Anne smiled broadly. “Of course! Ah, what I mean is, please do. I’ll go and clean myself as well, after you’re done.”
“Oh, I’ll help, too!” said Noah. “We don’t have enough buckets, so I’ll bring more from the back. I used to live here, so I’ve got a good idea of where everything is.”
Noah nimbly pulled away from Anne and leaped out in front of the other fairies with a lively expression. The others’ faces softened in response to his carefree attitude.
“At any rate, I’m glad to see everyone decided to come back,” Emere said as she watched her comrades head toward the bedrooms with Noah. She sounded impressed. “What happened?”
Then she glanced over at Challe, who was standing behind Anne. “Did you manage to persuade them?”
“I think they came to the realization on their own. I’m a little tired, so I’m going to rest.”
Challe walked off abruptly, climbing up the gently curving staircase.
He had stayed up all night tracking the fleeing fairies and then accompanied Anne as she chased after them. It stood to reason that even Challe would be exhausted.
Watching him go, Anne couldn’t help but feel like he had become more unapproachable and distant than ever.
Challe really is special. And he’s an important person to the fairies. I know he swore an oath to protect me, but it’s not right of me to make him keep it.
The fairies had noticed. Challe hadn’t named himself as the fairy king, but they had picked up on the fact that he was different, and they had believed what he had said.
That was why Anne was going to devote all her energy to working with the fairies and living up to Challe’s words. The humans had a duty to meet the expectations of the fairies who had returned to them.
That was more vital than loving Challe or receiving his protection. Doing right by his ideals was the most important thing Anne could do. She was intensely aware of her responsibility. She felt it like a strong jolt through the core of her body.
“Anne!”
This time, it was Keith who came running out from the workroom. When he saw Anne, he smiled with relief. He hurried over and grasped one of Anne’s hands with his own and squeezed.
“Thank goodness. I’m so glad you made it back safely,” he said. “Not only that, but you got everyone else to come with you, too.”
“But we wasted almost two full days,” she replied. “Will the remaining five really be enough?”
“Don’cha worry ’bout that,” said a voice from the top of the stairs.
When she looked up, Anne saw Kat sticking his face over the railing of the lesser hall. As he descended the stairs, Anne sensed his fatigue. Unfazed by his master’s haggard state, Benjamin was nodding off atop Kat’s shoulder as always.
“That dim-witted bastard negotiated with the Wolf an’ extended our time limit by two more days.”
Kat must have been sending Hugh constant updates on the changing conditions at Hollyleaf Castle. The two of them were surely worn-out from their negotiations with the fairy dealers. Even so, Kat was clearly satisfied.
“Thank you very much, Kat,” Anne said and bowed, grateful from the bottom of her heart for his hard work.
“We still can’t drag our feet. We’ve got seven days,” he replied, regarding Anne and Keith with his sharp, feline eyes. “We’ve gotta focus on the work. That goes for you, too, Emere. Give those other guys a kick in the pants.”
“I don’t need to do anything to spur them on. Everyone came back, after all,” Emere answered clearly.
From the following day onward, just as Emere had said, the fairies’ attitude toward their work was completely different.
Like before, they mobilized in an orderly fashion at the sound of the church’s morning bell. But the look in their eyes when they started working had changed. If they weren’t chosen to become silver sugar fairies after a week, they would have to go back to the fairy market. They all desperately kneaded their silver sugar, hoping to prove themselves.
That was painfully clear, and Anne found it hard to watch.
She and the others had to select the ones who would stay. Knowing that, they felt a kind of desperation of their own as they watched the fairies work. They did everything they could to pass on their skills and guild their charges’ progress.
At the end of each day, everyone was exhausted. And each night, it was more difficult to fall asleep than the last. It scared Anne and the others to think the moment when they would have to choose was closing in.
But seven days passed in the blink of an eye.
On the sixth, when the fairies had wrapped up and they were cleaning up their workspaces, Kat turned to Anne and Keith.
“You two, come down to the workshop after dinner. We’ll decide then.”
That was all Kat said before leaving the room. Anne shared a glance with Keith. It was clear that they were both dreading this final task.
When they went to the workshop after dinner, Kat was already there waiting for them, sitting on a stool and resting his chin in his hands atop a workbench. He motioned with his eyes for Anne and Keith to take a seat.
The two of them sat down across from him.
“What about Challe and Mithril Lid Pod?” asked Keith as he looked around the room. “It doesn’t look like Benjamin’s here, either.”
“I invited them, too, but they said they’re not candy crafters, so they can’t judge,” explained Kat. “They’re not coming.”
Anne greatly admired how calm the fairies were about all this. They had participated and helped out alongside Anne and the others, but they were not candy crafters. On a sentimental level, they must have wanted to take part in deciding the fates of their fellow fairies, but they had determined the decision wasn’t for them to make. They would leave it up to Anne and the other humans.
Drumming his slim fingers on the tabletop, Kat cut straight to the point. “Who will we keep? The two of you must have a pretty good idea by now.”
Anne and Keith nodded simultaneously.
Kat wore a glum expression, but he continued in a detached tone, “Allele. Riesis. Schulei. Those are my three choices.”
A faint draft made the candle flicker, and on the wall behind them, their three shadows swayed.
“I like those three, too,” said Keith, “plus one more: Cereh. I feel like she might have potential.”
Anne had also made up her mind. “Allele, Riesis, Schulei, and Cereh.”
Just saying their names one by one made her voice start to tremble.
“If there’s potential there, I guess we ought to keep Cereh,” Kat said, then let out a rare sigh. “Four, huh?”