Maru and Sandy decided to show Mary what life of a guild wizard is really like by helping her on her first big job. Although she wasn't too pleased about it, the job they took was to exterminate a colony of insects that's been infesting a farm town. When they got there, it turns out that the town is suffering much more than they thought. The insects are actually giant hornets called hornet marauders that have been destroying the town's crops, which is how most of the people there are making their food and money. If something isn't done about these insects soon, they won't last. The three of them agreed to take the job. They were able to find the nest and attacked some insects, but Maru managed to bring the queen of this nest right out.
"That thing is the queen? Hail to the queen, but I'm starting to wonder why I agreed to do this." Mary said as she was really scared now. "Why would you attack the nest if you knew that thing was going to come out?!"
"It's simple. They're just like any other colony of insects." Maru said. "That means if we can take the queen down, the hive will die."
"I get it. You want to take down the queen because her fall will mean this hive will die." Sandy said. "If the hive dies, they'll leave the town alone."
"Exactly. Keep the rest of them off me." Maru said as he went and attacked the queen herself.
"Do what?!" Mary said as she didn't like that plan.
"I do believe he means them." Mercury said. Mary took notice of the swarm and is hating this more and more with her hoping it's really worth it.
"Does he really think he can take on something like that gigantic bug by himself or something?!" Mary said.
"Just you wait and see." Sandy said as they all tried to fight off the other bugs. "Maru is stronger than you might think. He could surprise you. As for Maru, he went right at the queen. He gathered light right into his foot and jumped right at it. Of course, some of the insects tried to get in the way.
"Shooting Arrow!" Maru jumped right at them with his leg out. His leg shot through those bugs with the speed of a shooting star with the force of an arrow. Once he got them out of the way, he jumped right at the queen and tried smashing his fist against it's head, but that didn't appear to do much. As for the queen, she started flapping its wings and started creating strong winds. "Oh boy..." He knew that it was going to be a problem. The queen actually tried to fight back as it attempted to use its own stinger, but Maru jumped right over it and grabbed a hold of the queen instead.
"Maru, hold on!" Sandy called.
"This thing flapping it's wings could be a problem, but plucking the wings won't make it all that dangerous." Maru figured. He was aiming to take the wings out and tried climbing on the queen to try and destroy them. He tried to get on the back, but the wings flapping the way they were made it even more difficult.
"It looks like Maru is trying to take the wings out." Sandy said as he and Mary kept fighting off the other insects.
"Mercury, do you think you can slice through them like you did before?!" Mary said.
"I got it!" Mercury said as he did just that. He flew right at the queen to give Maru a hand. Mercury flew right at the queen and used his incredible speed to slice right through the wings. "Those wings are fast, but I'm faster!"
"Nice shot!" Maru called.
"Thanks. I think this is just about over, so call when you need me." Mercury said before he vanished. As for the queen, she fell right out of the sky and smashed against the ground with Maru dealing the final blow. He gathered light around his hands and held his arms out like wings.
"Angel Wing!" Maru swing his arms in a dual chop and smashed them right against the queen where the organs are usually kept. It tore through the queen and tore her body apart.
"Unreal! He tore right through that thing?!" Mary said as she couldn't believe her eyes. With the queen's death, the rest of the swarm was out of control and just flew around. "What's with these bugs now?"
"Without the queen, they don't know what to do. The queen is like the heart of the hive, something like an actual queen of a kingdom." Maru said. "They're too disoriented and lost without her. I doubt they'll be a problem now." He was right. All of the hornets scattered and went in different directions rather than staying as a swarm. "I think that is that. We're good now." After hearing that, Mary felt relieved with her dropping to her knees.
"That was a little terrifying." Mary said. "You people actually have to deal with stuff like this?"
"More or less." Sandy said.
"And that doesn't scare you?!" Mary said.
"You get used to it." Maru said like it was nothing.
...
The Town
"Did I hear that right?" The chief of the town said. Maru and the others returned to the town and told them all about how they were able to beat the colony. The whole town gathered for it and were so glad to hear that news "You were able to exterminate those bugs?!"
"Well, they did scatter once the queen of the hive died. Without the queen, they're lost." Maru said. "I think it's safe to say they're not going to bother you anymore. We also destroyed whatever was left of the nest so they can't build on it. With their nest destroyed and the queen exterminated, I don't see how those bugs can stick around." All of them townsfolk were glad to hear something like. It felt so good to hear the cause of all their trouble was gone.
"I don't know how to thank you." The chief said. "Those awful insects caused all of us so much grief. Some of us were prepared to give up, but now we can all get back to work without any worries. I suppose I should at least pay you."
'Well, at least we'll get paid for all of it.' Mary thought as it seemed like it was all worth it.
"We were glad to help, but you can keep the money." Maru said. That's not what Mary wanted to hear. "You need that money to help yourselves. You can use it to buy food and whatever you need to grow your crops again. It will be a big help to all of you. I'm afraid we just simply can't take it when you need it more."
"What?! Are you serious?!" Mary shouted. "Are you forgetting that the whole reason I joined your guild was to earn some money?! After all of that, you're saying we should get nothing?!"
"We can just get some money on another job. There's plenty to choose from back at the guild." Maru said. "Besides, taking the money now could bring a bad reputation to the guild. We can't have that."
"Yeah, so don't be greedy!" Sandy said.
"I'm starting to think joining this wizard guild really was a bad idea! You people are just..." Mary wanted to shout and argue with them about not getting the money, but Mary saw one little girl trying to get her attention with her having a piece of paper. "What is it?"
"I know it's not much, but this is for helping us. Thank you." The little girl said. She handed Mary the paper. When Mary took a look at it, it was a drawing she made herself. It was of all the townsfolk holding hands with them and having happy faces. After that, Mary took a look around and saw how happy and grateful everyone was compared to how miserable they were earlier. Seeing that, Mary just slipped the paper into her shirt and just dropped the whole thing.
"See, Sandy? I don't think Mary is all that bad. I think she's just the type that doesn't like to show her nicer side." Maru said. Sometimes money as a reward can be nice, but the real reward is seeing all the smiling faces from all the good that was done.
...
Maru and Mary
"Well, it's now time to head home." Maru said as all of them were walking back home and were passing through the forest.
"Are we really going to walk all the way home?" Mary questioned.
"Do you always complain?" Sandy questioned.
"Since you guys just cost me some money, I'll complain as much as I like." Mary said. "Whatever job I take next, I'm keeping the money. Do keep in mind that I got to feed myself and that my new apartment does come with rent."
"Fair enough, but you know it was the right choice. You even kept the drawing the kid made." Maru said.
"Well... Even I didn't want to disappoint a kid." Mary claimed. "Besides, she has to work on being an artist since she didn't really capture all of this." She said as she posed like a model showing her beauty, but the boys just felt sweat drop. She's clearly not as modest as she thinks. "Hold on. Is that smoke over there?" They all took a look and did spot a trail of it in the air.
"Better check this out to make sure it's nothing bad." Maru said. All of them hurried to where the smoke was. When they got there, they saw it appeared to be some sort of campsite. The thing was that they spotted Gin down there and was surrounded by five guys. "Gin!"
"You made a big mistake coming to our camp." These guys looked like trouble since they all had some form of a weapon on them. With how they had Gin surrounded, it was obvious their intentions were to hurt him. The one who spoke even had a crow sitting on his shoulder, so that one might be the leader.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" Gin said as he reached for his guns in holsters. "Make your move." One of them gladly obliged. He tried to attack from behind as he jumped up and was going to smash a club against him, but he was blasted down by light.
"Gin! Over here!" Maru called as he and the others joined in to help. "You okay?!"
"Hey, guys. No worries. I've got this." Gin said. He did a quick spin and fired a shot at another thug and it hit him right in the head.
"Did he really just shoot someone right in the head?!" Mary said. She couldn't believe that someone from a wizard guild would actually do something like that.
"Get that bastard!" The leader ordered, but Gin handled this as well. Two of them tried to attack Gin, but he jumped out of the way and shot both of them in the head as well. He landed right behind the leader. The leader turned to attack him, but Gin already had his gun aimed right at him.
"You guys are so slow." Gin said and pulled the trigger. He shot the leader right in the head and took him down. As for the crow, it tried flying away with it cawing. "No you don't. Can't have you getting away." Gin aimed right for the bird and even had a small magic circle appear to be used like a lens. One shot was all Gin needed. He fired and he shot the bird right out of the sky. "Sorry, little birdie. You're with them, and if there are more, I can't have you sounding off an alarm."
"Whoa! That was unreal! You got perfect shots in all of them, even knocked that bird out of the sky, but I can't believe you killed them like that!" Mary said.
"No, they're not dead." Gin said. Mary took another look and saw that they were still alive. "I do use gun magic, but these are special kinds of guns. They fire magic, not bullets. Painful but not lethal. I never shoot to kill."
"So, who are these guys?" Sandy asked.
"Just some mountain bandits." Gin said. "I took a job to try and take care of these guys. It was actually pretty easy. Are you guys heading back after a job?"
"Yeah. We just got done with one, but I don't think it's what she expected. She wasn't all that thrilled with it being her first job." Maru said with Gin looking Mary's way.
"Oh! You're the new girl! Mary is your name, right?" Gin said.
"Yeah. Hold on! Are you saying you just now noticed it was me?!" Mary said.
"Anyway, things are working out rather well, and I don't mean with the jobs." Gin said. "I heard that Aster might be on his way back as well."
"Aster? Really?" Maru said.
"Who's Aster?" Mary said.
"Aster Vinch. He's actually one of our guild's best." Sandy said.
"That's right. Aster is actually an S-class wizard even though he's about the same age as us." Maru said.
"S-class? You mean he's a pretty strong and powerful wizard, at least in the guild? Is he really all that?" Mary said.
"You'll find out soon enough. He should be back at the guild by tomorrow at the latest." Gin said. "He sent word back to the guild that he wanted to see you, me, and Yukina. He said it was rather important."
"Important?" Maru questioned. "What do you mean? Is something going on?"
"I'm not sure. I didn't get many details. I'm sure he will explain once he gets back." Gin said. One of the strongest members of the guild is asking for assistance on something? That didn't settle right with Maru.
"Hmm... I got a bad feeling about this." Maru said as he could just tell there's trouble over the horizon.
...
Meanwhile
As they were talking about this, someone else was on his way to Amaryllis. It was someone that wore boots with green cargo shorts and a grey sports top where you could see a faint trace of a grey emblem on his left pectoral. He also wore black fingerless gloves with him having spikey hair that was grey like lead. Is this Aster? If it is, what could he need his fellow guild members for?