Magnolia Town needed no introduction. The town was home to no less than sixty thousand people and was the hub of fellow independent guild Fairy Tail. Between the three-way split river at the heart of Magnolia was Tim’s purpose for coming into the town. Apparently, seven puppies had gone loose had been terrorizing the city with their cuteness. Why has the owner of these mutts gone and sent an official guild request instead of hiring some kid on the street in exchange for lunch?
“I have!” The owner said indignantly. “But when he found one, he said he’ll keep it for himself instead!”
Luckily it escaped after a good day of being hugged to bits by the child. And so there came the predicament.
“Do you have anything that has their scent?” Tim was looking around the park’s entrance, the two had agreed to meet at the place and Tim kept an eye for any signs of dogs. There were a lot, strays weren’t an uncommon thing in such a large town.
“You did mention that,” The owner produced a small folded cloth. “These were the sheets I put over their pen.”
“That’s plenty.” Tim could smell of dog from where he was standing. “Wolf?”
Tim didn’t even need to say anything else before an ethereal guardian wolf materialized and stood beside him. It stood as tall as a horse and had its ghostly fur blazing, but not burning, a faint blue hue.
“Mother of- you surprised me!” The owner froze, but slowly calmed himself down when he realized the wolf was completely tame. “I didn’t know you were a mage.”
“I am a member of Silver Wolf.” He quirked his brow. “And I know magic. But I’m no mage.”
“Okay…?” The owner didn’t say it, but he didn’t understand. “I thought they’d send in a staff member of some kind…”
He wasn’t wrong. Tim had not taken any jobs that didn’t involve cleaning or organizing things in the guild house before. It was only when some of the staff jokingly told him one day: “At this rate, you’ll jump into C-Rank without actually leaving the house, Tim.”
He could have. He really wanted to. But there was an incident where he met his ancestor, a self-made God, back in the guild. It was when they met Tim had learned his other relatives across history were turned into monsters because if their curse. Tim was fortunate to find a researcher, a bastard though he was, who helped him control his. And if he was going to be the same fortune to any cursed relatives he would come across, he needed to gain proficiency in field work.
While locating puppies isn’t dangerous, not by a long shot, it ‘was’ a job outside the guildhouse. That was enough for Tim, for now. Baby steps, as his old boss told him. Tim shook the idle thought off and looked at the guardian wolf. His companion huffed and smelled the cloth.
Then it did nothing else.
“Now what?” The owner asked.
Tim sighed. “Don’t freak out.”
He didn’t wait for the owner’s answer and opened his palm, his hand was coated in a dim purple hue of light as he held out the hand to the wolf. “We could’ve done this on the way home, you know? But, no.”
The wolf huffed again, dismissing his retort, and licked at his palm. It was ‘drinking’, for a lack of a better word, the light. The owner did not say anything, but was just looking at the creature wide eyed like a child at a zoo. It wasn’t surprising, the wolf’s blue hue was clad with the same dim purple light in Tim’s palm not a moment ago.
“Finally done, go on.” Tim sighed.
The wolf snorted at him and walked. It took two steps for the wolf to slowly disappear like a trick of the light. This left Tim and the owner in silence as they waited for the wolf to do its job.
“…” Tim felt the man subtly fidgeting. “You know, you really should enforce firm ground rules to it.”
“Come again?”
“Your, uh… ghost wolf? You’re spoiling it.”
“I see…” Tim hummed. “You think so?”
“I know so. You keep doing that, it won’t listen to you when you need it to.”
“…”
“I… have a book. About taking care of dogs?” He began. “It’s written by…”
It took not a few minutes or so later for the wolf to return, the seven puppies being carried by their scruff.
“I’ll look into that book.” Tim said as the owner held the puppies the ethereal wolf held. The wolf walked towards Tim and stood at attention in front of him.
Tim quired his brow and tapped its nose. “Good job.”
The wolf huffed. The owner turned to the pair and thanked them. “Why don’t you buy one of them? I’ll give you a discount?”
Tim felt the wolf leer at him. The young man let out a breath. “I’d love to, but…”
Words:
839/839
