Episode 303.1

(EP-303.1) Princess #1

303 – Fairy Princess #1

Flash!

Stella lifted the lightning hazelnut high with both hands.

I could only gape at her steady and strong posture, like that of a torchbearer.

“How did you do that?”

The lightning hazelnut, as its name suggests, was a fruit surrounded by lightning. It’s like a cursed item that would drain your stamina if you touched it carelessly.

Yet she had lifted it so easily. Stella herself seemed as startled by the situation as I was.

“Why is this working? It’s so strange. Wow, is this what it feels like?”

It seemed like she wasn’t entirely sure how she had done it either.

Despite the lack of certainty, she had attempted to grab the electric hazelnut again. She truly has that adventurer’s spirit.

Then it happened.

Crackle!

“Ah-!”

Stella recoiled as if she’d touched something hot. The hazelnut tumbled from her hands, rolling across the ground.

“Are you okay?”

“I guess you can’t hold it for too long. I’m starting to get a feel for it.”

Rustle, rustle.

She brushed her hands off.

I asked her how she did it. She hummed for a few seconds and then said.

“You have to, like, feel the tingling sensation in your hand. Then it’s like this wave flows through your body.”

━Ah, you’re back.

Kubilai noticed our return, his large eyes landing on the lightning hazelnut in Stella’s hands, and a grin spread across his long muzzle.

━It seems the talent for the rigid body art lies with the long-eared fairy. For a beginner, I suppose that was impressive. Very well, let’s head inside.

A talent and beginner in rigid body art.

These keywords caught my attention, and I mentally noted them as I followed Kubilai into the cave.

Inside, the white wolf lay sprawled out completely unfazed of the chaos outside.

━It’s mother’s favorite lightning hazelnut.

When Stella placed the hazelnut in front of the wolf at Kubilai’s signal, the white wolf lazily opened her eyes and used her claw to split it open.

As the small nuts inside tumbled out, she bit into them. Her body trembled as if in pain, and her fur stood on end.

━Mmm, that certainly wakes you up. Now then, who are you?

At the white wolf’s question, I calmly explained who we were and what had brought us here.

After listening for a while, the white wolf nodded a few times before opening its mouth.

* * *

Tasagan, the elder of the forest and the white wolf, seemed more clear-headed as she reminisced about the past.

She recounted that about 30 years ago, a small fairy appeared and went around disrupting the order of the forest.

━She was just a little one. Thin and frail, like a child abandoned by her pack. But she was more curious and passionate than anyone else. Like a little squirrel.

Her face was painted with mud and pigments in fierce patterns. Bone and tooth ornaments clinked on her arms and legs, and she wore a wolf pelt over her head that swayed like real fur.

━She was a mischievous troublemaker. Her antics were amusing to watch.

With everyone’s attention, the young nymph girl grew rapidly.

Of course, her childlike appearance didn’t change; but she became as strong as the forest masters through continuous challenges.

A nymph, a childlike being, was strong enough to fight the forest masters?

It was as unbelievable as a squirrel fighting a tiger and winning.