CH 124

Chapter 124

Character Introduction, Part 6 — Euthy, Aerial, Phalanx

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

Name : Euthy（Fairies don’t have last names）

Age : Although fairies have no concept of age, it has been about 70 years since she was born. She’s young for a fairy.

Height/Weight/Appearance : Approx. 30cm, she doesn’t tell anyone her weight and three sizes. Blue hair and eyes.

Occupation : Water Fairy

What she likes : Taking advantage of a person’s weakness, collecting gems, sleeping on someone’s head, wide open space, places with water, meat（preferably rare）

What she dislikes : Being vulnerable to others, being dirty, tight spaces, fire, vegetables

First-Person : I/Watashi/ワタシ

Profile :

The origin of fairy settlements in the prairie. Fairy settlements are scattered throughout the world, but they are located in places where humans can hardly find them. To enter a fairy village, one needs to be guided by a fairy, and those who try to force their way into the village with harmful intentions may end up wandering around the vicinity of the village forever.

While prairie settlements are roughly composed of wind fairies, Euthy is quite the unusual water fairy. For this reason, she doesn’t get along well with her fellow villagers, and prefers to act alone, while the fairies prefer to act in groups.

And while Water Fairies are usually characterized by a quiet and compassionate temperament, she is quite active and relentless in her harsh words.

She was also very interested in humans, and was captured when she approached a human after being lured by food. It’s hard to say which was more of a disaster, Euthy’s or the human who captured her.

This time, the option of crossing the prairie alone and returning to the settlement on her own is quite difficult, and as a fairy, she must return the favor she had received（There is a tradition among fairies that if you do too many lowly deeds, you will lose your fairy wings and become unable to fly, and even Euthy believes this）, And she’s working with Alfiris on her personal interest in her.

It is said that fairies are a kind of spirit (though of a lower rank), and when they accumulate virtues to the maximum extent, they will be elevated to a different existence as a complete higher spirit. Without exception, the heads of fairy villages are beings who have ascended to higher spirit status, and although Euthy doesn’t say so, she hopes to eventually become a higher spirit herself.

However, she’s not good at listening to the requests of plants and trees in order to improve the cycle of nature, or at vegetarianism, which are generally considered to be the duties of fairies. By the way, she is a bonafide meat lover.

Name : Aerial（It’s not customary to give her last name to her origin.）

Age : 16

Height/Weight/Three-sizes/Appearance : 164cm, 53kg, 83/53/85, Green long hair and green eyes

Occupation : Nomad

What she likes : The grasslands, Alfiris, growing plants, grass whistles, quiet places where the wind blows, animals

What she dislikes : Crowded, finicky places

First-Person : I/Ware/我

Profile :

She is from a tribe on the prairie. Her parents were the tribe’s foremost warriors, but because of their clan’s code, which keeps challenging Phalanx as a ritual, her parents died. She never knew her father and only vaguely remembers her mother’s face, but she spends most of her time training to overthrow Phalanx, but she’s unable to do so, and eventually loses her entire tribe. Only then does she learn of her parents’ will.

Trained by Phalanx, she has acquired physical functions that far surpass those of ordinary humans, and she is even able to compete with Nia, a beastkin, in body movement. It’s said that this is due to the fact that people on the prairie are in a situation where everything in their lives is a physical workout and the food is much better than outside the prairie. It’s also her tribe’s tradition to use a variety of weapons, including spears, swords, bows, and throwing weapons.

Furthermore, prairie humans are excellent with horses, but she doesn’t choose the animal she rides. She can even ride a Gigantosaurus if it’s a prairie animal, let alone a dragon. This is her unique ability.

Incidentally, her weapons and clothes are made from items she buys from people who have wandered onto the prairie, which she processes and sews. Of course, she can also obtain it from tribes on the prairie through barter or other means.

Under the policy of Phalanx, she’s responsible for safely escorting people who have wandered onto the prairie out to safety, hence her nickname「the Guide.」Many people also mistook her for a prairie spirit because of her appearance.

Her desire is to「gain a friend.」Hungry for human friends her own age, albeit with Phalanx, she longs to be friends with Alfiris. Also, her seemingly calm nature is quite lonely. She still hasn’t decided what she will do in the future with Alfiris and her friends.

Name : Phalanx

Age : ??（He’s supposed to live for hundreds of years.）

Height/Weight/Appearance : 5m, 1.2t, Flaming body, hair and eyes. He has eight arms in total. He looks like a huge lion.

Occupation : Guardian of the Prairie

What he likes : His daughter (Aerial), all prairie creatures, including humans, napping in a field of flowers

What he dislikes : Those who destroy the prairie, those who harm his daughter

First-Person : I/Washi/ワシ

Profile :

He is the most powerful creature on the prairie, and the one who manages the prairie, commonly known as the『Flame Beast.』He wasn’t actually the strongest, and although there are other strong creatures, they seldom appear before other creatures. However, it is no exaggeration to say that Phalanx is a representative of the prairie, including the intelligence to manipulate human languages and magic as well.

He’s a very rare species on the prairie, and it appears that he originally lived in herds, but was wiped out except for him when his herd was attacked. Phalanx, who luckily survived, was deeply wounded, but was picked up by Miliazar’s group, who happened to be on an inspection tour of the prairie, and was spared.

At that time, Phalanx was still an infant and could be held in the arms of Miliazar. For this reason, the humans often played with him as「chibi,」and the young Phalanx was often fond of them. Since that time, Phalanx has developed a fondness for humans, and it is due to Miliazar’s influence that he calls himself an “I/Washi.”

Eventually, the Miliazar’s group left the prairie, and Phalanx remained on the prairie. Phalanx, however, cannot forget Miliazar, and he imitates her to help beasts in trouble and humans who have wandered onto the prairie. With his actions, he became recognized as the leader of the prairie beasts, and in the process of resolving various conflicts, he became exceptionally strong for his genus.

In the process of helping the humans, he gradually learned their language and at the same time warned them not to go too close to the northern part of the prairie.

Much time has passed since he became Lord of the Prairie. As the number of people living on the prairie increased, fewer and fewer people began to worship him as the Lord of the Prairie, and some tribes even began to challenge him. It was a painful event for Phalanx, who loved humans, and although he sometimes took it easy on them to keep them alive, he found them sacrificed themselves as a result, and he began to fight to at least let them die as warriors.

Then one day, a man appeared before him who was exceptionally strong. Phalanx himself suffered considerable hand wounds and was nearly blinded. The battle lasted three days and three nights, but ended in victory for Phalanx, as it should. Impressed by the man’s fair fight, however, Phalanx decided to grant him one wish, as he did not want to let him die. The man’s wish was,

「Eventually my own wife will come to fight you. As a warrior, I have to take it easy, but if my wife dies, my newborn daughter will be left all alone. That’s the only thing I pity.」

And, Phalanx pondered for a while, but could not come to a good conclusion, so he asked the man what he should do. The man told him,

「So when my daughter comes for your life, will you raise her as your own?」

That was the thing. He told him that he was a beast and he couldn’t do it, but the man was already out of things.

Soon after, a woman appears who stands in front of him. Phalanx intuitively realized that it was the wife of that man, but it didn’t change his fate, and he had to fight.

Unlike the man, she was the type of fighter who used a lot of traps and surprise attacks. Phalanx didn’t like such battles, but the woman showed a strong will to return home alive at any cost, and Phalanx dared to break the trap head-on.

The result still ends in victory for Phalanx, but in the same way he heard the woman’s last will and testament. Then, strangely enough,

「I would like to ask you to look after my daughter.」

She asked him to do something for her. Phalanx was still about to refuse, but the woman’s strong eyes compelled him to agree.

More time passed, but Phalanx was not satisfied. He didn’t know how to raise a human being to be a beast himself. Eventually, a girl with eyes burning with vengeance appears in front of him, but as soon as he sees her, Phalanx recognizes her as the girl from the story they told him about some time ago.

But the young girl’s attack was not enough to threaten Phalanx, and Phalanx was helpless to do anything about it but fumble suitably. The daughter also didn’t seem to listen to Phalanx, so Phalanx beat her up appropriately and left.

However, the girl never gave up, and she continued to eat at Phalanx day in and day out. Sometimes he would give her unexpectedly deep wounds, and each time he would gently heal her and leave food by her side, but all this only had the opposite effect on her and stirred up more hatred.

After a while, the fact that the girl’s family had been wiped out was discovered, and she still followed Phalanx, although she didn’t put up much of a fight since then. But there was nothing Phalanx could do about it, so it just went with the flow.

When the girl is about to die, Phalanx does everything in his power to save her. Phalanx wondered why he did this, but it was the beginning of a strange father-son relationship between this girl and Phalanx. The girl’s name was Aerial.

At first, they felt uncomfortable with each other, but Phalanx could only teach her everything he knew about the prairie, and she quickly absorbed that knowledge. It would be a lie to say that he didn’t love his daughter, who sometimes snuggled into his bed.

Eventually, his daughter grew up to do Phalanx’s work even better than he did. Phalanx was satisfied that this was how he felt about raising a child, but at the same time he felt like he was tying his daughter to the prairie. His only wish was for his daughter’s happiness.

And what did he think when Alfiris and the others appeared before him…?