Not Everyone Can Be Saved

The Sun came over the horizon, it seemed that dawn had come.

Beads of sweat were wiped off Ignis's forehead.

Mutilated and burnt raccoon corpses surrounded her.

She was able to take down the two raccoon-beast dens that night, and also help some stray villagers leave the village. She hadn't seen any trace of the Verdis yet.

Tsk. Looks like it sensed her fiery aura. How annoying.

Thankfully, last night, the raccoon-beasts weren't too troublesome for her. Although she got a scratch here and there, they weren't very high level and their IQ was just above the average raccoon.

Ignis took a look at what remained of the battlefield. The poisonous plants the raccoons planted as a defense for their den ignited in bright, scorching flames. Ignis covered her nose and mouth, backing up a safe distance away.

She took a look at the childrens' corpse she found in the den. Pain flashed in her eyes. The little girl's eyes were closed, but her body was full of bite marks, and some of her was missing, only showing bitten bones. She looked about Mira's age.

Ignis's fingers clenched, ashamed she couldn't come here fast enough to help the poor kid. Not everyone could be saved, that was something she had learned a long time ago, but she still felt it hard to accept.

From her backpack she threw aside, she pulled a wool cloth and covered the girl up to her neck. The kid seemed to be sleeping now, bite and scratch marks no longer to be seen.

Ignis painfully used some extra energy to utilize her weak earth attribute to quickly dig a grave for this child.

When done, she placed a daffodil flower on the little girls' grave, the flower of rebirth and new beginnings. Ignis hoped the kid would have a good reincarnation.

When she saw Mira gain, she would give the girl a warm hug. Even though she couldn't always be there, she wanted Mira to know she was loved. Ignis felt guilty that she couldn't spoil the girl more. But duty came before anything else.

Ignis sighed, making her way to Eleon Village, it was where the refugees were told to stay until the mission was completely solved. The air around her was heavy.

~~~

As the red-haired woman left the forest two figures watching several yards away stepped out of the shadows.

A short figure came first, and a large deep purple lily 9ft tall trailed behind them.

They stood there for a moment, looking at the burnt brush and ash around the collapsed raccoon den. And the corpses left under a bush for other beasts to eat, or maybe to rot and become mana that would fertilize the burnt flora and help them regrow stronger.

The short person pointed at the corpses. " Eat. Or starve, I won't feed you." They said coldly, glancing at the Lily, whose leaves were coiling from the scent of fresh meat.

The flower let out a quiver, its leaves vibrating in happiness, and used its roots to quickly move to the bush. Wrapping its leaves and vines around a corpse, and leading it to their flower head, petals curling around it greedily.

Sucking and crunching could be heard for a few minutes. The short person sat on a stone nearby, their eyes blank and calm, no emotion showing through, even though the disgusting scene would make ordinary people feel the need to puke.

After a moment, all that was left of raccoons were clumps of fur, blood splatters, and chewed-up bones.

"Finished?" The person asked flatly. They frowned at the mess and flicked their hand.

The bush grew bigger covering the dirty mess with a pretty mask. And other than the burnt plants around the area, this side of the forest would have seemed totally normal.

"Then, let's go" The person stood up walking into the darkness of the forest, the Lily flower following behind.

The only evidence that they were there were some marks in the soil and black feathers.

~~~

Ignis returned to the Inn she was staying at. She was staying in Bayleaf village, a village close by to Florir.

She walked up the stairs to her room, uncomfortable in her clothes. Ignis used a cleaning spell, but it was always better to shower properly.

When she finished showering, she dried her hair and took a look at her communication scroll. Thankfully, Eugene had seen her message and responded.

It read,

I see. Then I'll send two interns looking for promotions, and I'll send Aris, your old student to help. I'm sure you'll be able to oversee this mess. Don't die, I have enough paperwork as is.

- Eugene

Ignis let out a breath of relief. She'd make sure to write a recommendation for those poor interns. Dark attribute users were still under a lot of pressure due to superstition, despite what science and research said.

Aris was already working full-time in the Combat Division and part-time in the Weapons-making Division as a hobby.

Ignis habitually looked at the time Eugene sent a message… 3:42 Am.

I really need to remind that workaholic to sleep and eat on time. She laughed silently to herself.

Well, at least she knew they would be here soon. The faster they dealt the Verdis with, the better. Sigh… she also had to do more investigation.

Verdis didn't just need years of absorbing mana to become sentient, the key to all monster evolution was in the surrounding negative energy.

Negative energy, or negative emotions, like blood, could make normal creatures turn into monsters. This wasn't a well-known fact among the common people. Most mages from Vasilis didn't learn this until their third month of Academy, and that was most likely the case with other Academies.

Ignis remembered one chilling mission she had in her younger years that particularly stuck with her.

It was in a town called Fictile. They had a long history of art, specifically pottery. Many of the older generations there would carve mana stones, and sell them to different magic divisions to be enchanted or to be enchanted and used for decoration on things like jewelry, clothes, or statues. And the pottery there, while being purely decoration, had a big impact on their economy. Many families each had their own style, and schools with pottery classes were very popular.

In one of their private schools with classes specifically for pottery, one of the teachers could use the ghost attribute and was raising their recently deceased daughter's soul into an evil spirit, binding her to a beautiful ceramic vase with red flowers.

Ignis remembered how it looked. It was stunning pottery, each petal was carved with emotion, and the paint strokes made the vibrant art look alive. Yet after staring, she would have the feeling of being stared back at, making her goosebumps stand up.

Their daughter was hurt one day by jealous classmates, from what Ignis found out, it was because they thought she was using her mother to be boosted in their pottery class. The poor girl hid her wounds from her mother in shame and tried to treat them herself. She got a particularly bad infection, concealed that it was from the bullying, and died just like that.

The teacher, ridden with guilt over losing her only daughter, and not looking deeper into what was happening, bound her daughter to the vase. Determined to have her daughter's soul regain consciousness, started planting seeds of chaos around the school.

She made friends turn on each other to get better futures, and in the end, succeeded in turning the school into a farm of negative energy.

It was a hassle to dissipate the evil spirit afterward as if something was keeping its soul from moving on, and Ignis never really thought that one grieving lady could do so much damage alone, but in the end, no evidence of any accomplices was found.

Ignis put those haunting memories in the back of her mind. She had a task to focus on.

Making sure she was dressed more casually, she walked downstairs to the inn's lobby. Near the entrance, she could hear two voices bickering.

"So what if you aren't an intern, I don't want to hear you preaching how powerful you are every time you kill a low-level beast! And the raccoon-beast was half dead!" A girl with white hair that went all the way to her waist, snapped.

"Ehh? But it's the truth, I AM powerful. At least better than an intern." A blonde guy with slim shoulders and tied-back hair smiled cheekily. And before the other party could scold him again he teased "I can give you some pointers when we help Teach Verasia, maybe you won't shriek when you see a monster then."

Then a short intern mage with black hair sighed, "Shameless." His cat ears twitching in annoyance, but his cold face showed only the slightest emotion.

Ignis saw the scene and sighed, it reminded her of when she, Eugene, and her master were on missions. But right now wasn't a time to reminisce.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you before lunch." She interrupted.

The three immediately glanced forward, standing at attention.