Fairy Tail: The Adventures Of Rin Fernandes

VIII. A Job?!

VIII. A Job?!

RIN'S POV

"Mira, can I ask for a favour?"

Mirajane put down the beer mug she had been cleaning and walked out of the bar. It's been a week since I had joined the guild, and thanks to a few of my guildmates, I had three meals a day for I had never owned a single Jewel in my life. Wendy and Carla had already left for a job request, and so did the mages who had brought me here. I was told that Mirajane managed the job requests with Master Makarov so I was going to enlist her help in selecting a job request.

She had beamed and gushed over how awkwardly cute I was. We both stood at the Request Board next to Nab, who had supposedly stood by the board every time he came to the guild. Requests varied from slaying a monster to removing a curse from a child's favourite toy.

"Something for Rune Breaking Magic or Ice Magic..." Mirajane mutters almost absentmindedly as she looked through all the requests, some of which had extremely appealing rewards. In fact every reward seemed appealing. I just wanted to own Jewels to be able to be more independent.

A request placed at the far right caught my attention as it was different from the rest. It wasn't tattered and brown, and the white paper glowed white, as if beckoning me to accept it. Before I knew it, both my hands were already clutching the paper.

The request seemed rather easy. All I had to do was to capture this wanted man from the black market and I would get 2 million Jewels. It had stated it was best I had another person with me, who would be rewarded 2 million Jewels as well.

"Oh that's a good choice, Rin!" Mirajane glances at the request. "All you need is some company and you'll be ready to go!"

I glance around the guild if there were any mages I was close to present, but even Cana and Laki had most likely set off earlier this morning.

"Evergreen! Bickslow!" Mirajane smiles sweetly at the two remaining Rajinshuu members present, unaware of how we had encountered. "Can you guys accompany Rin on her first job?"

"No!" Evergreen exclaims. "Mira, you haven't forgotten my hair appointment, right? Yes, I need to prepare for my hair appointment."

"Bickslow?" Mirajane asks the man in the grilled visor hopefully.

"A first job? No problem!" Bickslow replies, sticking his tongue out. "My babies and I are ready to set off anytime!"

"Anytime! Anytime!" his totems, or "babies" echoed happily after him.

It was extremely awkward and uncomfortable to be travelling with Bickslow. I didn't even manage to get a say in the matter before Mirajane had rushed me to board the next train heading towards our destination. I stood next to Bickslow's rather towering form, one hand clutching my drawstring bag with minimal food supply and a few bandages, the other holding on to the request which seemed to be more than what was let on. I knew for a fact that it was not an illusion as I would've seen through it. Whoever had placed magic on this request had certainly put in a lot of magic into it. But if he or she or whoever was that strong, what was the point of sending a guild for this request?

I frowned every time more details were revealed about the mission, but I couldn't just back out of it. Mirajane had already registered it, and if this was truly the life of a mage, I had to embrace it.

"Ready, Rin?" Bickslow stuck out his tongue before grinning. Even though Bickslow was a rather friendly and talkative person, I felt uncomfortable in his presence. It wasn't easy to try and get along with people since I spent all my life running and avoiding until now.

The train we were supposed to board had arrived. There were many black market hotspots but only one was listed on the request where we could find Pierre, the wanted man. The hotspot was a town that was abandoned even before a group of dark guilds took over the area. The train no longer stopped there anymore, the tracks altered so that it wouldn't pass the station. We would still board the train, but leap off at the right time. The train went at a relatively slow pace, as Bickslow had reassured me, so it would be child's play.