ears like an elf.
She wore a pure white, high-necked formal dress, with a heart-shaped cutout on the chest revealing a blue ice crystal necklace resting on her ample, fair cleavage. On her legs, she wore elf-style white over-the-knee stockings with intricately complex hollow patterns too fine to discern. Her feet were clad in crystal high heels—the heels were terrifyingly sharp, shaped like ice crystals, and constantly rotating, like a slowly winding drill. If a typical human woman is about 1.6 meters tall, her heels were at least six centimeters high.
And at this moment, she was lounging on her throne, legs crossed.
Her appearance was exactly as Eivass remembered Titania. But there was one difference.
Eivass noticed that Titania was holding a peculiar scepter. The top of the scepter was a silver birdcage, and inside the cage was a blue jeweled bird. Its face and chest were orange-red, like a gentleman wearing a napkin. It was a robin—the robin from the nursery rhyme “Who Killed the Robin?”
But Eivass remembered that in the game, the birdcage Titania held was empty. Although Titania was never pulled into the Material Realm by the Ouroboros Ring Ritual even when she eventually abdicated, she had appeared in a dungeon once—a limited-time children’s day dungeon. That instance was essentially her playing along with the Players; she wasn’t serious at all. However, the dungeon awarded transmog items for her white dress, white stockings, and high heels, making it a nearly mandatory dungeon to farm.
The coolest part was that the white dress and white stockings were not restricted to female characters. It was the only dress in Ouroboros Ring that wasn’t restricted to female characters. You could even create a stern-looking burly man with pecs like a double-door refrigerator, put on the Titania set, add cat-ear headwear, and run around the streets. The goal was to visually assault other players.
In that dungeon, Titania would use her birdcage to select and imprison a player, then pose intelligence and logic puzzles. Players would simultaneously dodge other mechanics and answer questions by stepping on four randomly appearing floor tiles. Everyone had to step on the same tile to submit their answer. If they didn’t answer enough questions within the time limit, the player imprisoned in the birdcage would turn into a fey—temporarily, within the dungeon, of course. But this meant such a status effect couldn’t be removed by respawning, and the enemy force effectively increased. Thus, despite being a holiday dungeon, its mechanics were quite troublesome.
Thinking of this, Eivass looked at the birdcage.
…Titania, has she already captured someone?
Eivass thought, I wonder which unlucky soul it is…
The jeweled robin inside the birdcage seemed to sense Eivass’s thoughts and, with a touch of humanity, turned its cute little head to look back at him. He could even see a calm intellect in its bird eyes! It was as if the bird’s soul contained a mature uncle—like that silent uncle who would wear a mature jacket, smoke a cigar, and mix cocktails at a bar.
“Do you like it?” Titania noticed Eivass’s gaze and suddenly said with a smile, “If you say ‘I want it,’ I’ll give it to you.”
This startled Eivass—how dare he accept anything from Titania! Although Titania appeared mature and stable, she was fundamentally a “happy-go-lucky” fey at heart. She was still a little girl inside. She could be polite, but Eivass couldn’t truly accept it. Otherwise, if she got upset, the little bird in the cage might have company.
“You are too kind, Your Majesty,” Eivass hastily declined.
“If you refuse, you will regret it,” Titania said, smiling sweetly, dimples appearing on her cheeks. She playfully held the birdcage out to Eivass, letting the bird meet his gaze, “This might be your only chance… you really don’t want it?”
“I already have a pet,” Eivass said. “It’s a crow.”
“You mean that Night Demon,” Titania suddenly said. “It’s a rather cute pet, but too dark. I don’t like it.”
Eivass was taken aback. To minimize variables and prevent other fey from targeting his two little darlings, he had specifically not summoned Little Butterfly and Little Crow this time. Yet, even so, Titania had seen through Eivass’s abilities—her insight was even greater than Bear Heavenly Envoy’s! For a true ancient Heavenly Envoy, Eivass had almost no secrets…
Titania glanced at the two drowsy fey in Eivass’s pocket and collar, then suddenly asked, “Do you like them?”
“…What?”
“Those two children. If you like them, take them. They’re all yours.”
“…They are beings with independent will. I’ll wait until they wake up and ask them myself.” Eivass still didn’t dare to accept, but he also didn’t dare to refuse again, so he merely tried to politely delay.
Titania laughed, “You’re too reserved, Eivass. Why don’t you just say what’s on your mind? You Moriartys are so alike… it’s wondrous. You have no blood relation, yet you are so similar. Why is that?”
“…What?”
“Things like ‘I wouldn’t dare accept them, fey are too difficult to raise’ and ‘Are fey like pets to her, that she can just give them away and send them off like this?'” Titania said with a smile. “You can actually say it directly—fey are all my children, and a part of me. I am the tree, and they are the flowers. Of course, I can give them away and send them off.”
—Holy cow.
—She can read minds!
Eivass was startled. Titania slightly raised her free hand and beckoned to Eivass. Eivass felt himself gradually shrinking, and the cake cart beneath him was simultaneously restrained and uncontrollably flown over. Titania reached out, pinched Eivass, and, as if using a fork, popped the piece of cake beneath him into her mouth. Then, she licked the residual cream from Eivass.
“It tastes good, you’re forgiven,” she said. She extended a finger and gently touched the head of the now-miniaturized Eivass.
Held in Titania’s hand, Eivass regained his composure and said calmly, “Your Majesty, I came here to…”
“I know,” Titania said cheerfully, and then tossed Eivass into the birdcage.
Eivass was stunned.
—What does this mean?
Did I get captured too?
Then, Titania placed the birdcage aside, yawned, and said, “Chat amongst yourselves. Call me when you’re done. I’m going to take a nap first…” With that, she curled up on the throne and immediately fell asleep.
Titania’s intention was… Eivass realized and looked at the robin beside him.
“Not too slow, then,” the robin, who was about his height, said in an old and steady voice from within the birdcage. “It’s been a long time, Eivass.”
“You’re already so old, stop putting on airs here,” Eivass retorted. The moment he heard the voice, he knew who this bird was. It was his foster father, James Moriarty!
“It’s been a long time, Father,” Eivass steadied himself and nodded in greeting.
Bird-James nodded—or rather, pecked—at Eivass.
“You’re overthinking it, Eivass. I am not imprisoned… Her Majesty’s cage does not imprison anyone. This is not a prison, but a paradise. You can come and go as you please… just like the Fairy Kingdom, this place is free,” Bird-James said steadily. “I haven’t been here all along, either. In fact, I only returned a few days ago.”
“…You were waiting for me?” Eivass finally understood.
“I was waiting for you. And for you to come here—this is all fate,” Bird-James declared.
(End of Chapter)
