The Missing Swordsman

An hour passed.

Ordinarily, even walking would have been enough time to cross Magnolia City and back. But Zoro still had not returned.

Two hours passed.

The bakery owner, a plump middle-aged man, came to the guild himself and anxiously asked, "Excuse me, Fairy Tail mage, was my letter... delivered? The blacksmith is still waiting for my order so he can get to work!"

Cold sweat began to form on Lucy's face.

Three hours passed.

The blacksmith, a broad-shouldered, burly man, also came storming over, demanding to know why the order letter that was supposed to be delivered that morning had still not shown so much as a trace.

Now the entire guild knew something had happened.

"No way... did he really... get lost?" Lucy's voice trembled. She simply could not imagine how anyone could get lost on a straight road.

"I knew it!" Erza slammed a hand onto the table and rose with a grave expression. "Everyone! Split into groups immediately and search the city for Zoro! Dead or alive—no, we must find him alive!"

Thus began a massive search-and-rescue operation involving every member of Fairy Tail, all because of a C-rank letter delivery job.

However, they soon discovered that finding someone with no sense of direction was far more difficult than hunting down a monster. After all, there was no way to predict his movements through common sense.

Levy McGarden led her "Team of Three" in searching the relatively quiet southern district. In the largest library in the south, she delightedly spotted a green-haired man sleeping face-down on a table. His back looked exactly like Zoro's. She rushed over excitedly and patted his shoulder. "Mr. Zoro! We finally found you!"

When he turned around, though, he was a burly man absentmindedly picking at his feet, his face full of confusion!

Elfman Strauss was assigned to search the major training grounds in the north, the area he knew best. At an open-air swordsmanship dojo, he saw a tall swordsman frantically hacking away at wooden posts. That imposing presence made him think he had found Zoro. He charged in and shouted excitedly, "If you're a man, come back to the guild with me! Zoro!"

But the man was merely an ordinary local swordsmanship enthusiast training hard for an upcoming tournament, and Elfman scared him half to death.

An entire day passed in that chaotic and fruitless search.

The sun set, and night fell.

Zoro was still nowhere to be found, as though he had vanished from the face of the earth.

The mood in the guild grew heavy. Lucy was so anxious she was nearly in tears, feeling that her overly simple map was what had gotten Zoro into trouble.

Just then, a guild member who had just returned from a neighboring town brought back news that left everyone torn between laughter and tears.

"I... I think I saw someone who looked a lot like Mr. Zoro at the entrance to the Lost Forest, dozens of kilometers west of here, this afternoon," he said uncertainly. "He seemed to be... talking to someone."

"Talking to someone?" Erza immediately pressed. "Who?"

"Uh... I think he was talking to one of the forest's signposts."

"..."

"And then," the member continued, "when I passed by again on my way back, I saw him facing off against a huge, vicious-looking creature. That thing seemed to be the legendary A-rank monster of the Lost Forest—the Savage Giant Bear, the 'King of the Forest'!"

"What?!"

The news shocked everyone.

Not only had he left Magnolia City and run all the way to a forest dozens of kilometers away, he had even gone up against an A-rank monster? Was he delivering a letter or going on a sightseeing trip to hunt monsters?!