Chapter 77: It All Makes Sense Now "Ei! What are you guys doing here?!" "This lake belongs to us, Water Fairies! Scram!" "Wait! Maybe they have candies?" "Mister, do you have candies?" Countless Water Fairies, who were only as tall as Alex’s hand, flew fearlessly close to the group of Catkins as if they weren’t worried that the strangers might hurt them. In the world of Arcana, the Fairies were always treated as a neutral party. But while they had no natural enemies, that didn’t mean they weren’t hunted down. Greedy humans would come and capture a few of them to be sold in auctions because they made good familiars for Mages. Normally, Fairies only had one criterion before flying close to strangers—their heart must be good. They were born with an innate ability that allowed them to instinctively tell whether someone was good. If a bad person appeared before them, they would immediately hide or flee without a second thought. The people from the Town of Thaloria were on good terms with the Fairies and would sometimes bring them sweets as offerings. This was why the Fairies thought that the group had come to give them some candies. "Water Fairies?" Varro smiled faintly. "We have a lot of Wood Fairies in the forests around Etherion Village. To think I will see Water Fairies here. Truly fascinating." "You’re also a fascinating and handsome mister," one of the Fairies cooed as she flew close to Varro. "Do you have candies?" "I’m sorry, but I don’t have any candy," Varro replied honestly. "However, I have this." Varro took out a jar of pickled fruits and opened its lid. The Water Fairy didn’t hesitate to take one of the pickled fruits inside it and started to eat. "Wow! This is actually good," the Water Fairy declared. "Sweet, sour, and salty. Sisters! Come, let’s eat together!" Before Varro could even react, a swarm of Water Fairies descended upon him, demanding that he gave them some pickled fruits as well. Alex took this opportunity to sneak into the lake. He took off his upper and lower clothes, leaving only his underwear on him. But just as he was about to jump into the water, a Fairy flew in front of him and raised her hand. "Stop!" the Water Fairy shouted. "You are not allowed to enter the lake." "Dim Dim!" Dim Dim summoned a bamboo steamer and offered the Water Fairy a custard bun. The Water Fairy was hesitant at first, but still came close to take a bite of the custard bun. "Wow! This tastes good!" the Water Fairy exclaimed. "Ahem~" Dim Dim looked very proud of itself because the Fairy liked the food it gave her. "Okay, you can go as long as you pay the price—two more custard buns," the Water Fairy greedily asked for more. Dim Dim was more than happy to oblige, giving the Fairy what she wanted. After finally appeasing the Fairy, Alex jumped into the water and swam toward its center. A few curious Fairies decided to swim beside him. After swimming for a while, the young man finally saw what he was looking for and dived down to put his hand on the chest lying at the bottom of the lake. He directly stored it inside his storage ring before swimming back up to the surface. "Mister, are you no longer going to look for other treasure chests?" a Water Fairy asked. "There’s more of them inside the forest, you know?" "T-There are more?" Alex repeated in surprise. "Yes, there are three more chests located around the lake area," another Water Fairy commented. "But we hid them so others won’t find them!" The five Water Fairies then looked at Alex with devilish smiles on their faces. "If you want information, you know what to do, right?" The Water Fairy rubbed her hands together. "Say no more," Alex answered. "You want custard buns, Dim Dim has custard buns." "We want four for each of us!" one of the Fairies bargained. "Deal!" Alex replied instantly. He was afraid the Water Fairy would back out of their agreement, so he hurriedly swam back to the shore. As he neared the lakeside, he saw Dim Dim happily handing out custard buns to the Water Fairies, who were quickly becoming addicted to the snack. Unlike their sisters, the five Water Fairies who accompanied Alex didn’t approach Dim Dim for custard buns since they had already managed to seal a deal with Alex. When the young man told Dim Dim about his agreement with the Fairies, it only nodded and summoned more bamboo steamers for the Fairies. "Your name is Dim Dim, right? You’re a good guy!" "The more I look at you, the more you look like a custard bun. I am very tempted to give you a bite." "Hey! Don’t bite our bun supplier! What will you do if Dim Dim runs away?" "That’s right! Dim Dim, don’t mind this crazy girl. Just keep those custard buns coming!" After satisfying their cravings, the five Fairies kept their promise and led Alex to the location of the three hidden chests around the lakeside. He didn’t open them on the spot and simply placed them inside his storage ring. The young man planned to take a good look at them when he was back in the Town of Thaloria. "Come back again, okay?" "We will be waiting for you, Dim Dim!" "Mwah!" A Fairy kissed the Dim Sum God’s cheek, making the little guy giggle. Soon, more fairies started to kiss Dim Dim and thank him for the delicious food that it had shared with them. When they finally left the lake, the Catkins headed deeper inside the forest and caught some boars and bears along the way. Everyone in the village needed food after that battle. Since it was convenient anyway, the Catkins decided to hunt for a few days’ worth of supplies for the entire town before they returned to the Etherion Mountain the next day. No Orcs or Goblins appeared before them since the survivors had gone into hiding. The Catkins had no intention of annihilating them completely. After all, that wasn’t why they were in the forest. After a few hours of hunting beasts and collecting precious herbs, Alex and the Clawford Tribe returned to the Town of Thaloria, bringing enough food to feed the townsfolk for a week. Along the way, Alex had also taken two more treasure chests from the locations that had been mentioned in the ELO forum by the other players. All in all, he managed to get six treasure chests on this trip, making it worth the journey. "Welcome back, Alex," Elaine said after seeing the young man. "Did you get what you were looking for in the forest?" "Yes," Alex replied. "How are the survivors?" "Sad and mourning the dead." Elaine sighed. "Tonight, they will start a ceremony to send off the departed to the afterlife." Alex had heard that everyone who had died in battle would be burned in a pyre blessed by a priest. Their remains would then be gathered and buried under a monument, which would be placed in the town plaza. It was at that moment that something clicked inside Alex’s head. If his memories served him right, there was indeed a monument in the plaza in the game. Actually, he had been surprised because he hadn’t seen the monument after arriving at the town for the first time. This monument was called the Heroes Monument, where the brave warriors of the Town of Thaloria were buried together. ’I see, so that’s how it came to be,’ Alex thought. ’But the timeline doesn’t match. Wait! I think I am misunderstanding something!’ Alex had completely forgotten that Story Mode was different from the MMORPG Mode of the game. In Story Mode, the players interacted with the important characters of the game, allowing them to learn these characters’ backstories, as well as other important information related to them. In MMORPG Mode, the players would travel in a vast, open world, where the events of Story Mode had already come to pass. If Story Mode was the past, then the MMORPG Mode was the future. Alex had forgotten about that part because in Story Mode, the player didn’t start in the Town of Thaloria. Instead, it was dependent on the location where the character the player chose to play lived. For example, Charles Lambert lived in Briarwood Village. If a player chose to play this character, his starting point would be in Briarwood Village with a different tutorial quest, unlike the one that Alex had done after arriving in Arcana. ’It all makes sense now,’ Alex mused. Now that he understood the key differences between MMORPG Mode and Story Mode, he wouldn’t be thrown off when certain events in one didn’t occur in the other. "What’s wrong?" Elaine asked. "You suddenly stopped talking." "I just remembered something," Alex replied. "Sorry, what were we talking about again?" "We’re talking about the ceremony tonight," Elaine answered. "Right." Alex nodded. "Is there something I can do to help with the preparations?" "You’ve already done enough," Elaine pointed in the direction of the Catkins, who were carrying forest boars and bears on their backs. "But if you really want to do something, how about you accompany Efa and me tonight during the ceremony?" "Understood. I’ll be there," Alex promised. After bidding goodbye to his friend, he headed to the Cat Tail’s Inn, where he had booked a room for himself. It was now time to open the chests that he had gathered and see what kind of treasures awaited him.