Of Aura and Ethernano (Fairy Tail/ Jaune Arc SI): Chapter 16

“So, even you failed to convince him? Even with your silver tongue?”

I glared at the older man at those words.

“I do not have a silver tongue! If that were true, a lot of my problems in the past would have been easily handled. But yeah, he has staunchly refused your request, and after learning about a few things, I would say he did the right thing.”

“Hmm. I guess I’ll trust you on this one, then. I’ll have Caith Shelter’s documents reviewed and approved as an exception. But tell that old man that this is a one-time deal. If we hear anything about some kind of illegal activity from them, I will take my knights there to search the premises, ancestral secrets and traditions be damned. The safety of my kingdom and crown comes above all else.”

I chuckled at the serious look the Knight Captain held.

“Somehow, I doubt something like that will ever happen. Especially since I would be visiting frequently.”

“So you really did join them? After all that speech about staying independent for the sake of your adventures and whatnot?”

I smiled at his words.

“I did join Caith Shelter, but only as a probationary member. I am still not sold on the idea of a guild and how restrictive being a full-time member can be. So I became a probationary member. I will have access to their quests and can wear their symbol, but I will have to pay a higher cut from my quests compared to a full-time member and will not have access to more exclusive rights such as free boarding, food, and other such things.”

Dawn whistled appreciatively.

“That is still far better than what any other guild would offer. Some smaller guilds don’t offer such things even to their full-time members.”

“I know. That is why I joined in like this. Speaking of.”

I took out the token that he had given me some time ago.

“I think I should return this to you as soon as possible. Since I have joined a Guild now, even if it is as a probationary member, I no longer have the ability to judge things without bias, so I don’t think I  should hold onto this symbol of authority that represents the Royal Knights.”

Dawn nodded his head at my words with a sigh.

“True. But I want you to still keep it. Keep in mind, I will restrict its access much more than usual from now on and until you remain with any guild, but I still think that thing can do some good in your hands. More importantly, I trust you enough to know that you won't misuse it for your personal reasons.”

“….Thank you. Dawn. For trusting me like that.”

“Hahaha! Of course, I trust you, Jaune. Anyways, what are you going to do now?”

I turned from the communication Lacrima and looked out the window, down at the first floor where Wendy and Carla were being dragged around by Lisanna, who was doing her best to help build up the child’s confidence.

On the other side, I spotted Elfman talking with another member of the guild about a book that they were reading.

Mirajane, on the other hand, was talking seriously with the old man about something. Given the way I could feel her flaring her magic and changing briefly into her demon form before returning, I guess the talk has something to do with her magic.

Compared to the scared children who begged me to spare their lives some time ago in that remote village, it was a much more heartwarming scene.

“….I think I want to spend some time here, taking a few quests here and there. Put this guild on the map, so to speak.”

Caith Shelter is a rather new guild with almost all of its members being related in some way as the descendants of the Nirvit, with Wendy and Carla being the only exceptions until now.

While this came with its advantages, such as absolute unity and some kind of secret magic that only they knew that hid them from my Sonar (seriously, just what kind of magic is it that can hide their souls from being detected by my Aura?) and various other things, this kind of thing also had its drawbacks.

For example, despite having a handful of S-Ranks listed as their members, the guild is relatively unknown in Fiore with the exception of a few nearby towns and villages. Combined with how averse the members are to leaving too far from the guild, this meant that despite being a relatively powerful guild, Caith Shelter would not receive any real money-making quests from the Council or the richer towns and cities nearby.

And given what I have observed in the past two weeks that we spent here, these kind and caring yet also powerful people deserve to have their names known across the kingdom and to prosper.

That is why I plan to take the harder quests assigned to the guild and make them known to the surroundings.

Given my current strength, it would be relatively hard to complete high-rank quests solo, since, like I said, nearly all of the mages in the guild do not want to leave more than a few dozen miles from the guild building for some strange reason. This meant that I would have to take on as many lower-rank quests as possible to make up for the deficit in quality of the quests, while also using these quests as opportunities to train.

“I see. In that case, I will see what I can do about diverting unclaimed quests that were rejected by other guilds towards Caith Shelter. That should give you some fame to start getting others to notice you and the guild.”

“Thanks, Dawn.”

The old man waved away my gratitude.

“Don’t mention it. Like I told you before, I always look after my own.”

He grinned as I smiled.

“Well then, up-and-coming legend in the making, I’ll see you when you come by Crocus again.”

“Yeah, we will sit down for drinks again when I go through there. Say hi to Owen for me.”

“Will do. Good luck, Jaune.”

I cut off the communication lacrima and leaned back into my seat.

So many things have happened since I’ve arrived in this world. Many of them were good, some of them were bad, but overall, an interesting experience to say the least.

However, for the first time in a long while, ever since I decided to go to Beacon instead of being a farm boy like my family wanted me to be, I felt the drive to do something. To stop at nothing to achieve a dream.

But for that to happen, I need to be stronger. Strong enough to put Caith Shelter on the map and make it famous.

And to do that, I need knowledge.

Getting up from my seat, I headed downstairs.

Time to hit up the guild’s library and see if I can’t find a way to strengthen myself even further.