Chapter 75: Why So Harsh
Chapter 75: Why So Harsh
"Who knows about that sort of thing?"
In the world of magic, strange and inexplicable events are commonplace, not everything can be easily explained.
Natsu didn't care how it was done; he just wanted to resolve the issue. "In any case, all of Rod's battle plans are useless now."
"Right." Rod's Plan A, B, and C all aimed to kill the Beast King, which is different from the usual monster hunts and bandit raids. One requires a kill, the other absolutely forbids it.
Now, the monster they were after might be an ordinary person transformed by magic, so they had to capture it alive and find a way to break the spell.
Natsu had called a halt to Rod's plans for this very reason. Imagine accepting a monster hunt commission and ending up killing the client's son...
That was unacceptable.
"Breaking the spell, huh..." Rod could think of three methods on the spot.
The first was to wait for the person's magic to run out and the spell to dissipate naturally. However, that might not work in this situation.
The second was to find a Magic Seal Stone, which could prevent mages from using their magic. Rod had never seen one in person, but from the descriptions in books, it sounded similar to the Sea Stone from the neighboring pirate world, just not as hard.
Before the establishment of the Mage Guilds, ordinary people used these stones to combat and persecute mages. Now, they were mostly used in the Council's prisons.
Getting one of these stones wouldn't be easy, and using three of them in a battle would be ridiculous.
The third method was the simplest and most direct: beat the person until they lost the ability to fight, or even consciousness, and the spell would naturally break.
This was the best approach for the current situation, though it would mean holding back during the fight—no killing or maiming.
But that wasn't a big problem. As long as they didn't kill anyone on the spot, they could take the person to Porlyusica for treatment. She could heal almost any injury.
"Alright, let's do it!" A fight to solve the problem was exactly what Natsu wanted.
He jumped up, waving his arms and ready to go, but he stayed in place, running on the spot.
Rod had grabbed the back of his shirt.
Natsu turned around. "What now?"
"Let's rest a bit before we go." Rod said, "Running around with depleted magic power doesn't exactly inspire confidence, does it?"
Natsu looked puzzled. "Why wouldn't it inspire confidence?"
"..." You're so reckless, it's hard to explain to you.
Rod decided to change his approach. He pointed to the prey the Beast King had provided in the forest. "Want some roasted meat?"
Natsu thought about it. "Sure."
Happi raised his hand. "I want fish."
Rod, the expert in terrain reconnaissance, pointed in a direction. "There's a stream over there. Try your luck, and you can process the prey there too."
The three of them found a clearing by the water, gathered some stones to form a circle, and started a fire to roast the meat.
Happi made a simple fishing rod and started fishing.
While the meat was cooking, Rod couldn't help but ask the question that had been on his mind the whole way. "Mira, what was she like before? Did she learn how to absorb spells?"
Natsu was poking the fire with a stick, playing with the logs. When the stick caught fire, he pulled it back and stuck it in his mouth like a lollipop.
Hearing Rod's question, Natsu looked puzzled. "Huh? Why are you asking that all of a sudden?"
"I'm just curious. She said she's not good at fighting."
"I heard Mira used to live in a remote village. To help the villagers defeat a demon in the church, she accidentally absorbed the demon.
Then, everyone in the village treated her as a demon and shunned her. She left the village with Elfman and Lisanna and joined the guild."
Natsu mentioned Lisanna with a bit more calm than when he talked about Happy, though he accidentally bit off a piece of the stick in his mouth.
"After joining the guild, Elfman and Lisanna started learning to receive magic.
"Then Mira, for some reason, started competing with Erza and got stronger and stronger. Back then, those two were..."
Natsu pulled a mischievous grin, "They were both so scary, Gray would get beaten up no matter which one he angered. Hahaha..."
Rod glanced at Natsu, knowing that if Gray got beaten up, Natsu probably took his fair share of beatings too.
And if that was the case, Mira must have been a genius who mastered the magic most suitable for her?
"What's the deal with S-Class Mages?"
"Two years ago, Mira passed the S-Class exam, and Erza did it three years ago."
Natsu remembered these details clearly, but he sounded pretty annoyed when he talked about it.
"The old man wouldn't let me take the exam. Damn it, I want to be S-Class too!"
Rod figured the Master had his reasons, either thinking Natsu wasn’t strong enough or not steady enough.
That wasn’t his concern, but the key point was that Mira was indeed an S-Class Mage.
If that was true, a lot of things that had puzzled Rod made sense:
Like why Mira could go up to the second floor when Rod and Laki couldn’t;
Why she had the qualifications to assist the Master, and often did the Master’s work;
Why she could accurately judge the difficulty of various missions and assess whether the people taking them were capable of completing them;
Why she could precisely point out the strengths and weaknesses of Rod and his companions after watching their battles;
Why Happy would immediately panic when he saw Mira getting angry before they left...
It all made sense!
Because she was once very strong!
And, well... her temper back then probably wasn’t the best.
As for why Mira became weaker, Rod suspected it had something to do with Lisanna, but he didn’t press the issue.
It felt wrong to push Natsu for more details.
He planned to ask Erza or Cana about it quietly when he got back.
But to his surprise, Natsu brought it up on his own.
"Last year, Mira took Elfman and Lisanna on an S-Class mission to slay the Beast King—yes, the Beast King."
Natsu stared intently at the fire, as if he could see the scene from back then.
"S-Class missions must be led by an S-Class Mage to be accepted, and Mira and the others certainly had the qualifications.
"But the Beast King’s strength was beyond what they expected. All three of them were drained of their energy during the battle. Elfman, to protect Mira and Lisanna, forcibly received the Beast King.
"But he lost control, and then Lisanna..."
Rod’s eyes widened. He had assumed an accident during the mission led to Lisanna’s death, but he never imagined that Elfman had...
As a sister, watching her out-of-control brother kill her own sister, Mira must have felt utterly devastated!
And when Elfman regained his senses, how much pain he must have felt!
A hero who defeated a demon to save the village, only to be driven out by the very people he saved.
Finally finding a home in the guild, only to face such a cruel event.
Why did fate have to be so harsh on this family!?
Natsu punched the ground, "So, Rod! We have to complete this mission!
"I won’t let the guy who also received the Beast King hurt his family! Absolutely not!"
(End of Chapter)
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