Elves and Fairies were extraordinarily gifted races. They excelled at languages, poetry, music, dance, magic, and more, making them natural linguists, artists, and mages.
To Lia, Sperien was not the first Fairy cub who had managed to play a melody the very first time he picked up a harp. Aside from offering praise and feeling impressed, she was not particularly surprised.
There were simply too many geniuses among the Fairies. She had long since grown accustomed to it.
Even so, Sperien had something uniquely his own.
When other Fairy cubs first began playing, they usually imitated melodies they had heard adult Fairies perform. Sperien was different. Lia had never heard the tune he had played before.
Simple, lively, cheerful, and refreshing, it filled the listener with ease and delight. It was a melody that belonged to Sperien alone.
After basking in a wave of admiration, Shu Li felt rather pleased with himself. But he quickly forced his figurative tail back down.
The reason he had been able to start playing the moment he received the harp was that he had ten years of experience on the others. Once the other cubs learned to play, if he stopped striving and grew content with his current ability, they would probably leave him ten streets behind.
A Fairy’s natural talent was truly terrifying!
Therefore, if he wanted to preserve his title of “top music student,” he absolutely could not relax. He would have to work even harder!
With Shu Li setting an example, the cubs’ enthusiasm for learning music soared. One after another, they urged Lia to hurry and teach them how to play the harp.
Smiling, Lia formally began the lesson.
Throughout the entire afternoon, piercing “noise” poured continuously from the nursery class, causing every passing Fairy to take a wide detour.
When music class ended, the cubs still had not had enough. Even after class was dismissed, they continued hugging their harps and plucking away.
Shu Li rubbed his thoroughly tormented ears and looked down at his hands.
These hands had only “left the factory” a hundred days ago. Compared with his old callused hands, they were far more delicate. After only one lesson, his fingertips were already red and numb.
It hurt so much.
Looking at the other cubs still enthusiastically playing, Shu Li could not help admiring them.
Didn’t their fingers hurt? Every one of them was playing with more passion than the last, despite having no rhythm or structure whatsoever. It sounded like demonic music drilling into his skull and gave him a headache.
Still, now that he thought about it, the benefits at the Fairy school were amazing!
Not only did the school provide learning supplies for free, it even gave every cub an instrument at no cost. What generosity!
Shu Li had originally planned to look for a harp in the commercial district after school, but now he had been spared the trouble.
The nursery class had a relaxed schedule, with only three lessons a day. The rest of the time was for play.
There was still a long time before dinner, so Shu Li suggested to Redhead and Whitehead that they first take their harps home, then visit the commercial district together.
Budeno’s ears were sharp. The moment he overheard their conversation, his round body charged over and landed heavily across Shu Li’s desk.
“I’m going too!” he declared in a strong, booming voice.
He and Sperien were now good friends who exchanged food. Naturally, good friends had to do everything together.
Disio and Angel’s eyes widened. They immediately sensed a crisis.
That chubby cub wanted to steal their boss!
Not a chance!
Under their glares, Budeno refused to show weakness and pulled a face at them.
How dare he! The chubby cub was provoking them!
Disio and Angel clenched their little fists.
In an instant, the three cubs faced off against one another, the tension ready to explode.
Seeing that they were about to fight, Shu Li hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over.
“Aisha said we’re big children now. We have to get along!”
There was a great difference between Fairy cubs before and after reaching one hundred days of age.
Before one hundred days, their intelligence had not fully developed, and they remained in an ignorant, muddled state. Scuffling and roughhousing were perfectly normal.
After one hundred days and introductory education, however, their minds had largely awakened. They understood manners and knew right from wrong. If they still fought at the slightest provocation, they would be punished.
The three cubs gave indignant little huffs and reluctantly backed down.
None of them wanted Aisha to punish them by making them sweep the practice field.
The practice field was enormous. Besides dust and fallen leaves, there was also foul-smelling bird droppings. Without magic to help, cleaning it was exhausting.
Seeing that they had calmed down, Shu Li secretly wiped away his sweat, picked up his harp, and flew out of the classroom first.
“Wait for me!” Disio grabbed his harp and flapped his wings after him.
Angel was no slower and followed close behind.
Only Budeno lagged behind. Because he was chubby, he moved sluggishly and flew while clutching his harp, panting heavily all the way.
After returning home, Shu Li carefully placed the harp in an empty compartment of his cabinet. Then he grabbed some of the “local specialties” he had brought from the Fairy Nursery and stuffed them into the travel bag Aisha had previously given him.
When Aisha had taken the cubs through the commercial district, she had told them that there were two ways to purchase things there. The first was bartering, and the second was paying with gold coins.
Gold coins were the common currency of the continent. Only Elves or Fairies who traveled outside the forest used them in large quantities. Within the forest, everyone preferred bartering.
The things the cubs had brought out of the Fairy Nursery could be exchanged for whatever they needed in the commercial district.
Shu Li sighed in realization.
No wonder Aisha and Siet had repeatedly reminded the cubs to bring their “possessions” before leaving the Fairy Nursery.
Those had been their starting funds in life.
Shu Li was fortunate that he loved collecting things and had brought out an entire large bag. Some cubs who had found it troublesome and brought very little were now full of regret.
However, they had only been given one opportunity. Once they left the Fairy Nursery, they could never return.
Shu Li did not know whether the seeds, leaves, stones, and other things he had gathered were valuable enough to trade for a pair of shoes.
Still, that chubby little bird from that morning had seemed to like the seed he gave it.
More than ten minutes later, the four cubs each carried a bag as they flew toward the commercial district.
The Divine Tree was unimaginably vast, with tens of thousands of branches. Even adult Fairies who had lived there for years occasionally became lost, let alone newly arrived cubs.
The last time, Aisha had guided them, allowing them to tour the area without trouble. This time, traveling by themselves, the four cubs soon became hopelessly confused.
“Uh... left?” Shu Li asked uncertainly.
For someone like him, who was already somewhat directionally challenged, the enormous Divine Tree was no different from a giant maze. Without someone familiar with the route, he had no hope of finding the right direction.
The school was close to his home, and the route was a simple trip between two points. After going back and forth a few times, he had mostly memorized it. But he had visited the commercial district only once. After circling around again and again, he was completely disoriented.
“No, no, it’s to the right.” Angel pointed toward a thick branch on the right. “There are lots of houses over there. Let’s go take a look.”
“You’re both wrong. It’s obviously above us,” Disio said with certainty.
“You said it was above us last time too, and you were still wrong!” Budeno muttered.
Disio bared his teeth at Budeno. “Then where do you think we should fly?”
“I don’t know!” Budeno answered with perfect confidence.
Disio glared at him, and Budeno glared right back. Neither was willing to yield.
Shu Li’s head began to ache again.
They had already argued more times than he could count since leaving home and getting lost. At first, he had tried to stop them. Now he had given up completely.
Speaking Elven was exhausting for him, all right?
If they truly could not find the commercial district, he planned to go home and try again tomorrow. Otherwise, they would miss dinner.
He had no intention of going to sleep hungry.
A cub’s body was still growing and could not endure hunger.
Just as they remained locked in a stalemate, a cool voice suddenly asked, “What are you doing?”
Shu Li’s ears twitched. The voice sounded unusually familiar. He spun around, and delight burst into his pale-green eyes.
“Kumandi!” he blurted out.
The black-haired, violet-eyed young Fairy hovered in midair with a pair of dark-purple wings spread behind him. His brows were faintly furrowed as he examined the four cubs.
“Wow, it’s Kumandi!” Angel shouted happily. Familiar as ever, he flew forward and asked, “Kumandi, are you going to the commercial district too?”
Kumandi glanced at the silver-haired cub’s sweet smile and nodded.
“Yes.”
“That’s great!” Angel spun in delighted circles. “Kumandi, take us with you!”
At that moment, Shu Li admired Angel beyond words.
He was unbelievably outgoing!
Kumandi did not refuse and agreed to the cubs’ request.
Shu Li was deeply moved.
“Thank you, Kumandi!”
Boohoo, quiet top student really was a good person with a cold exterior and a warm heart.
“Thank you, Kumandi!” the other three cubs chorused, their voices clear and loud.
“...Mm.” Kumandi turned around, the tips of his ears faintly red. “Let’s go.”
With one beat of his dark-purple wings, he quickly flew diagonally forward to the left.
The four cubs hurried after him.
In truth, they had already been very close to the commercial district. They only needed to pass through three thick branches to reach their destination.
Standing at the entrance to the street, Kumandi asked Shu Li, “What do you want to buy?”
“Sh-shoes.” Shu Li lowered his head in embarrassment and rubbed his two pale, tender feet together.
Although he did his best to keep them clean, his bare feet had inevitably picked up some dust.
Kumandi raised his brows in understanding, then asked the other cubs, “What about you?”
Disio made a dashing motion as though drawing a bow. “I want to buy a bow and arrows.”
Angel blinked his amber eyes. “I want toys and a storage ring.”
“You can’t use a storage ring without magic,” Kumandi said.
Angel waved his fist. “That’s fine. I’ll be able to use it once I learn magic.”
Their boss’s storage ring was so pretty. He wanted one too and could wear it as a decoration for now.
Budeno had originally followed them only for the excitement and had no plans to buy anything. But after hearing the others list item after item, he copied them.
“Shoes, a bow, a storage ring, and toys. I want them all!” He boldly patted his bag, which contained everything he owned.
After learning what the cubs needed, Kumandi first took them to an armor shop.
The shop carried such a wide variety of goods that the cubs were nearly dazzled.
Their request for shoes put the shopkeeper in a difficult position.
He had run his shop for several hundred years, yet this was the first time one-hundred-day-old cubs had ever come to buy shoes.
“You don’t have any?” Shu Li asked pitifully.
The cub’s moist pale-green eyes resembled crystal-clear drops of morning dew. The sight struck the shopkeeper directly in the heart.
“I do! Of course I do!”
What adult Fairy could bear to disappoint a cub?
He immediately took out a measuring tool and measured the cubs’ feet, then brought out a pile of materials.
He had no finished shoes, but he could simply make them on the spot!
The shopkeeper moved quickly and skillfully. After several clanging sounds, four pairs of delicate little shoes were complete. The entire process took less than ten minutes.
The cubs’ feet were tiny, so the shoes required little material or effort.
“Done.” The shopkeeper handed one pair to Shu Li. “Try them on and see whether they fit.”
“Thank you.” Shu Li accepted them delightedly.
Fairy shoes were neither leather nor cloth. They were completely natural shoes woven from some kind of vine. Their design resembled modern women’s sandals, with several beautifully braided straps attached.
Before putting them on, Shu Li worried that the vines might prick his feet. Once he wore them, however, he found that they were not prickly at all. Instead, they were extremely soft and elastic.
The only problem was how to tie the straps.
He wound them around his leg several times but could not fasten them properly no matter what he did. In his frustration, he nearly tied them into a dead knot.
No wonder cubs were not usually given shoes. They were too complicated, and the cubs would not know how to put them on.
Shu Li made a complete mess of the straps and grew terribly dejected. Just as he was about to give up, a pair of fair hands reached over and untangled the chaos in only a few movements.
“Cross the two straps and wind them upward, like this—”
The black-haired young Fairy crouched before the blond cub. His fingers skillfully wrapped the straps around Shu Li’s leg until they reached his calf, then tied them into a neat bow.
“Done.”
Kumandi looked up, his violet eyes gently meeting the blond cub’s flushed face.
“Th-thank you...” Shu Li was so surprised that his voice came out as softly as a mosquito’s buzz.
He truly had not expected quiet top student to help him put on his shoes so thoughtfully.
“What about the other foot?” Kumandi looked curiously at the blush on the cub’s face.
Were little ones this age always so shy?
“N-no need. I can do it myself!” Shu Li hurriedly picked up the other shoe and imitated Kumandi’s movements, clumsily crossing the straps and winding them upward.
Although his bow was not nearly as pretty as Kumandi’s, he succeeded.
Seeing that he had learned, Kumandi moved on to the other cubs and patiently guided and corrected them one by one.
At last, all four cubs were wearing shoes.
Shu Li stepped onto the ground and bounced twice. They felt wonderfully comfortable.
“How much?” he asked out of habit. When he met the shopkeeper’s smiling, handsome face, he quickly corrected himself. “Wh-what do you want in exchange?”
“What do you have?” the shopkeeper asked.
Shu Li opened his travel bag and revealed its contents.
“These.”
The shopkeeper leaned closer. The moment he saw what was inside, he exclaimed in surprise.
“Red Crystal Flower seeds, Sun Gold Grass, Moonrise Stones, the shed shell of a Kaming Scorpion, Fire Butterfly Moth silk...”
He swallowed hard, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.
There was even bark from a Kabbalah Tree.
He had not seen any in more than two hundred years!
Author’s Note:
Shu Shu, master collector, exploring the Fairy Nursery like a hardworking little bee.
Wow, this is pretty! Pick it up!
Oh, this looks good. Take it home.
This bark smells nice. It might repel mosquitoes. I’ll take it.