"It's been like that all day. You're the last to arrive back, you should go let Master know. He's been waiting for you guys to get back." Mirajane smiled and placed the mug she had been cleaning down on the bar.
"What's going on?" Evergreen shot an unimpressed look towards the guild.
"There's been a bit of a problem. A request was sent in that caused quite a concern, we aren't really sure what the request really is, and just how dangerous it is. The reward was quite high, and the unknown danger factor should have placed the request on the second floor. But, it was found on the first floor and by Lucy no less." Mirajane's eyes wandered over to where Team Natsu was sitting and took in their silent tense poses. Natsu sat hunched with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes were closed and if it wasn't for the frown on his face, she would have thought he was asleep. Erza has adopted the same arms across the chest as Natsu but her head and eyes were turned towards the second floor, watching the Master's door. Gray and Lucy were chatting together in low voices so all she could see was their mouths moving.
Laxus followed Erza's eyes before sighing slightly and standing up. The guild fell silent as he made his way towards the stairs. The Thunder God Tribe stayed back at the bar when Laxus shot them a look, they had tried to follow him to the second floor. Erza looked away and nudged Lucy, getting both her and Gray's attention. Natsu sat up and glanced towards where everyone was looking before engaging Erza in a small conversation. All noise and soft chatter faded as everyone waited in bated breath for the Master to address the guild.
The second floor door opened and the Master walked out, Laxus following closely behind. A fierce look on his face. Master Makarov and Laxus walked back down to the Bar and took a seat. It was silent in the guildhall before Master Makarov cleared his throat and looked around the guild. Meeting several eyes before landing on Team Natsu.
"As you know, I have recently called back every single member of Fairy Tail. As to why I will explain this in a second. First I would like to ask Team Natsu to explain their part in this. Lucy if you will?" He gestured to Lucy and she shyly stood up.
"Well, I guess I should start at the beginning. As you know, this all started three days ago. I was looking for a job to do on the request board when I saw this request that was mostly bare. There was very little information, an abnormal amount of jewel as a reward. But that wasn't what caught my eye, the request has asked that 2 S-class mages and a celestial spirit mage. I took the request to Mirajane but she didn't have it recorded. She took it to the Master and as most of you guys saw, Natsu and I were called up to the office to speak to Master about it. We had a small discussion about the request. Mostly just about the potential danger and that's when Erza brought up a good point." Lucy made eye contact with Erza and nodded for her to speak. Erza coughed and the guild's attention was on her.
"Thank you Lucy, as you may now, there are spells that exist that can manipulate what we see. Like covering up a trail by sweeping leaves over foot prints. All that does is place a layer of dirt over top of the footprints. Now that doesn't mean they are gone entirely, traces still remain. The same can be done with magic. So, someone could make a request detailing exactly what has happened to a village that may be in some sort of danger. But doing that would indicate that the danger is human and monitoring what goes in and out of said village. Which would make it unsafe to send the real request, therefore they would need to conceal it to protect themselves and send for help. But if they were being monitored then if they tried to send out the request they would be found out. Whoever had the village under watch would detect the first layer of magic and stripe it away revealing the original request. They could possibly be killed outright for trying to send for help-" Erza glanced around the room as whispers started up. "-if you could please remain quiet until I am finished speaking-" The whispered rose in volume as everyone tried to be heard over everyone else.
BANG!
All noise cut off as Natsu slammed his fist down on the table, the latter having gotten quite annoyed that everyone had starting speaking over Erza when she hadn't finished speaking.
"Natsu!" Erza growled. He shrugged his shoulders and shot the guild a dark look.
"What? They were talking over you. This is serious Erza, no time for gossip." Natsu rounded on the guild. "Now, shut up, and listen before I start knocking heads together. Even I know the risks involved in this. We have no idea what we are walking into. We need to pull ourselves together and come up with a plan, otherwise those people are on their own. Do you really want that?" Natsu growled out through clenched teeth. The atmosphere in the guild changed to a more serious one. Many guild members called out for Erza to continue where she had left off. Erza nodded in thanks to Natsu, the latter giving her a reassuring smile. Erza squared her shoulders before shooting the guild a look that promised death.
"Now, if you are all finished interrupting me, I would like to continue. Is that alright?" The guild collectively shook their heads and Erza smiled. "Thank you. As I was saying before, the danger those villagers face is extreme. So, they sent for help, in the form of a request. But they spelled the request once to make the original invisible. But there is the potential for those in control of the village to find the spell and erase it. Therefore revealing the true request. But, the villagers would be in danger so they may have placed a second spell on top of the first. They can then claim that the remaining magic is remnants of the first spell that was erased. Which means that the second layer could be anything from a letter addressed to a friend or a lover outside the village. They could then bring the request to a guild and get aid that way-" Erza was cut off as Elfman stood up.
"Sorry to interrupt, but, if this is true then the village is in a lot of trouble. They may not have much time before their captors get bored. If they haven't already. How old is the request Mira-nee?" He asked her. Mirajane frowned and reached out towards the red binder sitting to the left.
"Let me check but I think it is very recent. Erza brings up a good point though. I think we should contact the other guilds to see if they have received the same type of request. If they do, they may already have a team ready to go, or they may have already saved the village. But," She paused. "They may also be in trouble, we have no idea just what kind of danger the village is in." She turned away from the guild and flipped through the pages looking for the fake request. After a few minutes she let out a gasp and almost dropped the binder.
"Oh no…. Master, the request was placed here 3 months ago!" Tears sprung up in Mirajane's eyes as images of people who died waiting for help that didn't come. Gasps and sounds of pain echoed the hall as patrons held similar thoughts in their heads. All but one. Lucy frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, lost deep in thought. Gray noticed her posture out of the corner of his eye and turned to face her.
"What's on your mind Lucy?" She seemed a little startled and let out a small squeak.
"W-wha? O-oh! Well, don't you think it's odd, that in those 3 months we haven't heard from the other guilds about this? Surely the villagers would have pulled together all the money they could spare and sent the request to other guilds? That, and, if the village was really in that much trouble you would think there would have been some sort of talk around town from travellers from around those parts. Loads of people pass through Mt. Hokabi, they would have said something to someone, especially if they got drunk at a bar. That and there has been no news of any destroyed towns, heck there has been no requests that in a few weeks too. That should have tipped someone here or at another guild off." Erza slapped her fist to her palm at that.
"Lucy is right, we would have heard about it first. We are the closest guild to Mount Hokabi. With this new information, I think we should send a team over to the village, following the request as close as possible. Perhaps there is a reason they asked for such a group. What do you think Master?" Erza turned to Master Makarov and waiting for his decision.
The guild practically hummed in anticipation, everyone was waiting for the next step.