MHA Fantasy Quest for the SOL

Part 9: An unlikely Mage 1/2

The following morning, the bandit tribe escorted them all the way to Grave Village, against what most of them wanted, but it was true that no one bothered them the whole time. When they got there, the bandits had to clear out so as not to draw attention. But Camie made the threatening statement "I'm kind of interested in how this turns out, tell you what, we'll catch up to you once you reach the Dark Lands and see you off. It's a date." She winked at Shoto, who stiffened.
"It's really not necessary--" "Then we can fight," Bakugo said. "You really never get tired of saying that, do you?" Ei said.
"Whatevs," Camie disappeared into the trees with her tribe.
"And that's the one you want, huh?" Ei said to Bakugo, "There has to be an easier woman out there, man."
"Easy is for weaklings!" Bakugo declared.
"I hope this mage is easy," Deku said, "to find that is, because this place is a lot bigger than I expected."

Grave Village was more of a Ville, that is, it was easily twice the size of any village he's ever been in. The two warriors were just as awed as he was. "It's huge..." Kyoka siad.
"We'll cover more ground if we split up," Shoto suggested. "We can all meet back here in two hours, and we can take different parts of the village."
"That sounds reasonable,"Momo agreed, "Except, I don't know my way around a village at all. "It's okay," Ei said, "We can help you...not that I'm much better... actually, this place does look pretty scary."
"Why are you even still here?" Shoto asked him and Bakugo. "Don't you have other people to terrorize?" Bakugo frowned.
"You've got the map, I'm not going anywhere."
"You're not getting the map!" Shoto said.
"Says who, pretty boy?" Bakugo said, sparks flying off his hands.
"How about this: We worry about that later." Momo spoke, cutting both of them off. "Let's find Deku's mage first, then we can discuss the map. You can't have a duel here anyway. It won't hurt you to travel with us a bit longer, Bakugo, will it?" Bakugo huffed. "I'm not helping you look."
"I will," Ei offered. "I might as well do something while we're waiting."
"Cool," said Denki, "So let's go in teams of two and three then, that way everyone who doesn't know their way around can be with someone who does. I've been here a couple times."
"I can navigate a city," Shoto agreed.
"Deku, want to join us," Ei asked.
"Really?" Deku said.
"Sure," Ei said. "You need someone to make sure you don't lose that map, right? I'm your man."
"How do we know you won't just take it while he's separated from us?" Shoto frowned.
"I would never go back on a deal!" Ei was offended. "Bakugo wouldn't either." Bakugo just huffed in response.

"I guess that's all right then," Deku said. Shoto nodded, then bowed politely to Momo.
"I can escort you if you want." Momo nodded. "I suppose that's all right with me, since it's fair."
"Wait, that leaves---" Kyoka looked at Denki, "Oh no way. I'm not going with him."
"I'm not going with her!" Denki said.
Tibult bleeted in agreement. "But everyone else is already taken," Ei said.
"It's just for a couple hours," Momo said. "I mean, I suppose, we could trade..." "No, forget it" Kyoka rolled her eyes. "I won't be a wimp about this, let's just get it over with."
"I have no problem being a wimp if it gets me out of it," Denki said.
"Come on you moron," Kyoka started walking away. "We'll take the west side."
"East," Shoto went the opposite way, Momo followed quickly.
"I guess we'll go straight ahead," Ei said.
"Sure..." Deku said bravely. "We're looking for the order of Uraraka, how hard can it be to find a guild?"

The answer was very hard. Turns out there were a few different guilds in Grave Village, and none of them were the order of Uraraka, at least in the first hour. Bakugo got bored long before that point, but sank into sullen silence. Ei kept scratching his head and trying to figure out where else to go. Deku stopped and asked people for directions. People kept saying they didn't know where that guild was. Finally, though, one person said they'd heard of it. "I think it's way at the back of the village, Sonny. In the poor district."
"Thank you!" Deku was just glad to hear anything. But Bakugo finally spoke.
"Hey, Useless, doesn't it strike you as suspicious that this mage you're looking for is in the reject area of the stupid village? Maybe she's not really that powerful." "We don't know that for sure, she could just be poor." Deku said.
"That means she's weak!" Bakugo declared.
"I say we have to at least ask her first!" Deku insisted. The argument ended only with Bakugo blowing up a crate and getting distracted by the angry owner of it.