Chapter 19 - Mountain Delivery

---Mael POV---

"You completed half of the jobs!?", Makarov said looking at the signed forms with a pale expression, "You are going to make the Magic Council go bankrupt!"

"Was I not supposed to complete as many as possible?", I asked.

"I...", he started to say, "Actually, I should have thought that through a bit more. Mael could you spread out completing the work a bit? I don't know if you are going to get paid completely for everything right now. The Council is still reconciling the budgets and available funding as the experiments the Anti-Mage Faction was doing had to get funding from somewhere."

"It's okay, they can pay me back in installments.", I replied, "I didn't expect a single lump sum."

Sighing with relief, secretly Makarov was excited to see the look on Yajima's face when he bragged about how many quest Mael had completed. No one had considered that Mael would complete half of them in a day, not even Makarov himself. It was a nice change of pace though as the quests Mael cleared were Monster Elimination Quests, Dark Guild Elimination Requests, and retrieving lost artifacts that had gone missing from the Magic Council Vaults.

"Here is the Deliora elimination reward. Yajima sent that over in advance as we thought you'd go there first.", Makarov said.

"Awesome, you know if my team is back yet?", I asked.

"No, I think they are still out gathering ingredients.", Makarov stated as he rubbed his chin, "They took a quest from a local bakery who needed some ingredients I believe."

"Got it, I will go find them.", I replied flying out the door.

Walking over from his seat, Gildarts asked Makarov if Mael really had completed half of the requests. He knew first hand that not many Mages took S-Rank requests as many never came back. The world was full of dangerous Monsters and Demons so dying was a risk all Mages took when taking on a quest, but S-Rank quests had a much higher risk attached to them so many never got completed.

Showing him the signed and sealed completion papers, Gildarts broke out into a fit of laughter. The quests had taken Mael all over the country so seeing that half of them really were done, it made him laugh at how ridiculous Mael was. In the future he would be a powerhouse for Fairy Tail, and would propel them to even higher heights. While the two men went over the paperwork, Mael was flying around the outskirts of the city looking for his team.

"There they are.", I said seeing Elfman and Millianna running around like crazy people.

"Someone help me!!", Millianna shouted, "The bees are angry!!"

"Why did you have to throw a rock at the hive!!", Elfman remarked.

"The honey smelled good!", Millianna replied, "I don't want it now!!"

Sighing as I heard them talk, the others were trying to find shelter from the stinging insects. Using magic to subdue the bees, they flew off abandoning their hive as it had fallen and hit the ground. Looking at Elfman and Millianna up close, both of them were already swelling up like balloons.

"I leave you guys alone for one afternoon, and you go and do this.", I chuckled as I looked at everyone.

"It's Millianna's fault.", Macbeth said falling out of a tree, "We tried to warn her, but she didn't listen."

"Next time you will listen, right?", Irene remarked wringing her clothing out, "If you do something like that again, we are going to throw you at a hive."

"Yes ma'am...", Millianna pouted.

Cracking open the hive, I gave Millianna some honey and asked if they need some to complete their task. Nodding their heads, they handed me a jar to put some honey into. Filling up the jar easily, I put the rest of the honey in storage to be used later on.

"That's it, we are done!", Lisanna shouted with excitement.

Trying to shout out in excitement, Elfman couldn't talk as his mouth was swollen shut. Using magic to heal everyone, Elfman and Millianna thanked me repeatedly. Stuffing her mouth with honey, Millianna purred in delight as she savored the sweet taste. Dropping off the ingredients with the chef, we returned to the Guild to collect their reward.

Handing the completion paperwork in, they received their reward from Makarov who listened to the replay of the stinging bees. Laughing his ass off, he accidentally fell behind the counter as he laughed. Turning to me after that, everyone asked where we were going to eat tonight.

'They didn't even skip a beat...', I thought, "Makarov, do you have any suggestions?"

"Hmm...I think the café at the train station is pretty good. Why don't you try there?", he suggested climbing back up onto the counter.

Taking his word for it, we headed over to the train station to have dinner. The place was relatively empty when we arrive so we were able to get seated quickly. As we were walking over to the table, I noticed a familiar face behind the counter.

'Isn't that Hermione?', I thought, 'Why is she working here?'

Deciding to talk to her after we ate, I put that matter aside for now. The siblings looked over the menu, as did I, but I noticed that the others looked a bit nervous. Remembering that they had been away from the world most of their lives, it was a sure bet they couldn't read all that well. Taking a few minutes to help them pick out their meals, I ended up having to read the entire menu to them. Ordering what they wanted to eat it didn't take long for the appetizers to come out.

"What is this?!", Millianna and Richard asked poking a cheese stick.

Explaining what it was to them, I ate one to show them that it was fine. Trying to warn them that it was hot, Millianna didn't pay me a bit of attention. Squealing when she got a small burn, Erza and Sorano just sighed with defeat. Judging by how everyone acted, it seemed like she just didn't listen all that well.

Talking about the sorts of jobs they wanted to do next, our meals arrived a short time later. Scarfing their meals down I assumed they forgot to pack lunch and worked through the afternoon. Asking Mirajane and Erza to remind the group to take lunch next time, they promised to do so tomorrow morning. After finishing our dinner, I walked over to the counter to speak with Hermione.

"Hello.", she said putting her towel down, "Can I help you?"

"Sorry, I thought you looked like someone I knew. Are you Hermione Granger by chance?", I asked.

"I...I am...", she said looking at me in fear, "How...how do you know me..?"

'Lets see if this works.', I thought, "We met at a library a few months back, you were researching magic."

Letting out a sigh of relief, she nodded her head and said that she didn't remember that. Stating that it probably did happen though, she said that she was an aspiring Magic Researcher. Asking her what particularly she was researching, she said it was Magic Aptitude. When I asked for more details, she said that couldn't explain it now because she was working.

"If you want you can meet me at the Magnolia Library sometime. My cousin Levy and I do a lot of researching together.", she said with a smile.

'Levy huh...well I guess that makes sense. Both of them are really into books and research so they could be cousins.', I thought, "Sure, I will catch you there some time and we can talk more."

Excusing myself, I returned to the table. Asking me if I knew her, Mirajane and Erza seemed to be a bit nervous for some reason. When I replied that I met her at the library some time ago, they let out a sigh of relief. Nodding their heads, both of them seemed to let the interaction go for now. Paying our tab, we returned home to call it a night.

---Next Day---

"You aren't taking another S-Rank quest?", Erza asked as we walked into the guild.

"Nope, I need to spread them out a bit. Besides which, I think I should participate in some quests with all of you today.", I replied with a smile.

"What quest are we doing today?", Millianna shouted.

"Hmm...", Wally said looking at the board, "How about this one?"

Pointing to a Supply Run Quest, the request was to run supplies to some people high in the mountain. The requestor had to find help this time as he wasn't able to go themselves for some reason.

'These people the fucking Greybeards or something? I bet we run into a damn Frost Troll too...', I thought, "Sure I think it be fun, the trip will take a few days though. Think you can tough it out in the woods?"

"You sayin we can't?", Erik asked.

"No, I am just making sure everyone understands that we won't have beds or bathrooms out there. Everyone was just getting accustomed to them so I wanted to point that out.", I remarked.

Everyone was fine with that, they did however ask to do some shopping to get the necessary supplies to camp. No one wanted to camp out without sleeping bags and tents at the very least.

"Let's not forget that we will need to carry the equipment and the requested supplies too.", Irene reminded them, "We should pack light so-"

"Not a problem, I can stow them in my Magic Storage.", I stated, "That is super easy."

"I suppose that is true.", Irene said remembering I could use Spatial Magic, "Alright then, could you maybe fly us there so we don't have to camp?"

"No!", Millianna huffed, "That is taking the easy way, we want an adventure!"

"Yeah!!", several of the other children stated.

Seeing the look of frustration on her face, Irene knew their excitement would die down a few hours after they started walking. Ultimately she decided to let them find out for themselves how bad cross country travel was. With everyone onboard with the quest, we headed out to make the necessary preparations.

---A Few Hours Later---

Meeting up at the train station, I stowed everyone's gear away before boarding the train. The train would take us to the requestors hometown, and then we would go to the drop-off point afterwards. Watching the forest and plains roll by, the other kids passed out quickly leaving just Irene and I awake.

"You not going to sleep?", Irene asked me as she patted Erza's head.

"No, it's nice to just relax for a bit. Once we get to our stop, it's going to get busy so it's best to be wide awake.", I replied.

"Oh, why will it get busy?", she questioned.

"Supposedly the city is very popular with hikers, artists, and explorers. The mountains nearby are full of ancient ruins and rare minerals.", I said.

"You seem to know the location well.", she giggled.

"I did some research so I knew what gear to bring.", I remarked, 'There were other things I found out too...the city is the base of operation for Sabertooth. I might be meeting Minerva earlier than I intended, I wonder what she was like as a child.'

Eventually our train pulled into the station and we got off the train. As expected everyone was a bit groggy so it took a lot of effort to get everyone off before the train left again. I even had to pull Sorano and Simon back from the tracks as they almost got sucked under the train. Giving them some time to gather their senses about them, I said I was going to get something to drink from the gift shop.

As I was walking towards the shop, I saw two young girls sitting by the exit with cups in hand. I had to do a double take as I wasn't expecting to see them begging in a train station. Walking over to them, I asked why they were out here asking for money.

"What's it to you?!", Minerva spat in anger, "You going to chase us off, or something?"

"Minerva...don't get into a fight.", Juvia pleaded, "I don't want to sleep in an alley again..."

Biting her tongue, Minerva stopped herself from saying anything else. Whatever had happened to the both of them, it had left quite the impression on them. Deciding to get them something to eat, I asked for their stories so I could understand what brought them here.