Hidden Flames

"The bird seems to be gaining so much freedom, Chief."

The Chief sighed heavily while pushing the work he was doing aside. 

"It did not last so long huh…"

He softly murmured, his green eyes shining with a dangerous edge as he rummaged through the papers that he just pushed away. 

"Sir, nothing is dangerous yet. But Vita is-"

"She is starting to run around a lot, healing and causing the forest as a whole to flourish."

The Chief cut Rian off and continued, then he threw the papers under her feet. 

"Look at them by yourself, our village is losing its advantage due to how you did not stop Vita from wandering around."

Rian bowed her head and with a trembling hand, she picked the papers and started to read them. 

The longer she read, the harder she trembled while cursing Vita internally. 

'That little kid! Why couldn't she be obedient and stay in her place?!'

According to the papers, several parts of the forest had been experiencing a slow yet steady growth, and these people had traces of Vita's power being used in them. 

"Rian, I thought I have addressed your job without any vagueness. Although, I think you may have some misunderstandings."

The Chief stood up before approaching Rian and gripping her shoulder, his touch was still light, but with each word, Rian could feel him squeezing her shoulder harder. 

'He's going to break it.'

She concluded, and decided to suppress her feelings. She gulped her saliva down and nodded meekly. 

"I apologize, Chief. I have not done what I was supposed to do, resulting in-"

"Resulting in our village's position to be threatened in case someone had noticed this obvious connection. Rian, I am not angry with you though."

Rian raised her head slowly while her heart struggled to understand what was happening, but when she met the Chief's gaze… 

"I am just disappointed." 

As soon as she heard these words, Rian felt a sharp pain in her shoulder, and a crack noise soon reached her ears, making her stumble down as she bit her lips. 

Her eyes slightly turned sharp, the redness in them becoming foreboding. However, she closed them and stayed silent before apologizing once more. 

"I apologize. I am going to make sure she does not wander around alone again…"

"Good."

The Chief released her shoulder after hearing that response and went back to sit on his chair. 

"Leave, you need to get your job done. No more mistakes are allowed."

Rian nodded and held her shoulder, leaving through the room and sighing before clicking her tongue. 

'That damned jeezer.'

Rian cursed and left towards the place where Vita was supposed to be in order to heal herself as well. 

Moving around, Rian skillfully dodged the curious eyes as she took her time on her way while pondering about what to do. 

Although she was not concerned about Vita's fate, she was someone who held grudges very easily. 

'And that jeezer keeps pushing it.'

As he was the Chief, Rian followed him at the start, which seemed to give him the false assumption of her being one of his lackeys. 

Rian stopped at that thought, her face scrunched up before scoffing and changing her direction. 

'Whatever, I'm not in for a dumb questioning by that bitch.'

May as well try to heal herself without anyone's help, that is surely going to raise her confidence for her future plans. 

Meanwhile, Vita was at her Dark Elf's, Auntie Meria's house. 

"Owww…"

Vita's eyes glistened with tears as her Auntie refused to heal her immediately, and instead, forced her to clean each wound by herself. 

"Vii! No complaints, clean them up, and if they hurt much, then take that as a lesson and NEVER get hurt again!"

Auntie Meria demanded while lightly tapping on Vita's forehead, her dark eyes staring at the little girl in front of her. 

"Vii, you need to stop getting hurt this much. Or Auntie won't make you good stuff anymore." 

Such a soft threat warmed Vita's heart again, and she nodded obediently before hugging her Auntie's waist. 

While feeling this warmth, she suddenly remembered the cold and weird god she had seen, but she quickly managed to suppress his image in her head. 

'He's a nightmare… me no wanna remember nightmares!'

She stressed each word before cutely giggling to Meria's bossom, "Auntie~ me good girl, cleaned it all up, so please do the magic~!"

Meria's dark eyes softened a bit, she held Vita's face, then printed a peck on her forehead. 

"Be a good girl and don't get hurt so much, Auntie will be so worried."

Vita then was surrounded by a warm brown halo which floated around her, healing her wounds one by one. 

The refreshing feeling made her joyful, and she could not stop herself from running outside with excitement, "See ya, Auntie! I'll try my best!"

"Such a brat!"

Meria pouted angrily but shook her head, what can she do to this girl? 

Kids were kids, and she would not try picking on a kid just because the kid was slightly rude. 

In addition, Vita always managed to make Meria feel as if she was her long lost daughter. 

'Kids are truly…'

Meria stopped herself from continuing and went back to mix some herbs. She was the healer of the village, she did not want to risk anyone's life due to her laziness. 

In the other part of the forest, however, the young boy from the Forbidden Area was laying down lazily, the complete opposite of the hardworking Meria. 

Mors softly extended his hand to the sky and released a trail of shadowy substance that eventually formed an oval shape. 

The oval shape trembled, and along with it, Mors' finger paused. 

Did he want to do it? Or is he going to regret it? 

"Ugh…"

Mors, who never thought about anything before, could not accept his current hesitation. 

"Is it because my heart was finally responsive to me?"

Caressing his chest right above the spot where his heart was located, the young boy felt like denying this fact was a mere stupidity. 

"One move, and I will see her…"

However, did he really want that…?