Deep in the forest, avoiding the obstacles blocking his path, Celine followed the tiny creature flying in front, guiding him.
"Come on, this way!"
She flew past a giant tree, but because Celine was much slower than her, she had to fly back and circle around him a few times before he finally reached the tree.
"Aren't men supposed to be strong? Why are you so weak? Even a turtle would beat you with that kind of stamina!" she screamed as Celine leaned on the tree to catch his breath. It had been a few hours since he began following the little creature, and she hadn't stopped even once for him to rest.
"I'm... I'm... just a kid," his voice was very weak from exhaustion, but he somehow managed to blurt out those words, annoyed with this tiny... screamball.
The tiny flying creature looked a bit thoughtful for a second. Then she flew above Celine, dropping some shiny, dust-like stuff onto his body as she passed by.
"What is this?"
As the dust fell on his body, the moment it touched his skin, it was absorbed, and he felt his exhaustion fading away.
"There! Are you still tired now?" the tiny creature asked as she flew in front of Celine.
"I can move again. Wow... You're amazing!"
The tiny creature giggled upon hearing him.
"Come on, if you want to see me do more amusing things, you have to help me!"
Urging him once again, the creature flew away. Celine hurriedly stood up and ran after her.
As time passed and the sun moved closer to the west, its orange glow fell upon the trees in the forest.
Following the tiny creature's guide, Celine arrived at an area with a lot of fallen trees.
The tiny creature flew around one of those giant fallen trees.
"This here. I want you to move this."
Celine paused. He first looked at his own tiny hands, then at the giant trunk of the tree.
"Are you serious?"
"I am," the little creature said as she flew around the tree a few times before making her way toward Celine. Getting closer to his head, she touched his forehead.
"You have wonderful eyes. I believe in you."
Celine fell silent, staring at the tree trunk. After a few moments, he moved again.
"Is there anything sharp?"
The little creature shook her head in response.
"Never mind... I think I have one," Celine pulled out a pocketknife he had with him and began to scratch the surface of the tree trunk.
From then on, he worked tirelessly for hours. Whenever he got exhausted, the little creature flew around him and scattered dust onto him, which made him energetic again.
"Thank you," Celine started to work again. By this point, more than half of the tree trunk had been scratched and smoothed out by him after so much effort. Now, only a tiny portion was left to finish.
But on the horizon, the sun had finally gone down, and the forest fell into darkness.
Ooooo! Ooooooo!
Sounds of unknown origin began to echo from the forest, and little Celine looked around in fear.
However, from the sky, a star began to fall toward him.
"Hmmm..." Celine looked in awe as the star came closer, but then he realized it was a group of tiny bugs that had their own light within them.
They flew around alongside the tiny creature, who floated near Celine.
"Don't be afraid. Night is not as dangerous as you think. If you look at it with your heart, you'll see its breathtaking beauty," the tiny creature landed upon the tree trunk that Celine had smoothed out. The glowing bugs flew around the area, providing enough brightness for Celine to continue his work.
After a few more hours of effort, Celine finally finished smoothing out the tree trunk.
"Now, if only we had someone to give it a push,"
"Would a deer be sufficient?" a tiny bug flew close to him.
"But how could we find a deer in this night?"
In response, the tiny creature giggled and flew away into the darkness.
For a while, Celine sat atop the tree trunk, but suddenly, he got down. From in front of him, he saw something shining like an eye looking at him. In the next moment, a creature stepped into the light of the tiny bugs—it was a deer.
Flying around it was the little creature.
"You actually found and brought one! How are you doing these things?"
But to a curious Celine, the little creature only giggled in response.
"He-he, you'll find out."
With the help of the deer, Celine pushed the tree trunk from its top half. Once it fell, it began to roll away due to its smoothness.
"You did it, Celine! You did it!"
The little creature cheered as she flew toward where the tree had fallen. There was only a tiny plant buried under the tree.
"Please... don't be too late," the little creature seemed worried.
"What's happening?" Celine got close to the plant.
"Can't you hear its cries?" the tiny creature flew around it a few times, letting the golden dust fall onto the plant. Once the dust touched the plant, it began to regenerate, and the branches that had been smashed to the ground regained their life.
Within a minute, the tiny plant stood in the field as though nothing bad had happened to it.
"Oh, he's saying his thanks to us."
"I don't hear anything," Celine was still clueless about what was happening.
The little creature got closer to his ears, whispering...
"Don't just observe, feel the feelings in the world." As her words echoed in his mind, Celine suddenly heard a very tiny voice.
"Thank you... Thank you so much for saving me."
Opening his eyes, Celine looked at the plant on the ground, which was where the voice was coming from.
"I can actually hear... tree talk?"
"Not really, don't get your hopes up yet. This guy is special."
The tiny creatures flew around him again. It was then that Celian really saw the appearance of this tiny creature. It was a little girl with tiny wings on her back.
"You're a human."
"Idiot! I'm a pixie. Call me Pixie." Pixie punched Celian's head, but her tiny hands didn't cause him any pain.
"Wait... Why didn't I see you like that before?"
"It's because we're now in a special bond. You're my contractor now, so take good care of me, okay?"
Pixie flew and landed on Celian's shoulder, sitting down there.
"Bond? You mean like friends?"
"You can say that if you want. You're the only human who can see me, after all. So technically and practically, you're my only human friend."
Suddenly, the pixie flew into the sky again.
"Look, he's giving you a gift."
Celian looked at the plant he had just saved and saw that a red berry was growing on it.
"Take it, slowly, without hurting him."
Following Pixie's instructions, Celian plucked the berry from the plant.
"It needs some more time. Keep it somewhere safe," Pixie suggested as she examined the berry.
"This isn't just a berry, is it?" Celian felt that something gifted by a talking plant couldn't be ordinary.
"Nope. This plant right here is called Stangra, one of the rare plants that bear only two fruits in its whole life. Those fruits are called Stangra berries, and they have the ability to create an artifact upon use."
"Artifact? I've heard of those. My grandpa used to tell me about them. I remember him saying there are five ranks among them."
"Now, now, don't get your hopes up, kiddo. Stangra is a mystical fruit, but it has its limits. Also, since you're my contractor, you have to feed me. I'm hungry now—let's go."
With the annoying pixie by his side, Celian walked back to the village the same way he had come.
"But when did I agree to be your contractor?"
"When you opened your heart to me, as I said."
"Huh?"
---
In his room, Mordred was looking through a few books. All of them listed the names and backgrounds of the human test subjects his lab had used.
The problem with the factory is something I must resolve before going to the academy. But no matter how hard my subordinates try to find them, they're hiding very cleverly from us.
That's when I thought—if someone really wanted to spy on my factory, they would need a reason. First, either they're prying into our chemical research, but since the spy has already tried to infiltrate the underground floor, it's clear they're aiming for it from the beginning. Which means they're after the human research lab.
That got me thinking about the plot in the Destiny game—the fact that most of the heroes in the game attack Mordred because of his research lab. What if, maybe due to some butterfly effect caused by my influence, a main character had targeted me?
If something like that happens, I need to be one step ahead of him.
But no one has contacted the bait spy up until now, and nothing suspicious has been caught by the people I placed outside the factory. It's like they've already noticed our actions and are keeping a low profile for the time being.
... Wait a minute, what if...
After thinking for a moment, Mordred rang a bell, and Vennesa entered his room.
"Young master."
"Contact Charlotte for me."
---
In the chemical factory, the homeless man Mordred put in place as the acting boss was overseeing the entire process from his room in the high-up section.
The producing process, packing process, and manufacturing process were all observed by him. Close to him stood a woman who wrote down some instructions the man said from time to time.
"How's the profit this month?"
"Sir, because of competition with other illegal companies, we're having a tough time in the market. They've produced some cheap, low-quality goods that are even damaging our product's reputation."
"That bad, huh? I don't think the boss really cares about how much profit this section makes, but since he put me in charge, I have to show some results at least," the man said, looking at his assistant. "Do you have any suggestions?"
His cute manager thought for a few minutes before answering.
"Sir, I don't think talking to those other factory owners would do us any good. How about we go full physical and destroy one of those factories?"
"Oh, no, no, no, there's a risk of getting attacked back. If something happens to the factory, the boss would definitely beat me to death. How about a non-violent way?"
Although she seemed a bit disappointed, his assistant quickly came up with another suggestion.
One of them was spreading rumors about how good the product produced by their company around the city. Another one was similar to the first but involved spreading rumors about how bad the products of the other companies are.
One of her other suggestions was to make fake products under the name of other companies and manufacture them into stores. Although somewhat sinister and customers would surely suffer from this, the manager agreed to the idea in the end.
He really needed to prove his worth to Mordred before he got disposed of as useless.
"I must say, I did the right thing choosing you as my assistant," he did not forget to praise his assistant who had given all those ideas.
Boom!
Suddenly, with a loud sound, the whole ground began to shake.
"What's going on?" the man screamed. The workers in the chemical lab panicked and ran out as huge smoke began to rise from the floor.
"Shit! Did something happen on the lower floor" panicked, the man hurriedly ran back to his office and opened the secret passage.
Although it's supposed to be a secret, he once saw Charlotte comes out from it and memorise the place.