Would You Like Some Painkillers?

As Lotus finished the embriodery, she folded up the piece of cloth and placed it back into her bag before leaving the tent. She noticed that the others were still dining away or have gone to bed. With that, she snuck away into the forest. By this time, her aunt and uncle must be waiting for her arrival anyway. As she stepped into the forest, she paused.

Someone's here!

A sudden rustle could be heard as she felt something approach her from behind. With no time to turn around, she grasped both hands behind her. With one step, she lept into the air with great force bringing the arms over their head and flipped them into the air. She lept into the air once again giving it a swift kick followed by a horrendous scream that sounded like a dying animal! Turning around, the light of the moon finally shown from the clouds leaving a rather surprising sight before her, "Professor Vargas?!"

Dressed in a brown animal like fur coat like a jumpsuit, Vargas sat up painfully as he grumbled twitching on the ground painfully, "Oof... What... strength... and power! Haha... As expected!"

"Professor Vargas..." Lotus sighed and helped the guy up, "Are you going to prank the other students as another part of the challenge? Or rather, how about you go rest up or see a doctor?... And, I hand you some pain killers? I did kick you pretty hard."

However, Lotus was rather doubtful if the painkillers would be of any help at all after how hard she had kicked her mortal professor "there" to the point that he had been forced to crumble onto the ground. In fact, she would be even more uncertain if she learned the truth in which her professor had never crumbled to the ground in many years since he began his athletic training during his pre-teens. She would've certainly dragged him to the hospital had she learned of this matter.

"Of course!" The professor laughed heartily not seeming to have heard the last sentences, "To survive, they must learn how to fight back against predators with magic! How else can I let them pass the trials and go back home without doing this?! As for you, Lotus..."

The professor thought for a bit before he suddenly raised a hand to which Lotus easily countered it and directed the punch towards a stone.

The stone quickly shattered as Vargas laughed, "Good! Good! You passed! I'm afraid this challenge has been simply too easy for you since the very beginning. Who knew that you were this well-versed with the outside."

Wasn't this guy nearly immobilized earlier?! Now, he's kicking and swinging his arms like he's perfectly fine after a kick with horrifying power! Truly a dangerous fellow...

With not much brains...

"Professor... You're really starting to worry me..." Lotus sighed, "Forget it... My family is well versed with the outdoors. Even before my adoption, I survived because I made the outdoors my home. Underhanded tricks, and ambushes are all too familiar to me, professor. Moreover, if you don't leave now, the students will be attracted to this place thanks to the stone breaking. You're going to get uncovered. And, take these pain killers if you really need them. Everything in the world has a limit. It would be unsightly for you if you suddenly collapsed before the students after the camping trip is over. These are certified ones provided by the nurse."

"Right. Right." Vargas got up and took the meds from her hands, "Well, then. Please head over to the cottage with the score keepers. With this, you may consider yourself have passed the trial. Also, didn't you want to have toasted marshmallows? I remember those guys have brought some. You can go have some with those two once everything is over."

"Speaking of two, how is the other students who you caught slacking off?" Lotus noted curiously, "I assume that perhaps, professor Vargas had assigned them work to make up for missing out on the camp after being caught."

"Ah, don't worry about them." Professor Vargas huffed disatisfied, "They got it coming for them naturally. Just be careful not to burn the house down and don't spoil those guys. They got a lot of work out left for them."

"Got it."

With that, Professor Vargas dashed away from the area as Lotus also made herself scarce. However, unlike what Professor Vargas told her to do, she arrived in the clearing where Aunt Ripple and Uncle Fern was waiting for her.

"Aunt Ripple! Uncle Fern!" She sighed in relief upon seeing this.

"We heard what the teacher had said to you. Congratulations on passing the challenges, child." Uncle Fern smiled.

"It was bound to happen after seeing that you have caught that monstrosity that have continued to cause trouble for our water fairies. Now if only it was the only problem to have to be dealt with. Aside from that, you should remember to be more mindful for yourself, princess." Aunt Ripple lectured her, "Even if those fish don't have sharp teeth like those in other bodies of water, they are rather annoying due to their numbing agent secreated from their tiny spike like teeth. Do you know how worried everyone was when they saw you grab that thing bare handedly? Did you apply the antidote?"

"Eheh... My apologies. I got Aunt Ripple and the fairies residing at the mines very worried from the sound of it." Lotus muttered sheepishly before she remembered her purpose for coming here, "By the way! Were you able to get in contact with the fairies in the mine?"

"We did..." Uncle Fern hesitated, "However, as you suspected, some do require the time to decide. As they were originally from the forest, I had imagine that it would take a little longer than we expected to bring them over to our side. However, we did not expect a total of four days to decide."

"Four days is a bit longer than we are hoping for." Lotus grimaced, "I can work for three days, but those people have grown to love the mines just as much as they love the forest... If only those idiots had never thought to use the mines for their schemes!"

"Don't say that." Uncle Fern reassured her, "Like you said, these things are bound to happen, Peony. If not the mines, then it would be the forest or the lake."

"There is also the cottage." Aunt Ripple reminded them, "Regardless, they are here. So, let's find a way to kick them out and rescue the people in the mines."

"I don't believe that everyone would be willing to move out even if things did fall into our favor and they do move out." Lotus hesitated, "I don't want those guys to get any closer to those people even if they are against our idea. However, putting up a barrier could alert those people that there are something deeper in the mines. So, the barrier needs to be more complex for the enemy to prevent detection. So, that even if they do get found, they don't get caught... However..."

Aunt Ripple stopped her with a hesitant frown, "You're overthinking things again."

"Huh?" Lotus looked up to the with a look of surprise.

Perhaps, it was a little too dramatic as those two seemed to have a similar look of concern over their face as the time when she was pondering how to keep those kidnappers from trying to kidnap and make profit off their own people years ago. Then, again, they did showed a similar expression when she thought of ways to demolish a villa not too far from the kingdom as it became a source of illegal magic years ago...

Needless to say, she still burnt it down in the end...

"You're not wrong that not everyone wants to leave their homes, girl." Uncle Fern nodded, "However, the fairies have lived off this land for many years before. If it's an intruder, why is it that they have not discovered the fairies living in the mines?"

"Because the dwarves mines was once inhabited by the fae before the arrivals of the humans. When the humans arrived, they brought along their machines and their desire for magic stone upon finding the first magic stones in the Dwarves' mine. With their friendly connections with the royal family during that time, they had an easy access to the magic stones creating a boom in the production of magic stones. However, it had robbed the fairies of their homes and created a rift between the dwarves and the fairies." Peony recited from the history books she had read over in the royal library, "Since then, fairies have grown protective of the caves and were the only ones able to venture deeper into the mines prior to setting up a new residence. However, the toxic gas of the mines are a danger to all living beings. So, they had to set up their own barriers and magic to fend off the toxins while still making the mines habitable. In the end, the only ones able to survive in those conditions are the fairies. The others being the none living. What's protecting the fairies in the mines are the toxins, isn't it?"

"That's correct." Uncle Fern nodded, "It took a long time to find an answer when the dwarves decided to open the mines to outsiders. However, with the potency of the toxins growing stronger, something had to be done. It was our luck that your father, former crown prince, and your mother, his fiance, came here with his retainer."

"I see. So, the person who saved the fairies were Puck, Father's good friend at the time, right? I do remember that they had been close friends prior to his promotion to father's personal retainer." Lotus noted as she recalled the past, "And father must've came here with mother after hearing of the situation?"

"That, they had." Aunt Ripple nodded, "Chieftain Fern and I had yet to take over our current positions during that time and our village's connections were far fragile as they had been prior to our arrival to the capital. My father struggled to bring the royal family to our village's side during that time. So much so, that I could not understand how he thought he could possibly be helping our village by acting so pitifully before the royal family."

Uncle Fern nodded with a sigh, "The former Chieftain of the lakes were, indeed, an upredictable person. None of us could understand the motive for his actions. I remember how my parents were at a loss over his actions as well."

"The former Chieftain?" Lotus raised a brow and turned to them.