Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters.
-The Enchanter of Fairy Tail-
Arc 7: Feelings Of Warmth
Chapter 44: An A-Class Job
Year: X757. 27 years till Canon begins.
Cade POV:
It had been a few months since I had returned from Lavender Village, and it was now early summer of the new year. New flowers began to blossom over town and fresh new leaves began to emerge onto branches.
I had been struggling to get back used to waking up with real sunlight shining on my face since returning from the village. It also felt weird to sleep in my own bed again, since it had been weeks since I last had.
Despite these changes I was able to get used to them soon enough, and it felt like I had never left in the first place.
Of course, I still had my camera and my photos from the village to remind me of the good times.
Quite a few photos were taken while I was at the village, as well as a few when I got back to Magnolia. The lacrima with them inserted into it, was placed into the storage room we have on the upper floors of the manor. I chose to keep the camera in my Requip storage so I could pull it out whenever I wanted.
My room had also been tidied up a bit since I got back. A few of my old books were removed, while I kept some of my favourites; in their place went a few of the more recent ones I had gotten over the years. My wallpaper was also done up and changed, with it now being a light blue colour.
In a way my room felt a lot tidier and yet a bit emptier at the same time.
In terms of my magic, I had been progressing well with my fusion magic. The drain of using too many fusion spells at once still persisted, but it wasn't as big of an issue now than it was a few months back when I first learned it.
With myself happy about my fusion magic, I chose to return to Malvel's spell book, to deepen my progress into the tome. I had made a new discovery of the book. Malvel had included some photos of he and Velmal during their time at Blue Skull!
I had translated four more pages in total, and three of them had photos showed the apartment which Malvel and Velmal stayed in, a photo of the Blue Skull Guild and a photo of Magnolia at the time they were in the town. Master Makarov was especially interested in the photos. I couldn't make a perfect replica of the photos, so I used my smarts, and took a photo of the photos using my camera and gave them to Master. The last photo had another more interesting journal entry than the last two I had done.
—
X681, July
I've decided to include some photos of my time here at Blue Skull. Not sure why… I doubt I'll reminisce over them when I look back over them in the future. Despite the money coming in now and my cover magic being fire going undetected by the others here, I'm still not enjoying my time here. The best thing to come out of this place is the shelter and protection that is provided. Then again… this is a Dark Guild; I doubt Geoffrey would care if me and Velmal were killed suddenly. That is really my biggest fear.
Many say that I have a calm and cool demeanour. They say I am good at keeping my emotions in control. When I am often threatened by the other members here, I simply stare them down and have them back off from me. Many even go to say that I have no fear at all. No, in reality it is the fear of death that makes me afraid above all things. The idea of what is beyond the end of our lives. The dark abyss, the emptiness, the ending of our lives. It comes for us all, and it cannot be stopped. I suppose the mystery is the biggest fear about that.
Ah, I'm getting carried away here… Ahem, anyways, Velmal has been rather quiet recently, as he has been learning the spells more enthusiastically than me, and I swear he is now further ahead than me in the book! I just hope he doesn't blow our cover on this. The thought of what might happen if Blue Skull get this book keeps me up at night. In other news I've taken an interest in the stars, a hobby to keep me busy during my time here.
—
The page itself was quite interesting to me as it showed that Malvel truly did hate being in Blue Skull. The environment clearly wasn't the best to be around (It was a Dark Guild after all) plus the idea of the wizards there getting Enchantment Magic must have been terrifying for him. I'm guessing that this Geoffrey guy never got the magic, else I can't have imagined the founders winning against Blue Skull.
The mention of how Mavel was afraid of dying was something that did surprise me, but the idea of death and what maybe comes after is something that does make me curious sometimes. I guess I can't blame the guy.
The thought of getting more pages in the future did excite me for the future of what came next in the book.
Now I was on page 20 of the book. Like page 10, this one seemed to be quite tricky to get through, so decided to leave the book for the moment, happy about my progress throughout the last few months.
Alas, I learned no new spells which was a shame, but I had a good feeling about page 20. Perhaps something big would be beyond that.
As for the others in my life? Pierce and Charles had taken upon themselves to master the cooking recipes that Han gave us before we left Lavender Village. It took some time for them to do so, but they were able to memorise the recipes and make the dishes almost as good as Han did, much to the delight of me and mother.
As for what mother had been up to? Well she had been helping out down at the town in the library whenever she could have, meaning she was quite well known and well liked among the people in the town. I had actually taken her to a trip to Hargeon for her birthday this year which made her quite happy. She would soon be turning 40 years old next year!
Gildarts and Cornelia had been going on several dates since we had gotten back, and according to Gildarts whenever alcohol was involved, he always lost to Cornelia. She appeared to be quite the drinker when it came down to it. Gildarts was also pretty good when it came to that, so I could only imagine what any children between the two would be like if they ever started drinking.
Gildarts mainly had been going on a few S-Class quests by himself, to try and increase the ranking of Fairy Tale. Despite his hard work, we were only barely recovering from a few years back when my father died. Soon though we would climb back up the rankings and beat Phantom Lord for the number one spot.
As for Lilly, she had her mother were able to move into an entire new house, due to her mother getting a big promotion at her job! The house was of decent size and looked to be a nice upgrade from their previous apartment. Me, Cornelia, and Gildarts all got to see what it looked like when they first moved in, and we were all happy for Lilly.
Currently I was heading to the guild to pick up a job for the day. However, this was not any old job.
I felt like I was strong enough to finally take an A-Class quest.
I was still undoubtedly nervous about all this, but I felt like I had prepared enough over these past few months of training. Plus, if I were to get up in the rankings of the guild then I had to take this sooner or later.
The only person who could stop me was Master Makaorv, as he was the one that had to approve jobs as we didn't have a bartender in the guild.
A-Class jobs were the jobs that were ranked below S-Class jobs and often involved some high matters that were decently serious. The most serious thing that would be asked for from a wizard on those sorts of jobs would be taking down an evil organisation like smuggling schemes, or things like going after high ranked evil wizards.
As I walked into the guild, I wasted no time and headed straight for the job board. Unless things were dire, there was almost always a high ranked quest on there for the taking.
I saw a few A-Class jobs up there, so after skimming through them I took the one with the lowest reward. I then spotted Master Makarov sitting among the empty seats on the bar, with surprisingly Ivan sitting next to him.
I walked over to the both of them and made my intentions known. "Master Makaorv. I would like to take this job request." I declared as I handed the piece of paper over to him.
Master took a quick look at the job and his eyes widened a little when he saw that it was an A-Class job. Ivan just looked over his shoulder not caring much as to what it was. When Master finished reading it, he gave a grumble before giving me a contemplative look.
"This is an A-Class job Cade." He said with a warning tone. "These jobs aren't anything like the B and lower-class jobs. What makes you think that you can do it?"
"That's easy. He just wants some attention so he can get selected for this year's S-Class trial." Ivan gave me a cold sneer.
'Jerk…'
"Ivan, that's enough." Master warned his son sternly. That shut Ivan up for the rest of this conversation. Master then looked at me curiously, ready to hear my answer.
"I've been training hard for the last few months now and with my magic fused successfully, I think I have a good chance of succeeding in this job. You can ask Gildarts or anyone else in the guild, they can confirm that for you." I stated to Master.
"I don't think I need to ask them." Master nodded as he pulled a stamp out of his pocket. "I know all too well that you've been training hard over these last few months." Master then gave the job request a stamp to approve it, Ivan looking surprised at that.
"I promise I won't let you down Master!" I declared with a thrill as he handed me back the job flyer.
"I hope so." Master spoke. "I'm more worried about your safety if anything. If you come back with another scar, then your mother will hang me for approving the job." He muttered.
I gave a half laugh when he said that, before making my way out of the guildhall. While I walked out, I took another look at the request.
—
A-Class
Reward: 700,000 jewels
Requesting the assistance of a wizard to resolve a kidnapping situation. Please report to the Ironheart residence in Era for more details.
—
Era wasn't too far away from where Magnolia was, about a day's travel east to get there. The train should get me there no bother, I'd just have to tell my mother that I'd be away for a while and then I'd be off.
Still, the name Ironheart is a rather powerful name. Perhaps this family is quite high up in life. Still, walking slowly wouldn't answer that for me. I had a kidnapping situation to resolve!
When I told mother that I would be away for a few days, she said that she would be waiting patiently for me, and told me not to come back with any additional scars. With her seen, I made my way to the station to see about completing this job.
Thankfully, the trains were running well today, so I was able to arrive in Era with time to spare.
Era seemed like a large town, built around a high, rocky mountain. The rocky mountain was located in the heart of the city, giving off a great view on top for tourists. The town is surrounded by forestry and snow-peaked mountains making it quite hard to get to on foot, with few pathways leading in and out.
It actually didn't take that much asking to find out where the Ironheart family were. A quick request from a local villager later and I found that their home was located on a hill that overlooked a good portion of the town and the huge stone mountain in the middle of the town.
When I got to the house, I found that it was quite fancy and posh. There was a smooth stone pathway that led to the front door which was carved oak. The house itself was made out of well chiseled stone making it look old and strong. It had two floors and an angled roof, with a chimney coming out of it.
I made my way up to the front door and chapped it. A few seconds later, the door opened, and I saw a young woman who looked ever so nervous when she saw me.
"Y-Yes?" She nervously said.
"Hello there." I greeted calmly with a smile. "I'm Cade, the wizard who accepted the job about a kidnapping situation around here. This is the Ironheart residence, right?" I requested.
The women now looked overjoyed to see me. She quickly beckoned me in. "Oh, thank you, thank you!" She cried with enthusiasm.
I entered the house, and she led me into a living room with a fireplace and a few chairs. She sat down on one chair, and I sat down on the other chair opposite her.
"So, what's the problem here-"
"Oh! It's terrible, terrible! My husband has been kidnapped by some criminals who hope to use him for their own evil ends! He's been gone for two whole days now and I've heard nothing! The Rune Knights have also been unable to help with the situation." She cried desperately.
"Woah, whoa! Please calm down!" I pleaded desperately. I didn't want to upset the women anymore. "Erm, what is it that your husband does exactly?"
The woman sighed and intertwined her fingers together. "My husband, he is the Justice Minister you see." She explained with a sigh.
"Oh! He's the man who determines the sentencing that any prisoners get, right?" I jumped upon recognising the title.
"Yes." The woman replied. "He was most likely kidnapped due to his status; the criminals must be trying to take advantage of his power! Perhaps they wish to save a man from execution." She suggested to me.
"Well, whatever the case, I'll get him back!" I stated to the lady. "So do you know anything where the criminals are?" I asked.
"The Rune Knights said that they were heading up north into the hills, they occasionally come back down here to inform me of the situation. They said that the criminals took the northern most path out of the town. Just follow the signs and you'll get there." The woman told me.
'Hmm, not a lot of information there. Still, I better get a move on. Wouldn't want this lady to be any sadder than she actually is. The sooner I get her husband back, the better.' I decided as I stood up from my seat.
"Don't worry Ma'am. I'll get your husband back." I said with a smile to her.
With that, I left the house and made my way up the hills to see about trying to find these criminals. The only issue was that it was quite close to sunset by the time I had gotten up into the hills. If I turned back then the criminals might get away.
With no other choice I gathered some fuel for a fire to keep me warm and used some stone to create some sparks to light it up. Unfortunately, my Requip storage wasn't yet big enough for me to hold a sleeping bag, so I had to sleep on the ground. I was able to get some food from the Ministers house, she insisted so I took some fruit with me.
So I slept for the night, ready to catch the criminals in the morning.
I was not aware of the fact that I would be rudely awakened while I was sleeping.
I was woken up early in the morning to the voice of someone calling out for me to wake up. When I was able to roll up and eventually open my eyes, I saw a rather unexpected sight.
I saw a woman in a white Rune Knight uniform standing over me with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face. She had brown eyes and ginger hair that was in a ponytail.
"Excuse me young man. You are sleeping on a pathway. That is illegal you know." She informed me sternly, her looking down at me.
"Huh?" I muttered groggily. I then looked at where I slept.
Ah. It appears I shifted around in my sleep, to where I ended up on the pathway.
"Oh, sorry about that. I was actually sleeping next to that campfire. I just shifted around in my sleep, so I ended up on the path." I informed her, trying to avoid a potential fine.
Her gaze softened a bit, seeming to believe me. "Well whatever the case, I'll have to ask you to move. It's dangerous around here, as I'm tracking some criminals." She stated.
"Does it have to do with a kidnapping?" I questioned with interest. The woman had a look of surprise, but before she could reply I chose to answer for her.
"No need to worry, I'm a wizard that accepted the job at my guild. I'm also out here tracking them to rescue the Justice Minister." I declared, as I pointed a thumb at my chest.
"Is that so?" The woman said with intrigue. She then seemed to ponder on something. I had a feeling I knew what it was. "I believe it would be in both of our best interest for us to work together on this. You may still have the reward for completing the quest, and I will take the criminals into custody." She laid out the terms for me.
I saw no issue with this. In fact, I saw it as an absolute win!
"Alright." I smiled as I stood up. The woman was only a bit taller than me now that we were both standing up straight. "So what's your name then?"
"My name is Elena." She replied. "And yours?"
"Cadwell Philipe. Though you can call me Cade." I greeted her. "You have magic right Elena?"
"Of course I do! I wouldn't be out in the field if I didn't!" She looked as if it that was a dumb question, which I guess it was.
"Right sorry." I apologised as I scratched my head. "Why don't we get moving? I think the kidnappers are further into the hills here."
"A good idea." She affirmed, as she started to move forward past me to follow the path further. I quickly caught up to her, and we both walked along the pathway.
We walked for a few minutes in awkward silence. I wasn't sure exactly what to say to her. I was about to speak up to her, but she cut me off before I could even utter a word!
"I believe we should save the more idle chat until after we deal with the criminals." She remarked as we continued to walk.
'That's actually good. Means I can think of what I should say if she asks me what my magic is.' I thought. I was still nervous about what I should do about confessing that I have Enchantment Magic or not.
We continued to walk for an hour, until Elena stopped me holding out a hand.
"Look here." She said as she pointed to a part of the ground not too far off from where the path was. There was some marks that looked like something, or someone had been dragged from the ground into the trees.
"Looks like someone was dragged into the trees." I remarked as I looked at the tracks. "You think it was the Justice Minister?"
"That is a high possibility. I suggest we investigate them immediately and be prepared for combat." Elena stated, as she headed off into the trees, following the marks.
'She doesn't waste any time. I would have scouted out the area some more before moving in.' I thought, as I moved into the trees with her.
I was used to moving through trees now, so I was able to avoid all the weeds and branches that I might have tripped over. We continued to walk for about an hour, until we came to a broken-down house in the middle of the forest. We both stopped moving, to scope out the house more and we both saw a man move in the house through a smashed window.
"I think we found them. What do you think we should do?" I whispered. I wondered how Elena wanted to go about this.
"We should try to first confirm if the Justice Minister is actually in there. I shall go, wait here and I will return." She stated as she crouched down and began to slowly move towards the house.
'Huh, she must be good at sneaking around if she thinks she can get in she can get in undetected.' I considered as I still stayed alert. 'Still… if thing go bad then I'm heading in immediately.'
After a couple of minutes, I saw her head poke out from the smashed window looking at my direction. I looked up to see her properly so we could communicate. Elena beckoned me to her with a hand.
Understanding what she wanted, I crouched down and made my way over to where she was. I don't think I was seen, and I was able to make it to the smashed window.
"Pssst Elena?" I whispered.
Thankfully, Elena chose to speak up. "The Justice Minister is here. He is being held in a room in the house and is being threatened by the criminals. There is three of them, they all have magic, but I think one of them has a non-offensive magic."
I nodded my head in understanding. "Are we heading in then?"
Elena then hopped out of the house through the smashed window, her now crouching next to me. "I have a better idea." She then showed me a stone in her hand which she lightly tossed up into the air, before catching it again. "We'll lure one of them out and then we'll take him together. The other after should fall easily after."
I nodded my head in agreement, and Elena through the stone into the house which caused a loud sound that the criminals most likely heard.
"Back into the trees quickly!" Elena hissed. As we quickly hurried away from the house, I could hear a man heading towards the front door of the house. We seemed to get to the trees just in time, as the man exited the house not long after.
There was nothing unique about him, facial and garment wise; but he did look serious to find whoever made that noise. As he moved around the house, Elena spoke up to me one final time.
"Remember, we only have a moment after we attack until his friend joins him. We must try it swift and precise with our shots." She whispered.
Elena then began to count down to one with her fingers.
Five…
Four…
Three…
I silently Requiped into my armour.
Two…
I readied my magic.
One…
'Now!'
"Wolf Spirit: Silver Fury!" Elena cried as she stood up from where she was crouched and casted off a spell at the man.
Her spell there seemed to summon a pack of wolfs that looked rather blue and ghostly. Almost transparent and see through in a way. The wolfs were sent at the man who looked rather shocked at what he saw.
He quickly casted a counter spell to deal with them. "Gah! Barrier!" He shouted as he summoned a white coloured rectangular barrier which blocked the wolfs from hitting him. The wolfs seemed to disappear when they came into contact with the barrier.
I realised that we may not have a lot of time until the other man appeared so I too casted a spell. "Stone Bullets!" I shouted as I sent dozens of small stone bullets towards the man's barrier.
Thankfully, my bullets were able to break away his barrier, and caused him to go backwards a bit due to the impact.
The man did not give up through and waved his hand to cast another spell at me and Elena. "Try this! Barrier Storm!"
This caused several rectangular barriers to be sent flying in both of our directions. Me and Elena were able to dodge out of the way, with me casting Soft and Soar to help me with that.
When it hit the ground, I sent another spell at the man. "Stone Wave!" As the huge wave of stone was sent hurling towards the man, he prepared a counter spell to block it, yet there was no need for him to do so.
"Mortar X-3!" Shouted another new voice. This caused an explosion to be formed where my wave was being sent, cancelling out my attack. When the smoke cleared, I saw another man standing next to the one that we were attacking.
Seems his friend had arrived.
'Great… Seems we couldn't finish him off as fast as we wanted to. This is going to be a bit harder now.' I grimaced and prepared myself for what came next.
Elena was the next to use an attack. "Wolf Spirit: Snarling Hounds!" She cried out. A few more wolfs were summoned, and these ones were sent towards the two men who were now preparing for battle.
I decided to chip in and help myself. "Stone Beams!" I shouted as I sent a few Stone Beams towards the two men.
The one on the left (the one that we surprise attacked) smirked and casted a barrier like before. However, I was just about able to make out his friend on the right raise his hands and send a burst of small brown energy into the air, which then came crashing over his friend's barrier and caused an explosion which destroyed our attacks.
'I get it now. These two work together with their magic. One casts barriers to block any damage from hitting them. Then the other uses his mortar magic to attack their enemies while shielding themselves. This is the first time I've faced wizards like that.' I realised with surprise.
The barrier mage then held out his hand and casted a spell to send barriers to hit me and Elena. "Barrier Blitz!" He shouted, which caused several barriers that were also rectangular to be fired in our direction. We both leapt to the side to dodge the attacks, but it seemed that was what his friends was hoping for.
As I landed to the side my ears nearly exploded as I heard a loud explosion from my right, mere inches away from me. This sent me flying to the side and crashing into the ground. Thankfully, my armour was able to protect me from any serious injuries, though I was still in pain with my ears ringing.
Thankfully due to my strengthened hearing, I was able to make out the sound of more barriers being sent my way. Scrambling quickly, I was able to leap to the side and dodge them.
As I dodged them, I was able to see Elena sending serval different sorts of wolfs in the direction of the mortar mage. He was able to destroy them easily with his magic, however. I did see that one wolf however, was able to get through the constant barrages of explosions and scratch the man's arm before dissipating into thin air.
'Together these two are quite the deadly duo. But if we separate them, they should go down relatively easily.' I determined.
I then saw that the barrier mage was about to try and assist his friend in helping take down Elena. If that happened there was a large chance she would fail to defeat them, so I had to stop them from working together.
"Stone Slicer!" I shouted, sending a slice of stone towards the barrier mage. He was forced to block it with a barrier that was just able to take the brunt of the attack. He then cried as he sent the barrier in my direction, hoping it would hit me directly.
I dodged and kept up my assault. "Stone Spikes!" I shouted sending quite a few spikes out of the ground and towards the man.
'Elena was able to deal a bit of damage to the mortar mage. If I can keep this guy occupied, then she should hopefully be able take him down.'
The man gritted his teeth as he saw the spikes flying his way. He jumped up into the air and waved his hands downwards to summon a few barriers that appeared under him and more that came up in a diagonal angle to protect him from the spikes.
My spikes crashed against his barriers which caused him to stagger back slightly. When the man's barriers dissipated like they did before, he chose to take a different route of attacking me this time.
That being to not directly attack me.
The man expanded his hands outwards which caused dozens of barriers to surround me and trap me.
I was shocked when this happened and tried to break out by casting some offensive spells at the barriers. To my horror this didn't work, and the barriers remained firm and steady.
Then man then slowly moved his hands back in towards each other which caused the barriers around me to close in on themselves with me still trapped.
I desperately tried to break out of the barriers by hitting them with all sorts of magical attacks, but nothing was working! I began to panic at the thought of being potentially crushed.
Suddenly I thought of an idea that may get me out of this. I quickly extended my hands outwards and sent two Stone Beams out from the ground and into the barriers in an x-shaped formation. They collided with the barriers and caused them to vibrate with magic.
I could feel the beams breaking apart, but I pressed on and pushed more magic into the beams regardless. I was making a gamble here, but it was my only move out of this.
My fear was washed away when I saw the barriers beginning to crack under the stress of going against the stone beams.
I had thought that if I put enough pressure on the barriers then they would eventually crack and break apart. That was proving to be true, as the barriers cracked more and more which was horrifying my opponent, a look of anger on his face at my perseverance.
With a cry, I used more magic to send out two more Stone Beams which smashed the barriers completely and thus releasing me.
While I was feeling pumped up and ready to take the fight further to the barrier mage, the constant use of Stone Magic was draining my magic quite a bit. Going forward, I would be forced to use my Ice Magic to not run out of magic power midway through the fight.
"Ice Slicer!" I yelled, as I fired off a slice of ice towards the man.
"Tch! Barrier Swarm!" The man shouted as he fired off several Barriers towards me. This destroyed my Ice Slicer and caused me to jump out of the way to avoid the attacks.
While I was jumping to the side I saw that Elena was managing decently well against the mortar mage. She had a few bruises and scratches on her face and arms, yet she pushed on regardless. The mortar mage had a big gash along his right arm which he was having to hold occasionally with his left hand.
'Great! If this keeps up Elena will win against him! I just have to take care of this guy here.' As I landed rather epically on the ground, I thought of a plan to deal with him.
'I doubt he'll try to crush me again considering that I broke out of that last attempt of his. Now if I could get close I could end this with a close ranged attack, staying long ranged will be useless considering that he can just block or overpower my attacks. It'll be a close and hard hitting attack that will end this.' I decided with a look of seriousness.
"Ice Floor!" I shouted as I turned the ground beneath me to ice.
'Maybe I should change the name of that attack to Ice Ground instead…' I mulled quickly, as I then put my focus back on the fight.
I had made sure to only change the ground that me and the barrier mage were fighting on, so that Elena wouldn't be distracted or put of balance during her fight. When the ground turned to ice he struggled to keep balance, with his legs shaking quite a bit during it.
'That'll help put him off balance.' I then started to charge up my magic for an attack that will hopefully end this fight for good. Before then, I had to get closer to him.
"Ice Bullets!" I sent dozens of bullets towards my opponent, as I then started to skate towards the man.
"Grgh, Barrier!" He shouted as he blocked my attack with a regular Barrier. He then thrusted the barrier forward and sent it towards me.
I was able to skate out of the way and dodge it effortlessly, with me continuing to press forwards. "Ice Shards!" I then sent several shards of sharp ice towards the man.
Yet again, he was forced to counter this with a Barrier. He did send it towards me after he blocked my spells, but I was able to skate around it again.
I was now quite closer to the man, so I prepared to launch my final attack to end the fight. I leapt up into the air and soared down to meet the man head on. When I was a few meters away from him, I casted my final spell.
"This will end this! Ice Buster!"
"I won't lose this! Maximum Barr-!"
Before the man could cast his Barrier spell, I was able to cast my spell first and be able to send him flying backwards into the house that he came out of; him flying into the smashed window and into the wall which knocked him out.
Now to focus on the other kidnapper.
I turned to see that Elena was barely standing and so was her opponent. They were both panting – a sign that their fight could go either way.
"Wolf Spirit: Howling Hounds!" Elena cried as she summoned a pack of strong wolfs ready to fight.
"Gah! Mortar X-4!" The man shouted as he sent a bigger orb than usual into the sky, before it came crashing down and caused a very big explosion which wiped out Elena's wolfs easily. The blast was about to engulf her as well, but I chose to step in and save her.
"Stone Wall!" I shouted as I created a wall of stone to cover her from the blast. This worked, but the wall collapsed due to me not choosing to keep it up. Had I done so, Elena would have been unable to see whether the man was casting a spell or not.
The man turned to see and looked shocked to see me still standing. I suppose he didn't expect me to defeat his partner.
"Mortar X-3!" He yelled as he casted a spell in my direction. As the orb was fired up into the air and came plummeting back down into the ground, I quickly dived out of the way to avoid the blast.
"Wolf Spirit: Silver Fury!" Elena cried as she once again casted her woods and sent them towards the mortar mage. He tried to cast a spell to destroy the wolfs, but he was unable to do so as his spells seemed to take a bit of time to cast properly.
The man was set on by the wolfs with them scratching and biting the man which caused him to cry out in pain, of course it also distracted him.
"Take this! Ice Beam!" I shouted at the man as I fired off a beam at him. The beam hit his front chest and sent him flying back, him hitting a tree which also knocked him unconscious.
And with that, the battle was won.
I approached Elena who was looking a little worse for wear right now.
"Nice work." I complimented. "If you hadn't kept that guy busy then I would have really struggled to deal with them by myself!"
"I appreciate your assistance. Without you here to help me, this battle may not have been won." She said rather formally. She then pulled out a set of special handcuffs from her pocket. "These are handcuffs made out of magic sealing stones. They should stop the criminals from using magic."
She then handed me a pair of them and asked me to go and handcuff the mage in the house and to check up on the Justice Minister. I entered the house through the window and cuffed the unconscious mage. I then saw a doorway that led into a side room.
I curiously opened the door and saw a middle aged man tied up by some rope on a chair. The man had blue eyes and curled brown hair. He had a thin beard which I'm sure once looked nice a few days ago, but now it was ragged and dirty. He had a dirty red suit with a yellow undershirt, along with a white cravat around his neck. I noticed he had a shiny badge in the left of his red suit which had the symbol of the criminal system on it.
When he saw me, he looked relived, like he had been hoping to see a rescuer for days now.
"W-Who are you? Are you here to rescue me?!" He asked with hope.
"The Justice Minster, I take it? Don't worry, I'm here to rescue you with a Rune Knight." I assured the man, as I moved over to untie his binds. As I did this, Elena walked through the door.
"Excellent, you found the Justice Minister. I've tied up both criminals. They are just outside. We can take them back when we get you out of here Minister." She told the Justice Minister.
"Ah the third criminal!" The Minster shouted out. "He escaped through the back door in the house!"
"Ah right! There was a third criminal wasn't there!" I exclaimed in remembrance.
Elena looked frustrated at herself. "Argh! How could have I forgotten such a detail!" She angrily said. "Where is he Mr Minister?!"
"He ran out through the back door when someone crashed through the window there a few minutes ago. He must have though that he didn't have what it took to fight the both of you." The Minister told us, as he was now able to stand up from the seat.
"If he left minutes ago and he was running the whole time then there is no chance that we are catching him now." I muttered with disappointment. "We can at least take comfort in knowing that the Justice Minister is safe."
"I suppose." Elena grumbled, her not happy about losing a criminal.
With the Minister safe and sound, me and Elena escorted him and the tied-up criminals back to Era. The criminals were silent the whole way and did not speak up to us at all, even when we questioned them.
We first had to head to the nearby Rune Knight station in the town to hand the criminals over and establish that the Justice Minister was safe. When the criminals were handed over and the Minister made his rescue known to the authorities, me and Elena helped him back to his home as he was still quite weak from being tied up for so long.
When we reached his house, he walked up and chapped the door. A few seconds later we saw the worried face of his wife appear and look stunned to see her husband back and on the front doorstep.
The wife freaked out upon seeing her husband alive and well. "Albert! You're alive!" She said with tears as she hugged him tightly. The Minister returned the hug, happy to be reunited with his wife.
When the hug broke both husband and wife turned to the both of us.
"I must thank you young man, as well as you officer. I would have still been held captive if not for you two." The Minister said sincerely.
"Oh, it's no bother Minister. I was just doing my job." I replied cheerfully.
"Ah yes the reward for the job!" His wife cried out, as she hurried back into the house to presumably get the reward. When she left Elena spoke out to the Minister.
"Excuse me Minister? Before I leave you, I was wondering what you could tell me about the third criminal that got away?" She requested.
"Ah." The Minister's eyes and eyes perked up at that. "Well I did not get to know his name, or his magic; but I have a feeling he was the one who was orchestrating this kidnapping."
"Oh?"
"Indeed. When I was kidnapped he was the one calling the shots about where to go. When we were in the house he tried to get me to sign a piece of paper that looked like a contract of sorts. It had the names of several criminals that were to be executed in the coming years." The Minister informed the both of us.
"Really?" I said. "But other than the obvious point of being held captive, what would signing that contract do? If it let the criminals be free from execution, then you could surely just sentence them back onto death row." I pointed out.
"That thought did occur to me. However in my years I have been well versed in many forms of magic. I did not trust the man or the contract so I did not sign it." The Minsiter said. "Perhaps his magic allows whoever signs the contract to force the other individual to do what is on the paper." He suggested.
"Interesting… I will be sure to report this to the Magic Council and see if they have any more information on the matter. Thank you for this Minster." Elena thanked the man.
His wife then came back with a big bag of jewels. She handed it to me with a smile on her face. "Thank you again for saving my husband Cade." She thanked me.
"I will be sure to remember the both of you." The Minister nodded. "While I have a small say in matters in the Magic Council and the Royal Family I do have a regarded and well respected voice."
"Thank you. Both of you." I said to both husband and wife with a grin. "If you need anything then Fairy Tail is ready to help!"
The Minister and his wife then said farewell to me and the Minister closed the door on us. With a job well done I was just about ready to head back to Magnolia, until I was stopped by Elena.
"Fairy Tail? Been a while since we've ran into them." She remarked. I turned and saw that she was writing some notes on a notepad.
'Oh boy. I suppose this was happening to me sooner rather than later.'
"So you use Ice Magic and Stone Magic?" She requested, as she looked up at me.
"Erm, what is this exactly?" I asked, though I knew what was coming.
"This is me taking notes about the mage that helped rescue the Justice Minister. By doing this it will mean that you will have a good reputation with the Rune Knights and possibly the Magic Council." Elena informed me. "I just need some notes like your magic, and I already got your guild name."
'Great. Just great to know that this will be going directly to the Magic Council. Hmm… If I lie here about not having Enchantment Magic, then it may cause problems later on if they find out the truth. Elena seems nice and fair. Strict, but fair. I think I can trust her to give a truthful report. Plus I have to tell the truth eventually.'
"Alright, I'll tell you my magic." I gulped before I spoke again. "I have Ice Magic which is my magic that I was born with." I waited until Elena finished writing it down, before I continued. "Now my learned magic is actually Enchantment Magic. I can use that to change my ice to stone." I felt a pang of sweat roll down my back as I said that.
Elena paused.
"Enchantment Magic? Haven't heard that one before." She frowned as she scribbled some notes. "Anything else?"
"Well I have some Requip Magic but that's about it." I concluded.
"Ah, well everyone has that." Elena rolled her eyes as she shut her notepad. "Well that will be all from you Cadewell Philipe. I'm sure the Magic Council will be on good terms with you as you saved the Justice Minister." She gave me a smile.
I felt my inners twist and turn as she said that.
"Anyways I shall see you some other time Cadewell." Elena said as she gave me a handshake, before she then walked away, leaving me alone.
'Well that's it done then. There's no going back now.' I thought, as I tightened my grip on the bag holding the jewels I had earned. 'If the Magic Council want to arrest me for having a very powerful and ancient magic then I have I'd say I have a minimum of what? Two days before then?'
'Still I have a good reputation around the local area, from all the jobs I've done. If anything, an investigation on me will help show that I have used the magic for good rather than evil.'
With my thoughts on my future regarding the Magic Council unclear, I chose to take the next train back to Magnolia to cash in my money, and maybe see about buying something in town for myself.
But first, a photo of me in front of the Justice Minister's house! I gotta remember this moment somehow!
And scene! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Do leave a review of your thoughts.
I liked writing this chapter, perhaps it is because we have gotten past the Lavender Village arc, but I am enjoying writing more chapters in areas outside of the village. This arc will focus a bit more on Cade's personal life.
Cade has just gone on an A-Class job and succeeded in it! With that he'll gain the confidence to take on more and more and advance further as a wizard. But will the annoying and near-useless Magic Council try to stop him in this? You shall have to wait and see.
Anywho, I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter and I will bid you all farewell until next week!
Zazerr55 - I felt the same writing the Lavender Village arc when it came to Cade and Fea.