Aibo's First Commission

"Aibo, Aibo~ I've discovered a very serious problem!"

A week later, Cana came to find Aibo with a miserable expression.

Just a few days ago, she had still been riding high, frequently summoning Diamond Vulcan in the guild to beat Natsu senseless and stealing the spotlight for a time.

"What is it, Cana?"

Having wrapped up his research into Summoning Magic for the time being, Aibo had decided to settle down and relax lately, so he was leisurely studying Take Over Magic.

"Aibo, I've discovered the biggest drawback of Summoning Card Magic!"

Cana counted on her fingers with a serious expression.

"If the contracted magical beast is too weak, it's not much use and can only serve as cannon fodder. But if I want to contract a powerful magical beast, I can't beat it!"

"...If you have something to say, just say it. No need to beat around the bush." (I can hear it anyway.)

"Hehehe~ How about Aibo comes with big sis to do a commission? Just the two of us, okay~?"

"..."

Aibo remembered that Erza had only taken a long-distance commission and left yesterday. He hadn't expected his Cana to be such a scheming girl.

"Fine. I happen to be pretty free lately too..."

Aibo did not refuse. Going out for some fresh air would be nice, and it would help him stockpile Inspiration Points. He was a little envious of Cana's magical talent. Perhaps she had reached her growth spurt, because her magic power had been steadily climbing lately.

He had already decided that he would not use any more Inspiration Points until he raised Meditation to LV4.

"Yay! Time for a grand adventure!"

Aibo let Cana pull him over to the guild's commission board to choose a suitable job.

"Let's see, there are quite a lot of magical beast extermination commissions..."

"Cana, these commissions require us to kill the magical beasts rather than drive them away. They don't match our goal."

"Ehehe~ I guess that's true."

Then Aibo noticed a rather unusual commission.

[Help! Drive away the Demons in the village! Reward: 20000J. Location: ...]

"A commission to drive away Demons? And it only pays this little?"

"Huh? You're right, that's pretty suspicious. Could it be a very weak Demon? By the way, Aibo, can Demons be contracted through Summoning Card Magic?"

"I don't know... I've never seen a Demon. But if it's a very weak one, it should be similar to a magical beast... How about we take this commission and give it a try?"

"Sure, sure! This village isn't too far away either. We don't need to teleport this time. Let's take a carriage there together!"

Cana's eyes lit up as she readily agreed. In truth, she just wanted to go out and have fun with Aibo. Where they went did not matter.

Cana tore down the "Drive Away Demons" commission and went to inform the guild master.

But just as the two were about to set off, a little blue-haired girl suddenly appeared. Levy puffed up her cheeks like a tiny pufferfish and blocked their way with an unhappy expression.

Levy was too embarrassed to throw a fit in front of Aibo, so she pulled Cana aside to plot in secret. Of course, Aibo could hear every word they said over there...

"You two were going to secretly take a commission without me again! That's too much!"

"Ahaha, well... Levy... I thought you were reading, so I didn't want to disturb you. Haha, haha..."

[Damn it! I clearly heard she was supposed to help watch the shop today. Was the intel fake!?]

"I let it slide when you secretly went to the snowy mountains together last time, but this is Aibo's first commission! I'm coming too!"

"Sigh~ Fine. We are good sisters, after all."

[What a nuisance, Levy!]

After the two finished discussing it, they returned and brought Aibo along. The three rented a carriage and headed for their destination. The fare alone cost 1000J. No wonder the commission had been sitting there unclaimed.

Once they got into the carriage, Aibo cast Transformation Magic and turned himself into a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old.

He grew taller and sturdier, his long cherry-pink hair tied into a high ponytail that hung behind him. The trademark faint, mischievous smile rested at the corner of his lips, making him look like an exceptionally handsome and energetic young man.

Both girls stared blankly at Aibo's transformation. Levy, in particular, could not take her eyes off his older face, and a blush crept across her cheeks.

"A-Aibo, why did you suddenly grow up?"

"Hmm? We're out on business. If I look too young, the client might not trust us. And keeping up this appearance can also train my magic... Uh..."

Aibo paused because he had accidentally heard both of their thoughts again.

[Mm-hmm, not bad. My Aibo really is the best, whether it's his abilities or his looks!]

[W-why does Aibo look so good? Is grown-up Aibo actually this handsome? With such an amazing face, he's still so innocent. That's way too unfair! How am I supposed to think of him as a little brother from now on...?]

Cana's thoughts were not much of an issue, but Levy's thoughts were rather dangerous. Were little girls these days maturing this early?

Although Aibo had always been fought over by the three girls before, he knew very well that his role had basically been that of an oversized toy. It was the pure friendship of children, the sort of game where they competed over who was closer to whom.

But Levy's thoughts now seemed to be taking on a corrupted turn.

Emmmm...

Forget it. There was no point overthinking it. They were children who did not know better, but he did. He just needed to keep a closer eye on things and let nature take its course.

"Aibo really learns every kind of magic so quickly. Changing your physique is already fairly advanced Transformation Magic, right?"

"It's okay. It's not that difficult..."

Aibo's Transformation Magic was now LV2, allowing him to alter his appearance and clothing. At a higher level, Transformation Magic could even completely turn someone into another creature, with effects somewhat like a druid's.

Aibo thought Transformation Magic was very useful. Since it was inconvenient to practice flying outside, he might as well practice transforming instead. He would never easily pass up any opportunity to grind experience points.

"Aibo, let me hug you~"

Levy, who had originally been sitting opposite Aibo, sat down on his other side with a red face. Her mind was filled with some very unsettling thoughts, and even her smile had become a little strange.

"Uh..."

Aibo could not bring himself to refuse, so he could only let Levy wrap her arms around his arm and rest her head against his shoulder.

"Hmph."

Cana saw Levy sitting quietly on Aibo's other side. Though unhappy, she did not say anything. Everyone liked Aibo, after all, and she was used to it.

Cana started chatting idly with Aibo. As long as Aibo was beside her, she would be happy.

Only Aibo himself knew how agonizing it was.

There was no other reason. Levy's "thoughts" were simply far too explosive at the moment, as though Ghost Brain were burning—

[Ah~ Grown-up Aibo looks so cool, and his skin is still so nice. Unlike other boys, Aibo doesn't always like getting himself filthy. Can a boy really be this perfect...?]

[Forget being his big sister. That's in the past now! This big sister role can go!]

[Although Aibo is still little now, once we grow up, we'll be childhood sweethearts. Books always say childhood sweethearts get married when they grow up, so I'll definitely marry Aibo someday...]

[Oh right, there's Cana and Erza too. But it's fine. They're so much older, they'll definitely be too embarrassed to compete with me for Aibo. I'm only three years older than Aibo. I'm the one most suited for him...]

[Hehe, when we grow up, we'll get married. After getting married, we'll do embarrassing things, and then we'll have children, right? What should our child be called? Aibo is so good-looking, so our child will definitely be smart and pretty too...]

[Maybe there's no need to wait until marriage. The forbidden fruit would lose all meaning if it wasn't tasted before marriage...]

"..."

Cold sweat trickled down Aibo's face. He did not even dare pull his hand free to wipe it away.

Levy's inner world was far too rich!

No—! Literary girls were not supposed to be like this!

What kind of bizarre books had Levy been secretly reading by herself all this time? Someone, help! Is nobody going to do anything about this!?

The short two-hour carriage ride was practically torture for Aibo.

By the time Levy had just given birth to their eleventh child in her mental world, they finally arrived at the destination village.

"I-I need to use the bathroom!"

Aibo practically vanished from the carriage in an instant. Even after escaping the mind-reading range of Telepathy Magic, his fingers were still trembling slightly.

He had thought the side effect of mind reading was merely a little annoying and not a serious problem, but Aibo now knew he had been wrong. Constantly hearing other people's thoughts was not a good thing at all. Some people could ignore all defenses and directly assault the soul!

How had he spent two years with Levy without realizing she had such terrifying delusional abilities? Was it because she had never thought of him as a boy before?

But she was only this old. Where had she read so many bizarre novels and learned so much strange knowledge? It was utterly terrifying.

Hiss—learning to completely control Telepathy Magic was imperative!