First Mission

Loper Village

This was the village closest to Fairy Tail. Recently, it had been overrun by wild boars, so the villagers had sent a request to the guild.

After a week of pleading, Qian Guang had finally been allowed to take the job, having defeated Erza and fought Macao to a standstill.

Of course, Qian Guang had not used all his methods, since it had only been a spar.

Although Macao had ultimately won, it had still dealt him a heavy blow. He was in his prime, yet he was nearly unable to beat a twelve- or thirteen-year-old child.

That day had also been rather hard on his cigarettes.

"Why am I only clearing out wild boars?! Are they comparing fighters like Erza and Natsu to wild boars? That damn old man—I'll spread mustard on his bread when I get back."

Qian Guang felt miserable. He had begged for an entire week, only to get a wild boar extermination job.

And there was practically no reward; it was only a small token of appreciation from the villagers.

"This is completely different from Lucy's mission. Why was her first mission... ummm, I can't remember. But the difficulty was definitely different! That damn old man is discriminating against children!"

Though Qian Guang complained, this was still his first mission. He had to complete it perfectly.

"Great Mage, are you the only one?" The village chief of Loper Village looked skeptically at Qian Guang, who was not even as tall as he was.

"Don't worry, Village Chief. I may look like this, but I'm just a little short. I'm actually eighteen."

There was no helping it. To make the village chief trust him, Qian Guang could only lie about his age.

Looking at that childish face, the village chief could not possibly believe he was eighteen. But there was no other choice now; he could only pray that this child could handle things on his own.

"Then I'll leave it to you, Great Mage. The wild boars have been appearing near the vegetable fields. None of us dare approach them, and several of the village's good men have already been injured." The village chief looked troubled. After all, the crops were their main source of income.

"As long as I'm here, it'll be fine, Village Chief. Take me to the fields." Qian Guang patted his chest.

The two arrived near the farmland, where a group of villagers stood watching with weapons in hand. Six or seven wild boars were rooting through the vegetables.

"The village chief is here!"

"Village Chief, has the Fairy Tail mage arrived? Those damned wild boars are here again!"

"Everyone, quiet down. This is the Great Mage from Fairy Tail," the village chief announced loudly to the clamoring villagers.

Qian Guang said nothing as he looked at their distrustful expressions. Even in a world of magic, sending a twelve-year-old child to fight wild boars as large as carts was rather absurd.

"My name is Qian Guang. Leave this to me." Qian Guang decided to let his strength speak for itself. Wild boars were not magical beasts, after all; Wind Blade would be enough to hurt them.

Qian Guang approached the boars, and a magic circle lit up in his hand. "Wind Blade."

A massive blade of wind took shape, far more solid than anything that half-baked pervert could have produced.

"Whoosh—"

"Vivi, vivi, vivi!!" The front legs of two wild boars were severed, and they collapsed to the ground, struggling. Qian Guang had aimed low because he was worried the attack would not be strong enough. Unexpectedly, it worked remarkably well.

"Ooh, amazing, Great Mage!"

"Ah-ha! Our crops are saved now!"

Seeing this, the villagers no longer doubted Qian Guang's strength and began praising him one after another.

The remaining four wild boars saw their companions' miserable state, and their ferocity was stirred. One of them charged at Qian Guang.

Seeing the charging boar and the trampled crops, Qian Guang's expression darkened. If this continued, the crops would be ruined too. He had held back from using larger-scale magic because he was worried about damaging them.

The Sharingan activated. He cast an illusion on the boar, then flung a torrent of Wind Blades at it with his right hand.

"Vi!"

The wild boar screamed in terror. Its world had suddenly turned upside down, and just as it tried to retreat, the Wind Blades shredded it into a bloody mess.

Looking at the miserable boar, Qian Guang finished it off with another Wind Blade. He had been able to fight bears back in the village; a mere wild boar was nothing to him.

The remaining boars sensed the terrifying aura radiating from the Sharingan and fled into the mountains.

"Thank you so much, Great Mage!" The old village chief excitedly grasped Qian Guang's hand.

"Just call me Qian Guang. Are these all the wild boars?" Qian Guang felt that if there were only this many, an entire village should not have been unable to deal with them. After all, people could use tools.

"Of course not. Before this, there was an enormous Golden Boar. It led a herd of wild boars in attacking the village," the village chief explained, though his eyes darted about uneasily. He had only said that wild boars were attacking the village, not how strong they were.

Qian Guang looked at the village chief speechlessly. So he had been playing word games. This was completely disproportionate to the reward.

Qian Guang did not mind dealing with that boar. After all, that was more worthy of his first mission. If he had not felt that joining the guild without experiencing a mission did not truly count as joining, he would rather have stayed home researching potions.

After this mission, he would probably have to rest for a while.

But Qian Guang did not like that idea. No one knew what his companions might encounter.

"I'll report this to the Guild Master. But Village Chief, I think you should go to Fairy Tail and have the difficulty of this mission reassessed. This is a serious matter. I don't want my companions getting hurt in the future because of this kind of mistake." Qian Guang looked sternly at the village chief.

"Yes, yes. I already sent someone to take care of it," the village chief replied with his head lowered. He could feel the pressure.

"I'm going into the mountains to take a look." Qian Guang's opinion of the village chief had worsened considerably, and he decided to head up the mountain directly.

The village chief watched Qian Guang's retreating figure and sighed. He could only pray that everything would be all right. The village had already spent so much dealing with the boars that it could not offer much more; if the mission rank was raised, they would not be able to afford the reward.

After Qian Guang entered the mountains, he also guessed the village's difficulties. But he did not compromise, because it would be his companions who got hurt.

"Ah, I wonder if Golden Boar tastes good. I'm getting hungry."

Night fell.

He took care of several wild boars along the way, but he still did not find any trace of the Golden Boar. He could only rest where he was and roast some wild boar meat.

"I was still too impulsive. I should've waited until morning. There are way too many bugs." Qian Guang found some mosquito-repelling herbs nearby, crushed them, and smeared them around his tent as he complained.

"I guess this counts as Golden Boar too, right?" Looking at the golden, sizzling pork hock dripping with grease, Qian Guang said happily.

"Mmm~"

"It really is delicious. The meat in this world is all so good, except for that fucking shark fin!" With his mouth covered in grease, Qian Guang remembered the shark fin that had poisoned him and viciously took another bite.

Boom!

A clap of thunder suddenly sounded in the distance, startling Qian Guang to his feet as he looked around.

"Damn, is the sky angry?" He looked up in confusion, but everything seemed normal.

Qian Guang leaped onto a tree. Now he knew where the thunder had come from. Not only was thunder rumbling in the forest nearby, but golden lightning flashed as well.

Just as he wondered which idiot was practicing magic in the middle of the night instead of sleeping, he heard an enraged "Vi!"

Qian Guang instantly perked up. Vi meant wild boar, and lightning this powerful meant Golden Boar.

Excited, Qian Guang grabbed his pork hock and ran toward the thunder. After all, he still had to eat.