Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

According to the magic scholars of the ancient empire, spirits were classified as a living natural phenomenon.

They were beings of magic, born in nature whenever enough of a given type of mana accumulated.
There was still a lot left to learn about them… But a common trait was that they could control their own element with more finesse and power than any human.
Out of all spirits, wind spirits were the most studied, relatively speaking. They also had the name of Sylphs.

And it was also those who were often referred to as fairies in this continent.
Because of that, it could be interesting to learn a bit more about their lifestyle..

…In the past, when the first emperor, the Red Lion Emperor Eurelia Argent was still young, she also became good friends with the fairies. During her rule, fairies were welcome and protected, receiving preferential treatment compared to other species.
Having gone through that, and the fact that they were naive and carefree by nature, they held no ill will towards humans. If anything, they were excessively friendly.
On the other hand, they lacked what humans would consider common sense.
They were infatuated with pranks as well. And again, not out of malice, in their eyes it was a display of friendly playfulness.
Sadly, their vocabulary…lacked the word prudence.
And so…

“Kyaaahhhh?!”
“Freya, give me your hand..!”

As her childhood friend fell down a deep ravine, Crim, who was also falling, reached her hand out.
It all began as they were crossing above the ravine, through an old hanging bridge people had built in antiquity.
Due to its age, it was missing various planks halfway through.
And yet Crim’s group attempted to cross it…all because of an illusion from the fairies.
They made it look like the bridge was in good shape, and as Freya was in the lead, she was completely helpless as she fell down.
Crim jumped after her trying to save her, leading to both of them falling.

*”Yayyy!”*
*”Gottem!”*
*”What did you do?! Why would you do that to our guests..!”*

The innocent laughter of fairies, and Fia’s reprimands quickly faded in the distance. At this rate, they were seconds away from being sent back to their last respawn point.

…That was the nature of fairies, a deathly pitfall was still just an innocent prank in their eyes.

And the worst part…their respawn point was all the way back in Castle Seyfert.
As the air pressure built up from the fall, Crim realized their predicament.
They still had not found a Teleporter Plaza since they entered the Fairy Village. If they died, they would have to redo the entire trip.

“Just…a bit more… I swear I’ll save you!!”

Crim focused all her efforts on saving Freya…and suddenly everything seemed to move in slow motion.
The only thing moving at its usual speed was Crim’s body.

“Almost…thereeeee!!”

Her feet kicked the air behind her, as she imbued her black boots, named Soaring Boots, with MP to activate its special ability Damsel Air Hop.
Blue magic circles appeared on the sole of her feet, accelerating her further to catch up with Freya.
Everything still seemed to move slowly as she got ready to catch Freya’s body, while spreading her wings at the same time in preparation to slow down their fall.
Then, as soon as Freya was in her arms, Crim began flapping her wings with all her might.

“Gnnghhh!!”

They were most of the way down already, and they had gathered a lot of speed. Trying to brake in the short distance left placed a strong burden on Crim.

“I can…do this..!!”

Gritting her teeth, she continued moving her wings as hard as she could.
Their speed gradually decreased…and the ground was looking dangerously close.
By the time her feet were almost on the ground…she ran out of strength to move her wings.
She toppled over on the ground, Freya still in her arms as they rolled around… and finally came to a stop, with Crim underneath Freya.

“Puhaaagh?!”
“That was so scaryyyy!!”

They had never been happier to be on solid ground as the built up adrenaline began to fade away, both hugging each other and rejoicing that they had survived.
…And they cried a little too.

Then came time to assess the situation. They had survived the fall, but they had no way of going back.

“So we survived… but how do we go-”

Worst case scenario they would have to force a respawn after all… Crim feared that outcome, so she began examining their surroundings, when…

“Kyah-”
“Freya, what happened?!”

Freya let out a short yelp behind her, and Crim instinctively turned around, coming face to face with…a skeleton.

“Hie-”
“Crim no, don’t leave me alone here!!”
“…Hahh!!”

Crim fainted instantly, until Freya frantically shook her awake again.

“Um…it looks like a really old body, I think..?”
“Yeah…it doesn’t seem to be an undead… And there’s no response, it’s just an object I guess.”
“But why is it here..?”

Not even Crim’s group would have ever thought of examining that small spot amongst the deadly cliffs to find that body.
It really was an odd find, so Crim examined it more closely. She noticed it was wearing armor…or at least the dregs remaining of it. Judging from its design, it was tailored to be worn by a young girl.
But most of it was torn to shreds, like a gigantic beast had mauled it, and the whole lower half was missing.
The only thing left intact…was a cross shaped shield on the body’s left hand, which was still shiny like new.

*”This was a knight from the dark ages. Who lost her life during the wars over control of the World Tree.”*
“Fia?!”
“Oh, thou came to find us?!”

Fia’s voice took them by surprise.
She had gotten worried for the pair and descended to find them, appearing like a godsend help.

“So a knight from the dark ages, huh?”
*”Mhm. The bodies from that time were buried later on by people from the empire, but I guess they didn’t find all of them.”*
“I see…do you know where the others were buried?”
*”Yup, it’s not too far from here. I can take you there!”*

Saying that, Fia began building a wind elevator to get Crim and Freya out of there.
While they waited for that to be done…Crim and Freya began collecting the remains of that girl knight as carefully as they could.

“Now it’s just the shield… Wait, hold on, no, this isn’t what I was trying to do!!”
“Hm? What happened?”

The last part left was the cross shaped shield, but when Freya picked it up she raised her voice flustered.

“Crim, what should I do? This shield is marked as looted now… I really wasn’t trying to steal it from her.”
“Ahhh, oh well, maybe just keep it then? Think of it as her entrusting it to you.”
“You think so..? Hmm, maybe you’re right.”

In the end Freya decided to trust Crim’s words, and after giving a silent prayer in the body’s behalf, she properly equipped the shield.

“Thank you, I’ll make sure to take good care of this shield.”

After Freya said that…an ethereal voice like a girl laughing echoed around them, making Crim shudder violently…

***

[Shield of Rebirth: Hildr]

The large shield left behind by a young knight who suffered an unnatural death, and wished for a peaceful world.