Free Web NovelChapter 97: Wiggen, a fairy
Mari, still yawning from sleep, approached Victor and said:
"I’m sorry about what Wiggen did. He’s usually very protective of me and, it may not seem like it, but he’s still got the mental age of six to seven."
The little creature called Wiggen that Mari was referring to was very similar in appearance to an axolotl, but had the particularity of being a bit chubby and the size of a small bear cub. It also had very reptile-like claws and a long, pink tail, as well as other pink features on its body.
"It’s okay, Mari. He surprised me more than he hurt me. What is he, though?" Victor asked as he watched Wiggen get distracted by the glass jar Victor had slipped into.
"Oh, don’t you recognize him? He’s a fairy."
"Oh, I always thought fairies were more delicate and... without so many scales."
Wiggen was irritated by the comment, snorted and threw the glass jar in Victor’s direction. "Then take it, old man!"
Victor, showing surprising reflexes, opened his left hand and caught the jar in mid-air, preventing it from hitting his face. The fairy was taken aback, but immediately stuck out his tongue at Victor.
"Wiggen!" shouted Mari.
"I’m sorry..." Wiggen quickly apologized.
"You can’t throw objects at people like that, or be so rude, especially with guests in the mansion."
"Guests?" Wiggen asked and then sniffed the air with his small nostrils.
After sniffing, Wiggen’s pupils inflated and his eyes turned completely black. His face also contorted with rage and he stood on all fours, growling like an animal and showing his only two fangs in his mouth. freewёbnoνel.com
Victor raised both hands in surrender and stepped back a little, "What is it, comrade? Was what I said that bad for you?"
As Wiggen growled furiously, Mari crouched down as quickly as she could and grabbed his tail to restrain him and calm his anger. The small creature’s soft scales trembled and its black eyes sparked as if it were a wild beast.
"Wiggen, please calm down!" Mari pleaded.
"What’s happening to him?" Victor asked, taking a few steps back to see if this reaction would stop.
"I’m not sure," Mari said. "He’s never acted like this before. Normally, he’s gentle and silly... Wiggen mal, stop trying to scare Victor already!"
At Mari’s angry shout, Wiggen looked back and let out a low grunt. His posture slowly began to relax and the anger in his eyes subsided.
"What did I say to make you so angry?" Victor asked, a little relieved, when Mari managed to pick Wiggen up on her lap.
The fairy hugged Mari and whispered something in her ear. freeweɓnovel.cøm
Then Mari, a little hesitantly, answered Victor’s question. "I don’t think it has anything to do with what you’ve done or said, Victor. Maybe it’s your smell."
Victor frowned, confused. "My smell?" He sniffed one of his armpits to check. "What’s wrong with it? I swear I showered yesterday."
Mari stood up slowly, still holding Wiggen, who seemed calmer at her touch, and continued.
"He said you have a strange smell, but it’s not on the outside, it’s on the inside..." Mari hesitated for a moment, choosing her next words carefully. "He said it’s a bit reminiscent of darkness."
"Darkness?" Victor repeated.
"Yes, but that doesn’t mean you’re evil or that it’s because of dark magic. It’s more like a shadow, something that’s hidden inside you," Mari explained, trying to find the best way to describe what she felt.
"So, what does it have to do with me?" Victor asked, a little puzzled and worried by Mari’s explanation.
"I’m not sure yet," Mari sighed and admitted thoughtfully. "But it’s the cause of Wiggen’s reaction. As a fairy, he’s more sensitive than us humans and he sensed something in you so terrible that it upset him."
Victor looked at Wiggen, who now seemed more afraid of Victor than angry. "I’m sorry, comrade. I didn’t mean to scare you and I don’t want to hurt you or Mari, okay?"
Wiggen tilted his head to the side, as if pondering Victor’s words. He then started whispering some things in Mari’s ear, as if he didn’t want to speak directly to Victor.
"He... he said he accepts your apology and..." Mari stopped to listen. "And that he expects you to forgive him for poisoning your food with a lethal dose of Fairy Pollen and... W-WHAT DID YOU DO, WIGGEN?!"
After Wiggen revealed that it was actually he who had poisoned Victor’s food, Mari Dundragon was much angrier than she had ever been.
"Wanting to protect me is one thing, but poisoning the food of a guest in the mansion with whom you haven’t even had contact is unacceptable!" She shouted at him.
Victor was also very surprised and tried to process the information. He watched Wiggen with a mixture of incredulity and surprise as Mari gave Wiggen a severe scolding for having done that.
Victor could hardly believe that that innocent-looking little fairy was the one who had killed him. He thought fairies were purer - perhaps innocent.
Despite this, Victor’s mind, which had been in a whirlwind of doubts, questions, suspicions and paranoia, finally had some peace.
Natural pollen is generally not poisonous and therefore not a danger to anyone’s life, unless they are allergic, but Victor had heard about the very rare Fairy Pollen, much appreciated by magicians and the most eccentric alchemists, but which could cause illusions, delirium, drowsiness and even death when ingested in large quantities.
What’s more, when Margaret brought in dinner and opened the tray with the dish, Victor must have inhaled the Fairy Pollen that was in the stew without realizing it and that’s why he saw that mysterious figure.
"Whew, it was all just a delirium..." Victor took a deep breath and murmured.
He was deeply relieved, because for a while he had thought that someone in the mansion actually wanted him dead.
"I thought he was a danger! I just wanted to protect Mari!"
Victor knew that, although he didn’t want to get involved with fairies ever, it was important to keep calm with little Wiggen.
"It’s all right. You were acting on instinct to protect your friend. However, that doesn’t justify putting someone’s life at risk without knowing that they really are a threat."
Mari looked at Victor with worried eyes. "Are you okay? Did you eat the poisoned food?"
"No, I wasn’t hungry."
"Phhew! That’s very good to hear, I mean, you need to eat well to stay healthy at this age, but it’s a good thing you didn’t have dinner yesterday. The poison he used was anesthetic and lethal, it would have killed you in your sleep."
’I know that well now...’ Victor thought and nodded slowly. "I’m fine, Mari. Don’t worry."
This terrible situation that Victor had been through was a combination of factors.
If Gracela hadn’t given him an ambiguous warning about how Victor should behave in the Mansion, Victor wouldn’t have imagined a thousand and one different things, nor would he have become so paranoid that his delirium would have been a mysterious figure instead of a funny vision of a bipedal unicorn dancing in the middle of his room.
