Yes I know it's been a while since I've last updated, but I've just been getting stuck on many of my stories recently. But I am doing my best to overcome this little block I have so I can hopefully update all of my stories more often and not just a selected few.
Anyway, have another chapter for you all to enjoy or despise with all of your hatred. Whatever works for you all.
Enjoy, or not, I don't care you all have your opinions.
Everything belongs to their respective owners.
Chapter Seven: The Hunter
"HOLY CRAP! THIS IS THE BEST COOKED MEAL I'VE HAD IN YEARS!" The hat wearing bald man shouted with anime tears of joy going down his face as he scuffed down the cooked boar meat like his life depended on it.
This got Juvia, Erza, Lucy, Lisanna, Kinana, and Mira to sweat drop from seeing the sight of the man acting like this. Natsu, Flamy, and Cana weren't paying attention as they too were stuffing their face with the cooked meat that Mira and Kinana made over the fire.
Earlier before this, after getting over the shock that there were other people around the open plain field other than himself, the bald bearded man managed to talk with both Natsu and Erza before anything between the three could escalate into a fight. Seeing how the man wasn't an enemy or a threat of any kind, the red head offered the bald man to come back to their campsite and eat with them. The gun wielding male was glad that he did, because if he had cooked the meat, it wouldn't have tasted as good.
"Uh…," Kinana started to say as the hat wearing man finished swallowing down another piece of meat he was fed, getting his attention as he looked over at the purple haired woman, "So Mr…"
"The name's Ace." The now identified Ace answered her, seeing how she trailed off as he never really gave any of them what his name was.
"Oh, well Ace, may I ask what someone like you is doing out here in the middle of nowhere?" Kinana couldn't help but ask, curious about their new acquaintance at the moment.
"I could ask the same thing to you all," Ace replied back as he finished his meat, patting his now content stomach from enjoying the best cooked meal he had in a long time, "You all don't look like a group of traveling merchants. Nor do you all look like someone from around Bosco either. So care to share?"
"Kinana asked you first though." Lucy replied to him, who he merely shrugged at from her words.
"Okay, fair enough. I will tell you all why I'm out here, then you all can tell me why you all are. Does that sound fair?" Ace requested, figuring that that way they all can learn more about each other and not keep secrets.
The other group of eight looked at one another, before silently agreeing with this. There was no need to not explain why they were here. With that silent agreement between them, Mira was the one to speak back to Ace with a smile on her face.
"Yeah, that's sounds reasonable." The white haired woman replied to the black bearded man, who grinned from hearing that.
"Alright then, allow me to explain," Ace started to tell then, getting all of the other's attention as they put the food some of them were still eating down to listen better, "I am out on a personal journal to explore the world and see what kind of big game I could find as well. I eventually arrive here in Bosco around a week ago as part of my travels. Although… I quickly ended up getting into trouble." Ace told them with a nervous smile on his face as he scratched the back of his neck.
The others blinked in confusion when they heard the bearded man say this to them.
"What kind of trouble mon?" Flamy asked him, wondering what kind of chaos did the man before them got into.
"Well… basically what happened was a few days ago, I found myself in a large town. Apparently people in Bosco, unless they are part of the military, aren't allowed to wield weapons of any kind. And since I had my good old rifle here, needless to say things didn't end up well." Ace told them all, his nervous smile still on his face.
"They tried to arrest you for having a weapon on hand?" Natsu questioned, finding that rule a bit stupid, since many Mages like Erza in Fiore were all allowed and fine to have weapons on hand.
'Yeah, and they tried to take my gun. I quickly showed them otherwise when you try to get between me and my rifle. I manage to get away from the town but not before I ended up killing a commander of the military forces there, so needless to say I doubt I'm welcome here in the nation anymore." The bald man finished saying with a small laugh.
The others looked at one another before they all looked back at the chuckling bearded man. So the guy was in a similar situation they were in.
"So you're in a situation like we are then." Lisanna stated, getting Ace to be confused.
"Like you? Did they try to arrest you guys for something as well?" The bearded rifle wielding man questioned.
"Yeah," Natsu spoke up as a somewhat angered expression appeared onto his face as he went on to explain to the hat wearing male, "We all arrived in Bosco a day ago. After running into a small village, we ran into trouble when some guards from the nation's military showed up and tried to force the village to pay up despite them not being able to do so. So we kicked the crap of them before they high tailed it out of there."
"The entire Kingdom of Bosco will no doubt try to find us for what we did, so we're planning on bringing the fight to them." Cana stated with a smirk on her face.
Hearing that from the brown haired woman got Ace to widen his eyes in surprise.
"Take the fight to them? You mean you're planning on overthrowing the current King of this nation?" Ace questioned in surprise, as the others nodded in agreement.
"The King and anyone else who supports him," Juvia explained to the bearded man with a determined look on her face, "Anyone who harms and murders their own citizens who can't even defend themselves does not deserve any right to rule or lead."
Ace looked on as he saw the rest of the others nod in agreement with their own determined expressions on their faces.
"Also it helps that we can get good challenges from this too." Flamy stated to the black bearded man, with Natsu slightly nodding in agreement to the Monk's word. The women sweat drop a little from seeing the two males agree on that, as they enjoyed fighting as well.
Ace hummed to himself in thought as he put his hand on his chin in a thinking manner. The others blinked in confusion when they saw him deep in thought all of a sudden. Natsu turned to look at his girlfriends with puzzlement.
"What's he thinking about?" The pink haired male questioned, oblivious to when Flamy managed to sneak grabbed one of his pieces of cooked boar meat he didn't ate yet to devour for himself.
"Beats me." Cana responded to her and the other women's lover.
Ace was still in thought for a few extra moments before he seemed to come to an internal agreement towards himself if the sudden smile and nod of his head was any indication, as he looked back at the group with his smile still intact on his face.
"Well… since we all seem to be in the same boat, would it be fine if I tagged along with your group?" Ace suggested and requested of them, surprising the group of nine before him.
"You want to come with us?" Mira questioned with surprise, while in the background Natsu looked back down to see his meat was stolen, before turning to Flamy with an accusing glare on his face.
"Sure, why not? The Kingdom sees me as a criminal already, so we might as well stick together right?" The hat wearing bald man replied with his smile still on his face.
"He does have a point there." Lisanna pointed out, as Natsu and Flamy were now trying to bash each other's faces behind the women and Ace, who were oblivious to this little scuffle at the moment.
The seven women continued to think for a moment about this, before not seeing a problem with him tagging along. Besides, like Natsu would say, the more the merrier. And so, with smiles on their faces they all turned back to look at Ace.
"We would be glad to have you on board Ace." Erza told him, getting him to grin widely.
"Well thank you all, I can assure you all you won't regret it." Ace responded with a grin still on his face.
"Great!" Juvia clapped her hands as she then turned towards where Natsu was originally at, "Isn't this great to have new allies to have Natsu-Sama-?"
The blue haired women stopped herself as she blinked in confusion when she didn't see her lover at her spot. This also allowed the other women and Ace to also notice the lack of the pink haired Fire Dragon Slayer who was no longer in his spot. They also didn't see Flamy present either.
"Huh? Where'd they go?" Kinana questioned with slightly worried. Where did Natsu and Flamy go? Weren't they originally sitting here with them and listening in?
Luckily it didn't take too long before they finally heard and noticed the bickering and small fight between the Dragon Slayer and Monk behind them all, with dust clouds picking up from the two's fighting like a bunch of idiots as they also shouted profanities at one another.
This got the seven females to have deadpanned stares from the sight, while Ace merely laughed from seeing this. He had a feeling that he was going to enjoy his time with this group.
'ELSEWHERE'
"It seems new problems have a risen your majesty." A black cloaked figure told the young man who was sitting on the large throne.
The young man on the large throne in the large opened up throne room looked to be around his late twenties. He had short white hair, brown colored eyes and his skin was tan. He wore a golden crown adorn with jewels on his head, and he wore a white suit with a red bowtie. Black dress shoes were also worn. To top it off he also wore a crimson royal robe as well to complete his royal status look. This was none other than the King of Bosco.
"Grr… to think that a bunch of peasants dare to attack my forces and think they would get away with it!" The King exclaimed in anger as he slammed his fists down on the armrests of the throne.
Turning to his right, the white haired royalty notices a large man completely clad in full body armor present and standing by for orders, as the young man went on to speak to the armored man.
"General! How many of these nuisances are there specifically?" The King questioned with slight annoyance noticeable in his tone.
The fully armored giant man bowed slightly before he went on to inform the king about the new threats that have popped up.
"My lord, we have heard from one of our captains in the western border that a group of Mages from Fiore have caused havoc and attacked him and his men a day ago. Around a few days ago as well, one of our commanders have fallen to a defiant man who refused to turn in his weapon and himself in. And in the northern border near our neighboring nation Iceberg another crazed group was seen defying and attacking our forces and hijacked one of our war vehicles." The large armored general informed the white haired man, who didn't like what he was just told.
"Do what you must to find these nuisances and bring them down. I will set out a reward for any soldier who brings me their heads on a pike!" The King of Bosco told the armored man, who bowed once more.
"Understood my lord." The giant armored entity replied as he finished bowing.
And with that done, the large man then took his leave as he left the large throne room, leaving only the King, the guards that fill the room, and the black cloaked figure to the King's left. The cloaked figure then looked back towards the white haired royalty.
"I hope dealing with a few trouble makers in your nation wouldn't be too hard for a King like you to handle." The cloaked man told the King, who merely scoffed at the covered person's words.
"I can handle it just fine," The man told him, before the King turned to glare at the cloaked figure once more, "I hope for your sake, our agreement will be kept. I will supply your "Council" with the supplies you need, and in return you will give us this power you keep going on about. These little problems popping up are nothing more than a mere set back."
The cloaked let out a small laugh from the words that the King just spewed, before he leaned in closer to the white haired man for him to hear him better.
"I can assure you your majesty, what we offer you will be beyond what your wildest dreams can't even fathom. None will be able to stand against you. We get what we need, and you get your power." The cloaked figure assured him.
The King narrowed his eyes at the cloaked man once more.
"For your sake, it better be as great as you claim." The King threatened, which only got the black cloaked figure to chuckle a little once more.
There we go, chapter done. So what did you all think? Good? Bad? Let me know.
See you all next time, whenever that will be.
