Chapter 33: Live broadcast of the magical, temperamental green flower crown...

After seeing the quiet little scholar off, Shu Li was wide awake.

After being tormented by two nursery songs, their maddeningly catchy lyrics kept echoing in his ears.

Nursery songs were terrifying. They were so easy to sing that you remembered them after hearing them only once.

This was the first time Shu Li had realized his memory was so good.

Since he could not sleep anyway, he sat down at the table and took out his magic notebook.

Over the past few days, he had either studied too late or met with an accident and been stranded in the forest. He had not had any time to write in his diary.

Holding his quill, Shu Li carefully recorded everything that had happened recently in neat Chinese characters, stroke by stroke.

"...Dad, you don't have to worry. My Elven is getting better and better. Even the quiet little scholar praised me for making my story sound vivid. Oh, right. The quiet little scholar is Kumandi, the private tutor I mentioned in my last diary entry. He's amazing. I've been studying with him these past few days, and my speaking ability has improved by leaps and bounds."

"Mom, Mr. Serpent gave me lots of beautiful gems. I'll take good care of them, and when I finally go home, I'll give them all to you so you can have them made into jewelry."

"Eldest Brother, I've always remembered what you told me: never stand still. Learn to take the initiative and adapt to the situation."

"Second Brother, strength really is important. After what happened this time, I realized how dangerous it is outside. Without strength, you can't get anywhere. I've decided to grind all the way to the level cap in the beginner village. Once I'm strong enough, I'll venture out."

"Third Brother, the magical serpent looks incredibly cool. When I have time, I'll make you a magical serpent figurine."

"Love, Shu Li. Hearts, hearts, hearts, hearts, hearts."

After writing his closing, Shu Li read through the entry again. Once he was certain he had not left anything out, he closed the notebook and put it back inside his storage ring.

Yawning, he got up, washed, and went to bed.

He did not sleep peacefully that night. In his dreams, a pack of little monsters chased him endlessly while singing nursery songs.

Early the next morning, Shu Li awoke to Sif's birdsong.

So tired. So sleepy...

He sat up in misery and rubbed his temples hard, his entire mind hazy.

It was all because he had been too curious. He had listened to those soul-shaking nursery songs before bed, and their demonic melodies had drilled into his brain even in his dreams.

He scratched his tangled hair and dragged his exhausted body out of bed. Just as his foot touched the carpet, something suddenly occurred to him. He nearly missed his footing and dropped back onto the bed on his backside.

Wait!

Siet had assigned Kumandi the task of writing nursery songs and poems. What about the other adolescent Fairies? Did they have to do the assignment too?

Did that mean nursery songs about him would be everywhere after today?

Shu Li stared blankly ahead, resisting the very idea of leaving the room with every fiber of his being.

Boohoohoo—

How many more times was he going to die of public humiliation?

Outside the window, Sif's calls grew louder and louder, urging the cubs to hurry out of bed or they would be late for school.

Shu Li had no choice but to get up again and stagger into the bathroom to wash.

That day, the cubs discovered that Sperien was wearing a hat.

"Wow, what a beautiful hat." Angel circled Shu Li.

"Oh, oh, Sperien, where did you buy your hat?" Budno reached out and pinched the broad brim, then the pointed crown. "It's so interesting."

"Do they sell them in the commercial district? I want one too!" Disio was eager to get his hands on one. If their leader had something, he had to have it too.

Shu Li straightened the hat Budno had knocked askew and tugged the brim down, perfectly concealing the upper half of his face.

"It's one of the gifts Mr. Serpent gave me."

While washing up, he had looked at himself in the mirror and suddenly thought of finding something to hide his face. At least when he died of embarrassment, he could pretend to be an ostrich.

And so he had searched and searched inside his storage ring until he found a little mage doll. The broad-brimmed hat on the doll's head happened to fit him perfectly.

Wonderful!

For the moment, he would ignore why a magical serpent had owned a mage doll in the first place. The important thing was that the hat had arrived just when he needed it and solved his problem perfectly.

With the hat on, Shu Li marched confidently out the door with his head held high.

The cubs took a great interest in the hat and agreed to visit the commercial district after school to ask the owner of the armor shop whether he sold anything similar.

Once they arrived at school, every adult Fairy who saw Shu Li offered heartfelt praise.

"What a beautiful hat."

Shu Li smiled politely and pulled the brim lower and lower until it nearly covered his entire face.

He had wanted to keep a low profile, only for his plan to have the opposite effect.

Breakfast passed peacefully. Every adolescent Fairy who saw him merely gave him a friendly smile. But during the first class of the day, Shu Li suffered a devastating blow.

Their first class that day was Siet's language lesson.

He entered the classroom with a thick stack of papers in his arms and a beaming smile on his face. Then—

Shu Li decisively pulled down his hat brim and hid his face as jaunty harp music and nursery songs filled with his name echoed around him.

Aaaaaah—

What kind of horrifying experience was this?

Forget wanting to curl his toes into the floor. He wanted to leap off the divine tree, burrow into the earth, and sleep there forever.

"Sperien, aren't you going to sing with us?" Angel's amber eyes shone like stars. "I love ‘Sperien and Mother Squirrel.’ It's so much fun."

He drew the little dagger hanging from his waist, pointed it ahead, and shouted, "Retreat—"

Shu Li swiftly clapped a hand over his mouth. Raising his head, he revealed the flushed little face beneath his hat and said gravely, "If you're my friend, stay quiet!"

"Mmph, mmph, mmph?" With his mouth covered, Angel's large eyes brimmed with confusion.

Shu Li could cover one cub's mouth, but not all of them. Every cub with a dagger eagerly began brandishing it. Some even paired off and fenced with each other.

One retreated while the other advanced, then they switched, having the time of their lives.

Siet watched the chaotic scene without making any attempt to stop them. He even began playing accompaniment for the cubs.

Shu Li released Angel and glared resentfully at Siet.

Catching his gaze, Siet smiled, stopped playing, and walked over. "Sperien, don't you want to play with everyone?"

Shu Li pushed up the drooping brim with one finger, revealing his soft, fair face. His large pale-green eyes brimmed with displeasure toward Siet.

"No." He puffed out his cheeks.

"Why not?" Siet asked. "Everyone is having so much fun!"

Shu Li glared at him.

Wasn't he asking the obvious? Who would enjoy being the butt of everyone's jokes?

When the little cub refused to answer, Siet pulled over an empty chair, sat in front of his desk, and gently asked, "Are you embarrassed?"

Shu Li's pointed ears twitched, and he nodded emphatically.

Embarrassed did not even begin to cover it. He had died of public humiliation countless times already.

When Siet saw him pull down his hat brim again, he did not press the question. Instead, he spoke slowly.

"Before we had a written language, our people passed down our culture and history by word of mouth. At first, everything was recited orally, but the stories were often distorted or lost between generations. That was why poetry and music emerged. Vivid lyrics, beautiful melodies, and powerful emotional resonance allowed our stories to be sung and remembered for far longer."

Shu Li poked his fingertips together.

He already knew that. The quiet little scholar had told him the same thing yesterday.

But... being the hero of the poem himself was still embarrassing!

"Being the hero of a poem is nothing to be ashamed of." Seeing the little cub's discomfort, Siet moved his chair back and picked up his harp again. His long fingers plucked the strings, producing a delightful melody.

Hearing the music, the cubs stopped playing and gathered around, sitting beside Siet and Shu Li.

Shu Li looked at Siet in puzzlement, unable to guess what he intended to do next.

"Poetry does more than preserve stories. It also teaches us. By describing and praising its heroes, it allows us to understand what happened in the past and learn from it." Siet's sky-blue eyes gazed gently at the little cub. "And when we imbue a poem with magic, we can recreate the past."

"Recreate the past?" Shu Li softly repeated the unfamiliar phrase.

Siet smiled. "When you heard Lia sing ‘The Song of Creation,’ you saw the Hall of the Gods, didn't you?"

Shu Li nodded. "Y-yes. In the illusion, I saw the gods and... the Elven King."

"In truth, that was not an illusion. It was the past as it truly existed."

Shu Li was slightly startled.

That matched his own conjecture perfectly.

"Would you like to see yourself that day?" The harp's melody shifted. Faint white light appeared at Siet's fingertips as he unmistakably infused the music with magic.

"This..." Shu Li asked in confusion. "Didn't you say everyone sees a different illusion?"

More and more white light flowed around Siet's fingertips. "When the musician pours enough magical power into the performance, he can make the listeners see whatever scene he wishes to show them."

He paused, then winked at the little cub. "This is high-level magic. It must not be used lightly."

With that, he focused on playing and immersed his thoughts in the music and poem.

"...

Brave Sperien,

Unshaken by hardship,

Vowed to cross the forest

And return to the divine tree.

He spread his wings

And fought his way toward the crown,

All to find the divine tree's direction.

..."

Shu Li listened to the familiar nursery song with a strange discomfort in his heart. The other cubs, by contrast, listened with great delight.

Just as he was about to pull down his hat brim again, his vision blurred. A dense forest appeared before him. He looked around in astonishment and discovered that he was standing on the branch of a towering tree.

Yet on another branch of the same tree stood another "him."

His torn clothing, disheveled hair, and grimy little face all made it clear that the bedraggled Fairy cub was him from two days ago. Siet truly had recreated the past.

Before Shu Li could think any further, his past self raised his head and studied the enormous trunk. Determination appeared on his face. Beating his wings, he charged upward.

At the time, Shu Li had thought he was flying quickly. Now that he was watching from a third-person perspective...

He wanted to cover his face.

Wasn't he flying only marginally faster than a housefly?

The massive tree towered hundreds of meters high, and his past self was struggling so badly that merely watching made Shu Li anxious on his behalf.

His little wings flapped furiously as he wobbled and veered off course again and again.

So he had not flown upward in a straight line at all?

At last, the little cub climbed a little over ten meters before stopping to rest, sprawled against the trunk and gasping for breath.

Shu Li flew after him. Perhaps because this was only a vision, flying was much easier than it had been two days ago.

The little cub looked up at the towering tree again, his expression defiant. Gritting his teeth, he surged upward more than a hundred meters in one breath.

This time, even Shu Li was astonished.

He had no idea where he had found such determination at the time or how he had managed to persist for so long.

Then the enormous magical serpent appeared.

Shu Li now knew that Mr. Serpent was a good magical beast, but his past self had not. His face went deathly pale, and his body trembled.

Yet even though he had been so terrified, his past self had remained strong and had not fainted from fear. He had communicated with the creature in his broken Elven and successfully escaped danger.

If Shu Li had not understood at first why Siet had chosen to recreate the past, he was beginning to understand now.

A tiny Fairy cub had braved every hardship and pressed forward without hesitation. The higher he flew, the harder it became. Powerful winds battered him from side to side, but he never gave up.

Shu Li flew beside his past self.

Suddenly, a fierce gust swept through the air. The little cub lost his balance and was about to fall. Shu Li instinctively reached out.

His hand closed on empty air.

Shu Li froze.

The next instant, an enormous serpent's head shot up from below and caught the little cub. Its massive body coiled several times around the trunk, carrying them effortlessly to the crown of the tree.

From a short distance away, Shu Li stared dazedly at the magical serpent and Fairy cub bathed crimson by the sunset. The harp sounded in his ears once more, accompanied by Siet's singing.

"...Brave Sperien

Sat upon the magical serpent's head.

Facing the sunset,

He found the divine tree's direction.

Remember well,

The magical serpent's name is

Bazien Bulgareth,

Bazien Bulgareth...

..."

The magical song transcended the bounds of space and time, spreading throughout the entire Faerie Forest.

When the magical serpent dwelling in the towering tree heard his own name, his head abruptly shot up, and his beastly pupils narrowed into vertical lines.

Mother Squirrel and her babies stopped gnawing on their fruit and lined up along a branch, gazing toward the source of the song.

The plump bird, who had just received a wax-sealed letter, cooed happily. Smelling something familiar, her four chicks opened their mouths wide and chirped for food.

This time, however, the plump bird did not feed the red crystal flower seed she had received to her chicks. She kept it for herself.

Every magical beast in the forest now knew that the cold-blooded, miserly magical serpent Bazien Bulgareth had helped a solitary Fairy cub. His deed had been written into a poem and would be sung for generations to come.

Oh, what a fortunate magical serpent.

Inside a wooden cabin at the edge of the forest, the young prince held a bowl of medicine. Hearing the lilting harp and beautiful singing, he turned toward the window in confusion.

His magic instructor, who had only just awakened, sat propped against the bed. He slowly closed his eyes, and a faint smile appeared on his haggard face.

"Who is singing?" Seriu asked in astonishment. The heavenly voice sang in a language he did not understand, yet it still stirred his blood. The heaviness in his heart vanished, warmth welled up in his chest, and his body suddenly filled with strength.

"The Fairies are singing," Halis said weakly. "They are praising a brave Fairy cub."

Seriu stared blankly. "A Fairy... cub?"

Halis coughed several times before slowly translating the lyrics.

As Seriu listened, an image gradually took shape in his mind: a Fairy cub fearlessly braving every hardship as he flew toward the top of a tree.

"...Brave Sperien..."

Seriu murmured the words.

If even a newborn cub could risk everything to return to the divine tree, what reason did he have to retreat?

No matter how bitter or difficult the road became, he had to persevere.

"The Fairies' poetry is beautiful." Seriu handed the bowl of medicine to his magic instructor and solemnly declared, "Halis, teach me Elven!"

Upon the divine tree, every Fairy who heard Siet's song saw the little cub beating his wings and struggling toward the crown of the towering tree.

When the vision ended, the adolescent Fairies gave Kumandi a thumbs-up. Kumandi remained perfectly composed as he picked up his quill and began polishing his newly written poem.

Unaware that his adventure had just been "broadcast live," Shu Li emerged from the vision feeling entirely at peace.

Just as Siet had said, being the hero of a poem was nothing to be ashamed of.

He truly had overcome every obstacle and found his way home.

One after another, the other cubs emerged from the vision and gazed at Shu Li with excitement and admiration.

"Sperien, you're amazing!"

"You're the bravest cub of all! We're proud of you!"

"If I ever get lost in the forest, I'll be just like Sperien. I'll climb to the top of a tree first, then look for the divine tree!"

"The magical serpent was so huge and frightening! But he was kindhearted. He helped Sperien!"

As the cubs praised him, Shu Li finally understood what it meant to be a role model.

That was the power of poetry.

It did not merely stir the emotions. It also inspired people to reflect.

Shu Li finally accepted with equanimity that he had become the hero of a poem. He looked at Siet, intending to thank him, only to discover in alarm that Siet was drenched in sweat and deathly pale.

"Siet! What's wrong?" Shu Li asked anxiously.

Panting, Siet gave the little cub a weak, reassuring smile. "I'm all right... I merely used too much magical power."

Shu Li froze.

He remembered what Siet had said moments earlier.

This is high-level magic. It must not be used lightly.

"I'm sorry... I..." Shu Li apologized. If Siet had not wanted to ease his embarrassment, he would never have exhausted his magical power.

"It's all right. A little extra meditation will restore my magical power soon enough." Siet put away his harp and rose to his feet. "That will be all for today's lesson."

He no longer had even enough strength to fly. He staggered toward the classroom door.

Shu Li rose and reached out to support him, but Siet seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He waved off the offer and walked steadily out of the classroom.

Aisha happened to arrive at that moment. Seeing that Siet had depleted his magical power, she frowned and caught his swaying body.

"You really are too reckless."

Forcibly recreating the past was not merely high-level magic. It was also a forbidden art. If the white mages of the Continental Central Court learned of it, they would undoubtedly hold him responsible and put him on trial.

Siet merely shrugged. "This is the Faerie Forest."

The rules of the human Magic Association held no sway here.

After Siet left, Shu Li removed the magic hat and put it inside his storage ring.

He no longer needed it.

Once he had come to terms with something, there was no reason to keep agonizing over it.

Even when he heard poems about himself, he could now face them calmly.

Life continued at its usual pace, and Shu Li devoted himself wholeheartedly to his studies. He attended lessons by day and took extra classes at night. His spoken Elven finally reached the required standard, and his grasp of Elven script began to look respectable. He no longer had to sing along using nonsense syllables he had misheard.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed, and the eagerly awaited Midsummer Festival arrived right on schedule.

All the Fairies became busy making thorough preparations for the festival. The little cubs were beside themselves with joy. They would soon be visiting the Elven Kingdom, and every one of them was bursting with excitement.

Aisha gave each cub a formal outfit.

Shu Li could not put his down.

The outfit was exceedingly grand. In addition to a snow-white pleated robe, it included a cloak embroidered with exquisite patterns.

Unlike an ordinary cloak, this one was shaped like a swallowtail and fastened separately at each shoulder with metal clasps, allowing it to drape gracefully on either side of the wings. Golden ribbons hung from the clasps, each ending in a tiny, delicate bell. Whenever the cubs flew, the bells would chime crisply.

Beautiful clothes naturally required exquisite jewelry to match.

There was a golden circlet inlaid with gemstones, along with finely crafted armlets, bracelets, and a belt.

Wearing the complete ensemble instantly elevated their bearing by several levels.

But when every other cub put on his circlet, Shu Li encountered a problem.

The emerald flower crown on his head had apparently developed a temper. It tyrannically occupied his head and refused to let him wear the circlet.

No, wait—

All the other cubs were wearing beautiful golden circlets, while he alone had to wear a green hat... No, a green flower crown.

Would that even look good?

Would it?