I chilled on the fairy bed.
Instead of a mattress, it was composed of several leaves that adapted their shape to my position. It was surprisingly comfortable. I didn’t peek enough to figure out if they were enchanted, or living plants trained for the job.
I suspected the latter. Because I could feel shifts in tune to the music I was playing.
To get Skip to stop distracting me, I had started playing music inside my head, which at some point leaked out as illusory sound.
I always hum random tunes when I focus on a task and there’s nobody around to hear me. The illusions however didn’t sound cringe as a hum. I had never stopped casting hallucination magic on myself, so I had gotten good at it. I didn’t even need to think about it.
And so, while Skip danced in the air, I enjoyed the moment of peace by slowly fixing the broken enchantments in my magical ring. I didn’t have anything better to do and needed to stop thinking about the missing Proxy Magic and physical changes to my eyes.
For the nth time I tried rebooting.
<blockquote>
SYSTEM BOOTING
Memory…OK
Routines…OK
AI_Interface…OK
Peripherals…FAIL
</blockquote>
Alright, I was close. This was taking a lot longer without proxy magic and me being careful not to overexert my recovering spirit.
Like slowly stretching an inflamed muscle helped, so did the spiritual equivalent appeared to apply. Despite the ordeal, my spirit felt didn’t feel as bad as last time.
I wondered what the guys back in Valarest were up to. I was among strangers here. The Fae were known to be merciless and manipulative, and both this and my world seemed to agree on that point.
I found the damaged mana threads, replaced them, and reactivated the ring.
<blockquote>
SYSTEM BOOTING
Memory…OK
Routines…OK
AI_Interface…OK
Peripherals…OK
STARTING GAMERGUI.EXE
°$:%?￡$%?=▄Gm(7?
DISK ERROR
</blockquote>
I sighed.
【CHKDSK】
<blockquote>
Scanning disk…
</blockquote>
While I waited I pondered over crucial matters.
Had Mab really said “fucked” earlier, or only broadcasted the concept into my mind?
I couldn’t pinpoint the exact word she had spoken in my memory. But then my memory has never been that good.
<blockquote>
3 sectors damaged
TODO implement sector recovery
File verification completed.
</blockquote>
I hadn’t had the time to write proper disk repair tools, but it would mark bad sectors so they wouldn’t get used. My ring enchantments had grown in complexity ever since Grohm had taught me advanced techniques. Fixing everything without Proxy Magic and proper tooling was not viable. I rebooted once more.
<blockquote>
SYSTEM BOOTING
Memory…OK
Routines…OK
AI_Interface…OK
Peripherals…OK
STARTING GAMERGUI.EXE
</blockquote>
Ok, it had booted!
【NOTIFY PROGRESS TRUE】
I ran the command to reactivate notifications, which I had disabled back then in the Obsidian Citadel to reduce distractions.
<blockquote>
Quest completed (A secret passage?) +150 EXP
Quest completed (Kill steal the Demon Lord) +20 EXP
Quest completed (Escape the Obsidian Citadel) +2000 EXP
Quest added (Get back home)
Quest added (What happened to proxy magic?)
Quest added (Wake up the Sleeping God)
You leveled up! You’re now level 13
</blockquote>
The notifications comforted me. The 【All-ring】 was back in action! I didn’t yet know what to do with the scrubbed ring, which by the feel of it must have been made of mithril. Not as good as adamantium, but the next best thing.
【SHOW MANA STATUS】
<blockquote>
Mana: 233/233
Cast range: 3.68 m
Mana volume: 62
Mana density: 1
Mana efficiency: 0.75
Mana regen: 1.4 mana/min
Mana drain: 0.0 mana/min
</blockquote>
Numbers go down. No surprises there. The Mantle had pulled a number on me, and I had lost muscle mass.
I heard a knock and sat up. My bodyguards entered the room. Their disdainful stares trained on me. I gave them my corporate smile in return.
「Come.」
They ordered and I followed, leaving an exhausted Skip to sleep over the bed sheets. Being confined in that room had gotten boring fast, so I didn’t mind being shown around a bit.
The two fairies led me into a lavish dining room. Mab was there, waiting for me. The smell of food filled my nostrils and awakened my starving stomach. The Fae Queen nodded to the seat that had been arranged for me. Close to her, but not too close. I didn’t need to be asked twice.
From her confident expression I had to imagine the bargaining had gone well.
「Mab: Indeed it has. We have just a few details to finalize.」
She said, gesturing my two bodyguards to leave us alone. After they left, it was just us two.
In that moment I realized I had no idea what title to address a Fae Queen, so I remained awkwardly silent. I didn’t want to offend my savior. Not just because she was pretty. Tales about fairies always stressed how a poor decision was to offend a fairy. I had already offended a goddess. It was prob-
「Mab: Just call me Mab. It’s already a title of sort. The small folk call me Mother Mab, but that’s not appropriate for a Human to say.」
That made my eyebrows rise. If Mab was a title, I also had to wonder if it was a Mantle.
「Mab: How insightful. And yes, we Fae are well acquainted with Mantles. It was us who first created them, after all.」
I was curious about how Demons and Fae were connected, but I didn’t want to waste Mab’s time with trivial questions.
I wanted to know my fate. Was I going to get abducted, never to be seen again? Returned without memory a century later?
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Fairy servants entered with food trays, and set them before us. Even they were impossibly beautiful. Eugenics? Or genetic engineering? My cynical brain wondered.
Mab, head shot in my direction, staring at me wide eyed.
「Mab: How does a human know about genetics?!」
I stared back.
「Allen: How does a Fairy know about genetics?!」
I argued back.
Mab recovered her composure.
「Mab: And who else, pray tell, would possibly know. If not the very spirits of Nature?」
「Allen: Uh…」
Well, if she put it like that… It kind of made sense, didn’t it?
In this world there were Nature spirits. I guess they had first dibs at figuring out DNA, and all that stuff. Humanity had not developed much scientific prowess from what I had learned.
That didn’t mean there weren’t mad mages doing illegal experiments and figuring things out. In this world people closely guarded their secrets instead of bragging over the internet.
But if any human mage was carrying such experiments, I was not aware of it.
Well, in any case I was not a genetic engineer, so I didn’t know how to manipulate genes. Mab didn’t have to kill me over this. Hopefully she agreed. I shot her a glance for confirmation.
「Mab: You truly are from a different world.」
She stated dispassionately. I found it odd how apparently disinterested she was about me being an otherworlder. She didn’t look like she wanted to dissect me at all.
「Mab: Says the one whose thoughts about the wonders of the Fairy realm boil down to a mere “looks proper”.」
If only I could still feel things as the child me.
「Allen: In my world we have these corporate work environments that make you dead inside.」
「Mab: Fascinating.」
She said, picking up a spoon. I took the clue and did the same. But stopped.
「Allen: Hmm… Forgive me Mab, but is this food safe for Human consumption? Are there glamours or magics to deprive me of my mental faculties or-」
「Mab: Shut up and eat.」
Against my better judgement, I opted not to argue about food safety. I was hungry, so I tasted the soup. It was good. Not like those elves’ food.
I ate silently. Mab didn’t spark any new conversation. She was probably plotting devious loopholes for her bargains. The awkward silence had been reinstated.
My boss inviting me in those dreadful evenings with his rich and famous friends had quickly immunized me from feeling shy among the rich and powerful, but did not magically improve my conversational skills.
It’s easy when you can talk about work, or just nod when your superiors launch themselves in long-winded monologues.
But how do you start a normal conversation? I never got out in the evening to mingle with normies. I was too tired to go out and endure people.
I was missing a conversation opener. If only I could goog-
Mab cleared her throat. Was she listening to everything I thought? Must have been exhausting considering how much I think. How long before I thought something wrong and would be punished for wrong think?
I had earned Alher’s hatred for a simple sexual jok- No stop! Don’t remember! What if my brain did something disrespectful… like imagining Mab naked?
And that’s exactly what my brain did.
It’s over, I thought, my eyes fixed on the filled spoon in my hand, frozen in motion.
I think I saw Mab rolling her eyes from the corners of my eyes. My mind filled with the many possible scenarios of impeding demise. Immolated, drowned in acid, turned into fertilizer-
Mab sighed heavily, and set her spoon down loudly.
「Mab: Do you ever relax your mind for a breath?」
She asked, with a strained smile. How about not listening to my thoughts? Please don’t kill me.
I couldn’t close my aura and do the tricks Violet taught me, due to my spirit body needing recovery… but yeah, mages are masters of meditation by necessity, I could quiet my mind. And so I did.
Mab stared at me for a few seconds before getting back ro her soup.
It wasn’t until the servants collected our plates and brought seconds—meat covered in unknown sauces—that I found the strength to break the ice.
「Allen: Thank you, Mab.」
I had not had a chance to thank her properly yet. This seemed a good time. I didn''t care if, according to Fairy lore, it meant I owed her one. She had saved me.
「Allen: You would make a much better nature goddess than Alher.」
Mab dropped her smile.
「Mab: Perhaps it’s not worth the price.」
She said with a harsh tone, warning me I had just stepped on a landmine. Way to go, Allen.
「Mab: Why don’t you ask me what you really want to ask? Go on.」
I should probably ask first the one about my eyes. It would surely look weird if I asked about me forgetting magics first, wouldn’t it?
「Allen: Is this… permanent?」
I asked her, pointing at my eyes.
「Mab: Maybe.」
Maybe?!
「Mab: It’s hard to say. Mantles are like blood curses. A Human like you was not meant to receive a Demon’s Mantle… I wonder how that even happened in the first place…」
I had no idea. I shrugged apologetically.
「Mab: I already arranged for our healers and curse specialists to have a look at you. I’m sure they will do what’s possible, along speeding up your recovery.」
「Allen: Thank you.」
I continued.
「Allen: And the other thing… I had Oath-bound magical knowledge. Did you perhaps remove it while healing me? Or was my spirit damaged and I lost some magics? Can it be restored?」
「Mab: No. I did cleanse your spirit from Feras’ demonic aura and the Mantle leftovers, there was no other abnormality. But if you say “Oath-bound”, perhaps you breached one of the conditions? You Humans have always been fond on safeguarding your little insignificant secrets.」
Now that she mentioned it… could there had been something about “falling into enemy hands”? Remembering things related to Oath-bound knowledge was extremely hard once it was lost. I had researched on it after having it done on me.
I also had nebulous memories about my time as a military enchanter, from that other Oath. I couldn’t recall what happened inside the establishment, but I had likely written it down on my journal back at home. No biggie.
That eased my mind that I might have suffered impairing spiritual damage.
But damn. How was I going to enchant things without proxy magic? Perhaps Violet would grant me that knowledge again, once I got back. But what was I going to do in the meanwhile?
Portals close to home were still jammed. As a beginner, enchanting equipment was my greatest tool. But without proxy magic I could not produce magical CPUs in reasonable times. I wished I had at least a parallel mind like in those mang-
「Mab: You desire the dual mind? That’s something you would attain at the peak of magery. But, hmm…」
She smiled deviously.
「Mab: How about a bargain? I’ll have to bestow a blessing on you before you leave anyway, for your safety. I could make so it also grants you a similar ability…」
Mab had my attention. Having a parallel mind would be great both for enchanting and combat. I was always hungry for more magical capabilities.
「Allen: What would it cost me?」
I asked, suspicious.
「Mab: In return I ask you to never lie to me in any form, not spoken, not written, not even in your mind. You may only speak the truth to me, as I am bound to do so by ancient Accords. It will have to be an Oath.」
「Allen: You can’t lie?」
I asked. This was not unexpected, since it’s pretty common knowledge that fairies always speak true words. Not that it would stop them from lying with the truth.
「Mab: I’m not going to give you a history lesson. Your answer?」
Mab was trying to rush me into making an uninformed choice.
「Allen: Wait, at least give me more details on what this would entail!」
Mab, displeased I didn’t immediately agree, explained me how the ability would work. It would allow me to temporarily split my mind through the blessing, at the price of an increased mana consumption, and experiencing a short moment of confusion when merging back.
It had nothing to do with the gradual awakening of one’s spirit, Step after Step. Or the real thing, Parallel Mind, rumored to be the reward of walking all the Steps.
No, this was borderline from a blessing to a curse. Somewhat of a less convenient alternative.
It was what I had been trying to do with magical constructs without success. Triggers and more advanced constructs could only work once manifested outwardly. I had tried everything I could with my abilities without success. Maybe curses were the way, but that was taboo.
There were other ways to work around these limitations, in fact there was a whole bunch of classes on the topic of becoming a more effective spellcaster. Unfortunately, I was not qualified yet to attend them.
The Fae Queen stared at me impatiently.
「Allen: Alright. Sounds good.」
I said, nodding. I would need to train to use this new skill, and it would come with downsides, but being able to think more than one thing concurrently is well-known to be OP in all the isekai stories.
As for not lying to Mab, that didn’t sound like a problem. She would spot my lies anyway, but Mab had saved me and treated me like a proper guest. I did not want to lie to her. Or was that glamour influencing my mind?
「Mab: Good. We’ll proceed once your spirit is sound. Now, go have it checked and get some sleep. Yes, I know you still have many questions, they will have to wait tomorrow morning.」
I made a disappointed face as Mab clapped her hands, to signal the guards outside it was time to escort me back to my rooms.
There had been more things to talk about, but I left it at that. Since my worries about Proxy Magic had been dispelled and there was no reason to think I had forgotten other magics, restoring my physical appearance was the next important thing.