The Church of Isekai. Fat Fox

and probably they have a built-in defense mechanism or the likes of the Goblin would've smashed them just for fun. I've finished my tale with "So we all are technically zombies now. I don't know if we even need to breathe or eat. I guess we probably should continue eating… Once we figure out what to do about food. Also we need to learn more about the locals. A lot more"

      Suddenly we heard a voice from a small patch of flowers: "Perhaps I can be of help for you" and a small winged creature appeared before us with a text pop-up identifying it as a "Sprite"

      The Wise Cricket Part 5

      Kate and Constantine are shifting their gaze between me and the Newcomer. I take the lead, "Hello, Mr Friendly Sprite. We your local neighborhood Necromancer, Necro-Healer and The Night Squadron of the Air-force." For some reason I've decided to refrain from giving out our names. It also resolved a dilemma I've had about making a joke along the lines of "Constan-TINY". I think the joke is good enough to risk making our Pixie upset even though anyone who ever had to deal with the pigeons knows, you don't want something that can fly to be angry at you. The Sprite smiled, landed next to us and started his tale:

      – Well I guess I have to welcome you to this place. I've heard your conversations and I have to congratulate you – your conclusions are very logical and mostly true. I got here the same way you did – by bus. I woke up before anyone, saw most of the other passengers laying dead and I guess got scared, so I ran off into the bushes. In a while I saw some of them started moving, looking around, trying to talk and then the same "Meeting Committee" showed up. Those who could move, were tied, the rest of the live ones set up to be carried. Meanwhile the laborers with shovels dug up one shallow ditch while others took anything of value from my fellow passengers' bodies and dragged them to that ditch one by one. The diggers just covered it with dirt and waited a few seconds – then the dirt would fall in and the body apparently disappear. Seems like someone who got turned into a Fairy managed to fly off. Nobody cared. After all the dead were taken care of, the raid party started back. I flew behind them and they either didn't notice or weren't interested. I saw the newcomers lined up and a tough-looking dude barked instructions at them. They must drink an "adaptation" potion and put on a "clan ring" that they must always wear for their own safety. They will be punished if they don't. Everyone did as they were told. After that they got assigned to their teams. Some cook the potions, some have to go into the forest gathering ingredients, some go off to plow the fields. The last is pretty useless as there are plenty of edible things in the forest and there's even a Gourmet Flower. That's an amazing thing – one seed basically feeds you for a day and tastes as anything you want.

      Talking about the Gifts of the Forest – not only you get the food but also every so often there are big black boxes that pop up at random places. If you open them, you get random things from there – anything from tools to clothes to potions. However I've overheard the people at the Base Camp saying that some of these boxes come with poison inside and whoever opens the box would die. I was never able to open them – I think you need to be one of the Full-Sized to do that.

      So I went back and found the Fairy from my bus. Started talking to her and noticed how she would suddenly fly up and dance in the air giggling. Then she told me that I'm boring her and just flew off to play with flowers. Then she came back demanding I tell her that she is cute and her dress is pretty. When I did so, she flew off again. She came back twice more and then run into some other Fairies and started dancing and laughing with them.

      Another thing I've seen over my time here are the Monsters that come from behind the Edge. You see, we live basically in a rather large fenced corral here, like cattle. This meadow and the forest are basically in the middle, there's also a river and a Mountainous Ridge and that's basically it. You can walk or… fly… to the end of the meadow and run into a thin border of shimmering light. We don't know what's beyond it – I've heard the people at the base telling the newcomers that if they touch the border they'll die. Also sometimes we have very strange large creatures get through this veil – they are basically like monsters in video games. They only want to find us, changed humans, and eat us. They usually start with the small fliers and then march to the base camp. When that happens, about 20 of Level-1s are mobilized with a couple of higher Levels. They have special potions on their clothes that’s supposed to make them invisible to the monster but I don't think it works. I've seen these hunts twice and the monster always managed to eat someone before getting hunted down.

      I think this place does something to the small fliers like me. Before I met you, I've noticed that I've forgotten everything about the life before the Bus and even could not recall things I've learned here or even what I did yesterday. Once I've seen you arrive earlier, I feel everything I've lived through here started to come back. I figured you guys were on a school trip – I'm fairly sure we were on a regular city bus. So you are good for my health, at least the mental one. Maybe this environment wants us, the small fry not to fly off the handle by being grounded to someone full-size. So I'd like to hang around with your group. I'll show you around. There are several places you can set up camp in this forest – caves and such. So can I stay with you?

      Oh yes, one more thing. About us, small fliers. So you've seen Fairies, I'm a Sprite, your friend – a Pixie. There's many more of us. Two things in common. One – we very quickly forget our humanity and let the nature take over. So for example when you see an Imp – run or get ready for a fight; they'll attack you in groups scratching and biting. Then they take off laughing and screaming. Don't try to reason with them. Fairies are harmless but silly – dancing on flowers, always happy. Don't bother asking them anything. Pixies, as you see, are larger and usually more organized. They even build some kind of housing in the trees and can detect and fight off strangers. Sprites should be able to do some kind of Nature magic – wind in my case – but probably it opens up on higher Levels. Another thing common to us all is a rather small lifespan. At the end of each day most Fairies come together to one tree and settle in its large blossoms that close for the night. When they open in the morning, several of them don't wake up but rather fall to the ground. Other Fairies cover them with petals and fly off giggling. The dead ones just dissolve shortly after. The same happened to a group of imps terrorizing everyone for several days – they just didn't awaken one morning. The people from the Base Camp send out scouts to looking for the dead Fliers to rip off the wings – apparently they need it for Alchemy. So that's the other reason I want to be in your group – I feel it will let me stay alive longer.