Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters.
-The Enchanter of Fairy Tail-
Chapter 2: The Crocus Royal Museum.
Year: X752. 32 years till Canon begins.
Cobalt POV:
—
Attention. We have arrived at Crocus. This is the train's final stop for today. Thank you for travelling with us, we hope to see you again.
—
'Finally, that felt much longer than two days, but that's what being stuck in a carriage will do to you.' I thought as I disembarked the train carriage I was on, moving out into the station. I spotted some travel brochures from a conductor handing them out. 'Can't believe I've never been here in Crocus before… I'll need one of these to get to where I need to go.' I took one from the man and thanked him, before then trying to find out where exactly the Royal Museum is.
Crocus was one of the few big cities that I had never traveled to while on a job. I had always hoped that I could come here on much more pleasant circumstances. 'Perhaps a day out with June and Cade? I can trust the manor to Pierce and Charles.' I shook my head away from those thoughts for now, looking down to see the map of the city and where the museum was.
Thankfully it wasn't far, around an hours walk from the station. When I got there I'd ask for Mr Yakone for important information about the theft in question. Then I would head for a hotel and rent a room for the night. It was rather close to nightfall, and the mountains outside of the city were unfamiliar to me. Tomorrow the hunt for those Dark Guild members will begin. 'I've done plenty of these search and recovery missions before. By tomorrow I'm sure that this job will be done and dusted.'
As I made my way outside of the station, I began to take in and marvel the magnificence of just how gigantic Crocus actually was in comparison to Magnolia. The city itself seemed more than three times the size of Magnolia, and Magnolia was not a small town in of itself. As I directed my eyes towards the buildings I took in their great detail.
Possessing bright facades and towers with extremely pointed tiled roof jutting upwards, are lined up the stone street's sides, some of which are pretty basic, while other, more elaborated ones consist of very large, circular mosaics made of wide, flat stones, which bear floral and natural motifs in their centre. Not only were the buildings appealing to look at, but I figured that the buildings themselves were built to last due to the nature of how they were constructed. Assuming an attack came from other kingdoms; these buildings were built to last. I could see why this was Fiore's capital city. 'I feel like such a fool for not coming here earlier.' I sighed as I kept moving.
After what was close to an hours walk, I finally made it to the Royal Museum. It was a grand building towering over me, made out of a mixture of marble and concrete, with large pillars at the entrance. What I noticed next, was a very large gaping hole located in the side of the museum.
'I guess this is where they busted in from then huh?' I thought with interest. 'Wonder what magic blew that huge hole in the wall?'
My eyes then turned to another important detail. I saw that there was a huge number of Rune Knights just outside the museum doors and the large hole that was caused by the explosion.
I had seen Rune Knights deployed before during S-Class quests (as well as making sure to run away from them when they came after me due to unintentional destruction) and they normally numbered around 20 to 30 at a time. However, I could see more Rune Knights here than I have ever seen before, scaling in at around 50 to 60 men.
'Wait a minute… those uniforms…' I realised as I took a closer look at the emblem on their cloaks I was surprised to see that it was the emblem from the Royal Knights the most elite law keeping members of Fiore.
'What the hell? Why are the Royal Knights here?! This is just a simple S-Class quest with some stolen goods.' I scratched my chin in confusion. I was under the impression that some idiot dark wizard stole these items. Why would the Royal Knights feel the need to show up?
'This may be a bit more serious than I initially thought' I mussed to myself. 'However I have been a wizard for decades now. Perhaps longer than some of these people have been alive.'
I wasted no time as I made my way up towards the front doors of the museum. However, I was quickly blocked by a Royal Knight.
His attire was a bit more colourful than the mostly greyish colours that the other knights all wear, with a few colours of promotion scaling down his armour. The man was quite large and well built and had a sword holstered on his waste. From the looks of it, this man was the Commander of this task force.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing? This area is off limit to civilians." The Commander stated firmly to me, trying to edge me away from here.
"Relax, I'm with the Fairy Tail Guild. I'm the S-Class Wizard sent of this job." I replied back dryly, having heard this conversation dozens of times from other Rune Knights in the past. I showed the Commander my guild mark and the job request that I pulled out from my cloak. He nodded in understanding.
"Ah, please forgive me." The Commander apologised. "We were notified that a wizard had accepted the job, we just didn't know what he or she looked like. Please follow me inside so you can meet Mr. Yakone. He has more details about the break in." The Commander stated, beckoning me to enter the museum.
Me and the Commander entered the museum, in which we were led away from the main exhibits, moving through a series of passageways and up a flight of stairs to (what was presumably) Mr. Yakone's office.
As we entered the office I saw a man in his late 40's sitting a desk with a worried expression on his face. The man had brown hair and slithers of grey forming up the side of his hair. He wore a brown suit with a red tie. 'Mr. Yakone, I presume.'
"Forgive me for disturbing you Mr. Yakone, but this is the wizard who took the job two days ago. He is from Fairy Tail." The Commander spoke to the man at the desk, before turning to me. "This is Alfred Yakone…" The Commander suddenly paused. "I'm sorry, what is your name Sir?" The Commander asked in realisation as he turned to me.
"Cobalt Philipe." I addressed with a nod.
"Commander Hugo." The Commander replied back with a nod.
"Gentleman, could we perhaps get onto the important matter at hand please?" Requested Alfred Yakone's voice from the desk. He gestured his hand towards the seat which was positioned just on the opposite side of the desk where he was sitting. I then moved to the chair and sat down in it. Hugo remained standing, crossing his arms.
"Sorry it took me so long to get here Sir. Magnolia is just really far away from Crocus." I apologised, hoping to get any small talk out of the way.
"No, no, what matters is that you are here now. I am glad that you were able to make it here. You know, I think you may be the only wizard we have been notified of that actually took this request. We have received no new notifications from other guilds about wizards who wish to take the job. Thank you again for coming." Yakone thanked me with a pleased expression on his face.
'This guy must have been really worried about the break in. It's a good thing I showed up, because it seems like another wizard wouldn't have.' I noted internally. 'Though I suppose Crocus is rather far away from the more populated areas of Fiore.'
Yakone then opened a draw and pulled a lacrima out from it. "This is a security lacrima which recorded the night of the crime in question. Would you be interested in seeing it? I mean, it's obvious that we watch it, but I still asked just in case…"
"Of course! Any information you have would be a great help to me." I nodded, happy that I could maybe get an idea of at least what magic the criminals used. Knowing your opponent made jobs like these all the more easier.
Mr. Yakone stood up from his desk and then moved over to place the lacrima on a stand that faced towards the wall. He then held his finger on the lacrima (presumably to unlock it for use), and stepped back. Commander Hugo then flicked a switch to turn out the lights so the three of us could get a better look at our robbers. 'Time to see who we're dealing with.'
The lacrima then flared to life and showed what looked to be Exhibit A, in which I could see, The Sword of Sealing, the Torch of Xerno, the three ancient books, the three Dragon Scales, the Gauntlets of Greatness and the Aisl Anom. They were just sitting there, displayed in their cases. No signs of disturbance yet. Though that peace let me examine the rest of the room.
Clearly this was the history exhibit in which items through Fiore's history are placed here for tourists to look at. I also noticed a large old leather tomb with a buckle strap closing the book and preventing it from being open. The Translating Tome, my real prize from doing all of this.
Just as I turned away from the Translating Tome to look back the other items, an explosion came at the side of the left wall causing alarms to go off in the building! Then I saw a two individuals dash in and destroy the glass casing protecting the items. Then the thiefs began to grab the items, stuffing them into a huge bag they carried as they came in. My eyes narrowed as I saw that bit of the footage.
'Wait… something doesn't seem right..' I realised. 'Why would they-'
I was cut off from my thoughts as the footage continued. After stuffing those bags full, they rushed off into a corridor to the right of the room, (presumably to get the other items.) Then minutes later, they rushed back and fled out through the giant hole in which they had created. The lacrima dimmed slightly and paused the footage it was showing. "So that's it then, huh…"
"That's all the information we have on these crooks I'm afraid. It's not much, but I hope it can help you on your job." Mr. Yakone explained, sighing at the end.
"Thank you for that Mr. Yakone." I said, feeling a little disappointed in the fact that I had learned almost hardly any helpful information from the footage. I had hoped to find out at least what magic the criminals used. "I do have a few questions about this job, if you wouldn't mind answering."
"Yes, yes, of course. Fire away with the questions, I am here to help if you need it." Yakone replied back, as he fixed his tie.
"Well, first of all, were you able to get a better idea of where the two criminals went after fleeing the museum on the night of the crime? It'd be ideal if they went somewhere other than the mountains…"
Hugo was the one to answer that question for me. "I'm afraid we have no exact confirmation. All the information we have is from witnesses who saw them fleeing towards the east of the city. My guess is that they plan to hide out in the mountains until the heat on them dies down."
"I see…" I muttered quietly. "Just what we needed…" Going into unfamiliar territory was never a good thing. It could only waste more time if you didn't know where you were going. It didn't help that mountains east of the kingdom were huge. "I could be up there for days trying to find the criminals…"
Hugo seemed to notice my concern "Don't worry, myself and my squadron will be heading up there with you. We have some experience traversing those mountains. If we all work together then we should be able to find them before tomorrow morning." He assured me with confidence.
"Ah that's good. For a moment I thought I'd be up there for all of next month looking for them." I replied chucking to myself.
'I might just make it back in time for Cade's birthday after all.'
"My next question is this: Was it only those two individuals that broke into the museum that night, or was there any more?" I directed this new question to Hugo instead of Yakone. He'd have a better idea.
"Well now that you mention it, one witness taking a late night stroll did see a rather suspicious figure skulking around at the bombed side of the museum's wall minutes before the explosion went off. However the information we gathered from them when conducting our investigation, revealed that the suspicious figure was not wearing any sort of cloak or robe." Hugo started off. I was able to put that together with the information we did have.
"That of course does not match the description of the two criminals that broke into the museum. We could possibly be dealing with a third criminal, perhaps more. Unfortunately, our witness lost sight of them in the smoke when the explosion occurred." Hugo finished, a frown crossing his face.
"Thank you for that Commander. I just have one final question. When I was watching the footage of the break in I noticed something a little strange." I stated with a curious tone. "That being the order in which the items were stolen. I chose to take notice of this to try and determine which items they deemed as a higher priority over others. I would believe they would plan on using them first for whatever purposes they have with them."
Hugo and Yakone listened in on what I was saying with interest. "Now I expected them to grab The Sword of Sealing or the Torch of Xerno… So do you have any idea why they immediately rushed over to grab the three ancient books before anything else?" I asked hoping that the two of them would have some sort of answer to my question.
"I can answer that! Well… I can't exactly answer it… But I can show you the information we have on those books in exhibit A where they were kept before the break in." Yakone answered quickly. "If you would both follow me I can take you there."
Me and Hugo both nodded in agreement, and we followed Yakone out of the door and back towards the entrance hall, where we then headed off towards exhibit A. 'I wonder what this information is…'
Exhibit A had Royal Knights positioned all over the room, with even some on the second floor monitoring the area. I quickly noticed the broken glass and the empty glass containers; inside them was a little pedestal which held a sheet of protected paper. That revealed some history about the items held in them.
Finding all I could there, I then looked to the left and saw the giant hole in the wall. It was massive. What had caused such an explosion?
'Hmmm… That could have been a lacrima bomb there. That witness did say that they saw someone outside before the explosion went off... If it were magic from the body, we'd have picked up the remaining traces by now.
Looking ahead, I noticed a corridor that lead to Exhibit C, and to the right was the corridor that led to Exhibit B, where the other stolen items were kept. Those items of course being the set of 12 Healing Lacrima, the three Dragon Slaying Lacrima, the Zodiac Key and the Summoning Scrolls.
Before I could think anymore on this, Yakone spoke up to me. "Now then Mr. Philipe, I believe you wanted information on those books? I myself was quite surprised when the criminals took them first over the other items." Yakone asked, gesturing towards a smashed glass case. Inside what remained of the glass case there was three red cushions in which the books presumably sat on for display.
'So that's where the books were.' I thought curiously as I examined the glass case. I then tried to find an information pedestal to get some information on the books, but was unable to find one nearby. That was intriguing.
"Mr. Yakone, why isn't there a pedestal here to give people information about the books?" I questioned with curiosity.
"Ah, that is because our architecture team discovered the books just last week on their most recent excavation of some old ruins built by a dark wizard! Erm, we are still trying to find out who it was specifically." Yakone informed me. "All we know is that the books and the wizard that presumably held them would be very old."
"The books were brought here, and then we then made sure to advertise them across the city as well as paying Sorcerer Weekly to include them in their 'Top ten places you wish you could visit' section… As such, we have been unable to create a document providing history on the books for the public to see." Yakone scratched his head awkwardly. "So sorry about that."
"Do you have an image of the three books that I could look at? It'd be nice to know what these things look like. I'd hate the idea of picking up the wrong books by mistake." I requested.
"As a matter of fact yes I do! I kept images of the items stolen so you and the Knights would know what they look like. They are back up in my office. I'll go fetch them now for you, I'll only be a moment!" Yakone said before quickly hurrying back to his office.
As Yakone left, I decided to approach Commander Hugo. There was a question I wanted answered
"Excuse me, Commander Hugo do you have a moment?" I called out to Hugo
Hugo had just finishing talking to a Royal Knight and began to make his way over to where I was. "Hm? How can I assist you Cobalt?" Hugo wondered as he faced me.
"Tell me. Do you find it strange that the three books were the first items stolen in the whole museum? It just doesn't make sense that the criminals chose them over items that could heavily benefit their selfish causes or possibly even the guild they reside with." I hoped that the Commander would have an answer to my lingering question.
"Yes… When you brought that question up earlier I too was quite curious about why they went for the books first. Tell me; I was overhearing parts of your conversation with Yakone. Is it true that a dark wizard created them? If so they might have some very dangerous spells that could strengthen their guild - that is if they are a part of a guild."
"That might be the case… if so, I believe that would make the books one of highest priority items that we have to recover out of all of the others." I replied back with a concerned tone.
"I have mages that are adept at tracking down runaway criminals as well as stolen goods, so we shouldn't be running around blindly trying to locate them if it is any consolation." Hugo assured me, as he looked out the broken wall, seeing the sun come close to setting.
"With good luck and good weather it will only take a few hours if we leave after getting all the information we can hear. We were mostly just waiting for the wizard who signed up to take the job request to arrive, then we would move out later." Hugo said.
'Well there goes a nice night at a Crocus hotel, though I suppose it's better to move sooner rather than later.' I thought. 'Besides, the sooner this is done, the sooner I can return home.'
"That's good to know, hopefu-"
"Here they are!" Came Yakone's voice. "Everything that was stolen is in these photos. If the dark wizards who stole the books try to swap them with other books then you can cross-reference them back to these photos to determine if they are the right books or not." Yakone, re-entered the room and handed the photos to me.
'So here are the photos.' As I examined the images, I took note of a few things:
The first was that the Celestial Zodiac Key had a strange black line coiling around it like a snake. How odd. It was certainly unlike any Celestial Key I had seen before. Next, I noted that the dragon scales were much smaller than I thought. Dragons were massive creatures, these scales in question must have belonged to an infant hundreds of years ago. The final thing I found interesting was when I examined the three ancient books:
First, I noticed that they were very dirty, with mud and clay covering most of the front of each book. But the second thing I noticed was the there was a title for these books on the front, but the mud and clay meant that I could only read a few letters on each of the books.
T_pe_st_r
_ora_uz_r
E_el
'That's weird. What kind of titles are those meant to be?' I mused in my mind. 'Maybe it was the name of a certain dark spell, or it could the name of the dark wizard who wrote the books?' I wasn't an expert on this sort of magic so I was in the dark for now. Commander Hugo snapped me out of my thoughts as he spoke up.
"If it's all the same to you Cobalt, I'd like to get moving now. Myself and my team have enough information about these stolen items in question. It is almost sunset and we need to moving as fast as we can to catch up with the criminals." Commander Hugo suggested, as I saw some of his men exit the museum.
"Of course. I believe we shouldn't wasting any more time here. Oh, by the way. Mr. Yakone! I believe that by completing this job I will earn an item from the museum is that right?" I asked the owner as he turned away to face me.
"Hmm? Oh yes! Tell me what item is it and I'll have it ready for when you return with the other stolen goods." Yakone smiled as he looked across the remaining exhibits.
"The item in question is that tome right over there if you don't mind." I said pointing to a glass case to his right which held the Translating Tome inside of it.
"That?" Yakone seemed a bit curious at my choice, but he did not complain. "W-Well yes, I shall prepare that for you when you return back here." Yakone confirmed with a nod of his head.
"Excellent then I shall bid you farewell Mr. Yakone. I shall return with the missing items, and the criminals in chains." I waved as I turned to leave the Royal Crocus Museum with Commander Hugo and his squad of Royal Knights. "How will we be travelling there Commander?" I asked, dreading the idea of walking the whole way there.
"Please, call me Hugo." The Commander insisted, before continuing. "We have vehicles that will take us to the foot of the mountains to the east. The rest of the journey will be on foot." Hugo said as we both made our way back to the entrance of the museum.
"By the way, if you don't mind me asking why exactly did you want the ancient tome you pointed to as your additional reward for completing this job? I would have thought you wanted something much more useful than that." Hugo asked as we made our way towards the rest of the Royal Knights who were preparing to leave the city. "How valuable is it?"
"Oh, that is much more valuable than you think Hugo. I've been looking for that tome for some time now. It is the key to unlocking and translating another ancient spell book I have back home. I was planning to give it to my son for his 10th birthday." I explained with a small smile. "I plan on translating it with him and then he can learn the magic inside of it."
Hugo turned to look at me, raising an eyebrow. "This is all… perfectly legal magic right? Nothing the Magic Council should be worried about?"
"Oh, there is no need to worry Hugo. The magic is perfectly legal in every way. In fact my Guild Master approved of the idea when I told him about it. He said he was looking forward to finding out what sort of spells was in there. He's a rather eccentric man."
'I must say though, the idea of finally getting the tome and then being arrested by the Magic Council on suspicion of having an illegal spell book is a rather infuriating one.' I thought with a rather deadpanned look. 'Though I have faith it won't come to that.'
"Eccentric Hm? Who is your Guild Master?"
"My Guild Master is Makarov Dreyar. He's a Wizard Saint, so you can relax. You won't be called to come and arrest me in Magnolia a few days after we get back."
Hugo smiled at me. "Well, if a Wizard Saint approves of the idea then I think I can trust you with that Cobalt." Hugo said as we both entered a vehicle meant to take us to the foot of the mountains.
The sun was beginning to dip on the mountains to the east. By the time we will have arrived at our destination, the moon would be illuminating down upon them. As I looked out the window staring back at the city of Crocus as us and the Royal Knight's began to depart from the city heading east towards the mountainous region I thought to myself, and smiled.
'Yeah… When this is done I'll be bringing June and Cadewell back here for a holiday next summer.'
No POV:
Elsewhere…
Elsewhere in a forest to the north of Fiore, a certain woman who was rather animalistic in appearance, was growing in frustration at how long it was taking her wormy minions to return to her. 'What in the name of the Netherworld is taking them so long?!'
As she gave a snarl of impatience, she heard the bushes rustle behind her. She immediately whipped her head around and saw two men in purple cloaks emerge from them. Each of them held several bags that seemed to hold some rather expensive items.
"Finally you arrive back here. Do you both have any idea how long you have kept me waiting!? You were both assigned this task three days ago and you take your sweet time returning to me!?" She hissed with impatience.
She hated dealing with these horrible humans, assigning them to tasks when it would simply be much faster if she were to do them herself. Demons were far more suited to these sorts of tasks.
Tge idea of sending two lowly creatures like them to recover their soon-to-be allies, was a very surprising one. But her Lord's orders were absolute and she would obey them no matter what. She rose her head as she saw the two humans whimper a little.
"Gah! W-We're so sorry! We simply came as fast as we could but it was hard having to traverse the mountains with hardly any supplies! Please forgive us for our delay!" One of the henchmen spluttered, with them both of them bowing their heads in fear.
"Hmph, you have the three of them correct? As well as the magic items I told you to bring as well!?" She snapped back at them, not satisfied until she learned whether they had recovered them or not. "I expect them to be in pristine condition."
"Yes of course! The items are inside these bags right here!" The other henchmen clarified quickly. "We made sure to keep them from getting damaged!"
They both handed her two large bags which she quickly dumped on the ground next to her. One of the henchmen reached into their cloak and brought out three old and almost ruined books handing them to the lady, in which she took them from him and carefuly placed them on a stump next to her.
"Excellent." She said plainly. "You two have done well."
"You are… pleased with our results?" One of the henchmen asked in a hopeful tone.
"I am. A pity your services are no longer required though." She spoke, with her eyes widening with a sadistic smile on her face.
Before the two henchmen could react she quickly extended her hands into long claws and sliced them right through the two henchmen's necks killing them instantly.
"I always have hated delays. I think I made that apparently clear before you left." She addressed to their corpses, smiling thinly.
As she finished saying that, she could sense a familiar presence approaching from the same direction the humans did.
'So he has returned as well. Good…' The familiar presence spoke up, with a rather snarky voice.
"Aw, come on! Did you have to do that Kyôka? I was hoping to be the one to blow their heads off! The entire time we heading back they wouldn't shut up about getting a promotion. I was so tempted to just blast them there and then. Except only they knew how to use the tracking device to get back here."
From the shadows a young well built individual with dark blonde hair which covered his left eye, with pointed ears and triangular teeth with a long furry tail that came down to his feet. There were also marks on his arms which came down to completely cover his hands in a dark black colour. He was a demon.
"My only pain doing this mission with them, is that I couldn't blow up any townspeople I saw while I was scoping the area!" The demon spoke with a cackle after saying that.
"Ah, Jackal. You certainly took your time returning here. I believe we were instructed to do this mission as fast as we can. As you are currently aware, we are few in numbers. But after this we shall have new brethren to join us in our mission." The lady known as Kyôka said with a pleased voice, ignoring his delay at the prospect of gathering new allies.
The wolf-like man gave a scoff before replying. "I could have done it in a day if I was able to carry everything back without drawing too much attention. Remind we why I couldn't just blow the whole town up after getting what we need?" Jackal questioned, looking very bored now.
"Because the last thing we need is to have the Magic Council on our tracks. We are not yet strong enough to mount an assault on them. Our day will come eventually, and I assure you that you will be able to destroy and entire town's worth of people then."
Jackal smiled wickedly at that notion "I think we're gonna have some company here by the way. We did steal some pretty powerful human junk that they'll want back. You want me to take care of them for us?" Jackal looked keen at the idea of exploding some humans after he lost his chance a minute ago.
"Yes, you will get a chance here to exterminate many of the humans that will be following us. However, I have a plan to lure away the more powerful wizards that will most likey be with them. I will lead them away with a distraction using some of those items. Then you can do what you wish with the soldiers." Kyôka answered, turning away from Jackal and moving towards the stump with the three books.
"The other humans will begin to prepare for the ritual. Once you have dealt with the soldiers make sure nothing interrupts the ritual." She ordered, now facing the stump that held the books.
"Alright then! Just tell me when to move out and I'll blow em all to pieces!" Jackal smiled wickedly after saying that.
Kyôka then picked up the three books on the stump and smiled. 'It will not be long now. Tempester, Torafuzar and Ezel. Soon you will have the greatest honour, our lord could bestow upon you. To return to Lord Zeref.'
Oh dear… who knew such evil forces were at work this early… Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! Feel free to leave a review!
Seems like Cobalt is in a much more dangerous situation than he first thought when taking the job. Here's hoping he can make it back alive for his son's birthday… In the next chapter we will actually get to see Cobalt fight and use his magic so look forward to that!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! I'll see you in the next chapter!
Also thank you Jose Antonio Aguilar for being the first follower of this story!