The Baby Isn’t Yours

'Another scar on the chest.. ….. Why do these animals hurt themselves so much?' When the beast swung around, Kalia noticed the prominent scar.

The flesh around its heart had been ruthlessly scratched at and dug into but it didn't seem to bother the wolf. That was not the only strange thing.

How did these monsters get into the fairy realm1?

The very air here must be constantly attacking the monsters.

How…

Unfortunately, Kalia was not a seeker. There had been someone else who was good at observing, doubting and questioning though. 2

Grrr!

This was the biggest wolf out of the four and it looked about ready to pounce at her again. So far, she has only encountered four of them today but there must be more of them. They must have a leader.

The wolf, baring his teeth, swung his arms recklessly with a flicker of its eyes. Though the attack didn't seem too coordinated, the strength behind each swing was so powerful that even a small graze could tear off the flesh.

As she indifferently watched and dodged the wolf's sharp claws cut through the air, Kalia wondered if she should capture them alive and report them to the Ministry of Magic.

This was an anomaly.

It may be easy for her to get rid of the wolf in front of her, but the fact that a crazy wolf invaded a fairy forest could lead to a war between tribes.

'Should I capture at least one of them alive?'

If Simon were here, he would have figured something out. She breathed out a little disappointed sigh, wondering what to do.The problem may not have been the wolves. Maybe this forest itself is a strange thing. It was strange that she and Humming were able to pass the boundary and enter the fairy realm.

'Yes, I should capture one alive.'

As soon as she lifted her sword to simply remove one of the wolf's tendons, she sensed an attack incoming at great speed. Surprised, she quickly turned around and moved out of the attack zone.

Puchi!

A giant spear flew through the air and penetrated clean through the heart of the monster, nailing it to the tree behind it. The life drained out of the monster without it even making a sound. Kalia turned her head to look at the being who had thrown the spear.

A man, his presence exuding a terrifying energy, was looking at her.

***

The man was a creature of great power. He was the father, the guardian, and the judge of all things. A man of authority whose powers were based upon affection and faith. He had a heavy responsibility which he naturally accepted and carried out. Though he was steady and fair when it came to most things, his youngest daughter was an exception.

Fairies took a very long time to conceive offspring. The fetus alone grows for five years inside their mother's belly. Even when the fetus is fully grown inside their mother's stomach, they weren't always born right away.

Every fairy had a spirit stone. A brilliant concentration of power that gathers at and occupies the heart. It was a source of power for fairies which they could gather and cultivate. It physically manifested itself as a beautiful and rock-hard stone.

The fairy child couldn't come out of their mother's belly until they had made a spirit stone. Usually, the stone is made during the five years the fetus is growing and thus, the child is able to be birthed immediately. However, there are always exceptions. There are some children whose body and spirit stone grew at different speeds.

That was the case for his youngest daughter. She grew for the expected five years but it took another three years for the baby to be born. The child who was barely born was unusually small and weak compared to her brothers. However, she was also exceptionally bright and gentle. So lovely that it was a pity how weak she was.

"Hahaha! Father!"

"Father, look at this!"

"Great Father, thank you for being with me. I love you!"

Memories of her echoed in his mind. This was why the man was always concerned about his youngest daughter.

As someone who should embrace all, he should not have but he loved and cherished this child of his the most. When such a daughter said that she had fallen in love with a human one day, he, as her father, was furious and greatly enraged.

"…A human being!"

Until that point, he had not hated humans. Though he did despise their greed and how weak they were, he had no personal loathing toward them. Sometimes humans were great, and not all men were swayed by the temptations of greed nor did they fall to ruin at its hands. However, no matter, in his eyes, fairies and humans should not be together.

They could not be together. 3

To a fairy, loving a human was like loving a time bomb, never knowing when their lover was going to die. Sadness and grief at death was natural, but those left behind had to bear all the pain and loss all by themselves, for who knows how long. That's what it was like for a union between two races that not only aged at different rates, but were vastly different in fragility and power.

To fall in love with someone of a different race was like knowingly accepting and actively walking towards a future where pain is already foreseen and expected.

It was an immature love akin to a moth jumping into a fire.

"No matter how much you disagree, I love him. I'll live with him even if he has a short life. We're meant to be; that is our destiny. Father will forgive me and him soon!"

'Foolish thing. My youngest daughter, who is so innocent and lovely.'

The father rebuked his youngest daughter, whom he loved, for her immaturity and exiled her to the rural forest of a small province. In his mind, he was sending her to her favourite forest for her sake. She merely did not know nor understood his choice.

The day his daughter was exiled was her birthday. She had left, staring at her father, who had not looked back, with sad eyes. She left for the end of the continent, a place surrounded by the ocean, mountains and forest.

He thought that her love would be a short one that only burned for a year or two, a miniscule amount of time for fairies. He thought if she didn't see him, and the two didn't meet, the love would fade away on its own, being worn down by separation and time.

It was a father's delusion, arrogance, and miscalculation.

After a while, his daughter disappeared. And at one point, the man felt something in his heart clench and abruptly cut off. It was only less than a year after his daughter disappeared. As soon as he realized the reason for the pain, he – who had never cried – his eyes welled and brimmed with tears.

'Ah, my daughter. My daughter.. Gaia!'

His daughter had died. She died alone, with no father, no mother, no brothers. The young soul he had helped bring into this world died alone.

The foolish father wailed with bated breath and wept.

***

Light yellow hair, carrying a sweet and sour scent, fluttered in the wind. It was a familiar color. The eyes of the child looking straight at him were very similar to those of the little daughter he loved. Though the colour was completely different, those eyes were strangely similar. He felt strange. This pregnant human woman was not a fairy. Strictly speaking, this was a human being who had nothing to do with my daughter, a fairy.

And yet, strangely…. Strangely enough…

'Why does she feel so lovable?' 4

The man couldn't take his eyes off the child. He didn't know why, but his heart jumped.

The first one to move was Kalia. Briefly, she looked at the man, then at the man's thrown spear and finally, at the dead wolf whose heart had been pierced through with the spear. After a while, she silently grabbed the spear stuck in the wolf's heart.

"That… !"

By the time the man's brow twitched, Kalia had already pulled his spear out of the wolf's heart.

Whoosh!

The huge spear was pulled out, followed by the sound of bone crushing. The beast fell from the tree it'd been nailed to. The man's firm/hardened gaze rested on Kalia and then strayed to the corpses of the two wolves. He looked at Kalia with curious eyes for a moment and extended his hand towards her. His spear was passed into his extended hand. The man held his spear, the Ectarion, with great force. He licked his lips for a moment, trying to say something. The human child was also looking at the man as if waiting for it.

But, before he could say anything, his daughter, who had been hiding behind him, jumped out. Gaia immediately ran towards Kalia and hugged her tightly. Kalia's body stiffened beneath the fairy's embrace and the man's eyes gleamed in surprise as he witnessed the scene. Gaia hugged Kalia and confirmed she was safe and happy. Brimming with joy, she smiled broadly and continued to embrace Kalia with no hesitation. It was sweet to see the fairy fluttering so innocently around her.

The man, who had only been staring at her until now, finally opened his mouth and asked, "Who are you?"

Kalia, who had been watching Gaia circling around her with a troubled look, glanced to the man.

"…I came in looking for lost children," she replied.

Who was this guy?

Though she had never seen him before, the spirit and aura that emanated from the great man indicated that he was not human. The vast power his eyes held were boundless. The energy seemed to make all those who looked upon him feel powerless in him presence. Although sacred, it was different from the power of the priests, and although it was ferocious, it was different from the destructive power of monsters.

"…Who are you?" The man asked again when Kalia did not answer.

What kind of answer should she give?

Kalia briefly pondered but ultimately offered a different answer.

"My name is Kalia Taxigate5, from a nearby town."

"Kalia Taxigate," he quietly repeated her name, brooding over it.

Kalia deliberately told him her real name. If her guess was right, he was a man who could not be deceived. Even if she could cheat him, for some reason, she felt it was rude to deceive him. 6

It would be fine to say who she was anyways.

"Kalia Taxigate," he observed Kalia and muttered her name once again. As if he suddenly remembered something, he turned his head to look at the dead monsters. With palms in the air, the man uttered a few words in an ancient language.

[Retrieve]

Immediately, something wriggled inside one of the fallen bodies. The sound of breaking bones and flesh being split open rang out, and a murky, gray jewel pierced through the monster's back, floated up and into the man's palms. The man firmly clasped them in his hand and enclosed his fingers over the gem. The gray jewel shattered and was crushed into powder. The powder sifted through the cracks in his fist and was blown away by the wind. The man repeated the same thing with the other monster corpses.

Kalia looked at the scene from afar.

What the hell was he doing?

As if he'd read her mind, the man answered her question, "It's a corrupted spirit stone. Pour soul. The fairy did not find rest even after their death."

'Fairies?'

Kalia's expression was oddly distorted.

Is that man saying that the monsters were fairies?

Obviously those were Lycan wolves.

Since when did Lycan wolves belong to the fairy family?

The man added, as if he had read the confused look in Kalia's eyes, "Someone forcibly transplanted the hearts of some poor, living fairies into those monsters. I merely cut out remnants of their heart and power."

"I can't believe those monsters had a heart transplanted into them."

"…Chimera. That's what you call it."

At his words, Kalia's complexion turned blue.