After leaving the mayor's office, Ed headed straight outside the town to begin his investigation.
"Hmm... These footprints are definitely from Wind Wolves, but isn't the number a little off?" Ed compared the tracks on the ground with the information provided by the mayor and found that there were far more tracks than the previous beast tides recorded in the documents.
After thinking it over, Ed followed the direction the tracks led, eventually reaching a forest. Most of the footprints continued deeper into the woods.
Ed did not immediately enter to investigate. Instead, he left a Flying Thunder God Mark on a tree at the forest's edge, then returned directly to town and began speaking with the residents to gather information.
Before long, Ed had learned a few things and decided to confirm them with the mayor. He went straight to the mayor's office and knocked on the door.
"Mr. Mayor, I have a few questions I'd like to ask. Do you have time now?" Ed was exceedingly polite.
"Of course, Mage-sama. Ask whatever you wish. I promise I'll tell you everything I know." After welcoming Ed inside, the mayor slumped into his chair, visibly haggard. He looked as though he was on the verge of collapsing.
"First question: I asked several young people in town, and they all said beast tides happen roughly once every year. Why is this the first time a request has been issued, according to the records?" Ed casually picked up some paper and a pen from the desk, writing and sketching as he spoke.
"I don't really know about that. I remember the beast tides only began appearing within the last decade or so. When I was young, I'd never even heard of such a thing." The mayor thought back before answering Ed.
"Then how did you deal with them before, when you hadn't commissioned a mage guild?" Ed grew even more curious.
"To be honest, calling those previous incidents beast tides would be exaggerating. More plainly, they were just small packs of wolves wandering nearby. They barely even attacked. A few strong young men from town would take up weapons and drive them away, and they'd return to the forest. But this time is different. They've begun actively attacking the trade route. At this rate, forget driving them away—even the survival of our town will become a problem!"
The mayor shouted agitatedly, "And because of our location, it's difficult for our town to grow crops. The harvests are terrible, so the trade route is extremely important to us!"
"Then what do you rely on to survive? Why haven't you moved elsewhere? You even have money to post a request." Ed had spotted the inconsistency.
"It's a blessing and a curse. As I said, we can't develop agriculture because there's a magical crystal ore vein beneath this land. We rely entirely on selling magical crystals to obtain food and funds. If the trade route is cut off, the whole town will be in serious trouble!" The mayor became utterly dejected.
Because the number of Wind Wolves gathered this time far exceeded anything seen in the past decade, and because they had suddenly displayed intense aggression, this middle-aged man had not slept well for days. He had even begun losing his hair.
"Hmm... All right, I understand. Don't worry, Mr. Mayor. In the name of Fairy Tail, I will complete this mission." Ed patted his chest and gave his assurance.
"I'm counting on you... If you need anything, please tell me anytime..." The mayor waved weakly.
After leaving the mayor's office, Ed found a quiet place to think. The Wind Wolf pack appeared over a decade ago. It wasn't serious when it first appeared—no, it wasn't serious until last year. And aside from this year, they were basically never aggressive. Both sides have coexisted peacefully for so long, so there are only two possibilities for this sudden change.
First, the Wind Wolves had only been pretending not to be aggressive, secretly building their strength to storm the town in one blow. But that doesn't make sense. Wind Wolves aren't magical beasts intelligent enough for that, and there hasn't been any major conflict between them. The town's income mainly comes from mining, and they haven't damaged the forest the Wind Wolves depend on for agriculture. Ed had pinpointed the problem.
Then there's only the second possibility: something capable of driving the Wind Wolf pack has appeared, and it bears hostility toward the town. Either a high-level magical beast such as a Wind Wolf King has emerged, or... this is a man-made calamity! Having reached that conclusion, Ed decided to investigate the forest again.
"Whoosh~" Ed appeared at the edge of the forest. Looking at the enormous woods before him and the warning sign that had been erected there at some point—"Wind Wolves Spotted, Beware!"—Ed became even more certain that the second possibility was correct.
As Ed ventured deeper into the forest, the light was gradually blocked by the leaves, and the surroundings slowly darkened.
Ed followed the tracks onward and vaguely heard people talking.
"Boss, we've already gathered so many wolf packs that we've practically turned the whole forest upside down. How much longer do we have to stay in these woods~?"
"Don't rush. There are still several wolf packs in the western forest. Once we drive them over too, it'll be enough. We should be ready by tomorrow night."
"Come to think of it, isn't the Wolf King in the west too? Can Fosa handle it? Isn't his magic only able to control ordinary wolves?"
"Shouldn't be a problem. The guild master is over there too. They're planning to gather everyone tonight, kill the Wolf King outright, then use Fosa's magic to control the wolf packs and slaughter this entire town. Once everyone in town is dead, we'll pretend to be townsfolk and ask the Magic Council and mage guilds for help. Then not only the ore vein, but this town itself will become Smile Coffin's base. Hahahaha! And those damned Magic Council and Light Guild people will even help us repair it~"
"Hahaha, just thinking about it is hilarious. But honestly, a Wind Wolf King in this forest is really rare. It actually restrains its pack from attacking the town."
"Exactly. What a peace-loving wolf. Thanks to it, we could only make them attack the trade route first. Otherwise, the guild master's plan would've been completed long ago."
Ed hid nearby and secretly looked over. A fat man and a thin man with bizarre punk hairstyles were sitting on a tree stump, seemingly resting. These two practically had the words "I'm a bad guy" tattooed across their faces. Their card-player hairstyles and exaggerated facial expressions were impossible to look at, along with their heavy black eyeshadow, pointless metal decorations on their cheeks, noses, lips, and ears, black sleeveless leather vests, and large skull tattoos covering their arms.
That is the textbook villain look. Ed silently mocked them. But the western forest... Tch... troublesome... I can't take them all out at once, and I can't alert them either.
Ed activated Flying Thunder God and immediately left the forest, returning to town and heading straight back to the mayor's office.
"Two pieces of good news and two pieces of bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" Ed skipped the pleasantries and spoke directly to the mayor.
"Um... How about the bad news first?" The mayor immediately clutched his chest.
"Hmm... The bad news is that a Wolf King has appeared in the forest."
"Gah!" The mayor nearly fainted.
"Don't get worked up. The good news is that the Wolf King loves peace. It has no intention of attacking the town, and it has restrained the wolf pack from attacking the town as well." Seeing that the mayor looked ready to pass out at any moment, Ed hurriedly delivered the good news.
"Then what about the beast tide?! And the attacks on the trade route?!" The mayor shot upright from his near-death state and hurriedly asked.
"That brings us to the second piece of bad news. A Dark Guild has appeared." Ed's expression turned grave. "One of them is a mage capable of controlling wolf packs. All the nearby wolf packs were driven here by him. Because the Wolf King has forbidden the wolves from attacking the town, they can only attack the trade route until they deal with the Wolf King."
The mayor looked as though the sky had fallen. He paced anxiously in circles. "What do we do? What do we do... Ah, right! I'll contact the Magic Council now and have them send people to subjugate this Dark Guild!"
"There's no time. Based on the information I gathered, if nothing changes, they'll launch an all-out attack with the wolf packs tomorrow night. The Magic Council can't get here in such a short time." Ed looked at the map on the wall.
"Then isn't it all over?!" The mayor's world came crashing down.
"Don't worry. I said that was if there were no variables. Aren't I the biggest variable?" Ed narrowed his eyes, and his gaze gradually sharpened.
Before you continue