(Kiyomi POV)

When the dust from Elaria's bombardment finally settled, the necromancer was thankfully still alive albeit just barely.

She had just managed to erect a shield around herself when the explosions started but even that shield was insufficient to protect her against the bombardment, shattering upon the first impact.

I had to extend my own shield to protect her, wondering how she survived for so long being so pitifully weak.

"Heh heh heh! Take that you zombies! I'm the best imouto here!" Elaria shouted proudly, not even caring that she almost killed our potential informant.

Tsuki clicked her tongue, "This is nothing, I could do the same without the aid of a starship."

"Yeah, but my way is much cooler!"

"Aniue never cared about such things."

I really need to complain to Master later, this little sister rivalry is getting a little out of hand.

I walked up to the necromancer and flipped her on her back, ignoring the bloodstains on her and her missing limbs.

"Now, do you feel a little bit more cooperative?" I asked.

She gurgled out something and I assumed it was an affirmative, so I materialised one of Master's God Pills in my hand.

I threw it in her mouth and made her swallow it, waiting a few seconds for the pill to take effect.

She gasped and sat herself up, looking down at her fully healed body in wonder. She probably never expected to see such a miraculous pill in her life.

She gaped at me, "Who… Who are you?"

I shook my head at her, "I'm the one asking questions here. Where is the lake?"

The woman contemplated for a moment before sighing, "Is what you said about needing it for a potion true?"

"Yes, and I said I'd be the one asking questions. What does that even have to do with anything?"

She stood up and dusted herself, "In that case, follow me."

Tsuki stepped in front of her, "And why should we trust someone who tried to kill us not a few moments ago?"

She sighed exasperatedly, "Do I need to remind you again that you are the ones trespassing into my home now? Is it wrong of me to defend my home?"

Elaria shrugged, "She does have a point. So what's this about?"

She gestured towards her house, indicating we should walk while she talked.

"You can call me Hazel, I am the Guardian of the Fairy Lake that you seek. Before you ask, I do not practice the art of necromancy. I am a summoner and those 'ghouls' were earth elementals shaped to look like ghouls."

I raised an eyebrow, "What were they meant to do? Scare people away?"

"That was the idea, yes. Most people would turn away when they realise they might turn into one of them as well, so that gives me less trouble to deal with."

"You said you're the guardian of this Fairy Lake?" Tsuki asked.

"The lake was blessed by fairies to have extraordinary healing powers, capable of restoring one's youth even without cultivation. Practitioners who drink it would also find themselves empowered and increase their Cultivation efficiency. This makes the lake highly sought after by everyone who has at least heard about it. The fairies had grown weary of defending their lake from opportunistic hunters so I was called to help."

I looked her up and down, "Why did they call you in particular?"

"I had befriended a few fairies by saving them from some Adventurers. While most people sought to claim the Lake for themselves to abuse its powers, I only sought to study it. The fairies saw it as worthy compensation for my help."

We were almost reaching the cottage now.

I took the chance to inspect it, noting that it looked quite lived in but well maintained despite that. Just by looking at it from the outside, you wouldn't think a necromancer lived here

"And the fairies wouldn't mind us taking some of it?" Elaria pointed out.

Hazel shook her head, "The fairies never minded sharing the Lake with others. The only issue was that human greed drove a number of them to try and claim the Lake for themselves and to drive the fairies out, some even trying to make a business out of it."

I nodded, there are humans like that after all, human greed truly knows no bounds. Thus we need to cleanse such ugliness from them by teaching them the ways of Master.

  Only when the entire world knows of Master's greatness would it be cleansed of its impurities.

We reached the door of the cottage and Hazel opened the door, gesturing us in, "If you only desired to take a little bit of it to help another person in need, the fairies wouldn't mind helping you with that."

The inside of the house looked rather plain. There was a living room, a kitchen and a closed door that I assumed led to her bedroom.

The only interesting part of the house was the small alcove at the very back where it looked to serve as her alchemy room was located in. There were shelves stocked full of alchemical ingredients including herbs, potions, animal carcasses and even a few skulls of varying sizes, ranging from ones that seemed to belong to a giant bear and a few tiny ones smaller than a rat's.

Hazel sat us down at the dining table and poured out tea for us,  "I just need to go let the fairies know of your arrival so they won't get spooked. Just wait here for a bit."

She went to the alcove and pulled her rug aside, revealing a trapdoor underneath it. Pulling it open without much effort, she descended down the stairs without a second glance back, disappearing into the bowels of the earth.

I looked at the other two who had left their tea untouched, Tsuki even going so far as to push it away from her.

I took out another God Pill from my storage ring before picking up the cup of tea and taking a sip.

Hmm… Definitely poisoned, it's very faint but I could feel something take root in my Quark veins after drinking the tea.

I prepared to toss the pill in my mouth but the odd feeling suddenly dissipated as though it was neutralised by something else.

Odd, the poison definitely did not neutralize itself so something else did but I have no idea what might have done so.

Was this a hidden skill of mine?

I can wonder about that later, we already know this Hazel is definitely not who she says she is. The signs were relatively obvious after all. Those small skulls on the shelves? I'd wager those were skulls belonging to fairies, making her one of the people the fairies had wanted to protect the Lake from.

Also, earth elementals do not rot. The bodies we saw back at that giant ditch were definitely corpses of real humans, not a bunch of earth elementals pretending to be corpses.

And if she thinks resorting to such petty underhanded tricks was enough to take care of us…

Huhuhu… We can make this woman suffer for a very, very long time~

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