Once the commotion ended, Blanc took the unconscious Natsu to the lounge to rest.
The lounge door swung open. The noise from the hall immediately reached Blanc's ears.
Just then, the Guild Master called out from nearby.
"Blanc, come here a moment. I have a designated request for you."
Guild Master Makarov sat on his personal throne at the counter, cradling his staff. His tiny figure was buried in his coat and odd hat, and he held a request sheet in one hand. He wore a cheerful smile, as though he had just enjoyed a good show.
As Blanc approached, he scanned the request, his voice involuntarily rising a notch.
"Assist the Magic Council in subjugating the dark guild Pandemonium, with a reward of two million J?"
"This is a designated request issued by the Magic Council. They want our guild to send a powerful Wizard to assist them." Makarov waved the sheet, then handed it to Blanc.
"You're the best choice among the Wizards currently available. I originally planned to give it to Laxus, but he's away on a job."
"With your strength, you'll have no trouble completing it. Just exercise a little caution when dealing with the Magic Council's personnel."
"Well, will you take it? If not, I'll pass the job to Lamia Scale and let one of their recently rising stars handle it."
His expression was serious, but his tone remained unhurried. A dark guild deserved caution, but with Blanc handling it, there would be no problem. He had a fairly good idea of Blanc's current strength.
Hearing this, Blanc thought, Lamia Scale's rising star—the Wizard Jura? Then the Guild Master must consider this request pretty important.
He looked down at the request sheet. The name Pandemonium stood prominently in the heading. Oh, what an arrogant name.
"Guild Master, what do you know about this guild, Pandemonium? That name is pretty over the top. Pandemonium-it sounds strong. And the bounty isn't low, either."
Makarov let out a short laugh.
"That's how dark guilds are. Their names sound earth-shattering, but their strength is nothing special. If they really amounted to anything, this would be an S-Class request, not an ordinary one."
He paused, his gaze turning serious.
"Still, it is a dark guild, and their methods are underhanded, so you must take them seriously. As for the high bounty, the Magic Council received intelligence that the guild seems to have been up to something in secret lately."
"They've also raided numerous villages, committing all manner of crimes. But since they have no fixed base, the Magic Council's raids always come up empty, making them difficult to deal with. That's why they raised the bounty, hoping to have powerful guild Wizards with greater freedom of movement take them down."
"You might have to spend some effort tracking them during the job, but the Magic Council's personnel will help with that."
After hearing the Guild Master's explanation, Blanc had a basic understanding of the job. On the surface, it did not seem too troublesome, and he had been planning to start taking jobs anyway.
He took the request sheet, waved, and turned toward the guild's front door.
"All right, I'll take it. I'm off, Guild Master!" As for Natsu, he would settle accounts with him when he returned.
Guild Master Makarov smiled and waved at his retreating figure.
"Safe travels."
The journey took some time. Towns gave way to villages, and villages gave way to forest. Blanc arrived at the agreed meeting point, a forest camp outside Red Apple Village-a clearing trampled flat at the edge of the woods.
A plain tent stood in the Magic Council's temporary camp. Outside it stood a stern-faced man in a Magic Council uniform.
Blanc approached and showed him the request sheet and his Fairy Tail emblem to explain why he was there.
The man responsible for meeting him could not help frowning at the sight of Blanc. His gaze traveled from the boy's still-developing frame to his excessively delicate face, and he spoke with a note of accusation.
"I'm Lahar, the Magic Council combat officer in charge of this mission."
"Why did Fairy Tail send a child? We need a powerful Wizard! This mission is no game!"
Lahar's challenge lent the air a touch of gravity, but Blanc was already used to this. Children taking jobs were bound to face doubts, after all. Whenever this happened, he dealt with it the same way.
He did not argue. He simply released a little of his magic power, keeping it strong enough to exert tangible pressure without being too shocking.
Under the influence of his powerful magic, the air suddenly grew heavier. The grass bent toward the ground, and the tent swayed with a faint rustle. The surrounding sounds seemed to be smothered by an invisible hand, abruptly falling silent.
With his demonstration complete, Blanc quickly withdrew his magic power, and everything returned to normal.
Feeling the pressure of that magic power, Lahar broke into a slight cold sweat and exclaimed in wonder.
"What incredible magic power."
After recovering a little, he straightened his back again and nodded apologetically.
"That was rude of me. I apologize for underestimating you."
Blanc waved it off. "It's fine. I'm used to it. Just tell me what intelligence you have so far. Once I know the situation, we can get moving."
Lahar shifted into work mode as well. He pulled a rolled-up map from inside his uniform and spread it over a wooden crate. Tapping his knuckles against the forest area circled in ink around Red Apple Village, he gave Blanc a detailed briefing.
"The dark guild, Pandemonium."
"The members of this guild worship demons, including the demons from the Book of Zeref and the pureblood demons of ancient mythology."
"They believe demons are higher life-forms that surpass humans, and that humanity's ultimate evolutionary path is 'demonization.' That's why they obsessively pursue traces of demons, hoping to become demons themselves."
"But in truth, they're simply too weak and blindly seek power that doesn't belong to humans."
"To that end, however, they have repeatedly explored ancient ruins associated with demonic legends, searching for ways to summon demons and become demons themselves. They've committed plenty of crimes in the process."
"Recently, they seem to have found some sort of ritual magic for summoning demons. They've been appearing frequently and making various moves, causing trouble for quite a few villages."
"Our people received intelligence indicating signs of Pandemonium members in the forest around Red Apple Village. After investigating the area, I managed to locate their approximate hiding place."
"But during the investigation, I discovered that they were highly vigilant, with numerous scouts around the perimeter. Given their history of cunning behavior, I decided to hold our position and send only a handful of elite personnel in to defeat them."
"Otherwise, if they spotted a large force approaching, they would likely flee immediately. Finding them again would be another difficult task."
After hearing the intelligence, Blanc nodded inwardly in satisfaction. The Magic Council's actually pretty competent. They've gathered all the intelligence and even roughly located the hideout. The groundwork is perfect. All that's left is for me to finish the job. What an ideal client.
At that thought, Blanc smiled and said:
"That's thorough intelligence. This job shouldn't pose any problems, then. Take me there. They're just a bunch of pushovers. We'll deal with them easily and call it a day!"
The shadowy forest was silent. Moonlight spilled down but could not penetrate the dense canopy.
On a narrow forest path, wheels rolled over dead branches, producing long, muffled creaks.
Several people pulled a wooden cart forward. An iron cage was secured to it, its bars covered in dark brown rust and its floor lined with damp straw.
Two figures, one large and one small, were bound inside the cage. Hemp ropes dug into their clothes, and their wrists were cuffed behind their backs. Both were filthy and thoroughly disheveled.
Mud splashed onto their cheeks, mingling with the dust rubbed onto them during the bumpy journey.
Lahar sat inside the cage, his eyes utterly lifeless, all light gone from them. He looked as though he had suffered a devastating blow.
Leaning against the side of the cage beside him, Blanc rolled his eyes hard at Lahar, his face full of exasperation. I take back what I said about the Magic Council being reliable. He wanted to beat his past self to death for thinking he could count on them.