"Nieve! Are you alright?! We saw you and your group out there, but when we began smacking the snakes, we lost sight of you. We didn't knew if we were able to help you." I said worriedly.
"Yes, I am alright, thank you for being so concerned, Planta." Said Nieve with a calm and relieved smile. "Your strength was genuine and… I am sorry for doubting you so much. You have my sincerest apologies. I feel indebted as well, so let me lend you my strength from now on." Nieve suddenly said, as she seemed to want to… Eh?
Ding!
[You have convinced the [NPC: Nieve] of your good intentions]
[NPC: Nieve] has favorable impressions of you, which have been further enhanced through the [Title: Revered Figure]
[NPC: Nieve] has solicited to become your [Party Member], Accept?]
<Yes> <No>
Oh?! Nieve can join my party?! Wouldn't she be the second NPC that would join after Acorn? Wow, this is surprising! And she's probably pretty strong too as a Knightess, she got Ice Magic and is good with that tiny rapier of hers, so of course I'll make her a party member!
I swiftly pressed <Yes>
Ding!
[NPC: Nieve] has been added to your [Party]
[NPC: Nieve] has been added to your [Special Quest]
And with that, it seems that Nieve joined us for real! It was super unexpected! And to boot, it seems she was very sorry for what she did before, so I guess there's no point in getting angry at her or something. As long as she apologizes, its all good for me.
"Huh? What's this? Special Quest?" Nieve asked, suddenly noticing a System notification popping up in front of her, most likely. "Well, I'll see this strange thing later. For now, let's reunite with the survivors and our Queen, we need to talk a lot about what has happened."
Nieve quickly led our party to the interior of the castle, while the rest of the soldiers began to help the people get out of the underground. One third of the city was in ruins due to our fight against the giant snake, but even then, damage was minimized as much as we could. The fairies were surprised that things were surprisingly intact despite all of the ruckus. Of course, those that still ended with their houses destroyed seemed to be lamenting it.
"I am impressed that you managed to defeat that gigantic thing without destroying the entire city in the process." Said Nieve. "Well done, Planta. You've surprised me a lot today. And I feel extremely sorry about how I acted before. Maybe I shouldn't had been so overly rude and cautious… I ended treating someone so strong and kind like a criminal…"
"Don't worry about it! It's all in the past now, Nieve! Anyways, where is Florie?" I wondered.
"Florie? I haven't seen her around. I believe I left her in her own room inside a noble house which wasn't affected by the battle, so she should be there. I hope she already cleansed that black oil she got in her hands. Was she trying to build a magic golem or something that she was covered in oil produced by the Black Oil Flowers?" Sighed Nieve, feeling like a big sister thinking about her playful little sister.
"Black Oil Flowers?! What's that?" Acorn asked while joining the conversation, as we were led to sit down around a large rectangular table.
"Oh, a Squirrel-kin. It is rare to see your kind here… And Black Oil Flowers are special flowers that produce a special, black-colored fruit. When squeezed, they produce a black oil extract rich in magic particles, which we convert into fuel for our magic golems." Said Nieve.
"Oooh! That's interesting. Maybe I could learn a bit more of this golem making craft? Can Alchemist learn?" Wondered Acorn.
"Why yes, Alchemist are the most proficient in making magical items and tools, golems are said to be great creations of ancient alchemists, we merely took this research and applied it with what we had. We would gladly welcome a member of Planta's party to our Golem Research and Production Guild." Said Nieve, smiling at the adorable squirrel.
"Cool!" Said Acorn, waving his tail around. He was sitting over the head of Titan, so his tail was covering Titan's face… well, his skull-like face, I don't know if he got a real face other than the skull of an animal on top of his wooden body.
Suddenly, were gathered with many other officials and soldiers, who began to ask us various questions regarding the war. Everybody started to discuss about what had happened. But everything always led to a primary problem that made it very hard for the fairies to properly retaliate.
"Someone must have hijacked the golems!" Said an old fairy woman while raising a staff.
"Yeah, I think so as well!" Added another old fairy, a man. Fairies didn't looked wrinkly but their hair would grow grayer and colorless as they grew older. Perhaps elves are similar.
"But who… Who did this? A fairy? Is there a traitor that is trying to favor the monstrous Snake?" Asked a third.
"Calm down all of you." Nieve said, slamming the table. "It is true that the golems were not able to work properly, but also, there was a severe lack of fighting experience in our troops, many soldiers panicked and fled from battle before things even started! As the generals, isn't your job to train your troops properly?"
"T-That's…"
"Well, it's true…"
"But we fairies have lived in peace for so long, you can't blame us for not being ready for battle…!"
"Hmph, well, now this happened. So it was always necessary to train. Perhaps even more servants of the Demon King that once tormented us in this forest are reviving after the "Rehashing", Queen Titania seems to be afraid of a grim future. The Snake Queen is a threat that will only grow stronger if we let her alive… I suggest a crusade towards her nest, the Swamps, and to slay her for good!" Nieve proclaimed.
