“Sounds like you just want me dependent on your honey so you can control me.”
The honey produced by the fairies here was undeniably valuable, but I had no desire for something that would leave me dependent on it. It was possible studying it could turn up medicinal applications for the substance. In particular, there was a good chance it could make a powerful painkiller. But even so, I had no intentions of getting involved with such a malicious substance. It wasn’t a matter of balancing the benefits and drawbacks. I just didn’t like it. Of course, it went without saying that I would never partake of it myself in any situation.
I couldn’t tell what the fairy’s intentions had been with her offer. It was quite likely that she was just trying to offer me the most valuable thing they had. But even so...or rather, even more so, trying to use a substance that created such a powerful dependence without malicious intent made them even more dangerous. If they were using the honey as a means of controlling people, then at least they would reap the consequences of the seeds they had sown. If they were just thoughtlessly passing out the honey because it was valuable, creating dependencies among their victims would cause nothing but suffering.
Depending on the situation, it wasn’t unthinkable that someone might try and monopolize its production, capturing and enslaving the entire colony of fairies on the island. For example, if I hadn’t known about the dependence and tasted it for myself, I almost certainly would have done so.
“O-Of course not!” Beneath my mounting pressure and the threat of the Fairy’s Silver in my scabbard pointed at her once again, the fairy girl desperately cried an apology. Even if her mind had been subsumed by the fairies, threatening a small human girl like this was painful for me. She had been clearly cowed by my display, so I figured my threats had been sufficient. It was about time to wrap up these negotiations.
From the start, there was nothing in particular I wanted from the fairies. After all, I hadn’t paid for these Mystic Peaches or anything. They had been given to me for free. I had a few ideas of how I wanted to use them, but I could part with a few without impacting my plans significantly.
I demanded a price from them because I knew that, while cowardly and cautious, fairies were also cruel and malicious creatures. If I thoughtlessly caved in to their wishes and helped restore their ability to reproduce, that malice could easily be turned on the people of Badomode. I doubted it would be enough to shatter the relationship currently established between them, but it could always grow worse. I previously thought that was the kind of creature a fairy was. Speaking with the human girl they had possessed only served to confirm my suspicions.
So rather than just taking anything the fairies might offer, I wanted to demand something of them that they could only obtain from the humans that lived here. Be it money, ornaments, or alcohol, I wanted something to make the humans here more valuable in the eyes of the fairies. As it was, there seemed to be some kind of balance struck between the fairies and the humans of Badomode. The humans weren’t being unilaterally oppressed, but were resolutely facing the hardships of life with the gifts of the fairies. If the fairies had complete control of everything, they wouldn’t accept foreign ships in their ports.
But if the fairies grew in number, the value of the humans they dealt with needed to increase in the same way to maintain that balance. I didn’t know how much a demand like that would impact the fairies’ behavior, but there was no harm in trying.
The grand total of goods I requested from them in money, decorative ornaments, and alcohol came to a value of about fifty large gold coins. Yes, the same amount Airena had paid me for an apua back when we first met, or maybe even a little more. In reality, fruit like these weren’t really in circulation, so just collecting fifty large gold coins together didn’t mean you could buy one. But my goal wasn’t to make money, so that price suited me fine.
After handing over one of the peaches, the people of Badomode hauled in all sorts of goods into my room on the ship the next day. It seemed the fairies weren’t foolish enough to back out on a promise.
Captain Suin had been quite shocked by the whole affair and asked me what was happening, but explaining all of it was too much of a pain. There were a lot of delicate matters involved, like the situation among the fairies here and the fact I was carrying Mystic Peaches with me. In the end, I didn’t explain much of anything, just telling him it was a deal between the fairies and the elves, and that to apologize for the trouble I’d give him one of the casks of alcohol. Because after all, it was nice they brought it all here, but having so many casks of alcohol in my room was getting in the way. There was no way it would all fit.
That afternoon, with all of our preparations complete, we left Badomode behind. Our unexpected diversion complete, we headed again for the coastal powerhouse of Mintar, where I would transfer to another ship on my way farther west.