Chương 98: Finding Clues.

"What kind of answer?" With Liu Shu's declaration, they all became curious and asked about it. After all, Liu Shu had been speaking with the trees around her for more than two days. Without any delays, Liu Shu answered.

'Yes, the tree that is the one around the bigger tree told me that the tree with the spread branches saw a few people with black robes roaming around and using a net to catch the small flying creatures.' All of them listened and didn't know how to react. The sentence was so convoluted that they almost thought Liu Shu was speaking in another language. The way she referred to trees was also very subjective, making them as confused as they were in the beginning.

Nevertheless, there was one thing that they could take away from her sentence. Flor muttered.

"So, they were captured by some kind of net." Flor scratched her head.

"Why capture a Rose Fairy?" The other three got thoughtful, but knowing the biology of a Rose Fairy, they were a bit confused. For example, if it was a normal woman, the chances could become very dark quickly. However, for Rose Fairies, who were around 20 centimeters tall and lacked reproductive organs, other than forcing them to work as Botanics and pollinators, there was really nothing else they could imagine. Ignatia commented.

"Perhaps… Do they want to create something like a Rose Fairy farm?" Flor looked puzzled.

"A Rose Fairy farm?" Ignatia nodded and titled her head.

"If they capture them and take their seeds, they can grow Rose Fairies that know nothing and indoctrinate them to become tamed creatures that listen to them and take care of gardens." Verdantia and Cinderielle frowned, but Flor blinked and asked.

"So, they would give Rose Fairies a place to thrive where they have no competition?" Ignatia and the other two looked at the Rose Fairy Queen and felt that the farm thing had become ten times more likely with her sentence. Ignatia explained patiently.

"Flor, that's enslavement. This means that the Rose Fairies would never be allowed to grow past certain limits." The Rose Fairy Queen was confused.

"But, it's not like Rose Fairies can grow beyond any limit. 99% of our population gets stuck at F Rank Level 8 or 9. We are, quite literally, one of the lowest-ranked creatures in the forest." Flor rationalized.

"The only reason we could prosper this time around was me being lucky and breaking through." Ignatia snorted.

"It was not luck. I've seen your growth closely, Flor. It was definitely not luck." Flor felt happy in her heart at Ignatia's praise, but her brain still couldn't see how being in a protected place where they could attend to plants as they pleased was bad. Verdantia rubbed her chin and commented.

"What if it is forced work?" Flor tilted her head, and Verdantia commented.

"Would you understand if I explain it like this: The Rose Fairies would be forced until exhaustion, with no chance of rest or even to get sustenance. Some of them might even die because the working environment is so exigent. And if the population grows too much, there will probably be a purge, cutting down numbers to something manageable." Flor frowned.

"Why would someone do that? Isn't it better to keep the Rose Fairies happy so that they work better?" Verdantia smiled, knowing that Flor was finally understanding.

"But, working better doesn't mean working more. For example, you." Verdantia pointed at Flor and said.

"You tend Liu Shu daily, but that takes, at most, one hour of your day. For the rest of the day, you do nothing. These people would not let you rest for a second. From the time you wake up to the moment you go to sleep, you would be tending to flowers." Verdantia saw Flor's face change and finished her example.

"And that would be on the good days when they let you sleep. If they need more production, exhausting some Rose Fairies to increase the yield by a few percentages would not be out of the question." Flor asked, doubtful.

"Is there really a race that would do something like that?" The Life Sylvan looked at Liu Shu and asked.

"Were those people humans?" Liu Shu answered.

'Yes! They were all humans!' Verdantia shrugged.

"There you go. That's a race that has done worse to their own kind. Not to mention others." Cinderielle coughed.

"Verdantia, you are being too partial this time." Verdantia frowned.

"How so?" Cinderielle pointed out.

"Which successful society doesn't make use of farms to plant and grow creatures they consider inferior?" the Fire Sylvan pointed at the farm by Liu Shu's side.

"Even World Trees create vegetable farms where they grow the flora that we consider too inferior to care about their feelings and then eat on a daily basis." Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Verdantia blinked and defended her argument.

"However, you are missing out on the fact that Rose Fairies are not stupid and can perfectly socialize and share thoughts with us, intelligent races." Cinderielle shrugged.

"But, speaking objectively…" She looked at Flor and Ignatia and said.

"Sorry for this." Then she looked back at Verdantia.

"As I was saying, speaking objectively, Rose Fairies are monsters, grouped together in the same group as other animals like farm animals are. For the general populace, they and a mindless cow in a barn don't differ too much. And I am speaking with Sylvans included." Verdantia shook her head.

"I disagree. Rose Fairies have shown the ability to empathize-." Cinderielle cut her off.

"Haven't farm animals done that too?" Both Sylvans began throwing arguments back and forth, not reaching a real conclusion. Ignatia interrupted.

"Regardless of what's the point, it is the truth that those Rose Fairies would be happier living here, isn't it?" Flor nodded, and Ignatia smiled.

"Then, what other reason do you need to save them than this?" The Sylvans paused and looked at Ignatia for a few seconds. Then, they stayed silent. In their opinion, that sentence was more than enough. And they were right, as Flor's eyes became determined.

"Okay. We'll save them." Then, she looked around and commented.

"Still, while our defensive powers are impressive for our level, we become extremely weak when attacking something. Most of our buffs activate when we defend Liu Shu in her territory." Even Ignatia had no answer for that dilemma. The reason they were stuck, to begin with, was Liu Shu's immobility. So, even if they wanted, going to save anyone was nothing but a pipe dream. Still, Ignatia asked.

"Liu Shu, can you guide us to where the trees saw that man kidnapping the Rose Fairy?" Liu Shu looked at Ignatia and said, full of confidence.

'I can't!' The girls that were standing up almost tripped and fell back onto the ground. The Ant Queen was dumbfounded and asked.

"You can't?" Liu Shu repeated with a giggle.

'I don't know where their signals come from, so… Nop. I can't.' Ignatia insisted.

"At least, you should know a general direction or area, right?" Liu Shu exclaimed.

"Oh! That I know~. It's eastwards!" Cinderielle blinked.

"You know the cardinal directions?" The World Tree bragged.

'Yes!' The girls nodded, and after making sure which way was east, they left in that direction. It didn't take long to find some extra clues, which helped them pinpoint the direction they were coming from. From what they guessed, these people were relatively high-level, as the stealth level would be almost impossible to detect if Liu Shu had not narrowed the search area. Cinderielle asked.

"What now?" Flor shook her head and commented.

"We'll try to be inside Liu Shu's detection range. Other than that, I really don't know. Do any of you have an idea?" Verdantia looked around closely and commented.

"How about we use bait to lure them? I don't know if they are still around or if they left. However, we can use something as bait for them to catch- Huh? Wait." The other three saw Verdantia moving away and approaching a patch of land at their right. Then, she crouched down and used her hand to move the earth away, finally revealing something similar to a trapdoor. They were all flabbergasted. Flor asked.

"How? No, when did they even…?" Cinderielle approached and wanted to open it, but Verdantia stopped her.

"Wait, let me do it." While the Fire Sylvan was confused, she didn't stop her. Verdantia focused, and an illusory aura spread from Verdantia, sinking into the ground. From there, a few roots grew at a very quick pace, mixing together and creating a relatively small, Level 5 creature. The beast was not humanoid, as its legs were made of vertical roots that acted like insect legs. Moreover, the upper part looked like a tree stump with a pair of eyes and vines around it.

It was not an aesthetically pleasing creature, but it looked mobile and solid enough. Flor looked at the creature's stats and was surprised to see that it was not weak at all. Similar to an E- Rank physical monster of the same level. Cinderielle looked at that creature and blinked.

"What can that adorable thing even do?" Ignatia looked at the fire sylvan with a stunned expression, but Verdantia's answer surprised her even more.

"Right? It's super adorable. I had a really hard time finding it in the first place." Flor agreed.

"I can tell. The way the skin resembles wood is quite adorable. Look at the eyes, though; they are really nice." Ignatia looked at the creepy creature and exclaimed in her head.

'Are you telling me that the bark-like texture of its skin is actually not wood!? How is this thing adorable!?' Verdantia was quite proud of it, so she talked to Ignatia.

"What do you think?" Ignatia looked between that creature and Verdantia, and she somewhat thanked her genetics for giving her compound insect eyes that couldn't really show many emotions. She smiled stiffly and commented.

"Not bad, I guess?" Verdantia hummed.

"It seems that you can't appreciate its cuteness. Your loss~. Anyways, now go and open it." The creture's legs moved and approached the trapdoor, crawling in from the sides and lifting it. Then, when it was about to lift it completely, a quick snapping sound was heard, and a large arrow struck the thing right in the middle. Not being able to resist the power behind the arrow, the creature flew backward and was impaled against a tree.

The girls looked at it as if the arrow had struck a cute white rabbit, leaving behind a mess. Ignatia coughed and said.

"Well, at least you proved your point." Verdantia approached with quick steps, and when she analyzed the little thing, she realized that the Phoer Body Shards had reached zero. She couldn't help but become sad and mutter.

"I-I expected something, but I didn't expect it to kill it…" Flor approached and patted her on the shoulder.

"Bury it around Liu Shu so that it has a proper burial. Then, grow another with more care." Verdantia sighed with a pained expression.

"But… It took five years to create this one with this particular shape… I just started Leveling it up…" The other three speechlessly looked at the woman who had sent such a thing as a test for the trapdoor.

'If it was so precious, why did you even send it in the first place!?' With the death of an innocent little thing, the girls managed to understand that there were traps, so when diving inside, they did so slowly and carefully. What they didn't realize was that a shadow had observed them entering from a distance and moved right as they closed the trapdoor.