Chapter 12 - Journey of Two
"Do you know how far we are from Fiore?"
In response, Jellal simply looked towards the west, putting a finger on his chin. He looked like he was going to say something, but stopped before taking out a map. Rolling his eyes, Benjin simply sat down before petting the tiny dragon's head.
At least he's kind of cute.
"This map is so fucked now, I feel like I'm trying to navigate with a potato."
Narrowing his eyes, Benjin simply laid down, both of his hands cushioning his head. "So do you know where we are or not?"
"…"
"Not precisely, but I would say we're almost at the border of seven if I'm reading this correctly."
Wait, six months and we're STILL not in Fiore? The blonde stood up and got right into his companion's face. "Didn't you say four months ago that we would arrive about… you know, NOW?!" Scowling, Jellal met his challenge.
"That was an estimate," the blue-haired boy shoved the blonde back, "has it occurred to you that maybe it could have been off by a couple weeks? Or are you just that dumb!" Gr… I'll show you dumb!
"Let me see that map!" Benjin abruptly shot forward, before getting into a tug of war with Jellal over the aged parchment.
"Stop pulling, you're going to break it!" The large piece of text began straining under the pressure.
"You don't even know where we are, do you!" A tiny rip appeared on the corner of the map.
"YES I DO!"
"JUST SHUT UP AND GIVE IT TO ME!"
Ripppp…
Oh shit! Immediately letting go, Benjin noticed there was a massive rip straight in the middle of the map - which showed the entire continent of Ishgar.
"Dumbass!"
"Did you seriously just pull? Was it so hard to relax your bloody bony fingers?" The slight jab at his skinnier frame made Jellal's features contort. A gruff sound escaping his mouth, priming it for another comeback.
"You lemon-headed prick, I was doing a fine job being the navigator! THEN, you just had to be impatient!"
This guy had the balls to call me impatient, we've been travelling for more than six months!
"Better a lemon than a blueberry, you could have just given me the map, but noooo~!" The blonde threw his hand in the air in annoyance, before crouching and picking up the remains of the map. "You know what? You should be thankful this map is still legible…" Benjin simply started at the map in which the rip had shredded much of its center, "nevermind…"
"Whatever, let's just keep going, we're getting close to the border anyway."
Just how big is Ishgar? It took us six months just to get through Bosco… Giving one last glare to the blue-haired boy, who gave one in return, Benjin looked forward and walked in silence.
Hours passed; the two kept moving through the low-topped forests, trees resembling oaks and evergreens surrounded them on all sides. Thankfully, the plentiful space between the actual foliage allowed them to pass through without much difficulty.
As if by instinct, Benjin looked up to the clear skies above. Ah, noon.
It was always at this time he felt at his best, his body felt light, the temperature was perfect, and it seemed that the constant moving didn't even phase him. Or it could because they were walking… slowly. There's no rush right? He still had to a mission to do, and he had what, like twenty years? Who even knows at this point. Still, what my dad showed me at the temple… I still haven't made sense of it yet.
Regardless, right now he needed food and he was tired of walking. Benjin glanced around their current area, narrowing his eyes at certain spots before looking back to Jellal. "Can we just get a move on? I'm starting to get hungry and there's nowhere around here that could be a good resting place-"
"Chirp!" The familiar screech that had gotten slightly deeper in the last six months interrupted his complaint.
How is Drajin not hungry at all? Is he eating bugs or something?
The little dragon that had been circling around them for the past couple hours exited a nearby brush, a squirrel half his size dangling in his jaws.
Benjin and Jellal stared incredulously at the dragon, this being the first time he did something like of the sort.
"So uh… whatcha got there Drajin?" The dragon chirped in response, unable to talk because of his 'full' mouth.
"A dead squirrel obviously, you blind fuc-"
"I KNOW it's a dead squirrel, I'm asking WHY he has it!"
"That didn't sound like a why question."
"Just… just shut up you buffoon." Jellal crossed his arms in response as Benjin turned to the little dragon, crouching down to meet his face.
"Is that… for me?" The dragon simply danced around the spot, dropping the squirrel, nudging it towards Benjin's feet.
Well that's just adorable.
Despite the dragon's usual obnoxious behaviour, he couldn't help but feel an unfamiliar warmth inside his chest. Looking down on the 'food,' Benjin simply took out some gloves from his storage, put it on, then proceeded to pick the squirrel up by the tail, inspecting it.
It's still warm. "Hey, I think we can actually eat this!" Jellal's face shriveled in disagreement, a gag escaping his throat.
"Are you crazy?! I'm not eating something that's been in his mouth!" The blue-haired mage's dismissal of Drajin's efforts seemed to cause his wings to drape.
Why do I suddenly have an unnecessarily great desire to kick him between his legs, one greater than usual…
Benjin rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a bitch, Jelly. It's just a freaking squirrel, we can just dip it in water and it'll be fine."
"You can eat that all you want you dick, I'm finding my own food." With a swift turn, Jellal simply meteor'd into the sky, darting towards the west.
Looking down at Drajin's still downtrodden form, Benjin gently patted his head while giving an assuring smile. "Hey, hey. Don't mind that dumb blueberry, you did well!" The yellow hatchling immediately perked up, the confident wobbles in his knees apparent as he circled around his 'father.'
"Dum Bluburry!"
Hnn! My heart is clenching.
As Benjin locked onto Jellal's aura, he hastily made his way towards what seemed to be a rocky clearing.
I wonder what he found?
Leaving the forest behind him, the light mage noticed Jellal had some sort of dead horse-like creature beside him… and blood, was everywhere.
Seriously, did he really have to just blast its head off? I mean I understand you want to eat, but damn.
"Could you have at least tried to be a little bit cleaner?"
Jellal simply scoffed in response. "I thought you were the one that wanted to eat? Now help me gut this thing."
Benjin's face contorted as he put a clamp over his nose. "Yuck… whatever, let's just get it over with."
Great, literally the worst part of hunting: Sticking your hands in warm, gooey, and disgusting organs… Why does this have to be so horrendously disgusting?
Despite nothing really threatening their lives, the constant nomadic life was more than getting on Benjin's nerves. Sleeping in tents, eating bland and tasteless meat, the lack of hygiene that he thought has escaped after reaching the library, and basically the wildlife symphony that seemed to never stop playing when he was trying to sleep.
"I still can't get used to this." Not even after travelling by myself for a year before. Thick gloves covered his arms all the way up to the elbow made it somewhat bearable as he took out the creature's internal organs and dropped them away… far away from their resting place.
Of course, on the other side, Jellal had no protection of any sort, his hands were completely covered with blood and other liquids as he began using a large knife to begin the butchering process. Absolutely disgusting. Friggin' barbarian. Won't eat a squirrel but is completely fine with doing this.
"W-wait NO DRAJIN DON'T EAT THAT!" To his side, Benjin noticed the dragon making his way towards the dropped organs that him and Jellal just cleared… with his mouth wide open and his intentions clear as day.
The dragon simply looked back in response, his jaws opening in excitement before chomping down on what seemed to be a pinkish blob.
"Don't do it!"
Drajin simply tilted his head in question.
"Drop it, now!"
The dragon threw the blob into the air, just to swallow it whole.
A look of utter disgust replaced everything on his face. There was nothing he could say to describe what just happened; there was nothing he found more appalling than that… display. Sure, he was a dragon and probably lived this way normally; however, nobody - dragon or otherwise, will do something like that when he was around. Not if I could help it at least.
"Drajin just come over here!" The little dragon did as told, but made his way back to the pile as soon as Benjin turned.
Jellal was not amused at his partner. "You dumb flashlight, just ignore the dragon and help me! It's not like he's going to die eating that anyway, I'm sure they actually hunt and eat like this in the wild."
"But… it's raw." Benjin opened his arms to emphasize his words.
Jellal opted to ignore the absurd arguments being sprouted by his travelling companion, instead holding up the large slices of meat on his arms, facing towards Benjin.
Alright, alright, I'll get you a damned plate.
Wordlessly, Benjin pulled a large metal tray from his storage, placing it on a nearby rock for his needy friend.
"Start the damned fire."
Stupid retard, why the fuck would anyone get such an ugly face tattoo anyway, seriously.
As the two boys gorged themselves on the now cooked meat, Benjin could not help but take out a knife and a fork as he refused to eat the still bloody fillet with his hands. Jellal on the other hand, munched on his own piece like a piece of bread.
Don't look at him, don't look at him.
Looking to the side, he saw Drajin eating the piece of meat he separated from his own, although still picking from the pile of organs occasionally.
While they continued to nourish themselves with bland meat, Benjin began thinking about all the things that happened a year ago. The library, meeting Jellal, his father giving him this overly impossible 'mission.' What was with that anyway? He had no idea where to start when it came to anything.
I guess I'll just focus on settling down first, before trying to come up with even a semblance of a plan…
It wasn't that he didn't want to think about it, but every time he did, he just got a headache from all the little details he was missing. Despite that, there were more immediate concerns he had to take care of first.
Shit, my mother's corpse is still in my storage, I hope it hasn't rotted away…
Now that, was a worrying thought. There were times where he wanted to bury her before a new home: like the library, the village before, and even while on the road. Truly, he wanted to wait until he found a more permanent home, so he could visit the grave he would make for her every day… and for that, he needed to reach the guild as soon as possible.
"How far away are we anyway?" Benjin questioned, not facing the boy that sat beside him.
"About a day way from exiting this forest since your dumbass ripped the map."
"We're not having this argument."
"Yeah, 'cause you know it's your fault."
"…"
Then, the two boys ate silently for the rest of the meal.
3 Weeks Later
The trip out of the forest was even more plain than before, because it was literally that: a massive plain of yellow grass that reached towards the Horizon. It had taken another three dreadful weeks before they actually spotted a city. Now, they could finally start looking as the aggravating portion of their travels was over.
"Finally, actual places!" The light mage cried in relief, his patience had been tested over, and over again. Walking while doing the same things for a straight seven months would have killed anyone out of boredom! In fact, the only parts that made it bearable was when he worked on his magic - and possibly reading, as learning new spells was always enjoyable - even if his particular company wasn't, most of the time.
Even so, he was finally there! The travelling mage had gotten sick and tired of greenery months ago. It was a miracle in itself that he didn't go mad from the boring repetitive tasks.
Screw it I'm sprinting the rest of the way… Pumping magic in his legs, Benjin broke into a jog, then a sprint, then a series of magically enhanced leaps.
"See ya there, Jelly!"
His words seemed to resonate within the blue-haired boy as he immediately enveloped himself with a familiar glow, rocketing towards the city at near-top speeds.
Despite Benjin's head start, he was still easily overtaken by the blue and yellow blur. The city that had just been over the horizon was quickly getting nearer; he was now able to make the shapes of buildings despite the distance. Argh! Freaking meteor! Within minutes, Jellal had quite a sizable lead on the blonde, as he had reached the city way before the other. It wasn't he was annoyed, because Benjin knew that meteor was a sprint-spell. However, the fact that he did not have anything to shoot him through the air had certainly been a constant frustration in their 'magic brainstorming' sessions. No matter how hard he tried to imitate meteor, he always came up short. He wasn't going to give up despite that, there had to be a way to recreate it using his own magic.
No matter, they had finally reached civilization, there would be no more wilderness; therefore, no amount of small annoyances would ruin his mood.
Benjin let a smile spread across his face. Society here I come!
"About time you got here…" An everlasting smirk was plastered on the blue-haired boy's face.
Benjin simply grunted in dismissal. "Shut up, let's just go in and hopefully live and eat like civilized people."
"Whatever." The scarf-wearing boy simply scoffed and walked towards the side of the large town.
Following suit, the curious blonde took his time to take in his surroundings. Buildings and houses much grander than any he had seen before lined the grey rock streets. The design varied from house to house, but they all seemed to have white bricks making up the bulk of each structure.
"Wow…" As Benjin continued to look around the place, his companion was busy asking around for directions. It wasn't until the blonde was spotted by him that he realized he should probably start doing the same.
"Dude, what are you doing? If you want to sightsee wait until we know where Fairy Tail is!"
Who's the impatient one now…
"Relax, it's my first time being in an actual city; I have lived my entire life in small villages and the wilderness, just give me like five minutes."
Jellal simply deadpanned at him, being letting out a defeated sigh.
"Just make it quick! I want to take a break as much as you but frankly, I want to find out where we are first!"
"Alright, alright, you really got to learn how to relax." And with that, Benjin proceeded to walk towards the interior of the town.
"I'll relax when I reach Fairy Tail!" Jellal all but shouted in response. He really needs to find some sort of hobby. Then again, I should too… probably.
Five minutes should be more than enough time for Jellal to find out where they are. Seriously, all you have to do is just ask any random person and they can probably tell you the name of the city, where it is in Fiore, and how to get to other cities. If he's lucky, he might even find out where the guild is on the first try.
I'm going to explore though, maybe even find a place where I can sell off all the stuff I took from that asshole from the mountain pass.
Speaking of which, Benjin realized he had no money right now. It was likely he could get a decent starting amount by getting rid of some of the junk he had in his storage. There was bound to be some old artifacts made of cool stuff or basically whatever valuable… hopefully. Last thing he needed was a pile of useless garbage.
As he walked through the streets, he noticed that he was getting more attention than the people would give each other. Was it his clothes? There was nothing wrong with it, probably. He remembered switching it about three months ago, ditched the dark blue cloak in favour of his white one as it was just not his colour.
Benjin's face contorted. Why did I even think that looked remotely good?
Looking to his side, Benjin noticed an old man wearing simple clothing handing out stacks of paper to those passing by.
"Hey Mister!" The old man perked up and turned towards him.
"Why hello there! What can I do for you, sonny?"
…Sunny? "Um…Yeah, do you know anywhere I can sell old stuff?"
"Why yes I do, sonny boy! The market is just around the corner!" The man pointed towards a street behind him with his elbow, as he was holding a stack of papers.
Benjin tried his best to refrain from cringing his face. "T-thanks." With that, he walked past the rather interesting old man, heading towards the 'exchange' area.
"Toodles~"
This guy is almost as annoying as Jellal, but in a completely different way…
Turning the corner, the 13-year-old saw multiple small buildings with various signs on them.
Hmm, 'Goldeen's,' 'Swords, Plates, ALL METALS!' not bad, might check that out… 'John's Jewelry,' maybe that too. 'The Big Butcher,' perhaps I can actually get properly cleaned meat. 'Beauty and Toiletries?' That sounds pretty interesting. 'XXX?' What is XXX? Looks and sounds pretty stupid.
Perhaps he would shop later, he needed to get some things out of the way first. Despite that, he couldn't shake the feeling that he had forgotten something important.
Whatever, I'm sure it'll come back to me.
Out of all the shops he found interesting, Benjin first went into 'John's Jewelry.' He was almost completely sure that he had taken at least a box of things that could be considered such from the mountain bandits. It had just occurred to him that he had no money… nothing. If his stuff were to be rejected than he would probably have to live off in the wild… and I'm never doing that if I can help it.
Inside the shop, there were many glass display cases all around, with a relatively young woman sitting behind the counter, watching him. In fact, Benjin was starting to get uncomfortable with those… intense stares. It wasn't like he would break anything; clumsiness was something that he was lacking, thankfully.
Of course, the curious shopper tried to touch one of the necklaces that wasn't behind a glass case.
"HEY!" The voice of the woman rung from the shop, startling Benjin in his place. Almost immediately, the woman stood up and walked around the counter towards him. "Don't touch ANYTHING, if you break it, you buy it, and these are not something you can afford!" Benjin recoiled back from the sudden outburst.
"Relax, I was just looking!" The young mage could only put his hands up in defense in hopes of calming down the rather angry clerk.
Benjin's attempts did nothing as the woman only stomped closer, putting a finger to his face. "You shouldn't even be here! Where are your parents?!"
…They're dead.
Benjin tensed up his body, giving a hardened glare towards the unaccommodating shopkeeper. "Okay, I don't know if this is how you treat everyone who comes in, but you, need to calm the fuck down!" A slight pressure escaped his form, the woman taken aback from the sudden change in mood. "All I want, is to show you a box of colourful gems I have, and HOPEFULLY exchange it for some money, is that so bloody hard?!"
The two simply stared at each other in silence, until the surprised clerk seemed to calm down. "R-right, just follow me and I'll have a look."
In response, Benjin threw an arm above his head in relief. "THANK you!"
Leaving the store, Benjin took a look at the at the bag of bills the shopkeeper gave him happily, although a little too happily.
450,000 'Jewels' for that entire box? I feel as if I'm getting scammed here.
Of course, the first-time shopper had no idea how much he should be getting. Although, it didn't really matter, he just needed enough to buy food and maybe a small shack. It's not like he was the type of person to stay holed up indoors all day. All he wanted was somewhere to rest without noises, and to hide from the rain… god, not the rain. Trying to sleep while getting wet was almost as horrid as gutting a deer.
Now that he had enough, maybe he should check the metal store as well, he was pretty sure he could get a bit more by trading in all the crap he got from the temple.
Whatever, this should be enough.
Putting the bag into his storage, Benjin began shopping all around the area, his excitement renewed as the prospect of new and unfamiliar things got to him. Jellal could take care of the directions anyway, it shouldn't be that hard to find out how to get to a guild. Hell, a monkey could do it.
Suddenly, people around him suddenly started gasping and commenting about… something. Benjin could hear people saying: 'what is that!' and 'AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' from the street behind him. Whatever was happening though, was getting closer and closer to him.
THAT'S WHAT I FORGOT! SHIT!
The wide-eyed Benjin did not know what to think when the familiar little rascal ran towards him, chirping all the way.
How in the world did he find me all the way here?
As soon as Drajin reached him, he did his circling routine and sat in front, as if waiting for him to speak.
"Uh, follow me I guess…"
The still stumped blonde simply trekked back to where he came from, thoughts of shopping gone due to the unexpected arrival.
Well then, I'll just go find Jellal.
It wasn't too hard to find Jellal, he simply looked around for sizable auras, and his was easily recognizable. Unlike many of the smaller auras, the blue-haired mage's was light-yellow and a little roundish in texture.
Of course, how Jellal managed to end up over ten streets way, he would probably never find out.
"Hey!" Benjin was hoping to get his attention, although the sudden increase of the crowd might make it a little difficult.
"HEY JELLAL!"
…No response.
"HEY BLUEBERRY!"
…No res-
"WHO SAID THAT?!"
There he is.
Walking towards the voice, the blonde found his friend standing on a pile of boxes.
"So, have you found where the guild is yet?" Instead of an answer, he was met with a fist to the face.
"YOU PIECE OF SHIT, I've been looking for you for 30 MINUTES!"
30 minutes? Was I really gone for that long?
Benjin thought back to his encounter with the clerk. Sure, she had to inspect every single one of the pieces, but there was no way it took longer than 5 minutes. Wait, 30 minutes? Was he really that bad at finding him?
"30 minutes? I literally found you in like one!"
Jellal had a perplexed look on his face from Benjin's reply. "What? HOW?!"
Unknowingly to the two boys, the number of stares they were getting increased throughout their argument, drawing the attention of a man in uniform.
"Ay', blondie, and blue!" The gruff authoritative voice caught the attention of both boys.
Who the fuck is this guy?
Benjin took notice of the man that addressed them. A trench coat wrapped by an utility belt covered the majority of the man. The light mage's gaze travelled up the scraggily beard extending from the man's face, to catch the glare of sharp, green eyes.
"Who are you?" Jellal asked.
"Market guard, I'm afraid if you don't stop that racket I will have to escort you out of here."
The two boys stared at each other, giving each other dirty looks before silently agreeing to playing nice.
"Alright, we'll behave…" Benjin's dirty attitude did not go unnoticed by the guard.
As the two boys walked out of the area, towards an emptier street, Benjin pretended to trip, stepping heavily onto Jellal's foot.
"OW! You retard, why'd you do that!" The blue-haired boy began hopping on one foot, nursing his crushed one.
"That was for punching me in the face, you monkey!"
"'Cause you said 5 minutes, my ass!"
"I was doing stuff! Did you even find where Fairy Tail is?"
"Of course! I actually know what I am doing unlike a certain dumb blonde."
"For once in your life have you considered not being a full-blown cunt?"
"Shut up."
Dumbass tattoo-face really needs to take a nap or some shit, he gets angry at the dumbest things.
"Whatever, how do we get to Fairy Tail?"
Jellal's demeanor seem to relax as he sighed, pulling out a piece of paper.
"We have to take something called a 'train' which is somewhere on the south side of the city, and we have to use it to go to Magnolia, which Fairy Tail is supposed to be."
I cannot wait to just sleep as soon as I see a bed.
.
.
.
.
Chapter 12 Done! Next Chapter: A New Guild
Make sure you guys check out my other stories!
[The Nothing Dragon Slayer's Misadventures in Fairy Tail]
[Chef Ramsay]
[A God's Redemption]
[Evolution: A Hero's Becoming]
[The Noble World]
[Minipa's Trope Discussions and How to Not Suck Shit at Writing]
[Minipa's Trope Discussions and How to Not Suck Shit at Writing - BNHA]
[Minipa's OC Guide]
Minipa, out!