Chapter 94: Chapter 92: A Flawed Fairy

“When you eventually make enough contribution and I awaken you, you’ll see how fun it is~” Aven flew up and down repeatedly, ignoring Grald's blank face as he mechanically followed him with his eyes.

“I want to return to work,” he said, not for the first time.

“I just said this is also part of your work, just tell me what you think about-”

Before Aven had finished his nonsensical justification to pursue the similarly nonsensical interview that had already been going on for more than an hour, Grald turned around and joined his 5 colleagues performing alien experiments on dozens of different exotic samples.

“Well, an hour and 24 minutes, now that’s what I would call a good talk!” His energy seemingly completely undiminished, the instinct-driven fairy took off and resumed the tour of the Rainbow IRC while commenting on things, random things.

“You thought this was a long talk? Wait for me to find Bhanas! Hahaha! He’s sort of a kindred soul of mine, and I have no doubt if he lives long enough he’ll naturally awaken as a fairy, you’ll find out why when I meet him later by coincidence~”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll take a break in a few hours to refill the energy flowing through the Rainbow IRC. After that, I’ll start on some serious design work. What do you think we should do there? I don’t want our first to be a boring thing~”

“That door? It leads to the assembly area, and I don’t need to explain what it’s used for, do I? You all watched the IUM episode, right?!”

“There’s the break area… But the tech turbine, computing, and recording areas are just there too… What an impossible dilemma! I have so much to say about each of those! Let’s start with…”

“Did I release the integrated electronics episode yet? I know I’ve recorded and edited it, but was it broadcasted… No? Oops~”

“My world domination campaign? It’s already in-”

…

“-the making if you’re curious about it. I’m only waiting for the confirmation that Star Trail will subordinate itself to me unconditionally before I release my special ultra secret domination squad~”

“Sigh…” Arthuria sighed heavily upon hearing yet another potentially controversial statement. Not that it mattered much when her boss had already hinted at him having brainwashed the leaders of the 5 grand nations.

Looking at a side screen displaying the top 10 Aven-related trending clips, a relatively good indicator of what she had to have answers prepared for if it was asked of her, she saw a new one had just entered it.

“Play the 10th one please,” she asked, preparing herself mentally.

One of her assistants, an enthusiastic yet taciturn young man she had worked with prior to getting her current “job” which satisfied all the qualities she desired in a long-term coworker, didn't delay and played the clip.

“Hah. This one,” she recognized in less than a second when this clip was taken and forgot about it almost instantly, “No need to do anything for this one, just ignore it.”

It was a clip where her boss had related a beautifully narrated pre-awakening period story, so of course, people loved it and clipped it to share it with their friends.

“Open the information banner to indicate he’ll soon start a tech energy infusion, his first since ascending to grade 4, it’ll attract new people and retain more of those already there…”

Hours had passed since a certain fairy brought the world along on a tour around the Rainbow IRC, a building arguably beyond what could be defined as a cutting-edge research center, hiding nothing, never stopping talking, and exposing himself as the inhuman, scary, phenomenal conversationalist he truly was.

And Arthuria, in charge of the entire backstage management of this stream, had only gotten the same 5 hours of sleep as Aven got before having to deal with hundreds of serious inquiries concerning whether this really was a “live” stream.

It just all seemed like a giant scam for anyone who knew even a smidgen of truth about Eland's political stance.

“Our Conglomerate contact just indicated they were more than willing to surrender a hard-to-exploit mining site following his exposure of the tech-exclusive water-cutter to make some tests concerning the viability of the exploitation method,” another assistant of her, this time a woman Drayce had personally recommended for her team, informed her out of the blue.

“Talk to Cirilla about it, and make the part about Aven having long delegated everything about this tech to her very explicit,” Arthuria formed an answer by automatism. If there was a pro to Aven’s methodology in her opinion as a direct victim of it, it was this.

Also in her own opinion, the current Rainbow IRC was completely unsustainable.

Traditional terms such as “short-term” and “long-term” benefits couldn't even be used to describe this gathering of random people who were bound to join Star Trail sooner or later.

She had never thought it was possible to have a workplace less connected than the infamously meritocratic and individualist Star Trail, but she had been proven wrong in the best way possible.

The Rainbow IRC, as whatever it was, something between a company and a cult, was completely centered around a single driven and ambitious fairy who desired a place to call his own for his own nebulous plans that eventually resulted in the entire world sending wary and amazed glances at his small corner.

‘If only they knew…’

Keeping her thoughts to herself regarding the imminent Canopy cleansing campaign, Arthuria paused her reflection on who she had been inducted by, her new role in this whole unsustainable mess, and what Aven represented.

Already, multiple dozens of short clips of her boss being crazy were trending online, and the hottest discussion threads all had to do with this single fairy who didn’t blink, didn’t breathe, and who was capable of entrancing anyone interested in what he was talking about.

The most dedicated “world domination zealots”, an effortlessly accepted fanbase name, all went through their own version of enlightenment once faced with this IRL, uncensored, and unshackled version of their idol.

But not everything was smooth on her own end, haters and detractors of course existed after all.

“People will actually start noticing his flaws instead of ignoring them… Is that bad news though?” She asked herself while sending a lazy look at the mindblowing reach the person she was in charge of had acquired in merely a few months.

Following her own train of thoughts for a few seconds, her eyes suddenly brightened as an obvious communication move she hadn’t thought of for whatever reason came to her mind.

“His flaws…” She repeated, giving herself some time to properly shape the foundation of a communication plan that while it would certainly make more detractors appear, it would only do so until 8 days later when the world would see Aven put his words to action in a disturbing enough way.

“It’ll soon become obvious he’s not as normal as he makes himself out to be anyway…” She justified her own thoughts by considering herself as a rational anchor point amidst all the madness that surrounded Aven, his enterprise, and his entire social circle.

She had seen and done a lot of things during her life as an unawakened, she had had her periods as someone willing to do anything for power as much as she had had her periods as a selfless saint, so she saw herself as capable of judging Aven for what he really was.

“Should I start with exacerbating his qualities or exaggerating his flaws though?” Arriving at a decision crossroad of her plan, she disregarded her environment to focus on this potentially genius-level communication campaign, “Both? Should I link both?”

Getting enlightened, she started applying her own insights to her nascent plan and used mental gymnastics that would make a sociopath blush in shame to create links between such negative personality traits and positive personality traits to hide the truth.

Aven wasn’t judging people based on their value following whatever his criteria were, he’s just too straightforward!

He wasn’t explicitly targeting people’s weaknesses and addressing their failing without moderation, he’s just too honest!

No, Aven wasn’t slightly delusional, he’s just too ambitious!

He wasn’t a warmonger, he just had his own vision of how the world should be, and it didn’t include shady people who didn’t act on the bright side of the world along with him! That one would only be something she could say after he showed his hands though…

He wasn’t slightly distant from traditional human empathy, it was just that his rare and unique fairy instincts overpowered these types of feelings, leading to him being as unique as he was!

Of course he’s a fairy, but he was once a human! So obviously, he can relate to many mental aspects humans have to deal with!

As for being too driven in pursuing his own goals… That was maybe the only thing average people could somewhat relate to?

“Just in case I’ll link it to him making others feel inferior… Too driven blablabla~” Finishing her mental arrangement, everything seemed coherent to her, so she began writing them down after making sure her second in command took over, “I got an idea I need to write down, cover for me for a few minutes Pricilla dear?”

The following answer was lost on her as Arthuria’s hands reached a conveniently placed keyboard she used to great effect in translating her thoughts into a tangible script.

A dozen minutes passed. Her hands didn’t hurt, and her back and neck also didn’t show any signs of being strained by her less-than-optimized posture.

As it had already been a few months since she had awakened and lost all those problems though, she didn’t even notice their absence and simply reached the conclusion part of her script.

‘In conclusion, no, no mention of negative traits there as it’ll remain in the mind of anyone reading. So, something like… He isn’t the embodiment of righteous values like justice or duty, he is the incarnation of drive and ambition?’

Opposing ideas collided in her mind as her ingenious actually accurate description of her boss took a more final form through her words.

‘And this incarnation of drive and ambition is driven and ambitious enough to be dissociated with Aven’s idea of remaining a casual person anyone could aspire to become? Hoh~ What a beautiful way to bring out his true positive traits first and foremost.’

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Getting jittery as she arrived at the conclusion of the conclusion part, her mind derailed a bit.

‘Maybe, if he hadn’t been so driven and proven that his drive truly resulted in something anyone could comprehend, people would have become able to see his flaws for what they were… But no. Super idolization isn’t a new phenomenon, it can even be said to be part of our culture.’

Stopping typing here and there, she thought about what she wrote and decided to backtrack and erase the entire last paragraph, replacing it with something much more in line with how she wanted to portray Aven.

‘Despite his flaws, there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind the day he achieves world domination will be… Be? Be what? How ridiculous can I push it?’

“Well, moving on I guess?” Finally feeling like her inspiration bout was over and she couldn’t find any satisfying way to conclude her script, she didn’t try to finish writing the script and moved on, returning to assuming her post as the stream backstage manager.

She tuned her ears back to her boss’s voice.

“Haha~ It reminds me of when I met Lenia back during the surge, I swear she has an entire professional aesthetic team behind her gear designs! It’s not possible to be so cool otherwise! Her long epic crystalline sword and medieval fantasized armor are too in sync with her bloody cold princess persona!”

And to such a random comment about one of the most serious contenders in the ongoing Emma Succession War, Arthuria could only do one thing, “Sigh… Too honest and straightforward, too honest and straightforward…”

…

On a relatively large tropical archipelago lost in the middle of the sea near the equator.

This archipelago had once been part of a minor trade road used by the Conglomerate, but was eventually sold to the United Federation of the Athal Continent to conduct less than savvy biological experiments hidden from the world.

Those experiments hadn’t been that immoral all things considered, but the information era ushered in by the advent of satellite communications and the internet allowed people from all across the world to band together to condemn even the slightest slights like the most damnable crimes.

As a result of the following mediatic storm that transpired more than two decades ago, the entire place had been swiftly abandoned but all the infrastructures were retained and still remained behind to this day, even if in relative disrepair.

And on a certain pristine white sand beach that had used time itself to wash away all traces of having once been part of a small seaside resort, a severe-looking man wearing a tropical shirt and shorts which contrasted what and who he seemed to be approached a blinding sunbathing otherworldly-looking man.

“Sigh… Are you really basking under the White now of all times, First?” The severe-looking man's demeanor broke apart the moment he asked this question to the source of all this blinding radiance, being replaced by that of a tired, exasperated middle-aged man.

“Huh?” The otherworldly man that seemed to radiate more light than the White acted as if he had just woken up and lazily glanced at the one who disturbed him before answering, “Ho, Fifth~ What brings you here? Need me to capture someone or something?”

“No thank you,” the question didn’t put a pause to the other man’s train of thoughts and he answered easily, as if it wasn’t the first time he was asked something like that, “I’m here for a new point of view.”

“Ask away, but if it’s about Aven, then kiss my ass and go talk to Fourth instead~ I’m fed up of talking about him~” Maintaining his lazy tone and posture, First crudely rejected discussing what he knew was the hottest controversial subject as of late.

Yet, it seemed that even this direct rejection wasn’t enough to spare him from yet another bout of Aven controversies. To his greatest dismay.

“He launched the permanent stream he kept teasing over the last month, and at the same time, the weird movements my agents inside Eland have reported have been amplified,” Fifth forced the subject without any remorse, knowing full well the consequence he would have to deal with.

“When do you want to kiss my ass?” First first addressed the consequence before responding, “And you’re not the only one to have access to the internet, Fifth. If you want a new point of view, tell me how you felt when you finally saw for yourself what the current fairy society looks like, not just from your agents’ reports?”

The abrupt change of subject didn’t seem to shock Fifth, First had always been someone who didn’t beat around the bush for as long as they had known each other, so he took some time to think and then gave his answer.

“Chaotic, anarchic, instinct-driven, a pure embodiment of fairies not trying to hold back on their true nature as social-obsessed, wasteful, arrogant, and power-hungry beings,” he started, holding nothing back.

“Their facade as innocent and naive cannot fool me, they’re all deep schemers that mustn't be given any hints regarding anything important, lest they immediately act on it for no other reasons than being curious about it,” he finished.

A pause ensued there where neither First nor Fifth added anything. Solely the background noise of waves crashing on the beach could be heard, perfectly accompanying the hot sea breeze and radiance that seemed to rock the beach.

“Social-obsessed, wasteful, arrogant, power-hungry, natural schemer, and curious,” First eventually summarized lazily, returning his head back to a neutral position, “And is Aven the same as any other fairy for you?”

“He’s no exception,” Fifth didn’t discriminate and judged the upstart fairy the same as any other.

“Is your vendetta against the fairies perhaps blinding your common sense?” First pushed in territories he himself felt uncomfortable with, but he felt it was necessary, “Anyone at our level would know he is anything but someone anyone on Green expected to be born before another few centuries of unimpeded growth.”

“My vendetta?” Fifth picked on something that triggered one of his heartstrings.

In fact, it irked him so much that he momentarily forgot why he had even come to see First during his break and absent-mindedly released an extremely cold wave of energy that stank of the spiritual realm to a degree few on Green would ever think possible for beings having not reached the fabled grade 6 energy nebula stage.

“Isn’t my vendetta yours too?” He questioned coldly, his eyes wide open as he looked at the one who insinuated otherwise.

“Isn’t it our duty to ensure the past, our past, doesn’t repeat itself?” He questioned a second time, and this time, not even the blistering heat created by both First and the equatorial archipelago could counter the alien coldness that inadvertently seeped through his words.

“Isn’t it our mission to ensure no one will ever have to live through what we lived?” He questioned again, his energy forming a domain covering hundreds of meters in all directions around him blocking the White’s rays.

“Why are you so lax and indolent when it’s more than clear as day the fairies are planning for something huge to happen soon?” He looked at First like he wasn’t the spiritual leader of their secret organization born out of circumstances but instead an ignorant who knew nothing as he concluded his rant.

Taking the full brunt of Fifth’s wild psy energy as it couldn’t be helped that he lost control, First kept staring at the sea as if he had expected everything, pretending to be a wise leader and not the brutish radiance demon all his few friends knew he really was.

A few minutes passed before the psy energy domain receded, Fifth reasserting control over his own energy.

“You’ve really softened up over the last 2 centuries,” he concluded by critically looking at the sacred-looking human lazily relaxing on a beach chair, creating an unworldly sight that would have attracted a lot of glances if not for the total absence of other people to see it.

“Isn’t that true for everyone, including you?” Reentering the conversation at the first opportunity as if nothing had taken place, First embodied the voice of wisdom and moderation, not holding back on using emotions to achieve his ends and prove his point.

“Unlike us, Second still has hope of one day recovering. He was the first to gradually stop caring about the fairies, preferring traveling the spiritual realm in search of greater truths he could share with the world once he reached the next stage.”

“Third now travels the world to experience all its storms and tempests, and who are we to tell him our hate-fueled self-imposed mission is more important than him enjoying his last connection to his real self?”

“As for Fourth… You saw for yourself what he’s doing now. He discovered a better purpose that suits him more, an alternative path to the one we foolishly decided to tread when we recovered, the path of educating the younger generation and warning them of the dangers of relying and depending on the fairies too much.”

“And even if you’re trying to hide it, I’m sure with the number of agents you’ve accumulated over the last 200 years… You’re fully able to reshape the world to the ideal we had 200 years ago if you really wanted to. You’re just waiting for an opportunity to act in the dark.”

First left unsaid nearly everything, but that seemed to be enough to at least get his point across to Fifth, justifying he wasn’t completely wrong in saying they had all softened over the years.

“Humph!” Harrumphing heavily, Fifth at least had the audacity to not argue back and leave the debate at that before leaving, kicking sands as he headed back to the center of the archipelago where his return plane awaited him.

Left by himself, First felt a slight burst of bloodthirst wash over him from nowhere, but it wasn’t anything abnormal for someone as damaged as he was, so he controlled it by concentrating on all the peaceful things around him.

He didn't fear losing control of himself, it would ineluctably happen, as it had thousands of times in the past, and he had long come to terms with it.

What he feared was losing control for good, diving so deep into his fragmented bloodline instincts that he would forget having once been human and all the moral values and principles that came with it.

As he resisted the bloodthirst that asked for nothing but destruction, both grievance and nostalgia flashed through his demonic golden eyes, shining as they observed the hypnotizing endless waves crashing on the beach seemingly without end with a rhythm no one could decypher.

“All the fairies who did that to us are long dead, Fifth… Their entire society vanished along with them, and what remains behind…”

He took a slow breath, using the blisteringly hot air to cool his body that kept radiating more and more radiance about to form a domain he really didn’t want to be formed.

But this time it seemed it was out of his control.

“Who are we to punish children for the mistakes of their parents?”

The moment he finished talking, the beach, the tropical forest, the various buildings in disrepair, the sea, the sky, everything was covered in a blinding domain of mystical radiance that overshadowed the White.

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