The Sins Of The Fairies (1)

"Oog! Where are the units stationed?" Inari asks her right-hand fairy. The purple-haired youth flies forward with a map that has several circles on it.

"Here, here and here, leader."

"The southernmost team, unit four, is out of position. Head to the tree line and move them to the proper location."

"Yes, leader." Inari's boundless perception allows her to keep track of every fairy team. Sensing that one team was misplaced, she called Oog to resolve the problem.

With one problem solved, Inari flies around the fortified village to find another. As expected, only a few moments pass before she does.

"Lala, what are you doing with those Monster Cores?" The fairy in question is pulling a small cart with three Monster Cores in it. While she can't pull them with just her strength, a small addition of acceleration magic makes the cart much easier to move.

"I'm bringing them to Foof so he can inscribe magic circles into them," Lala replies.

"That's fine. I'll come with you," Inari says as she picks up the cart and fairy with magic and quickly flies away.

Near the center of the fortress sits the enigmatic Foof. Dozens of fairies are flying around, providing materials and carrying away the finished products.

"Foof, how are things going over here?"

He nods.

"Any problems?"

He shakes his head.

As comforting as it is to have an ally as strong as Foof in the village, he can be difficult to deal with. He's got several nicknames, but 'the Silent Monk' is currently the most pertinent.

While Inari has known Foof for many years, he only joined the village recently. She'd considered making him the next in line for the role of leader, but he declined. Given how quiet he is, that's probably for the best.

Inari bends over and grabs one of the orbs Foof just finished working on. It's a Monster core with a magic circle inscribed into it. This object can now be used to cast a single spell at a distance, like a grenade.

There are three aspects to magic: mana, soul, and will. If we were to compare these to a computer, the soul would be the hardware, the will would be the software, and the mana would be the electricity that powers them. By using the soul fragments floating around inside the Monster core, Foof creates a path for the mana stored in the core to follow.

While a typical monster core is dark with deep violet and black globules swirling around inside, the processed cores are blue, like a pure mana stone, with the soul fragments compressed and ordered into the magic circle. This process takes advantage of the fact that the individual soul fragments in a Monster Core are not united and have no collective will and can therefore have one imparted onto them.

Inari rolls the core around on the ground as she contemplates this. While these weapons can be very powerful, using them comes with its own set of challenges. First off is a matter of scale. A Monster Core is anywhere from one to four inches in diameter, depending on the Monster it came from. In rare cases, they can be even bigger than that. Most of the cores Foof works on are around three inches tall, standing just below Inari's waist. While effective tools, the processed Monster Cores, are difficult for the fairies to use. It can take three or four of them just to carry one.

To cope with this issue, Inari came up with the idea of planting some of them around the forest to use as land mines while the rest would be for her personal use.

"I'm sure you've got this under control. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help," she says to the silent fairy, who just nods in response. Shaking off the frustration she contracts while dealing with the Hermit Fairy, Inari moves to her next destination. "Hai, what information have we gathered on the Duke's forces?"

"Very little, unfortunately. While they may be generally incompetent, they've done well in preventing us from spying on them. I've been dispatching several fairies each night to sneak into town and listen to what the nobles are saying, but they always have detection magic set up to stop us."

"I doubt that has anything to do with us. In all likelihood, it's just a lucky coincidence on their part." Inari frowns.

"What do you mean, leader?"

"Human nobles are notoriously paranoid. They are probably more concerned with leaking information to potential human spies than anything else. I doubt they've even considered the possibility of us listening in on them."

"Humans are terrible creatures," Hai responds.

"Maybe so, but their propensity for violence makes them fearsome opponents. Don't mistake their ignorance for weakness."

"Understood, leader."

"Our best chance at victory will be exploiting the seal system."

"Does it have any weaknesses?"

"Not necessarily, but it relies on simple, efficient spells and separates magic resources. While monsters and fairies can put all the mana they have towards a single function, humans are limited by their stats."

"So you're saying we should be able to overwhelm them with magic?"

"No, I'm saying they shouldn't be able to overwhelm us with magic. We must focus on gaining fire superiority to allow our units to move freely and target individuals near the edge of their formation. If we attack them as a whole, they'll just use their more efficient spells to defend until we're exhausted. We have to focus on depleting their forces one at a time so they can't recuperate."

"That's what the squads are for," Hai says in realization.

"I've got to hand it to Nick; his tactics are top-notch. I don't know where he came from, but it's a much more brutal place than here."

"But he's so naive."

"Yes, he's just a bundle of contradictions," Inari responds with a smile. "Now, I want you to help Foof as much as possible. The proxy spells are necessary to disrupt their formation as much as possible."

"Understood," Hai says as she flies away.