"It's best not to try to stop it forcibly. In that case, the mana inside your body will be released indiscriminately, leading to your death."
He then said that in order to keep Riyan alive, I must continue to channel mana into Riyan.
I'd like to say that I should just stop the mana flowing into Bailung, but Bailung didn't seem to have any intention of stopping it.
"Where does such mana come from?"
"Huh, there are many residents in the city. I got it from them."
The scenery of the city came to mind.
Everyone seemed to be having fun.
It was said that mana was collected from such residents.
"Weren’t they important residents of your town?"
Bailung laughed and said that everything in this city was his.
It was crazy.
Now, instead of being an innocent person who could see me and be happy, he had become an ugly person.
"Also, please don't ask anyone else for help. If you do...."
Bailung took out a knife and thrusted it into the side of Riyan's head.
"If you kill Riyan, you won't be able to see me anymore." ()
"If Riyan runs away, I'll never be able to see you again anyway." ()
For Bailung, it meant the same thing whether Riyan was saved or died.
After this day, Bailung became a demon.
He drove out the subordinates who complained to Bailung, and only those who listened to him remained in the house, and many of the people in the house disappeared at once.
I took a look at the state of the city, but I was very dissatisfied with Bailung because he had collected mana from the residents.
But Bailung continued to ignore me.
As a result, the number of people leaving the city increased, and the adventurers who were subjugating the monsters also left. This caused problems.
A magic stone was needed to take away mana. As the number of adventurers decreased, the supply of magic stones became insufficient.
If Riyan could no longer be supplied with mana, he would die.
Bailung ordered me to give the knights my power so that they could subjugate monsters in place of the adventurers.
Through research, he found out that if you mixed Riyan's mana with mine and give it to someone else, they would become stronger. The problem was that if power was not applied regularly, the power would disappear.
In order to obtain Riyan's mana, I didn't want to use Riyan's mana, but I had no choice but to obey in order to protect Riyan.
I appeared before the knights and gave them power.
At first, the knights were skeptical, but when they learned that they had become stronger, they were grateful and began to call themselves Fairy Knights.
The knights who gained power began to subjugate monsters on behalf of adventurers and were able to secure magic stones in a stable manner.
And now that the knights have become stronger, there was no longer anyone who openly opposes Bailung. The people who were complaining in front of the house disappeared and it became quiet.
When I disappeared and went to town, everyone was talking bad about Bailung behind his back.
The joyful atmosphere of the city when I first visited disappeared and it became dark.
What am I doing?
I wanted to drop everything and ran away.
But I couldn't.
Eventually, I gave up thinking and just let time pass.
...How much time has passed?
I couldn't find a way to rescue Riyan, and in the meantime, research on the Bailung fairy continued, and the power I gave to the knights gradually grew stronger.
Continuing his research was a condition of meeting Riyan, so I couldn't refuse.
"I want to meet Prim"
I grabbed a handkerchief.
A handkerchief made by Prim. I also made one and exchanged it.
Sorry.
"Prim...I want to see you..."
I wanted to see that smile.
But we could never meet again.
I couldn't take that man to the fairy's forest.
As I clutched the handkerchief, Prim felt closer than usual.
It's a lie.
I could feel Prim when I held the handkerchief.
I grabbed my handkerchief again.
No way...
I closed my eyes and concentrated.
As expected, Prim was nearby.
Is she in this town?
No, she's closer.
By any chance, in this mansion?
I rushed out.
Where are you?
When I was searching inside the mansion, I found Prim.
Did you come all this way to find me?
When I saw Prim's face, tears came to my eyes.
I wanted to see her, but I couldn't leave.
I was a bad fairy.
There was no face that matched Prim.
Oh, don't go into that room.
Prim, who didn't understand my feelings, entered Bailung's room.
If Bailung found out, it would be a big problem.
I looked at the inside of the room through the small window that Prim entered.
Prim was looking at my picture.
This was a picture of me that Bailung drew by himself.
He was clinging to me, but if he finds out that Prim existed, he might end up doing the same thing as to me.
Just then, I saw Bailung coming towards me.
Prime, run away quickly.
Even though I knew he couldn't see Prime, I still thought about what if.
Bailung enters the room and stops in front of my painting.
"You're mine."
Disgusting.
Bailung seemed to have sensed something and started walking around the room.
By any chance, did he notice Prim?
Bailung was also doing research on seeing all the fairies.
If the research was completed and Prim was visible, it would be a big problem.
Bailung was walking near Prim.
I didn't know the answer, but I had to protect Prim now.
Prim ran away from the room.
Bailung was also looking towards where Prim ran away.
I stepped in front of Bailung so that he wouldn't chase after Prim.
"Ah, Rhone. Were you there?"
"Yes, I was. I was just teasing you."
Seeming to understand my words, Bailung held out his hand. I rode on this hand. Bailung looked satisfied. He got angry if I didn't stand on his hand.
Bailung was unaware that Prim was in this room.
Immediately, I resisted the urge to chase after Prim.
"You're beautiful no matter when you look at it."
"Thank you."
Then, after a while, he seemed to be satisfied and let me go.
I went to see Riyan to calm down.
"Riyan, my sister came looking for me. What should I do?"
But there was no reply.
Riyan had been sleeping since then.
He was emaciated and kept alive by mana.
In my heart, I knew I couldn't help him, but I couldn't leave.
"I want to hear Prim's voice."
I thought about it a lot and finally decided to go see Prim.
Prim won't return until she finds me. If she came here again and Bailung found her, she would be in big trouble.
At night, I left the house without being noticed by Bailung or the knights. It was dark outside and the city was silent.
I looked for Prim's location by relying on Prim's handkerchief.
Here.
A slightly larger building. Judging from the signboard, it was a building where humans could stay.
Is this her room?
Prim's handkerchief reaction was from this room.
The window was closed.
I used wind magic to lift the clasp of the key and removed it.
When I entered the room, there were two people on the bed and small bears? They were sleeping together. And Prim was sleeping in a small basket.
Along with humans?
Maybe they could see Prim?
For now, I didn't want to make a fuss, so I took some sleeping powder out of my pocket and sprinkle it on the sleeping person.
With this, even if I make a little noise, they shouldn't wake up.
I approached Prim.
She was sleeping well.
I saw my sister's face for the first time in a while.
I was glad that she came this far looking for me.
But I couldn't respond to Prim's feelings.
"Prim, wake up."
"Uh, who?"
She couldn't get up easily.
"It's fine, just wake up."
"Oh, sister!"
When her eyes opened and she saw me, she was surprised.
"Prim, it's been a while."
"Sister, why are you here? I came to look for sister."
After all, she went to such a far place to search for me.
I was happy.
"Yes, I know. I think you came to the mansion the other day."
I resisted wanting to hug her.
"Did you know? Then why didn't you come out? No, it doesn't matter. Sister, let's go home."
I wanted to go back to the Fairy's Forest with Prim. But I couldn't go home.
"Today, I came to tell you that I won't be going home, so you should go back to the Fairy's Forest by yourself."
"Sister!"
When I talked to Prim, the kind Prim tried to do something for me.
If she did that, that man might find you.
Just as I was about to give up, the person sleeping in the bed woke up.
"What does that mean?" (Yuna)
It was not a person who stood up, but a bear.
No, it was a human girl dressed as a bear.
"I should have made you smell the sleeping powder so we wouldn't wake you up."
Why do you get up?
If we applied sleeping powder while sleeping, your sleep would become deeper.
A girl dressed as a bear called out the names of the bear and the girl sleeping in the other bed.
I think it was Kumayuru and Kumakyu.
She was an interesting human girl.
I wondered if this girl dressed as a bear was Prim's partner.
"I'm sure it was Rhone. What do you mean you're not going home?" (Yuna)
"As I said. I'll stay here." (Rhone)
"Why, sister? If you're being captured by humans, let's run away." (Prim)
I shook my head.
I wanted to go back if I could. But now that Bailung and I were connected, I couldn't return to the Fairy's Forest.
"There's someone important to me here. That's why I can't go home with Prim." (Rhone)
"Sister!" (Prim)
Prim screamed, but I ignored her and turned to the girl sleeping on the bed, hugging a bear.
Ever since earlier, I had been feeling a slight connection to this girl.
When I mentioned this, she said that the handkerchief I had given to her had gotten inside her body. Would something like that happen?
I had never given a handkerchief to a human, so I didn't know.
Either way, it didn't matter.
"I see. Well, that's fine. Prim, hurry up and get out of this town and go back to the Fairy's Forest. And forget about me."
I spoke in a way that pushed Prim away.
It was okay if she hated me, but I wanted her to leave this town as soon as possible.
Also, Prim's partner might get sick if her mana was taken away, so I'd like to warn her that her mana would be taken away from now on.
That was all I could do.
The effects of being deprived of mana vary from person to person, but I just hope that Prim's partner was not affected as much.
Prim became teary-eyed and depressed at my words.
I wanted to hug her, but I couldn't. I wanted her to return to the Fairy's Forest as soon as possible and forget about me.
If she stayed here any longer, she would cry too. So, when I was about to go home, the girl who was Prim's partner stopped me.
I couldn't go home like this, so I told her the answer to the questions that made sense.
"Are you giving power to the knight?"
"Yes, that's right."
By giving my mana, the knight would become stronger.
"Why are you giving power to knights?"
"To collect magic stones"
"Why are you collecting magic stones?"
"To collect mana"
"Why are you collecting mana?"
"To keep that person from dying."
To keep Riyan from dying.
I had worked hard to achieve just that.
I didn't know how long it would last.
I thought about running away many times. But when I saw Riyan sleeping, I couldn't run away.
"That's the end of the story. There's nothing more to say."
Even if I told her more, I had no intention of leaving.
"One last thing. What if I force you to bring you back?" (Yuna)
Prim's partner moved.
I stirred up a gust of wind and took advantage of that moment to escape from the room.
She seemed like a kind partner.
She was coming all this way for my sister and was trying to bring me back.
If that man found out about Prim and her, he might be forced to do the same thing with Riyan.
If that happened, Prim would be sad.
So, hurry up and get out of this town.
Come to think of it, even though I should have turned off my mana connection with Riyan so that no one would see me, that girl dressed as a bear could see me and was talking to me.
I never expected something like that to happen...
Author's Note
Rhone's perspective is over.
It was longer than I expected.