Since it was afternoon when they set out and the destination was far, Rhode and Elfman had to spend the night halfway.
Watching Rhode use Requip Magic to take out a tent, cooking utensils, and ingredients, Elfman thought that if this person could always be this thorough, he might be able to take good care of his sister.
But…
"Your cooking is terrible! How can a man not know how to cook!"
Elfman pushed Rhode aside and took over the makeshift cutting board.
Rhode watched the burly Elfman skillfully handle all kinds of ingredients and felt something was off.
Half an hour later, Rhode tasted the first bite of the dish Elfman made: "Bro, you're really good!"
To fairly and objectively evaluate, his skills are almost catching up to Erza.
Erza's skills are almost catching up to Mira.
Mira's skills are almost catching up to Mr. Cook.
Anyway, no matter who Rhode tries to catch up to, he only makes things Warm likes to eat.
The problem is, Rhode has yet to find a food that Warm doesn't like to eat; that kid eats anything, sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, or cold.
He suspects Warm's requirement for food might be as long as it doesn't kill him.
It's April now, already deep into spring, and the weather has warmed up considerably.
After cleaning up the cooking utensils after dinner, there's no need to rush into the tent, and they could totally spend some time stargazing outside.
However, Rhode glanced at Elfman beside him.
Forget it, better to go back into the tent, meditate a bit, and rest early, because they have to travel again next morning.
Elfman was puzzled; does Rhode sleep this early every day?
...
Early the next morning, the two had breakfast with the coachman and set off again.
Although the target they're looking for has some self-preservation ability, missions like these should be hurried along if possible.
The carriage traveled through the wilderness along the main road, passing a town, only stopping for the coachman to buy some food before continuing.
As noon approached, Rhode suddenly shouted urgently: "Stop, stop!"
The carriage quickly came to a halt, and Elfman asked, puzzled, "What's wrong?"
"Something happened." Rhode, linked to the vision of the tracking River Crab, had already seen the village where the client was.
The view was filled with ruins and debris.
Rhode said with a heavy expression, "Get off the carriage."
It's unsafe up ahead; they couldn't let the coachman continue further.
With the situation as it was, summoning back the River Crab wouldn't be appropriate, so Rhode summoned two Shadow Wolves, and he and Elfman each mounted one, racing towards the village.
Halfway, Rhode didn't stop observing, ensuring there was no ambush before daring to move quickly.
When the two climbed up a small hill, they finally saw with their own eyes the village where the client was situated.
No, with the current condition, it could no longer be called a village and was more like a ruin.
Looking around, there was almost no intact building within the village's perimeter, only broken walls, fractured stone pillars, and scattered stones were everywhere.
Many places were still smoking, and at the village entrance, there was even a pile of black flames burning.
"Black flames?" Rhode could only think of the Amaterasu from a ninja filming set next door, or some kind of exotic flames from a distant continent when he saw black flames.
He asked Elfman, "Have you heard of such flames?"
Elfman shook his head: "Not at all, but it certainly isn't a normal fire."
That's for sure. The appearance of such strange flames basically confirmed that the incident here was caused by mages.
And not ordinary mages.
As Rhode and Elfman cautiously approached the ruins ahead, their moods grew heavier by the moment.
——They couldn't hear any cries, groans, or calls for help.
This meant that either everyone in the village had escaped, or there wasn't a single survivor.
The black flames were intense, and despite just the small pile remaining, its heat could be felt from several meters away.
The Shadow Wolves instinctively lowered their bodies when nearing it.
Rhode compared it to Natsu's flame, with which he was most familiar.
He was surprised to find that except for that one time with the red buff erupting in Dragon Slayer's Secret Art, Natsu's flames might not be a match for this black fire at all.
"Who on earth left it?" Rhode strained to recall any Fire Magic he had seen in the Magic Encyclopedia but couldn't come up with anything.
He could only surmise that this was either newly created magic after he read the encyclopedia or some extremely rare Lost Magic.
"Rhode..." Elfman's voice had a sense of helplessness, and he appeared somewhat lost.
Rhode looked in the direction of Elfman's gaze, where scattered among the ruins were spears, swords, shields, and other weapons and armor, indicating that the people here had fought mightily.
The reason for Elfman's daze was that beside each weapon lay a corpse.
The worst-case scenario.
Everyone in the village might have died in battle or been murdered.
Summoning all the Shadow Wolves, Rhode heavily patted one of them:
"Go see if there are any survivors, and search around for anything strange or suspicious."
The Shadow Wolves dispersed, sniffing the surroundings.
Rhode and Elfman, holding onto a glimmer of hope, searched as well.
"Woo~ woo~"
Soon, a Shadow Wolf brought back a tattered piece of clothing and woefully indicated to its owner that it had found something.
Rhode unfolded the black tattered clothing, revealing a dark red emblem.
Although it was somewhat damaged, it was faintly recognizable as having heart shapes, sharp spikes, and bat wing-like shapes...
Rhode's eyes widened: "Demon's Heart!"
"What?" Elfman hadn't reacted yet.
"It's the symbol of Demon's Heart!" Rhode felt all the hairs on his body stand upright, "One of the Balram Alliance, the strongest Dark Guild, Demon's Heart!"
He didn't know how strong Demon's Heart was, but since they were one of the three major Dark Guilds controlling over ninety percent of other Dark Guilds, they shouldn't be weak at all.
When accompanying the President to attend routine meetings before, Rhode had heard President Goldman mention the Balram Alliance.
When talking about Demon's Heart, he even noticed that some presidents were sweating bullets.
At that time, Rhode guessed that these three major guilds might be akin to the major guilds like Fairy Tail, Ghost, and Pegasus in the Dark Realm.
The situation had gotten really serious; this mission might not be something he and Elfman could handle.
Elfman also realized the seriousness of the situation: "What should we do now?"
"First, we ask for help." Rhode used Requip Magic, a pen and a notebook appearing in his hand.
Elfman opened his mouth, unable to speak any objections.
Normally, mages should handle unexpected situations independently during missions. Asking for help is a sign of inability and can be a shameful act.
But in the current situation, it clearly couldn't be assessed by normal standards.
Rhode quickly wrote down the situation here on two pages, then summoned the River Crab and Warm, asking them to deliver the letter to the town they had passed on the road.
Generally, there would be Communication Magic Crystals in the town for contact, and Rhode wrote a letter in the capacity of a Fairy Tail Mage, asking the mayor to contact the guild and the Advisory Council.
Warm was sent because it had the highest intelligence among all wild monsters and the most friendly appearance.
After doing all this, Rhode began to plan the next steps.
The safest choice was actually to flee immediately with Warm.
But there might still be buried survivors in the village, and even if not, the siblings they were requested to find should also still be alive.
A sense of responsibility as a mage didn't allow them to leave just like that.
Rhode quickly organized his thoughts. Based on the mission content, it was highly likely that Demon's Heart was after that 'Tear of Chris.'
The tattered clothing just now should have been left by a member of Demon's Heart. They might have suffered combat losses but had already collected their comrades' corpses.
With the village in this state and them handling the bodies, it showed that they had ample time and withdrew quite calmly.
In other words, the item should have already been taken by them.
Thus, it is highly unlikely they will return.
Rhode determined that he and Elfman were temporarily safe unless the opponents suddenly decided they hadn't thoroughly destroyed the evidence and came back.
"Try to find survivors, but we can't stay too long either."
Rhode sighed, feeling that sometimes conscience could be a drag on one's sense of security.