Arriving at the guild entrance, Noah looked at Erza and said:
"From now on, it's your decision. I won't interfere with your actions unless your life is in danger."
Erza nodded seriously and picked up the job request in her hand. The commission stated that a giant wild boar had appeared in a village near Magnolia and destroyed the fields, so they were requesting a wizard to defeat it.
The village was located near Magnolia, and it took the two of them quite a while to travel there on foot.
This was Erza's request, so Noah did not use teleportation magic to take her directly to the destination.
As soon as they arrived near the village, they saw an old man standing at the entrance with a troubled expression. Erza walked over and asked the old man:
"Excuse me, where is the village chief right now?"
The old man snapped out of his thoughts and saw that it was a young girl who had asked him. Just as he was about to respond, he noticed Noah standing behind Erza. He suddenly perked up, his worry fading as a smile appeared on his face:
"Young lady, you're a wizard, aren't you? Noah, is she a new member of your guild?"
Erza looked between the two of them in surprise:
"You two know each other?"
The old man smiled warmly and said:
"Of course I know him. I'm the village chief. Noah used to come here often to complete job requests, so naturally I know him well.
By the way, you're here to complete the commission we sent out this morning. You arrived really quickly."
Noah said to the old man:
"Erza is here to complete the commission today. I'm just here to supervise her."
"Is this a newcomer's first job request? Certainly, let me explain the situation."
The village chief didn't hesitate and began explaining the circumstances. He wasn't worried that the commission couldn't be completed since Noah was accompanying her. If the newcomer couldn't handle it, Noah would obviously step in.
"Our village has cultivated a lot of farmland nearby, but yesterday a giant wild boar suddenly appeared out of nowhere and started devouring our crops. A large area of land has been eaten and trampled.
We're afraid it will return again, so please defeat it as soon as possible."
"Has anyone been injured?"
Erza asked, and the village chief shook his head:
"Fortunately, the young men who were working in the fields ran away quickly, and the wild boar was only focused on eating the crops, so no one was hurt."
"Please take us to the damaged fields now."
"Of course, this way."
After saying that, the village chief led Erza to the farmland outside the village, with Noah following silently behind them.
When they arrived at the farmland, they could see it was severely damaged. The crops in the field were scattered everywhere and the soil was churned up messily. Several villagers nearby were looking at the destroyed fields with sorrowful expressions.
Erza carefully examined the traces left in the fields and found that the marks left on the ground were very large, clearly made by a massive animal, which was consistent with what the village chief had said about the giant wild boar.
Following the traces, Erza discovered that they led toward the nearby forest, so she asked the village chief:
"Did the wild boar flee in that direction?"
"Yes, yesterday, after the wild boar had finished eating the crops, a young man who had kept his distance saw it enter the forest."
"Alright then, I'm going in to fight it now. Requip!"
Erza stood up straight, and a magic circle flashed around her body. Her casual clothes had been replaced with a suit of armor, complete with gauntlets on her hands. She gripped an iron sword and wore tall boots on her feet.
This armor appeared heavy, but was actually extremely lightweight. Noah had specially commissioned it to be made with rare materials. It possessed both flexibility and protection. Even with Erza's rapid growth, it would serve her well for several years.
The iron sword in her hand was crafted from special materials, making it sturdy, durable, and incredibly sharp.
After Erza changed into her armor, she prepared to enter the forest. The village chief called out to her:
"Young wizard, please be careful and don't overexert yourself."
"I understand, village chief."
After saying that, Erza took the lead and stepped into the forest. Noah waved to the village chief and followed Erza into the woods.
In the forest, sunlight filtered through the gaps between the leaves onto the ground, creating dappled patterns of light and shadow.
Erza moved carefully between the trees, trying to lighten her steps and avoid making any noise.
She kept her eyes focused on the hoof prints, broken branches, and trampled grass on the ground, following these traces to find the wild boar's hiding place.
As they ventured deeper into the forest, the air became more humid, the trees grew taller and denser, the sunlight diminished, and the surroundings seemed much darker.
The dim environment also made it more difficult to find clues. Erza stopped and began carefully searching for traces around her.
Suddenly, a low snorting sound came from the distance, and Erza's heartbeat quickened. The source of that sound should be her target.
She crouched down, moved lightly, and slowly advanced toward the direction of the noise.
Coming behind a patch of tall grass, Erza peered through the gaps in the vegetation and saw a clearing. In the middle of the open space lay a massive wild boar resting. Even lying down, it was more than 2 meters tall, radiating an overwhelming sense of intimidation.
This was a perfect opportunity. Erza slowly stood up, emerged from the grass carefully, and tiptoed toward the wild boar.
When she was still several meters away from the wild boar, it seemed to sense danger. Its tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open wide, and its blood-red eyes locked onto Erza.
Erza was startled, but quickly forced herself to remain calm. Now she could only fight back, but a direct confrontation was obviously impossible, so she would have to look for an opening.
The wild boar rose to its feet, let out a low growl, and then suddenly charged toward Erza.
Erza quickly dodged to the side, barely avoiding the wild boar's charge, but the beast's foul stench made her face scrunch up in disgust.
Seeing that it had missed Erza, the wild boar slowed down, turned around, and charged toward her again.
Erza, having successfully dodged once, was obviously much calmer. She sidestepped again, and while evading, the sword in her hand slashed toward the wild boar's flank. The sharp blade easily cut through the wild boar's hide, and blood immediately flowed from the wound.
Although the wound wasn't fatal to the wild boar, it was clearly in pain. It roared furiously, turned around, and charged toward Erza once more.
While dodging, Erza continued using her sword to inflict cuts on the wild boar. Blood sprayed through the air, and Erza became splattered with quite a bit of it.
In this manner, they battled back and forth for several rounds, with the wild boar accumulating multiple gashes across its body, but Erza had also expended considerable energy. She stood there breathing heavily, gripping her sword with both hands while keeping her eyes fixed on the wild boar.