Ben's sudden invitation surprises Mira and Elfman. They haven't known each other that well because they've just met 3 times in 2 years since they met for the first time. But Ben has already invited them to join his big adventure.
"No need to be that surprised. I know we aren't that close yet, but we can work on that. Getting closer to someone needs time and we will have it. I don't plan to do it soon, so we will have time to know each other," says Ben.
"When will you start your journey?" asks Elfman.
"Maybe in 3 years, when I'm turning 18. I want to make sure that everything will be fine while I'm not here. In 3 years, Wendy will turn 13, and I'm still not sure if she can handle herself at that time. It's my biggest worry for now," says Ben.
"What about the cats?" asks Mira while looking at Bella who sleeps soundly on Ben's lap.
"Bella will join me, while Carla will stay with Wendy. I've talked to them about this and they agreed," says Ben.
"Are you serious about inviting us? You can take Wendy with you, but why are you inviting us?" asks Mira.
"I'm serious. As for Wendy, she is still too young for this. Leaving her with the guild is the best choice because the old man can take care of her," says Ben.
"But what's your reason to invite us?" says Mira.
"Because you've changed. Your mind has become more mature now compared to 2 months ago. I won't invite you if you are still the irritating & bratty Mira," says Ben while smirking.
Mira pouts when Ben said that. She knows she was irritating in the past now after she changed. But it's still annoying her when Ben reminds her of that.
Ben just laughs seeing Mira pouting like that. He always wants to tease her again since she showed a funny reaction when they parted last time.
Besides, he likes to tease people in the past. He has teased Wendy & the cats, but their reactions weren't that good. Wendy will apologize immediately, Carla will get angry & ignore him, while Bella never understands it.
That's why getting a funny reaction from Mira really makes him happy, so he wants to keep teasing her. Besides, he doesn't have another target for his tease.
They get silent for a minute before Mira says, "We will think about it. For now, we want to focus on finding a way to heal Lisanna. Right, Elfman?"
"Yeah, we can't leave Lisanna before she recovers," says Elfman.
"Alright, we still have 3 years, so no need to rush it. But I need to tell you this. You might find the cure for Lisanna's condition while roaming around the world. So if you can't find it here, then try to search on other places. I will help you to find it, so don't give up if you can't find it here," says Ben.
Mira & Elfman smile hearing that and they thank Ben. They always get supportive words from their guildmates, but it feels different when Ben said it. Maybe it's because he was there when the tragedy happened and saw what happened himself.
They leave the topic and talk about less stressful things. It takes 2 hours for them to reach the job's location on Southern Forest. Ben could drive faster, but the car will take too much MP, so he drove rather slowly.
In the forest, the three of them talk about their job. It is to find and subdue a Dark Guild that hides in this forest. That's also why they cooperate because their enemies are Mages.
The Dark Guild has stolen some magic items from the National Council Branch. Their leader was a member of the Council and he has planned it for a long time. He is also a strong Mage and has strong partners. That's why this becomes an S-Class job.
Ben tries to track the Dark Mages' trails in the forest. Mira & Elfman try to help Ben, but they don't have tracking abilities, and can't find anything. So Ben tells them to just focus on their surrounding for any danger.
It's not easy to find even a trace of their targets in this wide forest. They have searched for 3 hours and still can't find anything. The forest is just too wide and they don't have any clue.
They keep walking and try to find any trail of their targets. But Ben suddenly feels something is strange and stops. He looks around and spread his magic sense.
"Why'd you stop?" asks Mira.
Ben put his index finger on his lips as a gesture for Mira to get silent. Mira does as he asked and gets silent. Ben keeps looking around while spreading his magic sense.
"Tch, they've got us," says Ben with an annoyed expression.
"What do you mean?" asks Elfman.
"Do you notice that we've been in this place an hour and half an hour ago?" asks Ben.
"What?!" says Mira in surprise.
Mira & Elfman looks around and finally realize that they've been here before. It looks a little different because they are looking in a different direction. But if they look carefully, they will notice that they've been here before.
Both of them are confused about why they come back to this location. They're sure that they walked straight to the center of this forest. But now they realize that they're still close to the border.
"They used a magic or magic item to make us lose our way and walk in a circle. I don't know when we got affected, but I know how to counter it," says Ben.
"You know how to counter it? Have you know the magic that is used on us?" asks Mira.
"Yeah, I know. They use sound magic that has a low frequency, so humans can't hear that. But even if humans can't hear it, they are still being affected by it," says Ben.
Ben can hear the sound, albeit it is very faint even for him. But as a Dragon Slayer, his 5 senses are strong. So he still can hear the low-frequency sound if he focuses.
"Close your ears and make sure that you can't hear anything," Ben.
The siblings do as he said and cover their ears with their fingers. But the sound will still enter it, so they need to change the method. Now they cover their ears using leaves and their hands that have been covered with Ethernano.
Unlike the siblings, Ben doesn't cover his ears. He tries to find the sound's source, so he concentrated. He finally finds it after a minute and gestures the siblings to follow him.
They walk deeper into the forest and follow Ben's lead. The sound gets clearer in Ben's ears as they walk further. Now he can assume the source of this sound, which is a bell.
*ding~ ding~ ding~*
The bell rings frequently and the frequency is really low that Ben almost can't hear it. If he isn't a Dragon Slayer with sharp hearing, then he won't hear it at all.
The bell's sound seems to affect someone's mind and mess with their sense of direction. It's a perfect tool to be used for defense on a wide area like this. The Dark Guild really has planned all their steps after stealing the magic items.
After walking for half an hour, Ben finally senses some humans' presence through his magic sense. They've finally found the hiding location of their targets.
"Are you guys ready?" asks Ben.
Mira & Elfman look at each other before nodding and saying, "Yeah."
Ben nods too, "Let's do this."
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You can read up to 30+ chapters ahead of this fanfic novel & the other one on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.
I've uploaded:
1. Chapter 121 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater
2. Chapter 132 of Transcended as Lord Buggy
https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain
(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)