Of Aura and Ethernano (Fairy Tail/ Jaune Arc SI): Chapter 24

X784, Hargeon Town.

“Ooh! That restaurant looks good!”

I just bonked Mira’s head a little, making her glare at me as I gave her a pointed stare.

“Don’t be distracted. We are on a mission this time. Well, Wendy is. But as her guildmates, we should be vigilant and make sure nothing happens outside the parameters.”

“I know, geeze. You worry too much, Jaune.”

“I-I’ll do my best!”

I smiled at Wendy’s nervous and determined voice as I patted the younger girl’s head.

“I know you will give it your all, Wendy. But this is your first official mission where you will target a Dark Mage. That is why I brought Mira along to make sure nothing happens outside the mission parameters.”

“Hmph! In that case, you made a huge mistake by bringing Mirajane. In the guild, she is the only one who regularly causes property damage on her solo missions. At least Elfman is improving under Lissana’s influence, which cannot be said about the she-devil-“

Carla’s words stopped in their tracks as Miragane grabbed onto the cat’s head, making her look up with barely concealed fear.

The demonic smile on Mira’s face did not help matters either.

“Care to repeat that again? Carla~?”

“Alright, enough of that.”

I sighed as the ground descended back into their usual squabbles. Specifically, Carla and Mirajane’s regular quarrel as Wendy tried and failed to be the mediator.

But then again, they wouldn’t be who they are if they did not do this.

Shaking my head, I took out the quest poster and started going through the details again.

A month ago, Cait Shelter received this request, specifically aimed at me, thanks to my reputation.

It was a rather high-risk quest where we had to capture a moderately powerful Dark Mage called Bora of Prominenence. A former mage of the guild Titan Nose (such a strange name for a guild.)

However, the pay was too little and below the regulations, which meant that I could not take the request unless I wanted to risk being called a job-snatcher, given my S-Rank status.

So, in the end, Master Roubaul and I decided to have Wendy take this quest as a way for her to gain some experience.

Of course, I could not throw her to the wolves, so I did my own research on the target and only approved when I found out that, despite being a dark mage, he only had a single outlaw spell called Charm Magic and mainly specialized in fire magic and telekinesis.

In theory, he is a weakling that Wendy should have no problem dealing with.

But like the saying goes, no plan survives enemy contact, so I decided to take Mira with me to act as insurance for Wendy.

Soon, we arrived near the center of the town, where my sources told me someone with Bora’s appearance was spotted a day ago.

However, all we saw was a large group of women scattering from the area.

The thing that caught my attention, however, was a familiar scale-pattered scarf disappearing into the crowd alongside a blue cat flying behind it.

“Interesting.”

“Hm? What is?”

I turned towards Mira before glancing at Carla with a mischievous grin. A grin that Mira shared with me when I whispered what I saw and what I was planning.

With an exaggerated sigh, I turned towards Wendy and Carla.

“Well, since we don’t have many clues, we should get some food before we move on to searching for Bora.”

The bright smile that Wendy gave me made me feel a little bit guilty for the prank I was about to pull on her cat, but I suppressed that feeling with vengeance burning within my heart.

‘This is for calling my hoodie childish.’

———————————————————————————

Lucy Heartfilia, the budding Celestial Spirit Mage, watched with a wry smile as her current companions scarfed down food as if they had been starving for years.

The former heiress of the Heartfilia Konzern could not help but feel pity for her wallet, knowing that it was going to be much lighter once these two were done eating, already regretting treating these two troublemakers as a thank you for helping her break out of the Salamander’s charm magic.

Not to mention that these guys might be a bit unhinged since they were looking for an actual Dragon in the middle of a town. Something that would be impossible given that Dragons are long since extinct, with the closest anyone can come to seeing an actual Dragon would be a mutant Wyvern, like the one that the Golden Knight of Cait Shelter has.

Shaking her head to get rid of those thoughts, Lucy got up from her seat while leaving behind the money for the bill with a smile.

“Well, I should be going. Enjoy your food.”

However, as she approached the door of the restaurant, she caught how the servers and other patrons of the restaurant were giving her weird looks while staring behind her.

With a bad feeling now creeping into her heart, she slowly turned around, finding a scene that nearly made her wish for a hole to open up and swallow her whole to escape the embarrassment.

The man with the pink hair, Natsu, and his cat, Happy, were performing a proper dogeza in the middle of the restaurant aimed towards her.

““Thanks for the Meal!””

Staring at the scene, Lucy could not stop the embarrassment anymore and roared at the two.

“Stop it! You’re embarrassing me!”

Then, an uproarious laughter rang out from behind her, making her feel like just dying then and there.

Thankfully, she soon realized that this laughter was not aimed at her when a tall figure wearing heavy plate armor walked past her, along with a woman with long silver hair.

“Well, look who's here. It’s been a while, Natsu.”

Natsu Dragneel looked up from the floor and spotted a familiar Knight, making him jump to his feet with excitement.

“Jaune! Fight me-“

Unfortunately, his words were cut short the moment he caught the evil glare from the she-devil, making him and Happy cower like frightened puppies.

“You have got to be kidding me. Why are they here!?”

The whisper was not loud, but loud enough for Happy to catch on to his fellow cat’s words, making his eyes sparkle.

“Carla~ geh!?”

The blue cat did not even have the time to jump on his crush before he was promptly kicked aside by said cat.

All the while, Jaune and Mira stared muschelously at the interaction between the two cats.

““Mission success!”” a thought that echoed through both their minds.