"I'm back!"
Three hours later, Silas Frost returned to the guild, lugging a large cloth sack stuffed full of fresh vegetables, his face brimming with excitement.
The round trip alone should have taken two hours, and dealing with the rabbits should've required at least another hour. But he had finished everything in record time. After tracking down the nest, he unleashed a single Wind Scar the blast had ripped the burrow apart, sending dirt and rabbit corpses flying more than ten meters into the air. Nothing survived.
"So fast?!"
The entire guild froze in shock. Even Makarov blinked before clearing his throat with a cough.
"Not bad… ah, by the way, the farm owner left the remaining deposit here. Come collect your 20,000 Jewels."
"There was still a deposit?"
Silas's eyes lit up. He sprinted over to Makarov, snatched the pouch of cash, and counted quickly before stashing it away with a satisfied grin.
"This mission was way too profitable. Reinforcing the farm, plus the base commission, that's 150,000 J. And with the deposit, it's 170,000 J in total! Grandpa Guild Master, if there are any more jobs like this, make sure to call me first!"
"Wait! What did you just say?!"
Makarov stared at him, his face twitching.
"I said if there are any more jobs like this "
"Not that! The sentence before it!" Makarov pressed, his voice rising.
Silas paused, then said more cautiously, "…A mission worth 170,000 J?"
The entire guild turned to stare.
"How in the world did you earn that much?" Makarov asked, his tone caught somewhere between disbelief and suspicion.
"Ah, it's simple," Silas replied matter-of-factly. "I suggested the farmer reinforce his fence. He agreed and paid me 100,000 J. Then I completely destroyed the rabbit nest wiped them all out with one strike. The farmer saw the results and happily gave me the rest of the reward."
When they heard his explanation, every guild member gave Silas the same strange look half dumbfounded, half amused.
Not bad. This guy had managed to squeeze every drop of value out of a commission!
A simple 30,000 J request had been twisted into a job worth over 100,000 J and, more importantly, the clients genuinely believed he was worth the price.
"This kid… he was born for this line of work!"
That was the thought forming in everyone's hearts.
Silas Frost, meanwhile, wasn't thinking about any of that. He headed straight back to the commission board, carefully scanning the postings for another suitable job. His mind raced the whole time, plotting how he could spin each mission into even greater profit.
Before long, he picked up a nearby lake-clearing request.
He grabbed a quick meal, then dashed off to complete it.
Upon arrival, he met the lake's owner, made a suggestion, offered a pricier "improvement," and, once the man agreed, immediately got to work. The proposal was completed, the lake was cleaned, and the commission finished.
That single job netted him 90,000 J including a 10,000 J base reward.
Silas's eyes sparkled. His idea worked perfectly. He was hooked.
When he returned to the guild with the news, the entire hall fell into stunned silence. Dozens of heads swiveled toward the commission board.
For a moment, no one could decide whether Silas was just dangerously reckless or outright monstrous.
From then on, Silas transformed into a commission machine. Day after day, he accepted missions, completed them, and never missed a chance to tack on extra proposals for more money. Not every client agreed, but enough did to keep his pockets heavy.
But as Fairy Tail's mages watched job after job vanish from the once-crowded request board, they began to panic.
At this rate, there wouldn't be any work left! And if there was no work, there would be no food money!
The guild erupted into chaos. Desperate members scrambled to grab jobs before Silas could snatch them up, creating a frenzied competition that turned the commission board into a battlefield.
…Until, finally, the board was stripped bare.
"No more?" Silas blinked at the empty pillar. "I've done that many commissions already? How is it empty?!"
At his words, the guild hall fell silent. Then, as one, every remaining member turned their resentful eyes toward him.
"When are new commissions supposed to come in?!"
"If there aren't any, then what are we supposed to do?!"
The guild was in uproar. Members who hadn't managed to grab jobs looked half-starved already.
"You see what's happened now?" someone shouted. "We all had to fight for work just to survive. This is no way to live!"
"Guild Master!"
Silas Frost turned and looked straight at Makarov.
The old man was in the middle of drinking when he nearly choked on his wine. He hacked and coughed for several seconds before finally wiping his beard and glaring at Silas.
"Silas, my boy… you've been working far too hard lately. You need to learn balance both work and rest. Take a few days off, hm? Do your training, but let the job board recover a bit."
Hearing that, Silas could only nod reluctantly.
Truth be told, he had been running himself ragged accepting jobs nonstop, training in between, barely giving himself time to breathe. Besides, with over three million Jewels saved up, this was the perfect chance to pull a ten-in-a-row card draw and boost his strength further.
When the rest of the guild saw Silas finally step away from the request board, they all let out a long sigh of relief.
But just as Silas sat down, he suddenly sprang back to his feet and declared,
"Wait I just remembered! Isn't there another guild called… something Ghost? We could just take their request board instead!"
The hall fell into stunned silence.
The guild: …
Please, be human!
Even Makarov froze for a moment, a bead of cold sweat rolling down his forehead. His relationship with Phantom Lord was already strained. If Silas kept "rolling up" like this and even cleared out other guilds' commissions, the entire Fiore peace treaty would go up in flames.
With Silas completing so many missions so quickly, there was no doubt: more and more commissions would flow toward Fairy Tail in the future.
That was good news for the guild… but it came with consequences.
If Fairy Tail absorbed most of the work, other guilds would naturally lose out. And among them, none would feel it more sharply than Phantom Lord.
Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord were both among the most famous guilds in Fiore. If one gained, the other lost. With commissions piling into Fairy Tail, Phantom Lord's board would dry up.
And knowing that petty, narrow-minded Jose, Makarov could already guess how this story might play out.
"Heh. Well, whatever. When the boat gets to the pier, it'll straighten out. If that stingy man wants to fuss, let him. He still can't beat me."
Makarov chuckled to himself, completely unconcerned.
Silas, however, had no interest in guild politics.
He sat down, opened his game window, and stared at the glowing balance. Over three million Jewels saved up finally, a real fortune.
The system, of course, wasted no time. Before Silas could even settle in, the window gleefully popped open with a new banner:
Limited-Time Recharge Bonus! First-Time 30,000 Spirit Stones Earns a Grand Mystery Reward!
Silas twitched at the corner of his mouth.
Of course… More than a year without recharging, and now this cursed mountain-village gacha game can't hold back anymore. It's practically drooling, waiting to bleed me dry.
He knew this predatory design all too well. One pull wouldn't be enough; the game wanted everything.
And yet, despite his irritation, the limited-time rewards were simply too tempting.
With a sigh, Silas made his choice. Keeping only four to five thousand Jewels in reserve for emergencies, he dumped the rest over three million Jewels into the game at once.
The screen lit up like a festival.