Five Little Sacrifices

Chapter 61

The sun was rising slowly. Light breeze of wind was rustling leaves in those very few trees that were still standing and Laxus was sitting on a porch of an inn where they had stayed with his team only a little while ago.

The town really was in ruins. It wasn't impossible to built it again, but it would take decades. It would take hundreds of years so it would look like it did when they last time walked on its streets, admiring the festival. No one had a clue then that it would be the last festival.

Laxus grunted and he washed his face with cold water he had fetched from the little stream that was still running, even though the whole place was empty. Since there was no one around, they had decided no one would care if they would stay the night in this place.

They had arrived late last night and it had been too dark for them to really investigate around more and since all lights were out, they didn't even see the whole destruction yet. I was best that they would wait until the morning and then start really looking around. They needed some rest anyway because of the long trip.

But they had seen something despite the darkness. Or something that should have been there yet it wasn't and it was almost haunting when they knew there should have been a huge middle part of the town standing in the middle of the river. Yet it wasn't there anymore.

Laxus hear rustling and steps and soon Evergreen opened the door, coming out as well.

"It does feel weird staying in this place, knowing we're the only ones probably in the whole town", the brunette said, sitting down and brushing her hair.

"Yeah", Laxus grunted looking down and he saw destroyed houses, streets that had crumbled down and destroyed more buildings.

They could only wonder how many bodies were buried there and it was probably for the best if they didn't think about it too much. They knew already that everyone alive had left the town and the Queen Hisui had already arranged mages suitable for the mission to search everyone from ruins who might still be alive.

Right now it was just them here. They knew more soldiers might come today with boats once they had made sure first that those who needed help had what they needed. They had time to look around before that.

"Did you notice anything yet?" Evergreen asked and she tied her hair with a ribbon.

"I don't see any salt anywhere", Laxus said. He had already walked around and there was absolutely no salt. "So Emmett has already left."

"I see... What about that crystal?"

"It's still there, covering the forest. So that mage might still be lurking around", Laxus grunted, letting his orange eyes wander around the town hey could see once the sun was getting higher.

"Emmett might be here as well", Evergreen mentioned and she got up and straightened her dress. "Maybe he just wants us to think he's gone?"

"Don't think so, somehow it just doesn't fit him", the Thunder God snorted. "He wouldn't care do we know he's here or not so he wouldn't clean his salt away and then wait."

"If you say so. You usually know this stuff pretty well", Evergreen smiled looking at the big man. "Guess it's that instinct thing, you learn quickly how your opponents acts."

She took her bag and lifted it up.

"Okay, I'm ready", she said. "So let's go find Baluhu", she decided and Laxus nodded, taking his own backpack and they left towards the forest.

It was better to fly lower near the ground as they couldn't know if their enemy was still somewhere near. Flying above the forest that had been destroyed with crystals, they would be easy targets to attack. So instead they made sure to follow the shoreline, not too close to the forest but not above the water either.