(Heartfelt thanks to Xiao h Zhai, Bing Yue Ying, Tian Jiao ~ Mei Nu, Er Ci Yuan Wo Men De Meng, and Sing Zai for their tips!)
(Please bookmark, recommend, and click! They're all free! Please support me, everyone!)
"Actually, ever since not long ago, the villagers who went into the Forest to hunt had often heard the sound of a ghost crying!"
With those words as an introduction, the village chief began his explanation.
Not far from this village stood a rarely visited Forest.
There was nothing particularly special about this Forest. Unlike the Forest beside Magnolia Town, where all kinds of Magical Beasts lived, it was merely an ordinary Forest, containing at most some wild animals or weak Magical Beasts from elsewhere.
Because of that, the village used the Forest as its hunting grounds. They went hunting there every day, and it served as one of the village's main sources of food.
Not long ago, quite a few villagers had faintly heard the sound of a young girl crying while hunting in the Forest.
At first, the villagers thought that a child had accidentally wandered into the Forest. They wanted to find the child and bring her out.
But before the villagers could begin searching for the child, something strange happened.
Naturally, Noah had no idea what exactly that strange occurrence had been.
But according to the village chief—there had been a hole in the sky!
Faced with such a bizarre phenomenon, the villagers stopped searching for the child. Yet from then on, they could still occasionally hear the sound of a child crying in the Forest. Moreover, holes would continue to appear in the sky from time to time, sending chills down their spines.
Thus, word spread throughout the village that the crying child in the Forest was a ghost whose tears brought a curse that tore open the sky.
The villagers were simple, honest people, and they firmly believed that explanation.
So, gradually, the villagers no longer dared to enter the Forest to hunt. Since the village relied on the Forest's prey as its primary food source, its food supplies were no longer as plentiful as before, causing no small amount of hardship.
With no other choice, the village chief could only send a request to the nearest mage guild, asking someone to come and drive away the ghost.
More accurately, he wanted someone to discover the true source of the crying and the truth behind the ruptured sky, so the village could return to how it had been before.
"The reward was gathered by all the villagers. It isn't much, only two hundred thousand Jewel, but we still hope you can help us." The village chief lowered his head slightly and bowed. At his age, such a gesture was already close to his limit.
"Can you accept our request?"
Noah frowned slightly and fell silent.
It was not that Noah did not want to accept the request. There were simply too many uncertainties involved, and he did not know whether he could complete the village chief's request on his own.
As for the reward, for such an uncertain job, it could not be called much, but neither was it little. All he could say was that it was fairly decent, so long as nothing unexpected happened.
Besides, Noah did not care much about rewards. He still had the one million Jewel reward left over from the mission to activate Lake of Rituals, and he was not in urgent need of money, so there was no need to haggle over the payment.
After giving it some thought, Noah spoke.
"To be honest, Village Chief, there are too many uncertainties in this incident. We still haven't even confirmed whether it was really a ghost that tore open the sky. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to help you, so I'd like to stay in the village for one night first, then go to the Forest tomorrow and take a look before deciding. Is that all right?"
"Yes! Thank you very much!"
There was a trace of relief in the village chief's voice. Noah smiled slightly as well, tightening the long cloth bag slung over one shoulder like a backpack as he began considering what he needed to pay attention to during tomorrow's mission.
For a village, this one was small, but surprisingly not very backward.
Its homes were somewhat old compared to the buildings in Magnolia, but their styles were not much different. It was not like some villages, where there were only stone houses built from rocks. The inn provided for Noah was a little small, but there was nothing to complain about.
At the village chief's instructions, the innkeeper learned that Noah was a mage from Fairy Tail, specifically here to help the village solve the troubles caused by the ghost. Therefore, he did not charge Noah for his stay.
However, unlike the village chief, after learning that the mage from Fairy Tail was just such a young child, the innkeeper said little, but the disappointment in his eyes was impossible to hide. It left Noah rather depressed.
I hope tomorrow's mission goes smoothly...
With that thought in mind, Noah settled in briefly, then left his room and sat down at a wooden table in the inn's lobby. He ordered food and began replenishing the energy he had spent after a day of travel.
However, just as Noah was enjoying his dinner, three people arrived at the entrance of the inn.
They were three eye-catching boys and girls around eleven or twelve years old, probably the same age as Noah.
The reason they drew attention was simple: all three of them had striking white hair.
Standing in the middle was a girl with long white hair tied into a ponytail. She wore revealing, swimsuit-like clothing, had a thoroughly unpleasant expression, and looked fiercely at everyone around her.
To the girl's left stood a boy dressed in neat student-like formal clothes and shorts. He was rather burly for his age and had somewhat dark skin, but his face wore a timid expression that sharply contrasted with the ponytailed girl's, making one wonder whether their roles had somehow been mixed up.
As for the one standing on the girl's right, she was the shortest and looked the youngest. She had a bowl cut and wore a cute dress.
At that moment, the little girl with the bowl cut was speaking to the ponytailed girl with a worried expression, but the ponytailed girl turned a deaf ear.
The burly boy also seemed to be timidly trying to persuade the ponytailed girl. In the end, she shot him a vicious glare. He shrank his head back and, with no backbone whatsoever, hid to one side, looking as though he were about to cry. It was hard not to laugh.
Such an unusual trio naturally caught Noah's attention. He immediately slowed down his eating and watched them with interest.
Just as Noah was observing the three white-haired children, the ponytailed girl seemed to notice his gaze. She turned around, and her eyes met Noah's.
Noah could clearly see the obvious displeasure on her face. She clearly did not like being watched by him and was just about to glare at him when she noticed the Fairy Tail guild mark on the back of Noah's right hand.
The ponytailed girl froze, then a puzzled expression appeared on her face.
She looked like someone who had searched tirelessly for a particular person, only to discover that the person before her did not match the one she had been looking for at all.
However, the ponytailed girl quickly pushed those thoughts aside. Ignoring the timid boy beside her and the worried little girl's attempts to stop her, she walked toward Noah.
Seeing that, even Noah could guess what was happening.
She was coming for him!
"Hey!"
Sure enough, the ponytailed girl came straight to Noah's table and asked in a thoroughly impolite tone.
"You're the mage from Fairy Tail? The one who came to deal with the ghost incident in the Forest beside this village?"
The ponytailed girl's troublemaking tone made Noah frown deeply. He put down his utensils.
"Big Sister Mira!"
At that moment, the little girl in the cute dress came over as well. As if trying to break up a fight, she grabbed one of the ponytailed girl's arms, bowed deeply to Noah, and repeatedly apologized.
"Sorry, sorry, Big Sister Mira doesn't mean any harm!"
"I'm really sorry!" The burly boy came over too and bowed deeply to Noah.
"My sister really doesn't mean any harm. Please don't blame her!"
Noah nodded at the three of them, with no anger in his voice.
"May I ask what you want with me?"
"My name is Mirajane Strauss!"
The girl named Mira pulled her delicate face into something like a sinister grin and said the following.
"Sorry about this, but your job belongs to us now!"
Before you continue