"Is this really your first time in a carriage?" Cana asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah. First time." 'In both lives.' Kazu looked around the interior.
"Well, it might seem exciting initially, but it will soon get boring," Cana said with a smile.
Kazu lightly smiled. "Well... I can at least travel faster than this. Sustainably too."
Cana blinked.
"Wait, what?"
Gray shook his head. "I don't think so. You might think like that, and I thought like this until few months ago. You think it will be sustainable, but after 12-13 hours of pointlessly running, you will realise that it's not sustainable. So, if we are going for days, it will be more efficient to take a carriage."
Kazu frowned. His expression was thoughtful. "Maybe. I won't know until I try it, but I will take your word. Guess it will be more efficient in a few years when our natural speed increases."
Gray shrugged. "Maybe."
"Woah. You guys talk like old people. You do know that train exists, right?" Cana looked at them, dumbfounded.
"We were talking about short distances. Moreover, trains are not everywhere. At least as of now." Gray retorted.
Soon, they started bickering over some other unrelated topic.
Kazu tuned them out. 'Well, I will rather buy those magic-powered cars in a few years to travel. I saw recently that those are out in the market. Soon, they will get more efficient.'
---
"So, this is the nearby town? Why are we not going to the village directly?" Cana tilted her head, confused.
"Dummy, coz the road is blocked. We will have to go around the forest to get there, which will take too much time. We will go through the forest." Gray teased.
"Tch. And why can't the carriage go in the forest?" She folded her arms.
"The guy didn't trust us to keep him safe. I won't blame him, looking at a shorty like you, I won't trust my life to you either." Gray snickered.
"YOU!... Take that back." A vein popped on her forehead.
"Kids. Calm Down. We have a mission to do." Kazu came between the two, placating them.
"I am not a kid!"
"I am not a kid!"
Kazu instinctively covered his ears and closed his eyes at the loud sound.
'Then stop acting like kids!'
He looked at Erza for help.
'Hmm, who is that guy?' He saw an adult who was talking with Erza.
Erza had a conflicted look on her face, making Kazu wonder what they were talking about.
He then noticed a chocolate in the man's hand.
'No way.' Kazu looked at the scene in shock.
Cana and Gray also noticed his reaction and turned their heads to see the scene.
"Is that guy offering a candy to kidnap Erza?"
"...And she is hesitating to accept it or not?"
They were appalled.
The man looked in their direction and walked towards them.
"Kids, do you want chocolates? I have a favour to ask. You know, one of my friends needs help. Can you follow me?"
The trio looked at the man for a few seconds.
Then they glanced at each other before nodding.
"Nice. So—" His words stuck in his mouth as he felt a force in his gut.
Like a broken puppet, he dropped to the ground with his eyes rolled back.
"Should we turn that guy over to the local authorities? Who knows if a kid falls for such a trap?" Kazu asked the other two.
"Sure. Cana and I will drop that guy while you ask Erza what she was going to do."
With that Gray left with Cana and the man.
Kazu looked at Erza with a raised brow. 'This is going to be difficult.'
---
"If the coachman denied going in, then do you think we will find some magical beasts here?" Cana asked.
The quartet were walking to the village while going through the forest.
"I asked the locals. They said, apart from occasional bandits and some normal wild animals, there aren't threats. So, very low chance." Kazu answered her.
Cana's eyebrows twitched. "And that coachman thought that we can't protect him from such?" She was still irritated at the fact that she would have to go to the village on foot.
"Chill. Do you want me to make some ice for you?" Gray asked with an obnoxious smile. It was pretty funny to antagonise Cana.
Cana clenched her fist. "Why do I get an urge to smash that ugly mug of yours?"
"Look! There are some footprints." Erza unintentionally stopped them from fighting.
Everyone looked at a footprint trail going east.
"What do you think? They match a young person. Maybe they are of our target, hmm?" Cana suggested with sparkling eyes. She felt a need to have a hat and a magnifying glass on her.
Gray rolled his eyes. "Dream on. What type of coincidence will that be? Also, isn't the runaway some rich girl? We are still 2-3 hours away from the village. The distance would be large for a normal person."
Cana shot a glare at him. "Yeah? Then what do you think a person our age is doing here in this forest? Who else other than a runaway? She ran away the day before yesterday. So, even if we assume that she took some breaks, it's not impossible to find her in the forest. What if she is just some dumb girl?"
Kazu came in between. "Guys, calm down. Why are you two so volatile today? Also, Gray put on your t-shirt. Though Cana's point makes sense, I agree with Gray. It's unlikely. If we decide to track it with this so less chance, then it might compromise the mission and possibly that girl's safety."
'Can't these two behave on a mission? Do they really like to be like this even on a mission?'
"B—But..." Cana wanted to retort, but given that it was a logical overview, along with it not coming from Gray's mouth, convinced her.
Erza took this time to butt in on the conversation. "But what if it's some other kid? Won't they be in danger?"
Kazu turned to her. He inspected her face, specifically her righteous expression.
'Hmm...I don't know how to feel about this. My earlier calculations about her needs need to be adjusted.'
"But what if it's just a hunter's child or someone experienced? Could be possible for a mage like us? It's highly unlikely that someone will enter it after somehow bypassing the guards, especially now that we so close to the town."
Erza's face looked conflicted.
'I hope she gets convinced. Hopefully, nobody gives the idea of splitting up. I won't have a good retort to that, especially to convince her. The last thing I want is to split up when we are on our first mission outside.' Kazu internally crossed his fingers.
He could think of several ways things could go wrong if they split up. Just Makarov's expression when they return after any accident makes him scared.
'It's not that I am afraid of the master. He is one of the important people in my life, I don't think I am somebody who cares about other people's expectations... right?' At the sudden internal thought, Kazu felt internally conflicted.
"Right... We should head to the village quickly." Erza finally agreed, snapping Kazu out of his internal ramblings.
"Cool. Let's head quickly to the village while running. Better safe than sorry." Kazu suggested looking at the other three.
Two of them nodded, and one just shot him an unsure expression.
"Erza, how about you piggyback Cana? She won't be able to keep up with our average pace. If she does, she will be too tired for battle." Kazu suggested, looking at Erza. He had framed his words carefully so as not to antagonise Cana.
"Pfft...That's what happens when you skip on physical conditioning. I told you to at least try to maintain your previous physique, but no, you just had to let it deteriorate to this pitiful state. Now you are being treated as a baby." Gray snickered, shaking his head.
Cana was by no means slow. Her physical stats will be better than an average grown non-mage adult. Mages naturally get some degree of Ethernano enhancement. Though they are not as exaggerated as what Kazu uses. They do scale pretty neatly with a person's base stats.
"Gray." Kazu warned. He looked at the shirtless boy with a stern expression.
"My bad. I did it on instinct." Gray muttered, looking away.
Kazu's timely response prevented Cana from retorting.
"Sure." Erza agreed.
So, just like that, Cana got on Erza's back.
The trio started running at a decent pace only after Gray put on his clothes.
"Ugh... Erza, your armour hurts. It ain't comfortable as it feels like I am hit by a wall every few seconds."
The trio stopped. Cana got down from Erza's back.
"Jeez. You complain so much." Gray shook his head.
She ignored him and looked at Erza. "Hey, do you mind if you remove your armour?"
Erza stiffened. "Uhh..."
It went unnoticed by the other two, but Kazu noticed it.
Erza was slightly trembling.
"We still could get attacked by someone during our travel? How about I piggyback you?" Kazu interrupted.
Erza's body relaxed, tension leaving her shoulders.
"Oh, is that fine?"
"Yeah."
With that, the trio resumed running toward the village.
'This is harder than I thought. I wonder what the exact reason I want this mission to go smoothly?' Kazu went back to his internal conflict.
Due to his main magic being instinct magic and how he had previously spent months on it to integrate it into his life, it's pretty hard for him to know when he is using Instinct magic unless he focuses internally on Ethernano movement in his body.
Kazu glanced at the other two. The weight on his shoulders felt heavier than ever.
"What are you thinking with such a serious face?" Gray gave him a side-eye.
Kazu sighed. "Nah. Just some introspection. I feel like an invisible pressure on me, and it's heavy. I hope the mission goes well."
Gray blinked. He glanced at Cana, who also blinked.
"Wait... did you call me heavy?"
***
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