Endless Leveling Done Right!

Chapter 592: The Lonely Fairy’s Grave

*Poke*

"Mmm..."

*Poke* *Poke*

Alex’s eyes opened wide. Just as expected, he saw the little bun’s little stubby hand reaching out to poke his nose one more time.

When Dim Dim realized that Alex finally woke up, it just giggled. The young man could only smile helplessly.

It had been a while since Dim Dim poked his nose. Truth be told, it might just be feeling mischievous at the moment, so he let it be.

"Good morning, Dim Dim."

"Dim Dim~"

Alex slowly propped himself up from the bedroll. After his drowsiness cleared a bit, he realized that Fran was also up and awake.

Time had come for them to go. Since Alex hadn’t woken up on his own, Dim Dim had taken it upon itself to wake its partner.

Still fatigued, Alex drank a stamina potion. It made him feel a lot better in just a minute, which greatly improved his mood.

"Ready to go?" Fran asked with a smile.

"Yes," Alex replied.

Knowing the mission would be dangerous, Alex proposed to lead the way with Dim Dim. Since he had the map, he could at least keep an eye out for any hostile forces that might endanger their lives.

Of course, Fran and Finn didn’t know about this. But since Fran agreed to Alex’s proposal, Finn didn’t oppose it.

"Let’s go," Alex declared before taking the lead.

He walked at a brisk race, planning to avoid running on their journey. This minimized the noise, which might otherwise attract unwanted attention.

But the moment they entered the forest, Alex had an uneasy unfeeling that they were being watched.

He glanced at his map, but didn’t see any red dots near them. Thinking he was just being paranoid, he decided to press on.

Five minutes later, the young man motioned for everyone to stop.

"Hey, do you guys feel like we’re being watched?" Alex asked, unable to shake the feeling.

"Yes," Fran replied. "I felt it the moment we entered the forest. But since nothing happened, I thought the eyes on us weren’t hostile."

"I also don’t sense any hostility," Finn commented. "But the feeling of being constantly watched makes me feel uneasy."

Alex felt relieved that he wasn’t imagining things, but he also knew he had to take this seriously. "I feel the same. They might not be hostile, but we shouldn’t let our guard down."

Fran and Finn both nodded firmly. The group continued their journey, even more cautious than before.

An hour later, they heard the sound of giggles. The giggles sounded feminine, but that only made the hair on Alex’s arms stand on end. He immediately looked around his surroundings, hoping to see who—or what—was making those sounds.

Fran and Finn did the same, but neither of them were able to sense anything or anyone around them.

Alex checked his map again, but there were still no red blinking dots in their vicinity. Because of this, he decided to try something else.

With a few taps, he adjusted the map’s settings to not only show hostile enemies, but also neutral beings.

At the setting’s update, hundreds of blinking dots appeared on the map. But what concerned Alex more was that a few dozen of them were near them.

More accurately, they were practically surrounded by those yellow blinking dots!

"Dim Dim, can you sense anyone?" Alex asked a question he should’ve asked an hour ago.

"Dim Dim!"

"You can?"

"Dim!"

The little bun then pointed at the tree behind them. Alex, Fran, and Finn looked at what Dim Dim pointed at, but they saw nothing.

However, since the Dim Sum God was adamant that there was something behind the tree, the three decided to watch a little longer.

It was then that they saw it.

A small face peeked out from behind the tree, and when she realized that they had seen her, she immediately darted back.

"A-Are those Fairies?" Fran’s eyes widened in shock.

Dim Dim nodded. "Dim!"

Suddenly, the sound of laughter spread around them.

"Awww! They noticed us!"

"That little white thing was already aware of our existence, but it decided to ignore us. How mean!"

"No. No. It is clearly Dewdrop’s fault! She let herself be seen."

"No! It’s not my fault!"

One by one, the Fairies made their appearance. Some of them had cheeky grins, some had mischievous smirks, while others only smiled mysteriously.

These fairies were only as tall as an adult’s hand. Now that they had shown themselves, it was quite obvious that playtime was over... or was just about to begin.

"What are you doing in the Shadow Forest?" the fairy called Dewdrop asked. "Are you lost?"

She had long blue hair and looked like a girl that was only around six to seven years old, but Alex knew better than to underestimate her just because of this.

Dewdrop flew closer to Fran to take a closer look. She then circled her body a few more times before coming to a stop a meter away from Fran’s face.

"Strange... You look like a dwarf, but you smell like a fairy," Dewdrop declared as she crossed her arms "Are you half fairy perhaps?"

"It’s complicated," Fran replied. "May I ask if there are more fairies aside from your group in the forest?"

"We have a small tribe, numbering less than a hundred Fairies," Dewdrop answered. "Some of them are not here because they are busy picking fruits and berries for dinner."

"You didn’t answer Dewdrop’s question earlier," another fairy with long red hair said while she fluttered around Alex. "Are you guys lost? Why did you enter the forest?"

"We’re not lost," Alex replied. "We are actually looking for something."

"And that is?" the red-haired fairy, who went by Poppy, asked.

The Shadow Forest was a place humans and other demi-humans rarely visited. This was why the Fairies had stalked the newcomers, watching them as if they were endangered animals.

"Actually, we are looking for graves," Fran answered. "Do you know of a place where five graves could be found? That is the place where we needed to go."

"Oh? Are you talking about the Lonely Fairy’s grave?" Dewdrop commented from the side.

"Lonely Fairy’s grave?" Fran blinked.

"Yes! It is a place where a lonely fairy died all alone," Poppy added. "In fact, when she died, her fairy dust scattered in the forest, then we were born. Perhaps, she wished Fairies could also thrive here in the Shadow Forest."

Alex felt an ache in his chest after hearing Poppy’s explanation. What happened in the dungeon was only a reenactment of the past.

In the real story, the young man had really died, and Fran had spent her life watching over their graves until she, too, perished.

At death, Fairies wouldn’t leave any corpse behind. The grave she erected at the center of her fallen comrades was just symbolism. That way, even in death, they could be together.

Fran lowered her head, feeling the corner of her eyes moisten. She didn’t remember what had really transpired back then. The only thing that she knew was the "miracle" that Alex had created in his determination to see her again.

"It’s fine," Alex said before hugging Fran from behind. "You are no longer alone. Finn, Dim Dim, and I will always be with you."

Finn nodded before reaching out to hold his sister’s hand. He didn’t say anything, but that action alone made the young lady feel a lot better.

Seeing that the strangers weren’t being hostile to Poppy and Dewdrop, the other fairies finally found the courage to come forward. Some of them even started to poke Dim Dim’s cheeks, making the latter giggle.

The little bun liked to poke people and didn’t mind being poked back as well.

A few minutes later, Fran finally regained her composure. It was also at that moment when they told the fairies that they indeed wished to go to the Grave of the Lonely Fairy.

"Can you take us there?" Fran asked.

"Well... that’s..." Poppy hesitated.

"It’s a very dangerous place," Dewdrop interjected. "We fairies only live at the outer edges of the forest. The deeper you head to the forest, the stronger the monsters are."

"The Orcs have been very active lately, so going there is a bit dangerous. Also, Tigrath seems to be in a very bad mood. Sometimes it roams on the outer edges of the forest, looking for something or someone to vent its frustration on."

"That big bad tiger is scary!" one of the Fairies exclaimed. "I hope it gets a toothache!"

"I hope it gets a stomachache!"

"A headache!"

"An aneurysm!"

The fairies joined in and started to sling childish curses towards the Field Boss Monster, who was one of the three Rulers of the forest.

Still, regardless of the danger, Alex and Fran were determined to visit the graves of their former comrades, whose names had nearly been lost to time.