Forest Blanc

On his way to the mission site, Blanc kept appearing and disappearing. He blinked from place to place, having the time of his life.

Teleportation magic combined with Blanc's endless mana meant endless blinking. The card still imposed certain restrictions, but it was more than powerful enough.

Before long, Blanc had blinked across the wilderness and reached the station. The mission site was still several days away, so he could hardly blink the entire distance.

Olt Town, on the border of a kingdom neighboring Fiore.

The border town should have been peaceful, but an oppressive atmosphere now hung over it.

Carrying the "Urgent S-Class Commission" stamped with the Magic Council's bright red seal, Blanc hurried along and finally reached Olt, a bustling border town in a kingdom neighboring Fiore, several days later.

"Ancient Ruins that appeared out of nowhere, an ever-expanding zone of 'Divine Disappearance,' and even the defense force is helpless?"

Blanc walked through Olt's streets, studying the subdued crowds around him while checking the information on the commission.

According to the commission, anyone who entered the ruins' range vanished mysteriously, and that range was spreading toward the town. His task was to eliminate the source before the town was swallowed up.

The instant Blanc stepped into the town center, an almost imperceptible ripple seemed to spread through the air, like ripples across water.

It vanished in a heartbeat. Even his keen magical senses registered only a faint twitch. Blanc stopped and glanced around suspiciously, but the streets looked unchanged. Civilians came and went, and nothing seemed amiss.

"Was I imagining things?" Blanc shook his head, gave it no further thought, and headed straight for the defense force's command post.

Blanc had just identified himself and entered the command post when a balding middle-aged man in lavish robes hurried over. His face was haggard, his eyes bloodshot, and he anxiously clasped Blanc's hand.

"Sir Wizard, you're finally here! Those Ancient Ruins that appeared out of nowhere are nothing short of a demon's curse! Everyone who went inside disappeared, and even the defense force is helpless. That strange power keeps spreading toward the town, too. If we don't stop it soon, all of Olt Town will be finished!"

"Please calm down, sir. That's exactly what I'm here for." Blanc gently reassured the overwrought man.

Following close behind the middle-aged man was a tall, powerfully built knight in armor, his gaze sharp. His hurried steps, however, made it clear that he was far from calm.

He stepped forward to stand beside the middle-aged man, his brows drawing tightly together as he studied the handsome boy before him, who looked barely into his teens-far too young.

"I am Garrot, commander of Olt Town's defense force."

"You're the emergency reinforcement sent by the Magic Council?" Garrot's tone was stiff. His right hand unconsciously settled on the sword at his waist as he continued gravely.

"Dozens of my finest men entered those ruins and never came back. We don't even know whether they're alive. Every day, I've been hoping a powerful Wizard would come to resolve this disaster, so their sacrifices wouldn't be in vain. But..."

Garrot looked Blanc up and down, his fists tightening slightly. "You're too young, boy. I'm not just worried about whether you can resolve this. I'm worried you'll fail to bring anyone back and lose your own life as well!"

Blanc wasn't angered by Garrot's doubts or conflicting feelings. He simply smiled.

"Please don't lose confidence just because I'm young. I am a bona fide S-Class Mage, after all."

Seeing the atmosphere turn somewhat tense, the middle-aged man hurried to smooth things over.

"Oh, how careless of me. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Oliver, the mayor of this town. May I ask your name?"

"My name is Blanc. I'm a Wizard from Fairy Tail," Blanc introduced himself.

Garrot froze. Then his eyes, previously filled with suspicion and agitation, widened slightly, and he blurted out with undisguised excitement:

"Blanc? Could you be... 'Forest Blanc'?!"

"Uh, I suppose that would be me." Blanc raised an eyebrow. The first time he had heard that title, it had sounded strange to him, but after being called it often enough, he had let it go.

A little confused, Oliver leaned closer to Garrot, who seemed like an entirely different man, and asked quietly, "Is that name famous?"

The agitation finally faded from Garrot's stern face, replaced by unmistakable excitement and relief.

"Over the past year, even here in a neighboring kingdom, I've often heard rumors about Fairy Tail's newly promoted S-Class Mage."

"According to those rumors, the Wizard known as 'Forest Blanc' not only possesses terrifying magic that lets him freely control an entire forest, but more importantly, he's different from Fairy Tail's other destruction maniacs, who only know how to smash towns apart. Blanc is famously calm, powerful, and incredibly reliable, with a mission completion rate of one hundred percent!"

"Uh, you flatter me. Really."

"If it's you, I'm sure everything will be all right!" Garrot's eyes reddened slightly as he bowed deeply to Blanc. "Please, we're counting on you!"

Faced with his anxious clients, Blanc wasted no more words.

"Leave it to me."

"Allow me to escort you to the boundary of the Divine Disappearance zone to investigate," Garrot offered.

Mayor Oliver said anxiously from beside him, "Garrot, just send a soldier along with our Wizard. Why do you have to go yourself?"

"No. Too many people have already disappeared. We shouldn't add any more needless sacrifices. I'm confident I'm strong enough to protect myself. I'll be more useful to Sir Blanc than an ordinary soldier would."

In the end, at Garrot's insistence, he accompanied Blanc to the ruins. Wooden stakes stood at intervals along the path leading there, staggered along the way.

Looking at the stakes, which resembled a guardrail, Blanc wondered what purpose they served. A path like this shouldn't need a guardrail, and even if that was what they were, their haphazard placement wouldn't offer any protection.

"What are these stakes along the road for?" Puzzled, Blanc asked Garrot directly.

"We put them up as a temporary measure to track the expansion of the ruins' range."

"We set up these stakes to measure how far the ruins' influence has spread. Once their range covers a stake, it disappears. By checking where the stakes have vanished, we can clearly tell which areas are still safe."

Blanc nodded at the explanation. It was a sound approach.

As they followed the stakes farther in, Blanc continued thinking. He had too little information to determine exactly why the ruins caused people to disappear.

Beside him, however, Garrot's expression grew increasingly grim.

When Blanc happened to notice his expression, he couldn't help asking:

"Mr. Garrot, what's wrong? You don't look well."

Looking grim, Garrot struggled to speak.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Blanc. I was afraid I was imagining things, and I didn't know whether it was good or bad, so I haven't mentioned it."

"But now that we've come this far and walked for this long, my fears have been confirmed."

"What do you mean?" Blanc asked with a frown.

"We should have reached the last boundary we observed some time ago."

"According to our previous observations, where we're standing now should already be within the ruins' affected area. But all the way here, I haven't seen a single gap in the stakes!"

"It seems the ruins' range is shrinking?" Garrot said uncertainly.

Blanc's gaze sharpened, and he replied in a slightly graver tone:

"Has it ever shrunk before?"

Garrot's expression darkened further. "No."

Blanc immediately understood why Garrot had looked increasingly troubled. But it was still only a theory, and they needed evidence to confirm it.

Before long, however, the evidence lay before them.

Garrot silently led Blanc onward until they reached the end of the line of stakes, finally arriving at a stretch where none remained.

Unwilling to give up hope, Blanc asked:

"Mr. Garrot, are there no stakes ahead because we've reached the end of the marked area?"

"No. This is where we first started setting up the markers."

"So the stakes that disappeared have reappeared. Perhaps we'll find the people who disappeared farther ahead, too," Blanc speculated.

"I'll take the lead from here. Mr. Blanc, stay about two meters behind me." Garrot looked ready to march to his death.

Blanc caught the knight before he could continue and reassured him. "There's no need to go to all that trouble."

Blanc clapped his hands together. A sapling suddenly sprouted from the ground beside him, grew steadily larger, then changed shape until another Blanc stood there.

"Wood Release Clone. This clone has half my strength and mental power, and our consciousnesses can synchronize. He's capable of handling most situations. Since we don't know what we're dealing with yet, let's have him scout ahead," Blanc said, turning to Garrot.

"What convenient magic," Garrot said admiringly.

The clone nodded to the original, then became a blur as he raced toward the distant Ancient Ruins.

The original Blanc sat down casually and closed his eyes, linking his consciousness with the clone's to observe the situation and quietly wait for the "Divine Disappearance" to occur.

Yet as the clone continued along the path...

The expected instant loss of contact never happened. Through their shared consciousness, Blanc watched the clone advance without trouble, then stop and look knowingly at a temporary camp ahead, where wisps of cooking smoke were rising.

"Sure enough, the missing people have reappeared too."

The clone immediately headed toward the camp, but something was odd about the soldiers there. Despite having been missing for days, they showed no signs of panic. Everything was orderly, and there was no indication that their supplies had been cut off or that they lacked food or clothing. They were even busily discussing how to investigate the strange ruins.

Blanc walked up and tapped one of the soldiers on the shoulder.

The soldier jumped, then turned to see the clone and asked warily, "Who are you? Another scout who's just come in?"

"I'm a Wizard who accepted the commission." The clone studied him. "You're members of the exploration team that lost contact earlier, right? Could you tell me what happened after you disappeared?"

The soldier looked utterly baffled and gave the clone a strange look. "We lost contact? What are you talking about? We only determined the ruins' safe boundary yesterday and set up camp here. We're preparing to find a way to rescue the teammates who went missing before us."

Looking at the strange soldier and the strange scene before him, Blanc began to form a theory.

With a grave expression, the original Blanc asked Garrot, "Mr. Garrot, could you please tell me about the last squad that disappeared, and when they went missing?"

Garrot wondered why he was asking, but answered anyway. "The last group to disappear was a squad stationed outside the safe area that existed before the ruins expanded. They vanished a week ago, on the first day of month X, year X780."

Blanc's clone asked the soldier in front of him, "Do you know what today's date is?"

The soldier looked at Blanc as though he were an idiot. Did he really need to ask? "The first day of month X, year X780!"