Retreat to Fiore (Fairy Tail)

6 - Discussing the guild

The sudden invite of Fairy Tail mages to visit the guild has caught Elrion by surprise. From what he understood from the magazine - they are one of the best guilds within Fiore, possibly even the very best. Were they really inviting suspicious E ranked mage like him to join them? Keeping his optimism in check, he narrowed his eyes and decided to double check the purpose of the call. They did mention consulting their guild master about his situation, so it would be awkward if he misunderstood things.

Hoping they will correct him, he asked cautiously: "Is this related to the consultation with your guild master Makarov?"

After another quick glance at Erza and a small nod from her, Gray indeed corrected Elrion as he was hoping for: "In a way, but that is no longer what we have in mind. We are thinking about inviting you to join the guild, should Master approve it. And, of course, if you are interested."

Sighing in relief he did not misunderstood, Elrion straightened in the chair, his attention raised to full. "I would definitively appreciate any work that comes my way, so yes, I would love the opportunity to meet him and potentially join..." Just then, another huge potential problem came across his mind. Since he was on the run, he could not use any of his old documents. "Say, is there going to be any paperwork involved?"

Lucy beamed happily as she felt it to be her responsibility to answer this specific question. Whether she will be forced to reveal her full name when asked to join the guild weighted heavily on her, and she was delighted when she found out only her name was enough. "You don't need to worry about that. Mira, our second in command of sorts, just needs your name and an address where you are staying. And if you are still searching for a place you can add the address later on. That's how I did it."

Surprised how she had exactly the answer he needed and was hoping for, Elrion thanked Lucy for good news, relief visibly washing over him. "Thanks for the info. That is nice to know. But are you guys certain there will be some work for me?" Even with this confirmation, Elrion still had few things to check. From the top of his head - work and earnings availability, guild's way of work and master himself. "You said earlier that there are no guilds which specialize in non-combat quests, so I assume this includes Fairy Tail as well."

This time, Erza took it upon herself to answer his question. She smiled at him gently and reassured him. "Should you prove yourself capable of dealing with E rank quests which do not involve proactive combat, I am certain there will be no problems. The important thing is that you have a way of working in Light Green areas, which you claim you do. However, the final decision will be up to the Master himself." Giving how gentle she appeared, Elrion was for a second confused why are the others so jumpy whenever she tosses commands around or berates them. Then he remembered the train doors she wrecked by opening them too hard and took a look at Happy and the not-so-little bump of his head from when he joked about the amount of cake she would order. "She might appear gentle now, but I probably shouldn't mess with her too much. Or at all."

Leaning back in his seat and looking at the ceiling of the train, Gray continued sharing good news. "Come to think of it, there is always a bunch of D and E mission waiting around on the mission board. Most of our members are C rank, and since these pay better - they always fight to get the missions of C or at least D rank. Meanwhile, E rank missions tend to be left out for quite a while, so we could benefit from someone who will target them. Also, if you clear enough of them, you will be able to earn decent money. They pay less, but they also take less time, so you can do more of them."

Erza continued analyzing situation and opportunities. "Even if you had no other talents, which I am sure you do, your skill with healing magic would make you a valuable member in any magic guild. You could patch other member's lighter injuries, cutting down our healing costs and reducing down-times of our injured mages. Even diagnosing our injuries so we know if we should visit the professional healer or just rest would be a huge help. All in all, I believe we can make this work for everyone."

Being relatively new in the guild, Lucy remembered what helped her the most. "Finally, even if you are not a good fighter, it is always possible to join into a team with someone who can fight. Most of higher rank quests are cleared by unofficial teams. I know that I would certainly be more at peace knowing there is a healer behind me when we are about to go into a fight."