Of Aura and Ethernano (Fairy Tail/ Jaune Arc SI): Chapter 21

X782, Crocus.

“Hahaha! Drink up! Let’s see if your tolerance has gone up or not!”

“Dawn! Don’t try to ruin his dignity in front of his guild mates!”

Dawn just laughed loudly at Owen’s words as I chuckled at the familiar exchange.

On the other hand, the Strauss siblings, Wendy and Carla, were staring at the knights around us with wonder and shock as they engaged in conversations with the various squires and knights who were curious about the life of a Guild Wizard.

An understandable reaction given that the gap between the stoic and professional knights they had seen in the morning and this roudy bunch now was too big to ignore the first time around.

But soon enough, they will realize that these guys are quite the goofballs when they were off duty and were really good people.

Although I think it will take a bit of time for Carla to come around, give the similarities of her personality with a certain Ice Queen of my memories.

Carla is more of a Tsundere than a haughty Ice Queen like Weiss was during our time at Beacon, but the point still stands.

It was the month of December, a time when we should all be huddled up at the guild and spend the days with our friends at home.

However, for some reason, Master Roubaul insisted that we leave Cait Shelter for the month because he had some kind of ‘refurbishment’ he wanted to do.

I wanted to call him out on the clear lie, but I did not have the heart to do so.

Everyone had their secrets, and I had no right to try and dig his secrets out like that.

So, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce my new friends to my old ones.

Which is what led to this situation.

I smiled as I saw some of the younger squires bumble their way through words, trying to court Mira in their own clumsy way.

Although given the unimpressed look she was giving them, they were definitely failing miserably.

Normally, I would have decked any idiot who tried to chat up the girl or take advantage of her in any way, which was more common than I ever thought.

At 17 years of age, Mirajane was already an extremely attractive girl, so it made sense that she would attract the attention of men and women alike.

Including perverts and fools nearly twice her age or more, like that duo of old men from Fairy Tail a few weeks ago, or even the Trimens, a new group of young wizards from Blue Pegasus.

In the case of the Trimens, it was Mira herself who beat them up quite badly, so I had no chance to intervene that time, unlike with the old men from Fairy Tail, who ended up black and blue after the beating Elfman and I gave them.

That being said, now is not the time for me to act all protective over the girls.

Especially considering the ordeal that the siblings went through only two months ago.

Truly, I can only thank my paranoia as a huntsman and my previous life experiences on Remnant, which made me send Juniper to tail the siblings secretly on their first-ever S-Rank quest on that day after Mira became an S-Rank wizard.

I cannot even imagine what would have happened if Juniper had been even a few seconds late.

Turns out, that bastard of a client had deliberately played down the danger of the quest, claiming that the monster they were hunting was a relatively normal monster instead of a Beast King that they ended up facing for the sake of saving a few thousand jewels in compensation.

For a seasoned S-Rank, or even someone like me who specialized in fighting monsters, it would have been a tough but manageable opponent.

But for a newly ascended S-Rank like Mira and her siblings, who were not even S-Rank yet, it was a death sentence.

During the fight, Mira, Lisanna, and Elfman ran out of magic but managed to injure the Beast King significantly, which was a commendable achievement all on its own.

However, they could only injure it, not kill it completely.

In desperation, Elfman used Take Over on the beast, but due to his lack of magical strength and exhausted mind, he lost control completely, targeting his own siblings.

Thankfully, Juniper had arrived by that time and used her semblance to enlarge herself and crush the beast easily, making it lose consciousness and allowing Elfman to regain his true form.

On that day, we came really close to losing Lisanna as she stood in front of the injured Mirajane, hoping to try and make Elfman regain his senses.

Of course, when I returned from my own quest and learned of everything, I chewed out the girl for her recklessness before hugging the siblings in a crushing grip, while Wendy and Carla joined me, something that the siblings did not object to.

In the four years I have spent with them, the siblings, Wendy and Carla, along with the rest of the Guild, have become people that I care about greatly.

They have become my family. And I cannot bear the thought of losing even one of them in any way.

Ever since that incident, the siblings have been making sure to keep close to Lisanna, afraid that she would disappear the moment they take their eyes off of her, much to the girl’s annoyance.

Hell, even Wendy and Carla were trying to stay close to the girl with various excuses, even if their excuses were clumsy at best.

It is because of this complex situation that I agreed to the Master’s words to take them out of Cait Shelter, to let them relax for a bit away from the smothering of us all.

And given the happy look on Lisanna and the others, the plan seems to be working.

Shaking my head to get rid of those depressing thoughts, I turned back to Dawn and Owen and started speaking in hushed voices.

“I heard a new captain is being selected for the Cherry Blossom Holy Knights Squadron in the kingdom? Is that true?”

Dawn nodded at those words with an amused look.

“It is true. That division will soon be headed by one of my old students, Arcadios. Why? You worried that he will try to recruit you people again with over-the-top actions like the old captain?”

I grimaced at the reminder before shaking my head.

Ever since I officially joined Cait Shelter, the Kingdom had been trying to poach me and the others for quite some time with various offers.

The siblings, Wendy and Carla, I understood.

Mira had already made a name for herself as the ‘Demon Mirajane’ and her siblings were also rather famed. As for Wendy and Carla, while the number of missions they have taken is very low, with one of us always tailing them to ensure their safety, they still have made a name for themselves as the Sky Maiden and her cat (Carla never managed to live down how she was barely an afterthought compared to Wendy, much to the cat’s chagrin)

So, it made sense that they would be the target for recruitment by the Kingdom.

However, my reputation is far more mixed compared to the clean reputation that my friends have.

It is normal for a Wizard to kill his target when they are facing powerful dark wizards. It is a known fact.

However, it is a different case for me as I always end up killing more people than any other wizard of my rank or even those above me.

In some circles, I have even heard that the Magic Council was considering marking me as a Dark Wizard due to my violent acts.

And yet, I cannot help my instincts as a Huntsman and the Rusted Knight from surfacing once in a while.

Especially when I face monsters in human form that are a disgrace to their race.

Of course, not all Dark Guilds are the same, and not every Dark Mage is the same. Some of them only take up such occupations because they had no other choice or were forced into committing what they did. Similarly, some Dark Guilds only deal with shady stuff like smuggling, theft, and other such petty crimes that are not all that serious.

For such people, I always exercise restraint and only beat them up a little bit before either letting them go if their crimes are really light ( which is a mercy considering how harsh the Magic Council’s laws are for even a minor offence on a wizard’s part) or handing them over to the Council if their actions really did deserve such punishment.

However, for monsters that participate in assassinations, Human trafficking, slavery, and banditry. I hold no mercy and hunt them down to the last man.

To me, such creatures are no different than Grimm, and I treat them as I would the creatures of darkness.

That is why I am baffled by the Kingdom's attempts to recruit someone like me into its ranks, especially the Cherry Blossom Holy Knights, who will soon have their hierarchy transferred from the King to his only daughter.

Logically, no father would want a dangerous man like me near his family, much less his precious daughter, so I cannot see what they are trying to do with their attempts, which puts me on edge all the time.

Owen patted me on the shoulder, bringing me out of my dark thoughts and making me look at his smiling face.

“Don’t worry, Jaune. It is true that Arcadios is a rather pushy man, but he is still a knight of the kingdom. He will not overstep his bounds no matter what.”

I nodded at those words, contemplating the problem again before I nearly stumbled from my stool when Dawn smacked my back with a hearty laugh.

“Forget about all that stuff. I want to know if you are planning to stay in the capital for the next two months, until your birthday.”

I gave him an amused look before nodding.

“Yeah. We are planning to stay here since Master Roubaul said it will take a while to do whatever it is he is trying to do. So, yes. I will be here until my Birthday.”

“Good. I’ll have to make a few special arrangements since you will be 21 years old by then.”

I gave the older man a glare as I instantly realized what he was trying to do.

“Don’t you dare pull that stunt from last year of inviting girls from the knights' families, especially you, Owen. I am not in the mood to deal with those girls from the noble families this time around.”

The two men looked away with an innocent look, making me sigh in exasperation.

Somehow, these two idiots have gotten it into their heads that I am in need of companionship and feel lonely (I still do not know how they arrived at that conclusion and what prompted them to have such a thought in the first place).

So, as their self-appointed duty as my friends, they had started to try and play matchmakers by pulling on their connections for my sake.

“Look, guys. I appreciate the thought. Really, I do. But I am not looking for that kind of thing. At least, not yet. I still have a goal I must attain before I can even think of settling down.”

They raised their eyebrows at those words sceptically.

“And what is that goal? Jaune?”

“To become strong. Strong enough to take on anyone and anything and win with absolute certainty. To become the strongest wizard in this kingdom. Period.”

My friends fell silent as I spoke those words, probably already labeling me as insane in their minds. But I am fine with that label.

That day, when Lisanna came close to dying. It reminded me of the time when I lost my partner and best friend (and maybe someone more than a friend), Pyrrha. Came close to losing Weiss in Haven later on. And personally ended the life of that innocent android turned girl, Penny.

All because I was weak. Because I was never fast enough, strong enough, skilled enough to protect them.

Because I was never enough.

That day, I realized that I had been slacking off too much. Losing myself in the peace and happiness that I experienced in this world, along with the laziness and overconfidence I inherited from a part of myself that was once David Thornton.

That is why I have been working myself to the bone ever since then and researching magic as much as possible, trying to find a way to wield its power for myself even without a container.

After that declaration, my friends stayed silent by my side, each lost in their own thoughts, just like I was lost in mine.

But I did not mind the silence. Because I knew that my friends understood my need for power.

Because they too once felt the same, which was why they embarked on their paths of becoming the knights that they are today.