A Pair of Aristocrats
Lucy POV
I sipped on one of Mira's smoothies as I sat at the bar. I needed to take a mission, my rent was due soon. Natsu was out on a mission with Lisanna, Grey was hiding from Juvia and Erza was dealing the consequences from our last team mission. I sweatdropped as I thought about it. Erza had cut down half of the forest and Natsu set it on fire and then Grey froze the forest. Honestly I was just glad that there was no buildings destroyed. Maybe I could find a simple mission or even do one with Levy. I walked up to the request board and started looking. Translate a book, no not enough money. Monster ravaging a town, too difficult. I breathed a sigh of relief as I found one that I could do, deliver an artifact to Crocus, for 80,000 jewels, and it was right here in Magnolia. I was just about to grab it off the board to take to Mira but,
"Lucy! Go talk to Mira, she has a mission for you." That was Master Makarov, I nodded and walked back to bar.
Mira had ducked out of the bar in order to get out a large black book, she opened it and began to flip through the pages. She came to a stop on a page that read Lucy Heartfilia at the top with underneath it a list of missions that had the Fairy Tail seal next to them. Mira dragged her finger down the page until she stopped at something bolded in red.
"Alright, Lucy, it's a requested mission" At my confused face she grinned, "That means someone has specifically requested you for the mission." I nodded. She continued,
"The request wants you to act as a high society member in order to run some reconnaissance, they believe that they have a monster in the mansion. They have a few conditions along with the request, they say that you can only bring one other person and that they will act as either a lady in waiting, or bodyguard for you. Also you can't bring anyone from Team Natsu, the mission is in Tomorae, and they are offering 500,000 jewels along with, what they say is a key, but they don't know if it's a celestial key." I bit my lip as I looked down at the bar for a moment,
"Alright, i'll do it." She nodded and moved to stamp it but paused
"Are you going to bring someone? I'd suggest it."
"I don't know Mira, if i'm to act as a member of society, I don't think anyone at the guild would be able to play that role along with me." Mira touched her chin as she thought before she gasped at pointed at me,
"Freed!" I gawked at her, "Um, Freed?" She nodded avidly,
" Yea, Freed. He could play the part and he'd be able to help you search and do research." My eyes widened, and I nodded, I could see her point.
"I'll be right back then." I turned on my heel and walked over to where Freed was sitting with the Raijinshuu, I paused at the edge of the table.
"Um, Freed?" The aforementioned looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. "Will you come with me on a mission? I have to act as a sort of spy in a high society setting and Mira thought that you would be able to help me out." It was clear on his face that he was thinking it over, somehow I could all to clearly see him creating a pro and con list. Finally he nodded,
"Sure, I assume you want to leave as soon as possible?" I nodded.
"Alright, i'll need time to pack but then we can leave." I grinned widely,
"You don't need to pack, I got that. Open, Gate of The Maiden, VIRGO!" With the usual poof of smoke she appeared.
"Punishment, Princess?" I sighed,
" No Virgo, but I do need you to pack my stuff for a mission along with Freed's things. Also pack my gowns instead, i'm going to be dressed as an heiress again." I had gestured to Freed when I said his name, Virgo nodded once before she disappeared in, once again a poof of smoke.
"Sorry. I probably should have asked you if that was alright first." I rubbed the back of my neck and smiled, Freed merely smiled and nodded,
"No, no, its quite alright. Do you want to leave for the train station now?" I nodded and walked back to Mira as Freed got up and followed me,
"Alright Mira. We're gonna take the mission." She smiled and grabbed a stamp and the mission flyer, stamping it with the seal for the guild. She handed me the flyer, "Ok, you're clear to go. Have fun and be safe, also Freed, take care of Lucy." At the last part she got a deadly and threatening tone her her voice, Freed merely waved her off with a nod. I sweatdropped and sent a glare Mira's way, I looked to Freed and smiled before turning to head out to the train station. The walk to the station was quiet and honestly, I was thankful for that, I was still mulling over what I believed the mission would entail. It had been a while since I had to act the part that I was, I mean no matter what though, it wouldnt matter, everything was ingrained into me. I walked up to the box office to buy the tickets, Freed standing next to me,
"Two tickets to Tomorae please." The woman nodded and grabbed a box out from under the counter and pulled out two tickets,
"That's 40,000 Jewels Ma'am." I went to grab the money but was stopped by Freed as he payed for my ticket along with his.
"Freed, um, you didn't have to do that. Let me pay you back." I said as I tried to hand him the 20,000 that my ticket had cost.
"Lucy, please. It's fine, I do not mind paying for both tickets. It would offend me to take your money." He put the money back into my hand and turned to walk onto the train, stopping at the doors to look at me with one eyebrow raised. I sighed and ran forward to catch up to him, we got onto the train and began to look for a compartment that we would have to ourselves. Once we had found one, Freed settled into one of the booths while I pulled out Virgo's key.
"I'm going to get our things from virgo and then i'm going to go change into one of my gowns, then we'll go over the mission plan, ok?" He nodded and I sighed, raising the key I called out,
"Open! Gate of the Maiden, VIRGO!" We were greeted by the usual puff of pink smoke and Virgo's emotionless face, I stopped her before she could ask for punishment.
"Virgo, I need our stuff and then would you mind helping me into one of my gowns, please?" Virgo nodded,
"Of course Princess." She momentarily disappeared, only to return with two suitcases-mine and a dark green one, which I presumed was Freed's. She put Freed's up in the storage rack above the seats before grabbing a garment bag out of mine, with that we left the compartment to get me into my dress.
The sound of the compartment door pulled Freed out of his book, his eyes widened as he saw me. I was dressed in a off-shoulder, dark purple gown that hugged my chest and defined my small waist with a corset, only to flair out into a full skirt with a blue petticoat layered over the skirt. My hair was tied up into an simple bun, and I had no makeup on, leaving my face fresh and clean. Being back in a gown caused me to unconsciously straighten up and return to holding myself with dignity and pride that was appropriate for an heiress to have. I smoothed my skirt out as I sat down across from Freed,
"Alright, so the mission want for us to act as part of the society, the client believes that there is a monster hidden in the mansion. Here's the flyer." I unfolded the flyer and passed it to him.
"Very well, so i'm to act the part of your bodyguard in order to blend in. If he believes that there is a monster hidden in the mansion, do you think we could be dealing with a mage who is causing the disturbance?" I toyed with a loose lock of hair as my nose and forehead scrunched from thought.
"Yes, and that's entirely possible, but we also have to keep our minds open. If we are dealing with just a monster and not a mage, what could be attracting it and how on Earthland could it be getting past security. We'll have to check with the staff along with the owner." He nodded and set the flyer next to him on the booth, he turned and grabbed a messenger bag, that I hadn't noticed, and pulled a small notebook and pen out of it. He flipped the notebook open to a clean page and said,
"So, there's what the client thinks, a monster, and then there is our theory of a mage." He wrote down everything as he said it.
"So why would he only have put in this request now? Why not earlier? Is there something going on?" I nodded shortly before answering him,
" From what I know, yes there is an event going on. The client's hosting a ball in order to increase his status, its a normal thing among aristocracy. He's going to use the ball in order to show off his wealth and power, so there is going to be a lot of expensive and valuable items out. Could it be possible that we have a thief who is using a monster as a distraction?" Freed tapped the end of the pen against his chin before he wrote down my idea.
"That's possible. It would make some ounce of sense. I can't think of anything else for now, but we need to meet with the client and question the staff before we can make conclusions. For now maybe we can get some sleep, it's a long ride to Tomorae." I nodded as I shifted so my legs were resting on the bench and leaned back against the wall, and closed my eyes.