บท 245: 245. Job After A Long Time
2 days after he made the plan, Ben goes on a job with Mira & Bella. He leaves the guild to his advisor, Macao, one of the most senior members. Macao's experience in the guild is really helpful for Ben who has just joined recently.
Ben has built many defense mechanisms to protect the guild and also Magnolia Town. He built them slowly after he found the mysterious lacrima crystal below the guild. That lacrima crystal has enough power to protect the town from even a Wizard Saint's attack, after all.
But after his Anima Plan succeeds, they will have more power to use so their town will be super safe. Ben's target is to make even Acnologia's attack unable to destroy the town just like how he destroyed Tenrou Island.
Besides, by using the magic power that the Anima absorbs to fuel the defense system, he can hide the Anima from the world. The defense system can absorb a high amount of magic power and store it when Ben starts the Anima Plan, then use the stored power in the future.
Even so, there is a limit to how much they can store, especially if they are never used. That's why currently he is thinking of another way to store the stolen magic power before he starts the Anima Plan. He thinks about that while on his way to the job location.
"How long before we reach the place?" asks Mira.
"Probably in an hour with this speed. I can speed up if you want," says Ben.
"No, it's okay. This speed is good enough. I still can enjoy the view at this speed. If you get even faster, then I can't enjoy the view because everything becomes blurred," says Mira.
"Well, you're right," says Ben.
They are currently in a job to subjugate a magical creature. Of course, it's an S-Class job with high difficulty even in the S-Class. Many S-Class Mages have failed to finish this job since it was posted 7 months ago, so it's a difficult job in the S-Class.
What makes this job difficult is not the target itself, but the location. It is located in the sea so it is underwater. Their target is a specific Leviathan that started to live on the sea trading route, making the ships unable to sail through the route.
They also can't just change the route because the sea is also full of dangerous magical creatures. There might be more of them than on land because the sea is wider & deeper than land. Also, subjugation quests for sea creatures are rare so their populations are high.
The group finally arrive at a small port a little after an hour. It is where they'll meet the client, or precisely, someone who will explain everything to them because the quest is from the Kingdom as the sea route is owned by the Kingdom.
"There aren't many people here," says Mira as she only sees a few people in the port.
"Is closed," says Bella as she points at some closed shops.
"Yeah, many people must've left this port and gone to another town. With the sea route being unable to use, they won't have many things to do and their income gets lowered. So it's better to leave and work in a different town," says Ben.
"Ah, so that's how it is. They live from the sea route, after all," says Mira while nodding.
"Yeah, I guess it's not only the trading that gets blocked but even normal activity like fishing also gets hindered. With a Leviathan in the sea, the fishermen couldn't do their job and the fish supply became lower. Fish is a staple for places like this so without it, they can't live here. Moving out is the best option, especially because this problem hasn't been solved for months," says Ben.
"You are correct," says someone so suddenly from some meters on their left.
Ben's group looks to the left and sees some people come. It's a group of a man dressed like a buttler and 4 guards.
"Nice to meet you, Mages of Fairy Tail. I am Riccardio, the one in charge of this town," says Riccardio while bowing a little.
"In charge of this town? I thought for sure that you are a buttler," says Ben.
The guards sigh when they hear it while Riccardio just smiles. "Please don't mind my appearance as I am also a buttler."
"What do you mean?" asks Mira confusedly.
"Fufu, I'm glad you asked. It's because lords usually dump all their work on their buttler. It's just like how the Kingdom dumps all the work on this town on me. It makes me think that I am just the buttler of this Kingdom. So to make my work more efficient, I dedicated my life to being a buttler," says Riccardio very passionately.
"Okay?" says Ben's group unsurely because they don't understand what he says.
Suddenly, one of the guards says, "Umm, please don't mind him. He might be like this, but he is an excellent lord.
"Like what?!" says Riccardio in surprise.
Another one chimes in, "Yes, he is just obsessed with being a buttler even though he is noble."
"Buttler is nice & very dignified, after all," says Riccardio while nodding.
The 3rd one also chimes in, "Sometimes he says nonsense, but he always does his work as a lord properly."
"What do you mean by nonsense?!" says Riccardio in surprise again.
The 4th guard also wants to talk, "If he isn't like this, then he will have a wife & children already. At this rate, he will run out of single women his age and can only find old widows."
"Don't worry, I will find a young widow," says Riccardio while raising his thumb.
The 4 guards just sigh while Ben's group is dumbfounded. They feel as if they were watching a show or play just now. But at least now they are sure that Riccardio is the lord of this port town.
"Then, can we talk about the quest?" asks Ben.
"Yes, let's talk in my office," says Riccardio.
After walking for some time, they arrive at Riccardio's office, located in a big building in the center of this town. This building is full of workers of many types of jobs like officials, servants, maids, etc. But there is no buttler at all because the Lord himself is the buttler.
"Just like what was written in the job's description that you told me, your job is to subjugate a Leviathan that showed up in the sea route. As for the type of this Leviathan, it's Shark Leviathan," says Riccardio.
Shark Leviathan is a Leviathan that has a similar appearance to a shark. But its size is many times bigger and it also has an armored body. It also can use high-level magic, it's an S-Class magical creature, after all.
There are many types of Leviathan and they all resemble many kinds of fish. It's because Leviathans are actually fish that have strong magic power. They grow too fast and can be said to be mutated into monsters, becoming a Leviathan.
But all these mutated monsters are just fake Leviathans. The real Leviathans are Water Dragons that have gone extinct along with other dragons, it's a kind of title instead of names. Then the name Leviathan was used on these strong mutated monsters. They are some sort of Drake or Wyvern of the sea.
"Hmm, if it's just a Shark Leviathan, then the job wouldn't have failed so many times before. It will be different if the Leviathan is Whale Leviathan which is the strongest. So why is it?" asks Ben.
"That would be the case if this Shark Leviathan is normal. But this Shark Leviathan is very big, almost as big as a Whale Leviathan. It also has strong water magic that can destroy our ship easily. Also, you must've known that Shark Leviathan is the most aggressive Leviathan, unlike Whale Leviathan which actually very gentle despite being the strongest Leviathan," says Riccardio.
"Hmm, so it's like that," says Ben in understanding.
Riccardio gives them some more explanations about the job. Then after they finish, Ben's group departs to defeat the Leviathan.
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