This Is a Fairy Tail Wizard

"Achoo!"

Eleven and Gildarts were huddled and shivering in a small cave. Snow swirled outside, and Eleven had to block the entrance with his psychic power to keep it from blowing in.

"Gildarts, where exactly is that dark guild?" Eleven pulled his padded coat tight around him. Even though he had wrapped himself in a layer of Spiritual Power, his nose was still running from the cold.

Aside from his big black cloak, Gildarts was practically bare-chested, yet he seemed unable to feel the temperature at all. He paid no attention to the cold outside.

"This is the kind of difficulty you run into on a mission. Finding a way to overcome it is a wizard's job."

Gildarts spoke with great conviction, looking every bit the senior wizard, but Eleven was absolutely certain he had sensed a trace of embarrassment in his mental fluctuations.

"Oh, are you lost too?" Eleven crouched in the corner, drawing circles with his finger, looking as though he had nothing left to live for.

Gildarts ignored Eleven. In truth, he was puzzled too. How could they fail to find a guild that big?

The two had climbed all the way from the foot of the mountain to the summit without finding a single clue.

"Gildarts, are you really sure it's around here? Let me have a look. I'm going to freeze to death at this rate." Eleven had perked up again at some point. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he closed his eyes and slowly spread his Spiritual Power out in every direction.

Gildarts watched Eleven with appreciation. Despite his young age, he had not shrunk back when faced with difficulty, but had calmly tried to solve the problem using his own strengths. A wizard like that had the potential to stand on his own.

Eleven unleashed all his Spiritual Power, and everything within a twenty-kilometer diameter appeared in his mind.

Yet he found nothing. There were no buildings or suspicious objects anywhere.

"How can there be nothing? That can't be right!"

Trusting Gildarts, Eleven narrowed the range of his senses and concentrated his Spiritual Power, searching more carefully for the slightest trace nearby.

"Wait, this is... a trace of human activity. It just disappears right in front of the mountainside?"

Eleven frowned slightly. He gathered all his Spiritual Power against that section of the mountain, and it gradually seeped into the rock.

"Hehe, found it!" Eleven suddenly grinned and looked triumphantly at Gildarts.

"Oh? Where is it?" Gildarts brightened and asked Eleven.

Eleven looked down at the ground. "Right beneath our feet! Their guild is actually inside the mountain. The entrance should be somewhere at the foot of the mountain in that direction. If we leave now, we can get there before dark."

Eleven moved to pull Gildarts along, but Gildarts showed no sign of moving. Instead, he crouched down and felt the ground beneath his feet.

"Eleven, are you sure they're directly beneath us?"

Eleven nodded emphatically.

"Hehe, good. Let me teach you one more thing!" Gildarts pressed one hand to the ground, a confident smile on his face. "As a wizard, you must always complete a mission in the fastest, best way possible. Wasting time on the job is a big no-no for a wizard!"

The moment he finished speaking, the ground beneath their feet shattered—or rather, the entire mountaintop crumbled from halfway up. As they fell, Gildarts tucked Eleven under his arm and smashed into the mountain like a meteor.

Rumble!!!

Countless block-shaped boulders crashed to the ground along with Gildarts, and the magnificent building inside the mountain was reduced to rubble in an instant.

Bang!

Gildarts landed on the ground, shattering a large area beneath him to cushion the impact, yet Eleven felt no jolt at all.

Eleven hung in the crook of Gildarts's arm, dumbstruck and unable to believe a human could do such a thing. The dark guild, once hidden in the gloomy mountain, now looked deathly pale, like a vampire exposed to the sun, as sunlight poured through the enormous hole overhead.

"Who the hell are you? How dare you destroy our guild! I'm going to kill you!"

As the furious roar rang out, the massive rocks around them suddenly turned to magma and surged into the air. Numerous dark guild wizards also crawled out of the ruins and charged at Gildarts, howling.

"I was talking about ordinary wizards just now." Gildarts still wore a smile, as though he hadn't seen the enemies charging at him, and continued unhurriedly. "But as a Fairy Tail wizard, you must go all out when it's time to act, and follow the path you've chosen without any distractions. That's what it means to be a Fairy Tail wizard!"

"Crushing Evil, Spreading the Truth: Empyrean!"

On an utterly ordinary day in X773.

The dark guild, Fangs of the Teng Snake—"annihilated"!

The highest peak of Mount Magir Snow Mountain—gone!

"You idiot! You actually destroyed a snow mountain? Just how stupid are you?! And who takes a kid along on an S-Class Mission?! You moron!"

Makarov roared, his mustache bristling and his eyes bulging.

Gildarts laughed as he listened to the master's scolding, occasionally reaching out to soothe him as he threatened to jump up in anger.

Eleven stood nearby, his eyes shining as he muttered, "Go all out... follow through without distractions... all out... hehehe... I'm a Fairy Tail wizard!"

He was beside himself with excitement, as though he had suddenly found his direction in life.

Because the famous snow mountain had been destroyed, the Magic Council was furious. It issued a strong condemnation of Fairy Tail and demanded compensation for the damage.

As a result, after deduction upon deduction, the S-Class Mission, which had originally paid a commission starting in the tens of millions, left them with only 20,000 J in pocket change. (The value of Fairy Tail's currency is similar to the Japanese yen, so 20,000 could be considered pocket change for an S-Class Mission.)

Gildarts generously split the payment equally with Eleven.

Eleven's eyes dazzled as he held the "fortune" of 10,000 J. Since coming to this world, he had not so much as touched a single coin, and he had never expected to have so many coins and bills in his hands now. He could even hear them jingle when he held a big handful. He felt so happy!

Clutching the pay he had earned through his work, he raced back to the orphanage and held it up before Maria as though presenting a treasure.

"Maria, here! I earned this by working! Ten thousand J!" Eleven had never felt so proud. His little face was slightly flushed as he looked up at Maria, seemingly waiting for praise.

Maria looked at the child holding out a great pile of change to her, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

Who could have known that the lie she had casually made up back then would become this child's goal, and that he would achieve it in just three months?

Maria had seen the hardships for herself. It broke her heart whenever Eleven came home bruised and battered each day.

Of course she couldn't take Eleven's money. When she had said that the children from the orphanage would all contribute their wages to support it, she had made the whole thing up to fool Eleven. The orphanage would never ask anything of these children.

But looking at Eleven with his little hands raised high, Maria really didn't know how to refuse him.

In the end, Maria sighed and picked through the money in Eleven's little hands until she found a one-J coin.

"All right, then I'll take this one! Little Eleven, you're amazing."

"Huh? Just that? I have lots more, Maria. You can have it all!" Seeing that Maria had taken only one coin, Eleven immediately raised his hands even higher, wanting to give her all his money.

"No need, little Eleven. The orphanage only takes one J from your earnings each time! The rest is all yours. Little Eleven, you're amazing! You're already working and earning money at such a young age!"

Maria had no choice but to keep lying to Eleven, praising him lavishly to change the subject.

"Hehehe, I'm not that great~"

Eleven was a little embarrassed by the praise. Besides, he had no real concept of numbers, so since Maria said it was the orphanage's rule, he didn't press the matter.

After putting his money away, Eleven pestered Maria again, chattering as he began to give her a brief account of his mission.

"Listen, listen! Gildarts was amazing..."

One year later... X774.

"Master, this is bad! Eleven and Laxus teamed up for a mission! They were shouting about having some kind of contest, too!"

"Oh, oh, they really do get along! Where did they go?" Makarov was the same as ever, sipping his drink and cheerfully watching the young people's antics.

"The... the royal capital..."

Pfft!!

"Quick, quick, bring them back! If those two go on a rampage in the royal capital... waah... poor me!"

The moment he heard "royal capital," Makarov felt terrible. Then, at the thought of the flurry of written apologies he might have to face afterward, the elderly man in his seventies or eighties burst into tears with a wail.