147 The Missing Girls

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

August, x784.

A little more than a week has passed since Mirajane was reinstated as an S-Class wizard. Since Cana was on a quest, Ultear left early with her mother to watch Gray's training on Mt. Hakobe, Erza was busy organizing her [Requip] space, and Sun followed her parents back to Akane Beach as they checked on the state of the Seto Group, Alfonzo and Elicia reached the guild hall alone.

When they arrived, they were surprised to see Lucy standing in front of the quest board. Seeing Lucy looking for a quest was, in itself, not all that surprising. However, the expression on her face is what caught Alfonzo and Elicia's attention.

"Oh, Alfonzo, Elicia, good morning." Mirajane greeted from behind the bar.

"Hey, Mira! Good morning.!" Elicia replied energetically.

"Morning, Mira." Alfonzo said with a smile. Then, he gestured in Lucy's direction with his head. "What's up with Lucy. She looks kinda pissed off."

Glancing in Lucy's direction, Mirajane wore a concerned expression. Nevertheless, she replied to Alfonzo's question.

"I'm not sure what's up with Lucy, actually." Mirajane said while shaking her head. "But ever since I posted that quest sheet, she's been staring at it with her expression constantly flickering."

"Hmm… That's pretty weird." Alfonzo muttered with a contemplative expression on his face.

"I'll go check it out." Elicia said with a smile. "Fonzie, you should spend some time with Mira. I'm sure that would make her day."

In response, Mirajane blushed slightly. Still, she smiled happily at the thought of spending more time with Alfonzo.

"Sure." Alfonzo replied with a nod.

In the past week, although Mirajane spent a lot of her free time at the mansion, Because she was not sure that Elfman and Lisanna were ready to live alone without her, which was mainly the manifestation of her overprotective nature, she had yet to move in with Alfonzo and the others.

In fact, Mirajane was not even the one keeping their household running smoothly. Thanks to the changes in the timeline brought by Alfonzo and Elicia's presence, she never had to learn how to manage a household because of Lisanna's disappearance.

Though, for the last week, she had been receiving cooking and cleaning lessons from Lisanna so she could be a better wife in the future.

"Great!" Mirajane replied happily. "Lisanna taught me a new recipe yesterday. You'd make me really happy if you would try it."

Immediately, Alfonzo's face paled slightly. After becoming his girlfriend, Mirajane insisted that she would become a good cook so that she could take care of and pamper him. Unfortunately, it seemed that Mirajane had no talent in cooking, Alfonzo's frequent trips to the bathroom after trying her food for the first time being perfect proof for that statement.

Meanwhile, as Alfonzo suffered, Elicia made her way over to the quest board with a smile on her face.

'I almost feel sorry for Fonzie.' Elicia thought to herself. 'I've watched Mira cook before, and I've never been more scared in my life. She's got the habit of adding anything she thinks will make the food look better. And I mean anything. If it weren't for all the threats of not cooking for me, I'd probably try to save him from her demonic cooking techniques. Hmph! But he can suffer alone. That should teach him to threaten me with food.'

"Hey, Lucy, what's up?" Elicia said while smiling at Alfonzo's suffering. "Why do you look so… unsettled."

Glancing back after hearing her name, Lucy smiled weakly. Then, she returned her attention to the quest sheet she had been staring at.

Approaching Lucy with a bit of confusion, Elicia placed her chin on Lucy's left shoulder while hugging her from behind. Then, she looked at the quest sheet that had caught Lucy's attention.

Missing Girls

Rank: B

Client: Mark Hamilton

Location: Crocus

Objective: Find the reason why so many pretty girls have gone missing.

Notes: Over the last month, some of the most beautiful girls in the city have simply disappeared, among which is my sixteen year old daughter. Most people think she's just run away because she is in her rebellious phase. But she's not the type of girl to do that. Please bring her back as soon as possible, I'm really scared for her safety.

Reward: 500,000 Jewels

"Wow! Pretty girls are disappearing in the capital?" Elicia exclaimed in surprise. Then, she turned her head toward Lucy and hugged her a bit tighter. "Are you sure you want to take this quest, Lucy? If you do, you might disappear, too. I mean, you're so pretty."

Blushing in Elicia's embrace, Lucy couldn't help but smile proudly. A moment later, however, her expression became serious again.

"This sounds really fishy." Lucy said while nodding at the quest sheet. Then, she continued in a solemn tone. "Back when I first met Natsu, something like this happened in Hargeon."

"Oh, yeah, that's right." Elicia said, remembering about Bora, who she helped turn over to the magic council. "I was there when you and Natsu brought him in."

"Yeah, I'm getting a similar feeling to back then." Lucy said with a nod.

"Well then, let's go and check it out." Elicia said with a smile as she reached past Lucy and pulled the quest sheet off the board.

"Just like that?" Lucy asked in a dumbfounded tone. "I mean, wouldn't you be targeted, too. You're really pretty too, Lici."

"Are you worried about me, Lucy?" Elicia said with a smile as she turned Lucy around and hugged her head into her chest. "That's so~~~ sweet. But you don't have to worry. If there really is someone using [Charm Magic] to kidnap those girls, they'll probably receive a backlash if they try to use it on me."

"Huh? Why?" Lucy asked curiously as she pulled her face away from Elicia's breasts.

"Even though [Charm Magic] was outlawed by the magic council two years ago, there's still quite a bit of information about it being circulated." Elicia explained. "You know, so that people can take precautions against bad people who use it."

"Oh, I see." Lucy replied in a surprised tone. "I didn't know that."

"Well, if you're not looking, you won't find it." Elicia replied. "Anyway, according to what I've read, the caster of the [Charm Magic] would need to have more magic power than their target. Otherwise, it won't work. And if their target outclasses them significantly, they'll receive some kind of backlash."

"Oh, now I get it." Lucy replied in an understanding tone. "And because you're an S-Class wizard, you've got a lot more magic power than most people in Fiore."

"Most people in Ishgar." Elicia corrected. "But yes, you're right. And if I go with you, I can make sure that you don't get charmed, too."

"So, you already figured out that I was going, huh?" Lucy asked with a wry smile on her face.

"Yeah, that expression was a dead giveaway." Elicia replied with a smile. "Anyway, let's go!"

With that, Elicia dragged Lucy towards the guild's main entrance.

"Hey, Fonzie, I'm taking a quest with Lucy!" Elicia shouted, without even slowing down.

"Really, but we've only been back for a few days since our last quest." Alfonzo said in a bewildered tone while looking at Elicia with eyes that screamed: "Please, save me," from the bar.

"Don't worry about it." Elicia replied. "It's only a B-Rank quest. Plus, this quest needs to be completed as soon as possible."

With Alfonzo's shoulders slumping in defeat, Elicia's smile widened.

"Make sure to spend some time with Mira." Elicia said in a gloating tone. "She's been waiting a long time for this."

In response, Alfonzo smiled weakly.

"Just be careful. Even a B-Rank quest can be dangerous if you're careless." Alfonzo said. Then, he muttered quietly. "I hope I still have an asshole when you get back. I get the feeling I'm gonna spend a lot of time on the shitter while you're gone."

As a powerful wizard, Elicia was able to hear Alfonzo's muttering and giggled as she continued to pull Lucy out of the guild hall.

"What's wrong with Alfonzo?" Lucy asked curiously. "Shouldn't he be happy to hang out with Mira?"

"Oh, he's definitely happy to spend time with her." Elicia snickered. "But he's not happy to be her taste tester."

In response, Lucy tilted her head in confusion.

Noticing Lucy's expression, Elicia smiled brightly.

"Just pray that you're never asked to test Mira's food, Lucy." Elicia said happily. "Trust me."

"Uh… Sure?" Lucy replied in an uncertain tone.

Just then, Elicia reached the guild hall's main entrance and opened the door. When she did, Marin was standing on the other side of the door.

Surprised that the door opened so suddenly as she reached out to open it from the outside, Marin stepped back subconsciously. Then, she looked up to see who it was that opened the door. When she saw that it was Elicia, she blushed up to her ears.

"Oh, Marin!" Elicia said excitedly. "Good morning."

"Lici, g-good morning." Marin replied with a stutter.

'How can she act like nothing happened?' Marin asked herself after seeing Elicia's usual smile. 'It's been about a month and a half since that night, and every time I see Alfonzo, Lici, and Ultear, I get flashbacks of that night. Surprisingly, spending time with Sun doesn't bother me, though.'

Before she could ponder that last thought too deeply, Marin noticed that Elicia was dragging Lucy out of the guild.

"This is an unusual combination." Marin said. "Is something going on?"

"Oh, we're taking a quest." Elicia replied. "A bunch of pretty girls have been going missing in Crocus."

"Pretty girls? Going missing?" Marin asked in confusion.

"Yeah, it's probably [Charm Magic]." Lucy replied. "I think they've been kidnapped."

Marin's expression turned serious at Lucy's explanation.

"Can I come with you?" Marin asked seriously. "I can guess what kind of things are happening to those girls thanks to my books. And no one should have to go through that in real life."

While Lucy had some idea what kind of books Marin was talking about, Elicia knew exactly what she was talking about. So, she smiled happily and nodded.

"If Lucy doesn't mind, neither do I." Elicia said with a smile.

"I don't mind, either." Lucy said.

"Good, I'll go back home and pack up for the quest." Marin said with a nod. "And if things are the way I think they are, I'll be able to test my new [Dagger Magic] in a real fight."

Ever since she joined Fairy Tail, Marin had been learning an offensive magic, namely, [Dagger Magic]. She got the idea to combine it with her [Transformation Magic] after seeing Alfonzo sparring with Erza. Seeing Alfonzo use his [Metal Magic] to change the shape of his weapons at will is what gave her the idea.

"Good." Elicia replied with a nod. "That means we'll have some time to hang out again too, Marin. I feel like you've been avoiding me and Fonzie since the night we--- Mmph!"

Before Elicia could finish her sentence, Marin lunged forward and covered Elicia's mouth with her hands.

"Lici! There's no need to mention that night." Marin said in a panicked tone while her whole face, her ears, and even her neck turned red. "I'm sorry I've been avoiding you guys, okay? So, please don't talk about that night anymore."

Waiting for Elicia to agree, Marin released her when she nodded.

"What night are they talking about?" Lucy muttered with curiosity.

"Anyway, you guys go and get what you need for the quest packed up." Elicia said with a smile. "When I'm done packing, I'll swing by and pick you up in the Escalade."

"Okay." Lucy replied, still curious about what Elicia and Marin were talking about before.

"Got it." Marin replied with a smile.

Then, the three girls split up and made their way to their respective homes.

'Marin, oh, Marin.' Elicia mused as she walked back to the mansion. 'You think you can get away now that you've been marked for Fonzie's harem just because you're embarrassed? So naïve.'

*Growl!*

"Oops! I didn't have breakfast." Elicia muttered. "I'll just pack some of last night's leftovers and have them on the way. Cutting up some of the roasted chicken and putting it on some bread with some cheese should be good. Hmm… Now that I think about it, we'll be skipping training, too… OH well, whatever."

Around two hours later, Elicia, Marin, and Lucy were all riding in the Escalade towards Crocus. while eating the sandwiches Elicia made from the leftovers from last night's dinner.