Chapter 2: First Mission, I'm Double Lucky
After a full day of travel, the two arrived in Magnolia.
Ren and Makarov entered the town and soon reached the front of Fairy Tail.
Staring at the tavern-like building and the flag hanging above it, Ren couldn't help saying, "So this is Fairy Tail…"
"Fairy Tail. Do fairies even have tails? Do fairies even exist? No one knows. So this name represents eternal mystery and eternal adventure," Makarov said with a laugh.
"Hearing it like that makes the name feel elevated," Ren said.
"Of course. This is the guild I'm proud of." Makarov smiled and pushed the door open.
As the door slowly opened with Makarov's movement, Ren grew excited. He was officially joining the guild.
When the door opened, the scene inside hit Ren like a wall, and his eyes widened.
A deafening racket poured out. A bunch of people were cursing at the top of their lungs, and in just a couple of sentences, a brawl broke out. Immediately after, mugs, plates, and stools started flying everywhere. Every so often, someone would get punched into the air and crash into a corner.
"This is the guild you're proud of…" Ren said, looking at Makarov, who had gone a little stiff.
Makarov's face darkened, a vein popping on his forehead. He charged in as his body grew larger.
"You little brats! Stop it right now!"
While shouting, he suppressed the most unruly ones with a single hand.
He had just been praising the guild, and the next second they slapped him in the face. Unforgivable.
With Makarov's roar, the guild went quiet.
"Master, welcome back," said a small girl in armor.
"Yeah, I'm back," Makarov replied, then turned to Ren. "Hahaha. Listen, don't be fooled by how noisy it is. Everyone here is easy to get along with."
"This is just… um… a way to… build bonds," Makarov said after thinking hard and coming up with a painfully flimsy excuse.
"R-really?" Ren looked doubtful. "Old man, you're not setting me up, are you?"
"Hahaha, of course not. Come, I'll stamp your guild mark." Makarov decisively changed the subject.
He took Ren to the front desk.
"What color do you want? Where do you want it?" Makarov asked, holding up a stamp.
Ren thought for a moment. "Gold. On the back of my right hand."
Ren held out his right hand. Soon, a golden Fairy Tail emblem appeared on the back of it.
With everything done, Makarov hopped up onto the bar counter and shouted, "You brats! Welcome our new family member! Ren!"
"Oooh!"
"Hey, newbie! Welcome!"
"Another newcomer? And it's a kid. Our guild isn't actually turning into a daycare, is it?"
"A newcomer is a good thing. At least it means the guild is getting livelier."
Ren listened to the cheers, looked at the mark on his hand, and felt joy rise from deep inside.
"Well? Everyone in the guild is great, right?" Makarov said cheerfully.
"Yeah. Feels like things will be really fun from now on," Ren replied with a smile.
"Newbie, you're Ren, right? I'm Gray. Gray Fullbuster. Can you already use magic?" Ren followed the voice and saw a kid wearing only underwear, holding a glass of milk. "So what kind of magic do you use?"
He took a sip of milk and asked again.
"Yeah, I'm Ren. Just Ren. As for magic, it should be spatial magic. I call it Flying Thunder God. Also," Ren turned to Makarov, "your guild has streaking perverts at this age? Old man, I really feel like you tricked me."
"You little brat! Put some clothes on!" Makarov said with a pained expression, glaring at Gray.
Gray finally seemed to realize he was naked. "Where did my clothes go? When did I even take them off!" He scrambled off to find them.
"Don't judge him by that. He's actually pretty strong," Makarov said to Ren. "That Gray kid has Ice-Make magic, and he's already highly proficient. He can even take some jobs on his own. That said, you said your magic is spatial magic, right? What can it do?"
Ren thought and said, "In simple terms, I can put my mark on an object, and then I can teleport to wherever that mark is at any time."
"Instant teleportation, huh. That sounds like it has a lot of potential," Makarov said, stroking his beard. "But what you used to kill that beast in the forest—simple teleportation shouldn't be able to take down something like that."
"You're right," Ren replied. "What I used should be more like a technique. I gather magic power into my arm or leg, then release it in an explosive burst to produce huge strength. But I'm not very skilled at it yet. My arm still hurts right now. Sigh."
Ren raised his arm, which still hadn't fully gone down in swelling, and sighed.
"Oh? You've already started exploring how to use magic power. You might actually be a genius," Makarov said, pulling out a pen and scribbling shapes in the air. "Magic is generally divided into Holder types and Caster types. Holder types fight using tools. Caster types rely on their own magic power to produce all kinds of effects for combat. Your Flying Thunder God should be a Caster type. And this explosive strength method of yours looks like the early form of a power-type magic. Keep developing it. You might end up mastering a second kind of magic."
Ren asked, "Then do you have any advice? Like training methods?"
Makarov sat on the bar counter, swinging his legs casually. "Advice? Don't explode too much magic power at once. Don't try to force too much strength. Find the point that suits you best, little by little. Once you do, you'll be able to control it smoothly."
"Oh, Ren, you're already about to master a second kind of magic? That's impressive. Want to spar and see who's stronger?" Gray suddenly popped out from nowhere, now wearing pants.
"Sure, but at least wait until this arm heals properly," Ren said, shaking his arm. "And I'm lacking a main attack method right now. If it's convenient, why not wait a bit?"
"No problem. When you're ready, I'll accept your challenge anytime." Gray grabbed Ren. "This is your welcome party. Let's enjoy it!"
Night fell, and the party gradually came to an end. Chairs were scattered everywhere, and more than a dozen people lay sprawled on the floor in a mess. During this time, Ren met many guild companions, including a pervert who loved stripping, a quiet little girl named Levy, a smoking uncle named Wakaba, and a drinking uncle named Macao.
There were many more besides.
Ren looked at the scene and smiled. "I'm really looking forward to the days ahead."
"By the way, Ren, you don't have a place to stay yet, do you?" Makarov suddenly said. "The guild has dorms prepared for you. Beds and everything. And it's only 100,000 J per month."
Ren suddenly felt stabbed in the back. "But I don't have money right now… Am I going to sleep on the street?"
"Don't worry. You can borrow one month's rent. After that, you'll have to start working to earn money," Makarov said.
"I've been looking forward to it!"
"Full of drive, huh. Alright. It's late. Have Gray take you to the dorms, pick an empty room, and rest early. Tomorrow, come take your first job!"
"Good night, old man!"
The next morning, Ren came to the guild and went straight to Makarov.
"Old man, do you have any jobs I can do?"
"Hmm… For you, this one should fit," Makarov said after thinking a little. He jumped up, tore a job sheet off the request board, and handed it to Ren.
"Really? Let me see… Help a farmer in the east side of town deliver crops to a shop in the west side of town. Reward: 50,000 J. That's pretty generous. Got it. It's local delivery." Ren felt like nobody was better suited for this job than him. "Leave it to me. I'll finish it in minutes. I'm heading out."
"Safe travels, kid," Makarov said, waving from the bar.
Ren left the guild, thought for a moment, and decided to go to the shop on the west side first. He planned to place a mark in advance, then use Flying Thunder God to teleport back and forth.
"Other than that guy in red who runs everywhere, there's no way anyone is more suited for this job than me," Ren thought cheerfully, leaving a Flying Thunder God mark at the guild entrance as well.
Following the directions, Ren arrived at the shop that sold farm produce.
"Is the owner here? I'm a Fairy Tail wizard. I took the job to deliver the vegetables."
A bald uncle walked out from inside. "Oh, I'm the owner. Kid, you're here to deliver? Why don't I see the goods?"
He looked around.
"They'll be here in a bit. I came first to confirm where you want the vegetables stored."
The owner led him to the warehouse door on the side of the shop. "Right here is fine. Once you bring them, call me over and I'll check the count, then we'll put them in storage."
"Here is fine, right?" Ren stretched out his hand toward the wall. Magic power spread over it. When he pulled his hand back, a black mark appeared where his palm had touched.
"What's that?" The owner leaned in and saw the black mark. "Looks like a little person? Hugging a fish and… touching it?"
"Hahaha, don't worry about details. Wait a moment and I'll bring the goods over." Ren activated Flying Thunder God and vanished right in front of him.
He—he disappeared.
"As expected of a wizard. That's amazing," the owner muttered after being startled, then shook his head and turned the surprise into a hopeful thought about his own son.
With a flash of golden light, Ren appeared at the guild entrance.
"Next, the farmland in the east side of town!"
Ren casually picked up a stone, let magic power flow through it, then threw it forward. With repeated golden flashes, Ren's figure vanished and reappeared again and again as he moved toward the eastern farmland.
Soon, Ren arrived and saw the goods for this job.
"Holy—there's this much?" Ren stared at the mound in front of him and exclaimed.
"Are you the wizard who took the job?" An old man stepped out from behind the mound. "This is the shipment. A total of 102,000 jin of potatoes."
"This is going to take at least two Apocalypse Four Horsemen trucks to haul…" Ren was stunned. "No wonder the pay for a local delivery job is so high. There's a catch."
"Then I'll leave it to you, young man." The old man waved and went back to working in the field.
"Right. Flying Thunder God: Guided Lightning!"
Ren slapped both hands on the ground. Magic power surged, forming a spell array on the earth made of strings of black characters. It was as if a hollow opened beneath the potato pile, and the potatoes sank into the center of the array.
At the shop on the west side of town, the bald owner was thinking cheerfully.
"That kid looks only a bit over ten, and he's delivering over a hundred thousand jin all by himself. I really want to see how he does it. He's a wizard, so he must have some magical method. Hahaha. Maybe it'll drop from the sky…"
Suddenly, he heard a rumbling sound coming from the warehouse.
The owner rushed over and saw a strange array of black characters floating in the air, and potatoes were continuously dropping out of it.
"So it really is dropping from the sky…" the owner said blankly.
Over on Ren's side, he finally transferred the entire potato mound. His vision darkened.
"That used a lot of magic power. It must be because there was too much stuff. No. Next time I run into a job like this, I'm charging extra," Ren muttered.
After resting a bit, he activated Flying Thunder God again and returned to the shop.
"Boss, receive the shipment."
"I'm counting it now. Wait a moment. Go rest in the shop first," the owner said, waving and directing workers to weigh and store the potatoes.
"Sure." Ren went inside to rest.
After a while, the owner came in. "Count is done. Quantity is correct. Here's the reward."
He handed Ren an envelope.
"Kid, that delivery was insanely fast. Want to take a long-term job? Every month I have a lot of goods that need moving."
"Depends. I won't always stay in Magnolia. I'll eventually go out for longer jobs," Ren said with a shrug.
"Fair enough. Then I hope you keep getting stronger," the owner said with a smile, then left.
With a flash of golden light, Ren appeared at the guild entrance and walked straight to the bar counter.
"Oh? You're back already? Job finished?" Makarov asked casually, holding a beer.
"Ren took the job to deliver vegetables to the west side, right? That shipment is over a hundred thousand jin. No way he finished that fast. He must be back to ask for help," Gray said beside him, taking his pants off as he talked. "Since you're new, I can help you carry it. Need help?"
"Absolutely not. It's already done. And I really don't want to see you naked, so please put your pants back on," Ren said with half-lidded eyes.
"I didn't even notice! When did I take them off! Wait—over a hundred thousand jin, and you delivered it already? That fast? That's awesome. I can barely hold back from fighting you. As soon as your arm heals, tell me immediately!" Gray's fighting spirit flared.
"Judging by how it feels, it should be mostly fine by tomorrow. How about the morning after tomorrow?" Ren tested his arm. There was still slight discomfort, but he didn't dislike the idea of sparring. "Also, I need to make some support tools. Any recommended blacksmith shops in town?"
"A blacksmith? There's one on the west side. Not far from the shop you delivered to. Go find it yourself," Makarov said.
"Alright." Ren greeted Gray, who looked like he was already planning tactics, then activated Flying Thunder God and returned to the west side of town to start looking for the blacksmith shop.