4 Chapter 4 - Village (Edited)

A blonde boy at 158 cm is walking his way out of the woods with ragged clothing, trying to find some civilization. This is Marc, who decided after training one month around his little camp, that it's time to go on a little adventure.

"I wonder what year it is? I hope the dragons are still alive and Acnologia hasn't begun slaughtering them yet. It would be a bummer if they aren't. Imagine riding a dragon, kekekeke.." While Marc tried finding his way out of the forest, he couldn't help fantasizing about some things.

He walked and walked with enthusiasm until he finally met the outskirts of the forest and looked into the horizon.

"Is that a village? Yaaay!!" Marc spotted a little village and couldn't help perform a little dance in celebration, before storming forward the village. When he reached it and was about to enter it, a bell rang and people came out with a wide range of different farming tools in their hands.

"Stop, you fiend!! Get out of here, you aren't welcome here!" Threatened an old man who seemed to be the leader of the people, with a pitchfork in Marc's face.

"Eh?" Marc exclaimed in surprise, not at all expecting this welcoming. He did the only thing he thought was right.

"I give up, so don't kill me. You can have my whole life savings if you don't! I'm totally harmless!" Marc surrendered immediately with his hands in the air because he doesn't want to fight the first people he's meeting in the world of Fairy Tail which is also called Earthland.

"Though I don't have any." He confessed in his head.

"Why do we seem like bandits now?" Asked a middle-aged lady.

"Don't kid around, he's a bandit! We are just defending ourselves." Replied, presumably the lady's husband in defense.

While the people began arguing amongst themselves in a circle, Marc just stood behind them, and scratched his head, not knowing what to do now.

"But look at him. He looks more like a beggar with his dirty face and filthy clothes!" Stated another man hurting Marc's 'fragile' heart, as he heard it because they didn't whisper.

"The hell!? I'm telling you, I'm the pinnacle of a handsome young man. Old fart, be careful or I will steal your wife, humph!" Bragged Marc inside his head shamelessly and looked at the man's wife.

"Never mind…Abort the mission immediately!!" Marc quickly backtracked after looking at the man's wife, or horse?

He decided to forget everything he saw, and find a solution to gain their trust. After some time of unsuccessfully finding a solution, suddenly a light bulb switched on in his head.

"How did I already forget? I can just show them my magic. As it's only 10% of the population that can use magic, mages are respected a lot, making ordinary people look up to them." Marc hit his palm after realizing his blunder.

"Hey, do you know where the nearest guild is?" Marc interrupted their little discussion about his looks and asked them the location of a nearby guild.

"Huh, could it be that you are a mage?" Asked the village chief with surprise and doubt.

"Yes, let me just show you," Marc replied, and before he even lifted his arm, his palms already changed to a paw. That's the one thing Marc focused on the most in his training. He doesn't want to be taken with pants down, so he prioritized speeding up his magic activation, more specifically lowering the time to transform his palms into paws.

He thrust his paw forward, using [Pressure Cannon] into the distance where a paw print at a normal hand size is made in the ground. Then he turned around to face the people and his face turned weird.

"Whoa, he's really a mage!" Someone said.

"Don't be rude! Now that I look closer, he looks like a hero!" A woman said.

"Yes, he looks so handsome." Exclaimed the woman's daughter.

"How could you all say he looked like a beggar? He's clearly a king amongst kings!" Declared the man that actually also was the same man who called Marc a beggar earlier.

"Shameless, truly shameless people…And where do I look like a king you fool? Obviously, I look like a prince, not an old fart on a throne!" A more shameless boy thought to himself.

"Cough, I know I'm handsome, but can I come into the village now that I have shown my magic?" Asked Marc with a fake cough to get their attention.

"Of course young man, but before going, would you mind telling your name? If you don't want to, that's fine too." The village chief wanted Marc's name, so he asked with a polite tone.

"It's fine. I'm Marc Doyer, but you can just call me Marc." Marc lazily introduced himself while waving his hand. He doesn't like formalities at all.

"I can't be informal with a powerful mage like yourself. I will address you as Mr. Doyer!" The village chief refused to be on a first-name basis.

"Whatever…" Marc didn't bother insisting on it.

"Then follow me, Mr. Doyer. You can stay at my house for the time being." The village chief then leads Marc into the village with the other villagers following behind.

"Thanks." Marc thanked the village chief and curiously looked at the villagers' houses. They are all old and have thatched roofs like the peasants typically had in medieval times. But surprisingly they have no cattle around, so Marc thought they may be somewhere else.

…

Marc's now sitting at the table inside the village chief's house while sipping some water that the village chief's wife gave him. The village chief is sitting in front of Marc letting him drink before speaking.

"So Mr. Doyer, what does a distinguished mage like yourself want to do in a little village like ours?" Asked the village chief after letting Marc settle down a little.

"I just want to ask some questions. I'm a little out of date as of late because of my training." Stated Marc.

"Well as we are only a little village, we may not know much, but go ahead and ask all you want." The village chief didn't mind answering questions.

"Thanks, so what year are we in?" Marc wanted to confirm where in the timeline he is. It's not because he wants to confirm if the dragons are alive…On scout's honor, and crossed fingers.

"We are in year X379." Although surprised a little by the question, the village chief answered without questions.

"Hell yeah, maybe I can experience the *Dragon King Festival*. The war that started it all. The war where the dragons' opinions divided them into two groups. Those that want to coexist with humans vs. the dragons that want to rule the world. I want to see it!!" Marc danced in joy in his head but didn't show anything other than a toothy smile to the village chief.

"I see, then which Kingdom is this village affiliated with?" Marc questioned further, wanting to know his location.

"It should be *The Kingdom of Fiore*?" The village chief answered unsurely.

"You are not sure? Why?" Marc asked with a little curiosity in his voice.

"Ehm, it's because this village is located northwest of *Fiore*. Behind a mountain range and *Waas Forest*. We don't get much news of what's happening around us, simply because of our secluded location. Only *Cait Shelter* comes to our village two times a year to trade, and gives us some general news." The village chief explained his reasons for being unsure and showed the village's general location on a map made of cow skin.

(A/N: Location here.)

"I see, then is there any way I can have this map? It would help me a lot on my journey!" Marc requested.

The village chief looked like he knew Marc would want the map, but he looks to be struggling to request something of his own. After some time of dealing with his internal struggle, it seemed that the village chief concluded.

"Mr. Doyer, please help us with our bandit problem. I saw you earlier looking around the village, and as you may have seen, we don't have any more livestock in this village, because some bandits keep stealing them when the next badge is borne. Right now we are hiding our last two small calves, but if we lose them too, it's only a matter of time before we die! I beg of you, please help us." The village chief and his wife begged on the floor for Marc's help.

"Do they have any mages? And I only want this map, a bath, and a pair of new clothes in exchange for helping you." Marc agreed without thinking much about it. He just wanted to know if any of the bandits could use magic. Marc has been burning in anticipation to fight against a mage, so he wanted to know if there's any.

"Uhm, we haven't seen any of them using magic before, so I don't think so." The village chief answered, and immediately as he said that, Marc's exciting mood deflated.

"Is that so…?" Marc said with his mood plummeting.

****

(A/N: Here we have it. Marc's first quest is here, and he's already disappointed after hearing what the village chief said. I have researched a lot, and I can't find a trustworthy source that states if Fiore existed at this time or not.)

(A/N: Here's a little fact. I don't plan on Marc being a hero or something. Marc believes in "give and take", and if nothing is taken, he will just do whatever he decides to do. Hope it makes sense?)

(Words: 1627)