Chapter 76: I'll Go Kill Them
"Eh—?!"
Lucy was genuinely scared, her blood running cold. "He'll kill you? Then you still dare to do it?!"
"If I don't, I'll never be able to do an S-Class Quest!" Natsu shot back, his logic completely baffling to her. He was already pulling his travel pack onto his shoulder.
"Anyway, if you two want to do it, go ahead, but I'm absolutely not going!"
Lucy refused, her arms crossed firmly. On one hand, it was because of the strict Fairy Tail Guild rules that non-S-Class Mages could not take on S-Class Quests. Breaking a rule like that on her first week was a terrifying thought.
But on the other, much more significant hand, she remembered how terrifying Ren was. Specifically, his 'Tyrant' form. Just standing near that version of him, she felt like she was going to wet herself. The memory of the sheer, non-magical killing intent he exuded back at the train wreckage was seared into her mind.
If Ren found out she had secretly taken his quest... the quest Mira had been saving for him... she couldn't even imagine the consequences. He wouldn't just be mad. The 'Tyrant' didn't get mad. He erased problems.
"Tch, fine. Your loss. I even wanted to bring you along to see something cool," Natsu grumbled. "Happy, let's go."
"Aye, sir!"
With that, Natsu and Happy leaped out of her open window and onto the roof, disappearing into the night.
"Ugh!"
Lucy sighed, walking over to shut the window, her heart still pounding. Natsu was too reckless, even daring to secretly take on an S-Class Quest. And not just any S-Class Quest, but Ren's S-Class Quest.
"Forget it. It's not my problem," she said to herself, trying to calm her nerves. "I'm not thinking about it anymore. Time to sleep."
Just as Lucy turned to go back to her bedroom to sleep, she saw a piece of paper on the floor beside her, left behind in the duo's hasty exit. It was the S-Class Quest request form Happy had stolen. She was startled.
"What is this?!" she yelped, snatching it up.
"Why didn't he take this paper with him?! He just left it here! In my apartment!" A new wave of panic washed over her. "Doesn't this mean I stole it?! Oh, what should I do, what should I do?!"
She was about to run to the guild and give it to Mira, to explain it all, when her eyes caught the "Rewards" section on the request.
Besides the 7,000,000 Jewel, there was another, far more important line: + 1 Gold Key (Celestial Spirit).
Lucy's entire body froze.
She quickly picked up the paper, her hands trembling, and examined it carefully under the lamplight. "Really? A Golden Key? Can I really get a Celestial Spirit Gate Key?!"
Celestial Spirit Gate Keys were useless trinkets to other Mages, but they were incredibly precious, priceless artifacts to a Celestial Spirit Mage like her. There were only twelve Golden Zodiac Keys in the entire world, and she had spent her life collecting them.
She never expected one of them to be the reward for this quest.
"..."
She looked at the key on the paper. She thought about her rent. She thought about her dream of collecting all twelve keys. Then she thought about Ren's cold, dead "Tyrant" eyes.
The key won.
Lucy immediately ran to the window, threw it open, and shouted at the top of her lungs into the night, "NATSU—! HAPPY—! WAIT FOR ME!!"
The next morning...
"Oh no—!!"
"Master, the request forms on the second floor are gone!"
Mira counted the requests on the S-Class board every morning to ensure that no quests were lost, which could cause trouble for the clients. It was a simple, routine part of her morning.
This morning, as Mira arrived at the quiet, empty second-floor request area, she saw that the request board was empty. The single S-Class Quest request form—the Galuna Island one she had specifically put aside for Ren—was missing.
This immediately made Mira anxious, her usual-sweet smile vanishing. The loss of an S-Class Quest was no small matter. She hurried down the stairs to report to Makarov, who was drinking his morning coffee at the bar.
"Pfft—!"
Makarov sprayed out the coffee in his mouth when he heard this. The impact of the news, and the Master's reaction, was so shocking that the usually noisy Fairy Tail Guild suddenly fell silent.
From the second-floor balcony, Laxus's leisurely, mocking voice rang out. "What's the big deal, old man? Last night, I saw a cat furtively tearing it off. Oh, and that cat... it had wings."
"A... a cat with wings?" Makarov stammered.
"Happy?!" the entire guild shouted in unison.
"So Natsu and the new girl, Lucy, are involved too?!"
"What are those idiots thinking?!"
"They... they just went off to take on an S-Class Quest?!"
Everyone in the Fairy Tail Guild looked shocked. An S-Class Quest was not a simple task; one misjudgment could cost even an S-Class Mage his life. In the Fairy Tail Guild, only S-Class Mages, with the Master's explicit permission, were allowed to take on such high-difficulty quests. This was the guild's most sacred rule.
Laxus said to Makarov, his voice dripping with contempt, "This seriously violates our Fairy Tail Guild rules. When they come back, they'll be kicked out of the guild, right, old man? Speaking of which, with their pathetic skills, they want to do an S-Class Quest? They probably won't even make it back, hahahaha."
Mira, her hands clenched at her sides, spun around and glared up at him, her "Demon Soul" aura leaking out just a little. "Laxus! You clearly knew the consequences, why didn't you stop them?!"
Laxus just shrugged, completely unbothered by her anger. "I only saw a gust of wind blow by, and a cat tear off a piece of paper and run away. How was I supposed to know it was Happy, or that Natsu was going to do an S-Class Quest? It's not my job to babysit the weak."
Mira glared at Laxus, her eyes flashing.
Laxus didn't care in the slightest. "Oh, it's been a while since I've seen that expression on you, Mira. Still got some of the 'She-Devil' left in you, huh?"
Makarov, his face grim, ignored his grandson. He asked Mira, "What quest was the missing paper for?"
He had been at the regular meeting when this quest arrived, and having just returned and immediately dealing with the trouble Ren had caused with Eisenwald, he wasn't clear on what quest it was.
"The Cursed Island... Galuna Island."
The moment she said the name, Makarov's face changed drastically. His eyes went wide, and all the color drained from his face. He exclaimed in a voice filled with a terror the guild had never heard from him, "It's Demon Island!!"
[Akarin's Note: Galuna Island is famously known as "Demon Island" because of its connection to the Demon Deliora, who was sealed there by Gray's master, Ur.]
Everyone in the Fairy Tail Guild was startled to hear this. "Demon Island" was a famous, dark legend among Mages; it was said that true demons, creations of Zeref himself, resided on that island.
Makarov grabbed Laxus by the railing. "Laxus! Go bring them back to me, now!!"
"Are you kidding?" Laxus swatted his hand away. "I'm about to start work now. Mages who can't clean up their own messes don't deserve to be in our Fairy Tail Guild, right?"
"Ugh..." Makarov staggered back, his heart sinking. He didn't expect Laxus to use his own words—the ones he'd said to Romeo—against him.
Just then, Mira suddenly remembered something, her eyes widening with a new kind of panic. "Master! Ren! There's also Ren! This job... this job was the one I was saving for Ren! He was supposed to take it today! He... he doesn't know Natsu stole it!"
Makarov's eyes also lit up, but with a different kind of hope. That brat Ren was... very enthusiastic about S-Class Quests. With his strength, catching Natsu and the others would be easy.
"Jet! Go find Ren for me immediately! Tell him to come to the guild!"
"Yes!"
Jet, who had been sitting with Droy and Levy, received the order and immediately used his 'High Speed' magic, vanishing in a blur as he rushed towards Ren's house.
In the early morning, Ren woke up, stretched, and yawned. The fatigue from the party and the alcohol the night before was swept away by a quick session of Sun Breathing. He felt refreshed and energetic.
"The weather's nice today," he said to himself, looking out the window. "Perfect for a quest."
He was excited. He hadn't had a proper S-Class quest in a while. The Eisenwald incident didn't count, as it wasn't an official, system-recognized quest. This Galuna Island quest... it was a 7 million Jewel reward, a Golden Key, and, most importantly, a guaranteed ten-pull.
Ren quickly packed his belongings, intending to go directly to the Fairy Tail Guild, accept the quest from Mira, and depart immediately.
Just then, thump, thump, thump!
A rapid, frantic knocking sound echoed from his front door.
"Who is it? Coming!"
Ren was a bit curious who would come looking for him so early in the morning. He opened the door and saw Jet, panting and out of breath.
"Jet! Why are you here? You're fast."
"Ren... Master... Master needs to see you! Now!"
"The Master needs me?"
Ren was a bit puzzled, but he quickly followed Jet. The two of them arrived at the Fairy Tail Guild in seconds.
As soon as they arrived at the guild, Mira, her face pale with panic, ran up to him. "Ren, it's bad! Natsu and the others... they secretly went to do an S-Class Quest."
Ren, who was just about to ask Mira for the quest form, just blinked. "So what if they did? An S-Class Quest isn't that big of a deal. The old man will just yell at them when they get back."
At this moment, he hadn't realized the seriousness of the problem.
Mira took a deep breath, her voice trembling slightly. "Ren... he... he took your S-Class Quest. The Galuna Island one."
"What?!!"
Ren's voice, which had been calm and relaxed, immediately rose, cutting through the entire guild hall.
Then, his expression turned ferocious. The temperature in the room seemed to drop, and a cold, oppressive aura—one that everyone remembered from the "Tyrant"—began to radiate from him.
"Damn it!" he growled, his voice low and dangerous. "Do those guys want to die?! How dare they touch my quest?!"
His S-Class Quests were crucial to the speed of his growth. They were his payment. They were his gacha pulls. They could touch anything else. They could break his furniture. They could eat his food. But they could not touch his S-Class Quests.
Ren turned, his face a mask of cold fury, and began to march toward the door.
Makarov shouted, "Ren, wait! Bring them back! Safely!"
Ren didn't even look back. "I'll go kill them!!"
[Akarin Note:
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