By: Indumati Eveningnight
Once upon a time, there was a tutorial fairy who came from a long line of tutorial fairies who once served heroes of old throughout the legends of the Lands of Earth i's Own Legendary Period, in the Land of Ar-Pi-Gee.
In these lands, there is a terrible and horrific monster known as the Great Daemon King, a terrible warlord and tyrant-wizard who is like a great muscular baboon-man with an oni face with horns and white fur with tiger stripes and dark, dragon like wings on his back and carrying a massive black axe that radiated dark power. The hero, a young man with spike blonde hair and clad in a blue and white cape that he got from his school back when he graduated with his best friend, the Tutorial Fairy, Little Sage. Little Sage helped him by observing the fight going down and helping the hero look for openings in the Daemon King's attacks and tactics saying, "He's getting ready for a sideways swing attack, you can jump over him and strike him with a light-element attack in his weak point-" But the Hero, who's name was Lynel, shouted at her and said, "I know what I'm doing! I don't need your help! Just shut up!" Little Sage looked on as the hero struggled against the Daemon King's attacks by blocked and even getting a small crack in his sword. Little Sage quickly used a bit of repair powder to repair it, though Lynel didn't notice and avoided the Daemon King's downward attack by sliding under him and hit him in the back with his Rolling Slice, which made the Daemon King howl in pain and collapse to one knee. Little Sage then said, "Now's your chance!" Lynel ignored her angrily and struck the daemon king with his Flame Slash technique, which the Daemon King resisted, but it hit his eye so he reeled in pain. Little Sage then said, "Looks like he resisted that attack, why not try a light element attack instead?" Lynel then said, "Shut up! It worked, didn't it? So clearly you're wrong." However, he decided to use his light element attack anyway, aimed his Lightning Slash for the Daemon King to try and finish him, but the Daemon King evaded and did a massive howl attack. Little Sage used a stun resistance potion of the Hero to stop him from getting stunned. Lynel, however, grew annoyed and said to her, "Stop wasting my items, stupid fairy!" Little Sage was saddened by this and said, "I was only trying to prevent you from-" The hero however swatted her aside and aimed his lightning slash into the Daemon King's mouth, jumping over his sideways swing and hitting him in the opening that Little Sage pointed out earlier in The Daemon King's attack pattern and Lynel pretended it was his own idea. The Daemon King was beheaded by the blow and fell, lifeless, defeated, and dissolved into dust. Little Sage was just surprised that Lynel actually hit her. She remembered how he had been so kind back when he was little and full of wonder and hope, and how he once generally tried to help people and they had worked together to defeat the Daemon King's minions, but...something about him changed once the fame and the money and the attention started to get him, especially from cute girls. Despite all she had done for him, with even helping him set up his first base, learn alchemy, even learn to woe girls, and even help him defeat basic monsters and see their patterns...she was shocked by this sudden act of cruelty. She saw he only saw her as a liability and an annoyance. The Daemon King's castle started to go down too, once he was defeated. Lynel ran past Little Sage and ran out of the castle without her and without checking to see if she was okay. Little Sage saw this and was very sad and said, "Is this what I've become to you? Is this what I am to you now?" She then decided to fly after him. She thought he might still need her to escape and might get stuck somewhere, but...as she approached the exit, she saw him fighting a skeleton knight and having a rough time. She used one last strength potion on him to help him overpower the skeleton, a thing she often prepared each morning with alchemy so knew how to make an S+ rank one so it would be easy for him to overpower a basic monster. He shouted at her again for, "Wasting items!" and went ahead to the exit. The two managed to escape, and watched it all fall down together. And the hero was worse for wear. Lynel then laughed and said, "I did it! The Daemon King is no more! Ooh I am so going to get rich and famous after this! And I'm gonna get all the girls and even the princess as mine!" Little Sage, however, was silent. He didn't even acknowledge her. She was used to him not acknowledging her now.
Later, he enjoyed the glory, a parade, a fireworks show, even a proposal from the princess. Little Sage, however, for most of it, was ignored. She didn't even want to enjoy it anyway. After all, all these people around her were happy for Lynel and here for him and what they saw as his efforts and his alone. They just saw her as the "useless annoying tutorial fairy." And later, when the hero was in his own room, he was smiling ear to ear and happy. Until he saw Little Sage, who herself was down. He then said to her, "You know, you have served your purpose." Little Sage then said, "I already packed everything up, Lynel. I know when I'm not wanted anymore." Lynel was shocked she actually said it out loud and said, "Ah, then you know how useless and annoying you've been. After all, I defeated the Daemon King without your help. Not to mention, you wasted precious items when you didn't have to in that last fight. Frankly, you're a waste." However, Little Sage wasn't listening to Lynel and only said, "Actually, I've been thinking of leaving for a while now...Lynie." Lynel then said, "I told you to stop calling me that!" Little Sage then said, "...You used to like it back when you were just starting out, you know?" Lynel then said, "That was then, this is now." Little Sage then sighed and said, "I know. And I'll be taking my leave. So you won't have to bother with me anymore." Little Sage, however, left behind a guidebook for Lynel. And said, "I will, however, leave you with some notes, in case you need them, okay? Feel free to do whatever you like with them." He then said, dismissively, "Whatever. Now get." Little Sage then said, "Just one more thing. I won't be coming back. Not ever again. Even if later down the line, you would ever want me to. This is goodbye." She then soared through the window and headed off towards her home in the Forest of Journey's Beginnings, where she was born and raised. As she flew out the window, Lynel shouted back at her one last insult, saying, "I will never ever need you ever again! You hear me?!? You useless piece of trash!" He then looked at the guide and mocked it in a mocking voice, "I'm leaving you a guide!" before he tore it up and put it in the nearby fireplace and warmed his hands by it. He then said, though she couldn't hear it anymore, "At least your useless guide served more use than you, stupid fairy!"
Little Sage, using an item from the inventory known as The Gale Wind's Wings, flew off and headed towards her homeland. She was actually sad when she came inside of her little tree hut and cried and cried. Her mother than said to her, having not seen her in a while, "What's wrong, honey?" Little Sage relayed all she experienced from Lynel. Her mom was surprised at Lynel's change over the course of the journey but hugged her daughter and decided, "Sounds like Lynel's the one who will be unhappy in the end, honey. If he can't see what you did for him, then he doesn't deserve you." She then started cooking Little Sage's favorite fish sandwich and said, "I'll make your favorite tonight, to cheer you up." Little Sage's older sister then said, "So, sis, what are ya gonna do now? Go be a tutorial fairy to someone else now?" Her father then said to her sis, "Now now, don't be rude, give her time to process, okay?" Little Sage then said, "It's okay, I actually don't know...yet. But I won't be doing this work. At least, not for another hero. After all, the other heroes I've met all weren't very kind either." She recalled her experiences at the guild when Lynel first started his journey and how he improved. The guild members and other heroes in the land didn't think much of or value tutorial fairies and often dismissed them once they got any amount of skill or experience, and often, not on good terms. So Little Sage then said, "I think...I will go on a journey myself. I need to find something else to do, out there." She took her mom's sandwiches with her. Not very powerful healing items by any means, but delicious, and Little Sage's favorite. Little Sage decided to give her mom some new recipes to play around with. With her mom was very impressed by, and gave her sis some rare materials since she was interested in making magic items, and gave her dad a fish on a mount that he wanted from a fishing hole back when her and Lynel still got along. It was something he once helped a hero himself catch and let the hero keep. He was happy with it. They then let her go on her way in the First Forest, where she decided she wasn't going to guide heroes anymore but was going to be one herself instead...or maybe something else.
She wasn't quite sure. The first thing she decided to do was look for ingredients, which thanks to her gathering skills and alchemy practice, though it was the First Forest, she got high quality and rank ingredients. She also checked her "farm" which was a small magical plot that was in her system which led to a magical field of land that still had some ingredients growing in it, which she divided into food sections and alchemy ingredient sections. Lynel didn't bother too much with this stuff beyond the basics. That way, she had food and could use the "alchemy pot" in the system to mix things together to make her daily items. She knew, however, there were monsters in the forest. She knew them too like the back of her hand. Though she wondered what state the monsters were now in now that The Daemon King and his Generals had been defeated and they were no doubt being hunted down and killed as they scattered, lost and afraid. She didn't hate any of them, aside from their higher-ups and their misdeeds against people. But she also knew their tactics. Patterns. Defenses. Openings. Weaknesses. To her, they were all very predictable, like the monsters practices the same tactics over and over again and could be defeated the same dull predictable way again and again. Clever heroes with actual skill picked up on them easily and had no trouble with them, while tutorial fairies like her had studied them extensively and had taught heroes those tactics to outsmart and overwhelm them. In fact, many of the monsters she met actually only knew a life of fear, of torment from those who ruled over them, and, of course, constant struggle and death at the hands of mortals. It's true it made them meaner and more vicious, but it also is part of the reason why she once tried to get Lynel to become a Monster Tamer instead of learning Paladin/Hero skills. But Lynel, though excited at the prospect at first of taming monsters, found the task difficult and demanding and quickly abandoned the idea when he wasn't an instant master at it. He found going for raw DPS easier, which in Little Sage's eyes was true, but also saddening at the same time, since humans often did this. Little Sage recalled this was actually the first time Lynel had given her pushback, saying, "Monster taming is lame and useless anyway. We should fight and kill them. That's our job as heroes, right? Why are you trying to teach me something so useless anyway?" However, Little Sage, at the time, chopped it up to his frustrations at it and how humanity often saw monsters. Little Sage saw the abandoned monster taming "terrarium" in her system. She wondered if she could use it instead this time? Then...she saw something moving nearby. Something jumped out at her. It was a young goblin. A rather weak one who's legs were shaking, and it was armored with a mere pot lid and a rusted worn-out spear. Little Sage noted this. However, instead of attacking, she said, "Your gear looks in pretty bad shape." The Goblin then said, "I-I won't give up! For the Daemon King!" Little Sage sighed and said, "Him and all his generals are dead. The Hero beat all of them." The Goblin's shaking started to calm. He then said, "Wait, really?" Little Sage then said, "Hey, how about I take a look at that spear for a minute, if you please?" The Goblin then said, "But...aren't you with a hero?" Little Sage then said, "Nope." The Goblin muttered to himself and said, "Err...okay." Little Sage started to use the alchemy system to fix up the spear and turn it into a B rank short spear. The Goblin looked at how impressive and shiny it was and said, "You...could you also help my friends too? They just got attacked. By heroes, I mean. Many of us got really hurt or killed and we don't have the resources to fight or help each other out." Little Sage thought for a moment and said, "Very well." She thought that technically, talking to monsters and offering to help them isn't something Lynel ever tried doing himself. And back then, she admitted she wanted to do things differently but thought it was a hero's duty to defeat monsters, especially since they served the Daemon King. Though seeing how many monsters she saw with Lynel changed her mind a bit.
Little Sage came to the trashed and ruined goblin encampment, which had simple wooden defenses that were in ruins and a lot of simple houses built of flimsy materials and many dead and injured goblins. Little Sage's approach was met with suspicion by a one-eyed goblin who held a spear that was so worn that it didn't have a sharp point at all. He then said to the former tutorial fairy, "You...what do you want? To kill the rest of us? Once our general gets back, you are gonna be-" He then limped forward to swing in clumsy swing. It was easy to predict, and Little Sage dodged. Little Sage then said, "You aren't in a condition to fight. Your eye is clearly injured and your leg has been broken." The goblin, however, didn't want to stop. He then said, "Even so, The General will kill us if we don't fight." He did another weak swing, before the other goblin then said, "That's enough, The General died in his fight with the Hero a long time ago." The attacking goblin then said, "But the Daemon King-" Little Sage then said, "I'm afraid the Daemon King is dead. The Hero defeated him." The attacking goblin was in shock. He then said, "You mean...we don't have to serve him anymore?" Little Sage then asked, "Did you want to?" The attacking goblin calmed down and said, "Not really. We didn't want to join him in the first place. His general basically strongarmed us into fighting. Are you sure he's...you know, dead? He was so strong. He killed our previous leader, even." Little Sage then said, "Yes. Anyway, enough about that. Let me help you with your injuries." She then gave some medicine to help him recover his eye and his leg and his strength. He started to move around more freely and see again and then he said, "You...you're okay." The first goblin then said, "Hey, how about letting her in? She can even make us cool weapons." He held up his short spear with pride. The guard goblin then said, "Okay." After that, Little Sage went around healing each goblin, including their frail chief who was an old, bearded goblin shaman. The goblins were surprised that a Tutorial Fairy was helping them, but they were still uneasy. They knew humans would come again and try to kill them. That's when Little Sage had some ideas. "How about I fix up your village for you?" The goblin sage then said, "You would do that? Not even the Daemon King or his General would do that for us. And humans certainly wouldn't. Who are you, little fairy?" Little Sage then said, "Just a wondering fairy on a journey." The goblin sage liked this. Little Sage then started using the "Base Building" system that Lynel had abandoned after a couple of bases, saying, "What's the point of this anyway? Towns and cities are much better anyway!" In truth, Little Sage had hoped he could use the base building system to establish villages and cities himself, which not only would give him something to do after the journey's end, but also help with their finances and material gathering and open a bunch of shops that she had planned to assist with the systems and eventually work their way up to S+ gear not only being available to Lynel and herself, but to others as well and even build it up into a real hero's capital that could set Lynel for life on top of get him tons more reputation, but he rejected this saying, "It sounds like a lot of work and resources. Besides, it's side-quest nonsense when being a hero and defeating the daemon King is way more important especially to do quickly to end his regime and this nightmare!" Little Sage remembered she had high hopes for the future for him...but now, she decided, she would do that instead. In fact, she had a plan as to how to build the goblin village into a sanctuary for them and for their future and their education. First, of course, came burying their friends and improving their living conditions and building some thick stones walls to keep out monsters, and create magical gates that let them come and go, but keep out anyone not invited, and to set up a healing spring for the rest of the injured, and making better houses for each of them to live. The goblins were surprised by this. Little Sage asked if they needed or wanted anything else. The goblin shaman then said, "I wish my children could learn magic, like me." She even made a center for education and a library of magic for them, so they could learn on their own. She also researched monster evolution in her notes and decided to tell the goblins about it. The first goblin she met than said, "Ooh if I become a Redcap, I can become a great warrior? The guard goblin then said, "If I become a Hobgoblin, I can improve my defenses?" The goblin sage's young daughter, a red-haired goblin who took care of her old man and was gonna become the next chief then said, "I want to be a Goblin Shaman, like grandpa." The grandpa then said, "I am old and frail, but if I became a Goblin Mystic, I think that might not be a problem anymore." So Little Sage then said, "First, of course, are the requirements. I have plenty of the right materials, though some of it will be a bit of work on your part to unlock. I do, however, have a way to shortcut the stat requirements." She then opened a gym to train people in their stats, so they could train in their attack, defense, intelligence, wisdom, speed, and luck. It wasn't long before everyone trained hard to build themselves up to where they needed to be. The goblins all impressed by this. Little Sage then said, "One last thing, it will require you to be given names." The goblins heard of fairies taking names, but giving them? In truth, Little Sage knew this was a high art, but she, out of curiosity, had been working on that for a while in secret before her departure from Lynel when it became clear the distance between him and her had grown too much. The guard goblin was known as "Verdant" The first goblin was known as "Lime" The red head was known as "Olive." and the chief was known as "Sprig". Their evolutions made the first goblin into a red-hatted lethe tall goblin with a large scythe weapon with high attack and agility. The guard turned into a powerful pugilist with martial arts capable of shattering stone with a strong muscular green frame. And the red head became a red-hatted flame-red cloaked magician goblin with a red crystal staff, and the old chief became a glowing green gray-green cloaked tall wizard that had a big wooden staff and commanded mystical energies. Little Sage was impressed. She wondered, in her mind, if other members of the former Daemon King's army and other non-associated monsters might like this upgrade too. Of course, she decided to set this place up as a base...a place a bit off the beaten path of her home in uncharted territory that was commonly seen as a place where early heroes would meet tutorial fairies and start fighting weak monsters. In fact, some of the weaker monsters, including other goblins, slimes, and myconids, heard of the strange change in the goblin village. They wanted to be protected too, since they were weak creatures who were often fodder for even the slightest breeze. The goblins agreed, as long as they kept the peace. And they were introduced to the Little Sage, who welcomed them in, and said, "Hi there. Now, what would you like to do and become? I shall try my best to make it possible." One of the slimes looked on excitedly and one of the myconids shook her hand. And the goblins started getting along nicely. It felt like the beginning of a beautiful thing. Little Sage made their home into a new carved tree, even, which was protected by a magic circle, and decided to train herself more and more, while using the forest to get basic resources for everyday life, and using her systems to maintain and gain more. She even taught her new friends how to enjoy a variety of foods which she taught them to grow, and herself opened a medicine shop and a blacksmith to buy and sell weapons. All while teaching and tweaking the village defenses where she could. It was hard work, but noble, she felt. For the first time in a long time, she felt happy. Appreciated. Loved.
End of Part 1