Fireground Hero (Part 1)

After a few minutes of silence, Old Suo dropped his goofy act and put on the kingly mask hidden deep within his heart.

"Hey! Josephine, what happened to you? Why are you the only one who survived?"

Upon hearing Old Suo's question, Josephine, terrified by the memory, covered her head and trembled for several seconds before stammering, "A demon! A dark blue demon!"

Glancing at the stone tablet that the other person's pupils were slanting at, Old Suo tentatively asked, "Is this the guy recorded on this stone tablet?"

"That's right!"

"Liar! This place has been around for at least several hundred years, how could any living thing possibly survive here!"

After Laxus finished speaking, his two companions nodded in agreement.

"If what's recorded on this stone tablet is true, then it's not surprising that guy survived!"

Upon hearing the captain's explanation, Josephine and the others stared at him in surprise.

"Are all mages' imaginations this wild?" (Josephine's inner thoughts)

"Old Suo has lost his mind. How could he believe such a lie?" (Laxus's inner thoughts)

"Hey! Are all S-Class Mage this abnormal? (Lidas's inner thoughts)"

"Ah! That's it! This guy is Old Suo, he hasn't been switched!" (Kana's inner thoughts)

A second passed quickly, and everyone left their mental world and returned to real life.

"Old Suo, don't listen to this guy's nonsense. This is definitely a lie she made up to cover up the truth." (Laxus)

"That's right! (Kana)"

"That's not necessarily true. Perhaps this young lady was seriously injured and hallucinating, mistaking the murderer for a demon. (Lidas)"

"Hmm... that makes sense! (Kana)"

After glancing at the three expert strategists, Josephine grasped Old Suo's hands tightly and said earnestly, "Mr. Sordil, everything I've said is true. It's not a lie or an illusion. Please believe me!"

After pulling his hands out of hers, Old Suo gazed into her eyes and said, "Since you insist that a demon attacked you, you must have seen its face. Now, please draw it."

To prove she wasn't lying, Josephine agreed to Old Suo's request without hesitation.

"Okay! I'll draw!"

After receiving the tools, Josephine closed her eyes and meditated for a moment before picking up her brush and sketching the outline from her memory on the canvas.

As time passed, the originally discontinuous and haphazard rough lines gradually connected into a whole, becoming an extremely rough and simple drawing.

Although this thing was extremely difficult to identify, Old Suo still managed to match it with a certain creature in his mind thanks to his powerful imagination.

"No mistake! This guy is Deliora! (Old Suo's inner monologue)"

"Oh no! Ulu is in danger!" (Old Suo's inner monologue)

After comparing reality with his conjecture, His Majesty the Emperor's brows furrowed instantly. Without giving anyone a chance to offer an opinion, he immediately issued the next course of action.

"Kana, hold Josephine steady, we need to get to the client!"

"Huh? (Quartet)"

While Kana and the others were still in a daze, silver lines began to appear beside them. The moment their surprised exclamations escaped their lips, Silver-White Light appeared, and then they were riding in an express train speeding towards their destination.

Before Old Suo and the others could step out of the silvery-white halo, a scorching heat enveloped their bodies. Immediately afterward, explosions, shouts, and screams mingled together and rushed into their ears.

Once his vision returned to normal, Laxus asked in surprise, "Old Suo, are you sure you're not in the wrong place?"

Turning his head to glance at everyone, the captain shook his head and said, "Impossible! I've been to Esdar Town several times, there's absolutely no mistake!"

Just as Kana and the other two were looking at each other in bewilderment, Josephine, a local, stepped forward.

"Yes, this is Esdar Town, but how did it become like this?"

The moment the archaeologist finished speaking, a powerful roar came from afar.

"Roar!"

"What...what is that? (Lidas)"

Gazing at the dark figure in the distance, Josephine's fragile mental defenses crumbled once more.

"No... no! How could this demon... how could it have found its way here?"

Seeing Josephine weeping and shaking her head, Old Suo shouted to the three men behind him, "Take her away immediately, I'm going to help the villagers!"

"Old Suo..."

Before Kana could even utter a word of farewell, Sordil had already vanished from their sight.

"What should we do now? (Lidas)"

"Needless to say! Of course, we'll follow in Old Suo's footsteps and give that big guy a good beating! (Laxus)"

Just as Laxus was about to charge into the center of town, Kana, who was standing to the side, stopped him.

"Stop!"

"Um?"

"Old Suo's mission for us is to take Josephine away, not to confront that guy, so we need to hurry up and get out of here."

"What a joke! We're Fairy Tail mages, how can we abandon our teammates and run away alone? (Laxus)"

Seeing that Laxus wouldn't listen to her advice, Kana had no choice but to turn to Lidas was just a background character, for help.

"Lidas, stop Laxus right now!"

"Lidas, don't listen to Kana, come with me and chase after Old Suo. (Laxus)"

Faced with the two men's requests (commands), Lidas instantly lost his ability to judge.

"This..."

Seeing the hesitant Lidas, Kana and the other woman decisively ignored him and continued their battle.

"Kana, if you want to leave, then leave by yourself. I'm definitely going to fight!"

"No! Old Suo told us all to leave before he left, so I won't let you go!"

"Hmph! If I want to leave, no one can stop me!"

"You..."

After rolling her eyes twice, Kana put away her anger and said softly, "It's not impossible for you to leave, as long as you can persuade Old Suo!"

Looking at the Crystal ball in the other person's hand, Laxus nodded and said, "Alright! It's settled then!"

After Thunder Dragon finished speaking, Kana began to pour magic into the Crystal ball. Because Laxus's attention was entirely focused on the Crystal ball, he did not notice the unusual magical energy in the air.

"Thump!"

Before the Crystal ball could react, Laxus lay down.

"Uh... this..."

Turning her head to look at the astonished Lidas, Kana raised her right hand and explained, "This ring can cast a spell that puts people to sleep. It was a birthday present that Old Suo gave me."

"Oh, I see!"

"Alright! Enough talk, get them out of here."

Nodding to Kana, Lidas then created a carriage and transported the disoriented Josephine and the unconscious Laxus away from there.

After separating from Kana and the others, Old Suo was originally prepared to defeat the big guy in front of him, but when he saw... oops, slip of the tongue! When he heard several voices nearby, he instantly changed his mind.

"Holy crap! Are you kidding me? What are they doing here?"

After grumbling about his fate, Old Suo rushed toward the nearest sound.

"Crackling"

Before a sea of fire, a girl with purplish-red hair knelt on the ground, shaking the two mangled bodies in front of her.

"Dad, Mom, what's wrong? Get up!"

"Dad, get up quickly, or you'll catch a cold!"

"Mom, I'm so scared, please don't scare me!"

"Waaah... Don't leave me alone!"

"Waaah!"

Just as the girl was curled up on the ground crying, a loud explosion came from behind her, followed by the wreckage of a house, now just a frame, crashing down on her head.

"Whoosh"

Upon noticing something amiss, the girl hurriedly looked up to see what was happening, and then she screamed in fright at what she saw above.

Ah~~

To the girl's surprise, the house wreckage did not fall down for a long time.

"Um?"

Driven by curiosity, the girl opened one eye and looked toward the source of the constant crackling.

"Little girl, are you alright?"

Looking at the towering giant in front of her, the purple-haired girl was stunned by the word "hero" that suddenly came to mind, losing the ability to receive external information and respond.

Hey! Little girl!

"Ah?"

Seeing that the girl had come to her senses, the silver-haired boy who was enjoying the flames (yes, that Old Suo) said, "Little girl, if you're not injured, you should leave the town quickly!"

Upon hearing the decree from the gods, the purple-haired girl, with her remaining rationality, managed to control her descending head and said, "Big brother, my mom and dad are still sleeping. I can't leave them behind!"

The silver-haired boy glanced at the two corpses on the ground, his brows furrowing for a moment. The next second, he smiled and said, "Little girl, you go first. I'll bring your parents to find you later!"

Seeing the god's warm smile, the purple-haired girl released her mental control and made her head move up and down rapidly.

"Big brother, I'll be waiting for you under the big tree outside town!"

"Good!"

After reaching an agreement, the purple-haired girl slowly stood up and ran towards the edge of town with her short legs.

Once the girl was away from the fire, Old Suo punched the rubble above his head, turning it into countless fragments to prevent it from harming other villagers.

After dealing with the source of danger, the big liar looked at the two corpses on the ground and gave a bitter smile.

"Haha! It seems I've dug a huge hole for myself!"

After criticizing his own intelligence, Old Suo shook his head and said, "Forget it, I'd better go rescue those guys first, and then think about how to fix this mess!"

After speaking, Old Suo put the corpse on the ground into his storage space and then disappeared into the silvery-white light.