“Master, here.” A girl handed me a flower.
“I made you a heart.”
“I’m just Lord Deekson to you.” I coughed awkwardly.
Once reaching the palace, I had gone to the children first, using my White Mage skills to their best use making sure they were all healthy. Thankfully, Astria’s actions hadn’t done any lasting damage to the girls. Actually, that wasn’t true. It was clear that her using these innocent girls like a mana sieve had done something to them, but it wasn’t clear whether that something was bad or not.
First off, although they were children, they lacked the dirtiness of humans. That wasn’t meant to be insulting, but humans, especially ill ones, tended to look unwell. These girls all had perfect skin, perfect hair, and it was like all of their imperfections were blasted away. They also seemed to be extremely bold. I never saw myself as being scary, but a guy over six feet tall should intimidate a little girl. Yet, as soon as I appeared, these girls beamed at me and started to fawn over me. Now, they were starting to call me Master.
I shot Astria another look.
She threw her hands up helplessly. “I’m as clueless as you. They aren’t fairies… not exactly. However, they’re not exactly human either. Their souls have been flooded with mana. I suspect, in time, they will all become powerful mages.
To confirm her theory, I used my God and Devil Eye to look at a few of them. Every single one of them had unlocked Basic or Apprentice Magician. She was right, their long-term exposure to mana had somehow turned them into little mage monsters.
“Deek Deekson, my lord. You’ve truly returned.” An unfamiliar man said, wringing his hat in his hands before shooting Astria a nervous look.
“You don’t need to worry about Astria anymore.” I declared.
He let out a breath. “Yes, my lord. However, I want you to know that although we have lived in fear, the fairy queen hasn’t been awful to us. Most of us working on the palace were volunteers because it allowed us to be closer to our children here. She’s kept us fed, and kept any monsters at bay. In truth, if she wasn’t here, many of us would have fled already.”
“Fled?” I started to ask before I understood. “Chalm…”
“It’s worse than before, my lord. The darkness radiating from that city… I… I have something to show you.”
“Hmm?” I put the girls who were climbing on me down and then stood up. “Show me.”
The man didn’t take me far. There was a cage that resembled the slave cages I had seen in the capital, except much smaller. It was placed in a spot hidden out-of-sight. Inside, there was a single man. He was on the ground, his head down, and was rocking back and forth, mumbling something in words I couldn’t make out.
“What is this?” I asked.
“This is a man who came from Chalm. He’s the only one we’ve managed to recover.”
I reached out to touch the cage when the man suddenly looked up. His eyes were red, and he had the sharp teeth of a canine. He leaped at the cage, growing viciously as he tried to bite me. I jerked back.
“He’s been turned into a werewolf!”
“Actually, he’s just a wolfkin. The red eyes and fangs he already had.” The man coughed.
“R-right…” I responded, looking at the wolf tail sticking out from behind.
Chalm was majority animalkin. I had almost forgotten.