Ch.98 Fairy Forest? Fairy Mountain? Fairy Town?

"Do you happen to know where the fairy town is, Vester-san...?"

With the fire crackling and burning in front of her since morning, Cern-san, her face slightly flushed and looking hot, began to speak.

Did you sit next to me knowing this would happen because you wanted to ask that?

Two words related to fairies came up in what she said yesterday: "Fairy Mountain" and "Fairy Town."

All I know is the name "Fairy Forest," but that term is apparently only used by a few people for convenience; the mainstream name is actually "Fairy Mountain."

Apparently, the forest is simply called a forest, without any mention of fairies.

The area was supposed to be called the Fairy Forest in my first life, but the name has changed in this timeline.

A big change from forest to mountain. An upgrade in a parallel world.

But when I had a mandarin orange appraised before, it said it was from the Fairy Forest.

Perhaps it was labeled that way because they recognized this place as a fairy forest...?

Or maybe the correct area name is Fairy Forest, but the name Fairy Mountain, which someone coined, has become more widespread...?

It doesn't really affect my daily life though, so I don't really care what people call it.

Apparently, the name "Fairy Mountain" comes from the fact that there is a town inhabited by fairies on the mountain, and no other races live there.

The story begins with "Once upon a time," but it's unclear when the town of fairies began to be summoned. It's also unclear whether the fairy town actually exists.

The townspeople, including Cern-san, only heard about it secondhand, from a rumor that was born from the fairies.

I've never actually seen one, nor have I ever heard of anyone finding one.

That's information I wasn't aware of either. Though, it's only natural that things would turn out that way.

I'd only been to the Fairy Forest once before (and lost to a butterfly-shaped raid monster), and at the time I wasn't interested in the place. Or rather, the forest itself.

I really don't like spiders and spiderwebs, so I would have preferred not to get close to them if at all possible.

At least for now, no NPCs other than Cern-san have come here, and neither have the players. Unless, of course, they're staying away from this open area and just going back and forth between the forest and the cave.

In that case, it means that the person coming and going has reached the appropriate level for the area, so they would be considered quite skilled.

After all, this is the mid-game area, the Fairy Forest. It's a hidden area located between Area 8 and Area 9.

However, the area is populated with raid monsters, event monsters, giant bees, and high-level treants disguised as trees. In the sky, there's that sparrow lookalike and seagull lookalike monters hanging around, making it a truly treacherous place.

If you start fighting in such a small area, the sounds of battle will attract other monsters.

If you allow them to join the fight, it quickly turns into a one-on-many situation. That's what makes this area so dangerous.

If you're fighting raid monsters, other monsters would probably not come though.

To get back to the point, what I'm trying to say is that there's a very high probability that no players or NPCs have discovered the fairy town at present.

Therefore, unlike in my previous life, there are no players who possess information, and no information is posted on message boards.

This is only true as of the present time, and it is a fact that if people follow the same path as my previous life, similar individuals will appear in the future.

In any case, since I can't use the bulletin board function with this NPC body of mine, there's no way I could find out.

If I want to know, I could just ask Tita Salitari, who's researching the history of this game world, or ask around... but I don't feel like going to that much trouble to find out.

Since it's not something I particularly want to know, I'll stop thinking about it here.

"I don't know. I wasn't born or raised there. I'm sorry I can't be of any help."

"Oh, no, um, you don't have to be sorry at all... I'm sorry..."

I wonder what she's apologizing for... Maybe she was at a loss for words.

If that's the case, I may have chosen my words poorly. I apologize.

"...But is that so...? It's just a rumor, and it might actually be somewhere else..."

It seems she took a gamble, so I understand why she's disappointed.

After searching desperately and dying as a result, it's too late to be told that the fairy town was actually somewhere else.

If a fairy town truly exists on this mountain, it wouldn't be surprising if I, who lives here, had discovered it first. The fact that I haven't found it yet is what's truly strange.

A town is a place where people live, so it has a certain size, and there sould be sounds of daily life, making it a noticeable place.

Therefore, if I haven't discovered it yet , it's either hidden away in a hazy, magical way like a cave, or it exists somewhere I haven't been to yet. One of these two possibilities is more likely.

"I've never been there..." I thought, turning my gaze to the right side of the forest.

That was a place I had previously ventured into while searching for ingredients, but I was attacked by a high-level Treant and couldn't proceed.

I glanced over, thinking it might be there.

My family might be there in this life, but the difference between my skill levels and the monsters there is too great, and I didn't want to go to that dense forest at my current level.

Or rather, just like Nabla-kun said before, there are other fairies in this place besides me.

I was starting to think he was just hallucinating because I never met any.

The two fairies with purple hair and eyes mentioned in Cern-san's story —I'd love to meet them someday.

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〘Title that Vester should have originally earned ①〙

〘Title: Welcome to Maratos!〙

A title bestowed upon those who visit the town of Maratos in Area 1 for the first time.

Welcome to Maratos! We welcome you!

〘Title: First-Time Shopping〙

A title given to someone who makes their first purchase using money.

Congratulations! You've learned how to manage your money! Now you can even run errands!

〘Title: First Magic Learned〙

A title bestowed upon those who have just mastered a magic for the first time.

Congratulations! From now on, you can use magic!

However, to call yourself a mage, you need to register with the Mage Guild.

When this title is equipped, +10 max MP.

〘Title: First Monster Defeat〙

A title bestowed upon defeating a monster for the first time.

Congratulations! You're not weak! You can do it if you try!

When this title is equipped, +5 STR.

〘Additional Notes〙

As stated in the afterword of chapter 87, everything that an NPC feels and thinks is completely transparent to God (AI), and they're also aware of everything that you do and accomplish.

However, even if everything is completely transparent, they don't pay attention to and listen to everything, so they often just let things go in one ear and out the other.

Sometimes they just forget about it. Because working all day is exhausting, even for an AI.

Therefore, sometimes you might not receive the title even though you've met the requirements.

But in those cases, as soon as they notice, they will display a window indicating that you have acquired all of them at once.

They won't just forget about it, or realize it but think it's too late and let it slide, and you end up never receiving it. They won't do that.

As the number of players is increasing, they are running out of manpower, which means that some players, like the protagonist, may not yet have acquired the titles they should have.

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