Chapter 70 - The Council's Vampire base raid job request.

(Arthur POV)

February fifthth, a nice day with a rather pleasantly cool wind that I was enjoying at the guild hall, sitting at one of the tables with a cup of tea in hand and some strawberry cake.

So peaceful...

Well, it was peaceful until the Council decided to show up.

One of their envoys showed up at our door, those frog things I mean, with a bunch of Rune Knights and a scroll.

They simply barged in uninvited like they owned the place!

So uncivilized.

"Members of Fairy Tail, Hear my voice!" The amphibian envoy spoke, stretching out its... Hands? While holding a scroll. "I hereby speak the words of the Magic Council itself, this is a formal request from the nine seats!"

He gained the attention of pretty much the entire guildhall, with many raising their voices in excitement.

"Whoa!" "Awesome!" "Seriously?!" "The Magic council's personal request?!" "The nine seats!?" "This is gonna be good!" "Count me in!" "I'ma do whatever is needed!" Various members of fairy tail started talking, excited over the job request.

If the magic council was going to be giving a job request, especially the nine seats themselves, then the pay would have to be good after all!

"Ohh! I'm all fire up now!" Natsu shouted while grinning, seeing that everyone was hyped he decided to join in despite probably not knowing what it was even about.

"Aye!" Happy agreed with a wide smile, floating and spinning around Natsu before landing on his head with one paw raised high in the air.

Never change you two... Never change.

With a cough, the amphibian spoke again. "The Magic Council formally requests Fairy Tail of Fiore's compliance with a dangerous and all important mission. This is not a joke, so take it seriously for once."

Some people gulped, wondering what it would be about.

"Far from Fiore lies the country of Stella. There sits the base of operations of the Vampires that in recent times have reached even Fiore's border as some of you might know. The council has decided that your guild's strength is needed for this coming battle to eradicate the menace that they pose, namely the strength of S rank wizard Arthur Wulf, who is noted to be capable of creating sunlight with his lost magic type."

"Me?" I pointed to myself, apparently being the reason they're here. "Sure." I gave a curt reply.

If they want me to go eradicate the vampires, then sure. I'm positive it's a participant behind them anyway, so it's only a matter of time before I meet him or her.

"This job request is ranked as SSS. Only S ranked mages may accompany Arthur Wulf on this mission. Be wary as this could cost you your life, do not follow unless you are capable enough to do so. These creatures can only be killed using sunlight, so you would only be there to support Arthur Wulf. There are a number of other forces from various countries that will work together with you during this mission, make sure to get along as this would also serve as political help for each country participating in the raid on those vampires." The amphibian spoke, explaining everything that was needed.

"Hey, hey!" Cana raised her hand. "What about the pay?"

"Yeah! The pay is what's important here, hahahah!" Macao laughed.

"You got that right! Hahaha!" Wakaba pitched in.

Soon the guild had a hearty laugh, annoying the council envoy quite a bit from what it seemed.

Hey man, that's just how we are. We exist to annoy the council.

Not really, but it's rather true when you think about it! Haha!

"Silence! Take this seriously please!" The envoy said in anger, "As for your question, each participating S ranked mage will receive 75,000,000 jewels for compensation. That is all. Be sure to arrive at the capital of Stella by February fifteenth, the sixteenth shall be when you commence the attack alongside the rest of the ȧssault team." After finishing, the envoy simply turned around to leave alongside the rune knights.

The last words the envoy spoke were, "We expect results, so be sure to give them."

"..." There was... Silence.

Dang, didn't think they'd be offering soo much moolah...

"Seventy five million... Jewels..." Gray spoke with his mouth agape and clothes astray.

"Seventy five... Seven five..." Macao drooled at the thought, probably imagining himself as a rich man with a mansion and many women.

Despite being married, what a bastard he is sometimes...

"Man... I wish I was S rank..." Wakaba spoke, gloomy that he couldn't join just for the money.

Everyone was rather amazed at the amount of jewels, it was rare that a job request paid so well after all.

But it was the nine seats of the magic council's personal and formal request, so it made sense.

Not to mention it was out of the country, making the reward money skyrocket even higher as a result.

"That's such a huge sum..." Lyon was wowed into amazement as well.

"And I'm getting it!" Ultear said with a smirk, slamming the table as she stood up in excitement.

"Oh no, no you're not missy!" Ur spoke as she walked up to Ultear. "You're not ready for such a fight! I'll be going, to back up Arthur."

"What!? Mother! I'm more than capable of handling myself!" Ultear protested.

"No. That's final." Ur said sternly.

"Hahaha! Poor you Ultear, guess I'll be making the money for myself alone!" Cana giggled, laying back with her hands cross behind her head.

Looking to Cana, Ur spoke again while placing her hands at her hɨps. "You're not going either, definitely not."

"What?!" Cana exclaimed. "I'm a full-fledged S rank! I can go!"

"Cana, dear. Please listen to Ur." Gildarts spoke, "Because I agree. This job is way too dangerous for either of you. To be honest, only me, Ur and Arthur should go. I don't want to take anyone else."

"But..." Cana spoke, "I want to go!"

"Me too!" Ultear said.

"Stop it you two!" Gramps spoke up, "We'll decide whether you're ready or not later. As for who will go and who won't still remains to be seen. To be honest I'd rather not let anyone go."

"I'll go, I've been itching for a challenge anyway." I spoke up, sitting on a bench. "And they can come with, the experience would be rather valuable for everyone I think."

"Arthy..." Ur spoke, "Children shouldn't be in this fight. This is a war. The council is being rather unfair with requesting our help in other country matters to begin with."

"But declining would be bad for our reputation, wouldn't it?" I asked.

"Yeah, a formal request shouldn't be ignored. Especially by a famous guild, we'd be a laughing stock." Laxus replied.

"Doesn't matter really, we don't need to go." Gildarts pitched in, "But this rascal here went and accepted right away!" He spoke annoyingly at me.

Everyone then looked towards me.

"What? I didn't know they'd ask for others to come too! Either way, I'm rather confident with this and want to go myself." I replied, thinking over the possibilities.

As long as those vampires don't have someone who is immune to the sun, I can defeat them no matter the number just because of their weakness.

I'm a rather bad matchup for them after all.

And even then, I'm confident with my new skillset, I can do it.

It's about damn time I tested myself against someone too!

I need to know where I stand now, after every powerup I've received.

"In that case I'm coming too." Erza said, walking up to us.

"Sure, just stick to us and it'll be fine." I replied nonchalantly, "I'm sure you'd be able to handle it and most importantly grow from it."

"Thank you, Arthur." Erza gave her gratitude and sat next to me on one of the table benches, "So, who else is coming?"

"I am going, of course. Can't have you four hogging all the glory forever." Laxus said, crossing his hands as he did so.

"I am too." Mystogan said, his cloaked figure standing far away from the rest of the guildmembers. His back against one of the wooden pillars of the hall.

"When'd he show up?" Lyon spoke up in question.

"Dunno." Natsu replied, before quickly shouting. "But I wanna go too!"

"Hell no!" All of the S ranks, including me shouted.

"You'll die, period." Laxus commented.

"Agreed." Erza nodded.

"Sorry Natsu, you're most definitely beyond and utterly not ready." Gildarts shot Natsu down completely.

"Just keep your training up, there's always next time." Ur commented as well.

"Yeah, just focus on that for now. You can always ask me for help too when needed!" I spoke too.

"..." Natsu kinda stood there silent, for but a moment. "No! I can do it now! Those vapnirs or whatever won't know what hit em when I burn them to a crisp!" He yelled with flames coming out his mouth.

I couldn't help but sigh, "Just sit tight on your buŧŧ for now Natsu."

"Yeah, sit down you moron. You're obviously just annoying everyone." Gray mocked Natsu.

"The heck's your problem underpants!" Natsu retorted.

Oh, brother here we go again!

"My problem is your face!" Gray shouted, waking towards Natsu.

"What about my handsome face? You jealous, are ya? Frost face!" Natsu shouted back.

"The heck is 'frost face'? You call that an insult you burning clown?!" Gray continued to shout, buŧŧing heads with Natsu

"You call that clothing? You stupid bucket of ice?!" Natsu shouted back, pushing his forehead into Gray's as the both struggled for dominance and to push the other back.

"Why you litt-" before Gray could finish his new insult, Erza moved in a slammed the two idiots hard. Breaking the floor beneath them with their faces.

"There," She dusted her hands off, "Now can we continue from where we left off?"

"Yeah... Haha..." A number of people said in sync, obviously terrified at the measures she takes to discipline the boys.

I really hope I never get on her nerves... Yikes...

Once everything was silent, gramps let out a light cough before speaking. "So then, Arthur, Gildarts, Ur, Erza, Laxus and Mystogan want to go. As for our other two young S Ranks, we'll have to see if the parents agree by the time of the job's beginning." He concluded, before moving to his own opinions with a huff, "This is troublesome. I'd still rather we all stay far away from it."

"Gramps, it'll be fine." I said, "We will look after each other, and besides I know how the others can take care of the vampires even without me."

"Yeah? And how do we do so?" Gildarts asked in curiousity. "They're completely immortal aren't they? As far as I heard even if you bash their head in or burn them into recognition they simply regenerate back to their original form as if nothing happened, that is unless you use sun light at least."

"While you are correct, there is a way to hurt them while using weapons. With these here, look. {Creation: Nichirin weaponry}." I said and created a multitude of Nichirin weapons for everyone.

They were infused with sunlight, hence they worked against vampires.

Gildarts, Cana and Laxus had a pair of nichirin gloves to punch their enemies with as well as nichirin boots.

Erza obviously had a crap load of weapons for her.

Ur and Ultear were a bit more complicated, so I simply gave them a Katana each for a final strike.

"What are these?" Erza asked, a bit intrigued at the craftsmanship as she looked over one of the Katanas I had made for her.

"Weapons that can kill the vampires, they're infused with sunlight so trust me when I say they'll work. You simply need to behead them and they won't regenerate." I replied, having tested it myself.

Someone must have received Kibutsuji Muzan's bloodline... No other explanation for it.

This is a damn good opportunity though. The new generation of S ranks need the experience and these vampires are perfect for practice.

I'm confident that they can take care of even any new variants of the twelve demon moons, all their training and new equipment brings them to a high level after all. I myself will deal with the stronger ones so it'll be fine.

"This is still rather dangerous for everyone to go..." Gramps said, "Can you carry the weight of responsibility were something bad to happen, Arthur?" He asked, his gaze looking to me with what seemed to be expectation.

"I'll monitor everything with Clairvoyance and teleport whenever something happens." I explained my plan, "In the mean time I'll even deal with any boss vampire that appears, so don't worry gramps, it'll be fine." I replied.

"Hey, don't get overconfident on me Arthur." Gildarts spoke up as he moved up to me, ruffling my hair. "Over confidence leads to nowhere, you should know that by now."

"Hey, cut it out, Gildarts!" I brushed his hand to the side, "I know. I know that well, however this isn't baseless confidence. Trust me this time, alright?"

Gildarts stood up right, looking at me seriously. "Alright, I'll trust you." He crossed his arms, "but the two girls are not ready. The council titled it as an SSS ranked mission, frankly I haven't even heard of one such job. If anything, it would be comparable to a 10 year quest at least."

Musing for a second with a hand on my chin, I spoke. "You're probably right..." then I glanced at the two girls in question.

They've seriously improved over the years, honestly if you don't count the Arc of Time then Ultear is probably already as strong as she was on Tenrou island in the original timeline.

Ur has been teaching the three ice mages so it's only natural they're far stronger than usual, while Gildarts is still training Cana as well.

"Arthur nii! Come on, back us up here!" Cana pleaded, she really wanted to be a part of this, as it was obviously important enough to warrant everyone going.

To begin with she was all alone at one point, I doubt she wants to feel left out when it comes to this.

"Yes, we won't be a burden!" Ultear pitched in as well, perhaps having the same mindset.

With how big this job was, she wanted to be part of it with everyone and make her mother proud no doubt.

But... Those two are worrying about them.

I sighed, "As much as I would like for you to experience actual combat, it really might be too soon for you two. Your parents' opinions value more than mine too, so there's that." I said as I shrugged.

Not much to do if Gildarts and Ur themselves forbid them, unless of course they can prove themselves in front of the two parents, maybe that would work?

"Oh, come on..." Cana slumped her shoulders, "Then how do I prove myself?! I already reached S rank and did many jobs, what more should I do to show you I'm ready to fight alongside everyone?"

"Hmm... Well..." I mused, looking around the place before flatly saying. "Punch Gildarts in the face."

"Wha..?!" Gildarts exclaimed, "Why me!? The heck are you on about Arthur?" he asked in confusion.

"Cana is your daughter, as well as student. You're participating in the job, so if she can at least give you one good smack in the face then why not let her come along? Wouldn't proving she's skilled enough to hit her teacher be enough of a guarantee she's ready?" I asked.

"Yeah! Count me in, I'll slam dad straight into the floor!" Cana said energetically.

"Sweety?!" Gildarts turned around to face Cana, shocked at his own daughter's enthusiasm for punching him.

"How about me?" Ultear asked, pointing to herself with a finger.

I then turned to Ur, "Mind testing her too? Lands a hit on you with her magic. Passes."

"Alright. You seem more confident in our kids than we are Arthy, what are you basing this on?" Ur asked with hands placed at her waist, giving me the stink eye as if thinking.

'What are you hiding?'

Well, I'm hiding something alright!

"Oh, you haven't noticed?" I asked, before saying. "Cana, Ultear. Remove the rings we gave you."

"Rings?" Gildarts questioned, moving his gaze to the girls while the two in question complied.

Both Cana and Ultear took of a ring each, then simultaneously sighed, "Haaaa! This feels so much better!" Cana said, stretching her back and hands in the sky as if she were sore till now.

"You got that right... Moving around with these things was so bloody difficult." Ultear commented, also stretching due to the uncomfortable implements those rings had.

They were fantastic training items, I can tell you that much!

Mystogan really outdid himself there.

"What are those?" Ur asked, pointing towards the rings that the two girls held.

Erza then spoke up, "Mystogan and Arthur made them for us." she said, "They put force onto every movement we do, it's like being submerged deep inside the sea with a constant pressure on everything we do."

"Erza's explanation more or less sums it up," Mystogan spoke up for once. "As far as I know, they haven't taken off the rings till now since the day I made them."

I then spoke with a grin, "And you didn't notice because I had some time to train them myself while you two were out on jobs, essentially having them reach the same level they were at before without wearing the rings."

"Sheesh..." Gildarts scratched the back of his head with a wry smile, "You kids just love to surprise me, don't you?"

"Hoh, I'm quite intrigued now." Ur said, "So, how much have you advanced behind our backs kiddos? I think I'll be taking this seriously for once." she continued, slamming her fist into her palm

"Why don't we have such fancy training gear..." Natsu asked quietly, having woken up from his deep slumber on the floor and risen up.

"They're not easy to make, sorry Natsu. You'll get one eventually." I gave him a wry smile.

"One for me too then!" Gray spoke up, pushing himself up from the ground.

"And me, please." Lyon asked while sitting at a table, he seemed rather relax with everything going on around here.

"Hey I want one too! Not fair that the bimbo gets one and I don't!" Mira spoke, pointing towards Erza.

"Cut it out!" Erza said, with an annoyed expression on her face. "You'll all have to wait for it, for now let's see if Cana and Ultear are going to succeed or not with this test, and well... Does Master agree to it?"

"Hm... If you're all confident, and the two girls pass the test. Then I'll allow it. However, Arthur remember that this is on your hands. Don't disappoint me, I'd hate to see my judgement be wrong." Gramps replied, placing his hands behind his back as he gave me a gaze of anticipation.

Seems like there's a lot of things expected from me.

I'll have to live up to these expectations now don't I?

"I know gramps, you can count on me for this. We'll bring back lots of glory to Fairy tail, it's about time we became the best guild on the continent and made ya proud!" I spoke up, grinning all the while.

"Yeah! Let's do this!" The rest of the group seemed excited as well.

"Hehe," Gramps giggled, "Then go and show me what you're made of you brats." He grinned widely ear to ear.

"Alright, shall we begin then?" I said while giving them a confident smile, turning to the rest of my soon to be team.

A team made up of all of Fairy Tail's S ranks!

This will be sweet!