The four chatted as they walked and soon arrived at the village where the quest was commissioned. What met their eyes were green mountains and clear waters, surrounded by wisps of smoke, and a harmonious and peaceful scene of men plowing and women weaving in the fields.
Entering the village, Statiw looked around curiously. He had never seen a rural landscape before, especially not one in another world, which made him incredibly curious.
"Hey, what are you looking around for? Is there anything worth your attention?" Mirajane had been observing Statiw's every move and was very curious when she saw him looking left and right. She looked around with him but found nothing special, so she said, "It's just a very ordinary small village."
Mirajane's words also caught Lisanna and Elfman's attention. They looked around like her, and after finding nothing, they turned to look at Statiw, waiting for his answer.
Statiw was only looking around curiously because he had never seen such a sight before and found it novel, but he couldn't let Mirajane and the others know this. After all, if he acted like he had never seen an extremely ordinary small village, then his origins would be hard to explain. Therefore, he could only muddle through, "I am a Mage who uses Pict Magic, so of course, I have to observe everything in life carefully. When it's time to paint, I won't lack material."
Although Statiw's words were a bluff, they weren't entirely without reason. Therefore, Lisanna and Elfman suddenly understood. Mirajane, on the other hand, turned back, let out a 'Tsk,' and said nothing more.
The four arrived at the village chief's house, as the village chief was the quest giver. When the village chief saw them, he was stunned.
"You are still children. What if something happens? Does your guild not care? No, no, I cannot let you take such a risk." Seeing that they were all children around twelve or thirteen years old, the village chief simply couldn't trust them, especially since the Fairy Tail guild had not yet reached its future nationwide fame.
"Old man, what did you say?" Mirajane was quite hot-tempered at this time. As soon as she heard the village chief disbelieve their abilities, she immediately grabbed his collar with a furious expression and roared.
"Sister Mirajane, don't be angry. Let me talk to Grandpa Village Chief." Seeing her grab the village chief's collar, Lisanna skillfully tried to calm her down. Elfman also timidly tugged on Mirajane's arm from behind and whispered, "Sister, don't be so rough."
Just then, Statiw walked up to the village chief, first rescuing him from Mirajane's grasp, and then he said to the village chief in a serious tone, "Our Guild Master is very strict about approving quests. Don't look at our young age; our strength is not low. Mirajane has enough power to solve the problem here. Otherwise, the Guild Master wouldn't have let us come out to perform this quest."
"Is that so? Well, alright. Come with me, I'll take you to see those annoying wild boars." First, he was unsettled by Mirajane's magical pressure and anger, which already made the village chief a little flustered. Now that Statiw had given him an out, he immediately took it and led them to the place where the wild boars were causing trouble.
Passing through the village and arriving at the side closest to the forest, they had just reached the area when they discovered a group of incredibly robust wild boars rooting up the crops in the field.
These wild boars were enormous; the leader was already over three meters tall. The others were generally over two meters tall. No wonder the villagers couldn't deal with them; these wild boars were simply too big.
"How scary. These wild boars are so big." Upon seeing the size of the wild boars, Elfman was the first to say timidly.
"I told you. These wild boars are not something you children can handle. You should go back and have your Guild Master send some stronger Mages." Hearing Elfman's words, the village chief immediately felt that his previous words were correct, so he began to persuade them again.
"Idiot. Who said I can't handle them? They're just big wild boars, aren't they?" Mirajane was furious again when she heard the village chief doubt their abilities.
However, this time it was Elfman's words that provoked her, so Mirajane didn't lay hands on the village chief again. Instead, she immediately used her Take Over magic, summoning a Satan Soul, and unleashed all her anger on the group of wild boars.
It was those wild boars' bad luck to encounter Mirajane, this fiery girl. She went all out from the start, with no intention of holding back. She was now clad in a red leotard, her hair standing on end, her hands transformed into talons like an eagle's, and she had a tail and a pair of bat wings on her back.
After completing her transformation, Mirajane flew directly towards the largest wild boar. Her speed was so fast that in the blink of an eye, she was already above its head, then directly punched it.
The next second, after a tragic wail, the largest wild boar stumbled back two steps and fell to the ground. It twitched twice and then became motionless. At the same time, blood flowed out of its mouth.
Immediately after, Mirajane's figure flickered continuously. Each flicker resulted in another wild boar falling. In just a few seconds, the wild boars that had been plaguing the village were dealt with. Her speed was almost unbelievable, especially for Statiw, who was incredulous. Although he knew that Mirajane was strong even at this time, her strength to this extent still exceeded his expectations.
Of course, this also gave Statiw a rough understanding of the strength of Erza, Natsu, and Gray, who had not yet appeared. Incidentally, Statiw also turned to look at Lisanna and Elfman, who stood beside him, watching Mirajane and cheering her on. He remembered that Lisanna's future strength would not be weak, and Elfman would even reach S-rank in the future.
At this moment, Statiw couldn't help but think sadly: "Who is the one with the special power here? Why do I see no hope of becoming strong?"
Immediately after, he thought: "No, that's not right. Since I have this power, I will definitely become strong. It's just that I haven't found the path yet. As the saying goes, there are no useless magics, only useless mages. Yes, that must be it."
Just as Statiw was lost in thought, Mirajane's shout suddenly reached his ears. At the same time, his collar was grabbed by her, pulling him in front of her. The distance between them was so close that their noses were almost touching.
"What are you thinking about? Why aren't you listening to me properly? Do you look down on me?" As she spoke, Mirajane's face quickly showed an angry expression, and her eyes stared straight at Statiw, as if he would be attacked if he didn't answer well.
"Ah, sorry, sorry. I was just thinking about the path I should take in the future." Seeing her like this, Statiw immediately apologized with a smile on his face.
Seeing his apology, Mirajane didn't continue to vent her anger on him. After releasing his collar, she then stuffed a stack of money into his hand and said, "The quest is complete. Besides the ten percent that goes to the Guild, the rest will be split equally among the four of us. That's 45,000J each."
"Huh, isn't this inappropriate? After all, I didn't help at all." Statiw immediately felt uneasy when he heard her words, as he hadn't contributed any effort.
However, Mirajane grabbed his collar again and said with an angry expression, "Do you look down on me?"
"I wouldn't dare." Statiw immediately shook his head and yielded.
"Hmph, if I tell you to take it, then take it. Since we teamed up to complete the quest, the reward should be split equally. Who dares to have a problem?" Mirajane released him and said with an undeniable tone as she turned away.
After she walked a little further, Lisanna approached Statiw and said to him with a smile, "Brother Statiw, don't decline. This is Sister Mirajane's good intention; she just isn't very good at expressing herself. If you continue to decline, you'll only make her angrier, and then you'll have to pray for your own good fortune."
After listening to Lisanna's words, and turning to look at Elfman, who was nodding repeatedly, Statiw finally looked at Mirajane's back and accepted. He remembered this favor, and at the same time, he made a decision to do his best to help the three siblings overcome that future difficult challenge...