Fairy Tail: You said you were just acting, are you serious?

The coachman exhaled cold, white breath and shivered as he said:

"The carriage can't go any further. If we continue deeper into the area, we won't be able to recognize the road anymore."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work on this journey."

Ron nodded, picked up all the equipment and luggage, and jumped off the wagon.

He took a purse full of J coins from his person and handed it to the driver.

"This is the final payment, plus extra for your transportation."

Go back the way you came immediately. Don't linger here any longer, and be careful.

As soon as the driver received the money bag, he immediately bowed to Ron in thanks.

"Ron, be careful too. Have a safe journey."

"Have a safe journey."

After saying goodbye to the coachman, Ron entered Icemark Town, intending to find the quest giver and ask where the Icefield Wolf Pack was.

After knocking on doors and asking the residents, Ron arrived at the mayor's cabin.

He brushed the snow off his shoulders, pushed open the wooden door, and saw a middle-aged man wrapped in a fur coat sighing by the fireplace.

Hearing the wooden door open, the middle-aged man looked puzzled when he saw a stranger walk in.

"Mayor, right? I'm a mage who's been commissioned to deal with the wolf pack."

Ron pulled the mission assignment sheet from his pocket and showed it to the middle-aged man.

The mayor paused for a moment, looking Ron, who still looked like a child, up and down, his brows furrowing even deeper.

"Why did the Mage Guild send a child? Can you handle a monster horde?"

Ron didn't care about the mayor's doubts. After all, he had learned along the way that people in these remote towns didn't understand the difference between mages and ordinary people.

He just hadn't expected the town mayor, who could issue the request, to react this way; it seems he's still a bit inexperienced.

Instead of worrying about me, you should tell me the exact location where the Icefield Dire Wolves are spotted.

Seeing Ron's confident gaze, the mayor decided to believe him.

"Alright, once you leave Icemark Town, head north and you'll find a small canyon. That's the territory of those Icefield Wolf packs."

The mayor pointed to the north-facing window and couldn't help but add a final word of advice.

“Every single one of those Icefield Wolves is taller than you. You can still back out now.”

Ron simply nodded in response:

"Thanks for the directions. I'll be back after I deal with the wolf pack."

After saying that, Ron turned around, pushed open the door again, and walked back into the icy snow.

After closing the door, the mayor didn't go back to the fireplace, but instead watched from the window how the new mage was going to deal with the wolf pack.

Unexpectedly, after leaving the mayor's house, Ron stopped in a clearing on the edge of the village.

Just as the mayor was wondering what he was going to do, he saw Ron pull out something that surprised him.

Ron took out a blank scroll he had prepared and laid it flat on the snow. Then he took out a brush and some special ink.

The residents who had been observing from inside the house began to press their faces against the windows when they saw Ron's actions.

The residents whispered among themselves in their houses, all looking puzzled.

Under the snow, this mage even wanted to spread out paper and pens to draw. What exactly was he planning to do?

Ron just wanted to see if the ink would work.

He prepared the ink after equipping the Sai character card that day, but if he still couldn't draw after injecting magic, he would have to think of another way.

After Ron infused the ink and brush with magic, he began to write on the scroll.

Unexpectedly, these magical inks did not freeze due to the temperature; instead, they remained liquid and adhered to the blank spaces, forming lines.

Ron's face lit up with joy, and he began to flip his wrist and continue drawing.

The brush tip moved swiftly across the scroll, and in less than ten seconds, a giant ink-wash bird leaped onto the scroll.

"It seems my worries were unnecessary."

After finishing his work, Ron smiled with satisfaction.

He put away his brush, touched the giant ink bird he had painted, and then something magical happened.

A dark magic circle lit up on the scroll, and the giant ink bird seemed to come alive, twisting its body and struggling to break free of the scroll.

The mayor and residents stared in disbelief at the sight before them.

Phew~!

With a cry, the enormous bird made of ink flapped its wings and took flight.

The mayor and residents peering out the windows stared wide-eyed, their eyes bulging like copper bells.

"Oh my god! The bird I drew has become real!"

"Is this magic?!"

Amid the residents' gasps, Ron leaped and landed steadily on the broad back of the giant ink-painting bird, which was large enough to accommodate several people.

"Great, the stability far exceeds expectations. Now we can finish this quickly."

Ron felt the sensation beneath his feet and nodded in satisfaction.

"Set off, flying towards the northern canyon."

Ron gently stepped on the giant bird's back, and the bird exerted its strength, its wings gradually flapping.

Ron gradually ascended into the air, watched by the residents.

Then the giant bird exerted its strength instantly, transforming into a black streak of light, leaving behind a powerful airflow from its flapping wings that swirled up the surface snow, and sped off toward the north of Icemark Town.

Ron sat steadily on it, braving the swirling snow and soaring into the sky with the giant bird.

He leaned out and looked down from above, taking in the entire snowfield.

With the help of the thick cotton clothes and basic magic, Ron's body remained at a normal temperature, so he did not feel cold.

Using the giant bird's advantage, Ron crossed several small snow-covered hills in less than five minutes and found the canyon.

He arrived above the canyon and saw his mission objective.

The canyon is filled with towering ice pillars, and beneath them, thirty or forty ice field wolves, each the size of a bull, are gathered together.

With their ice-blue fur and enormous fangs, they were tearing apart the remains of several deer.

Their territory is littered with countless broken bones, a testament to their ferocity as predators.

"found it."

As Ron muttered to himself, white breath escaped from his mouth.

Ron, through his gloves, reached into the bag containing magical clay and began to mold small white spheres.

Since there was no need to mold it into small animals, it was much faster this time.

Ron then scattered the clay, and countless round clay balls rained down from the sky onto the wolf pack below.

The pack of wolves stopped eating as the sphere gradually descended to a certain height within their territory.

Unfortunately, the sphere had already landed beside them, and it was too late to deal with it.

"drink!"

Chapter 52 A Girl with a Twisted Heart

At Ron's command, the magical clay above the territory lit up with white magic circles, and then the light illuminated the entire territory.

Boom!

Boom! ...

And so, a series of violent explosions rang out in the canyon!

Dozens of magical white clay bombs exploded the moment they hit the ground and the wolf pack.

The entire snowfield was illuminated by even more dazzling and bright flames. The intense heat instantly melted and evaporated the ice pillars in the canyon, turning them into thick white steam that shot into the sky!

The Icefield Wolf, which had been leisurely eating, didn't even have a chance to howl before its fur was burned to ashes by the high temperature of the explosion, and it was blown to pieces.

Ron stood on the back of the giant ink-painting bird, looking down at the bomb show below. The aftershocks of the explosions and the cold wind created a mix of hot and cold air currents that fluttered the end of his scarf.

As the smoke and steam gradually dissipated, the canyon, which was originally covered with icicles, had become a scorched, blackened pit, forming a stark contrast with the snow-white icebergs.

The bottom of the pit was filled with the charred remains of the dire wolves; there was no longer a single living creature that could stand upright.

Even the largest Icefield Wolf leader was blown to bits, leaving only a charred wolf head with sparks still visible.

Seeing that not even a single Icefield Wolf had escaped, Ron patted the frost off his gloves and nodded in satisfaction.

"It's finally cleaned up all at once."

Clay bombs are still better; they make clearing out monsters a breeze.

If one area-of-effect (AOE) attack isn't big enough, just cast more.

Ron controlled the giant ink bird to slowly descend, landing on the side of the pit.

He leaped off the bird's back, walked to the head of the wolf leader, casually plucked out its huge, still warm, arm-length fang, and took it back to the mayor as proof of his mission.

After putting the fangs into his backpack, he climbed back onto the bird's back.

Ron patted the giant bird's head, wondering if it could feel him.

"Let's go back and finish explaining as soon as possible, then find a place to rest with them."

Phew~!

The giant ink-wash bird responded with a spiritual sound, flapped its wings, and carried Ron into the sky, returning the way it came.

Inside Icemark Town, the mayor and a group of residents who had ventured out boldly pointed at a small ink stain left by Ron after he left—the spot where the giant bird had landed.

They were still reeling from the awe of the magnificent bird and couldn't recover for a long time.

They also heard a huge noise from the other side of the canyon and couldn't understand what the little mage had done to make such a loud noise.

"Mayor, do you think that child had some kind of accident, or that he offended something he shouldn't have?"

A hunter hugged his coat and asked the mayor with concern.

The mayor sighed, still feeling uneasy.

"Who knows? If he causes more trouble, our town might have to relocate sooner or later..."

call!

Before the mayor could finish speaking, a whooshing sound suddenly came from the sky above.

The shadowy figures of a man and a bird appeared on an open space. To everyone's astonishment, Ron piloted the giant bird and landed steadily on the snow.

Ron leaped off the bird's back and landed in front of the residents.

He walked straight up to the mayor, who was still in a daze, opened his backpack, and casually handed him the fang of the Icefield Wolf leader.

"The Icefield Wolves have all been eliminated. Here are the leader's teeth; you can verify them."

The mayor, his mind blank, reached out and caught the fangs, then looked down at them.

These are indeed the fangs of the Icefield Dire Wolf, and only the leader's fangs are the right size.

The mayor looked at the slightly charred tooth at the end, then looked up at Ron, whose face remained calm.

Is this a mage?

"You've solved it?"

But less than twenty minutes have passed since you left!

The surrounding residents gasped as they gathered to look at the broken tooth, then stared at Ron as if he were a monster.

They couldn't believe that the pack of wolves that had been harassing them for so long could be so easily defeated by a child mage!

"Isn't this the efficiency you wanted?"