When they returned to the main road, they found that there were already more people than before.
“Where should we go next?” Flora turned her head to look at Lena.
“Well, let’s just wander around for a bit. I haven’t thought of where to go yet.”
“Then let’s wander for a while.”
As they walked, Flora suddenly heard an anxious voice.
“Guangguang, why are you like this? *Wahhh*.” It was a young boy’s voice.
That sound was quite inconspicuous amidst the festival crowd, almost to the point of being ignored.
Flora and Lena both looked up alertly at the same time.
That voice was coming from the side alley!
Flora stopped in her tracks, and Lena, with great chemistry, stopped as well.
“Come on, let’s go take a look.”
They entered the alley. This passage was somewhat narrow; even with some clutter piled up, it was only wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
They walked deeper inside and found a young boy standing there, looking up at something with great anxiety.
Flora looked up and discovered a butterfly, dark red all over with what looked like flowing moonlight on its body, stuck in a spider web and unable to break free.
“A Moonlight Ghostshadow Butterfly?”
Flora recognized this rare creature at a glance, having seen it in books. This was a creature from the blood clan, but how could it appear in a town of the demon race?
She remembered reading that the Moonlight Ghostshadow Butterfly was not suited for the environment in the demon territory.
Furthermore, the Moonlight Ghostshadow Butterfly was a very fragile creature that was easily harmed, so they were well-protected within the blood clan. Although they could recover on their own if injured, it would leave a scar.
Flora seemed to see a wound already on the wing of this butterfly, looking like a mark left from a forceful attempt to break free. It must have struggled very hard and very desperately, or it wouldn’t have ended up like that.
But what was the situation? Why would a creature from the blood clan appear in the demon territory?
“It looks like it’s trapped!” Lena also recognized that this was no ordinary butterfly and immediately became worried.
They saw the boy trying to reach for it, but he was too short to touch it at all.
“Don’t use your hands directly. You can’t reach that spider web, and those webs will stick to you. It’s also very easy to hurt it,” Flora called out a reminder. Her voice was gentle, causing the anxious boy to startle for a moment and look toward her.
“Eh? Two big sisters?”
“Yes, we followed the sound here. We felt like there was some trouble. Now it seems a butterfly is trapped.”
“Don’t worry. This kind of butterfly is very fragile, and being in a hurry will easily hurt it. Let’s think of a way to get it down safely,” Flora said.
‘Sigh, a Moonlight Ghostshadow Butterfly is trapped; this is going to be difficult to handle. I have to find a way to rescue it without causing any harm.’
‘Using hands directly definitely won’t work, so how about magic?’
Flora thought for a moment.
‘Let me try this. It should work.’
“Let me do it.” After everyone had been silent for a while, Flora stepped forward. A trace of extremely faint and cool mana slowly gathered at her fingertips.
That was the Ice Elemental Magic she controlled. She precisely manipulated the mana to gently brush over the spider web entangling the butterfly’s wings.
A faint *sizzle* sounded. The sticky webs quickly became brittle and snapped upon contact with this pure Ice Element.
Flora’s movements were gentle and swift, carefully peeling the last few strands of spider silk from the Ghostshadow Butterfly’s fragile wings.
The boy held his breath, his large eyes watching without blinking.
Finally, the Ghostshadow Butterfly was free from its restraints. It flapped its wings in a panic, drawing a somewhat unstable arc in the air as if it wanted to fly away immediately.
“Guangguang!” the boy cried out with a sob, reaching out his small hand.
The Ghostshadow Butterfly paused in mid-air, seemingly sensing the boy’s worry and call.
In the end, it did not immediately fly high into the sky. Instead, it slowly descended and, with a hint of reluctance, landed on the boy’s eagerly extended fingertip, its wings trembling slightly.
The boy’s tears turned into a smile. He carefully shielded the butterfly with his other hand and bowed repeatedly to Flora and Lena. “Thank you! Thank you, sisters!”
“Little guy, this kind of butterfly… isn’t very suitable to be raised here.” Flora looked at the butterfly, which still seemed uneasy, and spoke softly to the boy.
“It’s a creature from the blood clan’s side. It needs purer moonlight energy to survive. The environment of the demon race will make it uncomfortable.”
The boy lowered his head, looked at the butterfly on his fingertip, and said in a small voice, “I know… but it’s so pretty… I exchanged my allowance that I saved for a long time for it from a Wandering Merchant… I wanted it to stay with me…”
Flora understood immediately. This Moonlight Ghostshadow Butterfly had likely trickled into the demon race through some channel and was bought by this boy as a precious pet.
But clearly, the butterfly could not adapt to the environment of the demon race, or it sensed something and became restless, attempting to escape only to be accidentally trapped.
His voice grew smaller and smaller, carrying a sense of reluctance.
Hearing the boy’s words, Lena patted his head. “If you like it, you should let it go to a place where it can live a good life. Don’t you see that it’s very unhappy right now?”
“Mm.”
As Lena’s words fell, the boy pursed his lips and did not answer immediately.
He looked down at the Moonlight Ghostshadow Butterfly on his fingertip.
The butterfly’s wings were gently folded, and the dark red patterns rose and fell slightly in the dim light of the alley, as if it were struggling to maintain calm while still exuding a sense of unease.
Flora knelt down so that her gaze was level with his.
“It doesn’t dislike you,” she said in a very light tone. “It’s just that this place is too uncomfortable for it. If you really like it, don’t let it stay like this.”
The boy’s fingers tightened slightly and then quickly relaxed.
“Then… then will it remember me in the future?” he asked in a low voice.
Flora was stunned for a moment, then nodded.
“It will,” she said with certainty. “At the very least, it will remember that someone helped it and that someone cared about it.”
The boy remained silent for a few seconds, as if making a very difficult decision. Finally, he took a deep breath and slowly raised his hand high.
“Then… then you can go,” he said to the butterfly, his voice shaking a little. “You have to fly well.”
The Moonlight Ghostshadow Butterfly paused.
Then, it gently flapped its wings and left the boy’s finger. It flew in a circle around him and lingered in the air for a moment before following the light above the alley and flying away, quickly disappearing from sight.
The boy stood in place, his eyes a bit red, but he did not cry.
Flora breathed a sigh of relief. She fished out a few coins from her small pouch and held them out to the boy.
“These are for you.” She smiled. “Go buy another pet, the kind that is more suitable for living here.”
The boy hastily shook his head. “No, no need!”
“Take them,” Flora spoke again, her tone gentle yet brook no refusal. “I can’t just watch you walk away like this.”
The boy hesitated for a moment but eventually took them with both hands and gave a solemn bow.
“Thank you, sister.”
When they stepped out of the alley, the street outside was still bustling, and the clamor of the festival almost immediately swallowed that small bit of quiet.
Lena glanced sideways at Flora.
“You were just… very skilled,” she said in a low voice. “It’s like you’ve done this kind of thing before.”
Flora was slightly startled.
“Is that so?”
Lena did not press further, only giving a light smile.
“That butterfly was quite lucky to have met you.”