New law of Beast Taming

Chapter 263 263: This place is weird [pt1]

Sara was frozen in her place. Her eyes could see that the magic in the air was restless. It was flickering around weirdly and Sara wanted to reach out and calm it.

As a witch, it was her instinct to make sure magic remained calm all the time.

But Amane knew that Sara was not ready to face such a challenge. Her control over her magic was not good rough to stop the collapse of this man.

And even if it was, it would be dangerous to practice magic in the middle of the town. It would cause too much trouble in the future.

So despite Sara's instinctual response to use magic, Amane pulled her body close and shielded them both into the barrier.

The grinning man exploded and a giant tree formed right above their ears. It was gigantic with its branches spanning a good portion of the neighborhood.

The tree moved, and many pollen-laces larvae began to fall from the branches. Amane watched as it landed on the ground and the whole place turned yellow.

An ignorant person would have thought that this was the end and tried to clear up this yellow residue. But Amane knew what she needed to do to get rid of this poisonous thing in front of her.

"This is troublesome. There are too many larvae for me to separate from the normal household material. I guess the locals would have to be compensated later on."

Well, it was a good thing that Amane was loaded and would not mind parting with some of the money. She brought out a small piece of paper from her pocket and held it out.

She had imbued this with Sakura's essence and the paper busted out into flames the second Amane commanded it to burn everything in its path.

The fire spread to the houses and even to the streets. It left nothing untouched in its way and Sara looked taken aback.

"W-What the hell just happened here? Why was there a man who turned into a tree? Is this normal? I thought that was a new race of humans or something when I first saw them. But this looks more like a curse than anything else."

Sara was slowly coming out of her shock and she tried to comprehend what just happened. She had limited knowledge of magic and the real world so she concluded the situation in the best way possible.

"A curse? You are mistaken. These people's condition is not a curse, but a result of their run-in with a beast which causes them to mutate. It is a highly infectious situation and the end for such individuals is not pretty."

Amane admitted and Sara looked sick and glad at the same time.

"I never thought that I would be glad to have my parents dead. They would not have to live through such a horrible time."

Sara seemed to be in pain when she said those words. But she was trying to see the positive in this situation.

They both were a little too lost in the situation and trying to clean it up that they were startled by the sudden sound of a door opening. They both looked up, only to see a pair of startled but mean eyes looking back at them.

The female who had slammed the door on their face earlier looked sour to see them still there.

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But at the same time, gratitude flashed across her eyes and she opened her mouth to thank the intruders for saving her and the children she was raising.

"I…this is….you both should come inside…."

In the end, the female was not able to say the words she wanted to and invited the pair inside the orphanage.

Amane took this offer before the lady could take it back and Sara followed at a more sedate pace. Nostalgia filled Sara's mind as she entered her childhood house.

Most of the house had been left intact and it made Sara grateful. But there were also a few scratch marks and other new additions on the house wall that made Sara mad. Her insides boiled as she took in the damage done to her house.

It made her want to harm the one who had dared to harden her childhood home. Her mercy was not for such rude people.

"I am sorry, but I only have tea to offer you. Money is tight this month and I want the children to eat a healthy meal."

Sara looked up at the female who had invited them. Despite her rude words and sharp tone, she looked dignified but also tired.

For the first time, Sara decided to look past the mask of this person and notice the defeated expression she had. The kitchen behind the female also looked empty and hardly in decent shape.

"Tea will do for us. I am just surprised to see you managing this orphanage alone. How many kids do you have here, miss…er?"

Amane's words reminded Sara that her home was being used for good means. No matter how different it looked now, there was a good reason for it.

"My name is Betty, the director of this orphanage. And for the record, we have about 10-15 people at any given time. Younger children tend to get adopted soon but the rate of orphaned children is too high. No matter what I do, the number does not go down."

Now Sara felt sad for this female and she also felt ashamed of herself. She was too caught up in her feelings to look at the bigger picture here.

But she could not help it.

No matter how noble the end goal of Betty was, Sara could only feel bitterness after losing her home.

"I see. That's a huge number to take care of with your limited funds. I assume that you do not get enough support from the locals as well. I saw them glaring at you from afar."

Sara shuddered as soon as she remembered the looks full of mockery and hate the villagers had given her and her partner. She hated to know what they would have made the 'real' instigator of these feelings feel.

"I…no, it's alright. I have been an orphan all my life so I was used to such treatment. I just did not want the kids I was looking after to feel the same way as I did in the past."

Betty spoke in a soft voice. For the first time, her demure had softened enough to give her face a glow.

And the irritation was still there inside Sara's heart, but she also felt fascinated. She had never met a person as diverse as Betty.

"I see. In that case, would you allow me to help you financially? As you know, my family has the means to provide for you people. So let me know if you need anything."

Both Sara and Betty looked at Amane with a grateful expression. Unlike Sara, Betty knew who Amane was and her heart jumped in joy.

"I… are you sure? I have heard that the Tsurugi do not hand out their money without a good cause that can profit them in the future. Our orphanage is…"

"A causality of Yoko Tsurugi's reckless actions. Hmm, let's go with that. Doesn't that make a good headline as well as an excuse to mooch off the Tsurugi fortune? We certainly have a lot of it and it's also growing day by day."

Amane assured the orphanage director when she said that. She knew how hard raising kids was and wanted to help.

But her words only served to make the lady hesitate even more. She looked at Aamne with a grateful yet pained expression.

"I…may not be able to take your offer, my lady. This is too much for someone like me to make use of. But if I need anything, I will get in contact."

Amane was not surprised when she was turned down in such a manner. She had seen what kind of person Betty was before she had made her decision to support her.

"Hmm, suit yourself. But remember, you are taking my offer not for yours, but for the kids you are sponsoring. They would need all the support you can get them."

Once Amane put it like this, Betty felt more comfortable taking her offer. On the other hand, it still irritated Sara a lot to know that she could not do anything in this situation. But her emotions were beginning to calm down.

Their talk ended and an awkward silence descended into the room. No one knew what to say so they were grateful when a thirteen years old kid forced the door to open and he entered the room.

"Sister Betty, the pretty fire has calmed down. It was so pretty and blue but now it is all calm once more. Do you think we will be able to see that pretty blue fire once more in the future?"

The kid asked as he quickly stood in front of Betty. He did not seem to be surprised or annoyed to see the new people in the room.

The kid did not respond to their presence at all at the start. And it was only after Sara coughed to get his attention that he turned toward them.

"Char, go back to your room for now. I am sure that you will get a chance to witness such beautiful sights in the future as well so rest for now and ask others to remain inside their rooms as well."