After that little heartwarming exchange, Erza and I got up and got to work. We were both starving, so she took care of gathering dry branches while I handled catching something to eat. Using Sphere Vision, it took me all of five minutes of wandering through the forest to track down a decent-sized boar. Another ten to drag it back to her. A quick spatial cutter spell I threw together on the fly handled the butchering, and before long we had dinner roasting on sticks over an open fire.
"How do you do that?" Erza held her hands out in front of her, straining to conjure a flame.
I'd just lit our campfire using Ethernano.
"I think it comes from understanding the physics of fire. Plus a lot of control."
She tried for another couple of minutes, then sighed. Nothing.
"Don't get discouraged. Your magic is way more powerful than mine, that's just the fact of it. Everyone's got their strengths and weaknesses."
Once we'd eaten our fill, we set off through the forest looking for any kind of settlement. Along the way I used Ethernano to test its healing capabilities, with a mostly meatless section of boar leg as my test subject. The results were not encouraging. The skin just erupted in fast-spreading, grotesque tumors. Accelerated regeneration gone very, very wrong.
My control over Ethernano was barely enough to handle the basics, and even then, only when it involved my own body, since my body was already used to my magic. Healing was a whole different animal and needed way more practice. Ethernano was chaotic by nature, and my usual methods barely applied to it. It was even dangerous to myself.
Erza noticed what I was doing and asked about it. I explained. That's when it hit her, really hit her, what I'd been through, and she got visibly upset about the terrible scars covering my back, the kind that would be there for the rest of my life. I told her I was over ninety percent confident that, as mages, we'd eventually be able to heal them completely, and that I'd be fine.
In that slightly subdued mood, about three hours later, full dark by now, we finally stumbled onto a village. It was small, no inn, and the streets were empty. So we picked out the most respectable-looking house, designated it the headman's residence, and knocked.
The door opened to reveal a textbook village elder: a short man in his sixties, gray hair, bald spot front and center.
"Good evening," I said with a nod, catching his look of pure bewilderment. Understandable, given that Erza and I looked like we'd been through a blender, dressed in what could only generously be called rags. But beyond that, what really seemed to get him was the partially dressed boar carcass I'd hauled along. "We're two poor children who escaped from slavers. Could you take us in for the night? In exchange, we can offer this."
"Uh... well..." the man spluttered.
When I lifted the carcass to demonstrate, like it didn't weigh fifty-some kilograms, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"Have you never seen a mage before?" I asked, and set it back down.
"Oswald, who in the world is at the door?!" a firm, full-throated woman's voice called from inside. Then she appeared: also gray-haired, but solidly built. "Oh... children? What happened to you?"
Her tone shifted the moment she saw us. Erza and I, following my carefully thought-out plan, arranged our faces into the most pitiful expressions we could manage, and I repeated our story. It worked. A few minutes later we were inside.
Clucking and fussing the whole time, Mathilda, as she introduced herself, kept asking us questions, even while Oswald and I hauled the carcass down to the cold cellar. At first she refused to "take anything from poor little children," but came around when I pointed out that we couldn't possibly finish the whole boar ourselves and would end up throwing most of it away anyway. Better it go to good people.
More clucking and fussing as she helped us wash up in the bathroom, a magical setup with an artifact that heated the water, and dug out clothes left behind by the couple's grown children. Then we sat down to a late supper, and at the end of it were given a room with one shared bed, where Erza and I both turned in.
It all moved fast, since it was the middle of the night and everyone just wanted to sleep.
Meanwhile, in the master bedroom, Oswald pulled the covers up over himself and frowned.
"Something doesn't sit right with me," he said.
"About what?" Mathilda asked, already settled in.
"That boy. Elian. He killed a wild animal with his magic."
"And you're worried he might do something to us?"
"Yes."
"Hmph. You old fool. You've been placing orders with mage guilds for years and you're still scared of them."
"Guilds give guarantees. They answer to the Magic Council." Oswald shrugged, less to argue and more just to have something to say.
"And these are just poor, well-mannered children! You saw them yourself! They offered something in return for our help. Dragged us a whole boar. Whatever they went through didn't break them. And if they'd wanted to hurt us, they'd have already done it."
On that note, the matter settled, the couple fell asleep. I, having watched the whole exchange through Sphere Vision and confirmed that the cautious old man was not in fact about to suggest quietly disposing of us in the night, let myself drift off as well.
Paranoia is a paranoid person's best survival tool. But I was glad that this ordinary elderly couple had turned out to be exactly what they appeared to be, and not some variety of closeted lunatics.
The next morning, they honestly told us the boar carcass was worth decent money and handed us enough for train tickets. We'd already mentioned we were trying to get to Magnolia. A local carter agreed to take us to the nearest city with rail connections. He'd originally planned that trip in about four days, but in our case the circumstances made rearranging his schedule surprisingly easy.
The people in that little village had turned out to be genuinely kind and understanding, just like back in Rosemary. Our politeness, and the casually demonstrated strength, only seemed to reinforce both.
Half a day of bouncing along an open cart over rutted roads. We managed a snack and even a short nap to the steady creak of the wheels. But when the carter said we were getting close, I shifted forward to sit beside him.
"Bordan, you're a merchant, right?" Technically a rhetorical question, but it got Erza's attention, and the unremarkable forty-something man with streaks of gray in his brown hair looked over at me with interest.
"That's right, kid. Something catch your eye about the trade?"
"Not exactly. I've got a business proposition. I just picked up a wolf pack scent, recent, maybe two or three kilometers out. Here's the deal: you stop, I come back in about an hour with a few carcasses, and you take a cut for handling transport and sale."
He stared at me again.
"You sure you're up for it?" He tactfully skipped the question of how I'd smelled anything and went straight to whether I could actually pull this off.
"Absolutely. Don't let the size fool you. I'm big where it counts," I said, and smiled.
"Hm." He rubbed his chin. I used a touch of telekinesis to lift the little knife Mathilda had given Erza and me, sending it whistling through the air a few times, fast enough that Bordan barely registered it. "...Alright. I know a guy who'll take the carcasses. Just be careful out there."
"Always." I stood as the cart rolled to a stop and jumped down.
"Lian, I'm coming with you." Erza landed beside me.
"Hm? You don't have to. I've got this."
"No!" she said sharply, then steadied herself. "I need to make sure you're safe. Remember my promise?"
I didn't overthink it. I shrugged.
"Fine, let's go."
So off we went into the forest, me idly spinning the little knife around my fingers. Erza had more raw power but less finesse, so the blade stayed with me to keep it in one piece, while she picked up rocks with her magic as she went, just in case. Theoretically, with her power level and telekinesis, she could have pulped animals outright. But theory and practice are two different things. Using telekinesis on living creatures has its own complications, since living things carry Ethernano with its own will, even in those without an Awakened Soul. Erza's affinity leaned strongly toward telekinesis over non-living objects, which was exactly what she could reliably work with right now. Mine, for the record, ran almost the same way. I could manage the knife, pebbles, that sort of thing, but not much beyond it.
I'd pieced the affinity thing together from my own observations and trial and error, confirmed when Erza couldn't lift the boar carcass even with her magic.
"Aim for the head," I said as we got closer.
Erza nodded.
We stepped out into a small clearing and waited. The pack, thirteen gray shapes, caught our scent and began circling in.
I felt myself smile when I looked over at Erza. She was nervous, visibly nervous, but she had her magic under control and she was ready.
"Now!" I called out, the moment I felt several wolves coil their legs to lunge from multiple angles.
"Hyaah!" Erza let out a battle cry, and a volley of rocks simply bowled over the wolf that had launched itself at her.
I tracked the knife in silence as it flashed across one wolf's throat, then had to drive my fist hard into a second one's muzzle. The heavy body crumpled sideways, jaw shattered.
Then I immediately spun around and, using my legs for momentum, bodychecked a third wolf that had been angling toward Erza.
The clearing filled with the crack of breaking bone, the howling of wounded animals, and wet gurgling sounds.
"Hyaaah!" Erza's rocks took out another one launching in from the side.
Then my magic surged, and the air temperature dropped.
"Get out of here!" I roared, projecting pure bloodlust at the pack. "Hmph!"
A smug sound escaped me as the wolves, having already taken heavy losses, chose to listen and fled.
"You okay?" I asked Erza.
"Fine... hah..." She exhaled hard and let the rocks drop.
"Good work. You did great," I told her, then went to check the bodies. Five total.
We picked the three best and started hauling them back. I used Ethernano to enhance my body and carried two. Erza, straining, managed one, which was genuinely impressive. Dragging thirty kilograms meant she was actually boosting herself, with her limited experience, by a real margin. And all on the back of about five minutes of explanation: push the magic into your muscles, move it through these muscle groups like this. It seemed almost instinctive to her, like she already knew it somewhere, and now she just understood the how a little more consciously.
Walking back toward the cart, I noted quietly to myself that time in the Tower of Heaven had done a real number on her character. In the best possible way. I just wished it had happened more gradually, more naturally, with me there to watch over her.
"Hey, sis..." Still chewing over thoughts about that awful tower, I decided to bring up something that had been sitting with me.
"Hah... hah... What?" She was breathing hard, focused on dragging the carcass.
"You don't... think less of me, do you? After what I promised Jellal? Hah..."
A tired exhale from me too, as I glanced over at her.
Erza stopped. So did I. Her expression went soft, almost pained.
"You wouldn't do the same to me... would you, brother?"
"What?!" I actually blinked. "Of course not! You're my sister. No matter what you did, I'd spend everything I had trying to understand you. To guide you. Whatever the situation called for."
"There's your answer," and then, this girl, this girl, Erza gave a smug little smile and made a finger-gun pose under her chin like some protagonist out of a dramatic novel. "I read about this kind of relationship dynamic once."
She helpfully clarified.
I sighed.
"You were more sure of yourself before," Erza said, quieter now.
"Hah," I smiled anyway, and let it reach her too. "Everyone has their weak moments. Well, looks like I've got reason to hold a grudge against novels from now on."
"Why?"
Genuinely confused. I dropped both wolves, struck the most absurdly dramatic pose I could manage, one hand raised before my face, and delivered my verdict.
"Because they're what let my little sister tease her all-powerful older brother! Who knows, maybe in a past life I was a great God-Emperor?" Fully committing to the bit, I transitioned into a bodybuilder-monarch stance: one arm flexed, the other extended majestically into the distance. "Ave me."
Erza snorted.
"What makes you think you're the older one? Maybe I am."
"Obviously I am, because—"
And on that note, bickering over which of us was the older sibling, we picked up the wolves and kept walking.
"Kids these days..." Bordan shook his head slowly as we came into view.
"Hah... hah... Well... hah... that's just how we are!" Erza announced breathlessly, with considerable pride.
The carcasses went on the cart, and we rattled onward.
"Lian, how much do you think we'll get for the wolves?" Erza asked once she'd caught her breath.
"Not much," I said.
"Should cover a week's worth of food for the two of you," Bordan put in, still working the reins. "Pelts aren't winter grade, and the curing's no small job."
"What?! That little?!"
"That's how it works. Raw materials are cheap; a craftsman's labor is what costs." I shrugged. "That's the market."
"The kid's right," the merchant confirmed.
Erza thought about it, then looked down.
"Ugh, he's right... I've actually read about this."
"Don't be too disappointed. The important thing is it covers us for now, and once we're in the guild, there should be connections in place to help us earn more."
And with that, we kept moving. Erza rarely seemed surprised by what I knew. She'd seen the range of books I'd worked through, and there had even been some material on combat in Rosemary's library, which gave her a reasonable explanation for my fighting ability. Though there was a small detail she was missing: the kind of skill I had couldn't realistically come from reading books and occasionally drilling moves off the page. She didn't know that, though, and most likely just thought of me as an incredibly impressive little brother. Though I was the older one. Obviously.
We reached Hargeon before long, but we didn't stay. We collected our money, exactly what Bordan had said, about a week of food for two, said our goodbyes to the merchant, and made our way to the railway station. We bought our tickets, waited a few more hours, and boarded for Magnolia.
Erza and I had considered going back to Rosemary first, but we didn't have anywhere near enough money for a trip that long. It would take more than a day, and imposing on strangers the way we had last night wasn't something we could keep doing without feeling genuinely bad about it. So we put that trip off. The people we'd lost weren't going anywhere. Their remains were either scattered by animals by now or buried in a common grave by whatever authorities had learned of what happened. Either way, they'd wait.
We didn't dwell on it. We talked about what the guild might look like, what came next, and the journey passed.
And then we were standing on the platform at Magnolia Station.
It was a tidy sort of town, around fifty thousand people. The kind of place that had figured out its own version of orderly medievalism: wide cobblestone streets, solid well-proportioned buildings that actually fit together architecturally, and clean waterways threading through the whole thing at regular intervals.
We asked for directions, found the central boulevard, and started walking. About halfway through the city, we passed Kardia Cathedral, a landmark if there ever was one. Corner towers, imposing stonework, something vaguely castle-like about the whole thing.
We stopped and stared at it for a moment like a pair of tourists, then moved on.
Not much farther along, at the edge of town by Lake Scilliora, we found it. The Fairy Tail guild hall. A large two-story building, and of course a sign. The guild name in big letters, flanked on both sides by what were presumably meant to be tailed fairies: winged female figures with devil-tipped arrow tails. Honestly, they looked more like harpies to me.
"I didn't think we'd get here this fast," Erza said.
"Neither did I. Ready?"
"Yeah!"
We pushed through the doors together.
Inside: dozens of mages, tables full of them, and... hm. Drinking? Was this place a bar?
We made our way through the hall, collecting curious looks the whole way, and ended up at the counter at the far end.
"Hi," I said to the pink-haired girl behind it, who was polishing a glass. "Is there any way we could speak with whoever's in charge?"
"Master Makarov? Sorry, hon, he won't be in until evening. Guild business. What did you need?"
"We'd like to join the guild."
"Oh! New members!" She perked right up. "You're welcome to wait in the hall. Can I get you anything? I'll give you a discount."
Erza and I exchanged a look and nodded.
A few minutes later we were at a table with our order in front of us. One thing we had in common: dessert. Sweets were a weakness we both shared, mine going all the way back to my previous life.
So there we sat, indulging shamelessly. And it would've been a perfectly fine afternoon, except for one thing: a guy at the next table with dark blue-black hair and, notably, nothing on but swim trunks, who had been staring at us since we sat down. Which turned out not to be nothing.
"Hey, you two!" He swaggered over. "When you walked in, you should have greeted the Great Gray!"
I sighed, already bracing for whatever crap this was going to turn into. Erza gave the guy a look that was hard to categorize.
Surely nothing would come of it if I just punched him in the face and went back to eating.