The gem mine was dug like countless roots stretching from a vertical pit where natural light poured in.
In a way, it resembled a tree with thick trunks regarding the sky as its leaves, spreading its roots wide.
Just as a tree absorbs moisture and releases vapor through its leaves, innumerable roots sucked up gems to expel magic into the sky, so there was little difference.
Here, human actions might just be the movement of water molecules within a great tree, or perhaps the swimming of microorganisms. Even if no one was aware of it.
Among them, the most powerful pink water molecule stared intently at the mining map it held.
“Our compass friend is perfectly cutting through all the decent paths while only pointing directions.”
Cutting-edge navigation might tell you to turn left here and right at the next block, but the compass friend didn’t care about that and said, “Just walk straight through the wall here and it’ll be the shortest route!”
Wow.
That really is the shortest route!
But Passtel wasn’t a ghost who could walk through walls~.
The fairy, who had been hiding among her hair, peeked out.
“Is there no secret passage or something?”
“Secret passages are romantic, but this is a business area, so having that would be grounds for dismissal.”
“What? Really?”
“Boop.”
Passtel headed towards the vertical pit, the heart of the tunnels. The miners working there looked, and a knight member tossed a glance as if to say, “Where are you going, Governor?” but she brushed it off with a comment about wanting to sightsee alone.
Upon reaching the vertical pit, a well-like round sky bathed her in light.
“Ooh, it’s dazzling.”
It was dark looking down from above, but looking up from underground, it was too bright. She thought she was getting sunlight allergies.
She squinted and searched for an administrative staff. One employee picked up on it and ran toward her.
“Are you planning to inspect again?”
“I’ll do that later. For now, I’ll just look around alone. By the way, what’s this area that’s roughly marked in pencil on the map?”
“Those are half-closed tunnels. They aren’t blocked, but air isn’t regularly circulated, so it’s best to avoid them. You might not feel it at once, but at some point, you could inhale toxic gas and die, so it’s very dangerous.”
Ugh.
What a dangerous place that sounds like a radioactive zone.
Compass friend, you’re pointing out too many hazardous things. Oxygen deprivation isn’t just a combat problem, you know!
Oh?
Passtel suddenly realized.
Now that I think about it, I don’t even need to breathe. My gem-powered body doesn’t actually need oxygen!
Hooray.
“Since it’s half-closed, I guess there won’t be any people, right?”
“That’s correct.”
Wow.
There was a fear of an assassin hidden by a cult that was burning with vengeance over the mine taken from them, but if there are really no people, that means complete safety?
What could they do in a place without oxygen? The most they could accomplish would be to pump toxic gas into the entrance while the Governor was inside the closed tunnel.
What a realistic plan!
But it wouldn’t affect me even if I breathed gas.
Hehe.
“Alright! Let the exploration begin~!”
Passtel dashed ahead.
Looks like the compass friend had some serious sense!
She climbed the stairs and headed towards a corner cave pierced by the compass. A sign at the entrance warned not to go deep as it was dangerous, and there was only a solitary magical light hanging without any sign of life.
The fairy peeked out from among her hair.
“There really seems to be no air to breathe. What should we do? Should I get someone to help? But what if a perceptive thief comes along?”
The fairy seemed quite worried.
“Huh? I’m just going to go in, you know?”
Passtel turned on her magical lantern and simply entered. It was dark, but a reasonably wide path unfolded. As she scampered in, a sharp smell filled the air in an instant.
“Wow! The air really isn’t good-!”
“Wait! Why are you coming in here?!”
The fairy startled, grabbing her hair and pulling her back.
“Are you crazy?! Get out! Get out!”
“Wah! Why are you doing this, fairy?!”
Suddenly turning violent!
Could this be a sign of fairy corruption?
Passtel was dragged back out. She clutched a few strands of pink hair, pouting.
“Wah.”
I’ve never even had my hair pulled by my parents.
The fairy is such a bad fairy.
“Phew!”
The fairy wiped her cold sweat.
“It’s true that reclaiming the stolen powers is important, but it’s not worth losing your life to do so quickly.”
Oh?
Passtel, with a touched expression, clasped her hands.
“You’re worried about me, aren’t you?”
“Of course!”
The fairy’s face was slightly angry.
“We are supposed to receive a reward from the Great Fairy together, so how can you act so recklessly? Even if I can find another partner if you die, you just die! A person only has one life!”
Ugh.
“Even if you accomplished the great feat of reclaiming your stolen powers, if you die without receiving recognition from the Great Fairy, that’s the end! At least die when resurrection is possible by pleading with the gods! You really surprised me!”
So worried…….
I appreciate the concern, but getting scolded even with a good reason made my lips pout.
“But I can survive without breathing anyway.”
“Huh?”
“It’s like, err, breathing is a hobby that embodies humanity, you know? Since I’m a gem-powered body, I don’t really need the basics.”
The fairy looked as if she didn’t understand what that meant. Come to think of it, has she ever done something tangible in front of the fairy?
“So…”
Passtel crossed her arms and pondered.
“You’re pretty much with me almost 24 hours, right? Except when sleeping?”
“Roughly, yes.”
Aha! Then explaining becomes easy.
“Then you know that I haven’t even gone to the bathroom this whole time?”
The fairy went momentarily blank. As if recalling her memories, her mouth gaped open.
“Huh?! Why aren’t you going?!”
“Because I’m gem-powered!”
No wasting time, wow.
Leaving my underwear with the Demon Lord and not feeling embarrassed at all, only thinking about information security wasn’t in vain. If it weren’t for developing feelings for the Demon Lord, I would’ve cared less about underwear.
“But you eat food!”
“Technically, I mix gems in when I eat! Otherwise, I’d need energy to purify any impurities, so I’d have to forcefully wring it out and end up barfing!”
The fairy wore an expression of confusion.
“Why is that?”
“How can I know?”
It’s not like my body is rejecting being a part of this world. Or is it this world that’s rejecting me?
Hooray, it seems too harsh from an outsider’s perspective.
But outsiders have historically been the cause of pandemics, so it’s not surprising.
Just imagine an interworlder suddenly crashing down into a world where a theocratic rule based on divine ruling was getting along just fine and immediately declaring that they liked republican revolutions while shooting guns everywhere! How much of a burden that would be.
Friend, republics only work properly if education and communication development come first.
“Then was I meddling for no reason?”
Oops.
“That’s not true! We realized how close Yeojeong and I are!”
Passtel held the fairy’s hand tightly. Sparkling eyes filled with warmth.
“I’ve said we’re like family, but we’ve hardly acted on it! Today made me realize that the fairy sees me just as close as family!”
In times when life was endangered, they were close enough to stop each other.
Wow.
“Is that so?”
Passtel wiped her eyes in an emotional way.
“Objectively, our relationship has been maintained based on one-sided sacrifices from one side!”
The once befuddled fairy suddenly brightened.
“You knew! Right! That’s what I wanted to say!”
She was positively excited.
Her pink eyes glittered.
“You know too, fairy! Right! I keep providing you with expensive gems every day as if they were meals, letting you stay at an expensive hotel, hiding your location from dangerous organizations like cults, and also, also, I’m risking myself to save the fairy world! Even just now, it could’ve been a very dangerous situation if my body hadn’t been special!”
All of this was a huge cost!
“Huh?”
The fairy became flustered. It seemed like she wanted to refute something but was unsure where to begin.
Passtel lowered her head and wiggled her fingers.
“However, even though I sacrifice things like this, I don’t particularly feel much ill will. But I reckon, from your perspective as one who benefits, this unbalanced relationship might weigh on your mind since you’re a good fairy.”
Her fingers wiggled.
“And so even though I say we’re like family, might you have been growing to dislike me deep down because of this uncomfortable relationship? That’s what I was worried about. But!”
Passtel looked up with a bright face.
“All those worries have been resolved as of today! We really are like family!”
Hooray!
The fairy looked dumbfounded.
“Is that so? But it feels like something is bubbling up in my heart that I want to say…”
“It’s okay, fairy! I know well what you want to say! But even sacrificing this opportunity cost is a pleasure for me! You don’t need to feel burdened!”
Passtel started pulling out papers from her sleeve. One by one, she revealed the carefully written down fairy expenditures.
Her finger dashed through the total expenditure line.
“Even though I’ve known it has added up to a total of 10,000 gold coins!”
The fairy’s jaw dropped.
“What’s with such an enormous amount?!”
Thinking of the gold coins that flew away made Passtel feel a little sad, but it was okay.
I can sacrifice this much for our fairy!
Yeah!
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