Minerva's Dao Heart Shattered
After Rogue explained the situation, Hughes finally understood the details.
It turns out that Rogue had already left the Phantom Lord guild long before Hughes beat up Dojigiri and Jose.
Saying he's resigning is just a polite way of putting it; the truth is that others despise him for being weak and unworthy of the Phantom Lord.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that Rogue didn't demonstrate his Dragon Slayer Magic.
Hughes believed that if Rogue showed Jose a few magic tricks, Jose would be so happy that he would treat Rogue like Rogue, just like he treated Gajeel.
Jose's situation was tragic; the guild's best player, whom he had been pursuing, was driven away by his own actions.
With nowhere to go, Rogue wandered aimlessly until he finally met his destined cat, Frosch, in an unknown little forest.
A man and a cat, like turtles and mung beans, hit it off in a few glances and became companions.
The speed was comparable to the "love at first sight" that people nowadays often use to cover up their lust.
"So, the reason you're in this forest is to join the Sabertooth!" Hughes asked, as he tended the campfire.
Rogue nodded. "Frosch said it's heard of the Sabertooth Guild. They're recruiting a lot of mages, and we want to give it a try!"
"Recruiting a large number of mages? That makes sense. Jiemma eliminates groups of people every now and then, so he's definitely short-handed!" Hughes muttered to himself.
Jiemma doesn't care about teammates; he only sees strength and weakness. The loser is the weakling, and the weakling is an ant.
Ants? Just crush them!
Jiemma's extreme personality of pursuing power and hating weakness led him to contact the Tartaros after being defeated by Sting, and accept Pluton's transformation into a demon.
Thoughts flickered in his mind, then disappeared into the depths, while Rogue beside Hughes continued recounting his past with Frosch.
"In order to join the Sabertooth Guild, Frosch and I entered this forest a week ago."
But who knew that the forest was not only teeming with ferocious beasts, but also incredibly powerful. Frosch and I were constantly being chased by them.
They'd long since run out of food, so they were scavenging for scraps while they ran away each day.
Two days ago, Frosch and I got separated...
Suddenly, Hughes raised his hand to interrupt Rogue. He put his index finger to his lips, making a gesture for Rogue to be quiet, and his Advanced Observation Haki probed into the distance.
Just as Rogue was speaking, Hughes heard a strange sound in his ear.
A moment later, Hughes frowned and patted the shoulder of Rogue, who looked puzzled, telling him to wake Mira and Frosch.
Led by Hughes, the three people and the cat wandered around, eventually hiding in a clump of grass.
"Be careful, don't make any noise, and don't rush to attack. Let's hide in the shadows and observe first!" Hughes instructed the two people and the cat.
"Hmm!" X3.
Ahead of them, a dusty-faced girl in a blue knee-length cheongsam stood on either side of five or six dinosaur-like beasts.
The girl's face was filled with horror, her body covered in wounds, her hands enveloped in a blackish, transparent sphere of light, and she kept repeating "Fingus."
Please forgive me, Father.
Suddenly, a dinosaur-like beast launched an attack, its ferocious mouth wide open as it charged, its teeth gleaming coldly, as if it wanted to swallow the girl whole.
The girl frantically waved the black, transparent orb of light in her hand. Under Hughes's astonished gaze, the girl's figure, about to fall into the beast's mouth, vanished, replaced by another beast.
"Pfft!"
With two painful roars, the girl appeared behind the beast.
Absolute Territory Magic allows you to swap the positions of two targets.
At the last moment, Minerva switched places with a dinosaur-like beast.
At this moment, the remaining wild beasts in front of the girl turned around, their crimson eyes seeming to brighten even more. They turned to look at each other and carefully surrounded the girl.
Keep tightening the encirclement!
Perhaps she was unfamiliar with Absolute Territory Magic, or perhaps the previous teleportation had exhausted the girl's magic power.
The black, transparent orb of light in the girl's hand, which was surrounded by wild beasts, had dissipated.
The looming threat of death terrified the girl, causing her to tremble and tears to stream down her face.
"Please forgive me, Father!"
"I know I was wrong!"
Hughes, who had taken in everything from the bushes, remained silent, his face as cold as iron.
He knew, of course, who the girl not far away was.
Minerva, the future heiress of the Sabertooth guild.
A kind-hearted and gentle person who regarded the guild members as companions was forced by her biological father, Jiemma, to become a ruthless and unscrupulous person who would stop at nothing to achieve her goals.
The Fingus that Minerva mentioned earlier is a member of the Sabertooth guild.
In order to force Minerva to learn the top-level Space Magic Absolute Territory, Jiemma forced the two to fight. After a fierce battle, Minerva finally learned Absolute Territory and defeated Fingus.
Just as Minerva was overjoyed, thinking that everything was over, Jiemma suddenly asked Minerva to kill Fingus.
How could Minerva, who considered Fingus companion, possibly do such a thing? She begged Jiemma to spare Fingus, but Jiemma, who was like a demon, not only scolded Minerva but also punched Fingus to pieces right in front of her.
Seeing Minerva weeping for Fingus, Jiemma became enraged and threw Minerva into the forest to fend for herself.
Hughes never expected that the forest where he encountered Rogue was the very same forest where Minerva suffered torment that caused her personality to change drastically.
And he just so happened to encounter Minerva, who was undergoing a transformation.
Hughes remembered Jiemma's words when he abandoned Minerva: "In this forest of beasts, the weak who only know how to cry can only wait to die. Only when you shed your weakness and cry your eyes out can you leave this forest!"
Memories flooded his mind, Hughes lowered his eyelids, his face growing even colder.
Jiemma is such trash. He's incompetent, and just because his own daughter has such great magical talent, he forces his extreme ideas onto Minerva, turning Minerva into a tool to achieve his own ambitions.
This kind of person is utterly trash.
Sensing Hughes's significant emotional fluctuations, Mira, who was half-crouched beside Hughes, frowned and patted his shoulder with concern.
"Don't worry, I'm fine!" Hughes suppressed his anger and forced a smile.
Mira saw through Hughes's pretense, and her fingers, which had been patting his shoulder, turned to poking. "The president said you could cause a huge scene this time!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Hughes paused for a moment, his feigned innocence vanished, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up.
"If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten why we came here!" Hughes said, ruffling Mira's hair with his large hand.
With old grudges lingering and his current displeasure weighing on him, Hughes wanted to see whether his fists were stronger or Jiemma's body could withstand the strain!