Ok, I'm back! I'm sorry for the delay. A bad case of procrastination hit me. I blame the more recent chapters of the manga giving me a heart attack. I also blame myself binge watching Dragon Ball. I'd like to thank all of you who decided that my story was good enough to follow. It really warms my heart when I see people actually enjoying my writing. Chapters will take a little longer to write, but that is mostly because I don't want to burn myself out. I also want to keep quality consistent. I'd like to give a shout out to my good friend redscarfninja for beta reading this and finding the errors I missed. They have their own Self-Insert story called "Holes In The Sky" which takes place in the Naruto Universe. If you are looking for a slow burn story with very high quality writing, I would take a look at it. They are very meticulous with their writing, so it is very detailed.
The Law Tribe
July 6th, X779
Kagura and I were standing in front of the job board, wondering what we were going to pick this time. We were looking for more challenging jobs, as the ones we have been doing have been getting old. We were allowed to take B-class jobs by ourselves now, but those were starting to get boring or too easy, so sometimes we would spend a little while in front of the board trying to find the most challenging job possible.
"Ah, Kagura, Rubina, I was looking for you two," came Maribelle's voice from behind us. We both turn around to see her with a small smile on her face. "Are you two about to go out on a job?" She inquired.
"No, Shishou, we we're just figuring out what we were going to do." I answer for both of us.
Maribelle walks up to the board. "Hmmm…" She lets out as she inspects the jobs on the board. She then let's a small sigh before turning to us. "I think it is time for me to take you two on an A-class job."
Well, today was going to be exciting for sure.
"Really!?" Kagura exclaims out loud.
"You think we are ready for those, Shishou?" I ask.
Maribelle smiles and does a small nod. "Of course, you two have been doing nothing but B-class jobs for the past several months. I think it is appropriate that you move onto the next level." She says simply.
And she would be right. B-class jobs were starting to get easier and easier. Also, Kagura and I could use the bigger pay.
Maribelle materializes a job flyer from her requip space and then starts walking towards the door. "Now come. We have much to do." She says over her shoulder and we follow her out the door.
"So what is the job, Shishou?" I inquire.
"There is a village that keeps getting attacked by Vulcans. It is our job to stop them." She says casually.
"And where is this village, Shishou?" I ask once more.
She doesn't answer right away, and there is a moment of silence. "About two hours north-west from here."
"Is there any way we can get there faster?" Kagura asks.
Maribelle shakes her head. "No, the village is in a forest, and is not connect to any rail road."
Well, this was going to be a fun walk.
XXX
We eventually arrive at the village and it was not what I was expecting.
Instead of the usual thatched roof building one might find in a usual small village, there were tepees with colorful designs on them. Farther away, in the center of the village was huge long-house, which I presumed was the meeting place for the village.
Anyway, the village was a mess with food, furniture, and other everyday items strewn about the ground. It looked like someone came through here and almost robbed the place. The entrances to the tepees were closed, so we walked towards the large long-house to see if anyone was in there and when we finally arrived at the building, Maribelle knocked on the door.
A few moments pass before the door opens, revealing a tall man. He was shirtless, but was wearing blue armbands with decorative white patterns and animal skin pants. On his head was a single feather that was sticking straight up. He was also wearing a headband, and his hair was put into two pony tails that fell over both shoulders.
"Ah, hello there, we are mages from Mermaid Heel…" Maribelle introduces. "I am Maribelle Lockhart, and these two are my apprentices, Kagura and Rubina." She finishes and then holds out her hand.
The man smiles brightly and grasps Maribelle's hand. "I am Chief Riley of the Law tribe, and we been waiting for so long for a guild to come." He says while shaking her hand with excited vigor. He then let go of her hand. "These Vulcan have been attacking our village every few days for the last couple of weeks." He says tiredly.
"What have they been doing exactly? Usually, they are more destructive with their raids on villages, but from what I have seen so far, all they have done is leave a mess." Maribelle inquires.
The Chief's face turned serious. "When they first came, they took all of our gold, then they started taking anything with value, and when all of those things were gone, they took anything that was shiny," he explains. "They even took most of our silver ware…" He finishes with a sigh.
"Have they taken anyone yet?" Maribelle the questions.
The Chief shakes his head. "No, but I fear they will start taking people soon though, and even with our warriors I am not sure we can take on all the Vulcans. That's why we hired mages."
Maribelle quirks a brow at his statement. "Odd… Usually Vulcan don't care much for stuff like gold or silverware. They usually care about two things: bodies for their takeover magic, and beautiful women." She then puts a hand on her chin, "I never heard of them raiding villages in this matter." She finishes.
"Well thankfully, they haven't yet." The Chief says.
"When was the last time they came around here?" Maribelle inquires.
"Oh, um about two days ago. They usually return every three or four days." The chief responds. "Though, when they originally came, it was every five days." He then puts his hand up to his chin. "Going by this trend, they may return sooner."
As soon as he finishes, we hear a commotion and we turn around to see three forest Vulcan walking through the village, knocking things over.
What a strange coincidence.
I've never seen a Vulcan in person, but I never expected them to be so huge. They were massive ape like creatures with gigantic muscles, a large chin, and some heart patterns on their arms. To be honest, they were pretty ugly, but I could see why normal people couldn't do much against them.
"Ah, speak of the devil." Maribelle says. "Well, I trust you two can handle them?"
Kagura and I nod before we start walking over to the Vulcan who were just about open a tepee. "Hey, Uglies, over here!" I shout, which draws their attention and when they look at us, I notice something odd about their eyes.
Instead of the blank white eyes that forest Vulcan were supposed to have, their eyes were tinted a slight pink. Their faces had a blank look to them, showing no expression.
One then charges at us, only to be pinned down half way by Kagura's magic. I then sprint towards the pinned Vulcan and jump above it, charging my legs full of electricity as I aim my foot towards the creature's back.
"Thunder Kick!" I shout as my foot connects with its mid back. The Vulcan yells out in pain before falling into unconsciousness.
Kagura then rushes past me and nails another one in the gut with the pommel of her sword. This knocks the wind out of the beast's lungs and it kneels over in pain. Kagura then delivers a finishing blow with her sheathed sword to back of the Vulcan's neck, which instantly knocks it out.
Before I could act on attacking the third one, it immediately turns around and sprints away in fear, disappearing into the forest.
Huh, I thought that would be harder. Either we are overpowered, or those Vulcan didn't bother to use tactics. They just charged straight at us, not even bothering to try to hit us. I knew they weren't the smartest creatures in the world, but I know they are smart enough to try to hit or block us.
"Excellent work, you two, I expected no less." Came Maribelle from behind.
The tepee that Vulcans were going to raid opens up, revealing a man dressed similarly to the chief. "Are they gone? Are they going to stop bothering us now?" He ask cautiously while eyeing the fallen beast.
"Yes my friend. These two have freed us from these horrible beast." Comes the Chiefs voice from behind us. I turn around to see him with a large grin on his face. "And as a reward, we shall have a feast to celebrate this occasion!" He yells.
Well, at least that will make up for this underwhelming job.
XXX
There was so much food!
We were sitting at a round table in the long house. Food of every kind was laid out before us, waiting to be eaten.
Kagura and I were sitting on both sides of Maribelle. Across from us was the Chief.
Chief Riley looked like he was waiting for something. "I wish my daughter would arrive soon. She likes to explore the forest, and sometimes take too long to return…" He says with a sigh.
"Daughter? What's her name?" Kagura asks.
Before the Chief can answer, the door of the long house suddenly opens, revealing a short girl, with black, curly hair. She looked a little on the chubby side and was wearing a blue loin cloth, top and a beige headband on her head. She looked out of breath. "Sorry *pant* I'm late, Father, but I lost track of time *pant* and I didn't realize it was getting late." She manages to get out.
"Ah, Risley, I was wondering where you were." The Chief says. He then gestures to us. "We were having a feast in these mages honor for defeating the beasts that have been raiding the village these past few weeks."
The girl, Risley, looks at us and then looks back to her father. "Are you sure they did it? They look a little skinny." She says.
Wow, she's blunt.
"Risley! That is extremely rude! Apologize!" The Chief scolds.
"I'm sorry!" Risley apologizes quickly. She then walks over to the table and sits next to her father. "So they defeated the creatures?"
"Uh, yes we did." I respond. "It was easier than we thought it was going to be."
"So that must mean you're a pretty strong mage then." She says.
"Uh, I wouldn't say strong, but I do know a thing or two about magic..." I say sheepishly.
"Can you teach me how to use magic!?" She asks excitedly.
"Risley! It's not polite to ask those sorts of things!" Her father scolds lightly.
"Right, sorry Father…' She relents.
"Sorry about my daughter, she can be a little blunt at times." The Chief apologizes.
"It is no problem. We do not mind at all." Maribelle responds. "I see that she wants to learn magic. Does she have the ability? If so, she could always stop by our guild if she wants." She finishes.
"Of course I have I magic!" Risley exclaims. "In fact, I have loads of it." She boasted.
Her father sighs. "I have not seen her demonstrate any form of magic." He says simply. "In fact, the last person in our tribe that possessed the gift of magic was Chief Reggie, the first chief of the Law tribe." He continued while ignoring the indignant "Hey!" from his daughter.
"In fact…" He says before pointing to something behind us. "That is a statue of him." He finishes.
I turn around and see a tall stone statue depicting a man that look similar to the Chief Riley, but he had a vest on. The statue was griping a stone staff that had an orb on the top of it.
"Many years ago, the forest was dying because of a drought, and we were running out of food. So Chief Regi went out and acquired magical abilities, and brought good fortune to the land. It started to rain once again, crop yields improved dramatically and it seemed like fortune shined upon us." The Chief explained. He then sighed. "But he never told anyone how he did his magic and no one in the tribe has displayed any magical talents since."
"But, Father, I have magic!" Risley exclaims. She then diverts her eyes. "I just can't get to work whenever some else is watching…" She says in a lowly pout.
Her Father pats her on the head. "Oh, Risley, what am I going to with you…" He says in exasperation. Risley responds by swatting his hand of her head, which earns a chuckle from the man.
"Well, if she displays any type of magical ability, Mermaid Heel would be happy to guide her." Maribelle states in an amused tone.
We spent another half hour eating and in engaging conversation, until the table was completely empty of food. I had gotten slightly drowsy from eating most of it and I would have to burn it off later.
Maribelle looks out of the window of the long-house and sees that it is dark outside. "Well, it seems that we have lost track of time." She states out loud. She then turns to the Chief. "Would have any spare beds? I hope this does not seem rude."
The Chief shakes his head. "No, not at all. In fact, we have some spare huts just for this occasion. We even have a hot spring as well." He says with a smile.
Maribelle perks up at the mention of the hot spring. "A hot spring you say…" She said in an interested tone. "Do you mind if we use it?" She questioned
Wait… Did she say we?
The Chief nods. "Of course. Go right ahead. It's the least we can do."
Maribelle then gets up, a smile was on her face. "Excellent. There is nothing better than taking a hot bath." She then start walking towards the exit of the long-house. She stops at the door and looks over her shoulder. "Rubina, Kagura, come. There is a nice hot spring waiting for us." She says in a tone of mild excitement.
I feel butterflies in my stomach. I haven't taken a bath with another person since my days in the orphanage. And that person was Erza.
I feel my face heat up at the prospect of taking a bath with other people.
"Are you coming, Rubi?" Comes Kagura's voice, which snaps me out of my daze.
I see her standing at the door with Maribelle, looking at me.
I swallow a lump in my throat. "Y-Yeah, just fine. I was just, uh, thinking of stuff." I say in a nervous tone.
Kagura quirks a brow. "Well come on then." She says impatiently.
"R-Right." I say, reluctantly getting up and following them out the door.
XXX
I have never been so nervous and embarrassed in my entire life. I can't believe I was actually doing this.
"What's wrong Rubi? Why is your face so red? I know that we are in hot spring, but it shouldn't be that red." Kagura says.
I look up from the water to see her without her bow, soaking peacefully in the water.
"I must agree with Kagura on this one, Rubina." Comes Maribelle voice.
I look to see her standing at the edge of the spring. A towel was covering her body, and her hair was not in its usual pony tail, but completely down instead. She then immediately takes off her towel and I instantly close my eyes, letting out a small "eep."
"What is wrong, Rubina?" Comes Maribelle's concerned voice.
I hesitantly open my eyes to see her body submerged with only her head and the smallest amount of breast floating above the surface. I feel my face go very red at the sight and I instantly close my eyes again.
"Yeah, are you alright?" I hear Kagura ask.
I open my eyes once more, and I focus my sight downward. "Y-Yeah, I-I'm fine. I-It's just…." I stammer out nervously.
"Just what?" I hear Kagura ask again.
"Just that I never took a bath with someone other than my sister before!" I say quickly. "I-I n-never been n-naked with other people." I finish. I then look to Kagura, who had a quizzical expression on her face. "So I'm sorry if I'm a little nervous about being naked in front of other people..." I say, before I sink lower into the water so that everything below my nose is submerged.
"Oh, Rubi, you're so funny at times." She giggles out, and I feel a surge of annoyance counteract the nervousness from the situation I was in. "We're all friends here, and you shouldn't be so shy around us." She says, before a mischievous look overtook his face. "In fact, I know a way to help you…"
I didn't like the sound of that.
She then started moving closer to me with a predatory look on her face. "K-Kagura, what are you doing?" I ask nervously.
"Oh, just solving that body shy problem…" She says mischievously before lunging at me.
"Kyaa!" I shout as she tackles me in the water. She then starts tickling me.
"Hahaha!" I laugh out, and I start thrashing wildly as she assaults me. "S-Stop *haha* t-tickling *haha* me!" I giggle out as she continues her attack.
"Not until you get over your fear." She says playfully.
Ok, now I was getting angry.
In a burst of speed and strength, I punch her off me and I stand up. "I said stop tickling me!" I yell angrily.
She has a huge grin on her face, despite me giving her the death glare. "Ok, fine. I'll stop tickling you…" She relents. She then points to me. "But at least I got some results out of it…" She says in a playful tone.
I look down and realize that I was standing up, completely exposed to the world.
"Kyaa!" I shout as I cover myself with my hands and splash back into the water.
Kagura burst out laughing and my face heats up to extreme levels. "S-Shut up, Kagura!" I shout in an embarrassed voice. I look over to Maribelle, who had an amused twinkle in her eye.
"I-I'm sorry, Rubi. I couldn't resist." Kagura finally gets out.
I sink back into the water, hoping for this to end soon.
"As much as I would enjoy watching you two play around, I have something to discuss with the two of you." Maribelle interjects. Her face lost the amused look, and took on one that was more serious. "About those Vulcan that you two fought. Did anything seem odd about them?" She inquired.
Now that I think about it, there was something strange about those Vulcan.
"Well, when we got their attention, they didn't say anything, they just straight up charged us. They didn't even attempt to block or swing at us." Kagura responds.
"Yeah, I know Vulcans aren't very smart, but I know that they try to put up some type of fight… Also, their eyes were tinted some weird shade of pink. I never seen a forest Vulcan, but I don't think their eyes are pink." I add in.
"Hmm." Maribelle contemplates out loud. "Pink eyes you say? That is the telltale sign of some type of mind control…"
"Mind control!?" Kagura and I exclaim out loud.
"Yes, mind control." Maribelle echoes. "I had my suspicions that something was wrong when the Chief was describing what the Vulcans were doing, but this confirms them." She then looks at us with a serious expression. "Someone is behind this and our job is not complete until we find this person."
"Why would someone control Vulcans to loot a village? Why not do it themselves?" I ask.
This job is starting to turn into something way more serious. I hope it doesn't end up like every mission Team 7 takes. I'm not ready for evil people and near death experiences. That can come later when I'm older.
"Yeah, Shishou, why would someone go through the trouble of controlling Vulcan?" Kagura echoes.
"There could be a multitude of reasons why someone would do this." Maribelle answered in a contemplative voice. "It could be that Vulcan attacks are not treated the same as dark mages, and the one behind this does not want the rune knights, or other mages after them. Or it could be that they do not want to put the effort of doing the deed themselves." She explained. "Regardless of those reasons, whoever is behind this needs to be stopped."
Oh great, this was supposed to be a simple mission, but now it has evolved into something more complicated.
"If we are dealing with a dark mage, shouldn't we allow the magic council to deal with this?" I ask.
I really didn't want to deal with this right now. I wasn't sure how I would do against another mage. So far, we have been dealing with simple opponents, nothing that really gave us any trouble. Who knows what this person is capable of?
Maribelle shakes her head. "No, that would take too long, and to be honest, I find most rune knights incompetent. The only thing they have going for them is their sheer numbers, but even then, the most powerful mages can take out legions of them if need be." She said smoothly.
Oh, Snap! She just totally burned the council with little thought. If only Doranbolt and the one guy who hangs out with him were here. I would love to see the look on their faces. Speaking of Doranbolt, I would love to punch that weirdo in the face. It may have been a running gag that he was interested in Wendy, but that always creeped me out. Especially considering that I'm a girl as well.
A smirk formed on Maribelle's face. "Besides, it would be bad for the guild's reputation if its ace could not handle a simple dark mage." She said confidently. She then looked at us. "I am sure we could handle a lowly dark mage. Most dark mages are far below S-class, and should not be much of a problem."
"But, Shishou, what if they are S-class?" Kagura ask with a concerned voice.
It seemed like I wasn't the only one concerned.
Maribelle's demeanor doesn't change. "I would not worry about that. Most S-class dark mages belong to the three guilds in the Balam Alliance, and they would not bother with these types of tactics. They are more direct with their approach, and would have most likely razed the village." She explained. "So we will most likely be fine."
She then relaxed and turned around. She then made a sponge appear using requip. "Would one of you mind washing my back? It can be quite hard to reach at times." She asked calmly, completely breaking away from the tense mood of the conversation we were having.
"I'll do it, Shishou." Kagura volunteered.
After she was done, Maribelle let out a small yawn. "Well, I think I am ready for sleep. I will head to our tent." She said before she suddenly stood up, revealing her full body to the world, catching me off guard.
I feel my face burn intensely at the sight, and I'm too shocked to close my eyes. It was like a train wreck. I couldn't look away.
Maribelle gets out of the spring and puts a towel around herself. "I will see you two there." She says before walking off.
My face is burning hotter than the sun and I feel one of my eyes twitching.
"Rubi? Why is your nose bleeding? And why is your face so red again?" I hear Kagura ask.
I wipe under my nose with my hand and look down. On my hand was blood. My face somehow got even hotter than before.
"What's wrong, Rubi? Your face got even redder." Kagura asked in concern.
"I-It's nothing, Kagura. I-I'm fine." I stammer out in embarrassment.
I really need to get over this problem. I'm lucky Kagura is eleven and doesn't quite understand what the nose bleed meant. Unfortunately, that meant bathing with other people more often. I do not look forward to that.
"You sure? I've never seen you get a random nose bleed before." She said in an innocent tone.
"Y-Yes I'm sure!" I shout.
Kagura puts her arms up in a disarming manner. "Ok, ok. You didn't have to yell. I was just curious!"
The plot thickens...
I'm sorry to leave you guessing, but the chapter I wrote was so big, that I had to split it in two.
We finally run into another Mermaid Heel member, Risley Law. Rubi is very body shy, and is very embarrassed to take baths with anyone. Since she was a guy in her previous life, this whole scenario was even more awkward for her. But she will get used to it. It wouldn't be Fairy Tail without something happening in the hot spring. To be fair, Maribelle is pretty hot.
Rubi and Kagura realize that the Vulcans were way to easily dealt with, and realize their behavior was not natural. Who is puppet master pulling the strings? What are their intentions? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z- ERR I mean Swimming With Mermaids!
And again, I'm sorry to leave you hanging like this.