Chapter 64: What's There to Fear About Mira?
Chapter 64: What’s There to Fear About Mira?
"Work, work!" Natsu burst forward, slamming into the job board with enthusiasm.
"Hey, Natsu, don’t push!" Nab, who had been shoved aside, complained.
"It’s fine, Nab." Happy flapped his wings and flew over, "You’re not going to take a job anyway, so let Natsu go first."
Nab fumed, "Damn it, I’ll find a suitable job for you today!"
"Sure, sure." Happy dismissed him, knowing Nab would say the same thing tomorrow.
"Exterminate a rampaging beast horde and their leader to protect the village, reward is 300,000 J." Natsu tore off the job posting, "This one!"
Fighting, high reward, and beasts that usually fear fire—this task was perfect for Natsu.
"Mira, I want to take this job."
"Exterminate a rampaging beast horde and..." Mira paused, thinking.
"The client said the horde is quite large, and it might be challenging for one person. Do you want to team up with someone?"
Natsu replied matter-of-factly, "I’ll team up with Happy."
Happy raised his hand, "Sure thing!"
Mira laughed, "That’s the same thing."
Happy pouted, "That’s so unfair."
"Happy is a great helper," Mira patted Happy’s head, "But it would be much easier with another reliable companion."
"Team up?" Natsu considered it seriously.
Mira wouldn’t lie about this; if she said it was better to team up, it must be true.
Happy looked around the guild, "Who should we team up with? Macao? Wakaba?"
"No, no, no, no..." Natsu wrinkled his nose in disgust, "Those two are reliable, but they’re too much trouble."
"What about Cana?"
"She’d spend all the reward money on alcohol."
"Marcus?"
"He’s too talkative."
"Then..." Happy realized everyone’s personalities were problematic, of course, Natsu himself was also a handful, "Hey, Mira, who would be a good partner for Natsu?"
Natsu sensed something was off and yelled, "Hey, Happy, don’t make it sound like no one wants to team up with me!"
Happy covered his mouth with both hands and whispered to Mira, "Natsu always causes destruction and gets his reward docked, so many people don’t want to team up with him."
"Happy!" Natsu lunged forward, grabbing Happy’s face.
Mira chuckled, watching them bicker for a moment before suggesting, "What about asking Rod? He’s looking for a partner, although he’s not a big fan of extermination missions."
Mira wasn’t sure if Rod would take the job, but teaming up with Natsu would be somewhat reassuring... hopefully.
Natsu thought for a moment, "Rod has been summoning some interesting monsters lately."
Happy objected, "But he can’t summon fish."
"Don’t we have crabs?" Natsu punched his palm and turned to leave, "Decided, let’s go find Rod!"
Happy hurried after him, calling out, "Natsu! Crabs and fish are different~~"
...
Fairy Tail Guild Trivia: During downtime, Rod’s usual spots are either the backyard or the library, making him easy to find.
"Rod! Are you here? I can smell you!" Natsu’s loud voice echoed through the library.
"Natsu? Keep it down, this is a library."
Rod placed his copy of the Encyclopedia of Magic on the table, "And what do you mean by smelling my scent? Do I smell that bad?"
Natsu replied nonchalantly, "A scent is a scent, just come team up!"
Happy added, "Natsu has a very sensitive nose."
Rod recalled the last time with Warren and Erza’s mention of Natsu’s keen sense of smell.
"Alright." He didn’t dwell on it, "What’s this about teaming up?"
"There’s a really interesting job, and Mira said it’s better to team up with someone reliable."
---
“Hey, Love! The most reliable mage in the guild right now is Rod.”
Happy exaggerated, “Even though you can’t summon fish... uh uh...”
Natsu quickly covered Happy’s mouth, “That’s right, that’s right, Rod is the most reliable!”
Being praised for reliability is a good feeling, but... something felt off. Was this the Natsu he knew?
“Well, if you insist...” Rod looked at Natsu and Happy’s expectant faces, “I’ll go ask Mira for more details.”
Happy sighed in Natsu’s arms, “So lame.”
Natsu complained, “Happy, your plan didn’t work at all.”
“It’s because Natsu wasn’t sincere enough.”
“No way, it’s because you said he can’t summon fish!”
“Ah~~ Pushing the blame on me, Natsu is so unfair!”
“I heard every word, you two...” Rod couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the same time.
Wasn’t Natsu supposed to be the hot-blooded, reckless type? How did these two come up with such a sneaky plan to recruit a teammate, and right in front of him too?
“I do want to try working with you guys... but first, let me get a clear understanding of the mission.”
Rod picked up the mission board, noted the page number, and carefully placed it back before leaving with Natsu and Happy.
---
The mission location is in Danchubiamu Village, also known as the Dendrobium Village. It’s a small mountain village less than a half-day’s travel from Magnolia.
Lately, the village has been experiencing bountiful harvests, but a mountain nearby is home to many fierce beasts. Recently, these beasts have been descending the mountain in a frenzy, causing chaos and destruction.
The village’s hunters are helpless against these beasts, leaving the villagers too afraid to go out and harvest their crops. If this continues, the crops will rot in the fields, and the villagers will be in danger.
Mira watched Rod’s expression as she spoke, relieved to see no unusual reaction to the mention of the beast horde.
“So, what do you think? Will you take the mission?”
Rod didn’t rush to decide. Instead, he asked, “Are the beasts in the horde just ordinary animals?”
Mira replied, “So far, yes. However, some villagers have reported seeing what looks like a leader among the beasts, giving commands from the mountain, but it hasn’t come down yet.”
Natsu urged, “Rod, how many more questions do you have? Just blast the beasts away!”
He was starting to think Rod was as quirky as the other guild members.
“Just a moment.”
Rod continued asking questions, only stopping when he had squeezed every piece of information Mira knew about Dendrobium Village out of her.
After a moment of thought, he decided, “Alright, I’ll take it, Natsu! Natsu? Natsu?”
“zzZ~” Natsu was sound asleep, his head resting on his arms on the counter.
Happy popped a bubble from Natsu’s nose, “Natsu, Rod agrees!”
Natsu jolted awake, leaping off the stool, “Okay, let’s go!”
Rod envied Natsu’s ability to instantly perk up after a nap.
Mira registered the mission and handed the request to Natsu, “Be careful. It’s Rod’s first time on this kind of mission, so you and Happy will have to look after him.”
“Leave it to me!” Natsu didn’t hesitate. It was common for the guild master to assign new members to experienced mages for a while.
But it was rare to see someone like Rod, who had been in the guild for almost two months and only gone on one mission.
Happy glanced at Mira and then at Rod, whispering, “There’s something going on (click).”
“Happy?” Mira smiled sweetly at Happy.
“a... love...” Happy hid behind Natsu, looking scared, “Sorry...”
Rod: “?”
What’s so scary about Mira?
---
Danchubiamu Dendrobium, Stone Orchid Village
(End of Chapter)
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