Chapter 16 - Price of Honesty

Valtar looked at her again signaling to continue. She hesitated but eventually chose to continue, "As for Zhao's son, he was manipulated by Raelyn, the remaining sister of the triplets, she mainly did it through an old man of their tribe, he was merely a measure to add fuel to the flame, you were the main dish after all."

She added, "We are not the ones trapping people in the forest, nor can we kill the other tribes directly. Even if we do, and even if one Fae kills everyone else in the forest, we Fae are not allowed to escape. I do not know the exact reason; it has been like this for many generations."

"As for if anyone makes an exchange with us Fae they will forget what they gave up for the exchange and only remember that the Fae helped them of goodwill. Unfortunately, this is not absolute Zhao himself figured it out after many small exchanges."

Valtar chuckled and said, "Nothing is absolute in this world."

She looked at him in slight amusement but did not comment on that instead stated, "As for the reason why I am saying all this that you already know but it won't make a difference just like the countless people that came before you."

He said nothing in response and simply kept staring at the raging fire calmly as taking in the horrendous view. The Fae queen also did the same and kept staring at it peacefully. It was not an awkward silence but perhaps a silence of destruction that both evil beings enjoyed.

After ten long minutes she stated, "Would you like to hear a story?" Valtar looked at her for a moment and nodded.

She took a deep breath and started in her wondrous and enchanting tone,

Once upon a time, there was a small boy in a poor village, he was an orphan who grew up in poverty without the love of anyone though some of the village members did take care of him from time to time out of pity. He always had to work to earn his keep. After finally turning 16, he was able to get a decent job from a merchant who employed people from small villages as woodcutters by lending them an Iron axe.

The woodcutters employed by the merchant would go to the forest every day and cut trees all day till the sun had set completely, then bring back the log of wood all by themselves back to the village. So, did the boy, he had to make a back-and-forth trip from the forest to the village a few times as he was unable to take them in one shift like the other adults.

He used to struggle to keep cutting trees all day, his hands were a mess and in pain all day,

But that pain eventually numbed as well. 2 years passed he continued on the same job,

He eventually met a girl and got married to her.

5 years later he was a man with a happy family with two little kids. He was still doing the same job, however misfortune awaited him a great misfortune for a seemingly mundane man. One day while cutting a tree near a small pond in the forest.

His iron axe accidentally fell into the pond, and he immediately jumped into the pond to get it back, unfortunately for him the pond was too deep, he searched and searched again but couldn't find the axe no matter what as if it had vanished.

The woodcutter was horrified, the merchant was an extremely influential and cruel man, another woodcutter like him once lost his axe and was thrown out of the village with his wife and children despite all of them begging with their lives to the merchant, he could not let the same happen to him and his family, it would be akin to a death sentence for his family. Because the only path outside is a road to the nearest village which is filled with bandits most likely they are in cahoots with damn merchant as well.

He searched for 2 hours continuously yet there was not a single trace of the axe and he was in despair. Right then something disturbing happened, the water at the center of the pond was coming up from beneath as if something large was coming out,

Then an extremely beautiful fairy came out of the water and glanced at him, the woodcutter was enthralled by the unrealistic beauty of the fairy and momentarily forgot about his precarious situation.

The fairy in her ethereal voice asked the woodcutter what he was looking for. He was stunned by her beautiful voice but eventually told her about the axe he lost and if the fairy could help him get it.

The fairy did not respond and dove into the water, the woodcutter became slightly frightened that he was being impolite but to his delight the fairy was not offended and came back after 5 minutes, she showed him a silver axe and said, "Is this yours?"

Woodcutter was awestruck, he had never seen such a large chunk of silver in his life, such a large piece would make him probably 100 times more wealthy than even the merchant himself.

However, the implications were too great, he would not be able to hide it for long, not to mention someone as mundane as him could not sell it, if he went to the merchant with it, that cruel man would skin him alive to make him say everything, he was not an ungrateful man he would not like to repay the fairy by telling everyone about her, not to mention the merchant would kill him keep it all a secret, his family would not be able to survive if he did not work every single day. I need the Iron axe first to keep living my daily life as is. unfortunately, she's not offering that silver axe as an addition to my original one.

So, he reluctantly shook his head, "No, this is not mine, my axe is made of iron." The fairy looked at him in slight confusion portraying an extremely innocent and delicate being.

She dove into the water again, this time the woodcutter felt like he offended the fairy. But she came back up again, this time with a gold axe as she stated exactly as before, "Is this yours?"

Woodcutter's eyes widened in horror this time the entire axe was made of gold. He involuntarily took a step back, his greed overflowing with his entire being, with immense internal struggle he still chose not to, he did not know what trick this fairy was playing on him, but at this point it was scary.

He could take it and survive alone, somehow run away from the village, maybe he would be able to sell it somewhere as well, yet he couldn't leave his family he loved them too much, the risk of putting them in danger and leaving them was more painful to him than anything after he was but an honest woodcutter. At least that's what his wife always called him lovingly.

Thus he said, "No, please get me my iron axe." The fairy looked at him in surprise this time as she dove down again, she came back similarly after a while but this time she was indeed holding an iron axe and asked, "It should be yours?"

The woodcutter was overjoyed, it was indeed his axe. As he vehemently thanked the fairy again and again, the fairy this time put on a gentle smile as she said, "I am moved by your honesty, oh pitiful one."

"Because of that, I have chosen to reward your honesty." The woodcutter looked at her in more confusion as the fairy brought out the silver and gold axe and gave those two to him as well.

The woodcutter was so overjoyed that he started crying, the crux of the problem was not being able to get the original iron axe which would force him to leave the village with his family, while he could not make use of the golden or silver axe without leaving the village with precaution.

But now all the problems could be solved, he could continue to live his daily life and hide both the silver and gold axe somewhere in the forest. At the right opportunity, he could leave the village after making some savings for his family and then return with countless riches.

He bowed and thanked the fairy countless times and eventually, the fairy said goodbye to him. He then immediately went to another part of the forest, this was a place no one ever comes and chooses to bury the two treasures there.

He was so happy thinking how his family's fate, his fate changed just because he was honest. It was the best day or the best moment of his life.

As he was walking towards the village from the forest's inner area, he felt a bit weird, because he should have been out of the forest by now, but paid it no mind probably because he was too engrossed in daydreaming about what he would do with all that enormous wealth and started walking again.

After walking again in the direction of the village for 10 more minutes, he finally grasped something was wrong as he started running this time in panic, yet his efforts were futile.

He ran and ran but the once familiar forest that he knew every corner of became so unfamiliar, strange, and terrifying at this moment. After he had no energy to run, he started walking, and after one hour he was losing his mind in terror.

He could not deny his suspicions anymore and he said, "Fairy….." He shouted, "FAIRY?" "WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU? WHAT did you??"