Erza and Ultear decided it was time for Kagura to take her first mission.
They selected a protection mission from the quest board.
A local Baron had a heavy bounty placed on his head.
Upon hearing that the Dark Guild, Shadow Thorn, had accepted the contract, he immediately sought protection from a legal Light Guild.
Shadow Thorn was a minor Dark Guild specializing in assassination.
It's worth mentioning that currently, Eisenwald is still a legal Guild, and Erigor doesn't seem to be its Guild Master yet.
But that's not important; Erigor is just a small fry.
Aside from his Magic Wind Wall, he's nothing special, and even the Magic Wind Wall requires advance preparation.
...
Their destination was Mandragora Town.
In the Kingdom of Fiore, locations were often named after flowers: Balsam Village, Rosemary Village, and even the capital, Crocus (City of a Hundred Flowers).
Mandragora was no exception.
The town was managed by Baron Silva, the target of their mission.
Raizel used his True Teleportation Magic to transport the four of them directly to the vicinity of Baron Silva's estate.
Since this was a protection mission involving assassins, walking through the front gate openly would have been foolish.
They arrived at the perimeter as Raizel stared at the mansion.
"It's... a bit much," Erza noted.
"A bit?" Raizel scoffed. "This is ridiculous."
It was even more luxurious than Duke Grant's mansion, which they had visited previously.
The decor could be described in two words: gaudy and excessive.
Gold leaf covered the gates, and marble statues lined the driveway.
The contrast with the rest of Mandragora Town was sickening.
As they had walked through the streets earlier, Raizel noticed most buildings were simple, worn-down two-story structures.
The town looked impoverished, while this mansion looked like a palace.
Raizel hadn't even met the Baron yet, but his first impression was already rock bottom.
They waited in the reception room for nearly twenty minutes before the Baron finally made his entrance.
Watching him walk the few steps from the door to the chair was an ordeal.
Raizel genuinely worried the man might run out of breath and drop dead of a heart attack right there, failing the mission before it began.
He was morbidly obese.
In all his time in Earthland, Raizel had never seen a human with such a physique.
He made the corrupt nobles from Natsu and Lucy's future Daybreak mission look fit by comparison.
His second impression was arrogance.
Unlike the warm welcome they received at Duke Grant's, Silva looked at them with undisguised contempt.
"Children?" Silva sneered, wiping sweat from his brow with a silk handkerchief. "I pay a fortune for protection, and Fairy Tail sends me a bunch of kids?"
He launched into a tirade about their age.
It was only after Raizel flashed his S-Class Mage badge that Silva toned down his complains, though the skepticism remained.
"Kagura here will be your Public Protector," Raizel explained, gesturing to the young girl. "She will stay by your side. We will provide Covert Protection from the shadows."
"Her?" Silva's voice pitched up. "She's the smallest one! Is she even capable of holding a sword?"
Kagura didn't speak.
Her expression was stone cold.
Clack.
She slammed her sheathed blade, Archenemy, onto the table.
The heavy sound echoed in the room. She turned her gaze toward the Baron—a look of such intense, predatory focus that the air temperature seemed to drop.
Silva broke out in a cold sweat.
He gulped, nodding frantically. "V-Very well."
Ultear and Erza watched with hidden amusement.
Seizing the moment, Raizel added, "We always complete the missions we accept. You are safe with us."
He turned to Kagura. "Kagura, stick to him like glue. We're going dark."
"Understood." Kagura nodded.
She gripped Archenemy in her right hand and took her position beside the trembling Baron.
The three mages melted into the shadows of the estate.
"Kagura is bearing the brunt of it," Erza whispered, watching Silva from a hidden vantage point. "I don't want to exchange a single word with that man."
She clenched her fists. "He is repulsive."
Raizel agreed entirely.
They had met many nobles, but a Baron—the lowest rank of nobility—acting this entitled was rare.
"Focus on the mission," Ultear whispered calmly. "We'll deal with his character flaws later."
Shadow Thorn was exceptionally bold.
They had sent a letter announcing the time of the assassination: tonight.
They were confident they could bypass any defense.
As night fell, Silva's true nature became even more apparent.
He gorged himself on a feast while Kagura stood guard, ignoring her completely except to complain about the draft.
He was wicked, arrogant, and wasteful.
Kagura remained stoic.
She stood by his chair, eyes closed, Archenemy held against her chest.
"It's almost time," Ultear signaled her via telepathy. "Stay alert."
Kagura opened her eyes.
Her blade, Archenemy, had a unique property—it reacted to killing intent.
She felt it.
From Erza's sector. One target.
"Die, you gluttonous pig!"
A shadow on the floor suddenly elongated and detached itself.
A man wrapped in black bandages leaped from the darkness, a poisoned dagger aimed straight at Silva's throat.
Silva shrieked.
"Gravity Change."
THUD.
The assassin didn't even reach the table.
He crashed face-first into the floor as if a mountain had been dropped on his back. The floorboards cracked under the sudden pressure.
"Gravity Magic?! How can a brat like you...!"
The assassin was skilled.
Fighting through the crushing weight, he melted back into the shadows, sliding up the wall and crawling across the ceiling to drop on Silva from above.
"Archenemy: Side Form."
Kagura didn't draw her blade.
She didn't need to.
She leaped up to meet him mid-air, swinging the sheathed sword with terrifying speed. She struck him square in the chest.
CRACK.
The assassin was launched across the room, embedding himself into the stone wall before sliding down, unconscious.
Crash!
At the exact same moment, the window shattered.
An arrow, wreathed in magical energy, flew straight toward Baron Silva's head.
An archer outside had used the distraction to take the kill shot.
Kagura landed and spun on her heel.
Schwing.
She raised Archenemy.
With a precise, minimal movement, she split the arrow down the middle. The two halves clattered harmlessly onto the table.
"I'll handle the archer," Erza's voice came from the void.
"Requip: Black Wing Armor."
Erza burst from her hiding spot, flying out the shattered window like a bat out of hell, charging straight into the night.
Kagura didn't chase.
She remained rooted by Silva's side. The Baron was currently cowering under the table, trembling violently.
Ten minutes later, Erza returned, dragging an unconscious archer by the collar.
"That's all of them," Erza confirmed, nodding to Kagura. "Just these two. A Shadow Mage for infiltration and an Archer for backup."
The assassins were alive but tied up securely.
Raizel conducted a swift interrogation.
He hadn't expected Shadow Thorn to operate through dead drops and covert contacts rather than a physical guildhall, which made dismantling them difficult.
However, he extracted the locations of their frequent meeting points.
...
The following morning, the Council's Rune Knights arrived to take the assassins into custody.
Kagura's first official mission was a complete success.
As for Baron Silva...
Raizel stood at the gate while looking back at the opulent mansion.
"We protected his life," Raizel said coldly. "But we are not obligated to protect his corruption."
He sent a detailed letter to Duke Grant, the noble they had befriended on a previous mission.
The letter outlined Silva's extravagant spending, the disparity between his wealth and the town's poverty, and suspected embezzlement of tax funds.
Raizel knew Duke Grant was a man of integrity and He would launch an investigation.
"This town can't support a leech like him," Raizel muttered as he prepared the teleportation spell.
"Hopefully, the Duke cleans house."
With a flash of light, the Fairy Tail's team vanished, leaving Mandragora Town behind.
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