"Well, well, well...I'm getting nowhere at all with this again." Meliodas sighed. It had been a few days since the Edolas incident. Meliodas focused most of his time researching a way back. After talking with Mystogan about the Anima, he had hoped that perhaps there was a similar device invented in Earthland. Unfortunately, the guild did not keep track of such things. Meliodas went as far as to do research about the mysterious Moon Dragon God, Selene, but found no information regarding her.
After spending a few more hours in the library Meliodas walked out of the room towards the bar. He sat on the stool and slumped over with an exhausted expression on his face.
"No luck today either huh..." Mirajane said as she approached Meliodas. She brought over a mug of Jade Wyvern Ale and placed it in front of Meliodas. Meliodas instantly popped up from his slumped position. He grabbed the glass and downed it one go before setting it down.
"Nope," Meliodas replied with a refreshed look on his face.
"What about the anima method?" Mira asked as she refilled Meliodas' now empty mug.
"No, there was nothing about that in the books. Nothing even comes close to that level of technology. Edolas is much more advanced than us when it comes to their inventions, probably because they couldn't rely on magic like we can." Meliodas replied. He grabbed the now refilled mug of ale in front of him and gulped it down quickly again.
"I wish Merlin was here…." Meliodas grumbled.
"Who?" Mirajane asked.
"A long-time friend of mine. She is the smartest person I've ever known… I bet she could've figured out a method by now." Meliodas said.
"Don't get too down. I am sure you will find a way soon." Mirajane said with a reassuring smile.
"Thanks," Meliodas said cheerfully. He hopped off the barstool and turned around to face the rest of the guildhall. He looked around and was surprised at how empty it was. When he had come in earlier in the morning, the guildhall was full of people.
"Huh… where is everyone?" Meliodas asked.
"It's getting to that time of year again," Mirajane commented.
"Another cook-off?" Meliodas asked.
"No." A stern voice said from Meliodas' right side. He turned his head and saw Erza approaching him. "And you are not allowed to cook again…" Erza said with a slight shudder.
"I think that was my best work," Meliodas said with a cheeky smile.
"I find it unbelievable that you cooked food for your tavern..." Erza commented. "And that people ate your food…"
"Well...they mostly came for the ale," Meliodas said.
Erza sighed in relief. "But anyway, the reason the guild is this empty is that the S class trials will start soon so everyone wants to try their hardest to be selected."
"Oh! So everyone is out on a job right now to try to get selected for S rank mage then." Meliodas commented.
"Yes, if you become an S class mage you can take the requests from the S rank board. Those missions have a high reward but are incredibly dangerous." Mirajane added in.
"How many S class mages do we have right now?" Meliodas asked.
"Currently, that would be me, Mirajane, and Gildarts. Laxus and Mystogan were also S class mages when they were still in the guild. I am sure if you wanted, you can easily be an S ranked wizard." Erza replied.
'I wonder if I should try to get selected…' Meliodas thought to himself. His current research was still going nowhere and being an S Class Mage would grant him access to newer missions where he may encounter a strong spatial mage or someone who is knowledgeable in what he is looking for.
Another hour passed, and Meliodas sat at the bar, with a mug of ale in hand pondering his options back home and the S class trials. He watched as guild members came in and left as soon as they came, accepting jobs nonstop.
Eventually, Meliodas walked up to the request board and looked at the available missions that were posted. So far in his time in Fairy Tail, he had only taken missions so far in order to earn some money for expenses. 'I could be using these missions to look for clues...' Meliodas thought to himself as he read the missions.
"Capture the blind bandit, capture an escaped platypus bear? These won't help me at all." Meliodas commented as he continued reading through the rest of the jobs.
"Meliodas, are you going to take a mission?" A voice suddenly came from his right side.
Meliodas turned towards the voice. It came from a tall muscular man with straight black hair, tan skin, and thick lips. He wore tribal attire consisting of a black open vest and a fur loincloth.
"Oh, Nab right? I am thinking about it. None of these missions really look appealing." Meliodas answered.
"I understand what you mean," Nab said. He nodded at Meliodas and grabbed a mission off the board before leaving the building.
'Wow, even Nab took a mission off the board. Normally I see him just standing here looking at it all day. This S class trial must be serious…' Meliodas thought before returning his attention back to the jobs on the board again. "What kind of mission would earn me money and look for info.." Meliodas thought for a second before having a realization. He widened his eyes and started looking through the rest of the missions.
'Wait...there's a second floor with a separate mission board.' Meliodas turned towards the stairway leading up to the second floor. He quickly ran towards the stairs and traversed up them, approaching the job bulletin board. Standing in front of the bulletin board, was Erza. Meliodas walked up next to her and began scanning the board. He had a crafty smile on his face as he began looking through the mission requests.
'A lot of these missions are subjugation missions and a good portion of those are for dark guilds. I can take care of these missions for money and at the same time, loot the dark guilds to see if they have any information on the magic I am looking for.' Meliodas thought as looked at the other mission requests on the board while Erza looked over at his direction, curious as to what he was up to.
"Meliodas… you can't take these missions yet. You have to become an S class mage to take them." Erza said, interrupting Meliodas's thoughts.
"I'm aware. I just needed to confirm something up here. These types of missions might be what I need to find a way back to my world." Meliodas said. Erza looked at Meliodas solemnly, remembering his revelation a few days back earlier about him not being from this world, a very similar situation to Mystogan except unlike Mystogan, he had no definite way back.
"Don't worry. I am sure that with your strength, Master would definitely select you for the S class trials. But until then, why don't you just tag along with me on an S class mission. We did agree to go on one together before, remember?" Erza mentioned.
"Oh yeah you're right! Sorry that completely slipped my mind. I've been a bit busy lately." Meliodas laughed.
"It's understandable. And I'll do whatever I can in the meantime to help out with your situation. So did you have a particular mission in mind? I've spent the past few days resting after the incident in Edolas so now would be as good a time as ever to go on a mission." Erza responded. Meliodas pointed at one of the job flyers on the board.
"Yeah this-" Meliodas was interrupted by a voice before he finished.
"Meliodas, Erza! Come down here!" Makarov shouted. Meliodas and Erza both looked at each other before hurrying downstairs.
"Is there something wrong Master?" Erza asked, noticing a strange seriousness in Makarov's eyes.
"I need you both to immediately go on this mission. It was issued by the council. They are in urgent need of powerful wizards."
Meliodas nodded. It was rare for him to see the guild master with such an expression. This mission was clearly of grave importance.
"A direct mission from the council? Where are we going?" Erza asked.
"Marigold Town." Makarov answered.