I returned to our camp by the dawn. Elina and Albert were already awake, and the moment they noticed my white ears protruding from the bushes, I was met with a murderous gentle glare.

"Hello~." (E)

However, when I stepped out from my cover, the gentle glare turned into an overwhelming pressure.

“FUJI, WHERE THE F* DID YOU GET THAT?!” Elina shouted and pointed at my crown.

“I was just wandering around when I found it lying in a swamp.”

“BS*. It is the duke’s crown!” (E)

“How do you know it, Elina?” I slowly approached her.

‘Bang’

She hit the top of my head.

“Don’t you dare try evading the question.” (E)

“Come on, I have such pretty things!” I showed her the jar in hope that she will be distracted.

She paled, but the distraction worked.

“Fuji, my sweet little Fuji. Do you even know what you are holding?” (E)

“Pretty glowing lights?” [How am I supposed to know what is there?]

“God, why did I deserve such a punishment…” Elina was holding her head in desperation.

Meanwhile, I was playing with the lights. Not only they are adorable, but also very smart.

I taught them how to follow my finger in a line, and in a column...

[YES! They are flying in circles!]

‘Bang’

“UUUU! WHY DID YOU HIT ME AGAIN?"

“Fuji, you better open that jar.” Elina was as serious as she can get. Even after I kissed her that time she was not THAT angry.

Not that it would make me obey her words.

“MY PRECIOUS LIGHTS!” I ran away from her as fast as I could. 

[I shall not surrender my pretty lights. They are too fun. And also I already started training them. They are already my pets! This is a violation of my property rights! I will sue her!]

While I was throwing a tantrum, Elina and Albert started to pinch me.

“I WILL NOT SURRENDER MY LIGHTS!” With this war cry I tried to breach the blockade.

“GOT YOU!” Elina was faster.

“NO! MY LIGHTS!” I gripped the jar with as much strentgh as I could aaply before the jar cracks.

I never let them take the jar, even when they both tried to pull it out of my hands.

It was a fight of a carrier versus two people. The outcome was predictable.

---

In the end they both had to yield. I saved my pretty jar.

“Fuji, I get it that you like the lights in the jar but do you know what they are?” (E)

“Yes, they are my pets.”

‘Double facepalm’

“Could you please stop being so childish?” Albert had only a second to dodge the foxfires. Yet he somehow made it.

“Why won't you let them go?” Elina was at the point of resignment.

"Don't want to!"

"Fuji, do you see them? You see how much they want to fly out of that jar? How about you pretend to be a good foxgirl, and open that jar~?" Elina changed her tactics: she was no longer a mother who chastises her child, but was now a mother who tries to invoke pity towards the lights.

I was about to tell her to go far far away. While my actions were just a continuation of my tantrum... at the back of my mind I thought about the fact that the lights were not just a pretty decoration. They showed the signs of sapience, and thus had a right to be considered intelligent.

“Lights, if you want to leave me, fly up to the cap, if not, to the bottom.”

All 4 lights just dived straight to the bottom of the jar.

[The lights really understood what I said. And then did what I said to them.]

While I was still dumbfounded by their actions, I looked up towards the other two. They had the same expression as mine.

“Elina, tell me, what the hell just happened?”

“I… have… no… idea…” (E)

“Why did they listen to you?” (E)

“Be-be-because they are my pets?” I tried to make an excuse but it sounded more like a question.

As if the lights felt my confusion, they hurried to the fingers I held the jar with. Like little flying ethereal cats, they tried to cuddle to me.

“Fuji, do you still want to trap them there?” Elina gently said that, trying to motivate me.

"Look! They don't want to leave me either!"

“Fuji, they are fairies.” (E)

“And…?”

“Wait a second, fairies?!” Albert said that and pointed at my jar. Elina ignored him completely.

“They are sapient, and I doubt that they like being imprisoned in that jar.” (E)

“So, Your Grace, Elina of Caliga. Some insight that you can tell me?”

Elina paled and stared at me with wide eyes.

“Fu-ji, this is not a funny joke…” Here come the excuses.

“You don’t need to worry, m’lady. This-is-ju-st-a-se-cre-t~.”

She was looking into the ground, trying to avoid my gaze.

“How?” [My dear, it is so simple…]

“I was observing you for a long time. Your behavior gave you out quite a few times. Don’t you get it? What is more important, are they really imprisoned there?”

“Yes… some people will pay a lot of money to buy a fairy. There is a belief that if you tear off a fairy’s wing, your wish will come true.” (E)

“Barbarians… The lights have nothing to do with the wishes.”

I was looking at the jar and thinking.

[I like those lights and want them with me… but will they be happy with being trapped there? Should I just let them go?]

From a humanitarian point of view, it is despicable to hold them inside that jar, especially since there are living creatures. I am ought to let them go, but I was concerned that they would leave me the moment I open that jar...

Also, my possessivness kicked in. After all, they were already akin to my pets at this point, just like Elina and Albert are. And what kind of an owner would I be if I throw them out? When I asked the lights if they wanted to be with me, they showed that they did want to. Would those fairies even like being let out, if they didn't want to?

I hesitated for a short while, before finally deciding to open the lid.

The lights flew out of the jar and transformed into 4 little girls, by that little I mean that they were less than 30 cm in height…

They didn’t appear to be running away. When I made a few steps back, they followed me, and the blue one even landed on top of my palm.

“Master, we thank you very much for saving us from that man.” The red fairy said that to me and bowed, all other fairies followed her example.

“Me? Even though I was also going to keep you there…?”

“You wanted to keep us because you liked us, not because we are fairies!” The green fairy said that to me.

“So, what are you going to do?” I prepared myself to take a hit.

“Allow us to serve you, Master!” All fairies were eager to stay with me.

I wondered what they can do but they suddenly glowed and… became quite bigger than they were. They became as high as a 14 years old teenagers.

I started thinking hard about what I have to do with the new arrivals.

[Okay… what should I do with them? Aside from having an actual harem…]