The Blue Road Home (4)

On the second night after docking at Badomod, there was an intruder aboard the ship.

The intruder was remarkably skilled. Even though we had let our guard down after entering port, they infiltrated a ship filled with sailors, slipped deftly between them, evaded detection... and made it all the way to my room.

In fact, depending on the circumstances, there was a real possibility that even I might not have noticed.

They had concealed their presence so perfectly that the intruder melted into the darkness of night.

That said, even in port—or aboard the ship—this was still the sea, the domain of powerful water spirits.

The water spirits dwelling in the sea had made a commotion the instant the intruder came aboard, rocking the ship with waves and warning me.

Thus, the instant the intruder opened the door a crack without a sound and peered inside, then slipped through that gap into the dark room,

"Stop. If you move any farther, I'll consider you hostile. ... Even if your death as an individual means little to the rest of you, if you show hostility even once, every one of you on this island will be my enemy."

I rose from bed and readied the magic sword I had kept hidden, without drawing it from its sheath.

Even with the sword in its sheath, I could easily beat an ordinary opponent senseless, and more importantly, I judged that leaving it sheathed would have a greater effect on the intruder before me.

Just as I had expected, my opponent edged backward, trying to put even the slightest distance between themselves and the sword they clearly disliked.

Though I could not see in the darkness, I—and presumably the intruder as well—had enough awareness to sense the other's movements.

Technically, backing away still counted as moving, but I was the one pointing the sword, sheath and all, knowing they would hate it, so I let that much slide.

But was it really true that fairies hated fairy silver?

Yes, the intruder who had appeared before me was unquestionably a fairy.

Yet instead of a tiny, winged humanoid the size of my palm, she was a human girl with a piece of black cloth pulled over her entire head and a white, unglazed earthenware mask covering her face.

She looked about twelve or thirteen years old.

In short, she was probably an island human child who had been absorbed into the fairies.

...I had my own thoughts about that, but as I had already decided, it was not something I had any right to interfere in.

"U-uh... Th-there is no intention of hostility toward the Ancient One. Please... don't point that at us."

Her voice sounded as if she were squeezing the words out.

The emotion in it was unmistakably submission.

Therefore, I nodded and lowered the sword I had been pointing at her, for the time being.

Of course, even if I set aside my hostility, the fairies were not someone I could suddenly trust.

But keeping the sword pointed at her—the sheath fitted with fairy silver—would not get us anywhere.

"We thank you for the Ancient One's mercy. ...We are the Sidhe. Yet we have been severed from our brethren on the continent, and so we built a colony on this island. Today, we have come to ask a favor of the Ancient One."

The child who had been absorbed into the fairies—the fairy's terminal—delivered her speech, stumbling and catching on her words at intervals.

The reason her words sounded so halting was probably that, because she was linked to the other fairies through their shared consciousness, she normally had no need to use her voice.

In other words, she simply was not accustomed to speaking aloud.

So although she kept stumbling over her words, I made an effort not to let my emotions show and urged her to continue.

First, I needed to make a calm judgment.

Whether I pitied the girl before me as a victim absorbed into the fairies, grew angry that she was also a member of the fairies, or contemplated the environment that had caused her ability to speak to deteriorate, any emotion I felt seemed likely to cloud my judgment.

"Would you please share with us some of the Fruit of Life you possess? We, who have no interaction with other colonies, are gradually dwindling in number."

As she said this, she bowed her head.

But I continued waiting for her to continue, still keeping my emotions in check.

After all, as someone who was not a fairy, I could not understand what it meant to them for her, who was merely one terminal of the fairies, to bow her head.

Still, I could more or less guess what problem they were facing.

And what they wanted was probably the immortal peaches I had harvested in abundance in Kouko Province of the Kouko Empire—in other words, in the elves' sanctuary.

In short, they were fruits that grew on spirit trees, just like Apua's fruit.

The fruit of the Fuso Tree probably belonged to the same category too, but... it was far too large for me to bring any home.

"If we eat the Fruit of Life, even we, whose ability to increase our numbers has weakened, will be able to grow our numbers again. The fact that the Ancient One has come to this island at this time is fate. Please, save us."

She bowed her head again and again.

When someone behaved that way while wearing a human form... I found myself starting to waver.

For all that, I did like humans after all.

Ah, but I see.

The problem faced by the fairies of this island—Badomod—was probably inbreeding.

I did not know the exact lifespan of an individual fairy, as opposed to the lifespan of the species as a whole.

But they were probably a species whose generations turned over in a fairly short time.

...Yes, in less time than humans.

If so, it made sense that they had sought immortality not as individuals, but as a species.

And without new blood entering from outside the colony, the inbreeding would progress all the faster because their generations turned over so quickly.

I did not know much about the problems caused by inbreeding.

But judging from what she had said earlier, the fairies on this island had probably begun to suffer reproductive problems.

And then I had happened to arrive, carrying immortal peaches, a kind of Fruit of Life.

The immortal peaches were practically masses of vitality; as fruits borne by a spirit tree, they might even be able to reinvigorate the fairies' declining reproductive capacity.

For the fairies of this island, it was a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity to resolve their colony's crisis.

Of course, since the fairies had no means of interacting with the outside world, even if the immortal peaches restored their reproductive capacity, the same problem would arise again once enough time had passed.

Even so, if this bought them a significant amount of time, it should give them room to seek another solution.