Fairy Tail: Swallow the Fire

A/N: Early upload!

 

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The Phantom Lord regional guild hall. 

 

It was a giant castle located on the top of a hill in the middle of Oak Town. The large stone monument had pristine green roofs and the name of the guild was emblazoned upon a large black sign. Two triangular flags hung above the door with the guild's insignia, an insignia that I would soon wear.

 

"Big, isn't it?"

 

"Wouldn't expect any less from the biggest guild in the country. Come on, let's see what we have waiting for us inside."

 

Totomaru opened up the large doors while I fiddled with the new leather arm guards he had bought me. Note to self, never go clothes shopping with a seventeen-year-old boy. 

 

He had bought an orange ninja-like outfit with a large orange fur collar. He seemed insistent that he bought the one with fishnets on it, even asking the store to send him new versions of it every few months. 

 

I just kept things simple. A sleeveless black shirt, flexible black pants, sandals, and arm guards. The entire outfit was designed to be practical, without anything special about it.

 

The guild hall was just as big as the exterior portrayed it to be, with large and long tables filled with merry-making drunkards. At the back of the hall was a bar that sat underneath an overhanging arch that led to the second floor. Purple banners with the guild mark hung from the overhang, with several more hanging over the tables within the guild. 

 

The swordsman and I walked over to the bar where a chipper bartender welcomed us. His light brown hair was shaved short on the sides and swept backwards, and a curly handlebar moustache sat above a vibrant smile. He had a white-collar shirt and a black apron, with his rolled-up sleeves revealing the heavy tattoos he had on his arms that went up his neck as well. On his hand was a bronze insignia that looked like a wineglass with a bowtie at the top.

 

"Hiya, are you two customers looking to make a request or are you looking to join up with the guild?"

 

"We're looking to join. Do we have to fill out any paperwork or..."

 

"Yes, but it'll only take a second," he quickly reached under the bar and pulled out two small slips of paper and some pens. "Just write down your names on this line, your ages, and what types of magic you have."

 

We did exactly as he asked, with the bartender looking slightly surprised at our lists of magic. 

 

"Hmm, give me a second please."

 

In the next second a large holographic screen appeared in front of him with various words and scripts appearing on the screen. The new magic stoked my interest and I couldn't help but ask what it was.

 

"Interesting, isn't it? It's called Archive Magic. Almost everyone inside the Curly Caterers guild is required to learn it before we can operate outside of our own establishments. It helps us transfer information between our branches and members better and these screens can be used as shields in dangerous scenarios. Those of us that can't use magic ourselves use rings that allow them access to Archive Magic."

 

"Curly Caterers?" Totomaru spoke up, "I've never heard of them before."

 

"That's because we're not a wizard guild or a mercenary guild, we're a catering guild. Wealthy bars, high-class establishments, that type of thing."

 

"So what are you doing here? In a wizard guild."

 

"Phantom Lord is too big for its own good. Wizards here can go a decade or two without meeting someone from another branch of the guild and that can bring problems when trying to service jobs. Curly Caterers offers our services to help quickly transfer information between the branches. For instance, if a job offer that needs a water wizard is given to one branch that doesn't have a water wizard then that request is sent to the nearest branch that does have a water wizard."

 

"Hmm, I see."

 

"Well, what are you doing now then," I said with curiosity.

 

"Again, the guild is too big. If a special offer comes in that goes directly to the Guild Master, he'll need to have a way to find wizards that best suit the needs of the request. We create a database for Guildmaster Jose to access in such scenarios with a brief description of what that magic is about. I have never met anyone with your fire magics so I'm retrieving any information from our database that I could find to help make your profiles for the Guildmaster to access."

 

"Interesting..."

 

Several minutes passed by before he seemed satisfied with the research. When he was done, he put the sheets of paper off to the side and pulled up a lacrima and sat it on the table.

 

"It shouldn't be hard to understand that magic power is important in the wizard-for-hire profession. This Miniature Magic Power Finder will help us measure just that so we can get a measure of what you're capable of. Please, sir, put your hand on it and inject as much magic as you can inside it."

 

Totomaru placed his hand on the clear crystal ball and did as he was told. The ball glowed a bright yellow before the glow stopped and changed into a set of numbers that hovered over the lacrima.

 

"423. That's honestly impressive. The current member of the Elemental Four that uses fire only has a score of 218, but has great control over his abilities."

 

"Hmm? What's his name and magic? Kinda looking to steal his spot."

 

"Momonji, and he uses heat mirages to sneak up on his opponents."

 

"Hmm, seems easy enough."

 

"Aha, well, I'll be waiting to see that battle. Now, it's you're turn little miss."

 

I put my hand on it and did as he requested, injecting as much magic power as I could. The only thing that made me let go before the numbers appeared was the sharp snapping sound that rang out through the guild hall. Looking at the crystal ball beneath my hand I saw that it had cracked in half, the numbers hovering above it glitching out.

 

"Uh...Whoops..."

 

"999!? H-How did you manage t-...I've only ever seen 600..."

 

"Not surprising. Lyssa only knows how to power through stuff. If she can't punch through it, it can't be solved."

 

"Hey!"

 

Totomaru laughed until his chuckling became a near-silent, high-pitched squeal. Everyone who was gawking at the score earlier was now cringing in sympathy with Totomaru who was holding his now bruised nuts. 

 

"W-Why me..."

 

"You fucked around and found out!"

 

"Urg... that's it, I was going to give you the bed but you're sleeping on the couch instead of me."

 

After a few minutes of groaning from Totomaru, we finished our profiles and were finishing up the process.

 

"Alright, and with this you two are fully-fledged Phantom Lord wizards. I hope the two of you can enjoy fruitful careers."

 

Giles, the bartender, said as he pulled back the magic stamp from my lower right stomach. In its place was a purple guild insignia. I lowered my shirt back down and looked at Totomaru as he rubbed the orange version of the same mark that was on his chest before he too pulled his shirt back on. 

 

"Alrighty! Let's go see what types of jobs we can nab. Hopefully something interesting."

 

Nodding my head I followed him to the board situated to the right of the guild where dozens of papers with job requests were waiting to be grabbed.

 

—

 

"She broke the MMPF?"

 

"Yes, Master Jose."

 

"Interesting. How much magic power do you think she should have displayed?"

 

"I don't know, sir. The only way to get a proper numerical measurement would be for her to use an actual MPF, which only takes into account the strength of a magic attack she might display. And magic spells usually amplify their caster's magic power to a degree, sir."

 

"Alright. You are dismissed, Giles. Do keep me updated on her in the future, will you?"

 

"Yes, sir."

 

The bartender walked down the stairs of the guildhall, leaving Phantom Lord's Guildmaster, or rather his Thought Projection, to be seated alone on the throne that sat at the back of the guild's second floor.

 

'Fire Devil Slayer magic, huh? And such high strength at the age of thirteen. She could be useful.' Jose mused before a smile crossed his face. 'Actually, Fairy Tail recently got a Satan Soul mage in the past few months. Maybe I can encourage Makarov to see which of our new members is stronger at the upcoming guildmaster's meeting? I'm sure seeing one of his "children" get so easily defeated will wipe that smug smile off his face.'

 

'Yeah. The feud between our guilds brought in a lot of money, so why don't we spark up an old flame.'

 

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