It didn't take much time for Akira to arrive at the village. And after talking with the client, everything went as Akira expected. The client was a farmer who made a living selling cheese and other dairy products. And although this village is near the forest, wild monsters didn't come to this village due to some nearby plants that the villagers found to repel these monsters.
Of course, such plants would not affect big magical beasts, but those beasts are quite rare, and the village has not been attacked by such beasts for at least a few decades. And besides, with nearby wizards passing by frequently, such beasts rarely get the opportunity to act before they are slain or driven away.
So, according to the client, the cattle have a 60% chance of being stolen by a thief. And even if this cattle has been murdered by a magical beast who ignored the natural defense of the village, the client wished he could be able to check for his dead cattle's remains, which meant gathering information about the magical beast.
All in all, this quest is actually two quests gathered and merged into one. And normally, such quests are very dangerous for rocky mages. But Akira is a mage with combat power comparable to an S-rank mage. So even if this quest became complicated, Akira could handle it perfectly.
This is also why Makarov entrusted this task to Akira. Akira is the most flexible mage in Fairy Tail with his wide range of magic capabilities. And most importantly, Makarov would be able to avoid paying a fine and dump this troublesome and underpaid quest onto Akira.
Yes, wizard guilds have to pay a fine to the client if they can't complete the tasks they have taken over. Of course, this was when no wizard had ever even tried to complete this task. For tasks that would have a sudden increase in danger due to insufficient or wrong information, this penalty is not valid.
And most of the time, guilds would not be willing to pay such a fine because this would affect their guild's reputation. So such tasks are usually entrusted to guild members by the guild master himself as a special priority. And such tasks would not be subjected to the cut the guild takes.
Even in Fairy Tail, this was the same. But unlike in other guilds, Makarov, the stingy old man, didn't want to lose that small money, so he made Akira take on this task under the guise of a punishment.
…
After a small talk with the client, Akira left the village. After he was a bit far from the village, he used his illusion magic to make himself invisible.
Then he turned around and cast Kyōka Suigetsu immediately at the dozen men who were following him.
"Damn it, am I really cursed? " Akira said with gritted teeth as he walked past them towards the village.
On his way, he didn't forget to walk past the traps and triggering mechanisms that the cultists placed around the village.
Yes, this village is a base for a group of cultists who believe in the God of Darkness. And these guys have been keeping an eye on him ever since he entered the village. What's more, these guys are really secretive. From what Akira could guess, even the fellow villagers here have no idea about this cult.
'Sigh, Master, your luck is really the worst,' Akira grumbled as he began to walk through the village towards the entrance of the secret base he heard.
As soon as he heard about there being a cult in this village, Akira used his Voice of All Things to learn the secrets of this small village.
Oh, he also found the culprit who stole the cattle. Apparently, it was one of the cultists who took away the cattle in order to do some secret ritual. However, Akira is really puzzled as to why they use cattle as sacrifices instead of magical monsters.
Well, no matter what, now that Akira has info about their existence, it is basically impossible for him to ignore these guys.
And besides, he is very curious about this God of Darkness, who didn't appear in the original fairy tail story.
Thinking so, Akira walked towards a house that clearly was a warehouse. He walked past the warehouse and circled around the building. Then he finally stopped at a side wall and placed his hand on the wall.
If one were to look carefully, one would realize that Akira's hand couldn't touch the building, as it stopped a few millimeters above. It is as if there is some kind of barrier in place that blocks his hand.
"What a clever trick, a monitoring barrier and inside a normal magic barrier that would be used to block insects. And there is also a concealment barrier added in the mix. No normal magician can do this. It seems this cult is really packing some heavyweights, " Akira said, but his eyes showed no fear or tension.
In fact, in Akira's eyes, most normal wizards can be dealt with by his Kyōka Suigetsu and his unique skill. Although it may sound a bit arrogant, for the current Akira, he can proudly say that he can beat at least 80% of the current wizards in Ishgar. He would only struggle when he faced beings like Deliora, who perfectly countered his abilities.
But even then, with Akira's recent progress, he estimated it would be far easier to defeat Deliora compared to the past. After all, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Akira, who went through his first life-and-death battle, gained various insights and new abilities after that battle. Especially his new dragon slayer magic, which is simply a bug in this world when paired with his great sage skill.
'Speaking of, I never did find a good time to try this new skill.' Akira stopped as she suddenly remembered the new ability he had unlocked recently. She had been itching to find a good time to try this new skill out, and this just happened to be the right time.
"Take Over: Roger ", Akira spoke as his whole body began to glow in a dark light. The next second, his clothes were changed to a dark, long red captain's coat, a blue shirt, a yellow sash, and dark blue pants. On his waist, there were two swords that Akira had recently brought.
"Well then, let this world feel the horror of Pirate King Roger ", Akira laughed loudly as he activated his newly unlocked ability, Conqueror's Haki.
Red lightning flashed, and an overwhelming aura began to come out of Akira's body. It spread all over the village, knocking every single one of them into unconsciousness.
"*Whistle, man, that was good. " Akira whistled as he changed back. Activating Conqueror's Haki was something Akira always wanted to do.
But unfortunately, Makarov would kill him if he dared to use that skill in Magnolia. After all, Conqueror's Haki is definitely a wide-area AOE attack. And no matter how much Akira tried to control himself, his skill would still get innocent bystanders caught in it. And this meant dear Makarov would have to write more apology letters to those innocent victims.
This, in turn, would only make that old man take revenge on him, like this quest. So for a better future, Akira decided to keep this skill secret from the old man. After all, compared to Fairy law, this skill is far better at wiping out those cannon fodder.
"Now then, let's see what these guys are hiding," saying so, Akira began to draw some runes in midair. Then, the next moment, the barrier that was obstructing him disappeared, revealing a hidden passage. The wall that was earlier was actually an illusion all along.
And with a bit of expectation, Akira began to descend the staircase, ignoring the guards who were sprawled on the ground unconscious.
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