417 The Man, the Girl, and the Dog

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Takanosu.

October, x785.

"Who are you?" The brown-haired man asked as he warily took a step away from Alfonzo and Elicia while raising his wrench defensively and pulling his daughter along.

As previously mentioned, Alfonzo and Elicia, due to their many interviews in Sorcerer Weekly were easily recognizable. Unfortunately, thanks to the bright flash in the middle of the dark night, the brown-haired man was having problems seeing their faces.

"The guy that just saved your life." Alfonzo replied while rolling his eyes. "I mean, what were you thinking, dude? You know what kind of shit this town is in and you threatened to break down someone's door? That's a quick way to get yourself killed... or worse."

"Fonzie..." Elicia said while gesturing towards the little girl with her chin.

"*Sigh* I know, Lici." Alfonzo said after taking a deep breath. "Look, I just want you to understand, your actions put not only you in danger, but your daughter as well."

Hearing that, the man lowered his head guiltily. However, he did not lower his guard towards Alfonzo and Elicia. Eventually, the atmosphere was quickly broken when the puppy approached Alfonzo and started nuzzling its head against his leg.

"Oh, what a good boy." Alfonzo said happily as he unwrapped his arm from around Elicia's waist, knelt down, and started scratching the puppy behind its ears. "You stayed with your master even with all this shit going on. What's your name, boy?"

"His name is Zeke." The pink-haired little girl said while poking her head out from behind her father.

"Zeke, huh?" Alfonzo said with a smile. "Such a good boy."

"Anyway, who are you two?" The brown-haired man asked, this time putting his wrench down as he did so."

Smiling wryly, Elicia knew Alfonzo was too enthralled by the puppy at his feet to answer. So, she took it upon herself to do so.

"We're wizards from Fairy Tail." Elicia said, her wry smile turning into a friendly one. Then, she gestured to herself and Alfonzo in turn. "I'm Elicia Marcus Taylor. And that's my husband, Alfonzo Marcus."

Hearing those names, both the brown-haired man and his daughter opened their eyes wide in surprise. Had it not been for the darkness of the night combined with the bright flash Alfonzo and Elicia appeared with, they would have recognized them easily.

"Wow! I saw you two in Sorcerer Weekly!" The pink-haired little girl exclaimed excitedly.

"Indeed." The brown-haired man said with a nod. "I've heard a lot about you. Whenever I go to the headquarters, Jason won't stop talking about how 'cool' you two are."

"Oh, does that mean you work for Sorcerer Weekly, too?" Alfonzo, who had finally gotten his fill of petting the puppy, Zeke, asked as he stood up."

"That's right." The Brown man replied. "I'm Kenji Moresato, a reporter for Sorcerer Weekly. But since I live in this town, I've never had the opportunity to interview anyone from Fairy Tail. Oh, and before I forget, this is my daughter, Alice."

"Hi..." The pink-haired little girl, Alice, said bashfully. Though, her eyes were still shining excitedly.

"Anyway, why are you guys out here at night?" Elicia asked curiously. "You know it's much more dangerous at night, right?"

"Yes, I know." The brown-haired man, Kenji, replied with a solemn nod. "We were trying to get to the shelter across the bridge that the knights set up during the day. But when the people waiting to be processed got impatient, things started to get out of hand. So, we decided that we would try to go to the Takagi mansion to find shelter there. Unfortunately, while we were moving, the sun started to set. So, we wanted to find a place to stay for the night. But... You see how that went in the end."

"Yeah, you definitely went about that the wrong way." Alfonzo said while shaking his head. "On top of that, all the noise from banging on the door, the scream, and this little guy's protective barking made things even more dangerous."

"What do you mean?" Kenji asked with a slight frown. A moment later, the light of understanding flashed in his eyes. "Do you mean those things heard us?"

"Bingo!" Elicia replied. "So, even if you had been able to get inside that house safely, things would have been dangerous for everyone in that house."

By now, Kenji's face had paled completely. Meanwhile, Alice was holding onto her father's hand tightly with fear in her eyes.

"Lucky for you, we happened to find you before everything went sideways." Alfonzo said. "We'll make sure you make it through this."

Though the relief in Kenji and Alice's expressions was visible, the worry had not been replaced completely.

"So, why don't you three follow Lici back to where we're staying with a few more survivors we saved." Alfonzo suggested. "While I take care of the nuisances on their way here."

"But how many are there?" Kenji asked in a concerned tone. "Is it another horde? Will you be okay alone?"

"You don't have to worry about Fonzie." Elicia said with a smile. "He's strong. Like, really~~~ strong. He'll be okay."

Although Kenji had heard about the strength of the youngest wizard to reach S-Class in history, he was still worried. Alfonzo had just saved his life and kept Alice from becoming an orphan, after all.

"Seriously, there's no need to worry." Alfonzo said while smiling reassuringly. "There's nothing in this town right now that can threaten my safety."

'If those zombies keep eating each other, that might change, though.' Alfonzo thought to himself.

["Things would be so much easier if we could just nuke the whole town."] Riot grumbled.

["That might be an option if the town was free of untainted people."] Bedlam replied. ["In fact, I bet the king would order it in a heartbeat if there were only zombies here."]

["You think I don't know that?"] Riot questioned angrily. ["I was just sayin'..."]

"Anyway, Lici, you should get going with them." Alfonzo said, ignoring his bickering [Armament Spirits]. "I'll go take out that horde."

"Okay." Elicia replied before pecking Alfonzo on the cheek. "See you when you get back."

Smiling in return, Alfonzo was once again covered in violet arcs of electricity before he vanished from where he stood in a burst of speed.

"Alright, let's go." Elicia said cheerfully. "We might be out of bedrooms, but we can just move Kamuro and Hirano out to the living room. I'm sure they'll be fine."

With that, Elicia extended her threads and wrapped them around Kenji and Elicia's right wrists, as well as Zeke's front right leg, and put them all under the effects of her [Hiding in Plain Sight] spell before leading them back to Rika's apartment.

Meanwhile, Alfonzo had reached the horde of undead. Unsurprisingly, he saw all five of the magically enhanced zombies eating the weaker zombies while they walked.

"It's almost like this ritual was made for the purpose of creating these stronger zombies." Alfonzo muttered while floating above the horde. "I mean, I only came across isolated cases last night, but now that I see them in a group, the other zombies don't even seem to mind that they're being eaten. Hell, even the ones being eaten aren't struggling."

["Yeah, it's really strange."] Bedlam added.

["And look at how fast their growing."] Riot added. ["Just how many have those things eaten. The strongest of them has already gained A-Class levels of magic power. And the other four are at the peak of C-Class at the weakest."]

"Hmm... Now that you mention it, they don't seem to attack the other magically enhanced ones, either." Alfonzo muttered. "Well, we can think about that later. I'd better just take care of them."

With that, Alfonzo descended to the ground like a lightning bolt. A moment later, Alfonzo's foot smashed the head of the A-Class zombie into the ground.

"Damn, these things have gotten sturdy." Alfonzo muttered while looking down at the zombie whose head he expected to splatter all over the ground. "I'll have to let Lici know about this when I get back. [Electromagnetism Magic: Spider Lightning]."

In the next instant, all the arcs of lightning surrounding Alfonzo shot out horizontally, attacking the nearest zombies. At the same time, Alfonzo raised his right foot with lightning coating it.

"[Electromagnetism Magic: Lightning Strike]." Alfonzo chanted as he brought his foot down on the magically enhanced zombie's head.

*Splat!*

In the next instant, the zombie's head exploded into chunks of gore. However, thanks to the arcs of electricity covering Alfonzo's body, all the gore that would have hit him was burned away.

Then, without getting a moment to take a breath, Alfonzo ducked down to the ground. In the place where his head used to be the hand of a zombie with peak B-Class magic power. Then, in the next instant, Alfonzo was forced to jump to avoid a second lunging zombie, this one with average B-Class magic power reserves.

"Are these things working together?" Alfonzo asked himself as he oriented himself horizontally between the outstretched arms of the attacking zombies. "Looks like they're getting smarter, too. [Electromagnetism Magic: Thunder Wheel]."

In the next instant, Alfonzo, using his magic, made himself spin with his right leg extended. Then, when his foot impacted the two zombies' heads, they exploded into charred chunks.

"Damn, that smells fucking disgusting." Alfonzo said as he landed on his feet. "Cooked zombie is not a smell I'll ever fucking get used to."

["Quit your bitchin' and finish killing these things."] Riot complained.

"Yeah, yeah, don't rush me." Alfonzo muttered as he formed a pair of short swords in his hands. "I'm working on it."

By now, the last two of the magically enhanced zombies had rushed towards Alfonzo as well. On top of that, the rest of the horde was closing in to take their pound of flesh, too.

"Usually, I'd use the Eskrima sticks for this..." Alfonzo said as he leaned his head out of the way of a swiping arm. Then, as he raised the short sword in his left hand, he continued. "But since I don't have to worry about accidentally killing anyone, I think these should be fine."

*Swish!* *Thunk!*

Parrying away the arm he just avoided with the flat of the blade in his right hand, Alfonzo plunged the blade in his left into the skull of a normal zombie. Then, after ducking under the bite of the other magically enhanced zombie, he raised the sword in his left hand and stabbed it through the recently avoided zombie's lower jaw and pierced its brain from below.

Then, in one fluid motion, Alfonzo used the sword stabbed into the zombies' brains to swing them at the several zombies surrounding him, making a bit of space for himself. However, he did not stay still for long. Taking the initiative, Alfonzo charged into the horde and cut off or pierced the heads of every zombie he came across.

A few minutes later, after several failed attempts to kill Alfonzo, the final remaining magically enhanced zombie tried to blend in with the rest of the horde. Just as Alfonzo thought, the zombies got smarter as their power level rose. Which he confirmed by leaving that particular zombie alive.

Unfortunately for the zombie, Alfonzo had been tracking it with his [Magic Power Detection] even before he rescued Kenji, Alice, and Zeke. So, when he saw it distancing itself from him, he swung the sword in his right hand, cut off the head of a zombie, then released the sword at the end of his swing.

As a result, the sword flew out of Alfonzo's hand. Then, less than a second later, it buried itself up to the hilt in the back of the magically enhanced zombie's head.

"Damn... at this level, they're even smart enough to run when they can't win." Alfonzo muttered as he dispelled the sword in his left hand. "Well, now that my experiment is over, I should get rid of the rest of these things. [Metal Magic: Spike Rain]."

In the next instant, a black iron spike appeared over the heads of all the remaining zombies. Then, Alfonzo willed the spikes to impale all the zombies' heads before piercing into the street, as well.

"Alright, that's taken care of." Alfonzo said while dusting off his hands. "We can head back now."

["Hey, I got a question for you."] Bedlam said.

"Yeah, what's up?" Alfonzo asked as he was once again covered in violet arcs of electricity.

["Why did you change the name of that one spell?"] Bedlam asked. ["This time you called it [Spider Lightning]. But don't you usually call it [Chidori Stream]?"]

"Oh, that's because I know shinobi from Naruto are in this world." Alfonzo replied. "And since Guy was nineteen or twenty when we went on that joint quest last year, if Kakashi is in this world, too, he should have already made the Chidori. So, I decided to call it something else. I've also told Marin to change the names of her [Shoot to Kill] and [Growl] spells."

["How the hell did you get her to agree to that?"] Riot asked curiously.

"I told her the spell names weren't cute enough." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "And she agreed immediately. So, she's been trying to think of new names for them."

["Really? And that actually worked?"] Bedlam asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Sure did." Alfonzo replied as he vanished from where he stood in a flash of violet light.

Meanwhile, Saeko, Takashi, Saya, Rei, Shizuka, and Kohta were watching the entire encounter with binoculars from the apartment's balcony.

"Alfonzo is really strong." Shizuka said in an impressed tone.

"Yeah, you should have noticed that when he first helped us." Saya said snappily.

"But Miss Shizuka is right." Takashi said. "He's really strong."

Rei and Kohta nodded in agreement.

At the same time, Saeko was watching Alfonzo with rapt attention while thinking about what she just saw.

'He's a swordsman, too.' Saeko thought with a somewhat dangerous smile on her face. 'I'd love to fight him. Maybe he could help me improve my own swordsmanship.'

As those thoughts ran through her head, Saeko unconsciously licked her lips.