When the plot-skips players into the game world

Sherlock stopped in his tracks, pressing his temples with a hint of a headache.

Aiwass, walking ahead of him, immediately sensed something was wrong. He also stopped and turned around, "Are you all right, Sherlock?"

"I'm fine."

Sherlock's voice was cold, "I think it's because this body is too short... The same distance, you can walk quickly and I have to jog to keep up. It's tiring... it feels like the veins in my forehead are throbbing."

Upon hearing this, Aiwass chuckled.

But he didn't offer any sympathetic words like "then I'll slow down," instead, he casually said, "You might be thirsty. After all, we haven't drunk much this afternoon."

With that, he took out a water flask from his chest and threw it to Sherlock.

Dressed as a newsboy, Sherlock unceremoniously tipped the flask to his mouth.

Then he sprayed it out.

"...Are you sick!"

In the midst of Aiwass's triumphant laughter, Sherlock angrily screwed the cap back on the "flask," "I'm only thirteen or fourteen now, and you're giving me alcohol?"

Moreover, it was hard liquor.

From just a sip, Sherlock could tell that this was a Holy Nation whiskey of more than forty degrees.

The amber-colored liquid had a unique and rich charred aroma, like roasted barley. It also had a subtle, almost imperceptible sweetness of fruits, which lingered on the lips and teeth after a drink.

But Sherlock had a low alcohol tolerance, and he usually had to dilute it with some water to be able to drink it—or he could mix in some lemon juice and honey water.

Aiwass just leisurely took the bottle back and handed Sherlock another flask, nearly identical, "I never told you there was water in it."

"I trusted you!"

"Don't give me that. You're just lax because you're with people you know," Aiwass said unapologetically. "If someone disguised as me offered you poison, would you drink it without hesitation too? Maybe if you paused for a second or two, you could sense something was off. But you were too quick to gulp it down—if you did, do you think I would be happy about your death? 'Oh, my friend Sherlock died because of his trust in me, how joyful'... Do you like that scenario?"

"...Tsk."

Sherlock clicked his tongue, at a loss for words.

Despite feeling very annoyed, rationally he felt that Aiwass did indeed make sense. He was even more irritated because he couldn't refute it.

He could only drink the water obediently and take in Aiwass's lesson.

"But it really is strange."

Seeing Sherlock's displeased face, Aiwass, who had mastered the instruction manual on handling Sherlock, said directly, "We rode the Gryphons and circled overhead twice, and we still couldn't spot Eagle Cape Village." Your next chapter is on My Virtual Library Empire

Previously, according to Hayna's directions, they flew south from Flute Town... But even after flying to Alderwood Town, they still couldn't find Eagle Cape Village.

Aiwass was not discouraged, so he asked Mrs. Gryphon to fly low and return—they still couldn't find it.

In the end, they landed in Flute Town and after asking around, they learned that Eagle Cape Village was indeed nearby. Led by an enthusiastic local, they finally found the small path through the woods.

"There are two possibilities. Either there's some kind of large barrier shielding the area... or it's the Fairy Forest."

Sherlock was indeed distracted from his irritation by Aiwass's words.

He looked at the small path in the dense woods and said seriously, "Do you know about the Fairy Forest?"

Aiwass nodded. Lily and Mrs. Gryphon Liz looked over curiously.

Ignoring Aiwass, Sherlock focused on the two ladies, and explained earnestly, "Whether it's Avalon, Star Antimony, or the Iris Flower, in those rural areas with dense forests, there's a common legend that children tend to disappear. What that legend refers to is the 'Fairy Forest.'

"In those dense jungles that you can't see the end of and where you can't stand tall to see far away, if suddenly a very harmonious path appears, but nothing like it was seen before... then there's a high probability this place is the Fairy Forest. Some fairies would live here.

"Only those invited by fairies can enter the Fairy Forest—the ones usually invited are naive and lively healthy children, or simple and enthusiastic young people. One necessary condition is good looks, another is the ability to sing or dance or some other talent.

"Once these people enter the Fairy Forest, they would play with the fairies. At this time, they often forget the time and their faces don't age... Whenever they wished to leave, the fairies would teach them something and then keep them a little longer. When they finally leave, they would realize that an unknown amount of time had passed on the outside."

"...Isn't that quite good?"

Lily was a bit confused, "Isn't that a way to extend one's life indirectly?"

Sherlock said seriously, "Those are some good-natured fairies. There's another kind of bad fairies, who will forcibly keep the children there, turning them into new fairies; to 'increase friends', they would even take the initiative to abduct or steal children.

"Children who are taken like this, even if they are rescued before they turn into fairies, often can't speak human language anymore. So the Fairy Forest is very dangerous—whether the fairies living inside are good or bad.

"The easiest way to identify the Fairy Forest is by light source. If the sun is clearly bright, but deep in the forest there isn't a trace of light and no animals come out from it, then that path might lead to the Fairy Forest."

As Sherlock spoke, he stretched out his hand to point forward, "Like this place—look."

The straight path disappeared into the distance.

The surrounding trees seemed to actively make way, leaving behind a clear dirt road.

"Now it is mid-December. Leaves and dead branches should be everywhere, but that dirt road is clean. The leaves neatly fall on both sides of the road, as if they were swept by someone."

Sherlock narrowed his eyes and analyzed calmly, "Just at a glance, you know something is definitely not right here, don't you?"

Lily lowered her head with some embarrassment.

As a Transcendent of the Path of Adaptation, her intuitive perception was most attuned to sensing danger. Yet standing here, she only felt a faint sense of inconsistency and had no sense of danger at all.

But she was a bit confused.

Is Miss Hayna living in Fairyland?

But fairies are beings of the Path of Beauty.

If this truly is Fairyland, how could Hayna, who came from here, have no adaptability to the Path of Beauty at all?

"Anyway, we should get ready to meet fairies,"

Aiwass narrowed his eyes, observing the dark unknown space at the end of the forest path, and shared some rather obscure and rare knowledge with the two, "Actually, 'fairy' is quite an unfriendly term to the fairies themselves, it's considered a derogatory term. Just like calling the 'Son of the Moon' a vampire, directly calling fairies 'fairies' will provoke their hostility.

"Compared to the Sons of the Moon, fairies have a much simpler way of thinking. This means they say whatever they think, and do whatever they say. Even the smallest of grievances aren't suppressed, but instead are expressed directly.

"The correct terms are 'our benevolent neighbors' or 'beings of joy'... Make sure you remember that."

"But," Lily was still a bit puzzled, "Eagle Cape Village might not necessarily be Fairyland, right..."

Little Sherlock sighed.

"Haven't you understood, Miss Lily?"

He said with a most serious tone in his youthful voice, "What Aiwass means is... he would rather that the inhabitants here be fairies."

As he spoke, they completely stepped into the darkness, crossing over the mountain.

After a brief silence, a ray of light pierced the darkness. The noisy bustle came through the shadows.

The resplendent golden sunset hung in the sky, illuminating the entire village, casting long shadows. People bustled about, voices of joy and laughter filled the air, delighting in their pleasure.

—Eagle Cape Village at dusk, was like a frozen painting.

As if it had always been this beautiful for a long time, and as if this moment could continue for a very, very long time.