Mt. Hakobe resonated with the past footprints of an old guild, a previous enemy to Fiore and to Fairy Tail – Basilisk Fang. However, with their disappearance, the mountain and its coat of a town had become more populated, but the mountain itself still emitted ominous and terrifying energies to the public that often kept them away from the higher altitudes. None dared to venture above the town’s placement through a road that had been blocked by wooden signs warning curious people that any who dared enter the cold caverns higher up would inflict upon themselves an unbreakable curse.
Previously, when Mura entered the inn at the settlements of Mt. Hakobe, he asked a few about rumors that had travelled around the region… rumors of a common cold that had spread to some members of Mt. Hakobe’s settlements. This cold, however, was told to be unending; people had been reported laying in their beds indefinitely, and this had been going on for a year or two… a year in bed sounded insane, and two was ridiculous.
However, there was a client at Oshibana who contacted the Guildmaster of Fairy Tail and informed him about a possible cure. Said client had, apparently, researched a monster for quite a few years and has even come face to face with the cause of this strange cold – this monster, a sort of beast that they weren’t able to describe. Apparently, it was in the dead of night that the confrontation took place, but according to the scientist, the beast was the source of the cold that had spread over Mt. Hakobe Settlements, so it would likely be the cure as well. Or, more specifically, it would harbor the cure to the cold deep within its veins…
Mura read the scientist’s notes about this possibility. Townsfolk had called it ‘Aerico’, the beast that spreads plague with its own breath. They, too, associated the strange sickness with it too, but so few had actually seen it out in the wild… and some were never reported to have returned.
The scientist had sent a backpack containing a special machine; a synthesizer, a refinery and a distillery. These, along with specific chemicals and a recipe were going to help Mura concoct an antidote… but while the generic antibiotics and distillated water were at his disposal, he was in need of one, crucial ingredient…
Aerico’s blood.
Blood usually coagulated directly upon contact with the air, so he needed a good couple of samples. That was the dangerous part of this mission; he had to face the beast and extract blood samples from it. It would’ve been easier to just kill it and take huge samples of blood at once, but… weirdly, the scientist gave him an ultimatum; finish the mission without killing the beast, or he wouldn’t get paid at all. And given that the guild hall back in Magnolia Town needed all the finances that he could get, he agreed to take a less lethal direction.
Once when you ignored the signs and ventured higher up on the mountain, it began to snow. Mura realized that the beast must’ve been a very shy creature, but it had also attacked some people… which begged the question; why the hell did the scientist want it to stay alive? Mura planned to call him on his iLac, but the blizzard jammed with the connection.
Maybe just hiding in his tent would lure it out… it was late, too. The night sky was hidden above the falling snow, the stars reflecting their faint lights upon the thin layer of frost on the uneven floor. Mura tucked himself away into his sleeping bag, not knowing that some other entities were lurking around the higher parts of the mountain… some after the beast themselves, others after other thing.
“Maybe I should’ve waited back down at the inn…” he mumbled to himself, oddly alone for the time being, as he remembered that he contacted Menka through his iLac. Her physical senses were far sharper than his, and they would help a lot in this annoying blizzard. At first, he was a little worried for her well-being and how she would fare up here, but he had seen her vigor and magical prowess first-hand, and she was definitely no pushover…
She was pushing him a few times, though… in another fashion.
WC: 798