chapter 5 : A mission with Macao

Sometime later, Macao and Gray were in a magical carriage outside of town discussing the mission that Gray's assessment would be about.

 Macao: Pass this test and you're definitely part of the guild, the reward is 700,000 jewels. For simple bandits to flush out and girls to free, it's still quite intriguing. This reward is colossal!

 Gray: According to information, there are 25 of them and they have kidnapped several young girls. One of them must be quite important.

 Macao: Hmm possible, your mission is to neutralize them all and then, we'll see.

 Gray: I have to kill them if necessary?!

 Macao was terribly surprised by this question, especially since Gray was only barely 11 years old.

 Macao : Have you ever killed anyone?

 Gray: Never.

 Macao: As long as there is a better solution, never do this. We are not cold-blooded assassins in Fairy Tail. Do you understand that?!

 Gray: Okay.

 They arrived at the village which was the most recent to be attacked by the bandits and carried out the investigation, the clues were not very difficult to gather in addition to the villagers who told them where the temporary hiding place of the bandits was, a old abandoned manor several kilometers from the village.

 They didn't waste time and headed towards the mansion while Gray thought about a plan but it was quite shaky because they had no knowledge of the enemies' abilities if they were mages and a plan without this factor could very quickly turn into a trap against themselves.

 Late at night they arrived at the mansion and Macao looked at Gray.

 Macao: We're going to do this together for greater security, it will allow me to see what you are capable of with my own eyes instead of just waiting for a result. They have hostages so we have to maintain a certain element of surprise. Understood ?!

 Gray: Okay, I'll do the scouting.

 Macao: Scouting?

 Gray: If we have to remain stealthy then we have to avoid enemies or neutralize them by knowing their positions. I know an eye spell that can allow me to see through walls for example (one of the spells of the holy knight of the bow and daggers who had a good range of spells for his aim).

 Macau: That's awesome kid. How many are there?!

 Gray: There are exactly 18 of them and 11 of them are in the mansion, the other 7 are patrolling around the place. It's a bit strange because the news said there were more of them.

 Macao: They are very vigilant!! Seven sentinels!!!

 Gray: Hmm. Of the 11 bandits inside, 6 are upstairs and five others are downstairs. I also see the girls and…

 Macau: And what?!

 Gray: You don't want to know what's going on there.

 Macao: I understand, it doesn't really seem to shock you.

 Gray: I've seen my fair share of horror.

 Gray was right, in taking the memory of the holy knights he also took some of their experiences done or seen, not all of them were good people and had committed massacres or other atrocities.

 If he killed someone now then he wouldn't be very traumatized despite his young age because technically from the experience he stole, it's an act he has committed thousands of times.

 They put the plan into motion and began by subduing the 7 sentries outside, Gray indicated three targets to Macao and he took care of the other 4.

 The first one he took care of was urinating when Gray hit him in the back of the head to knock him out and he wasn't gentle as a cracking of bones was heard.

 He had canceled his weight seals and applied physical enhancement magic on him and all of his physical prowess was increased.

 Gray was fast, discreet like the holy knight of the bow who was a master in stealth as well, he used his way of moving to exploit the darkness and neutralize the brigands one by one.

 As for the last one, he took the time to read some of his memories before finding Macao who was knocking out the last sentry.

 Macao: Are you already finished?!

 Gray: Yes but we have a problem, I got information from one of them and these guys are doing disgusting human trafficking. 20 minutes before we came, they loaded up a boatload of girls to take them to their main location at a port near here. The leader of this unit is the only competent mage and apparently, he is gifted with rare magic.

 Macau: 20 minutes!! We can't catch them!

 Gray: I do, but i have to let you settle the score with the bandits inside.

 Macao: Okay for me but do you think you're up to it?! How are you going to catch them?!

 "Like this..." Gray said as he took out his sword and threw it into the void where it began to float. He jumped and stood on the flat of the blade like it was a skateboard, he could move the thought-enchanted blade up to 5m around him at will, he was just going to use it as a means of transport.

 Macao:…

 "We'll meet at the guild or at the port, it's up to you…" Gray said before quickly leaving on the flying sword with a still speechless Macao.

 He knew Itinerary that the smugglers were going to take and didn't have too much trouble catching up with the vehicle which could drive while he could fly very quickly.

 Gray wasted no time using the night in his favor, he immediately froze all 6 wheels of the large transporter instantly which caused the vehicle to stop immediately.

 There were 4 men transporting the girls and one of them got off the large modified cart to see what had stopped them when a shadow passed quickly in front of him hitting him in the face, knocking out several of his teeth in the process. 

 Seeing that something was wrong, the three other men went down but one by one, they were attacked by Gray in a very brutal way, they had several broken bones in fact. He opened the girls' cage to reassure them.

 Gray: Ladies, you're free. I don't really have time to chat but know that I come from Fairy Tail and someone hired us to settle the score of these thugs. If one of you knows how to drive a cart then great, go back to the village.

 He got back on his sword and rushed towards the sea where the smugglers' clandestine port was located while the girls were left wondering who he was, they were very relieved to have been freed but everything had happened too much quickly.

 Later near the mainland coast inside a huge cave built into a cliff near a hidden port, several men could be seen lying on the ground groaning in pain as several of their bones had been brutally broken.

 Gray had been there for a while and began to clear the place without much difficulty since the mages among these guys were quite weak and rare.

 Right now he was facing their leader and the man had tremendous magic. Solid ghost was a magic that allowed its user to create solid ghosts of whatever they wanted.

 Unfortunately, it was once again excellent magic used by a moron.

 The leader generated a large pack of ghost wolves that Gray had no trouble against, he cut them up and made them disappear quickly because even though they were strong, they weren't as strong as a real sword.

 The big boss got his ass kicked brutally by the creepy 11 year old Gray, he had some crazy experience through the holy knights so dealing with that kind of guy even without using ice magic was going to be A walk in the park. 

 Gray subsequently freed the prisoners and hostages in the cave before taking a look at the bandits' treasure and these guys had not been idle.

 Chests of gold, jewelry, magic components, and other valuable items that impressed Gray.

 He seriously wondered how these nerdy people had appropriated all of this.

 Gray did not delay and took out what was of interest to him in three different chests before summoning three large ice eagles who each grabbed a chest in their claws before flying with Gray to the mountains towards the chalet.

 This little trip had exhausted Gray who took a nap after his arrival. When he woke up the next afternoon, he ate something before creating a seal of protection for the house with the ancient runes and went to pray at the prison of Deliora to honor his master.

 Ashamed of having used ice magic to transport stolen items, he swore an oath before the ice of Ul that he would never again use ice magic willingly in the eyes of the world until he had brought back his master. Then, he left towards the guild in Magnolia.

 Once there, Macao saw him while talking with Wakaba, he was telling the others what happened during the mission. He had just received the reward for the mission and was waiting for Gray.

 Macao: Look, here is my young partner. Come, come drink with us...

 Gray: Are you already drunk!!? I don't drink, thank you.

 Wakaba: He's a kid, let him drink fruit juice. (to Gray) tell me, what's your name kid?

 Gray: Gray Fullbuster.

 Macau: I raise a glass to Gray, a talented kid and the newest member of our guild.

 Others: YEAH!!

 Wakaba: Little one, I advise you to go see the master for your guild mark, Macao is quite tipsy and will do anything.

 Gray: Okay, thank you.

 He looked for the master when his gaze met that of another boy older than him, Laxus. Their eye contact didn't last before they ignored each other.

 He found Makarov who placed his guild mark on his upper chest before giving him his share of the reward, 150,000 jewels out of the base 700,000.

 Macao had taken most of the reward and the guild had already withdrawn its share too. 150,000 jewels was good but it was nothing compared to everything he had taken from these bandits, he still took the money before finding a secluded place where he sat down to drink some fruit juice.