The Baby Isn’t Yours

‘Another scar on the chest… Why on earth did these creatures hurt themselves like this?’

The flesh mercilessly torn around the heart was more than just irritating. What was strange wasn’t just that.

How could these creatures have entered the realm of the fairies? Even the air here should be hostile to them. How…

Unfortunately, Kalia wasn’t an investigator.

Observation, suspicion, and solving mysteries were not her strong points. There were others who excelled at that.

-Krrr! Craaaaw!

Of all the Lycans that had attacked her so far, this one was the largest. There were only four of them, but it seemed this one acted as the leader.

Growling ferociously, the wolf with its twisted eyes wildly swung its arms.

It had the power to easily tear through flesh if it just grazed her.

While casually watching the wooden pillar that had been scratched by its nails, Kalia contemplated whether she should capture these creatures alive and report them to the Ministry of Magic.

This was an unusual occurrence.

It could be overlooked, but if mad wolves had invaded the fairy forest, it could potentially lead to inter-species war.

‘At least one of them should be captured alive, right?’

If Simon were here, he might have figured something out.

As she pondered her course of action, Kalia let out a somewhat regretful sigh.

The problem was that it might not be the wolves.

Maybe the forest itself was strange.

The fact that she and Hemmie had managed to enter the boundaries of the fairy forest was strange in itself.

‘Yes, I should capture alive one of them.’

With determination, she prepared to cut the wolf’s tendons when she suddenly felt a rapidly approaching attack.

Startled, she quickly moved her body out of the attack’s range.

Swoosh!

A huge spear, cutting through the air, pierced the heart of the creature.

Without making a sound, the creature collapsed to the ground.

Kalia turned her head to see who had thrown the spear.

* * *

The man possessed immense power.

He was the Father, the Guardian, and the Judge of all things.

He held authority based on affection, trust, and reverence.

To carry that responsibility, he had to be heavy and careful, and he naturally accepted and executed it.

…Except for one person, his youngest daughter.

Elves took a very long time to conceive offspring.

The period in the mother’s womb alone lasted for five years. They didn’t immediately come out once they had finished growing.

Every fairy had a spirit stone, a radiant concentration of power situated at the center of their hearts.

It was the source of the strength of fairies, solid and beautiful like a gem.

Fairy children couldn’t come out into the world until their mother made it.

Usually, they made it and immediately emerged. But there were rare cases when the growth of the body and the manifestation of the spirit stone’s power were different.

His youngest daughter was one such case.

Although she had been conceived for five years in her mother’s womb, it took an additional three years for her to be born.

The child who was barely born was significantly smaller and weaker compared to her siblings.

However, her vulnerability was offset by her radiant and gentle nature. She was a lovely child.

“Ahaha! Father!”

“Father! Look at this!”

“Great father, thank you for being with me. I love you!”

That’s why the man always watched and cared for his youngest daughter more than anyone else.

As a father who had to embrace everyone, he couldn’t do that, but he loved her and cherished her the most.

When the daughter he loved so much said she had fallen in love with a human one day, he was filled with great shock and anger.

“…With a human!”

Up until then, he didn’t hate humans. He disapproved of their fragility and greed, but he didn’t have a visceral hatred for them.

Sometimes, humans were great, and not all humans brought about their destruction out of greed.

Therefore, fairies and humans could not coexist. They must not coexist.

To a fairy, loving a human was like loving a terminally ill person. Love for the finite meant suffering was bound to happen.

Going into the future together was like leaping into the flames, no different from a moth into a fire. It was foolish.

“Regardless of your objections, I will love him. Even though his life is short, I will live with him. We share such a destiny. Father, you will soon forgive me!”

Naive.

His youngest daughter was so innocent and lovely.

That’s why her father sent her into exile in a small local forest when she said she loved a human.

In his mind, he sent her to the forest she loved. But she couldn’t know that.

The day his daughter left for exile was her birthday.

She stared at her father, who wouldn’t even look back, with a sad look and then left for the forest.

It was at the edge of the continent with oceans, mountains, and forests. A brief love during the long time of fairies.

He didn’t see her, he didn’t meet her, and the thought was that her love would disappear on her own.

That was her father’s misconception, arrogance, and greed.

Sometime later, his daughter disappeared.

At one point, the man felt a sharp pain in his chest as if it was being cut.

It was not even a year since his daughter disappeared.

As he realized the identity of the pain, tears welled up in the eyes of the man who had never cried.

“Oh, my daughter… Gaia!”

His daughter was.

She had died alone without her father, mother, or siblings.

The piece of the young soul created from him died alone.

The foolish father sobbed silently.

* * *

The scent of a light, pale yellow hair, which seemed to be carried by the wind, was fresh and sweet.

It was a familiar color.

The child who was looking straight at him had irises that were remarkably similar to those of the young daughter he had loved, although they were a completely different color.

He felt strange.

The human who was preparing to become a mother wasn’t a fairy.

Strictly speaking, this human had nothing to do with his daughter, who was a fairy.

Still, strangely, very strangely…

‘Why do I feel so affectionate towards her?’

He couldn’t take his eyes off the child.

For some reason, his heart raced wildly.

Kalia was the first to react.

She alternately looked at the man, the spear he had thrown, and the wolf with the spear through its heart. She quickly grabbed the man’s spear, which was stuck in the wolf’s heart.

“That…!”

When his forehead twitched and he tried to move, Kalia had already pulled the man’s spear out of the wolf’s heart.

Snap!

With the sound of breaking bones, the massive spear was pulled out. The creature collapsed like rubble.

The hardened man’s gaze lingered on Kalia for a moment, and then shifted to the two wolf corpses.

Afterwards, he reached out towards Kalia.

The aura of his spear was transmitted to her. The man grasped his own spear, Ektarion.

He tried to say something after pursing his lips for a moment. But before he could speak, his daughter, who had been hiding behind him, jumped out.

Gaia immediately rushed towards Kalia and embraced her.

“…!”

Kalia’s body stiffened, and the man’s gaze was filled with astonishment as he witnessed the scene.

Gaia hugged Kalia tightly, confirming that she was unharmed and showing her affection. She smiled joyfully, as if she was overjoyed, hugging Kalia without hesitation.

Her joyful and exuberant movements were childlike.

The man, watching that scene, opened his mouth.

“Who are you?”

Kalia, who was looking at Gaia circling around her, with an embarrassed expression, glanced at the man and said.

“…I’ve come to find lost children.”

Who was this man?

It was ironic that he was an existence she had never seen before. Still, Kalia felt like she knew him somehow.

The power and aura emanating from the massive man were not human.

The energy flowing in his pure eyes was a manifestation of the vast power of nature.

Just by looking down, he seemed to render the existence before him powerless.

It was sacred but different from the sacredness of priests and fierce but different from the destruction of demons.

“…Who are you?”

Kalia’s response seemed inadequate, but the man asked again.

What answer should I give? Kalia hesitated for a moment but provided another answer.

“My name is Kalia Tacskate. I came from a nearby village.”

“Kalia Tacskate.”

He repeated her name thoughtfully, as if he intended to remember it.

Kalia intentionally revealed her full name to him.

If her guess was correct, he was an individual she couldn’t deceive.

Even if she could deceive him, it would be impolite to do so. Besides, he might not even care about who she was.

“Kalia Tacskate.”

He repeated her name once again, looking at her with a thoughtful expression.

As he seemed to want to remember, he turned his gaze to the dead monsters.

Holding out his hand into the air, the man murmured words of ancient language.

[Kal Imoon.]

Immediately, something wriggled inside the corpses.

With a sound of bones being broken, a hazy gray gem floated up from the back of the monsters, piercing through flesh and bone.

The man silently grabbed it in his palm and then let it go.

The gray gem shattered to pieces and turned into dust.

The dust was carried away by the wind.

The man repeated the same process with the other dead monsters.

Kalia watched the scene from a distance.

What on earth was he doing? The man seemed to sense Kalia’s confusion and added an explanation.

“These are corrupted fairy stones. Pitiful souls. Even though they are dead, they have not found peace.”

‘Fairy stones?’

Kalia’s expression distorted slightly.

Was this man calling those creatures fairies?

Clearly, those were Lycan Wolves. Since when did they belong to the category of fairies?

Seeing Kalia’s perplexed expression, the man continued and explained further.

“Someone forcibly transplanted these innocent fairies’ hearts into the monsters. They cut the hearts out of living fairy bodies.”

“Heart transplantation?”

“…A chimera. You call them that.”

Kalia’s complexion turned pale.