STEEL AND NECTAR

"Please excuse me, I believe I am needed at the village borders."

Queen Aoivah stood up and made her way to the door along with Elder Brine to settle their problems outside. She is hoping that maybe she can reason out their problems peacefully with the Earth Spirit.

"Please, take us with you, Squeak!"

Daniel felt responsible for their dilemma in the Village. As a public servant of Phanzal city, it pains him to see the results of the foolish actions of his King. At least by helping the fairies, he could at least make amends if not for the fairy's sake, then for at least his own. After Daniel followed after the Queen, eventually Gus and his company followed him as well. As Gus looked at his companions, he found it amusing that none of them are hesitating to help strangers they barely knew. As for Gus himself, he just wanted to finish his mission as soon as possible.

At the Village walls---

Queen Aoivah floats above the walls as she tried to reason with the Earth Spirit while the citizens watched in anticipation, hoping for a peaceful resolution.

"Answer us Earth Spirit! Why do you wish to attack us when we did nothing to you!"

"Don't take this personally Fairy Queen, but I and my followers, the Earth-dragonkin needs Mana from your Great tree to survive. You should blame the Human King, as we would have not invaded your home if he didn't destroy ours. However, If the Fairy Queen agrees to marry me, then I shall see to it that your citizens will be under my protection and shall get their fair share of Mana from the Great Tree! With our combined efforts, I swear to take revenge on that foolish human king who destroyed our home!"

This Earth Spirit looks like a towering Rock Golem that stands so tall, that it can peek over the village walls. Everyone saw the smirk that the Earth Spirit gave the fairies. It was obvious to Gus and everybody else in that village that he was forcefully trying to take leadership over this village by mocking everyone in front of him.

"This bastard dares to take advantage of the fairies and humiliates them even further by marrying their Queen?! Buggock!"--

"This Earth Spirit is not any different from the bastard King Edward! They deserve to die a thousand times! Moo!" --

Ben and Falkes Durnham sympathized with the Fairy Queen since they have been in her position not so long ago. Even Trina the wall guard couldn't help but clench her fist as her hatred towards humans only grew stronger.

The rest of the fairies shuddered as they heard the Earth Spirit's decision. Although the fairies and the earth dragons live inside the same forest, they have completely different views about their way of living. The fairies once used kindness and before practiced a healthy mutual relationship with humans. However, The Earth Dragonkin does the complete opposite by living selfishly without giving concern to the welfare of their neighbors while it kills anything that intrudes their territory. Now that the humans threaten their homeland, The Earth-dragonkin are forced out of their homes and are now invading territories that don't belong to them.

"I am feeling merciful, so I will only offer you an hour to decide the fate of your kind. Marry me or resist and die,"

The Earth Spirit sat down along with his army of Dragonkin outside the village walls after threatening the fairy village. He even gave them a malicious smile, since he is aware that the fairies are not a threat to him and his dragonkin army.

As the fairy queen made a sour face, she quickly turned around and landed near Elder Brine.

"Tell everyone to gather at the Great Tree immediately! I'm afraid I cannot make this decision for myself, as for the children, take them inside the mansion for shelter,"

"As you wish, My Queen,"

Elder Brine flew immediately upon receiving his orders while the Queen and Gus' Company awaits for everyone to assemble in front of the mansion.

Mansion Grounds; 50 minutes left---

Everyone waited for the citizens to gather under the Great tree.

Gus frowned upon realizing that their situation has just gone worse. He did a quick recap before taking any further action. Gus figured that this forest has definitely seen its last. There is no wildlife or even monsters which explains their quiet caravan travel towards the fairies' home. There is definitely no more food to scavenge, thanks to the King of Phanzal City who is hell-bent on clearing this place of its lumber.

The fairies cannot move to another forest because they rely solely on the Great Tree, and judging from the Queen's worried reaction from Trina's announcement, the fairies might not be strong enough to deal with the current enemy. Not only does Gus have to solve their problems before sunrise, but he also needs to hold a pizza party for everyone in the fairy village after, If and only Gus could even fulfill the wishes of the Fairy Queen.

"Where's Nico and Rhoanne when you need them," thought Gus. If this were a videogame, rather than having a party of a warrior, an archer, and a cleric, he only has three villagers and an intelligence officer as available party members. It's a party made up of **NPCs!

Gus had no other choice. He can't waste any more precious time so he is forced to help the fairies defend the village in any way he can.

"Dragonkin!? Here in Phanzal territory? Where on Circa did they come from, Burp?!"

Mr. Murphy was alarmed knowing that there was an army of B rank creatures just outside the village walls.

"Since an Earth Spirit presides over them, it can only mean that they have been living under the forest soil,"

Queen Aoivah is familiar with the nature of the dragonkin and the Earth Spirit. She has lived long enough to possess the knowledge that has been passed down since the days of old.

"Great Queen Aoivah, Isn't the village protected by the barrier we saw earlier? Oink!" asked Victor.

"Unfortunately, that barrier uses Earth Magic, so it is useless against an Earth Spirit Mr. Bacon,"

Queen Aoivah was troubled with the fact that most of the fairy kind use Earth Magic, so this is the worst possible enemy they could face right now.

"Since they have been hiding from human eyes for so long, King Edward must have accidentally forced these creatures to come out of hiding by destroying the forest, Squeak!"

Daniel was confident that he knew Phanzal territory more than anyone else. But after tonight, he realized that everything he knew was just the tip of the iceberg.

Overhearing Daniel's words, Gus now has a perfect understanding of the current King of Phanzal. This apathetic King goes around the kingdom and does whatever he wants causing trouble to humans and creatures alike. Since no one dares to mess around with him, it could only mean that the Phanzal King has some sort of a trump card hidden in his sleeves. Gus does not know how strong or clever he is, but one thing is for sure.

"This man has to die," muttered Gus.

40 minutes left---

"My Queen, do your people practice any form of offensive techniques or magic?"

"We are very confident with Archery, but I'm afraid our arrows will simply break against the skin of the Earth Dragons, let alone the Earth Spirit." The Fairy queen felt even more depressed since they cannot even use their own weapons against the invaders.

"So, do we have a chance if we use this instead?"

Gus immediately created an arrow completely made of steel and presented it to the queen. Her eyes widened as she received the arrow from Gus. As the Queen waved her hand, Mana began to concentrate in front of her. Within the space of the concentrated mana, a magical bow quickly appeared in front of the Queen. She quickly nocked the steel arrow and draw back the bowstring as she aimed at the big rock outside her window. A Second after she released the bowstring, a crisp sound was heard.

"CRACK!"

Half of the big rock was blown away.

"Y...Yes, Mister Fuzz. These arrows will do." The Fairy Queen was amazed at the power of Gus' Steel arrows. With this, she finally accepted Gus and his company as the answer to her problems. At first, The Queen also had her doubts upon seeing the ridiculous troupe. She wondered what their skills were since it was clear to her that they do not possess any combat powers at all. They do not carry any sort of weapon with them and their bodies look as if they were meant to entertain people. The Pizza Palace Brigade has piqued the Queen's interest. She started to wonder what kind of skills and magic these mysterious beings have.

Meanwhile, The Pizza Palace Brigade admired the skills of the Fairy Queen. They never knew someone could look so beautiful with a bow.

"Father, did you see that?! That rock should be at least 200 meters away! Moo!"

Steam is coming out of Falkes' snout out of excitement.

"It seems the stories about the fairy's talents with Archery is true. I'm happy to have seen it with my own eyes! Buggock!"

"My Queen, correct me If I'm wrong, don't fairies drink a special kind of nectar before a battle? Burp!"

Mr. Murphy was hesitant to ask this because it was known to be a silly rumor. He could not forget the fairy tales his mother used to tell him when he was young.

"Hmm?, I'm surprised that you know that Mr. Bob, but Yes it is true. Unfortunately, the creature that makes the nectar has not been seen for thousands of years. I'm afraid they might already be extinct."

Queen Aoivah took a book from her shelves and showed them what the creature looks like.

Gus widened his eyes as he was able to identify this mysterious creature.

"Th..This... It's a Bee!"