It was the end of the year when Ben dispelled Fairy Sphere. It's year X788 now, and it was Ben's final year as Fairy Tail's 4th guild master. He can finally resign from the position and be free.
Makarov will be the guild master again after Gildarts ran away following the talk with Makarov. Gildarts didn't want to be a guild master, so he ran away under the pretext of doing a job. He even brought Cana with him, saying he will train her will working.
There was no ceremony or party when Ben passed the guild master position over. They've spent too much money on the Tenrou Team's return celebration. Their finances will be in danger if they kept spending money on this kind of thing.
Ben has worked hard to solve their financial problems and secure them. When he just started out as a guild master, the guild's finances were very bad. They didn't have enough funds even though they were said to be the best magic guild.
There was one primary reason, the mages were doing too much damage on their jobs so the guild needed to use money as compensation. So Ben announced a rule that the involved mages will pay the compensation in full.
The guild will only help by lending money to them if they don't have enough money. They need to take responsibility for the problems they cause. That rule is very effective and everyone tried their best to not destroy things.
The Tenrou Team who had just returned also needed to follow this rule. It would be very difficult for them because they were the ones who caused the most destruction while on jobs in the past, especially the boys.
Anyway, now that Ben was no longer a guild master, he had a lot of free time. He immediately took a job with Mira, Wendy, Elfman, Lisanna, Bella and Carla.
They were just taking a S-Class job, so their lineup was overkill. But their goal isn't the job itself, they just want to go together. This is more like a trip for them instead of working. Only someone of Ben's caliber can treat an S-Class job as a vacation.
Also, Ben and Mira want to train their siblings so they want to know what these guys are capable of. The job they took was one to subdue magical beasts. They will subdue a lot of magical beasts so each of them will be able to show their capabilities.
Their job's location is a forest on the border with a neighboring nation. There is a raise in the number of magical beasts there. No one knew the cause yet, but they can't let the number continue to rise because it will endanger the people who live near the forest.
That's why they need to reduce the number and because there were many strong magical beasts, their job was classified as an S-Class job. The number of magical beasts was another reason why Ben and Mira brought their siblings with them. Also, they need more people for this job.
They go there in 2 cars, Light Runner and Herbie. Ben drove Light Runner with his sisters while Mira drove Herbie with her siblings. She is a very good driver now, so good that she was the fastest driver after Ben in the guild.
"Bi-Big sis, slow down, please." A frightened Lisanna said while holding onto the front seat.
"He he, don't worry, this car is very safe." Mira calmly replied.
"But you still need to drive safely." Lisanna noted.
Elfman, who was sitting in the front seat then said, "Lisanna, a man needs to be brave."
"I am not a man and your legs are shaking." Lisanna said while pointing at Elfman's shaking legs.
In contrast to the frightened Strauss siblings, Wendy and the cats enjoyed their ride. They are used to high-speed driving because Ben likes to drive really fast since he had his first car. Bella even asked Ben to go faster but he can't because they need to make the other car's speed.
They safely arrive at their destination after 4 hours but Elfman and Lisanna look like they've lost their souls. So they rest for a bit before proceeding to do their job. They enter the forest with Ben at the front, the girls in the middle and Elfman at the rear.
"What an atmosphere. I can feel numerous sources of magic power even though my senses aren't that good." Lisanna said.
"Yeah, this number is not normal for a forest of this size. But strangely, they're all gathering deep in the forest with their numbers. Usually, magical beasts will spread out to all areas. Gathering in one spot means more competition for food so the weaker ones won't survive. But all of them are gathering, even if they are weak or strong." Ben said.
"Maybe there's something that lured them there." Elfman said.
"Or they have a leader, a very strong one that can suppress them all, making them submissive and obedient. That's why there's no infighting or battles for territories." Mira noted.
"Well, there's no need to make an assumption. We will find out when we get there." Lisanna said.
"But won't it be dangerous if they all attack us at once?" Wendy asked.
"Hmm, that's right, their number is a very big problem. Then, let's lure some away so we can fight a smaller number. We'll repeat the process to thin their number out." Ben proposed.
"How will you lure them out?" Carla asked.
Ben just grinned and took out an item, it was a grenade. This is not a magic grenade, it's a normal grenade filled with gunpowder. Ben made this in his free time after finding gunpowder. It exists in this world but they usually just use it for fireworks because magic is more powerful so they don't use it as a weapon.
After giving orders to the others, they get into position. Ben then threw the grenade and it explodes. The explosion is quite loud and can be heard from deep in the forest. But because it doesn't have any magic power, the magical beasts weren't too agitated.
Still, the loud explosion piqued their interest, and they all look at a shadow on top of a cliff. Mira was right, there was a beast leading these magical beasts like a king. It just moved it's head a bit and some beasts left the horde to check the explosion site.
20 weak magical beasts, 10 with decent power and a rather high-leveled one went to check. They walk in a circle formation with the strongest in the middle. These beasts are systematic, showing that they are quite intelligent.
Going in a formation like this is normal, but that only applied to magical beasts of the same species. These guys, however, are from different species, and some of them are hostile towards each other. Even members of the same species will fight if they aren't from the same pack.
It made no sense for them to walk together peacefully like this. So Ben came to the conclusion that they have a strong and intelligent leader that can unify and organize them. This job might be a lot more difficult than he thought.
But it was fine because they were ready for any situation. This is a S-Class job, which should be very difficult, so they should be ready for anything unexpected. Sometimes the job is more difficult than anyone expected, that's why being a S-Class mage isn't easy.
Ben gave the signal and everyone immediately attacked the beasts. They still have a lot of energy so they can defeat the beasts in a short amount of time. It would become a lot harder when more beasts appeared so they need to get ready.
Ben suddenly became smug and said, "This job is harder than we thought, but don't worry. For I am here."