The goblins shuddered and started backing away. Erza, with a shake of her finger, stopped them. She pointed at the goblin holding the boot. It looked up at her. She pointed at the boot. Then she pointed at the ground.

Trembling all over, the goblin placed the boot on the ground. When it looked up again, Erza nodded. The goblins then broke ranks and fled, screaming and crying.

Gray sighed. The sight of a few thousand sharp implements of death hanging in the air, waiting to rain down on you usually inspired that very response. When Erza made all her weapons disappear and picked up the boot, he asked, "Why are you the way that you are?"

She tilted her head, dusting off the boot. "What do you mean?"

"You didn't hafta traumatise them."

"Oh. We always try negotiations, but they lead to a showdown anyway. Why waste time?"

Silently, he conceded the point. Don't enable her, damn it! But wasting time was never something Erza did. Unless it involved cake. Then all bets were off. Then again, wasting time over dumbass quests like these made no sense, either. All of the quests so far had been like that. Rescue potatoes here, take a tour there, fetch magical items here and there. Gray hated fetch quests. They were the bane of his very existence.

"That completes the two quests from The Marvellous Museum of Magical Memorabilia." Erza happily ticked off the quest request. "Now, we just have to return them."

The museum housed interesting artefacts, it was true, but most were too interesting to be useful. A necklace that only made your head appear to be the opposite sex, a torch that only stays lit underwater, shy undergarments that disappear when seen… why Torasa, the curator, would collect junk like that was beyond him.

She never went and procured the goods personally, of course. After all, guilds existed for a reason. Who better than mages to delve into dungeons and bring shit back? Or steal them from others, as was the case.

Gray sighed. At least she pays well.

The item the skeletons had been guarding was a club. The Club of Love, Torasa had said. It healed whoever it struck. The harder you hit, the more it healed. As for the boot…

"The Boots of Blinding Speed will finally be on display for all to see!" Erza said as she stored it in her pocket dimension. "Aren't you excited?"

"Sure. One half of boots that, when worn, make you run very fast. While making you blind." Gray rolled his eyes. "A real gift to the world. Gods, I hate weird enchantments."

Erza chuckled. "It's still helping others and it still pays. Can you complain?"

"No," Gray confessed and fell into step beside her as they started making their way back. "But I was expecting something more challenging, y'know? This stuff is a cak-" He coughed. "Really easy."

"Is that bad?" She looked at him seriously. "Are you not having fun, Gray?"

"Uhh." Gray scratched his cheek, considering his options. She had picked out the quests. Telling her they were useless would probably be injurious to his health. "I wouldn't say that. I mean, you said this'd help me get to S-class. So far, all we've done is fetch quests. And you do most of the work as it is. I just feel like furniture sometimes."

"I see." She nodded to herself. "I understand your concern, Gray, but I have decided to do these quests in ascending order of difficulty. I did this to ease you into them. Your involvement will increase as we progress."

"Yeah, I get it, and I appreciate it, but I think after all we've been through, I can handle myself in tougher situations."

"So, what do you suggest? That we go out of order to do something more challenging?"

Gray nodded. "If it's not too much trouble."

Erza fished out her thick roll of requests and started going through them. "I'll consider it."

He leaned over. "How many of those d'you have?"

She pulled them away from him. "Enough."

"Just askin'. What even is your process of picking quests?"

"My process? I…" She trailed off, humming. "I picked them randomly."

Gray said nothing to that. Calling her out on her lie would achieve nothing. Erza liked structure. Her book of recipes was arranged alphabetically, with key ingredients highlighted with different colours, and then cross-referenced with these colours/ingredients in mind. No way would she just pick quests randomly. Especially if her aim was to train him.

"Gray?"

"Hmm?"

"You don't find fetch quests fun, do you?"

"Not particularly, no."

"All right." She nodded. "Then we shall discard the rest of level F and go up to E."

Gray stared at her. "You have levels."

"Of course," she scoffed as if it was the most obvious thing. He fought the urge to smack his forehead. "I believe I have found our next quest, too."

"It's not a fetch quest, right?"

"No."

Sighing in relief, Gray covertly pumped his fist. "What're we doing, then?"

Erza smiled cryptically. "I'll let you find out, mm? You are sure to enjoy yourself."

It was then that Gray realised that he had bitten off more than he could probably chew.

Good Gods protect my innocent soul.