After learning the beast horde wasn't a natural phenomenon, I spent the entire day searching the destroyed village and the surrounding forest for any sort of clue, yet, even when the sun had long-since set, I ended up returning empty-handed, having found not even the lightest clue. The biggest lead I had was the beast tracks, as they created a path of destruction wherever they went, but after entering a mile or so into the forest, their tracks just vanish, as if they never existed.
Of course, I didn't want to just leave this place without finding at least something that could point in a direction, but it looked like I didn't have a choice. 'Well, I didn't leave with nothing; I know there is a beast horde under someone's control.' The one controlling the beast horde was most likely using Taming magic, a popular and widespread form of magic for farmers. However, considering that most people who can use them don't tend to become farmers, they're an extremely rare profession, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're weak.
'No, I shouldn't jump to conclusions; they could also be using a type of mind control magic, like charm magic, just a much stronger version.' There were too many variables for me to come to a solid conclusion, so I'd just leave it be for now, though when we returned home, I'd ask Levy to help me.
My mind must've been too preoccupied with various thoughts, as I ended up tripping since I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking. "Tsk, who put this bump here!?" Angrily standing up, I glared at the protrusion and was about to kick it to smithereens, but before I could, Lucy wrapped her arms around me, preventing me. "NO! Stop, big bro! They're graves!" "Tch, I don't care! They shouldn't have been in my way!" "Graves can't move!" "I missed the part where that's my problem!?" "You're unreasonable!"
With Cana's help, the two of them eventually managed to save the graves from utter destruction, though if they tripped me again, I'd reduce this whole area to smithereens. "Haa, are you good, big bro? You've been on edge ever since we arrived." Resting her hands on her hips, Cana curiously looked at me, though I merely snorted before glancing at the several graves with sticks for tombstones.
"Did you two make those graves?" "Ah, it was mostly Virgo, we just put the sticks in their spots." Awkwardly rubbing her head, Lucy gestured to Virgo, who was checking several different sticks. "This one would be good for spanking. Master, I've fou-" "Alright, I-I think that's enough, Virgo. Thank you, you were an immense help. Bye!" With a flash of light, Virgo dissipated into tiny golden lights while Lucy sighed before storing the key within her pouch.
Giving the village one final look, I turned around and started walking away; I'd discovered everything I could from this place, and staying here any longer was pointless, as it just brought unwanted memories. "C'mon, let's go." "Finally! Let's have dinner at Rose Garden, I'm starving!" "Yeah, I could use a few drinks to ease the pain." "Cana." "What!? You've got to be serious, big bro. We've completed the mission already!" "Until we inform Gramps, the mission is still in effect… Don't make me tell you again."
With a happy Lucy and a depressed Cana, we arrived at Rose Garden around midnight, where we first found a place to dine. Considering how much work we'd put in, we all ate a lot, especially me; I had about sixteen plates of food. I would've had more, but Lucy and Cana had already fallen asleep, prompting me to pay the bill and carry them to a hotel where they spent the night before returning home the next day.
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Arriving in front of the guild, I glanced at the dragon horn resting on my shoulder and smirked; before leaving Rose Garden, I had returned to the source of the contaminated river and retrieved the horn. After all, I needed proof to show I've defeated a dragon. "Heh, let's go." Kicking open the door to the guild, I quickly spotted Gramps sitting at the bar, and without the slightest bit of hesitation, I threw the horn at him.
It must've been an instinctive action, since without even looking, Gramps enlarged his hand and caught the bone, though not without hissing in pain as the tip stabbed into his palm. "Ouch! The hell was that for, Cooper!?" Approaching Gramps, who set the horn beside him, causing everyone to curiously look at it while two people approached it.
"Smells like a Dragon. Tastes like as well." "Oi, don't taste it, you fool!" While Gray slapped the back of Natsu's head, who had stupidly licked the bone, Gajeel did a much better job at examining it. "Is this a dragon's bone?" With a look of curiosity, I smirked at Gajeel and knocked on the horn before eyeing Gramps.
"It's not just a dragon's bone, it's a horn. After a hard-fought battle against a dragon, which I slayed, I took its horn as a prize… So, tell me, in this guild, who is the REAL dragon slayer!?" Smiling ear-to-ear, I leaped onto the bar and spread my arms while looking at everyone, who gazed at me with awe. "What, big bro killed a dragon!?" "We're not dreaming, right? Dragons haven't been seen in hundreds of years, yet big bro ends up killing one?"
Despite my grand claim, which wasn't necessarily wrong, Gramps was able to tell something was fishy given his skeptical gaze that constantly switched between me and the horn. "Tell me about the quest, I need to know everything that happened." "Fufu, I think we all want to know the story of our first true dragon slayer." "Hey! Not cool, Mira!"
Grunting, I spent the next twenty minutes quickly explaining everything to everyone, causing their enthusiasm to noticeably die down, considering the dragon wasn't living, but still, I successfully killed a dragon, even if it was only a skeleton.
"Heh, so you killed a fake dragon, big bro?" Before such nonsensical words could spread, I punched Natsu so hard that he crashed through the floor, ending up in the basement. "Who else thinks I killed a 'fake dragon'?" Glaring at everyone else, specifically the known trouble makers, Gray, Elfman, and Happy rapidly shook their heads, causing me to nod in satisfaction. "H-Help."
Ignoring Natsu's plea, I reached into my pocket and showed Gramps the Tome, prompting everyone to instinctively step back. "Ugh, what is that, big bro? My whole shivered when you brought it out." "Yeah, just looking at it frightens me." Handing it to Gramps, he took it out of my hands, causing him to furrow his brows from the curse energy that invaded his body.
After a few moments of examining it, Gramps coughed blood while handing me the tome, worrying everyone, though I knew the tome didn't hold enough power to do any meaningful damage to a mage of Gramps' caliber. "I'm fine, don't worry… That is a nasty tome, though. I still feel its energy within my body." Placing my hand on his shoulder, I filled his body with my magic, helping him dispel the curse energy.
"We should hand it over to the Magic Council." Grunting, I stored the tome in my pocket and aggressively poked the cheek of the one stupid enough to utter such words. "I already handed over the dark mage. Why would I give them something as dangerous as that tome? You're not stupid, are you, Erza?" "Unfortunately, she is big bro." "Shut it!"
"Cooper made a good decision; if this tome got into the wrong hands again in the Magic Council, they would just need to find the graves of previous Wizard Saints, raise them from the dead, and now they've got a small army of Wizard Saint-level mages. Who would be able to stop them if that happened?" Gramps's highly unlikely scenario caused everyone's face to go pale with fear, understandable since even I would be helpless if that happened.
"Anyway, I'll store it somewhere safe; put it in my office for now." Nodding, I leaped onto the second story and placed the tome in Gramps' office before leaving, though I did briefly stop when I saw a pic of Gramps and young Laxus.
Returning to the first floor, I entertained everyone who wanted a more in-depth description of our mission, and when they finally let me be, all the fun and excitement slowly dissipated from my mind, leaving only the thought of the beast horde.
Standing up, I headed into the library, where I found Gajeel reading a book by himself, causing me to furrow my brows since Levy was usually always in the library. "Oi, have you seen Levy?" "Um, I think she left the guild, Cooper." Nodding slightly, I was about to leave, but stopped and glanced back at Gajeel, who was mindlessly reading the book.
Snorting, I karate chopped his head into the back. "It's big bro." "Ouch. G-Got it, big bro." Leaving Gajeel, I left the guild and headed to Levy's house on the other side of Magnolia, where I found her watering her garden, looking extremely cute in the process. 'Wish I had a camera.'