After Felix left the guild, he took a train half way to Clover Town before catching a carriage into the desert. The mission he has accepted is from an old mining town called Perfection where less than a hundred live currently. Word is the old mine has dried up or some noble has been pressuring the owner, so the miners have been leaving making the town residents dwindle lately.
"I have heard there is a magic creature in the area lately, so I will be taking my leave now."
When Felix stepped out of the carriage, the driver said this quickly and left. A small dust cloud rising into the sky greeted him when he went to thank the man. So, as the words hit the tip of his tongue, Felix had no one to say it to.
'The Guild Master said to be polite, but how can I if they leave so quickly?' Felix thought as he turned to the town.
Perfection in truth only had one main road with a few smaller ones that were more dirt trail than roads. He has heard there is a ranch nearby as well a well known gun and conspiracy enthusiast couple. A rumor the carriage driver told him is this couple were borderline paranoid about the government or local nobles. Truth is it flip flops often so it could be a government then the next nobles.
Felix didn't offer much thought about this as he is here for a mission about creatures that dig through the ground. Walking the main road, he soon spotted the meeting spot the client placed, a small shop called Chang's Market.
This small shop is considered the oldest building in Perfection. It wasn't very big, but neither was the town. So it probably fulfilled the needs of those living here fine.
Ring!
A small bell rang when Felix pushed open the door. After scanning the fairly empty store, Leon noticed a tall, muscular bald man talking to a short balding man. The tall man wore a series of different tribal wears. Unlike Nab who wore one theme, this man wore at least three.
"What are you looking for?" The shorter man asked.
Unlike the tall muscular man, the shorter one wore an apron and rubbed his hand greedily. The man had streaks of white in his remaining hair.
"Are you the client, Mr. Chang?" Felix asked.
"Another mage?" The man blinked as he looked Felix over. "Kind of young aren't you?"
"Young or old, you posted the mission and I accepted." Felix replied.
"Whatever, Jura here already accepted the mission." Mr. Chang waved his hand.
After saying this, Mr. Chang returned to Jura where he pointed to the map. It seems that he was pointing out where the magic beasts were found previously. The issue now however, it seems that this man might have thought that both Felix and Jura came from the same guild and one just arrived before the other.
When Mr. Chang gave the information, he waved them out as he went to fix his generator for cold drinks. Felix quickly found himself outside next to Jura who towered over him. Looking up at the tall man, it is time to sort out the details.
"Mr. Jura, I am Felix Grimm from Fairy Tail." Felix said politely. "We can collaborate on this job or do you prefer doing it yourself?"
"Master Makarov must trust your strength if he allows you to take this mission, Mr. Felix." Jura replied. "I don't mind working together. There is no clear number on how many there are, but how should we split the money."
"Half and half?"
Jura seemed to judge this idea before he nodded. Fairy Tail has the reputation of being strong and trust worthy, hence he didn't even consider Felix might stand back as he did all the work. So, after striking a deal of splitting the money, they headed off towards the desert. According to Mr. Chang, one of those leaving town, saw it eating a coyote by chance. Fearing it might impact his friend Miguel's ranch by eating his cattle, he mentioned it in passing.
"How long have you been practicing magic, Mr. Felix?"
Jura asked, making some conversation. He is a bit curious since he didn't expect such a young mage to accept this quest. While the quest might not be difficult for some, it is a bit dangerous due to the unknown number of Graboids and how much time passes since they became active.
If a lot of time has passed before they were discovered, the Graboids will surface and transform into three shriekers. Upon this stage, they will begin to seek out heat sources and rapidly multiply where only a couple might turn into dozens or maybe hundreds.
"I think around seven or eight years now." Felix replied.
In the Legend of Legendary Heroes, after his birth, he didn't really know what happened. His infant brain couldn't stand being activated so he slept quite often. However, he just remembers going long periods without food, before being abandoned. Luckily a wanderer who often went from battlefield to battlefield collecting scraps found and took care of him for a couple years.
Then when he turned three, he was sold to Roland and entered a training camp to become one of their experimental weapons. From three to six he was taught the basics of reading, writing, cultures of Roland and the surrounding kingdoms. Then after that it was combat and magic to transform into a weapon.
"You must be quite talented if you began at such a young age." Jura praised.
'Talented huh.' Felix thought to himself.
He doesn't actually remember the last time he was called talented. Usually those like him who bear the Alpha Stigma were called monsters or devil child. This title is then usually followed by a mob who wants to kill them.
"Something like that." Felix shifted his head.
--
After walking towards the spot where the Graboids were spotted. Felix found that this spot really felt lifeless outside of little desert vegetation.
"Did they eat most of the wildlife in the area?" Felix asked.
"That or the animals left. Hopefully they left or that means there are many Graboids." Jura answered.
Felix silently nodded as he began wondering how they should draw the Graboids to them. Since by now they must have moved on to find more food and might be spread out.
"The Graboids find food by vibrations right? Could we stick a pole in the ground and just hit it repeatedly to draw them out?" Felix asked.
Jura thought about this idea for a moment and nodded. The last time he dealt with Graboids he just used his earth magic to vibrate the ground to draw them out. This idea seemed better and didn't waste magic power.
"It is possible." Jura nodded. "We should be able to get a few, but these things learn pretty quickly. If we tried to get them all with this trick, I don't think they would fall for it. So we will need to move about between to give the illusion it isn't a trap."
Then Felix nodded to that plan as he thought along that same line. He waited for Jura to continue as this man had experience dealing with them, but the tall man went silent. Looking up at him, Felix saw him scratching his cheek in a bit of embarrassment.
"Should we head back and buy a pole to use?" Jura suggested.
"Couldn't you just make a pole of Earth?" Felix asked. "We just need something to send vibrations through the ground after all."
"A metal pole will conduct a better vibration." Jura said with a straight face.
--
After walking back to the town, they were told to just grab an old pole from the junkyard. While there they found two handymen who live in town named Earl and Val. Both being unique as they kept cold drinks in an old toilet.