Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
January, x780.
Three weeks have passed since the S-Class Promotion Exams concluded. In those three weeks, Neither Alfonzo nor Elicia have taken any quests. It is not as if they didn't want to, though. Rather, it is because they were unable to.
In their fight with Gildarts during the exam, Nearly half of Alfonzo's ribs were cracked. Between Gildarts' kick, slamming back first into a tree, and having Elicia forcefully slammed into him, there was simply no getting around the damage.
Elicia, on the other hand, was not particularly injured. Her knee was sprained when Gildarts swung her into Alfonzo, and she had a few cuts and bruises after she and Alfonzo rolled across the forest floor. But other than that, there was nothing to speak of. Instead, the reason she could not take any quests was due to her side job. While training for the Exam she put all her clothing orders on hold. So, she had to play catch up.
Today, the day when Porlyusica cleared Alfonzo to return to his wizarding duties, Alfonzo, while holding Elicia and Cana's hands, was making his way to the guild hall from their house.
"You two are finally ready to take quests again?" Cana asked as she walked to the guild with Alfonzo and Elicia.
"Yeah." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "Your dad really did a number on me during the exam. But due to the adrenaline, I didn't even notice exactly how much pain I was in until the next morning."
"Hmph!" Cana snorted angrily. "I'll give him another piece of my mind the next time I see him."
"Yeah, me, too." Elicia chimed in as she held up her right fist threateningly. "My knee hurt for, like, a week after the exam."
"At least it didn't stop you from finishing your orders, though." Alfonzo said with a chuckle.
"If it did, I would have punched him in the nuts again." Elicia said, getting angry just thinking about her schedule being delayed even more than it had already been.
Cana could not help but laugh out loud after hearing Elicia's declaration. Just the memory of Gildarts shivering every time he got too close to Elicia tickled her funny bone.
"Anyway, are you gonna take your first S-Class quest, Fonzie?" Elicia asked wither eyes shining.
"That's right." Alfonzo replied, pride and excitement in his tone. "As an S-Class wizard, I gotta do it sooner or later. So, why not sooner?"
"Aww… That means we can't come with you, doesn't it." Cana asked with a pout.
"Unfortunately." Alfonzo said, letting go of Cana's hand and beginning to comb his fingers through her thick, beautiful dark brown hair.
On a side note, after Cana let go of her inhibitions during Alfonzo's celebration party, she seemed to have been set free. Instead of her more modest choice in clothing, which usually consisted of a short-sleeved crop top and pants, today she was wearing a teal bikini top with gold accents and tassels hanging over her rib cage and the top of her abdomen, a pair of black pants with pink stripes running down the outer hems, and a pair of black boots with short heels.
Considering that she was almost fourteen and going through puberty, her secondary sex traits were also starting to make themselves known. Though she was not as well endowed as her grown up canon counterpart, she had quite a few more slender muscles thanks to the more intense training.
Like that, with some lively chatter and a little flirting, the trio arrived at the guild. When they did, Alfonzo immediately made his way into the kitchen for his morning shift as a cook. Meanwhile, Elicia and Cana found their way to their usual table where Gray, Natsu, and Happy were already present. With Gray and Natsu bickering as usual.
Eventually, the rest of the gang slowly trickled into the guild hall. As they did, they made their breakfast orders before joining Elicia, Cana, Gray, and Natsu at their usual table.
"Good morning, everyone." Erza, the last to arrive said as she took her seat at the table. Then, she looked at Elicia and continued. "Alfonzo is cleared to train and take quests today, right?"
"That's right." Elicia replied after swallowing the pancakes she was chewing.
"Then, I'll have someone to spar with again starting today." Erza said, clenching her fist in front of her chest.
Over the last few weeks, Elicia, and to a lesser extent, Cana, had noticed that Erza had been acting differently. Her eyes followed Alfonzo more than they had in the past. Also, she seemed more concerned about Alfonzo's health than the rest of the group.
While Cana was only slightly wary of these changes, Elicia was considering things more deeply.
'It's clear that she's got a crush on Fonzie." Elicia thought to herself while she continued to eat. 'But is it enough to overshadow how she feels about Jellal? Well, I guess only time will tell. But I've got my eyes on you, Erza.'
What neither Elicia nor Cana realized, however, was the budding affection Laki was also feeling for Alfonzo. They can't be blamed for that, however, Laki's manner of speech and overall different demeanor than everyone else made her quite difficult to read.
"Unfortunately, I don't think he'll be available to spar with you today, Erza." Cana said while cutting her omelet. "Fonzie said that he wants to take his first S-Class quest today."
Hearing that, Erza visibly deflated. Although Cana wanted to dismiss it as Erza being sad that she would not get to spar this morning, Cana knew that it was deeper than that.
'Damn it!' Cana exclaimed internally. 'Another one? Alfonzo's not even putting the moves on any of them. How are they falling for him like this? Then again, he didn't put the moves on me either. Do I really have any room to talk?'
"Aww man!" Natsu whined. "Alfonzo's so lucky. I wanna go on an S-Class quest."
"You can't say that, Natsu. "Lisanna said, in an admonishing tone. "Alfonzo works really hard. He's not just lucky."
"I know…" Natsu said, continuing to whine. "But I wanna go on an S-Class quest. Hey, do you think he would take me with him if I asked?"
"Definitely not." Elicia replied.
"Why not?" Natsu asked.
"Because he's not allowed." Erza replied instead of Elicia. "Only S-Class wizards are allowed to go on S-Class quests."
"That's right." Elicia said with a nod.
"Besides, if he could take anyone with him, why wouldn't he take us?" Cana said, pointing to herself and Elicia.
"Just give it up, flame brain." Gray said in a dismissive tone. "You're just not good enough for an S-Class quest yet. You're not even an S-Class candidate."
Although unintentional, Gray's words hit all the A-Class wizards who were not chosen to participate in last year's S-Class Promotion Exam right in the heart.
"Say that again when you're not running around the guild hall in your underwear, you frosty pervert." Natsu shot back.
"Huh?" Gray exclaimed as he looked down.
"Well, I guess we all know the answer now." Cana said with a giggle.
"The answer to what?" Bisca, who was accepted into the guild after the celebration party, asked.
"The age-old question." Cana said with a smile. "Boxers or briefs. It seems Gray is a briefs guy."
Immediately, the others at the table began laughing while Gray blushed.
"Shut up, Cana!" Gray shouted in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. "Leave me alone."
"By the way, Cana." Elfman said as he watched Cana pour the contents of a small bottle into her cup of juice. "What is that?"
"Oh, this?" Cana asked, holding up the small bottle. "Just a little something to give my drink a bit of a kick."
"Huh?" Elfman exclaimed, not understanding what Cana meant.
"It's alcohol." Elicia said, answering Elfman's unasked question. Then, she placed her fingers on her forehead, as if she were in distress, before she continued. "She hasn't' stopped drinking since the party. *Sigh* What is Gildarts, her father, doing? Such an irresponsible parent."
"Hey, I heard that!" Gildarts shouted from the bar before rushing over to the table. "How can you call me an irresponsible parent? I'll have you know, drinking builds character."
"Even if that were true, we all know why you don't say anything to her unhealthy habit." Ur said, approaching from behind Gildarts. "You just dote on her too much to scold her when she does something wrong. On top of that, you drink like a fish yourself. So, it would be absolutely hypocritical for you to scold her."
"That's not… untrue…" Gildarts replied bashfully while scratching the side of his head. "Either way, Cana is a strong wizard with strong magic power. I'm sure she'll be fine."
"Irresponsible parent." Everyone at the table, including Cana, said in unison.
From there, breakfast continued. Eventually, Alfonzo left the kitchen and ate his own breakfast with the others. About half an hour later, everyone was done eating. While most of the group followed Gildarts outside to the backyard of the guild hall for their morning training, Elicia, Cana, and Erza, with Mirajane watching from the distance, waited at the bottom of the steps for Alfonzo, who had gone up to the second floor to choose his first S-Class quest.
"So, you're finally taking an S-Class quest?" Laxus said from a table near the S-Class quest board. "It's been, like, three weeks since your promotion. I thought you were too scared to take a quest."
"Nah, there's no reason to be scared." Alfonzo said while dismissively waving off Laxus' words. Then, he grinned smugly as he continued. "I mean, if you can complete an S-Class quest, then it should be no problem for me. Since I kick your ass like three or four times a year, right?"
In response, Laxus could only grit his teeth and clench his fists. At the same time, he vowed to increase the intensity of his training so that he could wipe the smug grin off of Alfonzo's face.
"Hmph! We'll see how long you can keep that smug attitude of yours." Laxus said before looking away.
Deciding that he had said enough as well, Alfonzo completely ignored Laxus from that point forward. Then, he began looking over the S-Class quests. And just as he expected, there were three sections on the quest board.
The first section consisted of the normal S-Class quests. Meaning, those that had been posted for less than ten years. The second were the 10-Years Quests. Those are S-Class quests that had not been completed for anywhere from ten to ninety-nine years. And the third section was for the 100-Years Quests. Like the 10-Years Quests, these are S-Class quests that have remained uncompleted for a century or more.
'Well, considering that I just got promoted to S-Class, I can exclude the 10-Years and 100-Years quests off the jump.' Alfonzo thought to himself as he examined the quests sheets. 'There's no way Gramps would let me take any of those for now.'
Continuing to read the quest sheets, Alfonzo eventually found one that caught his eye.
"Well, I've never gone on Dark Guild subjugation, so why not?" Alfonzo said as he yanked the quest sheet off the board. "And since they want them brought in alive, I won't have to worry about keeping it together after my first kill."
Like that, Alfonzo turned around and made his way down the stairs without even looking in Laxus' direction. As soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he was immediately crowded by Elicia, Cana, and Erza.
"What quest did you pick?" Elicia asked, reaching for the quest sheet. "Lemme see."
"Nope." Alfonzo said, pulling his arm out of Elicia's reach. "I can tell you that it's a Dark Guild subjugation quest. But I can't let you see it. I'm not gonna break the rules when I can feel Gramps staring a hole in the side of my head."
Immediately, Elicia, Cana, and Erza looked toward the bar. There, they saw Makarov, just as Alfonzo mentioned, staring at their group. So, as to not get Alfonzo in trouble, they each took a step back and gave Alfonzo the room to walk toward Makarov, which he did.
"So, you said Dark Guild subjugation, huh?" Makarov said. "Let me take a look."
Dark Guild Subjugation: Behemoth Claw
Rank: S
Client: Oliver Cromwell, Mayor of Freesia Town.
Objective: Apprehend the members of the Dark Guild, Behemoth Claw.
Location: Freesia Town
Notes: Over the last month or so, the citizens of the town have been going missing. At first, we thought it was due to the wild beasts that roam the plains and mountains that surround the town. However, after one of the townsfolk was able to escape their pursuit, we found out that the townsfolk were being kidnapped by members of Behemoth Claw. We need these criminals removed as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the people of Freesia will not be able to sleep peacefully.
P.S. If the Behemoth Claw Guild Master, Giovanni Regalia, is not captured, this quest will not be considered complete.
Reward: 3,500,000 Jewels + Dark Wizard Bounties from the Magic Council.
"Hmm… I've heard of this guild." Makarov said while stroking his mustache.
'If my memory is correct, Behemoth Claw has a hand full of A-Class wizards.' Makarov thought to himself, trying to remember everything he could about Behemoth Claw. 'And their guild master should be an A-Class wizard as well. Just at the top of the tier. This shouldn't be a problem for any S-Class wizards. But since this is his first S-Class quest… Well, Alfonzo is strong, he should be able to handle it.'
*Bang!*
After finishing his thoughts, Makarov placed the quest sheet on the bar top. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his seal before stamping the quest sheet.
"Alfonzo, my boy." Makarov said as he picked up the freshly stamped quest sheet. Then, while handing it back to Alfonzo, he continued. "Good luck on your first S-Class quest."