Chapter 75: Why So Harsh

"How should I know."

In the world of magic, there are many strange and inexplicable things. Not everything can be explained.

Natsu didn't care how the other party did it; he just wanted to solve the problem. "In any case, all of Rhodes' battle plans are useless now."

"Yeah." Rhodes had formulated Plans A, B, and C, all aimed at killing the Beast King.

This was the difference between a monster extermination mission and a bandit clearing mission—one required you to kill, while the other must not be killed easily.

Now, the monster they needed to exterminate might be an ordinary person transformed by magic, meaning they had to capture it alive and find a way to undo the magic.

Natsu had stopped Rhodes just because of that.

It wouldn't be acceptable if they took on a monster extermination mission only to end up killing the client's son.

"Undoing the Take Over magic..." In the heat of the moment, Rhodes thought of three possible methods.

The first was to wait for the other party's magic power to run out, causing them to naturally revert. However, in the current situation, that might not be feasible.

The second was to find something called a magic-sealing stone, which could stop a mage from using their magic.

Rhodes had never seen the actual thing, but from the book's description, it seemed similar to the Sea-Prism Stone from the pirate series next door, though not as hard.

Before the advent of mage guilds, ordinary people used it to fight against and persecute mages.

It was now mainly used in the Council's prisons.

This item couldn't be obtained quickly, and using three mages with magic-sealing stones in battle… was far-fetched.

The third method was the simplest and most brutal: beat the person until they completely lost their ability to fight, even losing consciousness, thereby making the magic automatically dispel.

This was the most suitable method for the current situation, though during the fight they would have to be careful—couldn't kill, couldn't cripple.

But that wasn't a huge issue; as long as they didn't die on the spot, taking them to Porlyusica could ensure their survival no matter how serious the injuries.

"Alright, let's do that!" Solving the problem with a fight was the solution that best suited Natsu.

He jumped up, swinging his arms as if about to leave, but was only jogging in place.

Rhodes had grabbed the back of his shirt collar.

Natsu turned his head back, "What now?"

"Rest for a bit before we go." Rhodes said, "You've barely recovered your magic power, and now you're rushing around. Don't you feel insecure?"

Natsu looked puzzled, "Why would I feel insecure?"

"..." You're so reckless it's hard for me to explain.

Rhodes decided to change his approach; he pointed at the prey provided by the Beast King in the forest. "Roasted meat, wanna eat?"

Natsu thought for a moment, "Yeah."

Happy raised his paw, "I want fish."

Rhodes, the master of terrain reconnaissance, pointed in a direction, "There's a mountain stream over there. Try your luck, and we can also handle the prey there."

The three of them found a clearing by the water, picked up some stones to form a circle, and started a fire for roasting meat.

Happy made a makeshift fishing rod to fish on his own.

While the meat was still cooking, Rhodes couldn't help but ask the question that had been on his mind all along, "What was Mirajane like before? Did she learn Take Over magic?"

Natsu was poking the firewood in the fire with a stick. When the stick caught fire, he pulled it out and put it in his mouth like a lollipop.

Hearing Rhodes' question, Natsu looked puzzled, "Huh? Why suddenly ask that?"

"Just curious. She clearly said she's not good at fighting."

"I heard that Mirajane used to live in a very remote village, and to help defeat a demon in the village church, she accidentally ended up taking over the demon.

Then, the villagers treated her like a demon and ostracized her, so she left the village with Elfman and Lisanna and joined the guild."

When Natsu mentioned Lisanna, he was calmer compared to Happy, though he accidentally bit off a piece of the stick.

"After joining the guild, Elfman and Lisanna started learning Take Over magic.

And then Mirajane, for some reason, kept competing with Erza and became stronger and stronger. Back then, the two of them..."

Natsu gave a mischievous smile, "The two of them were terrifying. Gray got beaten up badly no matter who he offended. Ahaha..."

Rhodes glanced at Natsu—if Gray got beaten up, Natsu certainly didn't escape either.

And this means Mirajane was also one of those geniuses who naturally grasped the magic that suited her best? "S-class mage? How did that happen?"

"Two years ago, Mirajane passed the S-Class exam. Erza passed three years ago."

Natsu remembered this kind of thing clearly, though he sounded rather disgruntled, "The old man has always refused to let me take the exam. Damn, I want to be S-class too!"

Rhodes figured the guild master must have his reasons—either believing Natsu wasn't strong enough or thinking Natsu lacked the stability required.

That was none of his business. The key was that Mirajane really was an S-Class mage once.

If so, a lot of things that had seemed strange to Rhodes before now made sense:

Like why Mirajane could freely go to the second floor that he and Laki couldn't access;

Why she was qualified to act as the guild master's assistant and, often, essentially did the guild master's job;

Why she could accurately determine the difficulty of various missions and assess whether those taking them could complete them;

Why every time she watched Rhodes and his teammates fight, she could precisely point out the strengths and weaknesses of both sides;

Why, when Happy saw her showing a hint of anger before departure, he was immediately terrified…

It all made sense!

Because she used to be so strong! And... her temper back then was likely not that great either.

As for why Mirajane had become weaker, Rhodes guessed it was probably related to Lisanna, but he didn't ask further.

Asking Natsu about it felt overly intrusive.

He planned to quietly ask Erza or Cana when they got back.

Unexpectedly, Natsu brought it up himself.

"Last year, Mirajane took Elfman and Lisanna on an S-Class mission to exterminate a Beast King—yeah, a Beast King."

Natsu stared at the fire in front of him intently, as if he could see that moment.

"To take on an S-class mission, you must have an S-class mage leading, and Mirajane and her siblings were definitely qualified.

But that Beast King's strength far exceeded their expectations, and all three of them exhausted their strength in the battle. Elfman, to protect Mirajane and Lisanna, forced himself to take over the Beast King.

But he lost control, and then Lisanna..."

Rhodes' eyes widened. He had thought Lisanna died in an accident during the mission but never expected that Elfman...

As an older sister, watching helplessly as her out-of-control brother killed their younger sister, how desperate must Mirajane have been!

And after waking up, how much pain must Elfman have felt!

Clearly, he had been the hero who defeated the demon to protect his village, yet the villagers drove them out.

They had barely settled in at the guild, only to encounter such a cruel ordeal.

Why must fate be so harsh to this family!?

Natsu punched the ground. "So, Rhodes! We must complete this mission!

I absolutely won't let someone else who also took over the Beast King hurt their family too! Absolutely not!"