Chapter 100 100 The guardian of the forest [pt1]
The bathroom was silent after Stella offered her help.
One might that Stella did not feel any embarrassment when she offered her help sexually but Amane could see the tell-tale signs of embarrassment and longing in Stella's eyes.
Her eyes were the most expressive part of her body now, but there had been a time when those emotions had sparkled clearly on Stella's face.
"Oh, you want to help me out? But I only allow my pets to help me out. Do you want to be my pet, La~dy Ste~lle~"
Amane had learned that teasing tone from Charlie. From her experience and understanding, speaking in this manner was often irritating and could agitate the person in front of her.
As expected, Stella was startled as well. Her expressionless face finally had some colour when she looked aside.
"D-Do not be ridiculous. Does it look like I care about you? Do not make empty assumptions."
Stella quickly denied whatever Amane was about to say and stood up. Stella's naked body was visible under the moonlight and Amane tried hard not to appreciate those hard pecks and other well-defined body parts.
Stella had grown up amazingly and become a great woman. She was finally beginning to bloom and come into her being.
"I-I will be taking me leave now. I will meet you soon Lady Tsurugi."
Stella tried to pretend like she was not running away. But both she and Amane knew that she was running away right now.
Amane was pretending to be a decent human being so she did not call Stella out on her agitated movements. She watched Stella leave the bathroom with a calm expression.
'Get a grip Amane. Stella is a kid you raised for a few years. You cannot see her like a woman now.'
Amane tried to remind her mind, but she had never been good at suppressing her desires. Even now, her instincts refused to see Stella as a child.
"Man, I cannot believe I was still horny after spending a whole night fucking around. Is it because of my teenage body?"
Amane wondered as she quickly washed herself up.
It was a little difficult to scoop out all the semen from inside her body but Amane managed to do it. After that, Amane quickly changed into new clothes and decided to take a look at her barrier.
It had not broken but someone had tried to tamper with her recently. Amane wanted to see what kind of creature was brave enough to do that.
The place where Amane had felt the disturbance emerges from was located in the far south of the settlement. She quickly made her way there, only a see a parrot-like beast ramming its head into the barrier.
The creature seemed unaware of what it was doing and it focused on trying to come in.
As soon as it saw Amane, the agitation of the beast increased and it began to ram into the barrier with all its might. For a second, Amane was afraid that the barrier would give way.
But her strength was much more than Amane had thought it to be. And the beast was not able to continue ramming into the barrier for long.
In the end, the creature exhausted its energy while taming its head against the barrier and landed down on the ground.
Its exhausted eyes looked at Amane pitifully and she decided to grant what it was asking for.
"I can see how exhausted you are. It's time for you to finally find peace and rest. May your soul find peace."
Amane prayed for the beast and it finally disappeared into light. Amane had used her powers to kill off the beast.
Unlike any other beast Amane had seen before, this one looked like an animal that had mutated. And usually, that was impossible to do.
"Someone has a death wish for sure. They are trying to mix chimera blood into a normal animal's body. This is beyond disgusting." And fascinating.
But as much as Amane found it all as fascinating, her disgust at this situation was much more. The more she thought about what she just saw, the more she felt her rage boil.
If making chimera was taboo, then involving other species with beasts was even more taboo. One's soul could be condemned if this was the case.
"I will need to investigate more into this topic. I also think that Charlie should know about this. She has much better resources than I have right now."
Amane did not want to depend on Charlie but the divine guild had the best resources available to them.
Besides, Charlie had promised Amane to help her out. So Amane would not be shy in taking advantage of her generosity.
"I should go back and ask Stella to reconsider this place as a potential hot spot once more. This forest is not safe enough."
Stella was a hard one to figure out. Something had turned her gentle child into this stone-cold machine Amane could not figure out.
But whatever it was, Amane was willing to overlook it for the sake of the child she raised.
"Anyway, I will need to look around the barrier now. Fortunately, I noticed this creature begging for help. I wonder how any more want my help as well."
Amane wondered but then she felt chills go down her spine. There was a presence looking at her from inside the forest.
There was a pair of bloody cold eyes looking at her. Amane's senses could pick up on the immense pain coming from this creature. But there was still something wrong.
This creature was in so much pain, but he refused to back down. Instead, it was trying to stalk Amane.
The stench of human blood was also prominent on this one. It indicated that Amane had found her killer right in front of her.
"Man, talk about one problem after another. But helping beasts is in my job description so I cannot back out as well."
Amane sighed and stood up. She did not stop looking away from the presence in front of her. Her eyes did not move away and her steps did not increase their distance either.
It caused the beast in pain to finally step out into the open. It had the body of a lion but the head of a tiger.
It was a Gwazi.
But it was unlike any Gwazi Amane had seen before. The radiance this beast let out was immense and Amane could feel the manifesting of an aura in this creature.
And despite having all that, there was an air of despair around this creature. It was not here to greet Amane but to ask her a favour.
'Kill me. Please, kill me. I do not want to lose my sanity to this curse.'
The creature begged Amane. His voice was loud and clear in Amane's ears. And this level of consciousness could only indicate one thing - an evolved beast.
Generally, beasts were like animals. They had base instincts and knew what was good for them.
But unlike animals, they had the potential of evolving and developing complex thoughts and emotions. Those who were able to achieve this were called evolve beasts.
Amane had seen quite a few of them back in her day. But at that time, there had been abundant beasts and times were desperate.
To see an evolved beast now was a miracle. Especially one that looked to be quite young at that.
'Please, end my suffering and let me take the curse of this forest with me.'
Amane looked at the pitiful beast in front of her. He begged for death that only Amane could give him. But she doubted that this beast would be able to clean this forest alone with his aura.
"You are asking too much from me. But are you sure you want to die like this? You will not be able to cleanse this forest even if you die right now. You are in no condition to do so."
Amane was regretful to inform the beast of this. But this was the unfortunate truth she did not want to hide.
The beast looked back at Amane and considered her words. It was a miracle that it was still conscious and able to communicate. Amane had to applaud his tendency to stick around.
'If you say that my death will not help this forest, then what should I do to help out? I cannot watch this place suffer any longer."
The divine beast asked with a helpless look in his eyes. Amane was quiet for some time, weighing her options. But in the end, she decided to offer this creature a solution for his trouble.
"There is one thing you can do - the cleansing ceremony and I can help you out as well. But it will not be for free. If you are still interested, then we can negotiate further."
Amane was not heartless but she was a businesswoman. She would help out but not for free.