Xingyue, is Xiaokai also considered Kai?

Hmm—Chu pondered for a moment. Although the girl's face remained serious, she smiled inwardly.

What could it be? Could it be a surprise or something? Or something else entirely?

Ash found it strange, since her fairy eyes couldn't see through Novia at all.

"It is because of your recent deeds that I, the winged fairy Murian, have come to sincerely follow you and intend to follow you wholeheartedly."

At that moment, Murian, who had been hiding behind Novia, flapped her wings and came to Ash with a face full of excitement, looking just like a fan.

Ash smiled and hugged the little fairy, then instantly froze in that position.

"Lord Tonellico! It really is the legendary lord who often helps the fairies! That's wonderful! Please let me stay by your and Lord Novia's side and travel through Britain together! For the rest of my life!"

Well, to Ash, who possesses extremely high-level fairy eyes, it was immediately clear that the winged fairy was lying about the first half of her statement, and that the second half was actually true!

The fairy in the paradise wasn't doubting her fairy eyes, but she was still shocked when the facts were presented to her.

But she quickly understood the reason; it must have been caused by the way the second half of the sentence was addressed as "Lord Novia".

As a result, Ash's palms, which were holding Murian, became slightly sweaty.

For some reason, she started to care.

Chapter 437 I'm glad you're my teacher.

"Now! Miss Tonerico!"

The white raven Fokine hovered above Toneric's head and called out loudly.

This is a fairy village that can be found anywhere in Britain, inhabited by hundreds of all kinds of fairies.

The north wind froze the once beautiful land, leaving it barren. Toneric, standing at the village entrance, seemed to separate the village from the outside world. The village, which had been carved out along the stream and was surrounded by dozens of pitch-black Morse, seemed to tangibly divide death and protection in two.

The biting wind, sharp as a knife, blew mercilessly. No light could be seen, only enemies representing calamity. Yet, a warm and clear light emanated from behind the blonde girl. Standing upright, braving the aura of calamity, she took up her weapons, as if she were leaving a seed called 'hope' on the land of Britain. But in reality, she was leaving the title of 'evil villain and witch' among the fairies of Britain.

"Hurry up, Tonerico! I'm about to get caught! I don't want to get infected!"

As Murian fluttered her wings among the Morse flock, she saw Tonelli standing and pondering which spell to use, and immediately shouted.

After all, Morse is one of the calamities that have existed in the fairy kingdom of Britain since the beginning of time. He was transformed from a fairy who lost his purpose and glory and thus became "meaningless". He is also the natural enemy of fairies. Once he comes into contact with a fairy, he will attach himself to the fairy and eventually turn the attached fairy into Morse.

Since they cannot speak or hear external sounds, communication is also impossible.

"Quickly, almost there! I'm trying to remember... I'm trying to remember the story..."

It wasn't that Tonelli was deliberately delaying; rather, she was genuinely thinking that although her magical talent was extremely strong, the way she was using magic now seemed somewhat subtle. For her, magic was a 'story,' a means of condensing the content of a book and presenting it as a phenomenon.

Originally, this was a style she created herself in the library of the Land of Rain. Although Novia taught her magic in this way after becoming her magic teacher, there were many options for recreating the 'story' content.

Unlike the fairy kingdom, which has not changed much and has not developed much culture, there are many stories about major disasters in the pan-human history, such as the Ten Plagues, the Book of Revelation, and the Great Flood. However, apart from these disasters that are too mysterious, there are also books that introduce ordinary disasters.

However, the magic and necessities required for these things were somewhat troublesome, and for Tonelli at this moment, it was only a matter of reproducing the surface. In addition, she did not have the idea of ​​destroying everything at once, so she reproduced a fairy tale she had heard from Novia.

"Rain, wash away the filth!"

The first phase of the story unfolds around Tonellico.

The radiance of the magic circle slowly began to rotate, and the controlled, spiraling magic began to follow its original shape, circling endlessly around Tonelli.

It was an incomparably beautiful blue light, and the fairies who had been fighting each other over clan identity and bullying weaker fairies before Morse's attack looked at this scene with longing eyes.

But very quickly, the next second, they ignored Morse's threat and simultaneously picked up stones from the ground with both hands and threw them at Tonelli.

"These damned vixens, I'll have Murian and Wuni teach you a lesson later, you bastards, give you a good beating first..."

Fokin, hovering above Toneric's head, refrained from uttering any vulgarities and could only wave his feathers to create a small protective shield for Toneric, preventing her from being disturbed while casting spells and causing a backlash due to magical chaos. After all, these were not ordinary stones, but stones imbued with various kinds of magic by these fairies.

Of course, Tonelli could actually feel the stones being thrown at her. She closed her eyes, took a breath, and gripped the Staff of Chosen in her hands, while the magical circles around her shone brightly in rapid cycles.

The Staff of Selection, shimmering with blue gems, is a symbol of the Great Mother who created the world, obtained only by fairies born in the Inner Sea of ​​Stars and drifting to the surface. It is an incomparably noble and dazzling object.

It is the place where, as long as one obeys the mission of Paradise, one will eventually be transformed into a spirit of the Star Soul and arrive at that place.

However, from the moment she was beloved in the Rain Kingdom of Orkney, and from the moment she drifted to the incredibly gentle stone of the World Tree and was protected by her foster mother, foster father, and the fairies of the Rain Kingdom, the fairy of Paradise had already abandoned the promised glory, simply because it was not of her own volition.

"Rain of atonement!"

As the second phase of the story begins, the magic that permeates the surrounding area of ​​the Magic Circle starts to dance.

An overwhelming force of magic washes over the world.

Gradually, the blue light that illuminated the girl dissipated, flowing into the distance and onto the earth, as if giving the world visible light, illuminating the light of the Morse, bringing compassion and love, and at the same time revealing the beautiful outline of the world, as if leaving a cold reflection on the merciless earth.

Although the girl seems to be the 'protagonist' of the story, she stands there with a heavy figure as if she carries infinite sins.

This is a fairy tale called 'The Happy Prince' that the fairies of the park heard from Novia, written by an author named Oscar Wilde.

After dealing with the Morse, Tonelli took a deep breath and didn't turn to look at the fairy who was still throwing stones at her. Instead, she ran to Murian, picked her up, and left, because she could hear the fairy's thoughts echoing again and again.

Sometimes near, sometimes far; sometimes near, sometimes far.

Throwing stones at oneself during battle is only a minor inconvenience, because in addition to physical damage, their methods of inflicting mental harm are too numerous to count. Tonelli didn't want to hear about it, nor did he want to continue listening, so he left.

She still harbors the idea of ​​building an ideal kingdom, and she still hopes that the fairies, like the Rain Clan, actually feel guilty. Even though the fairies are rejecting her now, she still wants to work hard for it.

"Tonelicco, is this your purpose and meaning?"

Murlian felt that she was an extremely simple fairy, or rather, everyone was very simple.

As long as they follow interesting things and purposes, find methods and take action without hesitation, the fairies are always repeating this process. Murian herself is no exception; she only followed the two of them in order to achieve that 'unimaginable development' with Novia.

She decided to do this because it gave her interest and purpose.

It's that simple.

But this Tonelli is quite different. She couldn't quite put her finger on why, but she just had this feeling.

Tonelli gazed blankly ahead at a certain spot and smiled wryly:

"...Actually, I don't know what I'm doing right now. I'm just optimistically convinced that my actions are definitely correct."

“That’s right, that’s right. I also think Miss Tonerico’s approach is correct, and the master thinks so too. After all, people who can describe their love in the most eloquent way don’t actually love deeply. Just like flames that can be described, they aren’t actually very intense!”

"That's it."

Really? You really don't know?

Murlian rested her hand, which was supporting her cheek, on Toneric's shoulder.

"Then I hope Tonelli can fight to the end, I mean it."

The little fairy muttered to herself, then turned her head away with a bored expression.

She recalled the expression on the fairy girl's face when she was surrounded by the Morse. It was as if she, not the fairy girl, was the one who was driven to the brink of despair. Her eyes were wide, her teeth were clenched, and she was trembling all over... It was truly incomprehensible.

The Winged Fairy thought honestly, but then changed the subject.

"Speaking of which, has the healing magic I commissioned you to perform for me, Tonelli, been activated yet?"

"Yes, it's already started..."

Tonelli paused, then asked the little fairy with a slightly puzzled look, "Mrlian, what are you trying to prevent with healing magic that can repair torn wings? Shouldn't a winged fairy's wings have strong defensive capabilities?"

Although he knew that Murian's main purpose in coming with him was to come to Novia, after spending some time with her, Toneri was able to accept her. After all, compared to the fairies who were hostile to her, Murian was already quite good.

Upon hearing this, Murlian moved her purple eyes, which shimmered with an eerie light, and revealed a sweet smile.

"It's a secret."

Upon hearing this, Fokin, who was standing on Toneric's shoulder, coughed twice and then rushed to Murlian's side.

"Well, Miss Tonerico, Murlian and I are going to call the fisherman back. You may go back now."

To be honest, Fokin had no idea that this previously arrogant Murlian had a hobby of converting pain into pleasure. Now, even choking wasn't enough; it seemed she wanted to tear off his wings now...

She didn't understand it, but she was deeply shocked.

But since we're colleagues now, I can only reluctantly accept it. Anyway, Mr. Novia hasn't said anything about it, so it doesn't matter.

A short while later, the two arrived in front of Novia, who was sitting there as usual, engaging in her usual "wait-and-see" act. Perhaps she was already used to it, because when Novia saw them, she got up, but instead of following them as before, she said:

"Since we already have Murian, let Murian go in my place for now. Fokin and Wuni should be used to it by now."

"Oh, sir, why? Could it be that my method isn't working? Actually, I can learn it..."

With his head being pressed down by Fojin, Wuni managed to squeeze out these words in a muffled voice.

"Shut up, you useless piece of trash! We'll just report to the master. What master in the world would personally go to the scene like that, huh?!"

But just as the two crows were talking, Novia looked at Murian with a helpless expression.

"...I don't care about this, but can you really tolerate it? Isn't this a bit reckless?"

"I can only accept this way of treating me."

Murlian took out a small medicine bottle, turned around, and slowly poured it on her back. The dense liquid at the point where her body and wings were connected was incredibly intense. At the same time, she turned around to face Novia, bowed her head, and patted her small neck as a gesture of greeting.

"Huh!?"

The process will be omitted for now, but the final result was that Murian knelt on both knees, and even though she was in unspeakable pain, she still spoke calmly.

"...It's over so quickly, isn't it?"

For Murlian, who is a perfectionist and has obsessive-compulsive disorder about cleanliness, she actually loathes everything, including herself.

Therefore, she expects his violence, not his so-called gentleness, and she does not want him to be too perfect, since that would fundamentally overturn the purpose and meaning of the existence of 'Mirian'.

Only in this way can we blur the boundaries of our hearts and place ourselves on the fundamental principles, that is, the weak submit to the strong.

Therefore, the strong should naturally be ruthless and cruel to the weaknesses of the weak, which is also a kind of 'cleaning' pressure.

In other words, if this boundary cannot be blurred, Murlian might first commit suicide due to the inner paradox and conflict, and the pain she is in.

After witnessing this scene, the two crows stared at each other for a moment before heading back to the fairy village with Murlian to deliver a big gift to Tonelli.

However, Novia, who had done this to Murian, kept pressing her forehead and sighing slightly on her way back to see Tonellico.

"Sigh, what a worrying personality and true nature of his..."

Ash is one, and so is Murlian. Could it be said that fairies are all extremes?

But one thing is certain: at the very least, she is still much better than other fairies.

On a quiet afternoon, amidst the monotonous mountains, Novia enjoyed this moment of leisure as she followed the road to the place where the others lived.

Ash was not surprised by Novia's sudden return. He remained leaning against the tree, gazing at the sky, while Novia leaned against the other side of the tree.

The two sat with their backs against the tree, not exchanging a word, just gazing quietly at the sky. All around them was a lush green grassland. Since there were almost no tall trees to obstruct the view, the view was very open, and whenever a breeze blew by, the tender new green leaves would ripple.

"You've come early today; it feels like it's been months since I've been like this."

Suddenly, Ash spoke up.

"After all, with Fujin and Wuni around, there's no need for them to stay by your side all the time. Allowing your apprentice to develop freely is also one of the responsibilities of a teacher."

"It seems so."

Ash narrowed his eyes slightly. "In that case, how about we talk about our memories?"

"Um……"

Novia thought for a moment, "You mean the time you deliberately became a witch? It seemed quite interesting."

Compared to Ash, who is now solving the calamities of the fairy village, Ash when he was first brought to Britain by Novia was perhaps not yet able to adjust his mindset, so his actions were much more violent than they are now.

“I hate all fairies except the ‘Rain Clan’. Although I will act to eliminate the conflicts in Britain, it does not mean that I want fairies to be happy. If you want my help, you must pay a price greater than your life.”

That's what they say, but at most they can only scare people with a few magic tricks. After all, it wasn't long before the fairy in the paradise suppressed these negative emotions with her innate sense of justice, fairness, and strong will. Novia felt a little sorry for her.

"...You probably haven't saved this using any collection methods, have you?"

"This one……"

Novia crossed her arms and pondered for a moment, then smiled. "I don't think so."

“Why should?”

"Because the story of the witch Ash is not over yet, and as I have already said, since you are so persistent, I can only agree on the surface but disagree in my heart."

To Ash, Novia's tone sounded like she was joking.

But the next moment, the fairy in the paradise suddenly showed a nostalgic expression, quietly lowered her eyelids, and said as if talking to herself.

"...Why can't they be like the great families of the Rain Clan?"

"Actually, this kind of thing is possible. After all, if you go too far, the person being protected might forget what the protection is all about."