ALL NOVEL Arc 1 – Now or Never: Chapter 5
Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment.
Cross-over from various games, books, anime, manga, and movies.
The familiar characters you see here belong to their respected authors and owners.
"Speech"
Time*
Arc 1 - Now or Never: Chapter 5
50 minutes later*
Wow, it hasn't been that long and we're already heading back to Oak Town. Talk about fast progress, then again, I can see why most people would love to be Mages in this world. Well, those that understand about magic and do not see it as some kind of curse or whatever, like with Mirajane's past of people thinking she was a demon due to her having no control over her magic at the time.
Anyway, I've watched how Juvia easily cut off the goblins' ears and packed them away into a small bag like nothing. I can see Juvia has experience in doing this and dealing with goblins. That or the goblins in this world are less clever compared to the ones in Goblin Slayer.
So, with me being the one carrying the small bag of goblins' ears since I'm feeling bad enough to let Juvia do all the work at this point.
As we enter the train that's about to leave within an hour. I keep thinking about many things I have noticed over the past hour coming to this place and killing those goblins.
Where the hell are those guardsmen? I saw no guardsmen that Juvia mention before. Are they seriously working to protect the people here or going somewhere to goof off? Like damn, I get that goblins might not be a big problem in this world, but I've seen what they could truly do in Goblin Slayer and I want no part of that happening to me. So where the fuck did they go up to this point?
I'm a little hesitant to ask Juvia, since it might cause some misunderstandings going between us.
Oh, hey. It's the same room that Juvia and I used for 3 days... And another 3 days going back to Oak Town. Just great.
"Well, that was kind of short." I said to Juvia, who hums in agreement.
"Juvia is just glad we didn't have to face an army of goblins instead. Juvia recalls the last time it happens. Many places were destroyed and it took days before all nearby Mages came in to deal with them, with the price of many lives including some of those Mages." Juvia said in relief, not that I can blame her for this.
Even I would be fear for my life facing an army of goblins. Well, Failure Manipulation should make it impossible for them to kill me, but that's beside the point. Goblins are extremely dangerous.
"Now, that is a nightmare I rather not go through." I said with a hint of fear. As I can still fight with goblins from a distance, but I have no experience facing them up close where I know for sure I would freak out. I ain't no hardcore veteran warrior that gone through countless battlefields with my life on the line. No shame in admitting that I would make many mistakes in the process of facing something scary up close and personal.
Well, after I create more Magic Cards and get better at using my other magic. Hopefully with those, I get some confidence to face them up close. Hopefully...
"Juvia agrees. Juvia has nightmares just from hearing those rumors about the army of goblins in the past. Especially what they do to females." Juvia's body shivers, showing exactly how true her words are.
And there is the proof I needed to know that even this world's goblins are nothing to be underestimated. Never chase away, but kill them straight away. Stupid of me for thinking these goblins wouldn't be dangerous. A very stupid thing to think that goblins, no matter how weak they are in most fantasy-type worlds. They are still dangerous to most people, civilians, and inexperienced fighters.
I walk over and sit next to Juvia, who looks at me with a little surprise and delight, then to her further surprise. When I pull her into a one-armed hug.
Ah, there's the blushing again. I do wonder if this is more common with Juvia, or pretty much anyone in this world.
I blink when a thought just pops into my head.
Do I blush that easy too? Now that I technically have an anime body. Oh...shit...
Okay, I know this is stupid but... Failure Manipulation: 100% failure of me blushing.
Yeah, I'm never going to let anyone know about this. Even if it kills me.
"This is nice..." I heard Juvia whisper and move closer to me.
"If you like hugging. All you need is to ask." I lean over a bit and whisper into Juvia's ear, causing her ears to turn red now. "Well, let's enjoy our ride back to Oak Town. Maybe do other jobs closer to Oak Town." I rather not take a train ride for another 3 days or more.
3 days later*
Okay, I did not have to be a Dragon Slayer Mage to get sick of riding the train. Since it has nearly been an entire week just riding the train alone.
Ugh, I feel like throwing up.
In fact, I've been on the train way longer than outside of it since I came to this world.
"Juvia. Be a dear and don't pick any other jobs that require us leaving town, or at least require us using the train." I said to Juvia while feeling ill, not paying attention to what Juvia giggles about right now. I did not expect that I would get motion sickness. Then again, I've never ridden a train for more than a couple of hours before, let alone nearly an entire week.
"Alright, Juvia will be right back and turn in the job for subduing the goblins too!" Juvia rushes off to find us a new job to do while I sit down on one of the available public benches in the train station.
I am so tempted to use my cheat to get rid of this motion sickness and I-wait, why didn't I do that?! I even made myself unable to blush, so why the hell didn't I do the same with motion sickness?!
AH! Shit!
However... Having Juvia watching over me and trying her best to help me deal with the motion sickness is nice. Especially the lap pillow.
Nonetheless, I quickly use my cheat to make it so I will never have motion sickness again.
Oh?
I blink and find myself feeling better than ever. No longer do I feel like throwing up anymore.
Man, I keep forgetting that I can do pretty much anything with Failure Manipulation. I guess I'm still stuck with the mindset of not having it. Including having magic now.
I check my Local Time Card and see it's almost time for lunch.
Letting out a sigh. Putting away my Magic Card, then I glance up at the sky and it's nice. Even the cool breeze is making me feel better.
"Renato-sama! Juvia got a new job for us to do in Oak Town!" Juvia shouted in excitement, drawing attention towards her while she ran towards me while waving the flier for the job.
I accept the flier from Juvia, who is giving me the look of wanting to be praised by me. So, I did something instead by rubbing her head the moment she sit down next to me, causing her to shiver, which ignore how her entire shiver the very moment I touched her head. As I begin reading the job that Juvia got for us to do.
Oh, this job is to teach someone about magic in general and tutor them on how to feel their Magic Power. Where the job would last for a week and 5 hours per day. Going by 50,000 jewels hourly. That's extremely more than what the average tutor makes back in my world.
I feel like Juvia is overestimating me here. Seriously, $500 hourly is damn high for a tutoring job. 250,000 per day and a total of 1,750,000 jewels weekly.
Rereading the information on the flier and I can see some potential problems taking this job. The fact that it doesn't exactly say who we're supposed to tutor. Not to mention, the available opening for tutors to be hired are limitless; therefore, countless Mages can apply for this job. Whether they belong to a Magic Guild or not. Furthermore, the duration of this job has no deadline. Very suspicious if I say so myself.
I'm very tempted to use Failure Manipulation to make it 100% of this job isn't just a huge trap created by a Dark Mage or whatever. But, I want to see what would happen if it's the case. Then, compare with the other jobs available for the public. To check on the danger levels of this world and adjust some of my future defensive created with my cheat.
"Hey, Juvia. Out of all the jobs was available. Was this the only one that is within the town?" I ask Juvia, who has been quiet so far and look at her. Only to see her face red once again and I can barely see some smokes coming from her head. Yet, I don't feel any heat-nevermind. I can feel it now.
I remove my hand from Juvia's head, not wanting to test if the way Juvia is would end up burning my hand. Then again, Juvia can convert her own body into water. Who the say she subconscious nearly converting into her liquid form and boiling the 'water' in the process somehow, leading to smoke being produced while her face is red as a side-effect.
"Um... Yes, Juvia only found this job with a reasonable reward compared to others in this town." Juvia said quietly.
"Hm. I see." I glance at the flier once more. Another suspicious part of the job is that many Mages could take this job altogether at the same time. Very suspicious indeed. "Come on, Juvia. Let's go do our job."
"Yes, Renato-sama." Juvia said in her normal voice and stood up without any trouble. Also, her face is back to normal too. "Juvia knows the fastest route to get there."
"Lead the way." I said to Juvia while taking this chance to have a good look at her nice butt. Something her present outfit isn't enough to hide it. Yup, better to focus on something that makes sense for me instead of thinking about how in the world Juvia manages to find out the fastest route to reach the location of the job is. Since it didn't even take that long for Juvia to leave the train station and come back with the job for us to do.
Better for me to have perverted thoughts than have potential many headaches of thinking about anime logic. Also, it's easier for me to stare at Juvia's butt from behind compared to staring at her breasts from the front, where she would notice straight away.
40 minutes later*
And I feel stupid. Of course, she would sense me staring at the way she keep on leading us in a circle, where the client's location would have been reached in less than 10 minutes. All because Juvia wanted me to keep staring at her butt and another proof is the way the back of her neck is red along with her ears whenever her hair moves out of the way for me to see whenever I get a glimpse.
Besides, I should have known this by now with the way she noticed how I reacted to her during the time we were buying our clothes, including spare copies that I didn't notice Juvia buying at some point.
Nonetheless, it's time to check out this job is a trap or not.