Disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail

A/N: So this is another deleted chapter from "A Child of Fire and Brimstone" that I had in my "archives" so to say. I was going with it but then decided to go in a different direction.

Check out the full story if you get a chance.

Mulay Village

(Deleted Chapter)

The train pulls into the tiny station near Mulay Village about half an hour later and the two mages jump out from the end and make their way down the dirt trail that was leading into town.

"I'm supposed to meet the mayor at the town hall to discuss what's going on", Wendy tells Romeo as the two of them made their way into town.

"Which building is that?", Romeo wonders as he looks around the community, noted the giant square acres of plowed fields while also noticing only a few cattle in the general vicinity, or at least he thought they were cattle for he has only ever seen them in books and pictures. On the outskirts of town were a number of barns and houses all separate from each other by rolling crops fields. Romeo and Wendy find themselves walking to the closest thing that resembles a "downtown" for the hamlet where at least two dozen buildings were crowded together but these too were empty.

"Wendy, do you see anyone else here?", Romeo asks while eyeing the large number of footprints in the dirt, all leading down the road through the town center and to a small wooden building.

The girl takes a gander around, looking in all directions but spots no signs of human life anywhere.

"I don't see anyone", she says before picking up a mass of voices through her enhance hearing and an assortment of smells through her noses, "I think there might be someone in there", as she points to the building Romeo was already looking at.

"Hmmm", was all Romeo said as the two kids went along their way to the building and upon getting closer could actually make out what everyone was saying.

"First the devil-eyes and now bandits!"

"How the hell are we suppose to sell our crops now?!"

"Market season is almost over and we haven't been able to sell anything yet!"

"Where are the mages you said would come to help us?!"

"All our problems have started ever since you let that devil-eyes stay in our village!"

"That's right! We should have the mages coming to handle the bandits take care of them as well! I'll bet they'll do it if we pay them extra! Not like anyone is going to care way out here!"

Wendy covers her mouth in appall at what she was hearing, meanwhile, Romeo just kept a neutral look on his face.

"Didn't know there was another hellsoul living out here", was all he said.

"You don't know that", Wendy interjected, "They could be talking about anyone."

"Yes, because "devil-eyes" obviously means something else", Romeo says as he moves to the door, "I was going to sit back and let you handle this seeing how it's your job but now I'm interested!", as orange flames engulf his right foot and he kicks open the doors to the building, nearly blowing them off the handle.

Inside the building, on its open floor was no doubt the entire community of this small farming village. Men, women, children, all of them turn got up out of their seats to see Romeo standing with his arms cross, his face still showing no emotion whatsoever while Wendy was standing meekly behind him.

"We're here to handle your bandit problem!", Romeo announces before pointing at Wendy, "Or more so, she is because I couldn't care less", to which Wendy shyly waves a hand while taking out the job request.

"Is Mayor...Tudope here?", she reads off the request, a little nervous at being put on the spot all of a sudden.

A tall shirtless, muscular man who towered other everyone else with brown eyes and black hair, raises a burly hand at the front of the crowd. He had a magnificent beard that went all the way down to the middle of his chest and his muscles looked tone enough that you could cut a diamond on that, along with the fact that they were glistening in sweat by the sunlight pouring through the glass-pane windows, as if he just got done working and if the pitchfork next to him was anything to go off of, he probably did.

All and all, he was the exact opposite of the typical farming mayor stereotype and his appearance took the young mages by surprise.

"That be me, little girl. Are you Wendy the dragon-slayer, the one I talked to over the lacrima phone thingy?", he asks in a thick voice that reverberates throughout the minuscule building.

Being taken aback by it, Wendy takes a moment to actually answer the question, "Y-yes that's me."

"Well, I hope you're tougher than you look, little missy because this bandit issue is getting a bit out of hand", Tupode began to explain as he began moving through the crowd toward them, "We haven't been able to leave the village with our crops and our markets are demanding to know where our products are at."

"Don't forget that devil from hell!", a man yelled behind him.

"Now Jim, you be quiet now and let me handle things", Tupode said

"I'm sure she'll be able to handle it", Romeo says while watching everyone else, taking in their posture, "They're scared shitless."

"Pardon my rudeness, boy, but I don't think we have been introduced", the mayor said as he got closer to them.

"Boy?", Romeo whispers as he looks up at the mountain of flesh that was now standing in front of him.

Tupode stretches a hand to the Romeo, "Jeremy Hannock Tupode the Fourth."

The hellsoul takes hold of the man's hand and Tupode puts it into an iron grip, "Romeo Conbolt."

Tupode tilts his head to the side in a quizzical manner, "You're Macao's boy?", his voice so deep that Romeo's felt it through his hand.

"Is Conbolt really such a rare name in these parts?", the boy thought, "You know my dad?"

"I met him a couple of times in your town's taverns while I was in Magnolia on business. Good man, that one", Tupode answers, and Romeo found himself stifling a laugh.

"Yeah, okay", he says, hoping the sarcasm was evident in his voice.

"Now answer me honestly, boy", Tupode says as he removes his hand, "I know dragonslayers have a reputation of being powerful and whatnot. What with that Natsu lad I keep hearing about; but what about you? Are you just as tough as the girl?"

"I guess they're too backwater to know what nullifier gloves look like," Romeo thought as he reaches for his shades, "I think I'll be fine", as he removes them and looks into Tupode's brown eyes with his blood-red ones.

"Well, I'll be a fuck in a barnyard and raise in a henhouse, we got ourselves another devil-eyes out here in these here parts!" Tupode announces, showing no hints of fear whatsoever, at least none that could be seen.

Well, the reaction to this revelation when exactly the way Romeo was expecting it to as chairs were suddenly being thrown around as everyone scrambled to the back of the building in a mad rush to get away from Romeo. Some were waving holy trinkets of various gods, others were reading from scriptures, and more than a few were on their knees praying upward. While their effects mildly irritated Romeo, none of the townsfolk were pious enough to do anything more than that. Though it did make him wonder the whereabouts of the local priest.

"Now everyone please calm down! Tupode's voice carries over the wails and screams, "I sure if the lad wanted to burn us all he wouldn't have even come inside the building!"

"He's here to take our souls! He was called here by the other one!", a woman cried out as she held her child close to her.

"Now Margaret, we don't need an input that would just make everyone more afraid now, you hear? Go back to comforting little Betsy, she looks mighty frightened there", Tupode replies before turning back to Romeo and Wendy, "Perhaps we ought of talk somewhere less crowded."

"Where is this other hellsoul at?", Romeo questions.

"Don't tell him, Tupode! Who knows what monstrosities will be born from those two meetings!"

"Go back to attending little Betsy, Margaret, as I said", the mayor calls over his shoulder as he herds the kids outside and away from the building.

"Now I'm going to be honest with you two", Tupode said as the trio made their way back through the center of Mulay Village, "I didn't know Fairy Tail had a devil-eyes in their guild. Didn't even think they could join one."

"I'm not part of the guild", Romeo corrected him, prompting Tupode to glance at him.

"Even though your father is the guild master?"

Romeo lets out a huff in annoyance, "Look, I just got to Magnolia yesterday and the only reason I'm even here is due to extreme circumstances that I rather not go into."

Tupode simply nods, "Every man is entitled to his own business; now let me show you around town."

"How long have the attacks been happening?", Wendy asks as the three of them headed out toward the main road that led out of town.

"Well, if I had to guess I say around the time of the beginning of the marketing season. That's when we harvest all of the crops and sell them in the various markets in the region", Tupode explained.

"Could have figured that", Romeo grumbles.

A sharp cough from Wendy tells him to mind his manners and the boy decided to remain quiet while the mayor of the village press on.

"Yep, it was John Knoxer and his brother Paul that were the first ones to be attacked. The two of them were heading to Tyona Town to the north and got ambush about an hour after they left", Tupode said, "The bandits just took their crops at first but then John got a bit to uppity and they knock him out."

"What happened to Paul?", Wendy asks.

"They let him carry his unconscious brother back to town", Tupode answers as the three of them walk up to what seems like a town hall, "They only took the crops and that was that. Now at first, we thought this wasn't a big deal. Stuff like this happens ever so often about once every couple of years. It's usually because they're hungry and can't get food any other way, so we thought nothing of it."

"But it was more than that, wasn't it?", Romeo questions, receiving a nod from Tupode in response.

"Soon, everyone that left the town with supplies was getting highjack, their hard-earn product being taken from them."

A/N: And this is where I realize that this storyline wasn't going the way I was hoping it to go and the chapter got scrapped.