Fairy Tail: Capturing the Demon Mirajane at the Start

"Don't worry, Igor."

"I will definitely find a job and commission within a week."

Mirajane crossed her arms and said with a smug look on her face.

“I’m not worried about you, Mirajane.”

"What I'm worried about is Elfman and Lisanna."

Igor waved to Mirajane, indicating that from the beginning, the people he was worried about were not Mirajane, but Elfman and Lisanna.

"Huh?"

Mirajane paused for a moment, then patted her chest and continued, "If it's Elfman and Lisanna, then you don't need to worry at all, Igor. As long as I'm leading the team, any expedition mission will be a piece of cake..."

"Stop, stop, stop."

Mirajane hadn't finished speaking when Igor called a halt.

“Miraja, with your and my strength, there’s no need for further explanation. We can easily complete any extermination mission below 'S-rank'.”

"But Elfman and Lisanna are different; they are too young to join us on expeditions."

Igor waved to Mirajane and said seriously.

Although Mirajane is now a level stronger than her counterpart in the original timeline, possessing 'S-class' combat power that is above the 'Fairy Tail' standard by the end of X780.

Furthermore, as Mirajane studies the "Intermediate and Advanced Refining Methods," her cultivation speed will increase even further.

By the year X782, even if Mirajane's magic power is not yet at the 'Tenth Saint' level, it will probably be close.

Therefore, according to Igor's speculation, the tragedy in the original story, where Mirajane overestimated her own strength, leading to the failure of the Beast King's conquest and Lisanna being forcibly taken by Elfman, who had received the Beast King's soul, and thus being sucked into the 'soul' and transferred to the world of Edolas, is unlikely to happen.

However, if Mirajane doesn't change her carefree nature and always brings Elfman and Lisanna along on missions, she'll suffer in future 'SS' rank missions, or even 'Ten Years' missions, even if she doesn't fail in the Beast King hunt mission.

Chapter 50 Makarov: Igor is the 'Fairy Tail' successor I've been waiting for!!

"Moreover..."

At this point, Igor paused slightly, remaining silent for a while before continuing, "If Elfman and Lisanna were always by our side, how could their strength possibly improve?"

“Miraje, don’t forget Master Ulfheim’s last words: each of us must walk our own path.”

To persuade Mirajane, Igor even brought up the story of his master, Ulfheim, giving her a gift before his departure.

"I understand."

Under Igor's tutelage, Mirajane's expression changed repeatedly before she finally nodded forcefully, as if she understood something.

As Igor said, if she took Elfman and Lisanna with her in everything, then Elfman and Lisanna would never grow up.

Most importantly, Mirajane's strength far surpasses that of Elfman and Lisanna. Mirajane possesses dual-core 'S-class' combat power, while Elfman and Lisanna are still stuck at 'B-class'. The difficulty of the missions they can handle is completely mismatched.

"I'm glad you understand."

Igor smiled at Mirajane, then raised his glass and said cheerfully, "Anyway, let's toast to a new beginning!!"

"From today onwards, our Strauss family will begin a new legend in Magnolia City, at the Fairy Tail guild."

“One day, Professor Ulfheim will be proud of the four of us and will return to us to award us graduation medals.”

Finally, Igor, along with Mirajane, Elfman, Lisanna, and their companions, set off from the Forest of Monsters, traversing mountains and valleys and enduring hardships for half a year before finally arriving at the Fairy Tail guild to offer their blessings.

"Wishing us a new year, a fresh start, and all the best! Cheers!!"

In the end, Igor, Mirajane, Elfman, and Lisanna drank their drinks in one gulp and returned to their respective homes.

The next morning.

Igor arrived at the Fairy Tail guild alone. He stood in front of the quest board, scanning the quests one by one, and finally settled on one particular request.

"Head to Mount Halberd and vanquish the ferocious monster Balgan."

Igor read to himself, tearing the commission directly from the signboard, and muttered, "Interesting. This is actually a long-term commission issued directly by the Magic Council ERA! It seems there are just too many Balkans on Mount Halberd."

"Does it pay '100,000' J for each Balkan raid? This reward actually exceeds that of many B-level commissions, but it's lower than some A-level raiding missions."

Igor was silently calculating in his mind.

“Igor, are you going to the Halber Mountains to carry out a mission to conquer the Balkans? However, before you do this mission, there are some things I must tell you in advance.”

"Because the Balkan monsters are really strong. They are not only among the few monsters with high intelligence, but their average adult form is also capable of completing 'B-rank' hunting missions, with some exceptional individuals even reaching the level of 'A-rank' hunting missions..."

"Moreover, these stinky monkeys usually appear in groups. If you encounter a large group of hundreds, even an 'S-class' mage would be in danger."

At this moment, Makarov, as the guild leader, came to Igor's side with a smile and introduced Igor to the strength of the magical beast Balgan.

Makarov paused slightly at this point, and after a moment of silence, he added, "By the way, the Balkan monsters are extremely vicious; they attack lone women."

"I see, I understand now."

Igor nodded. After Makarov's explanation, he finally understood why the mission to hunt the magical beast Balgan in the Halber Mountains was ignored by the huge Fairy Tail guild.

Firstly, the Balkan monsters are powerful magical beasts with high intelligence and high numerical values. Their average individual strength reaches the 'B' rank level, and some exceptional individuals have even reached the 'A' rank level at one point…

Furthermore, they often live in groups, and some even have tribes, making their difficulty level far exceed that of 'B-level' hunting missions, and even more difficult than most 'A-level' hunting missions.

Secondly, and most importantly, the Magic Council ERA only gives slightly more money for missions that are significantly more difficult than 'A-rank' hunting missions, such as the "mission to hunt magical beasts in the Balkans in the Harbe Mountains," which is slightly more difficult than 'B-rank' hunting missions.

This ultimately led to the current awkward situation of the quest within the Fairy Tail guild.

Those who are interested in the reward amount for the mission simply don't have the strength to go to the Harbe Mountains to complete it, while those who have the strength to go to the Harbe Mountains to hunt the magical beast Balgan don't care about the reward amount for the mission, feeling that it's not worth the effort.

"So, Igor, are you still going to do the mission?"

Makarov asked Igor.

"Ah."

Igor smiled slightly at Makarov, his smile as warm as a spring breeze. He said earnestly, "After all, I cannot ignore the danger to the young girl! I will handle the magical beast Balkans."

After finishing speaking, Igor put the task sheet into his coat pocket and headed towards the Halberd Mountains.

"Plop, plop, plop."

After Igor left, Makarov clutched his wildly beating heart, which he could not calm down for a long time, and muttered to himself, "This tenacious spirit, great strength, handsome appearance, and kind heart! There's no mistake, Igor is the successor of 'Fairy Tail' that I have been looking for."

After bidding farewell to Makarov, Igor set off alone for the Halby Mountains.

Halbe Mountains.

"Quick! Get the young lady out of here!"

A horse-drawn carriage raced wildly up the mountain against the wind and snow, the driver constantly wielding his whip to spur the horse on.

"We smelled a woman's scent~ Let's unload the woman from the carriage~"

Behind the carriage followed one after another terrifying upright apes, each over two meters tall when standing. These apes strained their nostrils to sniff the direction the carriage had gone, seemingly catching a whiff of the fragrance inside. Then, with lewd grins on their faces, they rushed over.

"Damn it! There's more and more Balkans in the Halberd Mountains, and it's about to get out of control! If no one cleans it up, the surrounding towns will suffer."

The driver kept cursing, vowing that once he escaped from the Halber Mountains, he would urge the Council to carry out the siege of the monster Balgan.

"Bang!"

However, the accident seemed to happen even faster than the driver's curses. An inconspicuous pebble on the road overturned the speeding carriage.

Chapter 51 What the Knights Protect!

"Boom!"

The carriage rolled several times on the ground before finally crashing into the thick snow on the mountain.

Fortunately, the snow on the mountain was thick enough that the carriage was not damaged. However, the frightened and untied horse let out a neigh, like a startled bird, and fled in panic, gradually disappearing into the distance above the snow-capped mountain.

"Miss, are you alright?"

The coachman, who also served as the carriage's guard, rolled around in the snow a few times before scrambling to his feet and rushing to the carriage. He opened the door and asked the woman inside.

Inside the carriage, a girl with short, emerald-green hair was pursing her pale lips, looking at the guard in a panic. Her lips were half open, and she kept nodding, saying, "I...I'm fine!"

"Oops~"

"Woman~woman~woman~"

Just as the girl was in a state of panic, dozens of Balkans had surrounded the carriage. They kept pounding their chests and the ground, letting out strange cries, and their eyes were filled with ferocity.

"Uh."

The girl inside the carriage trembled uncontrollably as she listened to the mournful cries of the magical beast Balgan outside, her face growing paler and paler.

"Damn it!"

The guard responsible for protecting the girl immediately drew his sword and stood protectively beside the carriage. He whispered, "Miss, don't worry! Even if it costs me my life, I will ensure your safety."

"Sir Talco, don't say such pessimistic things."

After hearing the knight's sorrowful words, the girl with short, bright green hair took a deep breath, inhaling the biting cold air through her nose. Her panicked heart gradually calmed down, and she finally regained some rationality, trying her best to encourage the knight outside the carriage.

"I am content with your words!"

Talco smiled, then slammed the carriage door shut, brandishing his knight's sword as he charged towards the evil figure.

"You lowly monsters, prepare to die!"

As Talco spoke, the knight's sword in his hand had already pierced through the body of a Balkan monster, the sharp blade instantly taking the life of the Balkan.

It's important to know that every Balkan monster is at least 'B-rank' in strength. Yet, even a 'B-rank' Balkan monster couldn't last a single round against Talco. This shows just how powerful Talco is!

"That despicable man!"

"Dead! Die! Die!"

However, the strength of the Balkan monsters has never been limited to their physical power; what is most terrifying about them is their intelligence, which surpasses that of ordinary monsters.

After witnessing Talko's strength, the Balkan people stopped rushing forward and instead picked up tree branches, stones, and ice hockey pucks from the ground, throwing them at Talko.

Some of the most intelligent Balkans even knew to attack the carriages behind Talko.

"Damn it!"

Talco cursed under his breath and could only turn to defend himself in the carriage behind him.

Unfortunately, there were too many Balkans, and Talco always missed some areas that it couldn't defend properly, so many stones and snowballs ended up hitting the carriage.

"You bastard!"

Seeing this, Talko roared and could only use his own body as a shield to block the stones thrown by Balkan.

Gradually, Talco's armor began to break down, his flesh became bruised and battered, and the exposed parts of his body became a bloody mess.

In other words, the Halberd Mountains were cold enough that Talko's wounds froze before they even started bleeding.

"It's a stroke of luck amidst misfortune that the weather in this mountain range is bad enough that I haven't lost consciousness yet."

Talco gritted his teeth, thinking to himself, "I hope the rescue will arrive soon."

"..."

Just as Talco was thinking this, he suddenly realized that everything around him was quiet.

This unusual calm caused a hint of confusion to flash in Talco's eyes. He looked up and around, and saw that the magical beast Balgans, who had been dancing with joy because they had smelled the scent of human women, were all kneeling on one knee in unison, as if welcoming the arrival of some great being.

"Roar!"

Just as Talco was puzzled, the black shadow that emerged from the blizzard and was constantly approaching him drew all his attention.

Talco looked closely and saw a pink Balkan giant, five meters tall, standing there like a small mountain, more than twice the height of a normal Balkan giant, emerge from the blizzard and walk towards him.

"Damn it, we've had such bad luck to run into the 'Beast King'! Are we really going to perish in the Halber Mountains today?"

When Talco saw the muscular Balkan, his expression changed drastically; he realized that his hand holding the knight's sword was trembling uncontrollably.

It should be noted that ordinary adult Balkan monsters already possess the level of 'B'-rank monsters, and some extremely special individuals even possess the level of 'A'-rank monsters.

As for the 'King' who rules over all the Balkans in the Halber Mountains, he is a powerful magical beast with terrifying 'S' level combat strength.

That is the undisputed king of the Halber Mountains. Even the Blizzard Beast, which is hailed as the overlord of the Halber Mountains' skies, is said to have dragon blood residing within its body, and possesses the strength of an 'A'-rank magical beast after reaching adulthood, would give way to the 'King' of the Balkans.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Just as Tarko's consciousness began to waver under the oppressive presence of the Balkan 'King', who was as large as a small mountain, the Balkan people carrying the carriage began to rhythmically pound their chests, as if beating the drumbeats of a war drum.

"Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!"