“I heard being raised as food isn't as bad as people say.”

The tent was every bit as large inside as the sight of it from the outside suggested. The problem was that it made everybody gathered around a table inside seem much larger than they probably were.

There was only one source of light being used; a small lantern hung from the center of the structure. It was barely enough to illuminate the roof, but it was not nearly enough to allow her to distinguish anybody inside. Yet despite that fact, she knew that everybody’s eyes were trained on her – all twelve pairs of glowing eyes, that is.

“Oh? What have you brought us now, Fyrn? Snacks?”

A rough, slightly high-pitched male voice chimed happily in. Those words almost pulled Elaine’s soul out of her body. Fortunately she was distracted from it by Fyrn’s massive hands that grabbed hold of her and pulled her back.

“Fool. You know the rules.”

The same voice from earlier cackled disgustingly.

“We’re not in the city, you know? Nobody’s going to ask where a little human girl went especially if she’s within our territory, right?”

Fyrn grunted irritably. The man from earlier continued cackling, making Elaine’s nerves gradually crumble. Everyone else in the room made various sounds ranging from those of displeasure to approval. Suddenly, in the middle of the chaos, their attention was diverted by a loud impact made on the table.

“The next time someone mentions killing the human child, I’ll kill him personally and send the pieces to the King for the next Founding Festival. Understand?”

Dead silence grasped the congregation. Even the sound of someone swallowing could be heard clearly. The sentries outside also seem to have frozen in place. It was the first time Elaine had ever felt bloodlust that could be felt physically.

“Excellent.”

She didn’t notice it at first because of the threatening tone of voice, but the owner was clearly female.

With a measure of calm returned to the meeting, some of the monsters shifted uncomfortably in their seats, producing a cocaphony of wooden sounds that beat Elaine’s nerves somewhat loose. Before long everyone had managed to get themselves back together. Fyrn assumed a seat somewhere near the entrance, just near enough for Elaine to still see his back using the light that leaked from the entrance. But then another lantern was lit, one that was much brighter than the one that hung from the ceiling, and—

“Hello, miss human. I do apologize for their behavior earlier. I trust you aren’t offended?”

“Ah—“

A pure white, long-haired beauty. It wasn’t a figure of speech; she really was purely white.

“Arachne?”

“Oh you know what I am? I am honoured.”

A flawless, speckless white body of a beautiful young woman attached to the head of a terrible jet-black spider. It wore luxurious white cloth that barely contrasted with its skin and nothing else. Her clothes resembled that of a Chinese qipao, which was quite strange, but it was unembellished and fit snugly on her sculpted torso, making it seem like she wore nothing at all. In direct contrast to her divine upper body, her spider half was horrifying to look at. Even in the sparse light available to her, Elaine could make out six blood-red orbs that served as eyes lining the joint where human and spider conjoined. Its fangs were long, thick and serrated, and its limbs were wide, hairy, and tipped with sharp claws that dug effortlessly into the packed soil underneath it. Her thorax and abdomen were similarly hairy, and shone under the sparse light of their surroundings with an eerie gleam.

She extended her hand towards her in a way that reminded Elaine of when Alice had done the same.

“I am called, Blanc. You?”

“M—ah, I mean, I’m Elaine. Nice to meet you!”

Elaine grabbed her hand in flustered haste. The sensation of Blanc’s hand was as soft as she imagined it to be. But at the same time it didn’t feel quite like what a human’s hand does.

“My my, someone with manners. Delightful. I think we’ll get along just fine. Now, Fyrn, dear, what has she done to make you present her to us? I think everybody here’s at the very least curious about it, no?”

Blanc let go of her hand and turned towards the center of the tent. Her combined height must have been over ten feet tall, probably.

Fyrn took a swig from a gourd on the table and addressed everybody’s concern in a casual, yet urgent tone.

“I don’t care what a human is doing in our lands, quite frankly, as long as they honor the treaty. But considering where she was found, it is extremely likely that she witnessed the same thing we did. That’s why I brought her here.”

The spider half hissed slightly, but Blanc’s human face had a smile that appeared as if she already knew the answer. Everyone else, on the other hand, made different faces as they expressed their realization. The person in question, on the other hand, was at a complete loss.

“What do you mean? See what?”

The minotaur shifted his weight on the tiny chair he sat on, making it scream in agony. He stared directly at Elaine for the first time. Even as he sat, his eyes were still at a higher level than Elaine’s own. But despite everything, he looked at her earnestly, urgently, demanding an honest response from her. Again, she swallowed, some anxiety brewing at the prospect.

They were words that Elaine had wanted to hear for a long time herself.

“We’re looking for a golden dragon.”

.

“She must be lying. A fairy? In this day and age? What a load of bullshit!”

“A crook! She must be! According to our laws it is fine to kill criminals, right?”

“You just want to eat her. I call first dibs!”

“What the hell are you morons talking about?! If there truly is a fairy left in this world, don’t you know what that means?”

“Oh shut up. Really? A fairy? What else has she seen, the Scourge?”

“Question is, can we eat her yet?”

The clamouring that occurred afterwards definitely did not go the way she wanted it to go. She thought she could develop a better impression for herself by being honest with her experience. There was also the hope that they could be distracted from the fact that there was a delicious human in their base with the prospect of a fairy. Honestly though the latter idea was just an afterthought when she witnessed their initial reactions towards her story about Alice.

Was it even the right decision to tell them about her? Is a story about meeting with a fairy that unbelievable? She hadn’t the time or the knowledge to make a prior deliberation.

Anyway, there were only three monsters within the room who didn’t bother to involve themselves in the commotion, namely Fyrn who she was honestly surprised considering she initially thought of him of as a hotheaded man who would jump at any opportunity to argue, Blanc who watched the chaos like an irritated elder sister, and... someone else.

... someone who was staring at her from across the room with dire eyes.

The stare wasn’t disgusting, like being licked all over, assessing whether she was a good choice for dinner; it was a deep, analyzing look. Very profound.

Or something.

“In conclusion, we think your story is preposterous. If you would kindly see yourself out of this tent and off this camp, please.”

Such was the verdict. Elaine hung her head and sighed.

When she turned around to leave, though, a hairy appendage blocked her way through the curtain.

“Wait.”

Blanc ordered her. She had no choice but to comply, given the circumstances. The arachne glanced at Elaine before looking back towards the group.

“Don’t you think that this child’s story is at least worth considering, yes? It doesn’t seem like she’s lying.”

“Bah, humans lie and trick us all the time.”

“But we’re not talking to a politician or a merchant now are we?”

Fyrn finally chimed in. He had his arms crossed in impatience, his hooves once again beat against the dirt.

“This is just an insignificant little whelp. What does she have to gain by fooling us?”

One of the monsters at the table slammed the table angrily in response.

“Does it matter?! The humans are always like that! All of them!”

“Foolish one.”

Blanc’s voice grew cold, sending a child through everybody in the room. But unlike the previous time, some of the monsters had managed to resist her intimidation to some degree.

“You’re asking us to divert resources to confirm this human’s ridiculous fantasy? Where did she come from, anyway? Are you sure she’s not spying? And even if she isn’t, we are an organized army! And in this tent, we are all equal in position. You need to understand that we do not have the luxury at the moment!”

It was a sound argument from Elaine’s point of view. If they were all indeed of equal rank, and if they followed what looked like a democratic system of decision-making like what the monster suggested, then regardless of their individual capabilities their vote was only just as important as the one before them. At the moment only two monsters in the room dissented against the majority.

... What did she want from them anyway?

Initially, Elaine only told them of her experience with the fairy because she was her only connection with the dragon in question. As she told them her story, a misguided hope grew in her heart that they would help her look for the dragon, and in turn, for Alice.

It wasn’t like she was looking for an entire regiment of warriors to scour the region for her. Any help would have been fine.

“Hmph. No arguments, huh? Then on to the previous topic. And get that human out of our sights, before she starts looking like dinner!”

There was nothing for her there. Not even scraps.

.

She was lead towards an isolated tent outside the main perimeter of the encampment by two armored, six-legged reptilian monsters. Judging by the looks of things inside, it was a storage shed for miscellaneous tools like ladles, pots and the like. Thankfully one of her two escorts gave her a lantern to keep, which was really fortunate as the location was too far for any of the camp’s light sources to reach.

After being told to wait, the two left her alone to the quiet of the night.

Elaine was used to disappointment; after all, she considered herself one as well. She knew this was just one of the many obstacles in store for her in that new world. But still, it was bitter.

Again, she didn’t have many friends in life. She never cared to have any. Most of her life was virtual, whether it was in games or in literature, or something else. That was why even when she found herself in another world, the only person she actually missed was her mother – nobody else.

She vowed to change. She wanted to care. She wanted to be cared for. But it was never due to regret. Maybe it was due to curiosity? Maybe. Regardless, that was what she wanted more than anything. And at that moment, she finally learned the feeling of experiencing that kind of disappointment.

Quite bitter, if she were to be honest.

“What’s got you so down?”

The loud voice startled her almost to the point of falling over her seat.

“Woah there, careful Miss Elaine. You don’t want your pretty little head to be hitting any of the pots here. I know you humans don’t take to those kinds of hits like we do. Hahaha!”

She instantly recognized the hearty laughter. The knowledge calmed her down somewhat, but there was still the question of where his voice came from. Her head turned frantically, looking for a giant xenomorph-like monster but came up short of finding a piece of rock inside the tent.

“Where are you? Kog?”

“You remembered! Nice. Oh, and I’m here. Look down.”

“What the f—hell?!”

He was so small! And adorable!

“Wh—hey! Don’t hug me! Oi!”

“But you’re so cute!”

“Me?! Cute? Aw, shucks... I mean no I’m not! Get off me!”

Kog struggled wildly with surprising strength for his current size. He easily managed to pry Elaine’s skinny arms off him, which severely saddened the latter.

“How rude!”

“Sorry...”

“Hmph! Well, never mind that. Anyway—“

The earth started to shake slightly under her feet. Rocks and dirt converged onto Kog’s body, causing him to grow to around seven feet tall. It was a disappointing development, but Elaine knew better than to tell him that.

“There we go. You’d be much more comfortable talking to someone roughly the size of your kind, right? So tell me, what happened? Why did you come here looking like a blade of dry grass?”

That was a strange analogy, but understandable. She did feel like a banana peel earlier. Seeing Kog in such a shockingly adorable form was quite an effective distraction, though. But when that distraction had morphed into a form she was more used to, her previous issue started to weigh on her shoulders once again.

“It’s—”

“Not something we can just ignore, child.”

A cold breeze entered the tent as Blanc opened the curtains wide to allow her large body through. She was followed by Fyrn, who looked rather excited, and a figure obscured by darkness. There was no time for Elaine to mind the last of them, though, as Blanc addressed her immediately after they had all made the tent as suffocating as it could get.

“We need to talk, my dear. ‘Tis an urgent matter that needs attention.”

Though her face still had a smile that could launch a thousand ships, she spoke every word with a deep, nervous tone. Fyrn was all smiles though for somehow, and the last one of them... well Elaine couldn’t see its face through the darkness its hood cast over its head.

Kog sensed the tension in the room go to levels he wasn’t comfortable with. He also felt like he was an unwelcome presence there. So, as slowly as he possibly could, he inched himself into the ground until—

“Stay. That’s an order.”

“... Yes sir.”

Elaine was baffled at their sudden appearance. Never mind the literal shady figure among them; she thought her presence had become unwanted in the camp already. What could they want all of a sudden?

Wait, are they there to tell her she was about to become part of their stew?

“Don’t be so nervous, dear. We’re not going to eat you.”

Thank God for that.

“But we do need you to be honest with us. Have you really seen a fairy?”

“... Yes. It’s just like what I’ve said.”

“Did you receive that orb on your locket from her?”

She was startled. How did they know about the marble? She didn’t take it out even once in front of them, and it was securely inside her locket. Her locket wasn’t the kind that allowed you to see what it contained from the outside either.

“How did you—?”

“Can’t hide that thing from me; that thing’s special.”

It was Fyrn who had responded.

“Usually he’d turn away anybody, even his own kind, away when we’re in a military situation. But he brought you. That’s what made me curious.”

Blanc giggled, delighted at the development. The tension had gone away, allowing Elaine to finally relax and breathe normally, or as normally as being surrounded by giant monsters allowed her. It seemed as if Alice had given her something that gave her credibility in a way.

“So um... are you going to take it?”

Both Fyrn and Blanc’s face flashed looks of surprise for a second.

“You really don’t know what you have there, my dear?”

Elaine shook her head. All she knew was that Alice threw it around like it didn’t matter to her. Fyrn’s expression changed to that of genuine shock while Blanc looked like she expected the answer.

What? Why? It’s just a marble, right?

“That’s a Fairy Heart, dear Elaine. It contains the soul of a fairy – your friend’s soul, perhaps.”