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CHAPTER START---
"So is your house close to the guild hall?" Oberon asks as he follows Macao inside.
"Kind of. It's on the main street so you just follow the road and you get back here, should be impossible to get lost."
As they enter, Oberon sees most of the people already gone. A few of them are packing their things and finishing their drinks.
Behind the bar Enno is wiping down the counter, upon which sits his bag, containing everything he owns.
"Don't forget your bag," she calls out to him. "How'd you like your first day as a member of Fairy Tail?"
He and Macao walk over to the bar, and he slings the bag over his shoulder.
"It was fun. I learned some Magic stuff."
"And you'll learn a lot more when the Master has time to teach you," Macao says. "But right now we've got to go get food before I take you over to my place. There are a lot of food stalls set up in the park for the festival, so we'll find something nice there."
"Actually, I already packed him a dinner box," Enno points to Oberon's bag. "And I even put in some chocolate, for dessert," she playfully winks at him.
"Thank you," he nods politely, giving her a small smile.
"Don't suppose you made anything for me to take home, maybe with extra love?" Macao asks.
Enno just gives him an annoyed look. "Why would I ever do that? You can pay for your food like everyone else."
"Awe, always so mean..."
"Also, what do you mean Oberon will stay with you?"
"Oh, well, I figured the kid needs a place to stay until he can stand on his own feet, so I volunteered to let him crash at my place, and keep an eye on him," Macao lies.
"Hmm," Enno's gaze softens. "I didn't know you cared about anything but drinking and skirt chasing."
Macao feints offense perfectly, "wouldn't be much of a man if I saw a kid in need and didn't at least do this much to help out."
Enno smiles. "Well, this side of you is much cuter, but it's getting late, so get the little guy home safe, alright?"
"Now that's a quest I can handle," Macao says as he leads Oberon out of the guildhall.
As they exit the building, closing the large double doors behind them, Macao stops and takes a deep breath.
Meanwhile, Magnolia mesmerizes Oberon once more. The small city was more beautiful than ever.
The stars in the sky were bright despite all the lights of the buildings. Cobblestone streets lit up with colorful lights and decorations for the Harvest Festival, and the cathedral standing like a monolith in the middle of the city was brightly colored with dancing spheres of light floating around it.
The guild hall was at the end of the main street, which cuts straight down the city for a few blocks before it winds, and on it, he could see a few of the food stalls Macao mentioned already set up.
Narrowing his eyes, he sees East Magnolia Park in the distance, with a few lights being shone toward the sky from it, but that was all he could see from this far away.
"Holy crap, you're a lifesaver, kid. Thanks for not blowing it for me back there."
"Why were you lying to her?" Oberon asks. "And is the city always like this for the festival?"
"Yeah, it's kind of the main thing, well, this and the cherry blossom festival. But this year the harvest was extra big, and a lot faster too. All thanks to one of Master Makarov's friends passing by."
"He used a spell to make plants grow?"
"Not really a spell, more like him being around just makes it happen passively. His name is Warrod Sequen. Apparently, he's known gramps since he was a baby. He's a Wizard Saint too, and a founder of Fairy Tail."
"Wooow," Oberon's jaw nearly dropped. "So Fairy Tail has two Wizard Saints?"
"Oh no, don't think the Magic Council would ever allow that. Warrod left way before gramps even became master. He's an independent mage now."
Macao starts walking and Oberon follows beside him.
"So why did you lie to Enno?"
"Uh, well, she's a beautiful lady, right?" Macao asks as they descend the stairs to enter the main section of Magnolia.
"Mhm."
"Well, the lie made her a bit happier, so that was good. You see, if it's harmless, then as a man we should lie a bit to keep women happy. This is something you'll have to learn when you become rich and famous."
"But I don't want to be famous. Sounds annoying." Oberon frowns. "I just want to learn Magic, not talk to people and stuff like that."
"Well, that makes one of us," Macao says as they walk past a few crowds.
Some locals give him a polite wave as he continues chatting with Oberon, pointing out some great restaurants, none of which really interest the boy.
Until...
"And this is the official Magnolia Magic Shop, we've only got the one since the city only has one guild, but it's pretty big for a city this size," Macao says as he points to a three story building that was lit up by some floating spheres of all different colors.
"So they sell Magic..."
"Not exactly. They mostly sell certain items that let you use Magic. You'll rarely find Grimoires containing instructions to properly learn Magic in places like this. And if you do, it's either a simple Magic that you could just go pay a guild to teach you in half the time, or a super overpriced book."
They continue walking. "But they have useful items, right?"
"Oh definitely, I recommend you take a look at what they have before you go on a mission. Give yourself an idea of how you can reward yourself after the mission. Maybe they'll have a Movie Lacrima you like."
"Movie Lacrima?"
"It's basically a moving picture with people performing a play, with sound."
"Sounds lame. Who would ever waste time on something stupid like that..."
"Ehehehe," Macao nervously laughs, recalling all the Jewels he's spent on Movie Lacrimas. "Yeah, I know right..."
Eventually, as they're only a few dozen meters from Macao's apartment, something catches Oberon's eye.
"Wow, what's that?" he points at a Magicycle. Something that's relatively new to Ishgar, a Magic Energy powered bicycle that can reach much higher speeds.
This one was sleek and red, with a man leaning against it chatting up some women.
As Macao is about to explain, the man leaning against the Magicycle waves at them, then calls them over.
"That's a—"
Oberon walks toward the man before Macao can even finish speaking.
"If Magic distracts you this easily, gramps might need to invest in a leash," Macao mutters as he follows behind him.
Approaching the bike Oberon's mouth almost started watering. He had no idea of how it worked, but he knew one thing.
'I want one...'
"Like what you see, kid?" the man asks, playfully, and the woman beside him just stood by to observe the interaction.
"Uh-huh," Oberon nods stupidly. "Does it go fast?"
"Oh yeah, it can even go faster than the trains we've got," the man says. "But with this baby, I can just go anywhere I want, no train tracks needed."
Oberon walks around it and the man looks over at the woman, then stands properly, gesturing to the seat.
"Hop on, see how it feels."
"Really?"
"Sure, it's perfectly safe while it's off," the man says.
A moment later and Oberon was sitting on the Magicycle. He could barely reach the handlebars.
And just in front of the seat was a large grey Lacrima, dull and empty.
"You'll be able to reach them when you're old enough to ride. Hell, if the place wasn't so crowded I'd take you for a ride right now," the man laughs.
Macao was now also observing the bike, and the way the woman was looking at the owner, and contemplating getting one.
"How does it work?" Oberon asks.
"Well, this is called a SE-plug," the man unclips a device from the side of the seat. It was a line leading to where the Lacrima was in the chassis, with the end of it clearly meant to be worn like a watch. "You put this on your wrist and use Magic Energy to power it, pretty simple.
You twist the handle to control the speed, but the faster you go, the more Magic Energy it drains from you. The Lacrima doesn't store energy either, so it needs a mage actively feeding it energy to work."
"Mage?" Oberon's head snaps to the man. "What kind of Magic do you have?"
"Well, that's a super direct way to ask, kind of makes me respect it. I use Water-Make Magic. Like all Maker Magics, it lets me create and shape things. Mine just happens to be water."
As he's explaining, he flicks his wrist, and a rose made of water appears above his palm. He carefully hands it to the woman beside him, who is skeptical at first, but when she holds it, she realizes its solid.
And gives him a warm smile.
"That's so cool..."
"How much does this cost?" Macao asks, now truly tempted to get one. "Would make traveling on jobs easier on my feet."
"Well, I work at the company that sells them, engineering, but this one would run you about, 3 million Jewels, after the mods I made to it."
Oberon just kept smiling, completely oblivious to how much money that was.
While Macao felt his wallet cry and his newest dream of picking up women by showing off his Magicycle shattered.
"Well, for the convenience it makes sense," Macao says, trying to act like he was considering it.
"I'm gonna buy one," Oberon says with full confidence.
"You a mage?" the man asks.
"Uh-huh, I joined Fairy Tail today!"
The man focuses on Oberon, even narrowing his eyes as he inspects him. "Really? Can't sense any Magic Energy from you."
"He's one of those prodigy types," Macao says. "Kid has perfect control over it."
The man looks interested for a moment, then shrugs. "Well, if I knew you were a mage, I would have offered earlier." He leans forward and flips a switch on the bike so it can't actually drive, then offers Oberon the SE-plug. "Go ahead and start it up, see how it feels..."
"Really?"
"Sure, it's not like you can accidentally drive off now, but just don't overdo it alright."
"Ok," Oberon eagerly puts the SE-plug on his wrist and tightens it.
He closes his eyes and focuses on his Magic Energy, and for the first time feels something other than his spells gnawing at it. As if there was a small fly buzzing around him, trying to draw out his Magic Energy.
Then he just relaxes and gives in.
VRROOOMMM!!
The engine roars to life as the Lacrima powering it glows brighter than the man had ever seen.
The entire street of crowds chattering and enjoying the pre festival night turns as the rumbling echoes through the street.
The man immediately leans forward and unclips the Se-plug, confusing Oberon.
"Sorry, did I do something bad?" he asks the man.
"Nonono, nothing like that, kid. I just didn't expect you to push that kind of Magic Energy into it. You see any more and you could have blown the regulator or cracked the Lacrima, but it's alright because I stopped it before that."
"I'm sorry about that," Macao says, bowing politely. "His Magic lessons only started today."
"It was more of my fault really," the man says as Macao stands up normally. "I should have explained that when using a Magic Vehicle you just let the SE-plug draw out Magic Energy at its own rate instead of actively force feeding it Magic Energy, but by the time he's old enough to afford one that'll be fixed."
"Right, well, we'll stop bothering you now, and I need to get him home so he can rest," Macao says as Oberon gets off the bike.
"Wasn't a bother at all..."
As they're walking away, Macao looks down at Oberon and smiles.
"You know, you'll be a pretty good Wizard, but you're already a great wingman."
"What's a wingman?"
"You'll understand when you're older..."
END CHAPTER---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]