Chapter 14
Don't Own Fairy Tail or anything else Only The Oc
'thought'
"Speech"
"Powerful Creatures Speaking, like a dragon or a god"
"Text via book or newspaper... when those are around..."
"Sooo uh, Lucy, bit of an off topic question, but do you know Levy's birthday?" I question.
"H-Huh?" The girl blinks.
"Oh... it's September nineteenth.
"NEXT WEEK?!" I balk.
"Yeah... why?" The girl blinks.
"Here." I deadpan as I toss lucy a grey key. "Happy birthday, or... holiday... or whatever. That summons 'Ventus, the elemental of Wind'. Should be easier to use than Agrias. Now, I've got to go. Don't tell Levy I asked."
"Wh-"
"Byeeee" I wave as I rush out of the guild hall.
It took some time to decide just what I should get her. But in the end... I finally figured something out.
Well, I've figured TWO things out.
One... I got Levy a magical book from the shop, one that I regretfully had to buy with one of my thirty thousand 'shop voucher' things because I just didn't have the time to craft it.
It was a tough decision. But eventually I decided on the more expensive of the two. One, would give Levy a permanent boost to her confidence and allow her to much easily resist fear after she read it, the other was a magical changing cook book which generates recipes depending on your cravings.
Plus, once per day it can enhance your food into a 'Hero's Feast' which grants a myriad of buffs and boons.
I-I uh... don't know how much she'll like it, but... she likes books! Surely she'll at least be interested in the fact that it can determine exactly what sort of food she wants at any given point in time and how to prepare it.
As for the second thing...
I've decided that I really need a hobby.
Like, for the past two months since I've been here, it's been work work work.
The vacation was nice, but I immediately turned around and had to deal with an immensely stressful situation.
So I've also been pondering that a bit as well. The main issue is that... I don't really know any good ones.
What are some hobbies?
I mean, I already read a little bit, but I've sort of stopped after I started crafting Lucy that key.
What sort of hobbies are there?
Painting maybe?
Nnnhhh nah.
My eyes crack open as I hear a gentle knocking on my door.
I sit up slowly, letting out a yawn, rubbing my eye. "Who's that?"
I stumble my way to the door, unlocking it and creaking it open.
"Levy?!" I blink. "What are you doing up so early?"
"W-Welllll~" she nervously chuckles. "I just wanted to start early today, I guess... Soooo want to go on a job... maybe?"
"Sure." I shrug. "Come in, let me just go change really fast. Have you had breakfast yet?"
"I have."
I allow her inside, closing the door and quickly walking over to my dresser, grabbing a pair of pants and a shirt.
"So, what are we doing?" I question.
"Well, we're going to be disabling some traps!" She explains.
I hum as I step into the bathroom, closing the door. "That so? What'll we be dealing with?"
Her voice is lightly muffled as I change.
"Yeah! Apparently, a museum is paying quite a lot for some wizards to delve into an ancient ruin they discovered! From what I've heard it's trapped and quite dangerous! They supposedly cleared a bunch of the traps, but what appears to be the last room is causing issues."
With a wave of my hand, my body is cleaned. I finish buttoning up my shirt and step outside. "Sounds fun. I've never delved into an ancient ruin before."
"Awesome! So let's go!" She beams.
"Why do you seem so strangely eager to leave?"
"..."
"Well... uh... Lucy told me yesterday that she saw Jet and Droy at a flower shop ordering this massive bouquet... and, well, I really didn't want to deal with that, sooo uh, I was hoping that we could leave early... stay the whole day on our mission and maybe come back tomorrow."
"Damn... that's a little cold." I observe.
"I'm just- not good at rejections." She whispers. "It- it makes me feel bad, so I'd rather just... take myself out of the situation entirely."
"At this point, if they don't get the hint, I might just beat them up... this is sad... and sort of creepy." I admit.
"Don't! I... don't want anyone to get hurt for my sake."
"Alright." I agree. "I don't want to hurt anyone in the guild either... even if sometimes they deserve it."
"So you ready to leave?" I question.
"Don't you want something to eat first?" The girl questions.
"Nah. I don't really eat right after I get up... I normally wait an hour or two." I shrug as I walk to the door. "Now, come on! You want to hide away today, right?"
"Alright!"
It took a while, but we are finally here!
Levy and I had stopped to have lunch briefly, but we finally arrived at the archeological dig site.
Numerous tents seem to line the clearing, at the far side, at the base of the mountain side, I can see the mountainous cliff lightly peeled away, scaffolding creeping along its face.
"Well, let's find the person in charge." I state as we begin walking down the hill.
It takes a little bit, but eventually we are guided to a large tent.
"Hello?" I call out as I gently move the tent flap aside. "We're guild wizards here for the mission."
"Ah, yes!" A spectacled old man steps around a large table filled with artifacts. "What guild did you say you were from?"
"Fairy tail." Levy answers.
"WHAT?!" The old man shrieks. "I TOLD my assistant that this request is to NOT go to fairy tail under ANY circumstances! Get out! I won't have you destroy our historical find!"
"But-" Levy tries
"OUT!" He shouts.
"He can-" Levy whispers.
"LEAVE!" He doesn't appear to want to listen.
"Sir-"
"BEGONE!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I snap suddenly.
The old man's mouth clicks shut.
"Levy?" I question.
"..."
She lets out a long calming breath, seemingly getting a mild temper under control. "Sir. Merlin here has a magic to repair damaged objects. Anything that gets broken by us will be fixed before we leave. You have our word."
"He- He can repair stuff?! Boy! Can you fix these broken relics?"
"I don't know... you were pretty rude." I blandly hum, giving the man a half-lidded stare. "Also, that's not necessarily within our job description. We were hired to disable the final trap. Not repair artifacts~"
"Merlin. Be nice." Levy frowns, turning to the older man. "But you were quite rude to us."
"I-I'll pay!"
"Oh, that changes things... how much?" I ask.
"T-Ten thousand-" he seems to see our flat expressions and quickly corrects himself. "Twenty five thousand per item!"
"That's acceptable." I hum as I step forwards, looking over the table. "So what do you need me to fix?"
"W-Well, we have this dagger here and then this pot- and then-"
"Well. That was exhausting." I sigh, having just spent around six hours and around half of my mana to restore a bunch of relics.
Levy, in that time, has been reading through an old book I restored. Apparently she is a polyglot who can read several ancient languages fluently.
"But it was worth it!" She beams. "Look at this book! It is over three hundred years old! Back when wizards were outcasts and pursued by the government! Back when there was no such thing as a 'Light' guild!"
"Anything interesting?"
"It's ALL interesting." She replies.
"Anything... relevant to our mission, then?"
"Well... n-no?"
"Eh, that's fine." I shrug taking a seat next to the girl. "As long as your having a good time. Plus, I made an extra seven hundred thousand with the restoration work... also probably secured a direct line of contact with archeological organizations. Who are likely to directly contact Fairy Tail for me in the future."
"That's awesome!" The girl smiles brightly.
As it turns out... 'Turn Back the Key', that repair spell I have, is quite unique.
It's...
Well, it's basically arc of time.
The only downside is one: the casting time. An entire fucking hour. And two: the weight limit. One pound per caster level.
Most of the other stuff could be handled by 'Repair' a simple spell that says it can only be used on constructs, as in, like, golems and shit, but that's a little ridiculous.
The few times I did cast 'Wind Back the Key' it was for things like the book Levy read through. Things so far gone that I couldn't even partially see how they fit back together.
A long sigh leaves my lips. "Well, shall we do the job we were sent here to do?"
"Oh! Right!" The girl beams. "While you were repairing stuff, I went and asked around, apparently towards the back of this ruin there's a bunch of giant metallic statues, now, seeing as how the rest of the place was trapped, they wisely got out of there, I think we're dealing with some golems."
"Ah. Joy. Those tend to resist magic, right?" I hum as I slowly stand, rolling my shoulders.
"Well, not in the traditional sense." The girl states. "More in the 'you're attacking a giant walking wall of iron' way... it's more of a damage resistance than magic resistance.
"I see... I wonder if Pallug Missile will be enough."
"Is that seriously your strategy to most things? Tossing your cat at them?" She questions, a single eyebrow raised as she gives me a half-lidded stare.
"Mroow?" The babymoth growls from my bag as I open it and let him out.
"Well, to be fair." I begin with a small grin, picking up the small horned beast and placing him on my shoulder. "It's one of my best ranged options... also. Don't you think Natsu would be throwing Happy at people if Happy gained his magic?"
"..."
"Haah." She sighs. "He would, wouldn't he?"
After Levy returns the book to the leader of this expedition and we clarify a few things about our job, we walk towards the ruin, entering it and walking through the twisting, musty halls, past people who are dusting things off and digging through rubble. Eventually we come to a large double door.
I share a glance with Levy. "So. You ready?"
"I'm... trying to think of something that I could do to the golems..." She mutters.
"What about Thermite?"
"H-Huh?"
"it's sort of a powder that gets really hot when ignited. It's comprised Iron-Oxide and Aluminum shavings. This stuff is hot enough to burn through two inches of steel in a couple of seconds, the main issues comes in getting it to stick to something... also the sheer temperature. It'll spray superheated sparks everywhere. You'd burn your hands trying to light it traditionally. But with your solid script, if you give it enough distance it should be fine."
"Thermite? One word?"
"Yes. Ther- as in the first four letters of 'There', mite as in 'termite'. But you'd probably need something to contain the powder... like a flower pot made of metal or something like that."
She seems to ponder for a long moment.
"Alright. I've got an idea." The girl decides. "You ready?"
"I am." I nod once only to pause. "By the way... how much are we being paid for this?"
"It's an A-Class job, so it's quite high up there. Two and a half million!"
"Huh... and with the repair work, that's an additional seventy thousand on top... not bad. I wouldn't have to worry about rent for an entire year." I hum.
"Exactly!" The girl beams. "Just think of all the rare books I could buy!"
She taps her chin. "I just need to think of a good word for something slippery? Oil? Grease? But that'd catch on fire and scorch everything."
"Lube." I suggest with a small shrug.
A scarlet blush slowly appears on her face.
"Wait, your magic grows power the longer and more unique letters a word, has right? Lubricant. All unique. Quite long. Should cause basically everything to slip."
"O-Oh... yeah. That word is a lot better." She nods slowly.
"And you and Pallug can fly!" She gasps suddenly, a grin on her face. "I have a plan! I'm going to cover the floor in slippery material. Then. I'll create a funnel for the Thermite... then, placing it over the golems, I'll ignite it with a spark to render them inoperable!"
"Good plan." I hum as I step forwards and shove open the door.
It's heavy, so I have to put quite a lot into pushing it open.
A breath leaves my lips as I look around.
Large iron statues, twice the height of either of us loom on both sides of the room.
There are eight in total.
"Oh, before I forget." I place a hand on the girl's shoulder, then on my chest. "Armor. Armor."
I begin to walk forwards.
*THUD*
The closest one takes a step forwards, causing me to hop back as it raises its fists.
"Alright, Levy. They're clearly alive. Let's let them have it!"
Her fingers dance through the air. "Lubricant!"
Her hands slam on the ground causing the stone brick floor to glisten.
I look to the cat perched on my arm.
"Let's try out Cath missile... two-point-zero." I smirk.
"Extend." I whisper as the small cat begins to glow gold under the effects of Jellal's meteor spell.
'Intensify. Empower.'
I hurl the cat forwards as one of the statues begin to step out of their little alcoves.
He takes off like a shooting star, becoming just a blur as he goes completely past the first golem and strikes one of the far ones.
Metal creaks and hisses as its body is brought to sweltering temperatures in an instant, large cracks form across its torso as the metal shrieks violently.
It falls into a pile of limbs as the horned missile darts around the outside of the room and pauses next to me.
I place my hand upon him and give him another 'Intensified and Empowered overcharged Fire Dragon's Iron Fist'.
He shoots off again, killing another in just one hit.
I'm spending around an eighteenth of my mana every time I use this spell, sooo uh... it's quite potent.
The marching golems begin to walk forwards, but one slips immediately crashing to the floor with a loud thud.
"Funnel!" Levy calls out, then not even a second later a large funnel appears atop the prone metal statue. "Thermite!"
A grey powder quickly fills the funnel.
"Spark!" Levy calls out.
*FWOOOSH-CHRRRRRRZ*
Her eyes widen at the massive shower of embers that spray from the top of the funnel, the golem underneath seems to jerk abruptly, then fall still, its glowing red eyes dimming.
In that time I had quickly shot Cath off a third time, another golem dying like the last.
"Let's try this..." Levy's eyes narrow slightly. "Thermite-Band!"
A ring appears around the neck of one of the golems.
She falls to a kneel, hands shaking. "S-Spark!"
"Use up too much mana?" I question as the collar of a gray clay-like substance sparks wildly, a few seconds later the golem's head pops off like a bottlecap.
"Yeah." She breathes out. "Thermite is powerful... it took a lot of my energy... doing a hyphen with it was even worse."
"Want me to clear this up? You've already made it so they can't approach us."
"Yes please."
I hurl Cath three more times, destroying the remaining three golems.
She lets out a long breath as she sits there, gazing at the destruction, a smile quirking at her lips.
The slipperiness on the floor seems to fade rapidly as I help the girl up.
I gaze around.
"Huh. We did remarkably well in limiting the damage... the only thing that got damaged would likely be some scorch marks from the thermite, the footsteps and wherever the golems fell... then, of course, the golems themselves.
I yawn leaves my lips as we sit in a tent.
Levy and I had been given this tent to stay the night in.
Our job is complete, the final room opened.
There's no real 'big treasure' or 'sacred relic' at the end of this ruin.
Just broken supplies that have long-since been destroyed.
I restored a few wooden boxes for them to take back, but it appeared to be mostly food storage. Some animal hide as well. Apparently, the entire room functioned like some sort of fridge.
"Well, that was fun." Levy smiles. "It's always a joy when I can read a new book!"
"It was a pretty fun job." I agree as I flop back on the bed. "Easy money."
"I'm glad you came with me today..." Levy whispers from her own on the other side of the tent.
"Hey. It was my pleasure." I grin.
"This... was a good day." I hear the girl whisper as she lays down, pulling the blankets up to her chin.
"Oh. I almost forgot." I blink suddenly.
"H-Huh? Forgot what?"
With a flash, a wrapped gift appears in my hand. "Happy birthday, Levy."
"W-Wh- H-Huh?!" The girl stutters. "How... How did you find out?!"
"I asked Lucy." I shrug. "I'm a little hurt you didn't tell me, actually."
"You- You didn't have to get me anything!" She protests. "I didn't want you to get me anything... my birthday is just another day!"
"Why not?" I ask. "I give Lucy stuff all the time. And it's not even her birthday!"
"Besides... I saw this, and I thought you might like it." I smile at the girl.
"..."
"..."
"Just take it. My arm's getting tired." I pout.
The girl slowly stands up, gently taking the wrapped box from my hand, going back to her bed.
"G'night!" I state as I immediately roll over, bringing the blanket up to my face.
I can hear the tearing of wrapping paper.
'I hope she likes it...'
"A book?" The girl mutters.
I can hear her open it.
"H-Huh?" She questions, noticing how the pages seem to shift and move.
"Wh- Y-you gave me a magic smut book?!"
"E-EXCUSE ME?!" I question, sitting up.
"LEVY!" I begin. "That's a cookbook! What is wrong with you?"
Her cheeks turn red.
"It creates recipes for whatever you deeply desire at the moment! How could you even think it was a smut book- Wait... Levy you pervert."
"S-Stop it! Stop bullying me! It's my birthday! You can't!"
"You didn't seem very eager to tell me it was your birthday before, but now you're using it as a shield for your degeneracy!"
"S-Stop!"
"What did the book even tell you to do?" I question.
"I-I don't want to talk about it. P-Please."
"Fine." I sigh, shaking my head as I lay back down, a small smirk on my lips.
"Don't tell anyone about this." She threatens.
"Fine, fine." I wave off. "Birthday Gift two: Your secret's safe with me... until it's really funny."
"Merliiiin!" She whines.
Pov: nearby.
"Ugh! Why do I have to do this! I'm not cut out for field work!" A small girl growls as she stomps her feet.
She has black hair, pale skin, wearing a black dress with a purple tie with the fraction 'One Sixteenth' on it, loosely around her shoulders is a lab coat, and atop her head is a very large tophat.
A towering figure looms behind her, body mostly obscured.
"Such a mission is an honor." The figure speaks, voice low and gravely. "You should give it proper respect such as I."
"But why me?!"
"You appear to be human... that is something myself and the others cannot say for ourselves. The goal of today is to ensure that the humans do not search that deeply into this matter. If you fail, that is where I come in... do not fail... there is no sport in slaying nonmagical humans... and it will go against our goals."
The girl grumbles to herself as she stomps away.
She approaches the archologist's camp her footsteps quietened down. She slips through the camp and deeper into the ruin.
It's easy to slip inside, people probably just assume she's also an archologist.
Dozens of people mill about, dusting off old human garbage.
She goes deeper and deeper.
Eventually she comes to a large room where numerous large metal statues are irreparably shattered. Metal twisted, bodies broken. It looks like some of them even got melted.
Now...
If she was a holy sword... where would she be?
Huh?
The girl blinks as she spies someone who looks different than the ordinary humans wandering around... mainly the fact that he is HOT!
White hair, nice jawline, red eyes, he even has some muscle! Not enough to make him an eight foot tall hunk of meat, that's too much for her, but he's well within her perfect eye-candy parameters!
She'd LOVE to craft him a demonic body. Heheheh. Maybe her lady would let her keep him as a pet!
*Creeeeak*
"Eh?" The girl blinks as she looks up.
A large hunk of metal which had been stacked beside the door seems to teeter on the edge of the pile, it slowly begins to fall.
"METEOR!" Someone shouts.
She is tacked out of the way just as the large hunk of iron slams into the floor.
The black haired girl blinks owlishly, hands on her head to secure her hat.
She is tightly clutched to the chest of the person whom she had just been simping for. Her heart nearly skips a beat. He had saved her from being crushed!
Dying sucks! She'd rather not die today. Who knows how long her lady would leave her in the lab before she is brought back!
a... very strange laugh leaves her mouth. "Wow! You're so rough! I'm going to get pregnant!"
"H-HUH?!" Another voice gasps.
The person who had protected her flinches back, dropping the girl.
"oof." She grunts, air knocked from her lungs.
"H-Huh?" He blinks.
Another one of those possibly annoying laughs leave her mouth, then she...
Slides... across the floor.
Like, if she was oiled up in grease.
Slipping over the rubble as if it wasn't even there.
It'd be comical if someone had a slide whistle.
She needs to find that sword.
"Agh- fuck!" The voice of her savior curses behind her, causing her to blink and gaze back.
A tiny shard of metal had stabbed into his hand.
He plucks it from his palm causing him to widen his eyes slightly and flick the metal piece downwards. "Shit! That stings!"
He looks to his fingertips, gently rubbing them together.
It...
Stings?
"Huh?" A blue haired girl walks over. "Are... Are you alright?"
She reaches down and touches the little piece of metal that was tossed aside, looking at the white haired teen in confusion. "It's... not burning me?"
Waaaaaait. Wait a second.
"Feh feh feh feh." The girl laughs, uncaring that she sounds like a squeaky toy.
That is INTERESTING!
Well, besides the fact that it looks like the holy sword she is looking for is already destroyed.
Oh well, there's no need for her to mingle with these humans anymore.
She gazes at the white haired teen, who looks at his palm, then to the little shard of metal.
He seems to be mutely speaking to this unimportant blue haired girl.
Peh! The black haired girl's own breasts are bigger! She's clearly not a threat!
The white haired mage clenches and unclenches his hand.
The wound is entirely gone.
Strange. Healing magic is quite rare... unless it wasn't healing magic.
Which. Would. Mean. Something interesting is afoot!
Now, she's a little curious. She's never seen this person before...
What's a non-Tartaros affiliated Etherious doing here?
DUN DUN DUUUUUUN
That thing that was revealed like... a few chapters ago! It's relevant!
Also. Shocking lack of porn for Lamy. Total shame. You'd think the bunny scientist would get some love as the only OFFICIAL rabbit girl in Fairy Tail, but no.
also, I have a Patroon, you can find it at Flameclawsxx