Council's Request

"Marigold Town? Why are we going there?" Erza asked.

"The council was in a rush relaying this to me so they left out a lot of details, but there are mages trying to awaken a sinister artifact. The council has requested immediate assistance with this matter. I know there aren't a lot of others left in the guild because of the trials coming up, but see if you can find another to take with you as well." Makarov answered.

Erza nodded. She and Meliodas looked around the guildhall. It was mostly empty since most of the members were busy taking various missions for the S class selection and as a result, we're constantly out of the guild, only coming back to take another mission before leaving again.

"What about him," Meliodas said pointing towards Gajeel, who was sitting down at a table in a corner of the guild munching on a bowl of nails. Sitting next to him was Pantherlily.

"Wow, he's eating a bowl of nails without any milk…" Meliodas mused.

"Yes, he will work!" Erza said enthusiastically as she walked over to Gajeel. Gajeel continued eating his bowl of nails as he and Lily conversed.

"Are you sure you didn't want milk with that?" Lily asked, slightly unnerved at the fact that Gajeel was eating iron nails.

"Milk? What the hell do you take me for? I'm an Iron Dragon Slayer, not a Milk Dragon Slayer!" Gajeel responded as he put another spoonful of nails in his mouth. As he bit down and removed the spoon from his mouth, he realized he had eaten part of the spoon with it.

"Dammit...I knew I should have used a wooden spoon...Hey Lily can ya get me another sp-" Gajeel stopped mid-sentence as he felt a sharp pain on his head as his long black hair was pulled from behind. Gajeel fell backward onto the ground as he was dragged across the guildhall. Lily watched in silent awe as he watched Gajeel get dragged away by Erza.

"OY!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!" Gajeel protested as he tried breaking free.

"Well we could have just asked but I guess this works too," Meliodas said, feeling some sympathy for Gajeel who was being dragged out by Erza against his will.

"You crazy woman! Why did you drag me out?" Gajeel shouted as Erza continued to drag him along.

"We are going on an important mission!" Erza replied.

"Why didn't you just ask?!!" Gajeel said with some indignation.

"No time. We are going on an urgent mission to Marigold town. We have to stop some evil mages. Council's orders."

"That's fine...not like I had anything better to do... But could you let me go already!" Gajeel exclaimed. Erza let go of Gajeel's hair and he quickly jumped back up, dusting himself off briefly. He shuddered as he looked at Erza. 'Is that why Salamander is so afraid of her?'

"You're not interested in the S class trials?" Meliodas asked, perplexed as to why Gajeel wasn't going on a mission spree like the other members. Gajeel looked at Meliodas and was about to say something, but stopped as he realized he couldn't say the real reason why. Meliodas gave Gajeel a brief skeptical look but shrugged it off.

"How far is Marigold town?" Lily asked.

"It's a few hours east by carriage as there is no direct railway to head there. " Erza replied. "Let's get going."

----

An hour passed as Erza, Meliodas, Gajeel, and Pantherlily sat in the carriage, with Gajeel and Pantherlily sitting across from Erza and Meliodas. Erza fixed her gaze on the map as she held it on in front of her. Gajeel, Pantherlily, and Meliodas all stared out the window.

"By the way, what is this mission?" Gajeel asked. "You dragged me here saying we're gonna fight some big bad wizard's or somethin. I'm down for kickin some ass but at least brief me on this."

"I didn't receive the exact details from Master. All we know is that it is an urgent request from the council, requesting our assistance. I'm assuming we'll find out more about it once we arrive in Marigold Town."

"Tch...the Council…I hate those guys." Gajeel muttered.

"Probably because you cause a lot of collateral damage in your missions." Meliodas said jokingly.

"Don't confuse me for salamander! They don't like me for different reasons." Gajeel replied.

"That's not really better….." Lily commented.

"That aside.. We will do our best not to tarnish Fairy Tail's name." Erza said. "We're already on pretty bad terms with the council so we'll need to behave ourselves on this mission."

---

Lahar sat down in his office at the main council building. He sat at his desk in the middle of the room, looking through a large stack of papers filled with various reports of crimes and arrests that happened all throughout Fiore. As he looked through the files, he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in." Lahar said. The door opened as a councilman walked in.

"Captain Lahar, the message has been sent to Fairy Tail's guild master, Makarov. Makarov informed us that he will be sending a strong group of mages to assist us." The councilman reported.

"Good. And I've already sent word to Jura. He should be arriving at the village soon." Lahar responded.

"Sir, was there a reason we invited both Fairy Tail and Jura Neekis?" The councilman asked.

"If this threat is what I expect it to be, it may require even more." Lahar replied solemnly.

"Why not invite some of the other guilds as well?" The councilman asked.

"Fairy Tail is the closest guild to the village. We realized the threat too late. Even if we inform the other guilds we don't know how long it will take for them to respond and send someone. Thankfully, Jura was already here at the council building so I could relay the important information to him right away. In the meantime, let's start moving towards the village." Lahar replied.

"Start gathering everyone around, we will leave immediately." Lahar ordered.

"Yes sir!"

---

"Are we almost there yet?" Gajeel asked as he slowly opened his eyes. He stretched his arms out, at least as much as he could in the cramped space of the carriage, as ye yawned. He looked to his side and saw Lily still quietly looking out the window.

"Yes. According to the map, it looks like we should be approaching the village shortly."

Erza replied.

"Hey I see it!" Meliodas replied as looked out the window. He pointed to a small village in the distance.

"How the hell can you see that?! I can barely see it!" Gajeel responded as he squinted.

"Well, my eyes can see an exposed pair of panties from a mile away." Meliodas said with a cheeky smile.

"Well I could see that far too if I tried!" Gajeel retorted, getting somewhat competitive with Meliodas. Lily shook his head as he looked at both Gajeel and Meliodas.

"But why…." Lily commented.

"Quiet. I can see the village up ahead. Driver, you think you could speed up?" Erza requested.

"Sure thing. But hold on tight!" The driver of the carriage said as the carriage nearly tripled in speed. The carriage hit a bump in the road as it sped up, causing Gajeel to bump his head into the ceiling.

"Ouch! Dammit watch it!" Gajeel shouted.

A few minutes later, the group reached the edge of the village. They thanked the carriage driver as he drove off back the way he came. Gajeel took a deep breath in and his eyes immediately widened.

"That smell…" Gajeel commented, his face looking grim.

"Smell?" Erza questioned as she looked at Gajeel and Pantherlily. Pantherlily also had a grim expression on his face as his sense of smell was also greater than a normal human's. Erza turned her attention to Meliodas who had a serious look on his face.

"You smell something too?" Erza asked. Meliodas shook his head.

"No...it's something else."