Me, the Weakest Member of the Hero’s Party? I’m the Villain Though? - Chapter 119
Fugitive Forest Faries
“Then shouldn’t you just persuade them, Kakaros?”
Kakaros was usually easygoing, but when the topic turned to his own people, his expression didn’t look good at all. Even at a glance, it seemed like he didn’t want to go rescue Lysian.
“How about we just leave him? He’ll only get in the way anyway.”
He must have really disliked the idea to openly suggest leaving him behind. In the past, Gerard might have agreed, but they had already made peace.
“Lysian is part of our group, Kakaros. And we don’t abandon our companions. Did you forget?”
Knowing he couldn’t deny Kyle’s words, Kakaros let out a deep sigh.
“If they find out we’re the hero’s party, they might attack first.”
“What?”
Kyle asked back with a bewildered expression at Kakaros’s unexpected remark.
“Why would they attack? Didn’t they want revenge against the Black Flame Dragon too?”
Without realizing it, Kyle had assumed the forest fairies would react the same way as the dwarves of the underground kingdom. If the hero’s party promised to take revenge on the Black Flame Dragon, he thought they would trust them and leave it to them.
“They’re cowards.”
Kakaros spoke harshly for someone talking about his own people.
“If they decide we’re more dangerous than the Black Flame Dragon, they’ll try to eliminate us immediately.”
“But we have no intention of attacking them. Wouldn’t it be enough if we just said we’re only taking Lysian back?”
Kyle couldn’t understand. They hadn’t done anything to the forest fairies. If anything, there wouldn’t be any problem at all if those fairies hadn’t kidnapped Lysian.
“You can try if you want, but the outcome won’t be good.”
He didn’t say it was impossible, but Kakaros remained negative to the end.
* * *
The forest fairies had lived for a very long time in the Forest of Peace, where the World Tree stood in the northwestern part of the continent. From the moment they were born, they were given the duty of protecting the World Tree.
The World Tree was a spiritual existence that maintained the balance of the world. The forest fairies who received its blessing would never fall ill and could live for an extremely long time.
But Kakaros had not been born in that Forest of Peace. His mother was a forest fairy, but she had grown close to a druid who had entered the forest and eventually gave birth to Kakaros.
A druid referred to an ancient spirit user, a human close to a transcendent being.
In other words, Kakaros’s identity was closer to that of a half-human, half-fairy. He was neither fully human nor fully fairy.
Because of that, the forest fairies did not easily accept him. Perhaps that was only natural. Humans hadn’t accepted him either.
“Mother, am I a fairy, or a human?”
Kakaros often asked his mother. Each time, she would hold him tightly in her arms and answer,
“You are Kakaros, my precious son. It doesn’t matter what roots you come from. What matters is that we are family.”
Family. To Kakaros, family was something truly precious. Even if his mother was the only one he had. He had sworn that he would protect that family no matter the cost.
But that warm childhood did not last long. Kakaros’s mother died in an accident.
Kakaros was overcome with grief, but he still had to hold her funeral.
All forest fairies held funerals in which the soul was offered to the World Tree. So Kakaros carried his mother’s body and headed toward the World Tree.
But the forest fairies blocked his path.
“She is not a forest fairy with a pure soul, she cannot offer her soul to the World Tree!”
Kakaros cried and begged those who stood in his way. But the fairies coldly rejected both him and his mother and drove them away.
At that time, the one who reached out a hand to Kakaros was the Fairy King.
“All fairies blessed by the World Tree are family. Judging whether a soul is pure or not is something only the World Tree can decide.”
The Fairy King not only allowed his mother’s funeral to be held, but also recognized Kakaros’s abilities and arranged for him to serve as a royal guard.
It was the first time Kakaros had been accepted as a member of the fairies.
But that, too, did not last long.
Not long after, the Black Flame Dragon attacked the Forest of Peace.
“It’s the Black Flame Dragon! Save us!”
“Abandon the World Tree and run!”
