"Wa-, wait, c-, c-c-c-c-c-calm down, boy."
"You're the one who needs to calm down."
For no real reason, I was sitting on top of the desk with both arms stretched out in front of the boy.
What's happened to my body?
My perspective is higher, I had to look down to meet the boy's eyes, but I wasn't flying either, and, um...?
Looking around, the books and the bookshelves seemed smaller, and the room itself felt like it had shrunk too. No, the room hadn't shrunk; I'd grown bigger.
The ceiling and walls feel close; this nostalgic sense of enclosure. It's like when I was human.
"For starters, please get down from there. You're being rude."
"Y-yes."
When I hopped down with a thump, I felt the pull of gravity more firmly than usual and wobbled. The floor felt so far away. My dress had grown to match my body too.
"You haven't turned into a human... Your wings are still there."
Apparently without the wings I'd look human. When I grabbed my wings and brought them round in front of me, they looked more magnificent than usual.
He said "Try flying a little," and in my confused state I obeyed without thinking. When I moved my wings, the wind made the boy's hair flutter softly. That never happens normally, I thought as I flew, and then,
--- Thud!
A jolt of pain shot through my head. It felt like I'd hit the ceiling. Even though I hadn't flown that high.
I landed, clutching my reeling head. The boy was looking at me groaning "owww" with eyes that suggested he was looking at trash.
"Remind me, how do fairies become human-sized in the game?"
"Something like, the elder ones who've lived for hundreds of years and built up mana in their bodies, maybe. Also, 'Eren' was..."
"...?"
"I-I'm not telling."
All you need is a contract, is not something I can just casually tell him.
A contract means sharing mana between both parties. However, the master-servant relationship is crystal clear no matter how much you struggle, and the master gets the final say in mana transfers. It's even possible for the master to drain the servant's mana until they die.
In the game, "Eren" had a contract with the Demon King. It wasn't "Eren's" choice to enter that contract.
If this boy, who wants to confine me to this house, were to find out about this, what would happen...
"Come to think of it, I remember hearing something about contracts... was that what happened?"
"You knew?"
Damn!
"I do know a thing or two about the game, you know? But just drinking blood wouldn't form a contract, would it? I wonder what happened."
To be honest, unlike young Stillus, I just go with the flow, so I wasn't interested in the principles of it. Now that I'd calmed down, all I could think about was how delicious the blood had been. The boy's blood contained far too much magical allure.
In the end, I came to the conclusion that even with just a tiny bit of mana from him, I reached, even if just by one foot, into the realm of fairies who've lived for hundreds of years.
After all, his talent was really one of a kind.
Astonishing mana (and good looks too, while we're at it) all maxed out; you'd think a god had bugged out.
Mana received from a boy like that is, without a doubt, premium nectar to a fairy.
That said, they say exchanging mana between humans is dangerous. Human mana, like blood, has attribute types, and apparently absorbing a different type of mana causes a rejection reaction.
In contrast, fairy mana is smooth and attribute-less, and can be deliciously received by any kind of creature... allegedly.
"Let's set this aside for now. We're going."
"Hm?"
The boy took my hand, which was still large, and led me along.
Seeing him like this, everything apart from his face was rather ordinary. He rarely wore formal attire like a tailcoat or a three-piece suit; instead he was often dressed casually in loose-fitting linen shirts with wide collars and simple black trousers. He did sometimes wear a black robe, which gave a properly mage-like impression.
I walked along, taking a good long look at all the things I hadn't had the leeway to examine when I was little.
This house was really quite ordinary, just the right size for a nuclear family[1]. Not poor, but not overly well-off either. White walls with dark brown pillars and doors as the base; it had a classic British charm.
"You mentioned it earlier, but where are we going?"
"My sister's room. She said she wanted to meet you, and I figured it was about time."
"Huh, you told her about me?"
"You're the one who told her. Apparently my sister heard your voice."
What are you on about?
The only human I've spoken to since coming here is him, right? There's no one else, right?
I insisted that I had no idea what he was talking about, and the boy lets out a huge sigh, reprimanding me without a word.
"Didn't you call out 'Stillus-san'? My sister is also a Stillus-san, you know."
"Oh."
I remembered hearing his little sister coughing a while back and I did call out to the boy several times.
"But I wasn't making a sound though?"
"Which is why, as I said earlier, I thought you might have used telepathy or something. But judging by your reaction, you don't seem to be aware of it."
"If the twist was that your sister is secretly a fairy, then maybe I could."
"She isn't, so this will also remain unresolved... Now then, we're here."
It felt like it took a long time since I was walking in a daze, but in reality we hadn't walked that far.
In front of us was a single door. Two doors over is the bedroom, but I'd never gone in since I wasn't supposed to touch this door.
The boy knocked without hesitation and called out, "I'm coming in." There was a short pause, and then the room's occupant answered in a hoarse voice.
"Okay, Onii-chan."
"Pardon the intrusion. I've brought Eleanor."
I was shoved into the room before I had time to gather my thoughts for a self-introduction and froze.
"... Eleanor-san?"
"Yes, I'm Eleanor."
A girl of about six was lying in a bed that was too big for a child.
Her honey-coloured hair was tied into two ponytails just below her ears, and her eyes, moist from the fever perhaps, were golden. A little girl with the same colouring as the boy.
Once she grows up, men certainly won't leave her alone. Even now, I got the feeling she'd be more than enough of a lolicon-magnet, and inappropriate as it was, I felt relieved by the fact that she can't leave the house.
"Eleanor-san, are you a fairy?"
"Um..."
When I looked at the boy, he nodded once. Apparently it was fine to tell her.
"Yes, that's right. I'm a fairy."
"I've never met a fairy before. I'm called Lumina. Was that you calling me earlier, Fairy-san?"
"Um, no. When I was calling 'Stillus-san,' well, I was calling for your Onii-chan."
Lumina blinked in confusion, then broke into a soft smile.
Unlike young Louis, who suits moonlight, she was as warm as a spring breeze.
That said, did Louis Stillus actually have a sister?