While I gave the girls my pack full of stuff, I still had my ring. I didn’t run into the enemy completely empty-handed. In the future, I wanted to get more items that could be used in combat. When we got out of here, Miki and I definitely need to work on our alchemy. Maybe we can make some bombs and poisons and defensive barriers and all kinds of stuff that I was frantically trying to cast right now.

She identified as a dark fairy queen, and she didn’t seem to recognize me in the slightest. I had thought I’d be able to reason with her, but the second the queen realized there was a human in her midst, she had been throwing out spells nonstop. She had the magic casting of Karr’s first form mixed with the rapid attacking of Karr’s second form. I had already been in a fight with her for a minute, but I was constantly healing myself and her barrage of attacks hurt like hell.

I considered pulling out the fairy dust. Karr had reacted to it with an almost feral rage. If she acted the same way, my death would be certain! However, if I didn’t toss the dice and change something up, I would definitely die anyway.

“Damn you! You’ve taken everything from me!” She screamed. “I’ll kill you, human! I’ll turn you into ghosts just like the rest!”

“I haven’t done anything!” I insisted. “In fact, look!”

I hid the pinch of fairy dust I used, but I still cast the waters of life. As they flood from my palm freely, the dark queen paused for a second. For a single moment, there was some clarity in her eyes.

“The… waters of life…”

I nodded. “See? It’s not too late. We can return to your garden. You can have a family again.”

“A… family…” Her eyes suddenly turned dark. “A human family! You’re just like him! You just want to betray me! You want to take everything from me and use me for your own gains! That is why I made his spirit pay… no… you… you let his spirit pass on. He didn’t deserve peace. Why did you do that?”

Her anger seemed to be returning once again. Karr of the 20th floor had been her prisoner? If she was making him pay, then by sending him on with the resurrection spell we had seriously made her angry. That must have been the reason she changed her tune shortly after.

“It was a mistake…” I said, trying to regain her trust. “I’m a friend of the fairies. I can help you…”

She shook her head, back up. “I can feel it… you’re a slaver… you hold the slavery of that fairy! You’re the one who took her from me! I see it now… you’re just like the other humans. One by one… they hunted my offspring down and made them into slaves. Karr acted like he was better… but he was a hypocrite.”

“I don’t know what that means?” I said, desperately trying to keep her talking while I continued to drain my waters of life mana on the floor. “I know Karr accidentally lead the slavers to your nest, but he took you in after, right? He wanted to free the slaves. He was against slavery. All of Chalm tries to free slaves.”

A tear began to fall down her cheek. “I used to love him once… I even allowed him to put the collar around my neck.”

“You were his slave!” I gasped.

“Then… he started eyeing other women… other slaves….” Her eyes darkened. “I saw you with your other slaves. You’re doing the same to her that he did to me. When you no longer need her, you’ll toss her aside as he tossed me aside. That’s why… she is better off dead, as are you!”