Being alone is one of the most hated situation by most people. Sayings like "No man is an island", "one for all, all for one", and the favorite person the people blamed for all their wrongdoings: everyone. People always reject the notion of being alone because only very few people really wanted to be alone. Yes, even the introverts wanted some company every once in a while.

That being said, I am currently dealing with a little girl here who does not want to be alone with only her white flying cat as a company. Despite my protest so that I won't be labeled as a pedophile, Marvell insisted that we should band together for this mutual mission of ours. She said that I would feel lonely I were not to join them.

It was at that moment that my onii-chan instincts kicked in. The child asked me with puppy look on her eyes that I can't just ignore.

Right now, we are currently sitting around the campfire I lighted. The two opened their canned goods while I just sat at a log while biting a branch of a tree which is of the same size as my thigh. Due to it being cut from a very old tree, it tasted great.

Marvell probably felt bad that they were the only ones that were eating a normal food so she called me. " Hachiman-san, would you like to join us? There's still plenty of these for the three of us."

"No, thanks. I'm fine with this."

However, it immediately became my turn to feel bad by rejecting her offer as her eyes now starting to build up tears that they glistened with the reflection of the campfire. Seriously, this girl is really unknowingly trying to steal my brotherly affections that are meant for Komachi.

I changed my mind and went to their side of the campfire and sat beside them, albeit an arms-length away. "Fine, I'll eat with you."

"Yay! Food really tastes better if shared." Marvell beamed with happiness while her cat just stared at me, wary from the stranger (me) who ate with them.

I don't directly share the same belief as her but there's something from what she said that I agreed to. Well, for me, food tastes better when I don't have to work for it. In other words, shared by someone to me.

Shoving the chunk of meat in my mouth, I noticed that their preservation techniques here are much more effective than that from my home world. It is to be expected because these are preserved using a sealing magic so that it seemed that the time itself of the meat stopped, keeping its original freshness.

I decided to keep my intake of their food as little as possible because I don't really know if these are enough for the three of us if I were to eat my fill. Not like it was an issue since my food is always available around.

Speaking of food, I have yet to know what type of dragon slayer is Marvell. All I know is that she also has the power to heal someone.

"Say, Marvell, can I ask what kind of dragon slayer magic do you use?" I asked.

"Um, I use Sky Dragon Slayer magic but all I know for now are just healing and combat enchantments. I still can't even do a roar yet." she replied.

"Does that mean you can eat air? That's more convenient than mine."

However, that doesn't mean I am envious of her ability because I'm already more than satisfied with mine. I mean, every single plant is an option for me to eat as long as they're not contaminated by outside sources. I can even eat unprocessed poison as long as a plant naturally produces them. I'm not planning on testing that hypothesis by drinking store-bought poison for obvious reasons.

"Judging by your tone, you're abusing your ability of eating wood. Am I right?" Carla asked.

"Yes. I only eat normal food when I crave something. Besides, trees are both healthy and economical."

"Eh, I never thought about that. I only eat air to replenish my magic reserves." Marvell said.

Considering the "rules" of my plant eating ability, maybe the pollution in populated areas prevented her from developing the habit of casually eating air. There's always the risk of eating one's fart which is unsettling to say the least.

"It seems that you're more sensible than I thought." the cat commented to me then turned towards Marvell. "Hear that, Wendy? Eat your vegetables."

"Y-Yes."

And thus, we ate in silence for the next several minutes. And by silence, I mean I'm not included in their conversation just because I don't have any topics that they can relate to and vice versa.

Or so I thought when I found myself being dragged to the conversation by Marvell. "Hachiman-san, please say something too."

"I don't really have any interesting things to say."

"Come on, just a few things about your childhood or something." I didn't know you're capable of landing such heavy blows.

Telling her of my childhood won't do any good for the atmosphere. It would either spoil her mood for lighthearted conversation or be forced to sympathize with me for going through childhood without any friends. Apparently, it's a very big issue for most people I've talked to here in Earthland. And by most, I mean just Master Dreyar and Olietta.

"Fine, I'll tell you about my previous guild."

"Woah, you've been to other guilds before?" she asked.

"Yes."

The "guild" I'm referring to is the service club. If I were to just translate it to "guild language", Hiratsuka-sensei would be the guild master while Yukinoshita and Yuigahama would be my guildmates. I also make sure to state that my guild is a non-magic one so that it won't cause any confusion to my audiences as further delve into my story.

I then told her what happened in my highschool life using "guild language". From how I first recruited to the "guild" up to when we organized a Christmas event. Of course I omitted some of my inner monologues for the events because I think she's not old enough to understand them.

The kid was visibly excited when I mentioned the Christmas event and the play performed by the kids. Of course that would be the most appealing part considering that Christmas celebration is mostly for kids. Although I wonder how come they have Christmas when Christianity is not an existing religion here. Same with other common holidays such as Halloween and Valentine's day which also have their roots from the said religion.

"And then, by some strange twist of fate, we parted our ways to seek out more opportunities in life. And then I ended up joining Fairy Tail."

"That's bittersweet. I thought Fairy Tail mages are just a bunch of fight-loving hooligans." Carla commented.

"Trust me, they really are what you just described them."

Meanwhile, Marvell just looked somewhat down with the ending of my story. I actually expected it because a child is known to be not so good in handling goodbyes, especially if that certain child also experienced her fair share of goodbyes.

"What's wrong, Wendy?" the cat asked her.

"Nothing. It's just that having an older boy with me on a camping trip reminded me of my older brother." she replied while wiping the tears off her face.

"Eh? That's the first time I've heard of it."

"That's because we're not blood related and I decided to keep his identity a secret. After Grandeeney left me, he found me take me on his journey for about a month. Then suddenly, he decided to leave at the guild, saying that it will be too dangerous for me to go with him." Marvell told us.

Although it may sound like a convenient excuse to get rid of the responsibility of taking care of a child, I think I will also do just that if Komachi will be in danger the more she is with me. To be honest, I tried to discourage her from enrolling to Sobu High the first time she told me about it. That is because my reputation at the school is terrible and I don't want to ruin her reputation by just being in the same school as her.

But I guess it doesn't matter anymore because I'm practically already dead in my past world. By the time she entered Sobu, gossips about the Hikigaya name is probably already dead. And with this situation of mine right now, I'd definitely don't want her to be with me because this world has too many life and death risks.

"So, why do you need to hide his identity? You don't have to answer if it is too personal." I asked.

"He's already dead now so I guess I can now reveal his identity." she replied, now tearing her eyes out. "His name is Jellal."

Hmm, Jellal... Wait, Mystogan's counterpart here on Earthland? If that's the case, then it's perfectly understandable that this guy didn't want to include Marvell to his Zeref madness.

"When I heard the rumor that he became a worshiper of Zeref and continued to build a structure to revive the black wizard, I was devastated. And then recently, I found out that he was caught in the destruction of the R-system. Even by the crimes he committed, I just can't bring myself to hate him."

Carla comforted the crying girl while I just stared at the two of them. I do feel bad for Marvell but I don't have any comforting words to offer, nor I am confident that my delivery will make her feel better.

Without anything to do, I backed off from them a little bit and and went to the campfire to add some wood pieces to it.

"Ahem. We should go to sleep now. We still have a long day tomorrow." I said to the both of them, with Marvell finally calmed down.

"R-Right."

The two of them are now setting up their tent to sleep inside while I'm left here on a guarding duty. They didn't even bother to ask me if I'm fine being on this duty because they're too tired.

Now this will be the hard part of camping with someone, especially the underaged ones. I'm only allowed to take short naps because I have to look out for them while they sleep. Because there are roaming vulcans here, I can't just sleep and let Marvell be taken by those foul creatures.

I'm also very tired myself so I also took a short nap by lying down on a very uncomfortable position near the campfire. This way, I will be forced to wake up periodically. Yes, I know this sounds like a terrible idea but I don't have anything else to help me with this dilemma.

Maybe a little more comfortable position won't hurt...

...

I woke up with a lot of sore parts of my body. I designed it to help me wake up in the middle of the night but it didn't help me at all. All it did was to give me an unnecessary pain in my body.

With a few stretches to relieve my stiff joints, I fully awakened and now energized to resume today's activities. At least as energized as a Hikiyaya Hachiman can get.

I also saw Marvell and Carla fixing their tent back to their storage. At least the two of them are safe.

We then continued our search for the unknown artifact. Our roles are still the same. Carla for the aerial view while me and Marvel on the ground.

But this time, I utilized my Wood Merge to travel faster within the trees and leaves. I did this not because it helps me travel faster and cover more ground, it also serves as my practice for this specific spell. I aimed to master this one first as soon as possible because it's very useful. I mean, just imagine how overpowered the spell is when you're fighting someone while standing on a grassy ground. Maybe the name should be changed to "Nature Merge" or whatever chuuni names available.

I continuously moved from tree to tree as long as there are leaves from each tree that are in contact with each other. That was how it supposed to happen throughout the whole search. Unfortunately, I accidentally moved out of my Wood Merge because a gust of wind removed the contact of next tree's leaves to the current tree I'm merged with.

"Oh shi-"

Even my cursing was interrupted when I fell directly on the cold ground. Sure, the fall was unfortunate but it's nothing that a mage couldn't handle. Hah! I really am a mage. My middle-schooler self must be very jealous of me right now.

Gently patting the sore spot on my forehead, I looked around for any clues of the artifact's whereabouts. From all the trees I've passed with my Wood Merge, nothing from their surroundings looked suspicious enough to be considered as a clue.

Maybe this whole mission was a scam all along. I mean, people should have already found it if there's really one here considering that this mission is distributed to many guilds. Marvell being here to do the mission just further proves my claim.

A few minutes later, my two "teammates" caught up with me. From the looks on their faces, I assume that they also haven't found anything of significance. However, just for the sake of formality, I decided to ask them about it.

"Any clues?"

"Nothing about the artifact. Although I did found a vulcan's nest." Marvell replied.

"Good thing they didn't notice you."

It was after I released the reply that I realised that I just jinxed it. And by that, I mean that I'm now hearing a rumbling of a number of beasts running towards us. What's worse is that they all screamed "woman" while doing so.

"Carla, grab Marvell and get out of here immediately!" I yelled, snapping the two out of their daze from fear.

"What about you, Hachiman-san?"

"I have my ways of escape. Unless you want to fight these beasts who want to violate you- No, just leave now!"

For some reason, Marvell just looked at me with a somewhat determined expression. Damn it, why did she choose this of all times that she wants to prove herself?

"No, I refuse to leave you here again!"

Well, they did flee from me when we encountered a vulcan yesterday but that's because I wanted them to do so. This is just a similar situation as that but of more intensity so I'm expecting them do the same.

"You did a good job of that yesterday, please do it this time as well!"

"I refuse!"

Because of our senseless bickering, the vulcans finally arrived here. Each of them have this perverted look on their eyes and are pointed towards Marvel. Seeing those looks on their face made me want to rip them apart.

Without thinking, I immediately gathered my magic power in mouth just like what I did on the thunder palace a month ago. This time, I can't afford to charge it to be as strong as possible because there's no time to do it.

With a scream, I opened my mouth and released the tornado of sharp leaves and wooden shards. It was enough to knock the five vulcans back for about a few meters and with cuts all over their bodies. However, I know that it wasn't enough to defeat them for good.

At my back, I heard Marvell chanting some spells. Then suddenly, I felt stronger and faster.

"Arms! Vernier! Armor!"

Ah, so that is why she wanted to stay here. Aside from healing magic, she also has some various enchantments to buff me. Well, it really is reassuring to have a white mage on your party but I still can't shake the idea that something might happen to her by staying here.

"Thank you, Marvel. But please stay on my back."

"I will. Thank you for trusting me Hachiman-san!"

Now that I'm buffed both offensively and defensively, at least from what I understood from her enchantments, I'm somehow confident that we can take on these creatures. Carla can just also grab Marvell away if some of the vulcans can make it pass through me.

Trying my best to avoid letting the children at my back see a blown out gore, I launched a durable vines and wrapped them on the vulcans' feet. Some managed to break free but three of them are now rendered immobile. With that, I spammed the vines while throwing them my version of "dragon's roar". All of that in order immobilize them either by knocking them unconscious or just tying them down.

As expected, with these enchantments from Marvell, the eight vulcans, which I assume are the cannon fodders, are easily been dealt with. Now, all I need to do is to make sure that these vulcans are rendered completely immobile while waiting for the "alpha" vulcan.

"That's awesome, Hachiman-san!" Marvell complimented me.

"It's commendable how you didn't just killed them flat out." Carla added.

"There's no need to kill them no matter how disgusting these animals are." I replied nonchalantly.

Now that all of the underlings have been dealt with, I need to formulate a plan on how to deal with their alpha. Based on Conbolt's experience with killing these creatures, the alpha is much stronger than the rest, typical of many of the social animals.

"Marvell, please recover your full magic capacity now. I need as much enchantments as possible if the alpha arrives here." I said.

"The air is clean here so I think I'm able to do so."

"Please do."

Now it's my turn to consume my own fill of ethernano by eating almost an entire small tree. Now I understand why I always see Dragneel and Redfox eating their respective elements. Using my "dragon slayer" abilities are way too taxing for my magic reserves.

"Grroooaaaarr! Womaaaaan!"

With a loud and disgusting roar, the huge vulcan finally made its appearance. It's height can easily reach three meters. Combining that with its monstrous body figure, this can easily qualify as a Behemoth. Not like I know anything from the creature outside of the pop culture usage of it.

Marvel quickly casted her enchantments to me while I wrapped myself with an armor made of the sturdiest wood I could create. At this point, a weapon would only become a hindrance so I only added a shield which I attached to my left arm. It's actually easier for me to move with this armor because all of them are under my direct command. I can even fly just by controlling the breastplate alone.

The vulcan launched itself to Marvell's direction but I quickly blocked it. Thanks for her enchantments, I managed to take all the impact without injuring myself.

That doesn't men that I didn't felt the attack. In fact, it's the opposite as I actually felt the full force of it despite the attack not doing any damage to it. So this is what hell feels like, tortured by pain yet you can't die.

The vulcan, angered from my intervention, shifted its attention to me. It continuously threw punches at me in a blind rage, which I evaded a blocked all of them. The perks of fighting someone who was blinded by rage is that they won't even bother to create some sort of strategy.

With that in mind, I steadily moved away from Marvell and Carla's direction while calling for the beast's attention by throwing wooden projectiles at it. As expected, vulcan really did follow me, making my job a little bit easier.

Marvel was still on her spot, preparing to cast her enchantments the moment mine runs out. Beside her was Carla who was ready to grab her out of danger if the vulcan manages to shift its attention back to them.

To be honest, I'm kinda glad that they are here to help me in fighting this creature because I know for myself that I'm no match for this vulcan. Even though I have a somewhat similar ability to dragon slayers, I'm still a rookie through and through. No one in their right mind would think that a rookie can defeat an alpha vulcan on his own.

Suddenly, I was caught off guard by the vulcan's feint and managed to land a direct hit on my torso. The impact completely shattered my wooden armor and sent me flying and collided to a huge tree.

"Hahaha!" the vulcan laughed.

"Damn it, that hurt!" I winced as I rubbed the injured part of my torso.

Thankfully, no bone was broken, although the severe bruise was enough to give me impression of having one. Despite my condition, I fixed my armor with a harder wood and charged back at the vulcan, hoping that I won't lose my aggro.

What I feared really did happen. The vulcan is now walking towards Marvell and Carla with a perverted grin on its face.

"Carla! Grab Marvell and flee now!"

While Marvell was still in shock, Carla immediately took her and flew upwards. Unfortunately, the vulcan jumped high enough to grab hold of Marvell's leg, dragging the two of them down in the process. The two of them struggled to free from its grip but the vulcan was just too strong for them.

Seeing them, I immediately launched a wooden spear that I think is sharp enough to pierce its head. I don't care anymore if the two of them will be soaked it its blood as long as I can save them.

Fortunately, although the vulcan managed to evade the spear, the act caused it to release Marvell and Carla from its grip. Seeing this opening, I immediately launched my "roar" attack to send it back away and buy some needed time for the two of them to escape.

"This is an order, leave this area now!" I commanded.

"But you're injured! I can't leave you in that condition!" For the love of God, just listen to me!

"The chances of us dying is higher if you're here. Do you underst–"

Before I could finish my sentence, I was hit by a tree trunk being thrown to me by the vulcan. I tried to merge with it but the happening was so quick that some sharp branches of it stabbed me and sent me flying again. The two girls was shocked upon seeing me being flung just like that.

"Just do as he says, child! Let's get out of here!"

Thankfully, Carla understood the situation as she immediately grabbed Marvell and flee from the area despite the latter's protests.

Now I'm all alone with this abomination of an animal. Escape from it is not an option because it can easily track me and the two if I were to just run away from it considering that it already have good grasp of what our smell are. The only option I have right right now is to render it immobile just like its underlings. Yes, I even tried Wood Merge but the vulcan just smashed every trees I've merged to.

I felt Marvell's enchantments already starting to wear off. That means I only have few minutes left to try immobilizing this creature.

With the proper hand sign of Molding magic, I created four wooden walls around the vulcan. I'm not expecting them to hold it for long, I just need them to hold it long enough for my "roar" attack to be fully charged. By the time it breaks through the walls, I'm ready to launch my attack to it.

"Shit!"

The vulcan broke free even though I'm mot finished charging the full force of my attack. With that, I have no choice but release the attack the moment it charged me. And by that, I mean I have to launch it immediately because it's now coming towards me.

With a loud yell, the huge tornado of sharp leaves and wooden shards came towards the vulcan almost instantaneously. The attack destroyed almost everything in its path. Unfortunately, that "almost" means that the vulcan was just being blown away instead of being destroyed completely.

That attack took a toll on me as I'm now on my knees, panting heavily from physical and magic exhaustion. Even though I have every means of restoring my magic reserves here in the forest, I can't ignore my body anymore as it now assaulted me with my nerves telling me how painful my injuries are.

However, even with a lot of cuts and bruises, the vulcan just quickly stood up and laughed an me. It seems that it still have more punches to throw.

After I ate a whole tree, I once again stood up by controlling the wooden armor I'm wearing. Yes, my body already went limp and I'm just controlling it now like a puppet. It's for this kind of situation that I decided to envelope myself in a wooden armor.

Because I can't afford to be hit anymore, I lifted my armor upwards, thus making my whole body "fly" to the air. Then I once again charged my "roar" attack, hoping to end this fight once and for all. Be it rendering it unconscious or killing it, I already don't care which.

"Roooaaaaaah!"

The vulcan was frustrated as it screamed at me ferociously and began throwing various things at me. I evaded all of those while still focusing on pouring my magic power to my mouth.

Finally, all that's left with my magic reserves are just enough to fly me down to the ground after this final attack. Unless that black marks of mine will appear this instant like a stupid deus ex machina, I'm all done with fighting for today.

"Diiieee!" I screamed as I launched my roar of pure rage and hatred.

The vortex it generated was so strong that it sucked the trees surrounding it, adding to the wooden shards and that are grinding the vulcan alive.

Even from above, I can still hear its cry of agony. It was terrible that I'm starting to feel pity of this lech of an animal. But then, I can't afford dispell my attack and endanger the chastity of the children who happened to be my companions for this mission.

When the attack died out, all I see is the circular destroyed part of the forest with a rather deep crater at the center. The unconscious and probably dead vulcan at the crater was covered with an incomprehensible amount of wounds around its body.

I slowly get down to the ground and went to lean on a huge tree away from the radius of destruction I've caused.

As I finally calmed down, a realization came unto me. A realization that my strongest attack can't be used in fighting humans at all cost, not because of its power but for its tendency to torture its victim.

I mean, being bedridden for a week because of that accident with Yukinoshita's car was bad enough even if there's the almost guaranteed chance of recovering from it. How much more I were to subject someone with a painful torture before ultimately killing them? That's because I'm sure that a common dark guild thug will definitely die with that attack.

Now that I've known the dangers of my abilities, I can't afford myself to use this against a fellow human being even if I despise them. I can't let the man who Komachi and all the important persons of my previous world created to fall down to being a ruthless murderer. I mean, I just can't bear to face them if I manage to get back to my world. That is if there's any way back home.

After a few minutes of leaning here and pulling out the wooden splinters stuck on my flesh, Marvell and Carla went back. They were surprised of the damage caused by our battle with the vulcan.

But most importantly, they were terrified upon seeing me. I was bleeding everywhere. Sure they saw me being hit by a tree earlier but they did not see the severity of my injuries.

"Oh God! Please stay still, Hachiman-san. I will heal you quickly!"

Marvell quickly ran towards me and casted her healing magic. Slowly, the pain in my dissipated and I felt my wounds closing.

I may have wanted her to leave me during and even before the fight started, but it was actually her enchantments that saved me. That is because even without the presence of a woman, vulcans are known to be aggressive creatures. So even if she's not with me, I would still end up beaten to a pulp by them and it would be worse because I won't have her enchantments to buff me.

"Thank you, Marvell."

"No, it's all thanks to you that we're all safe. And please call me Wendy." she replied.

So it's like that Tsurumi Rumi incident again. Children really don't want to be called by their surnames. But unlike her, Marv– I mean, Wendy doesn't really have any friend issues so I find her somewhat harder to connect with.

However, I once promised to myself that I won't compare people to others and or to my ideals. Wendy is another little girl whom I have crossed paths with. With that, I permitted myself to use her given name. Not like I would still see her after this.

"Okay. Thank you, Wendy."

"But it's my fault that we were attacked by vulcans. This is the least I could do." she replied with a sad look on her face.

"There's no use brooding about the past. Although I suggest that we call this mission off and get back to our own guild. There might be more of these monsters out there and I think we won't be so lucky next time."

Yes, I'm already giving up on this mission/quest or whatever this is. A single artifact is not worth risking one's life. I'd rather go back to the guild and receive most of their badmouthing about my cowardice than continue looking for this artifact which for all I know is just some hidden fortune.

"He has a point, child. I've been telling you that we should go back. I guess you're gonna listen to me now." Carla added.

Thanks to Wendy, I can now stand on my own without the help of my magic. I stood up and sucked all of the trees that are damaged during the fight. As for the woods I created with my magic, I just turn them to raw ethernano in the air to clean up this area.

However, even if my physical condition was already restored, laziness kicked in so I just made my own wooden platform and rode on it like a magic carpet.

"That's awesome, Hachiman-san. Can I ride it too?" Wendy asked.

Of course that would be her reaction because I just showed her a little fragment of my childhood fantasies. Like the ever dependable onii-chan that I am, I let her ride the wooden platform.

Just after Wendy climbed up to my "vehicle" Carla called us. "Hey you two! Check this out!"

Immediately, we went to where Carla was referring to. It's where I blew up a hole on the ground with my final attack that rendered the vulcan either unconscious or dead. I jumped of my wooden platform and lifted the body of the beast. Yup, dead it is.

As I removed the body of vulcan out of the way, what I saw instantly made me smile. As cliché as it sounds, what we found here is the very definition of a treasure chest. I guess the treasure chest is the artifact described by the mission poster.

I immediate opened it and the various precious metals and minerals welcomed me in all of their glory. Gold, diamonds, and other sparkly things that I don't know the name of are here. I bet the one who made this mission didn't even know what the artifact is because this is way too precious just to be given as a mission to various guilds.

"So... Mission accomplished?" Wendy asked.

"Yup, definitely." I replied.

...

A/N: So yeah, I just made 8man and Wendy rich. I know this chapter is kinda lame because the pacing is all over the place but this is currently what I can offer the best.

I hope you liked it.