ᴇᴜᴘʜᴏʀɪᴀ •• ғᴀɪʀʏ ᴛᴀɪʟ¹ ✓

116

"You little people saved us, huh?"

Listening to laughs of joy from everyone just made Rae smiled to herself. She decided to let them be and mind fixated on somewhere she couldn't decipher. They said an Ice Devil Slayer attacked. They faced him with their weapons but everything after that was blank. It seems he thought the Eternal Flame was a demon thus he came to destroy it.

They still didn't know what the culprit's real intentions were. Rae only knew that he was hunting for her and she couldn't risk that. Rae remembered, Gray had told her about what Doriate said to him. The Gates of Hell has opened. Tartaros. His guess was the Ice Devil Slayer was a member of Tartaros. Succubus Eye, a sub-guild of Tartaros was watching over the village.

That bird, that was a demon. Rae just let out a heavy sigh and leaned against a tree, feeling drained. Her cut didn't heal like she normally did. I've ran away from past. I have done many things to forget this. But why, why do I have to face this again? The Dark Enchantress looked at her palm and slowly moved her fingers. Then, her head lifted and watched them laughing together like there's nothing happening.

Tonight, they drank, sang and made merry with the big people until dawn. For a time, it made me forgot the ominous words I had heard. Succubus Eye. Minerva. Devil Slayer. Tartaros. A demon born from the books of Zeref, END. And the most dangerous of them all, Unknown. I swear I'll bring you down. Even if I have to drag you with me to Hell. Zeref.

______________________

The team headed back to Warrod's house using Rae's teleportation magic and once again the old man cracked a lame joke. Bella told him about Tartaros's involvement in the job and Warrod just smiled at her. Said to leave it to the Council to investigate. The boys were grinning ear to ear when Warrod mentioned about the reward but only found themselves dumbfounded as the old man took out a potato and gave it to them as their reward.

"A potato from my field. Just kidding!"

"Of course, you are, right?"

"The truth is, it's a potato I bought from the next village over."

"Either way, it doesn't matter!"

Haruka and Wendy winced slightly as Gray and Natsu screamed at the man for lying to them. The celestial spirit mage smiled awkwardly and felt shivers on her skin when Erza gave them a deathly glare which she figured could bury them six feet under. Later, the girls were brought to a secret hot spring to have a nice bath and Rae tried to hold back a wince when her shirt touched the cut.

"Nee-san, are you alright? Why is it not healing?"

Lucy quickly hurried to her sister and helped Rae to take off her clothes. Rae smiled at her concern and told it's nothing. It's just a small cut. The blonde girl pressed her lips together, nodding slowly as her sister assured her there's nothing wrong. Rae joined the girls and heard Bella exclaiming that the water was good for health and beauty. Nothing beat a bath after work. Haruka and Wendy shared a huge grin and splashed water at their partners.

After done having a bath, the girls went back to Warrod's house and Rae had so much questions ringing in her mind regarding the involvement of Tartaros and demons from the books. Warrod had prepared barbeque for them as her nose caught a familiar smell. Weird, it's just a barbeque yet, I'm feeling nostalgic. The girl watched the old wizard saint handed drinks to them. She felt guilty for not helping him cooking for dinner.