Capítulo 68: Chapter 68: Dendrobium Village

Dendrobium Village was built about two kilometers away from the Dendrobium Mountains, which made it technically a village at the foot of the mountain. Hence, it took its name from the mountain.

The Dendrobium Mountains had five peaks and stretched over several dozen kilometers. Due to its relatively gentle slopes, it provided an ideal environment for the growth of various plants and offered suitable living conditions for many animals.

The villagers lived by the saying, "live off the mountain if you rely on it." In the past, when harvests were poor, the villagers of Dendrobium would often go into the mountains to gather and hunt, all while staying vigilant against wild animals that occasionally came down to forage.

Because of this, the villagers cut down trees and built a tall wooden fence outside the village with sturdy logs.

They even erected two sentry towers on either side of the gate, just inside the fence.

Two members of the hunting team were standing guard in the sentry towers.

Earlier, they saw a strange, giant crab wandering near the village before it suddenly disappeared. Thinking they were just tired and seeing things, they began to complain about how long it was taking for their shift change.

At that moment, they saw six strange beasts slowly approaching the gate.

"Bitt! There's something weird coming this way!"

"I see it, Mastiff! This time, it's definitely not our imagination." The young man named Bitt grabbed his bow.

"Sound the bell, call everyone... Wait! There are people—someone's riding on the back of those beasts."

As the six figures drew closer, the two guards noticed that two of the strange beasts were carrying a black-haired boy, a cherry-pink-haired boy, and what appeared to be a cat.

Moreover, the beasts were walking backward because they were dragging something behind them. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be wild boars?

Rhodes noticed someone on the sentry tower aiming a bow at them and immediately signaled for the stone beetles to stop.

Natsu warily looked up at the archer and shouted, "We're wizards from Fairy Tail! We're here on a mission to deal with the wild beasts!"

Hearing that they were wizards, the two guards relaxed slightly, but Mastiff still held onto the rope for the bell as he asked, "What's with those beasts?"

"They're summoned by my magic, to carry the boars we defeated on the way," Rhodes replied, waving his hand to make three of the stone beetles disappear, leaving the boars on the ground.

Bitt finally put away his bow but added, "Come closer. We need to verify your guild emblems before we can open the gate."

Natsu and Happy jumped off the stone beetles and approached the gate to show their emblems—one on his right arm, the other on his back.

Rhodes remained on the beetle, cautious that the other side might suddenly do something, ready to pull Natsu and Happy underground for an escape.

Luckily, nothing of the sort happened.

The two guards confirmed that they all bore the Fairy Tail emblem and immediately turned the winch to raise the gate.

The way they opened the gate made Rhodes uneasy—he felt like the rope could suddenly snap, and the gate would come crashing down on him.

"My apologies for the earlier offense," Mastiff said, eyeing the stone beetles that were dragging the boars into the gate. "May I ask about these boars...?"

"We ran into them destroying a wheat field on the way here, so we took care of them," Rhodes explained. "But in the process, we also destroyed a large part of the field. I wonder if we could use these to compensate for the damage."

Mastiff quickly said, "I see, please don't blame yourself. If you hadn't stopped them, they would've destroyed even more."

Natsu grinned at Rhodes. "See? I told you it'd be fine."

Rhodes glanced at him—fine, my foot. If I wasn't here today, this guy would be regretting his words.

Rhodes asked Natsu to take out the commission letter and asked Mastiff, "Could you tell us where Mr. Panther Leopold lives? We need to confirm mission details with the client."

"That's the village chief's name. I'll take you there," Mastiff replied. "Bitt, take care of things here."

Bitt nodded. "Make sure you call for help to deal with the boars."

Mastiff waved and led Rhodes, Natsu, and Happy towards the chief's house.

The chief's residence was in the center of the village, a two-story house with a large courtyard.

"Chief, the wizards from Fairy Tail are here!"

Seeing the courtyard gate open, Mastiff called out from the gate and led Rhodes and the others inside, waiting in the courtyard. Rhodes took the opportunity to observe the layout.

The courtyard was quite spacious. On the left side near the gate was a cowshed, with a cow standing there, chewing something.

On the right was a chicken coop. Because evening was approaching, there were no chickens outside, though occasional clucking sounds could be heard from inside the coop.

Further in, there were two somewhat simple huts on either side, possibly used as a woodshed or storage.

'If things go south, I can call the stone beetles to burrow out. The courtyard wall isn't high, so the sharp-beaked birds could carry us out, or the river crabs could break through. If there's no time to summon anything, I could use the chicken coop as leverage to climb the wall, or even the cowshed.'

Rhodes planned several escape routes, feeling much more at ease.

At that moment, an elderly man around fifty came out, leaning on a cane, accompanied by a young woman who looked to be under thirty.

The old man had deep-set eyes and a worried expression, probably due to concerns over the village's problems.

The young woman had pale lips and a sorrowful look, as if she had just been crying.

"Are you the wizards who accepted the commission?" The chief's voice was hoarse and weary.

"There are three of us. I'm Happy, also a Fairy Tail wizard!"

Happy sprouted his wings, flew up, and turned around to show his emblem.

Natsu and Rhodes then introduced themselves.

"My apologies, it was my mistake," the old man said. "I'm Panther Leopold, the chief of this village, and this is my daughter-in-law, Snow." He gestured to invite them inside. "Please come in and sit."

"Chief, there's one more thing..." Mastiff explained about the boars.

"Don't worry about that; once the wizards have resolved the situation, we'll check which field it was," Panther said, leaning on his cane. "And if it's not enough, I'll cover any difference myself."

"No, Chief, sir," Natsu immediately protested. "Whatever Fairy Tail's wizards destroy, we take responsibility for! Right, Happy, Rhodes?"

You're even proud of it! It was indeed the rule, so Rhodes nodded helplessly.

"Then it's settled. Mastiff, you can go back to your duties."

"Yes, Chief."

After Mastiff left, Rhodes frowned, feeling like the chief seemed a bit rushed—could there be a problem?

They followed Panther and Snow into the living room, where Snow quietly served them tea before standing behind Panther.

Holding his teacup up to his mouth to pretend to drink, Rhodes took a moment to examine the living room. Finally, he spotted what was wrong.

On the wall of the living room hung a black-and-white photo of an adult man.

Upon closer inspection, Rhodes noticed that both Panther and Snow had black bands on their sleeves.

Was it a family member who had recently died because of the beasts?

The steps to taking a mission usually include one more thing, which I skipped.

Normally, once a guild takes on a mission, they notify the client using communication magic crystals or messenger birds, sometimes attaching basic details of the person who accepted the mission for verification and to prevent impostors.

Commissions can also be made similarly, without the client needing to visit the guild personally.