Gaia's Plan

Thanks to the efforts of the elemental fairies, Lelitia, and Kenneth, Audoran Forest was saved from the human attack for the umpteenth time. A peaceful life returned to Audoran Forest after that. Especially in its deepest areas, no matter how far one looked, others only saw peace in that beautiful place.

"How dare you disturb my rest! Argh! Let me go! Aqua, I can't believe you're also willing to listen to this crazy fairy."

Well, that peace didn't seem to apply to Kegan, who was enjoying his leisure time. The fire fairy was happily sunbathing when Gaia and Aqua suddenly came to drag him away somewhere.

Kegan was naturally not someone who liked to do troublesome things. Other than things related to the safety of Audoran Forest, Kegan had no interest in anything else. Gaia and Aqua's actions in trying to drag him away from his comfortable position immediately made the fire fairy furious. Kegan tried to struggle with all his might. Unfortunately, while he was happily lying down earlier, Gaia had managed to trap him in a very strong binding spell.

"You, you should come with us, Kegan. That... other than you... no one else can make that human strong."

"Huh? Do you think I'd be willing to do something with that human? Even if he helped us chase away those humans, I still wouldn't be willing to use my free time to help anyone with anything!"

"Come on, Kegan. You should just obey us. Don't you find lying around all the time boring? You haven't gotten to know that human yet, have you? Well, I'll give you a chance to get to know him better. After you see that human with your own eyes, you can decide whether or not you're sad about teaching him."

Kegan looked at Gaia, who was making an evil expression, then started to think back to his thoughts about Gaia having good intentions towards Kenneth. The fire elf finally let out a long sigh. Although Kegan usually didn't like humans very much, when the fire elf considered that Kenneth had saved his friends twice, he knew he should just give in this time.

Besides, Kegan felt he couldn't let Gaia bother Kenneth, who had just lost a teacher he respected so much. Aqua was also too shy to stop Gaia's mischievous behavior. Fay wasn't a smart fairy. So, among the four of them, the one who could think clearly when meeting Kenneth was probably only him.

"Hey, what business do you have here? Why... why did you tie Kegan up?"

As soon as the three of them were close to Kenneth's new residence, they happened to meet Fay, who was also about to visit Kenneth. The wind fairy immediately looked surprised when she saw Kegan, who had stopped struggling under Gaia's binding magic. Fay surrounded Kegan curiously. Kegan let out a long sigh. He hadn't met Kenneth yet. But for some reason, the fire fairy already felt tired just because of his friends.

"Fay, I'm going to drag that human out today! He's a human with a fire magic core, right? If he's serious about protecting Audoran Forest from now on, I think letting him be trained by Kegan would be a good idea."

"Eh? Even if you say that... I think Kenneth is still too sad right now. He didn't even respond much to what I said when I came."

As Fay spoke, the wind fairy unconsciously showed a pitiful expression like she was a dog that had just been rejected by its owner. Kegan and Aqua were a little surprised when they saw that expression. But on the other hand, Gaia was too and patted Fay's back hard.

"Continuing to lock yourself up will only make him even sadder! Come on, Fay. Can you help us just this once? You know, besides training him, we plan to cheer him up today."

"Really? You guys are going to cheer him up?"

Fay's eyes immediately lit up again when she heard Gaia's words. Previously, Fay had been a little sad because the others seemed to ignore Kenneth even though he had helped them a lot. But if they intend to help her make Kenneth cheerful again, then Fay is determined that she will do whatever she can to help the plan that Gaia has prepared.

"Yup! But to do that... come here. Let me whisper the plan to you."

Fay put her ear close to Gaia and then listened to what the earth fairy said seriously. Kegan also raised his eyebrows when he couldn't hear what Gaia whispered to Fay. Gaia said that Kegan would be the one to train Kenneth from now on. However, as the key to her plan, Kegan was the last to know about what Gaia was planning.

"Eh... are you sure doing that will be okay?"

Fay made a strange expression after hearing Gaia's plan, then began to look hesitant to follow Gaia's wishes. But of course, Gaia wouldn't give up so easily after successfully luring Fay to be interested. The earth fairy smiled broadly, then embraced Fay with a familiar movement.

"Come on, Fay! Aqua has even agreed to participate in this plan. You also want that human to become stronger, right?"

"Of course, I want Kenneth to become stronger! It's just that your plan is too...."

"Fay, do you agree or not?"

Fay took a deep breath, then looked at the expressions of the other two elemental fairies. The confusion on Kegan's face showed that the fire fairy didn't know anything about Gaia's plan. However, Aqua nodded when she met his gaze. Fay knew that Aqua's agreement meant that at least Kenneth would be fine in Aqua's hands.

"Alright. I'll help you guys with this plan."

"Now! That's my sweet Fay!"

Kegan made a disgusted face when Gaia said that, while Aqua just laughed softly. Fay saw her friends who were starting to care about Kenneth, then began to resolve that she shouldn't mess up her task.

***

In the wooden house that became Kenneth's new home, the prince was daydreaming while staring at the scenery from his bedroom window. Kenneth might have promised to protect Audoran Forest from now on. However, whenever he was alone, sad thoughts about how his teacher ended up sometimes appeared and made him daydream on several occasions.

"Sigh...."

Every time Kenneth remembered how Fay looked sad because of his situation, he felt frustrated for worrying about the little fairy. Fay had tried hard to cheer him up since she came back. But Kenneth has not shown any good progress.

"Kenneth, it's me, Fay. Can I come into your house?"

Kenneth had just thought about Fay, and the wind fairy came to him. Kenneth rubbed his face roughly to remove the sad expression from his face. The prince walked towards the door, then opened it with a gentle smile.

"Of course you can. Come in. Incidentally, I also just wanted to eat the fruit you brought yesterday. Now, how about we eat it together?"

Fay hid the worried expression from her face when she saw that Kenneth tried to look like he was fine. Kenneth didn't seem to know that Fay could read someone's emotions through their aura. Even if Kenneth smiled and looked better than before, his aura continued to be gray indicating that Kenneth had not yet gotten over his sad feelings.

"Kenneth... how about we go outside today? The weather is nice, and I just remembered that I haven't given you a tour of Audoran Forest yet. It'll be a fun trip. So, please?"

Kenneth looked at Fay, who was trying hard to persuade him, and decided to agree just this once.

"Okay. Then, do I need to bring some food for our little tour?"

"Of course! We can have a picnic at the same time, Kenneth!"

Fay's happy smile because Kenneth accepted her offer made the prince unconsciously smile a little too. Kenneth packed some of the fruits that Fay brought for him in the bag that he had. Then, after Kenneth was ready, the prince approached Fay, who had not stopped smiling since Kenneth decided to no longer shut himself in.

"Shall we go now?"

"Of course! Come with me, Kenneth!"

For once, Kenneth ended up following Fay who guided him while continuing to ramble about many things. Kenneth appreciated Fay's efforts in trying not to mention what happened to her in the outer area of ​​Audoran Forest. Fay must have realized that Kenneth did not want to bring up that matter again, so she just continued to talk about only pleasant trivial things.

Kenneth's vigilance unconsciously continued to drop as he listened to Fay, who did not stop talking. The prince unconsciously began to soften his expression again. Although he was currently only acting as a good listener, Kenneth's feelings gradually improved when he was near Fay.

"So, what I want to say is-"

"Fay, watch out!"

Kenneth's pupils shrank as he saw the magic circle that immediately lit up as soon as Fay flew past it. Kenneth's hand reached out to pull Fay away from the magic circle. But before he could do that, the magic circle had already activated and emitted a bright light that forced Kenneth to cover his eyes to protect himself.

"Fay! Fay, can you hear me!?"

When Kenneth finally opened his eyes again, he was in an unfamiliar place with earthen walls on his left and right. Kenneth began to panic when he couldn't find Fay anywhere. The prince could hardly believe that they could still be in danger even though they were in the deepest part of the Audoran Forest.

"Fay!"

SWISH!

Kenneth's gaze automatically searched for the source of the voice when he heard it while looking for Fay. The prince's face was immediately filled with disbelief when he saw a large earth golem looking down at him as if he were an insect that could be easily killed by it.