Next Day
Mira and Kazu stood face to face in a forest.
The area was deadly silent.
"So...why are you staring me like this for the last few minutes?" Mira finally spoke, finding the silence painful.
Kazu didn't reply until a few seconds later. "Hmm, I was just thinking about whether to do something or not."
"What?"
"You will know next week. You said that your affinity to the darkness magic increases by several degrees when you use take-over, right?" Kazu changed the topic.
"Yeah. Though whatever spells I created are just too crude as I don't have any reference for them."
Kazu hummed. "Another thing. Is your affinity increase different when you partially transform?"
Mira shook her head. "It's the same as when I would have completely transformed."
Kazu nodded. "So, the best way to increase your power would be to do something with takeover magic. The first thing that comes to mind is to try to find another devil to possess."
"I already tried, yet I haven't found any missions related to it since I arrived in the guild," Mira said with a dejected expression.
"Yeah. So, the next thing would be to try improving your darkness magic."
"But, there's no information present in the library."
"Don't worry about that. I will find a way. Before that, have you mastered the way you partially take over?"
"No. Not all parts are optimised for combat. Moreover, I want to do some experimentation too..." Mira said with an unsure expression.
Kazu clapped his hands. "Perfect. Then focus on that for the next week. I will be out of the town this week, as I need to go on a mission."
Mira furrowed her brows. "Wait, but aren't you injured?"
"Yeah. But I would be taking Gray with me. So, it would be fine."
Mira didn't look convinced. "How about you wait for Erza to come back or just take me instead?" It was clear what she wanted to say.
Kazu waved his hand. "You are underestimating Gray. Though he is weaker than you two, unlike Natsu, he could at least stall you for a decent time. Also, the mission shouldn't be that dangerous. By the time something does happen, I will be healed.
Focus on your training." Before Mira could protest, Kazu disappeared.
---
"Yo, we are going on a mission." Kazu put his hand on Gray's shoulder, causing the latter to feel his heart almost stop.
"Aren't you supposed to be injured? Why are you going on a mission?" Cana raised a brow.
Kazu patted Gray's shoulder. "Just some urgent stuff. Don't worry, Gray would be doing the most stuff."
"Well, you can count on me. This is the first time this year since we are going on a mission together." To say Gray was excited would be an understatement.
Since the last time with Anne incident, Kazu had stopped any attempts to go on a mission with others and had been doing solo missions.
This only stopped with the latest group mission in which Gray unfortunately, hadn't been selected. However, it still marked that Kazu is more likely to take on a group mission.
And that hypothesis proved to be correct.
"I will pack my things."
"Sure. I would be waiting here."
With that, Kazu took Gray's seat as the latter left.
"So, what's this mission about? Or is it secret stuff?" Cana sipped on the orange juice she was drinking.
"Just have to retrieve an old, boring book. Some people dared to steal it from the Council's headquarters. Would you even believe that?" Kazu shook his head with a disappointed expression.
He didn't like the Magic Council, and such incidents only proved to deepen the belief in their incompetence.
"Book? Seems boring."
"Also, would there be a blue moon or something? Why are you drinking orange juice? Wasn't that for CHILDREN?" Kazu pointed at her glass.
Cana clicked her tongue, her expression turning into a frown. "I got into an argument with the old man."
On the mention of Gildarts, Kazu's expression turned guarded as he scanned the tavern.
"He's just left last night. Also, he probably forgot. You don't need to hide from him just because you provoke him."
Kazu frowned. "If it were only just that simple..." He muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing. So, what happened with the argument? You don't seem to be the type to listen to somebody." Kazu changed the topic.
Cana's expression turned sour. "I lost a bet."
Kazu's eyes widened. "You lost a bet? THE GAMBLER? The one who never loses? The winner of winn—"
"BRUH. Shut up!" Cana threw a card at him, which Kazu caught between his index and middle fingers.
"No need to add salt to the wound," Cana added as she sipped the juice.
Kazu hummed. He then made a serious expression. "So... have you started feeling it already?"
Cana furrowed her eyebrows. "Feeling what?"
"Withdrawal symptoms. You know from not drinking alcohol."
Cana threw the glass in her hand at Kazu, who caught it expertly without spilling anything.
"I am not addicted!"
"Sure, if you say so," Kazu smirked.
This seemed to only irritate Cana. Just as she was going to explode with anger, Gray came back on time.
"You back already?"
"My middle name is speed. Let's go." Gray joked.
Kazu didn't laugh. He looked at the boy with a judgmental stare.
"Sure, whatever you say, buddy." With that, Kazu waved at Cana before leaving.
"Idiot."
---
"So, what's the mission?"
Kazu took out a paper and passed it to Gray.
"Forbidden arts...robber...mages? This seems troublesome." Gray frowned. Anything involving tracking was outside his domain.
"9 Million!? Is this an S-rank mission?" Gray shouted when he read the reward.
"We are in public."
Gray looked around and found that his shout had garnered attention.
"Sorry, my bad."
Kazu shrugged. "Just be careful next time. Also, to answer your question, this is not S-rank in the usual sense. It's just that the book is very valuable, that's why the high reward."
They soon reached the station.
Gray furrowed his brows as he looked at the ticket Kazu bought. "Are we not going to the headquarters for the briefing?"
Kazu shook his head. "It would be too late by then. We are directly going after the perpetrators."
"Do we know where they are now?"
"General direction and area. Though the council is incompetent, its information network is not bad. We would be using it to quickly find the city where the robbers are."
Gray nodded before asking some questions regarding their exact plan. This mission would be a pretty valuable experience for him to upskill his tracking.
"And then we will try this. Our train is here." Kazu put the map in his hand back in his waist bag.
"It's a shame that Natsu is not here," Gray said with a smirk.
Kazu chuckled. "Yeah. Real shame."
---
"I still think it would have been better if we directly run here. It took us the whole 3 days to reach." Gray groaned as he stretched his back.
"Dunno. This is more comfortable. I am thinking of buying a car or something. I think it's better for such situations."
"Car?" Gray tilted his head. "You mean those magic-powered things? I heard that the Ethernano consumption is ridiculous."
"Should have developed in a few years." Kazu shrugged. He then pointed towards the train. "Do you know how these things work?"
Gray nodded. "Yeah. It's kind of a magic reactor, which kind of generates electricity and whatnot. It's also Ethernano powered. Though, unlike the knock-off versions, this one is way efficient from what I heard."
Kazu nodded. "The main problem they are facing is to design a miniature reactor like this, which is efficient for its small size." They started heading towards the city.
"I wonder how long it would take for them to succeed." They completed the verification and entered the city.
Gray then turned to Kazu.
"Are we first going to book an inn? Or do we head to the magic council branch first to gather information about the those robber's last seen area?"
It was already evening, so whatever search they would be doing would be done the next day.
Kazu looked around. His eyes were scanning the busy market around him, but to Gray, it seemed like he wasn't really looking at anything near them, but rather something far away.
He then smirked. "Let's go with the third option."
"Third option?"
"Let's catch those robbers and get the book back."
***
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