"Alright, I've figured out a few basic things now."
It took me a while to find these ghost and fay species but after an hour long search, my eyes finally caught some disturbances in the tall grass area.
'It was only a miracle that something so far away caught my eye. I would have never caught onto what was happening in this place without that.'
So, it was all thanks to my eyes that I was able to find what these original inhabitant fay creatures and the invading block creatures were.
'And things have become a little complicated thanks to this new information.'
There were a bunch of things in the world of Nexus that practically did not make any sense and this situation was one of them…
(Triade colorwings), a name that sounds pretty attractive and induces a kind of wonder towards the name, making us think of some kind of attractive creature with some colorful wings— it was the worst name the system could have given to these creatures.
'They look utterly disgusting.'
They are a repulsive sight, with their greasy, translucent wings carrying the faint stench of decay. Their bodies are covered with mucus-coated hairs, resembling the sticky residue left behind by house flies.
A constant, low buzzing emanates from their presence. Their multifaceted eyes always gleaming with an unsettling glint, amplifying their overall grotesque demeanor.
Practically, they are humanoid house flies with an unsightly pair of big eyes, and that mouth they use to suck flowers, and each other.
There is nothing attractive about their appearance itself, but… contrary to their appearance, these fly-like fay creatures are… how should I put this…
"Hmmmm. We can say these disgusting creatures are the closest things to the usual, cheerful, warm, and kind fairies from the fairytales."
They are good natured, help each other, live in large communities and even though these creatures are only as big as my hand, they are not bigger than the grass blades of this field so spotting them is a little difficult from afar.
If one disregards their appearance and that eerie buzzing sound they make, they are pretty good creatures.
I came across some of them when walking around the field and they even gave me this marble-like thing…
============
[Triade honey]
: Food item.
— Can be used as a food ingredient or as a direct consumable item.
Effect: Restores energy by 1~5 points.
============
It was a freebie so I was pretty thankful for these creatures even though the sound they make cringes the hack outta me.
'They are pretty good creatures despite their looks. And, they are peace-loving for most parts and stay on the defensive even when the Small blockheads are invading their colonies.'
And, contradictory to their looks, these small blockhead bastards are a total piece of shit.
"They are also a humanoid species just slightly bigger than my hand, but they only have a body like a human baby, their heads, as their names suggest, are blocks."
Just like the white bricks we use in some construction sites, these blockheads have a brick-like head with no eyes and a single mouth that has unsightly human-like teeth.
They are a ghost species so they cannot be touched directly. These smart bastards know that well, and they take advantage of this special effect… causing a scene like the one before me every once in a while.
"This is absurd, fuck…"
The Fly creatures lived in small colonies all across the grassland and one of those colonies had just been attacked by the block creatures.
I was looking at the aftermath of their invasion, and it's devastating.
"Are all ghost species in this place… like this?"
There was devastation before me.
The houses the fly creatures live in were all burning.
The brickheads were a little bigger than those fly creatures so they had an advantage even against the high numbers of the fly creatures.
They invaded their land, killed any fly creature they came across brutally, burned their places, and even went as far as hanging their dead bodies in the middle of their colony.
Before burning all those dead corpses as well…
'These brickheads had a constant, excited smile as they did that. As if they were enjoying killing these creatures. Even the way they pulled their heads from their bodies showed just how big the power difference between the two species was.'
And yes there were a few among the flies who could use some kind of unique power, most probably Mana, that could directly hurt and kill these brickheads, but the blocks knew that as well so they focused all their power on those individuals first.
'The situation here is more complicated than I imagined…'
The way the block people brutally killed the kind fly people, the way they burned their families, their children, indiscriminately… the fucked up smiles those bastards had while doing all that shit produced a kind of anger in me I hadn't felt in a long time.
'I want to kill these fucking creatures with my own hands now.'
And since my quest was about resolving conflict between the two species, eradicating one species completely from this land was certainly an option I could have used if possible.
But, there was a problem with that option…
'The average level of these brickheads is around (Level-12) to (Level-15). And I'm just talking about the basic members of their kind that have nothing special about them other than brute strength.'
I went around the entire grasslands for half of the day and found out there was a single settlement of these brickheads some distance away from here. A central city-state structure where only one leader rules over the entire population with no distribution of authority.
'And that ducking leader or (Small blockhead eater) is a (Level-33) creature that can kill me with only a flick of its finger.'
They avoided interacting with me directly since I was several times bigger than them. They thought I was as strong as I was big and didn't pay attention to me even when I watched them from closer.
'They were wilder than the fly people even though they lived in a societal structure close to a monarchy.'
They did not need food to survive since the main source of energy for them was present all around them in the atmosphere, but since they were semi-spiritual creatures, after existing for a certain period, they divide into two or more different beings that are younger than their parents.
The growth rate of their population is so fast because they are creatures closer to slimes and since their leader is a Small blockhead 'eater' that eats his own kind to get stronger, these brickhead creatures willingly serve more than half of the younger population to him.
'Which is fucked up, I know. But these creatures find it normal. Too ducking normal to be happy when they are chosen as a literal living sacrifice.'
They instinctively want to make this 'eater' happy, and thus they want more land for themselves so that they can absorb more of the atmospheric energy particles and grow faster so that they can divide faster and make the 'eater' happier with more food.
They are a weird kind… but it wouldn't be a lie to call them fascinating either.
'They have a unique kind of moral compass guiding them that doesn't see anything wrong with beheading the flies, crushing their children under their feet, or burning their population alive.'
Both species are smart and understand their people, could communicate in their own ways, and live in groups.
The Fly people side is passive and doesn't really want the war but they have no choice other than defending their kind against the brickhead's invasions.
The brickheads don't really want anything to do with them but they want their land, which the fly people couldn't just leave since they have lived there for generations.
'So, if I forget the killings, and the individual parties of the creatures completely, the conflict is mainly about the land.'
Making it a simple territorial dispute.
"The solution for this could be achieved by either one of the parties changing their ways of doing things or if one of the species is eradicated completely or driven out from this land."
But then again, the fly people are useful and important for these grasslands so they must stay. And there is no way I will be able to defeat even the normal brickheads much less their damn leader, so being forceful with them is out of the question as well.
"I could have killed the fly people first and leveled up a bit before systematically attacking the brickhead people if the objective of the quest was to eradicate both species but that isn't what the quest wants from me."
The objective is to resolve the conflict between the two species where talking is not an option anywhere.
Nonverbal communication could be possible to a certain extent but they are still only creatures with low intelligence.
They aren't going to understand more than what they instinctively know.
The fly people are good but they are still not the kind I want to actively interact with since being near them for too long feels like I am being debuffed or something.
So… Here's what we have until now.
"There is a conflict."
The territorial dispute between (Triade colorwings) or the fly people and (Small blockheads) the brickheads.
"There is a cause to this conflict."
The brickheads need more land so that they can have more children that they can feed to their leader, for which they have to forcefully take over the land of the fly people since they wouldn't or couldn't go away from their homes.
"There is a way to resolve this conflict."
But eliminating either side isn't an option. Talking things through is not an option either. And I don't hold enough power to actively change anything that's happening here.
"But there is a way to achieve it."
There is definitely something that can resolve this conflict where the brickheads could be happy and at the same time, the fly people could have their peace beck.
"I just have to figure that way out and follow the path that will appear before me afterward…"