Conrad had been out that morning and when he came back he was met by an unusual sight in the garden. Greta admired a big butterfly on a flower, Wolfram was lying on his back in the grass and Yuuri studied a big, ancient looking book, while Günter was nowhere in sight.

Since when was Yuuri studying without Günter, by his own free will?

The next moment, Günter showed up.

"Conrad! I'm so glad to see you; I simply cannot find His Majesty! I wonder where he has wandered off to this time. Why doesn't he ever take his studies seriously?"

Günter's lips were pressed tightly together and he was wringing his hands, but he was more annoyed than worried. Disappointed, maybe. Conrad was glad that the situation could be settled easily this time.

He nodded to his left and Günter looked where he was indicating.

"It seems to me like Yuuri is quite studious today, Günter. Hey, what are you reading over there?"

Yuuri and Greta both looked up; they had been so focused on their respective fields of study that they seemed surprised to see anyone.

"Oh, hi!" Yuuri looked pleased to see them, though. "It's such a beautiful day, but I knew Günter wanted me to read this book so I decided to take it outside. This garden is pretty good for a classroom, don't you think?"

Günter's reaction was not, however, the expected one at the sight of a sweetly smiling Yuuri with a book.

"Your Majesty! Oh, no, no, no! You have to be more careful with things like this!"

He rushed forward and snatched the book from the young boy and clutched it to his own chest. He was almost shaking and Conrad hurried to his side to put a calming arm around his shoulder.

Günter didn't want his arm around him; he broke free and quickly retired to the shadow under a tree with wide branches, and there he took off his coat and wrapped it gently around the book.

"What's the matter?" Conrad and Yuuri asked in chorus.

"Don't you know?" Günter looked at Conrad. "You of all people should recognize this book."

"Well, it's kinda hard", said Conrad, "to take a good look at it since you do your best to hide it from everyone."

"This book is thousands of years old." Günter took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "It's written before Shinou's time. You can't take a book like this out in the sun."

"Oh", Conrad said and read the look on Günter's face. A smile formed on his face. "It's that book…"

"Geez", said Wolfram who had woken up because of all the commotion and followed them into the shadow, "if it's that fragile, why don't you keep it at the temple?"

"Well, maybe because it just never occurred to me that anybody would be that foolish."

"I'm sorry, Günter." Yuuri looked apologetically at his teacher. "I did not think that far. I'm not used to being around books that old. I know that's not an excuse…"

Not even Gwendal could always resist those big puppy eyes, so Conrad was not surprised to see that Günter softened immediately.

"It's not your fault, Your Majesty. I should have told you beforehand. Please, don't worry about it… but try to remember to ask me first next time you want to take a book out."

Yuuri nodded and promised solemnly. Günter was no longer upset, now that the book was out of the sun, and they all sat down in the shadow. Günter began to suggest going inside – despite the lovely weather – but Wolfram protested.

"Wait, tell me something first! What's with that book? Why did you say Conrad of all people should recognize it? Did you make him study it, too?"

"Well, it's just that it is unique, and your brother and I went through a great deal of trouble once to find it and save it."

"What is this book you're talking about?" said a voice behind them.

"Murata!" Yuuri turned around. "Now that you're here, I don't see why I have to read that book at all. You can just tell me about what it was like back then."

"Don't be stupid!" Wolfram poked Yuuri hard with his elbow. "He hasn't been around ithat/i long; didn't you hear that Günter said it's ancient?"

Yuuri's friend simply laughed and plopped down on the grass beside them.

"Oh…" Yuuri looked disappointed. "It's just that I prefer to go straight to the source. Instead of reading about, say, Shin Makoku's dealings with Caloria, I prefer to just go to Caloria and see for myself…"

"I know that's Your Majesty's favorite way of learning things," Günter said, "and that's, um, very admirable in many ways, but when it comes to history…"

"Yeah, and I know that as the Maou it's my duty to know about history and stuff, but it's just that I don't even know all there is to know about this country's recent history…"

"I need to learn a lot of things, too." Greta cuddled up against Yuuri. "Because I'm so young. And that means that we'll learn together, Yuuri. Isn't that great?"

Günter nodded his approval, but Wolfram still wasn't satisfied.

"Where does it come from, this book of yours? What kind of 'trouble' did you go through to find it?"

"Well, eh…" Günter fidgeted and looked at no one in particular. "That's, uh, that's a long story…"

"Yay, a story!" Greta cheered and clapped her hand. "Tell us, please, tell us!"

Yuuri and Wolfram looked excited too, and Conrad said he saw no reason not to tell them.

"I don't know", Günter said, "if it's a story for this particular audience…"

"Why not?" Wolfram demanded to know. "Now you've made us curious, we want to know!"

Conrad shrugged and leaned back against the thick trunk of the tree, saying that he could tell the story.

He liked to think about it, after all… and no one would know which details he kept to himself.

"It's no big deal", he said, and Günter's grip around the wrapped up book tightened.

"Alright. Tell them, if you must."

"It was Yozak", Conrad begun, "who first heard a rumour about the existence of the book. I'm sure you know that this book contains some tales you'd normally find in a story book for children; the kind of stories we'd call legends. A story is called a legend because there is no reliable source to verify or falsify it, to determine if it really happened or not; right, Günter?"

Günter nodded.

"Right, but a written source that is contemporary with the events it describes, that's something else. And that's why Günter wanted the book. So when Yozak heard that there was a village far, far away from here, in the mountains, with a library of sorts that was so old that it was going to fall apart any moment, Günter wanted us to go there to save what could be saved from the soon-to-be ruins."

"When was this?" Wolfram interrupted. "Why haven't I heard about it?"

"It was quite a while ago", Günter replied. "I believe you were somewhere with mother and your uncle at the time."

"Why", Yuuri wanted to know, "were the villagers willing to let their books be destroyed? Why didn't they improve the building, or move the books somewhere else?"

"Good question", Conrad said. "The thing is, the village was so cut off from everything that it was dying. Only a few people remained there, and they were old. They did not have the strength to fix anything, and what was the point anyway, if they were going to be gone soon?"

"But that's… that's so sad!"

"Indeed, Your Majesty. Your compassion never fails to shine like a candle in the darkness, and perhaps you would have been able to help them. However, I had never heard of this place before and not even Yozak was positive it truly existed… but I talked Conrad into accompany me on this quest, and my loyal former student agreed."

"I did", Conrad said, "because if nothing else it sounded like a useful excursion into the more unknown parts of the country."

And also because he liked the company of his former teacher, although they rarely found themselves alone together. But now, with no fellow students, no family, and no war to distract them… why not take the opportunity to spend some time together?

The first part of the journey had been uneventful, but although it did nothing to provide him with stories to tell curious kids, it allowed him and Günter to share their own stories with each other. Conrad told the older man about his father, and he talked about his brothers – Wolfram had been such an affectionate boy as a child but was growing into a most unruly teenager who sniffed scornfully at everything his half-blood brother said – and Günter talked about Gisela and about his past.

They talked very little about the academy, hardly at all about the question Günter once asked him there, and they didn't say a single word about the sudden sparks of warmth when their hands accidentally brushed together when they built a fire or when one of them handed the other a bottle… Sometimes Günter was lost in thoughts and Conrad just sat in silence, observing every detail of his face in the light of the camp fire.

But that was not something he wanted to include in the official story.

"The village was marked on a map", Conrad said, "that Yozak had given us, and he in his turn got it from a man who supposedly grew up there. The problems started when we realized that we were approaching the spot; according to the map, we should have gotten there already, but we simply couldn't find it."

"Don't tell me you were lost?" Wolfram stared at his older brother in disbelief.

"Yes, we were", Conrad admitted. "We were very, very lost, in the deep and wild forest; the paths we followed looked like they were made by animals rather than by men, and even many of the plants and herbs were unfamiliar to us. We were in the middle of untouched wilderness and the nights were filled with strange sounds."

"Oh", Greta whispered wide-eyed, "that sounds scary. Did you see ghosts? Were you afraid?"

"Nah", said Conrad. "It was scary, alright, but we weren't that afraid."

Günter looked at him, not oblivious to how pleased it made him to have caught the youngsters' attention so quickly with his story, and Conrad could see it in his eyes that he remembered.

"It is strange", Günter commented, "to talk of these things on a sunny day like this, in the comfort of our beautiful and familiar garden…"

"Yes. It's quite a contrast. You guys can't even imagine… On the one hand, sure, it was just a forest. On the other hand, the place was strangely eerie, as if there was something intangible in the air that warned us… about something."

"About what?"

"We didn't know yet. But of course, Günter did not want to go back. We had to get to those books at all costs!"

Wolfram's expression was still rather unimpressed, but Greta and Yuuri seemed taken by Günter's bravery. They were so used to seeing him getting emotional over things – over Yuuri, mostly – and Yuuri was so used to leaving him behind in the castle that perhaps this determination was surprising.

Conrad did not add that both of them felt increasingly uncomfortable because of the uncanny atmosphere of their surroundings, and for each night they had to stay there they slept a little closer to each other – not touching, but close enough to make it possible.

"For many days", he continued, "we saw no one else. But then one day something happened. Greta, do you remember when Lindsey came to play with you, and you thought Shinou was a fairy because he had to make himself very small to be able to leave the temple?"

Greta nodded excitedly and Günter made a sort of tormented noise. The incident Conrad was referring to was exactly the kind of thing he didn't like to be reminded of.

"I'm bringing that up to help explain what kind of creatures we met."

"Wait a minute", Yuuri said, "do you really have fairies here? Back on Earth, fairies are just… well, fairytales. Murata, did you know about this?"

"Yeah, of course. Although technically I suppose your average Earth fairy isn't quite the same thing. Tinker Bell and all that… And even here, I think they're almost extinct by now. I didn't know they still existed. And they aren't quite as small as you would expect, and they don't have wings."

"No, but they travel through air", Conrad filled in, "and they can make themselves invisible because they are almost spirits. They have bodies, but they are… weak, fragile. That is why they are drawn to humans and Mazoku, they are intrigued by our physical shape, our… solidness, I guess."

"They don't sound like the Tinker Bell kind of fairy at all", Yuuri said, his tone of voice reflecting the disappointment on Greta's face. "Are they dangerous?"

"I guess they can be?" Conrad looked at the boy with the glasses for confirmation. "But that was the first time I ever met one, and they did not appear to be a threat at all. They helped us."

"Why?" Wolfram asked. "What was in it for them?"

"Always so suspicious", Conrad smiled. "They helped us because they took a liking to Günter. They found him very beautiful. They get energy from Mazoku and humans…"

The strange little beings thrived on sexual energy, to be precise – not that Conrad was going to say it, but Günter cut him off quickly just in case.

"My hair", he said. "All they took was a big chunk of my hair. And when we asked for directions, they told us the reason why we couldn't find the village was that it was purposely hidden, concealed by some ancient magic spell that actually overpowered me. But these… creatures were unaffected by it."

There was a slight tone of disgust in Günter's voice, not that Conrad could blame him. The small creatures – there had been about five of them – were almost transparent but not quite, their bodies were half-naked and they didn't appear to be the least bit embarrassed by it. There were both males and females, and although both Conrad and Günter had been admired by people before, these strange beings were a little too touchy-feely for Günter's comfort – and it was Günter who was their main target; maybe because of his maryoku or maybe because they simply liked him better.

They giggled and laughed and talked with sing-song voices, and they ruffled the travelers' hair, sat behind them on their horses or sat on their shoulders. They ran their little fingers through Günter's hair or kissed his cheeks, tried to touch him wherever they could reach, and he couldn't get rid of them because they needed the guidance.

The worst part of it was perhaps the fact that the fairies made them… giggly, as if they were a little drunk or if they had eaten some non-childproof substance. They began saying this like 'You were the most attractive student I ever had', 'You were totally the best teacher ever!', 'You have amazing eyes' and 'Would you like to hold my hand?', and while these things weren't harmful or unpleasant – Conrad actually would like to hold Günter's hand, and to do more than that – it was embarrassing to be so out of control, to be played with.

"Why did they want your hair?" Yuuri asked.

"I don't know", Günter said. "Probably for some kind of magic potion. I never got a sufficient answer to the question, but even so it seemed a reasonable price for getting to the village – but it was trying, very trying, to have them surrounding us. And then…"

"Then what? What?" asked the three boys and the little girl. Günter looked at Conrad to let him take over the story again.

TBC…