17 Fruit and Flower

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Roll.

Roll.

Like an orange which had fallen from a tree. Petals of red descended to follow the dropped orange. For a short period, everything was frozen in place before the gruesome fruit.

A piercing squeal resounded in the desolate village.

Wendy fainted at the sight. Scarlett sprinted toward the perpetrator, the foolish elven girl Farlyn Pherlorna. Clara dropped Ialantha in shock. The rest of the group was still petrified.

"Ack-!" Farlyn fell backward as Scarlett aimed at the elf's neck with her claw. Due to the rebound aftereffects of her magic, Farlyn was immobilized easily.

"You! B****! How! Dare! You! Kill! Jae!" A relentless series of punches rained upon the elven girl's face.

Muffled pleas were released from the miserable girl as the lizard girl only cared to destroy the one who murdered her companion.

"H-he can't be dead! We should all be dead as well!" Melody trembled.

"Ialantha lied! Of course, she did! She fooled all of us!" Clara hollered.

"B-but th-that wouldn't ma-make any sense!" Natalie shuddered.

The baby in question was scrambling away in glee. She was free at last from the dreadful children.

"Guards! My people! Help me!" She cried out.

Yet, nobody came.

With indignation, she summoned vines with the last of her strength and was hauled away by the plants.

"After her!" Scarlett called out while on top of Farlyn.

Clara clenched her teeth as she pulled Layla with her to chase after the escaping baby. Bridget and Natalie pursued as well. Meanwhile, Nora and Melody were left to oversee their fallen friends.

Within the chaos, a certain platinum-blonde haired lass took a nonchalant stroll as if she were a little girl heading out to pick strawberries. However, the fruit's juices covered her pale hand as she pieced the puzzle back together.

Flesh swelled as new skin covered the scar. Bones amended themselves and the blood flow resumed. Everything soon became a-okay for the broken little boy, albeit he looked a wee bit like a lifeless doll.

"Hello, world! How do you do? It's been a while since I surfaced!" The silver-eyed boy suddenly sprung to life with a wide grin. He blithely spoke with melodious intonations.

"And now is not the time for you especially. Before you scare everyone, it is time to close the curtains and switch," the platinum-haired girl imitated the boy's tone as she slid her palm down his eyelids. The boy fell to a deep slumber while the girl carried him over her shoulder.

Melody was the only one who watched the spectacle as Nora was checking on Wendy and Scarlett was preoccupied with beating up figure with a pig's inflated face.

"Wha-? He-. Eh?" The pitiful fairy could not even form coherent words at the strange scene.

Iris smiled, as usual, and place her index finger in front of her pink lips, "Shh~. It's a secret for the two of us."

Melody opened her mouth, but not a single sound would leak from her. However, at the increasing pressure emanating from Iris, she could only nod repeatedly.

Seeing that Melody graciously complied, Iris moved to the group's other victims and gently laid Jae down with his head on her lap.

Tired of thrashing the elf, Scarlett approached the group with Farlyn in hand as she threw her nearby like a dirty rag.

Finally recovering from her shock, Melody asked, "Wait, Scarlett, did you do that?"

Under Farlyn's clothes, which were ridden with holes, were deep lacerations.

"I only socked her face!" Scarlett countered the accusation.

"Those scars appear to be wounds from whips. She wouldn't be able to make those injuries with just her fists," Nora commented.

Ignoring Farlyn's body, Scarlett bolted to Iris and Jae. As she attempted to pull Jae close and confirm if his head is really stuck on his body, Iris held up a hand. She halted and asked, "Is he alive? Were my eyes playing tricks on me?"

Iris nodded with a smile.

"Impossible! We all saw his head and arm fly off. How can he be alright as if nothing happened?" Nora inquired, perplexed.

"It was all a trick made up by Melody, right?" Like a tiger eyeing a small rabbit, Iris stared at Melody.

"Yes…" Melody listlessly nodded.

"Oh! You scared the hell out of me!" Scarlett pounded on Melody's back while laughing, "Don't ever do it again! Okay?"

"Yeah, *cough* you can stop now," Melody pushed the claw away.

Nora faced Melody for a moment, she did not believe in that explanation. But, now was not the time to confirm her suspicions.

For the villagers had returned.

"Did you do all of this?"

-------

"W-why? Why won't anyone ever help me? Why doesn't anyone listen to me? Why? Why?" Ialantha Pherlorna persevered on her escape.

Her eyes flashed a scene of arrows piercing her body.

"Tch." She dodged arrows, which had come from her right. If it was anyone other than the children, then she could easily predict their actions with her eyes.

Elves, who originally hid within the shadows, revealed themselves to their former leader and surrounded her.

A single elf with a scholarly aura stepped in front of the encirclement.

"Ialantha Mirathya. The former sixteenth ruler of the elven kingdom. You failed your kingdom and even ruined the clan you were placed in. Your only purpose to live peacefully as a normal villager until your passing. The king had finally decreed for you to be executed," the elf indifferently stated as he took a step back and signaled.

"Erlane had! How dare he!" She screamed.

Sharp tips covered in mana pointed at the sinful aged elf. There was nowhere to evade. It was time for her end.

A bold voice echoed in her mind.

"Ialantha Pherlorna, your eyes aren't perfect. There is always randomness in the things that happen in this world. The past is not always understood by the mind and the future is uncertain. No matter how powerful your eyes are, no matter how many times your eyes were correct in the past, there is a chance -a probability- that something could go differently than your expectations."

'Dahlia!'

A single tear trickled down her cheek.

Arrows dropped down onto the defenseless elf.

And, she became a dahlia.

A solemn, red cactus dahlia.

With utter disregard, the elven soldiers left the wilted flower there subsequent to confirming her death. Those of the Pherlorna clan, who ratted her out, observed with disgust at the unidentifiable creature before departing.

By the time Clara and the rest arrived, there was only a puddle of red and a couple of broken arrows.

Predators had already feasted upon the flower.

With that, Ialantha Pherlorna's forlorn existence had terminated.

-------

It was awkward for Jae Farley to be scrutinized by several girls. Or, multiple women who were mentally around twenty.

"How could I still be alive if what your saying is true?" Jae questioned.

"We all saw that your head got cut off by Farlyn! Even though Iris said it was because of Melody's magic, I don't believe her! There's clearly blood on the ground and on your clothes!" Nora pounced toward the boy's face and inspected his neck with her tentacles.

Pulling Nora off, he gasped for air, "I'm clearly hail and healthy if not slightly malnourished and out of breath."

"Jae! If you dare die, I will cry for you!" Scarlett charged from behind the boy and embraced him tightly.

"Get off Scarlett. Wouldn't you die as well supposing Ialantha wasn't lying?"

"Who knows if what anything she said was true? There seemed to be something wrong with the old elf's head like that one laying down over there," Clara reasoned as she pointed to the convulsing Farlyn.

"Please forgive her, Ialantha had done unspeakable things to the poor girl. We are grateful to you, children, for getting rid of her tyranny," A young elf by the name of Castain Pherlorna spoke, "Although parts of the village were destroyed, it can easily be rebuilt."

Currently, the children were in a makeshift hut built by some of the Pherlorna clansmen. When all the clansmen had returned to the village, they astonishingly warmly welcomed the children. It was an immense contrast to how they hid from the group when they initially arrived.

Ialantha Pherlorna never learned from her mistakes despite her years in prison. Instead, she forced the Pherlorna clan to obey her words with fear as she had centuries ago. Only Farlyn and a couple of other youngsters were allowed to travel freely as their sparse magic capacity was disheartening. The rest were trained to be Ialantha's guards or were restricted for their mana to fuel Ialantha's preparations.

"Even so, are you not treating us too well?" Clara raised an eyebrow at Castain.

Plates of colorful fruit surrounded the children. Furthermore, the insides of the hut were quite clean for a hut created within minutes.

Scarlett was filling her stomach with the fruits without joining the conversation. The rest of the children were either resting in a different hut or tending their injured companions.

"No, anything for benefactors. The high chi-no, Ialantha Mirathya was not a true leader. She did not treat her people with care. We all understood that Ialantha would never be able to regain her power despite her actions, yet no one could oppose her. While we did plead for the current king to deal with her, he asked of us to tolerate her," Castain began to tell a tale of the sixteenth ruler of Mirathya.

"So, who was Dahlia? Altwidus called his forest Dahlia's and she seemed important to Ialantha to have driven the old elf insane," Jae questioned Castain.

"I don't know much about her. But, all I heard was that she was a dryad who accompanied the hero's party to defeat the demon lord hundreds of years ago," Castain answered.

"Hero?" Nora's interest was piqued. Memories of light novels and heroes of many shapes and sizes emerged within the pink blob's mind.

Castain nodded, "Yes. I heard from my grandfather that three heroes emerged from the human kingdoms after the three demon lords of that generation were born. No one really knows where those heroes had come from. Nowadays, while three new demon kings appeared, only Sazroth is willing to attack the Central Continent. Perhaps another three heroes will arrive someday to end the ongoing wars."

"Oh, by the way, we knocked out some of your people outside the Illusionary Forest and they dropped this," Nora held up a golden apple-like fruit with strange black symbols, "Sorry about that. We kind of left them there and robbed them."

"I'm sure they don't mind," Castain replied with a wry expression, "What you have in your ha-er, tentacle is the Fruit of Vanity. Although it's valuable, our clan doesn't need it."

"What does it do?"

"It is said in the legends that the fruit can grant a power rivaling that of the high spirits if used correctly. A traveler had come across our village by chance and died of a disease, leaving this fruit here by chance."

"It doesn't really look edible," Nora inspected the fruit.

"But we can sell it for emergency funds," Jae considered as Nora placed it back into the bag.

"I wonder where should we go now. We have goals to accomplish, but we're too weak to fulfill them and we need to fix Alexis somehow," Nora hopped onto Jae's lap and jiggled.

"Considering your appearances, I recommend heading to the beastmen country in the east. Unlike humans and most elves, the beastmen don't really care about the differences between races as much. However, they do dislike monsters and the undead so I advise hiding your looks using the fairy's illusion," Rathel informed.

Apparently, humans only acknowledged several races as intelligent and part of humanity. These intelligent races included humans, elves, beastmen, dwarves, giants, mermen, celestials, and demons. However, demons were persecuted the same way as monsters and lesser races as they were not a part of "humanity".

"That sounds reasonable. At the very least, we can't exactly go to the human empire west of here nor can we join the war in the south," Jae agreed.

"If you do choose to head there, I will send one of the clansmen to guide you all-"

The hut's entrance opened and a tired arachnid entered.

"Everyone! Jade woke up!"