“Please listen to me! We don't have to fight!”

The thing, as big as an adult human male, makes an aggressive animalistic screech instead of human speech.

I tussle with the bug-human hybrid while getting overpowered by its sheer physical strength. It charges at me with my rapier stuck in its gut and I grab its arm, throwing it behind me with a shoulder throw.

“Urkh!”

I feel a streak of pain on my back. The fae’s centipede arm created a gash but disregarding the pain and the ripping skin, I bind it with vines, keeping it immobile but it proves to be of no use. The fae keeps breaking free, and my attempts at communication are unsuccessful.

“...I’m sorry.”

After a bitter and hard fight, I stand victorious.

But it feels like I’m the one who lost.

“I’m really sorry.”

I tend to my wound before leaving the room. It’s patchwork but better than nothing. Hurriedly I leave, not wanting to stay in the same room as the fae any longer than I have to. It’s still just the first enemy and not even that strong but it took a lot out of me.

Because of my hesitation.

I’m such an idiot.

I slap myself on the cheek. I must do better. There’s too much at stake.

Out of the previous dining room, there's another maze in front of me in the shape of an ordinary city street.

I lose my sense of direction because of the upside down buildings on the ceilings, and stairs that lead to a wall then curve towards the ceiling. When I walk on them(if you mean the stairs), I am puzzlingly able to walk on what used to be a wall without falling. A fountain, built vertically from my point of view, but not spilling water. A cat, entering from the window, but appearing casually above me as if it's following the laws of gravity.

I’m lost, not knowing where to go. Unlike before, there’s no clear destination.

“Rose, is that you?”

“Conn!” I turn to the voice and I see him. He’s on the 'ground' above me.

“Crazy place, right? Let’s meet up.”

I agree with him completely.

But no matter what way we go, every path we take doesn't seem to bring us any closer.

“Conn, watch out!”

“Gah! There’s another one!?”

Conn began to fight a bug-hybrid fae that suddenly crawled out from a window. The appearance is different from the one I defeated but shares some of the traits. Willing my Victa to form a shape, I throw a wooden javelin to assist Conn but the javelin simply falls down after a short distance in the air, unable to reach my friend. It should have no trouble reaching him normally.

“Conn, there are two more coming from your right! Run!”

“Damn it!”

I give it my all, running after Conn in an attempt to meet up. The different layouts around me and him make things difficult. He turns to his left which is my right and I follow. Instead of a path, there’s a dead end with a single door in front of me. I open the door and involuntarily gasp at the sight.

“Uwaaahh!!”

“Help me! Help me!”

In a room full of black rats, I stumble upon nine children bound to the walls and the floor.

The rats are eating them!

They start to cry even louder after they see me, begging for help.

“Khh!”

Using a wide-area Arte, I kill and scatter the ordinary rats to give the children a reprieve and proceed to help the one closest to me.

“It’ll be fine. Sister is here.”

The bindings are extraordinarily hard, forcing me to use my Victa. It’s a race against time. More rats stream in from the holes in the walls.

“There! You’re out now. Can you stand?”

The boy smiles.

“Wrong choice~ Wrong choice~ Try again~”

Saying with a playful tone, the boy disappears.

I grit my teeth for falling into their scheme and run to the door at the other end of the room.

“Oh oh oh! You’re abandoning them? Cruel girl~ Cruel girl~”

A fae appears before my face. A tiny, naked fae with transparent wings and a child-like face. Unlike the bug-hybrid fae, this one has the traditional fae appearance.

“This is all an illusion!” I lash out with anger.

“Nope~ One out of the nine is real,” the tiny fae wiggles his index finger. “Leave that child to become rat food?”

It’s as if my heart is stabbed.

I turn and try to discern the real one using my investigative Arte but I’m unable to. The glamour of the fae is too strong. It might not be the work of this fae but an even stronger one.

In the end, I have no choice but to try and save them one by one, fending off the rats all the while.

The second attempt, fake. Fith, fake. Ninth… fake.

I have no idea what kind of expression I’m making but the fae laughs himself silly.

“Stupid girl, stupid girl~ She got tricked! Ahahahaha! What fun~”

The fae disappears without a trace, same as the children and rats.

Alone in the room, I hear a sniffle. Was that me? No… I must not. This is no time for self-pity.

My feet feel heavier than before.

Wiping away a tear, I exit the room. As expected, there are no signs of Conn.

As I continue the journey, at intersections, I choose to go with my gut feeling. The terrain looks the same. But am I making progress or going in circles?

After some time, a shining arrow sign appears on the floor with the writing: upstairs this way.

I ignore them at first but after not making progress for the next hour, I take a gamble and follow the signs.

Surprisingly, the signs really lead to a spiral stairway to the next floor.

Hours have passed. I encountered many obstacles from the fae. The fairy kind and bug-hybrid kind, both. The fairy types only use tricks while every encounter with the bug-hybrids is a battle. The latter seem incapable of speech.

“Your friend is in trouble. Enter this door to save them,” a little female fae points at the door below her.

Despite her insistence, I had ignored her. But now, I find June with a badly bruised face and walking with a limp.

“I’m fine,” she says from the other side of the distorted space between us. “Be careful Rose. This is a dangerous place.”

Is it really because of me? Is that even the real June? How can I be sure?

Then the previous fae reappears again.

“Cruel girl, cruel girl, won't save her friend~ Hihihihi!!”

My soul is being chipped away every time they pull their cruel mischiefs. So much so that I feel grateful when I meet the combative fae. Battling them is not easy but compared to the other option, grueling fights with the distorted fae are better.

My clock is showing that it is almost sundown but I can't tell inside this strange space.

“Damon! Wendy!”

It feels great seeing the two traveling together. We’re separated by the three-dimensional maze but it seems it is possible to meet up.

If they are not the fae’s glamour.

Like Master Mita, every Silver Legionary has a signal so other legionaries can detect their location. However, except for one that is clearly far above me, the other signals are all over the place.

We converse for a while. The seniors are very concerned about me. Not only my physical but mental health too. They are kind people. I hope the subtle romantic signs between them worked out. They would make a great couple. My lips try to tell of my inner-pain but clam up at the last second. To put up a strong front I kept on nodding at their advice. At the very least, I shouldn't add to their burden.

“Did you follow the arrow symbols? It always leads to the stairs. Might be the only true thing in this place. Please be careful, Rose.”

“I will. Thank you, seniors.”

We exchange well wishes before separating. With a slight warm feeling in my chest, I turned the knob of the door that the arrow sign points at.

There I saw a sleeping baby in a crib of flowers and a fairy hovering above.

“Hello, I’m Mockyloc,” the fae says. “A mother has lost her baby.”

He snaps his fingers and ten boxes appear.

“If you can complete the dare in any box, I’ll return the baby back where I found him.”

“...Why are you doing such a cruel thing?”

The fae tilted his head. “Cruel? What are you talking about? Isn't it fun? The mother makes interesting faces after she loses her baby.”

As always, I can't tell if the baby is real or not. The previous mischiefs from the fae are not all fakes. They sometimes place real victims. I know from previous encounters. That is why I can't simply disregard what this fae wants.

“...I understand.”

I put my hand in a box with the bell picture on it and pulled a parchment. One word is written on it: wedding.

Suddenly, the surroundings changed. I’m inside a church beautified with decorations.

“Wha-!?”

I am wearing a pure white wedding dress and the tiny fae is wearing the clothes of the groom.

“Ohh~ I like weddings. So beautiful. Cute lady, let’s get married~”

The fae hugs his own shoulders and makes a smooching motion with his lips.

“Wait, I haven't agree-”

My response is drowned by applause from the hundreds of fae in attendance. They whistle, laugh, and shout congratulations.

“We will now begin the wedding ceremony,” a familiar face walked toward me and the fae.

“M-master Mita!?”

She’s so real but doesn't react to my voice. “Under the gaze of the Radiant Lady, do you, Mockyloc, vow to accept my disciple, Rose, as your wife? To love and to cherish her in sickness and in health, until death do you apart?”

“I do. Hihihihi! Mockyloc will have a pretty wife soon~”

The fae answers and master Mita, or the illusion of her, turns towards me, asking the same vow.

“I-I…”

Even if this whole thing is a sham, it's still the sacred vow of matrimony. They did it in a Church style no less, to corner me! What should I do? I can't marry someone I just met, but the baby…!

Mockyloc waited for my answer with upturned eyes. The size of our body is so different it isn't even the difference between adults and children. Master Mita smiles at me kindly, the same smile that I’m familiar with. The fae in attendance are encouraging me to perform the marriage.

My vision is spinning. My heart is thumping so hard I can hear it. My palms that are holding the bridal bouquet are sweating.

“Hurry up now,” my groom-to-be fae says. “Three more seconds before time out.”

Three seconds… I-I have to save the baby!

“I… I d-”

Swish!

“Gyhyak!?”

“Eh?”

A throwing knife hit Mockyloc and nailed him to the wall.

“By the powers vested in me by the Almighty of Might and Magic, I declare this union ceremony is invalid and illegal. Should there be anyone here who disagrees with my dictum, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

“Viers…” I mutter, still in shock.

The hundreds of fae in attendance are rioting.

“Haughty stabby porky is here!”

“He’s mean and doesn't play with us. I hate him!”

“Punch him! Bite him! Kill him!”

Viers uses his movement Arte and appears next to me, arm circling my waist.

“Nice wedding dress,” he whistles.

“Viers, what are you doing?”

“Abducting the bride, of course. I’ve always wanted to do this.”

“B-but the baby…” I protest.

“As I said, I’m abducting you. You have no say in the matter.”

He does his flicker movement again and brings me in his arm to the exit door. A bunch of fae banded together and attacked but Viers’ no-mercy retaliations heavily injure or outright kill them.

Before Viers goes through the door, he glances at Mockyloc who was nailed nearby. The fae is still alive, coughing blood.

A mosquito-squishing palm landed, turning him into a stain on the wall.

“Weddings are no joking matter, kid.”

-

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Chapter 272 - Wedding Crasher