32 Return

Everyone was slightly stunned at the speed they were traveling, but didn't think too much about the motorized boat.

There were lots of magic vehicles in this world after all.

The group tried a few more times to get answers out of Gray and Alex, but their efforts where futile.

The trip to Hargeon harbor wouldn't take any time at all thanks to the motorboat and soon the beautiful town came into view.

Alex had every intention of dumping all his passengers off in Hargeon before seeing if he could drive his boat up the river towards Lake Sciliora.

He doubted it would be faster than the train as the river wasn't a direct route but he was feeling a little out of place in this little party and wanted some alone time, plus it seemed like it would be fun.

When the group pulled into the harbor, the garnered a lot of attention, the boat seemed a little too small for all of them and it was moving very fast.

Pulling up to a free dock under the curious gazes of many people.

Alex turned to his passengers. "Alright! Alright! Attention folks, this is your captain speaking! We have reached our destination! Welcome to Hargeon! I hope you all enjoyed the trip and thankyou for traveling with us this evening, if you would please disembark in an orderly fashion while listening to the ushers, we can make sure you reach dry land safely" Alex said with a very amused tone while he looked at the confused group of people.

"What the hell was that?!" Gray asked, seemingly very lost at what just happened.

"Whatever" Alex mumbled quietly to himself. "Alright, get off the boat. The show is over" he said ignoring the question.

He waited for everyone to get off the boat before it slowly started to move backwards away from the dock.

"See you back at the guild Gray, have fun with your punishment!" Alex called out before turning and winking at Ur, he didn't want her to forget that she had a score to settle with Gray and Ultear.

Seeing everyone but Ur stare at him confusedly, Alex laughed hardily before turning his boat and speeding away from Hargeon.

"What was he talking about 'punishment'?" Lyon couldn't help but ask Gray as they watched Alex disappear in the distance.

Neither Lyon or his lackeys were able to make heads or tails of Alex's actions, he was a terrifyingly eccentric person who seemed to do everything on a whim and didn't answer any questions when they asked.

Gray was also stunned and didn't know how to answer, he didn't even know Alex was going to leave him, though he didn't really care as his life wasn't in danger but a heads up would have been nice.

Gray turned to answer Lyon when he noticed the dark look in Ur's eyes, it was then he noticed Ultear was also sweating under Ur's gaze as well.

"You two! We have a lot to talk about! Lyon, you and your friends go find some accommodations for us to stay the night. I Need to have a private chat with these two" Ur said in a tone that left no room for argument.

'Just what the hell did that bastard say to her!' both Ultear and Gray shouted internally.

It didn't take much driving till he reached the river mouth and he spared no time driving up it.

He was not concerned about getting his boat stuck as he could just store it and Fly if he had to.

The scenery from the river was beautiful, just like most of the scenery he had seen since coming to this world.

Any parts where the river was overgrown with vegetation he was usually attacked by some random beast or monster looking for a quick meal, they always found out quickly that he was not an easy meal.

Traveling up the river used more power than the ocean and he found himself slowly getting drained of his magic, still he pushed himself to the point of light mental fatigue, then would pull to the shore and tie off to rest for a bit.

He never needed lots of rest before his energy came back and always used the breaks as a chance to slightly explore the area and even do some fishing.

Whenever he found himself at rough rapids or falls in the river he would just quickly store his boat and fly up the river until he passed them, he was here to explore so he didn't want to cheat too much but when you can't pass, drastic measures were called for.

Alex made good time driving up the river and could have made even better time if he didn't stop so much. After his first couple monster fish he caught he had started to try and catch a bigger one.

When he stopped messing around and started traveling in earnest, he made it to Lake Sciliora quickly.

As he was heading to Fairy Tail's guild building he started wondering what his next move would be, he wanted to go hunt down some more demons but wasn't exactly sure where to look and couldn't rely on getting requests that involved demons all the time.

'I wish I knew what Tartaros was up to right now, I'd just hunt and kill those low lives' Alex grumbled internally.

He hadn't heard any news on that guild yet and didn't know anything about their actions until they became active in the story.

'I could always go to Alvarez, I know there are at least 2 Etherious Demons in the Spriggan 12. I could also talk to August about magic, showing him something he's never seen before might make him return the favor' Alex thought seriously.

Aside from Acnologia, the Spriggan 12 and Zeref were the end game bosses of this world and while he didn't fear them because of the nature of his magic, he would be stupid to underestimate them.

When Alex arrived at the guild he didn't bother to try and dock his boat, he simply drove it straight to land seemingly trying his hardest to get grounded.

Under the stupefied gazes of townsfolks and mages, he casually made is boat disappear as he headed for the guild building, not answering any of the myriad questions thrown his way.

When he arrived at the guild hall, he noticed the atmosphere was very unusual. "What happened to you lot? You're usually a little louder than this" Alex said casually.

"You guys are back!!... Hey, where is Gray?" Macao asked curiously.

The rest of the guild turned their attention to them, seemingly wanting to know that as well.

"I left him in Hargeon, some things happened and we ran into some people from his childhood. He wanted to hang out with them a bit longer before returning, he is fine though. Now for my question, why so down?" Alex asked looking around again.

Natsu didn't seem to be here so that was probably a factor but the guild was rowdy even without Natsu so it didn't really make sense.

"Mystogan game back to the guild this morning, he always puts everyone too sleep when he comes by so no one can see his face. Everyone is feeling down because they are not strong enough to stand against his sleep magic and it makes us feel weak" A short girl with glasses, Levy, said.

"Interesting, I'd like to meet this guy one day" Alex said cheerfully, completely ignoring the looks everyone gave him.

"What makes you think you could handle his magic?" Macao asked seriously, "Mystogan is S-class like you".

"That may be so, but magics like sleep and illusion do not work on me" Alex said unruffled.

"The master is the only one to see his face, even Erza gets put too sleep" Someone said from the back of the guild.

"That's not true, I've seen his face" A deep voice said from the top floor. Everyone looked up to see Laxus with a smug look on his face looking at all the guild members feeling sorry for themselves.

"What a lazy guy, you're still hanging out up there?" Alex said as a greeting.

"I thought you were going on an S-class quest? Did you decide to delay it or something?" Laxus asked, not getting riled up by Alex's words.

"Oh that? It was pretty simple, we are already done. Is the Master up there?" Alex said, shocking Laxus and the others.

"Freaking guy just goes out and makes a couple Million jewel like it's nothing" Laxus grumbled quietly, "The old man is in his office" He said a bit louder.

"Thanks Man" Alex said before heading to the masters office.

Alex entered the office to the sight of Master Makrov with a beer in one hand while he casually sifting though a mountain of paperwork that only seemed to get bigger every time he visited.

"You know, if you just casually look at it all without actually filing it away or burning it, eventually you're gonna drown in your paperwork" he said as a greeting.

"Huh! ..oh, Alex! You're back!" Makarov said with a jump. "How did your mission go?" he asked curiously after sorting himself out.

Alex inwardly chuckled at how the master avoided his snark about the paperwork, while taking a seat in a free chair.

"Better than I thought actually, one of the easiest S-class quests I've ever heard of. Neither Gray nor I even took any damage. ...okay, Gray might have but it was a small price to pay for a massive boost and he was unconscious the whole time anyway". Alex said quickly.

"You were able to make him a Slayer like you thought?" the master said, seemingly unruffled.

"Yup. The compatibility was higher than I thought it would be, or I'm just that good!" Alex replied with good natured narcissism.

Makarov just chuckled lightly at the attempt while asking for the specifics of the quest. Alex told him all that happened, including the part about "resurrecting" Ur.

As expected, Makarov almost lost his shit at the possibilities and the absurdness of it all.

'With magic like this, would it be possible to revive the first master' Makarov thought with slight trepidation.

Seeing the dazed look on the masters face, Alex explained himself further. "This isn't something that can just be done casually and only worked because of these exact circumstances. Without Gray and Ultears Magic, the fact Ur was still alive and my own skill set, I'm afraid it wouldn't have worked. We need to consider this the 'miracle of magic' and 'Unique situation' that it was and not try to rely on this ever again".

"I.. Uh. I see" Makarov said after coming back out of his thoughts. "It truly is a miracle then. We will leave it a that" he said shortly after.

"What of the reward and the clients sentiments towards the guild?" Makarov asked as he tried to change the topic off of something he thought to be impossible.

Alex could see the master had more questions but he was all to happy to leave this topic far behind.

"The Jewel wasn't much since it was the lowest ranked s-class quest, but the real reward was this" Alex says while placing a golden key on the desk.

"One of the 12 Zodiac keys!" the master almost shouts in surprise. "Going off the shape it is the key of the archer 'Sagittarius' " the master comments after he regained his cool.

"Yes, it will also be my contribution to the guild from this quest. I know its more than the usual 10% but I have no use for a zodiac key, so its all good" Alex said, adding in the last part when he noticed the master was about to question him.

"Very well, and thank you for your contribution. I will see that it gets put to the betterment of the guild" Makarov said with emotion clearly on his face.

'This brat, this is the kind of people this guild needs to truly be stong!' Makarov thought as images of his guild being number 1 forever played in his mind.

"The local Demon tribe was incredibly happy to have their memories back and even told me that FairyTail will always be welcome on Galuna Island. Since we are almost the only ones who know the curse was a ruse, we could make it a guild vacation spot" Alex said, pulling Makarov out of his thoughts.

"yeah, that's a pretty good idea ...wait, Demon tribe!?" Makarov yelled in shock.

"Yeah" Alex chuckled. "They invented the curse so people would leave them alone, and when moon-drip started messing with their memories, they stared believing their own lie" He said, unable to keep the mirth from his voice.

Makarov chuckled lightly while in deep thought, eventually agreeing that it could turn out to be a great vacation spot as it wasn't that far from the mainland.

"So, now that Gray has powered up, are you going to increase Natsu's strength?" Makarov asked after a bit of idle chatting.

"Yeah, though it will have to wait till he gets back from wherever he went to sulk" Alex replied while inwardly rolling his eyes.

'Now that I took the Galuna Island quest off the board I wonder if he took a different one or they just went to train. Being the idiot he is, its most likely the former' Alex thought wryly.

"Sulk? Why would he be sulking?" Makarov asked, clearly confused.

"When I got here, everyone was down in the dumbs because Mystogen was able to so easily put them to sleep, when I asked where he was they said he and Happy left shortly after" Alex replied casually.

"Hmmm, well he will get over it eve..." Makarov was in mid sentence when Mira burst into his office.

"Master! We have trouble" She said, without looking around.

"What's going on!" Makarov asked in alarm.

"Oh, hey Mira! Looking as beautiful as ever!" Alex said casually, completely ignoring the serious atmosphere.

"A-Alex! I didn't see you there. Sorry if I'm interrupting." she said with a slight blush, seemingly forgetting why she was here.

"AHEM!" Makarov cleared his throat loudly to draw their attention. "What's this about trouble?" he asked seriously.

"Hmm? Oh, right!" Mira said coming back to herself. "while I was cleaning upstairs, I noticed that another one of the S-class quests was missing. Alex is the only one to have taken an S-class quest in a while so someone removed it without telling anyone" She said in a worried tone.

All guild quests were strictly regulated and magically relayed to the costumers when a guild was going to send a wizard. S-class quests were especially monitored as the chances of death was very high.

While the paper itself being removed wasn't that big of a deal, the fact it hadn't been set as active by the guild or the councils system was.

Doing unauthorized quests was a black mark for the entire guild.

"What quest is missing?" Makarov asked with a serious look on his face.

"Its the one to slay the Amarok that has been terrorizing trade caravans between Fiore and Sevens in the north" Mira replied after a slight moment of thought.

"Amarok? As in the Gigantic wolf that like to hunt alone?" Alex asked curiously before the master could respond.

"You know of them?!" Mira asked slightly stunned. Creatures of legend weren't exactly commonplace after all.

"Heard of, never seen. Honestly thought they were a myth" Alex replied in thought.

"I understand why you'd think that, they usually stay deep in their forest homes and rarely attack humans, not only do humans rarely travel alone, but Amaroks don't usually settle down anywhere near human activity. Humans are hardly worth the effort of such a creature to hunt as fighting humans is a lot of work for little reward" Said master Makarov, adding his own thoughts the mix.

'Yeah, going after a giant monster does seem like something Natsu and Happy would try to do' Alex mused internally. 'I'll let Erza go get them from this one, that sounds like a lot of traveling and I just got back'.

"Did you ask the guild members if anyone saw anything?" The Master asked after some thought.

"Not yet Master. I thought to inform you first in case I was overreacting" Mira said with a slightly downcast expression.

"Lets go ask before this gets too out of hand" Makarov said as he got up from his desk.

When the trio made their way to the main guild hall, Master Makarov raised his voice to get everyone's attention.

"QUIET!! ...good, now that I have you brats attention we need to get serious here. Did anyone see what happened too or whom took the missing S-class quest off the board?" Makarov asked in a serious voice.

"Uhh, no Master, sor.." "I Know who took it." someone in the crowd started before they were rudely cut off by Laxus.

"A little blue cat flew up here when nobody was looking and snatched it off the board" Laxus said, as if the whole matter was beneath him.

'What a freaking drama queen' Alex inwardly rolled his eyes.

"*gasp* Why would happy take it, what could Natsu be thinking!" Mira gasped out in surprise.

"Why didn't you stop him?!" Makarov shouted, annoyed that his grandson just let them do something so stupid.

"Why should I? Everyone in the guild is supposed to be able to take care of themselves and its not my job to babysit anyone" Laxus said arrogantly.

"LAXUS! Go and retrieve him" the master said loudly.

"No! This is on him old man! If he's dumb enough to take the quest in the first place, he can bare the consequences!" Laxus replied just as loudly.

As Makarov was turning towards Alex to probably ask the same question, he quickly cut him off.

"Sorry Master, I just got back and don't have the energy to deal with flame brain right now. Red is over there though and she looks pissed, so I'm betting she'd do it" Alex said while pointing to a table where a very irritated Erza sat, watching the whole affair.

"I'll go get him back, do you have the specifics of the job?" Erza asked getting up from the table.

"I do" Mira said as she joined Erza at the table.

Alex looked to the master and then around the guild hall before saying his goodbyes and leaving the guild. It had been a long day and he wanted to find Wendy to catch up, before sleeping like the dead.

As he left the guild, he decided to check his neglected status screen.

Name: Alexander Black

Age: 19

Class: Fire Demon Slayer

Mage Rank: SS+

Warrior Rank: SS+

Skills: {Metamorphosis} (take-over magic)(lvl:41)

{Inventory} (re-quip magic) (lvl:60)

{Fel-Fire} (lvl:45)

{Mana Manipulation} (lvl:51)

{Stealth} (lvl:75)

{Rapid Regeneration} (lvl:20)

'Damn! That's the first time I've ever had such a big jump in {Mana Manipulation} at 1 time. *whistle* 10 whole levels, guess creating a body and practically bringing someone back from the dead is a pretty big feat for the skill' Alex idly mused as he was walking home.