After the first commission from Mystogan ended, the guild remained quiet for two days.
To be precise, it's just that no one was knocked out by sleep True Magic anymore. Natsu and Gray continued arguing from morning till noon as usual, while Elfman was looking for a job suitable for a man.
As Lin Yuan pushed open the door, a wooden cup flew in from the other end of the hall.
He turned his head to the side, the wooden cup brushing past his ear before being steadily caught by the spatial barrier behind him.
" Gray!" Natsu shouted, pointing this way, "You almost hit Lin Yuan!"
"You're the one who threw the cup!"
Lin Yuan returned the cup to the counter and headed towards the task board. After buying the new house, he only had 100,000 J left, so making money couldn't stop for the time being.
In front of the task board, Mira held a task card with a purple grape pattern on it.
You're back just in time.
Mira handed him the commission.
The location for the commission is the Lyle Vineyard in southeast Magnolia. There grows a type of grape called Sunset Grape that absorbs the magic of sunlight. It ripens only once a year, and the ripening time is concentrated in the half hour before and after sunset. If picked too early, the fruit will be sour and astringent; if picked too late, the magic accumulated over the year will dissipate back into the vine.
The scope of the contract includes only harvesting, sorting, and transportation, with a remuneration of 160,000 J.
"The vineyard originally hired four people, but two of them got injured at the last minute," Mira said. "Now we're just short two."
"Can ordinary people do this?"
"Yes, but there's no time. After they ripen, grapes of different colors need to be placed into their respective wooden barrels. The client wants to find a mage with keen senses and quick reflexes."
Lin Yuan read the request requirements again and wrote his name after the recipient's name.
Mira took the pen and signed it beside her.
Makarov, who was behind the counter, looked up when he saw the request the two had brought. "You two S-Class Mage are going to pick grapes together?"
"The task board doesn't say S-Class can't be removed." Mira placed the task sheet in front of him. "Guild Master, stamp it."
Makarov looked at her, then at Lin Yuan, and finally pressed the guild seal.
Upon hearing the word "grapes," Natsu immediately came over and asked, "Can we eat them after we pick them?"
"No," Mira said, putting away the request. "Besides, there's no share for you."
"I never said I was going!"
That would be best.
Makarov picked up his teacup and watched the two leave. Mira had spent a long time choosing, but she ended up selecting a commission that only required two people; her intentions were naturally obvious to him.
"Youth is wonderful."
The two left the city that morning. Large, neat wooden frames stretched down the gentle slope to the foot of the mountain. The vines and leaves had turned red, while the unripe grapes were hidden under the leaves, appearing as a nearly transparent light blue.
The vineyard owner, Lyle, was an elderly man with gray hair. He had been repairing shears under the shed when he saw the newcomer and first checked the guild emblem on the quest slip.
" Fairy Tail sent two S-Class Mage?"
"We're just here to pick grapes today," Mira said.
Lyle hesitated for a moment before handing them the prepared apron and bamboo basket.
The actual harvest wouldn't begin until evening; the afternoon's work consisted of checking the trellises and organizing the empty buckets. Lin Yuan was responsible for pressing the loose wooden stakes back into the soil, while Mira spread her wings and checked the condition of the vines row by row from above, retying any guide ropes that had been blown askew by the wind.
When Lin Yuan finished repairing the third row of trellises, Mira landed beside him from the air.
"There's a crack in the sixth row from the right."
"I'll go change."
"The timber is behind the warehouse. Also, Mr. Lyle said I don't need to go back for lunch; he'll bring it over."
Lin Yuan nodded and skillfully put away the hammer and rope.
Mira watched him separate the tools of different lengths and put them into the wooden box. "You can even do this now?"
"In the past, when the guild was damaged, someone always had to help repair it."
"I remember you only ever agreed to carry the heaviest pieces of wood back then."
"Now that we have our own house, we can't just be clueless."
Mira couldn't help but chuckle, reaching out to take the ropes he had just straightened. "There are two more rows over there, let's go together."
Lunch consisted of freshly baked bread, cheese, and meat wrapped in grape leaves. The two sat in the shade of the pergola, listening to Lyle explain the different colored barrels. Red-striped barrels held fully ripe fruit, white-striped barrels held fruit whose magic had not yet reached its peak, and those with damaged skins were kept separately to make jam.
"The most troublesome part is the last half hour," Lyle said, pointing to the western ridge. "When the sun sets behind that gap, the whole garden changes color. Last year, the four of us almost didn't finish."
Mira glanced at the grapevines covering the hillside. "We'll take care of the upper half, and the other two will handle the lower half?"
"If possible, that would be best."
After lunch, the four of them placed the empty buckets at the entrances of each row. Lin Yuan didn't use large-scale spatial True Magic to avoid the chaotic magic affecting the grapes, but simply used his senses to memorize the location of each path and bucket. Mira flew over the trellis and pointed out several areas that were easily obscured by leaves.
Once all preparations were complete, the sun had begun to approach the western ridge.
Lin Yuan stood in the middle of the upper half of the vineyard, holding the short shears Lyle had given him. Mira landed in the adjacent row, picking up two empty bamboo baskets.
"Let's get this straight," she said, shaking the bamboo basket in her hand, "You're not allowed to move the entire vineyard into the space today."
"I didn't intend to do that."
"You clearly calculated the distance when you were looking at the wooden barrel."
Lin Yuan did not deny it.
In the distance, Lyle raises his copper bell. The setting sun slowly touches the gap in the mountain ridge, and the first beam of orange-red light crosses the mountaintop, scattering into the entire vineyard.
The pale blue fruit began to glow from the inside, turning a reddish-purple like the sunset.
The copper bell then rang.
The actual harvest has begun.