Cursed veggies again?

The sound of galloping horse on the dirt road in the middle of nowhere. It was oddly melodic under normal circumstances, but this one was actually racing with time, as the witch clad in unusual stylistic and frilly armor rode atop of the creature. A contract more urgent than the rest she had received in recent days, she had to make sure she would reach her destination as soon as possible. Beanstalk Village, she knew the place quite well. She wasn't exactly a regular there, but she did visit it at least once before. And that was when they requested the girl's help because of their vegetables and other edible things they were harvesting turning spoiled for seemingly no apparent reason. It was curse placed on the land by dark and malicious wizard. She was but a fresh magician back then, and yet she somehow managed to deal with the problem as she defeated hordes of plant demons and even the dark wizard himself. It was a challenge for sure, but she proved her worth to the magical world on that day!

It was only natural that something like that would be important memory for her. Something that she cherished, as she managed to help an entire village of people, and somewhat even the rest of Fiore. After all, this place was exporting a lot of their products to the rest of this kingdom as well. With all of that in mind, it was only natural that she was in a rush to get there now. Because someone reported that the vegetables once again started rotting in bulks, an uneasy aura filling the whole place as their fields lose their fertility and people start starving. The dark wizard was imprisoned back then, but Leila was gone for quite a while. There was a good chance he was already released, or that he brok free. Or maybe even just the fact that the curse itself was not actually properly lifted back then. As mentioned before, the Eden's mage was nothing more than a newbie in those days. The fact that she incorrectly lifted the curse was entirely possible, it's remnant finally showing itself. But this time, she would definitely crush it for good, make sure the villagers could live their lives in peace for the rest of their days.

Well, those words were maybe little too strong. One curse was nothing more than that, just one misfortune that befell them. Even if she was to stop it now, who was to say what would happen tomorrow? Any number of disasters could ruin this peaceful place. But even then, she would do her best to protect it all every single time, no matter what hardships she would have to face. Leila was just that kind of person these days. She found out that things can be very precious and worth protecting until the very last breath. Not that she wanted to die for someone she didn't even properly know, but she would still fight until she would no longer be able to. As the days passed, she suffered a lot. With her own body, her own world, her own love that was denied to her... and finally, she threw her life away. But now she had it back and she was not willing to give up. She wanted to make this world a better place, for her own sake, and her friends'. A brief memory of Jiyu Kazehime ran through her mind, but was quickly shaken as she shouted out, the horse trying to speed up even more on the sudden command.

Slowly, the village crept into the view as the girl and her steed drew ever so closer. Of course the giant beanstalk that was reaching the skies became visible quite a while ago, but you were able to see that thing from miles away. It was only now that the actual location became visible on the horizont. And soon, the fields would form the landscape around her. Filled with growing plants, some of them just fine while others were visible cursed even from distance. People worked hard on growing these and to spoil their harvest like this was just unacceptable. If there was actually someone behind this, rather than the curse still being present from the past, then Leila would make sure to teach them a lesson. She had the soul of a traveler and she had been on the path many times. It was quite relaxing scenery for her always, just the road and fields all around it. During those times, she had seen many hard working men and women, breaking their backs and more to produce only the best fruits of nature they could for themselves and others. It was a hard work that required one to adjust their whole lifestyle to it.

She too made sure that the horse would maneuver between the plots of land, as they all already had plenty of problems and stepping where they shouldn't wouldn't improve that. In a bit, the girl found herself in the center of the village where she dropped from the horse and quickly tied it to a nearby wooden pole. A somewhat familiar face was already waiting for her. A small man, the village's Elder who also welcomed her the last time she helped. He was rather short with skin of darker color and adorned by many exotic tribal markings that were present from his head to his toes. At least he seemed to be still in a good health, not gnawed by the teeth of time too much from the last time. "I've come as soon as I could, Elder! Is the village safe so far?" For a moment there was no response, but then he nodded his head slowly. "I see. You have grown indeed, Miss Vergious. A completely different person from the girl that helped us with the problem of dark magician plaguing out fields all those months back." For some reason, that made Leila suddenly chuckle before she burst out into laughter.

"And here I was worried about the villagers so I came as soon as I could, but it sounds like everything is just fine so far." It took a bit before she managed to calm herself down and force those words out, but it was nice to see that nobody got hurt and the situation wasn't quite that serious just yet. Both her and the elder would start walking alongside one another through the village as he started explaining things. "After your help, things were calm for quite a while. Everything we grew was just like before the curse, but recently... everything became clad with thorns and glowing marks, it's just like before. I don't trust anyone else but you with this, for you helped is this time! So I beg you... restore this village to it's previous state once more!" That went without saying. The girl just nodded with a smile and moved on ahead. "That's my duty, Elder. I always do everything I can do protect those in need. Simply because I can." Words said with a smile. She didn't really want to be a hero. But it was in her nature to help those around her.

It was about time to get to work. People around her were slowly disappearing back into their tents and hunts that they called homes as the Elder picked up a hollow horn and sounded the alarm. No one was to interrupt Leila during her demon extermination. And that was for the best, as she would hate to get innocent people involved and hurt in the process of doing this. As far as her magic sensing abilities went, she was the only one in this place capable of actually fighting anything remotely dangerous too. And now to actually summon the enemies. She remembered how it went down the last time, surely it would work this time as well. Kneeling down, she would firmly place her hands onto the ground and press them into the dark soil. Closing her eyes, she started focusing her flow of magical energy and started feeding it to the ground. This caused flowers of all kinds, as well as regular grass and some shrubbery to start growing around her and across the village. That was just the side effect of her powers, but it was also actually doing what she wanted it to, as the flow of magic suddenly became tainted too.

Reacting with her powers, the ground around her started swelling until few explosions of dirt occurred, revealing several rather large tomato-like creatures. Yup, those round bodies and small faces were indeed rather familiar. These were the exact same demons that she faced all that time back. But they did indeed feel somewhat different from then. There we no longer any magical links binding them to anything. The dark wizard who cursed this place in the first place was no longer present. He was safely hidden away in the cells of magical council and Rune Knights. But his magic was still here, slowly feeding on the Earth and now it finally gathered enough force to show itself again. The girl fed quite a bit of her power to the land just a bit ago, which meant that all remaining demons should be lured to her sooner or later so that they could feed. This way, she'll be able to finally destroy every single last one of them, leaving nothing that could spark the curse's power in the future. "Alright. Let's get this show started, shall we?"

Her words were accompanied by a smirk as she removed the silver bow from her back and started counting the enemy numbers. About twenty in total. While they were weak, so was kinda she as well. This would not be the easiest task in the world, but she was confident she will manage. Her powers were not properly ready just yet, but with this equipment ready to serve her, she would surely be fine. And first ones finally couldn't stand staring at the girl and started charging directly at her. This man her take few steps back and jump into the air as high as she could, several blue arrows of magical light forming in her hand as she started rapidly firing them at the sentient tomatoes, riddling their bodies with holes that would start leaking red ketchup-like substance. Viewing it just like that, it probably appeared rather brutal. But unlike proper sentient living beings, the girl had no desire to keep these guys alive. They were born of magic and at their core, there was no intelligence at all. Only desire to destroy, driven by a mad mind that was not even present any longer. They had to be stopped no matter what, and to finish the job properly, she had to tear them apart just like last time. So as her feet touched the ground once more, three of the giant tomatoes fell to the ground, their bodies dissolving after taking too many hits from the arrows. That was the start.

The other tomatoes clearly didn't enjoy seeing their kin fall like that either, as their expressions grew considerably more angry, along with their shouting of some unsavory words that the girl didn't quite even want to repeat. She was a fair lady of proper class and speaking in such harsh way would not fit her at all! Especially given her attire now, she truly loved it even if it was somewhat strange wear for the public. All the frills, yet capable of being an actual combat armor. Shame these cursed veggies were unable to properly appreciate that as well. Their tactic did not really change either, as they started charging at her, trying to overpower her with their big and tough bodies. It would probably be pretty effective if her abilities were on the more melee oriented side, but she had a bow. And seeing how these guys were not exactly fastest either, it was rather easy to start running away while occasionally taking a shot at one of the red enemies behind her. One could easily see this tactic as cowardly, but in reality the girl was having fun. It was like a game almost.

That was the mindset she tried to get into these days. As everything was so serious in her previous life before her death, she only wanted to enjoy every single day she lives now. And for that to happen, she had to not look back at all the negativity and just focus on what she already had. Right now, she was fighting overgrown vegetables with faces that were cursing all the way to the heavens. What exactly wasn't funny about this situation, even if these guys were actually dangerous? Though maybe they were actually somewhat more intelligent that she thought they actually were as they started trying to circle her. Still, they were slower than her so it wasn't quite working. But eventually she would allow them to actually get around her, forming a pretty big circle she was the center of. Though at least five more fell from the arrows before that became the reality. That left around twelve still standing. But those still around, they were ready to finish the girl as they started changing their expression to a rather strange one. And soon enough, they would start firing their questionable ketchup fountains.

But that wasn't that much of a problem for the girl still. A small root started growing beneath her feet and then springing up, aiding to her jump as she flew into the air, the red liquid creating a bath beneath her that would have probably ruined her day if she remained standing where she was. Bust instead, she was just able to land on the puddle that was left, getting only her boots dirty. "Well, time to end this before I have to clean everything I have on me. Get ready!" It was probably pointless saying that to tomatoes that were just confused how she managed to dodge their attacks. And in that moment of confusion, it was her best chance to attack, this time way more aggressively which was her actual usual style of doing this! Sprinting towards the fist she would jump on it's face and unload several arrows into it's face before jumping into the air and unleashing even more on another two. Normally even magical arrows wouldn't be this effective, but Leila was being aided by her regalia as cutting air surrounded all of her attacks. The power of all her spirits that wished to aid her even when they were gone.

A battle of crimson and blue, as the flashes lit up the whole beanstalk village over time. That was the best way of describing what had transpired. With slow enemies that couldn't quite land a hit, it was simply about repeating the process over and over again. And eventually, all of the living tomatoes would fall to the ground, their bodies slowly starting to dissolving as they returned into the ground they came from upon being infected with the curse that plagued this place. By the end of it all, the girl stood without a single injuring, but somewhat tired from it all. She just conquered twenty of those plant demons and with her heavy breathing tried to sweet the sweat from her forehead. It was quite the workout, but she also knew that she was far from the end of this whole thing. And just as she suspected, few more tremors indicated that another wave of enemies was ready to pop from the ground. Quickly taking cover behind some boxes to maybe give herself a moment of surprise, she watched between the wooden objects as several giant corns manage to drill themselves onto the surface. And as soon as they were free from the clutches of packed dirt, they assembled an actual formation. For posing.

"Ah, these guys..." They were still the same type of demons as last time. She remembered fighting these as well. Posing corn cobs that were capable of turning into machine guns of corn. It was moments like these that the girl regretted not having magic revolving around flames, as she would appreciate some giant popcorn right about now. She was working hard and some reward was in place, surely! But enough of that thinking for now, she had to defeat them all first before she could find a cake shop and buy herself something sweet with the jewels she would receive for this contract. Forming more arrows, she prepared to snipe at least one of the enemies before they would manage to locate her and start trying to crush her with their massive and not very delicious bodies. Leila actually never quite licked corn for some reason. It was fine, but not very tasty in her opinion. Was that enough of a reason to give her the will power to slaughter these corn demons? It certainly was! A perfectly aimed and released shot would borrow right in one of the corn's face, the wind making it cut deeper and eventually even going completely through the creature, letting it's face-less body fall the two ground and dissolve into nothingness.

Of course attack like that attracted all the attention to her in an instant, as she was forced to jump to a side in order to avoid an immediate attack. The boxes were quickly crushed by one of the corns just kinda rolling it's body on the ground like a giant flat boulder, destroying everything in it's path. Thankfully it managed to miss all the homes and tools, and looking at the smashed boxes, it was a relief that they only contained more of the rotten veggies. So no shame in flattening them anyway, as they would become part of the soil, giving it the nutrients that other plants required to grow. An attack like that also placed the corn rather far away from the Eden's mage, allowing her to snipe the enemy from distance before it could get back to her. And the remaining three were not even opposed, as they were seemingly still far too busy with their posing, even without an audience. But even that would not last forever as they would start charging forward and trying to ram into the girl in front of them. Though all she had to do was show a cocky smile as a magical circle she placed just moments ago activated below them, growing many roots that restrained the corn. And from that point, it was as easy as taking a candy from small child to dispatch of them. Honestly, this wave was somewhat disappointing. Or perhaps it was just Leila wanting to get this over with now.

Unfortunately, that was still not the last of them. Although she did feel the magical presence inside of the Earth fading the more demons she defeated, showing that progress was being made and that she was nearing this job's end. This wave was probably going to be the last one, but also the most brutal one if the things were to continue the same way as they were going until now. This time, the tremors were even stronger and probably even startled many villagers hidden inside of their homes judging by the gasps and screams of surprise that echoed throughout the place. Well, at least that probably meant an enemy who actually posed a challenge would show up. At this point, it kinda sounded like the Eden's mage was boasting about how powerful she was when in fact, she was rather weak. Weak, but lucky as she was a very poor match for these guys. Even if they were strong at close range, she had a long ranged weapon. And the bodies of those veggies were not exactly very strong either. Just like trying to squish vegetables in your bare hands, kinda. Only she was using magical arrows which were almost as good as one's fists? Well, it was effective so there was definitely no need to be comparing it to something else that she wasn't even gonna try. With a sigh, the girl would look around and see what kind of enemy would come out this time to play.

And soon she would see, as green brain-like creatures started appearing from the ground. These were... new? She didn't recall seeing them at all when she was fighting against this curse last time, which meant she had no idea how they would fight, or what to expect. That was somewhat problematic to say the least. They didn't look very appealing and those glowing bright red eyes were not adding to that either. Not to mention their numbers. Just like with the tomatoes, there was at least twenty of them, ready to beat the girl down. Not a very nice thing to do at all. In the interest of time, Leila tried to fire a single arrow at one of them to test just how durable they were, but even that didn't quite know as planned. One of the broccoli demons managed to get to her already. "Fast...!!" Just that thought and nothing more. All the previous ones were somewhat slow and incompetent, but this was a problem. The thing managed to crush into the witch with it's shoulder, nearly sending her flying as her back hit the dirty ground, forcing her to cough out. The first bit of damage she took. And before she managed to properly even orientate herself so she could try to get up, another one was already standing right next to her, it's body strangely twisted backwards. It was for a reason, too. As the broccoli head suddenly came flying forward with the interest of flattening the poor lass on the ground.

Thankfully she was wearing that armor of hers, as a sudden burs of shadow magic blinded the entire battlefield. And what was shown afterwards was the demonic being's head crashed into a shield of dark, completely stopping it. using that chance and moment of not being attacked, Leila would leap to the side and start running from these guys. There were far too many and their bodies far too resilient for her normal attacks. Which meant that she would have to pull out her ace in the sleeve. It seemed like there was no other option, which meant that she had to keep running until all twenty of the broccoli would alight at least reasonably well behind her. Thankfully with their larger bodies, they didn't quite have to be completely behind one another's back for this to work. And when she finally noticed that these circumstances were met as well as they could possibly be, she turned her body to face them with an arrow already prepared to fire. But this attack would be different. "Wind... lend me your power and lead this shot to my victory. This attack that I learned from Jiyu... will save this village!" Rather large amount of wind gathered around the glowing blue arrow, both from the actual ability and her regalia that rested in her attire. And upon releasing, the arrow flew like a bullet, piercing through the demons like a drawn line. And in few moments, Leila would have a perfect view of the other end of the village through all the holes that were left in the enemies following her, their bodies slowly falling to the ground and disappearing.

"Waah, that was close!" With her heart racing and body weak from the nervousness that came along with that rather risky move, Leila fell onto her back again and closed her eyes. The darkness inside of the Earth was gone along with the bodies of all twenty broccoli demon. How in the world did that work? Apparently lady luck was on her side still, this was a second miracle right after her coming back to life. But the job was finished and that was the main thing. The dark mage was probably still rotting inside of his cell and the villagers started coming out of their homes as they sensed it too. The heaviness in the air, purified. And the land somehow beaming with positive and natural energy now. With this, they would be able to grow their veggies and everything else in piece, surely. So the Eden's mage could rest for now, just kinda lying on the ground there and staring into the sky.

Even the Elder came over to her with a big smile on his face. "Good job, Miss Vergious. I knew you wouldn't disappoint us! Especially after seeing just how much you grew from that young lady that freed us from the dark wizard who cursed this place." She could only laugh again as she heard those words. Did she really grow up so much? Somehow, she didn't quite think so. Especially now that she wanted to go back to her roots, start walking the path of unknown once more. Or maybe that was exactly it... the fact that she matured over her journey and realized just how precious peaceful life can be. Still, she was seeker of adventure and she would never stop being like this. So she could only look at the man back with a smile. "Even if I changed, I'm still the very same person that you met back then, Elder. Girl filled with energy and want to explore the world in front of her!"