Very few people knew how the tiny fairies became the world's strongest information specialists. Although they came in various sizes, the largest was only knee-height for an ordinary person, while the smallest would only be able to dance on a human's palm. If they participated in combat, the disadvantage of their size would be fatal.
Perhaps size didn't represent ultimate power, but the fairies' long history didn't have any well-known heroes or warriors. Apart from being excellent at escaping, the fairies didn't have any particularly outstanding natural talents. Naturally, they didn't have any outstanding combat achievements. Yet, they still did quite well in the mortal plane, where there was no lack of competition between species. In fact, they even had their own merchant guilds, business centers, and information centers in the extremely xenophobic human countries, which was quite impressive.
It wasn't that no one had ever tried to track down the fairies' secret, but the fairies always ended up vanishing without a trace. When they reappeared, they would say things like "Ah, a fairy tale kingdom." "So many cute fairies," "What a delicious strawberry cake, but I really can't eat it anymore. Let's give it to the little bunnies over there," and so on.
Perhaps mortals would think that the fairies' kingdom would be very cute and fairytale-like, but there would always be a large gap between reality and perception.
"Damn it, the entire world is at war, and it's hard for me to do business. It seems that a difficult winter is coming. "
The one-eyed black fairy had a cigar in his mouth and a small goblin gun in his hand. As he spoke, he puffed out a cloud of smoke.
His body size was severely overweight. From afar, he looked like a ball. However, he had a rainbow-colored transparent wing on his back. Every time he flapped his wing, fluorescent pollen would fall down. He seemed just like a fairy fairy who always played the good guy in fairy tales.
"… But the truth is that our business has been increasing recently. More accurately speaking, compared to last quarter, the Black Forest series of magazines' sales have increased by an average of 35%. Our ace magazine, Wind and Cloud Knight's monthly sales have increased by 91%. The main decrease is in the sales of hero figurines, portraits, toys, and so on. "
He was wearing a neatly ironed shirt and western-style pants. He wore gold-rimmed glasses that always represented intelligence. Yet, he was wearing a short black fairy with a curved nose, dead fish eyes, and a face full of stinky pimples. It seemed quite out of place.
It seemed — no, judging from his nose ring and crooked wooden staff, he was just like a little Onibaba who always acted as the antagonist in fairy tales.
"… The Kasolan Dukedom is holding a new year celebration? Are you stupid? What's there to report about such a small country? I'm going to deduct your salary … What? They were going to announce something important during the celebration. It was highly likely that they were going to leave San Antonio and join the Mist Alliance? F * ck, this is big news. Gather the information first, we'll send reinforcements to you immediately. "
"Those Great Demons are starting to build cities? They didn't swallow those poor villagers, but raised them? You're kidding me! "
The background of the two fairies' discussion was the busy crowd of fairies. Some of them were yelling at a certain black crystal amulet, some were yelling back and forth with wires and tubes, and some were writing furiously. The chaotic scene was just like the busy editing department before the deadline.
But, the place they were currently in wasn't a fairytale forest with green grass and blue skies. Instead, it was a city filled with civilization. The streets were filled with busy people, and there were factories not far away from them. There were printing factories, toy factories, handicraft factories, and so on. All sorts of signs were clearly visible. If one had to compare this city to other cities, it would be that the people on the streets were all fairies.
The sky was dark, and the sunlight couldn't be seen. However, the lights along the streets made this city seem like a city that never slept. The fairies didn't make this city into a kingdom of dwarves just because of their small bodies. The main reason was that this city was filled with servants of other species. The enormous, muscular, two-meter-tall demons with silly expressions were considered distant relatives of the fairies, as well as their protectors.
And, this city of fantasy wasn't located in the mortal plane. Instead, it was located in the Gray Shadow Plane, which surpassed all knowledge. The fairies weren't afraid of death as they gathered information everywhere. Actually, they wouldn't even die in the Aichy Plane. Their bodies in other planes were a special collection of shadow negative energy. If they met with danger, all they needed to do was dispel their bodies.
However, they weren't immortal. The reason they were able to live in this special negative energy Plane was because they were a combination of energy and physical bodies. They were a strange type of half-energy lifeform, just like the shadows of other lifeforms. They needed other species' recognition and recognition in order to obtain a type of energy similar to the power of belief in order to maintain a "living" state. Otherwise, they would be nothing more than a pile of rotten meat.
And, this type of energy needed to be constantly replenished. Although they could eat, they could only taste it and couldn't fill their stomachs. If they said that they were hungry, that would mean that they were about to die.
That was why since ancient times, other species had gotten used to these seemingly omnipresent little fellows doing all sorts of things. In fact, they even tacitly agreed that these little fellows were members of the mortal plane. And, the fairies gradually learned how to "farm" for their existence.
They were the most proficient at having intelligence organizations spread throughout the entire world, as well as trading in dangerous areas. However, they were also the ones who had created such a well-developed news and advertising industry in the mortal plane of Eich. It was just that all the other newspaper industries combined couldn't compare to them. Being able to transmit information from the mortal plane to the mortal plane of Eich in a timely manner was something that ordinary lifeforms couldn't compare to.
Of course, in order to farm for their existence, the fairies would always modify or even create all sorts of stories and legends. They would constantly have their own species' branches appear. Fairies, little demons, shadow monsters, and so on would appear. And, when the fairies discovered that children's "energy" was the most delicious and stable, not only would there be special squads that would come to scare children, there would even be the legendary great fairies that would give good children end-of-year presents. This was why the fairies' toy factories never stopped working all year round.
And the dark-skinned fat fairy fairy named Black was one of the top three bosses in this city. He had four toy factories, two printing factories, and more than ten magazines, monthly magazines, and daily newspapers under his control. The "energy" he obtained was enough to support several thousand fairies. And, as a fashion, he even had more than ten concubines. Not only were there fairies and great demons, there were even humans and elves from the mortal plane.
Why was this fashion? This type of half-energy lifeform's reproduction ability was completely different from that of a normal lifeform. It was similar to a type of self-splitting after reaching full energy. Their newly split offspring would have nothing to do with them, and those so-called concubines would probably only be able to provide them with a bit of energy.
And now, this fairy fairy was quite troubled. He swore on his beard that hadn't been shaved in three thousand years that his business had met with some major trouble.
"What? It's fine as long as there aren't any problems with the 'food production' industry and the newspaper industry. As my vice general manager, you're far too short-sighted. I'm even considering whether or not I should replace you. "
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, boss. Please give me some pointers."
Although the feelings of his own kind couldn't be used as food, Black really liked seeing his subordinates look at him with fear and respect. He viciously took a puff on his cigar and puffed out a few smoke rings before speaking viciously.
"Hmph, it's not because you've been following me for a hundred years, you idiot. Just look, the business of daily necessities is booming everywhere, but the sales of luxury goods are plummeting. Also, those species that suddenly appeared are fighting against the big guys. This only means that a periodic calamity is about to arrive — a great famine! "
"A great famine?"
The little Onibaba Albert was rather astonished. Would there really be a famine in the mortal plane? Or …
"A famine for us fairies?"
"Yes, as long as those stupid big guys start their so-called Holy War again, a large number of people will be reduced, and the amount of food that our race can obtain will be drastically reduced. According to the previous statistics, in fact, our final population reduction ratio is the same as that of the big guys."
From a certain standpoint, the number of fairies was determined by the number of living beings in the mortal plane. There was a limit to how many humans could provide for a single little fairy. If the number of living beings in the mortal plane greatly decreased, the number of fairies would naturally decrease as well.
"The same?"
"During the previous great famine, only 3.7% of us fairies survived. Considering that we raised a bunch of big guys as food, less than 3% of the big guys in that world survived until the end of the war."
Black was one of the few old fairies who had survived the previous great famine. Even he didn't know how many little fairies he had split into. However, the pitiful sight of corpses all over the ground left him terrified just thinking about it.
It was only natural that a war that could change the ruling species of this world would be so pitiful.
"That means that only 3% of us will survive this time!!"
* Boom! *
Albert's terrified scream echoed in the room. All the fairies looked in his direction, but Old Black didn't say anything and directly opened fire.
Albert gasped when he felt the bullet graze his face. He instantly calmed down and crouched on the ground in surrender.
Only now did he remember that his boss hated meaningless screams the most. Last time, that huge demon who screamed so loudly was directly sent to the mortal plane. He didn't even know how he died.
Black spat on the ground when he saw that Albert was sent flying. However, he didn't open fire a second time. He was somewhat superstitious and felt that since Albert was lucky enough to not be shot, there was no need to shoot him again and waste his good luck.
"'Lucky brat, I hope that you'll survive this time's 3%. Now you know how our fairies got their blessing. Don't have such a bitter expression. This time, us old guys won't just foolishly watch on. At the very least, we'll think of a way to help more big guys survive. Tell all the department heads to come here. What do we need to do? First, we need to let the big guys know how serious the situation is. Armageddon is right before us. "
"… Then how … should we do that? Even if we go outside and tell the big guys, they won't believe us, will they? "
"It seems that I really need a new deputy general manager. You're so stupid! "
Albert finally came to a realization when Old Black Fairy stared at the fairy reporters and editors who were busy again.
"You're saying that we need to do a publicity campaign? Tell the big guys that we're in big trouble? "
"Yep, that's the conclusion we came up with back in the day. Now, we've used so many years to control the big guys' public opinion and newspaper business. It would be such a waste to just sit around and do nothing. Tell the little guys that we'll pay them three times the overtime rate. We'll immediately add a special issue if we can figure out all the trouble by tomorrow morning! "
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