Time flowed and months passed with Felix studying magic in the guild or going off on missions. His most common missions were those that paid less, such as finding missing people or monster slaying like the Graboids. Ones that needed to be done but were ignored for their low pain or tragic ending.
Currently inside Mirajane's house she shares with her two siblings, Felix sat behind Mirajane scrubbing her back. Her white hair was tied up in a towel as they bathed after a sparring match.
Since that time during the house warming party, Felix tended to bath with many of the guild members around his age. From Mirajane and Erza to Natsu and Gray, as well as Cana and Lisanna. The only one that hasn't joined again is Levy, mainly due to frequent missions.
If he is on a mission, she is at the guild, when he returns she is out on a mission. At first he thought she was avoiding him, but there has been a surge recently in historic or hard to find book missions. Hence, Levy who likes books and languages has been running in and out of the guild lately.
"Are you going out on a mission?" Mirajane asked.
"I've been thinking about the one of a rumor monster hanging around a coal mine." Felix replied.
Over the past few months, Felix after adjusting began to relax slightly. He is still quiet and straightforward with his words. Unlike before, he is just less tense in interacting with others.
"Can I come with you?" Mirajane asked.
"You want to team up?" Felix asked.
"Why not? Neither Lisanna nor Elfman want to go lately. I also need a little money to pay the house bills." She replied. "Elfman's birthday is also coming up soon."
After Felix finished scrubbing Mirajane's back, he took a seat across from her in the bathtub. Due to the high frequency of bathing with her, besides a slight smile, she didn't feel as embarrassed or cover herself too much like the first time.
Compared to taking a bath with the others, Mirajane is his top favorite, followed by Cana, Erza and Lisanna. On the other hand when going with Elfman, Natsu and Gray. Felix found it less relaxing since Natsu always wants to fight, while Gray and Elfman were chatterboxes.
"The reward isn't much, but if you don't mind the small amount, I don't mind." Felix accepted the idea of teaming up.
"How much was it again?" Mirajane asked.
"About 75,000 jewels." Felix replied.
Mirajane clicked her tongue in annoyance as the price turned out to be truly low. While it might not be low to most, but to mages, it really is a bit low. Especially about one that is about investigating a monster. Usually when one involves a monster, the lowest is about 150,000 jewels or so.
Due to the danger of monsters, the prices are naturally higher. Especially strong monsters that are known mage killers. The price goes up as does the mission rank as it could grow into an S-rank or higher. On the flipside, if one manages to defeat the monster, the selling price for its corpse is also considerable.
"Why don't you pick a better price mission?" Mirajane asked.
When Felix's mouth opened to respond, the bathroom door opened revealing Lisanna a bit out of breath. She paused for a moment as she looked at the scene for a moment, before stepping inside. Her breathing became more calm as she rested for a moment.
"Felix, the master is calling you about an urgent mission." Lisanna spoke quickly.
A series of question marks filled his mind, but Felix nodded. He gave Mirajane a hug before he got dressed and left. Then, he used wing magic and flew towards the Fairy Tail guild quickly. Questions about what is so urgent filling his mind.
--
"Master Makarov, Lisanna told me you were looking for me."
Felix found Master Makarov on the counter. Unlike before where he cheered and drank happily, he held a serious look.
"Yes, it is very urgent. Children of a small town are rapidly turning up missing and it is unknown what happened to them. You need to head there to investigate and find them. Not much is known, but it might be caused by a mage."
Felix nodded as he took a piece of paper the Makarov handed him. On the paper, it contains an overview of the mission as well the destination. The town of this mission is called Hamelin, a recently known rat plague stricken place.
There is a note that music was heard on the nights the children vanished. Thanks to the music, it is suspected a mage is the culprit.
After reading this, Felix vaguely recalled a legend of his first life of Pied Piper. It is an old German folklore of a rat catcher coming to a town called Hamelin. After driving away the rats, the villagers refused to pay, so to retaliate he took away 130 children. There are multiple endings of this tale, but the most common is the children end up dead.
The similarities were quite close, but unlike the folklore, the children didn't vanish in one go. Instead it has been happening over a period of time in a rapid succession. Unlike the cannibal necromancer, who took people over a few years, the children were taken in three weeks.
So far the confirmed missing is already up to thirty. That is almost ten a week and the day for the next group to vanish is rapidly approaching. For every Friday, that is the night the children vanish as if the culprit is fixated on that day.
Accepting the mission, Felix rushed out the door as quickly as he came.
--
It took nearly two days for Felix to arrive at the destination as between the distance from the guild. He actually had to fly over with wing magic as no carriage nor train went there. Due to being a small town, they didn't have a train station while no carriage driver wanted to risk the plague.
Upon seeing the town and landing, Felix found that it was a bit dilapidated and grief stricken. On the outer edges of the town, weeds were overgrown and houses were boarded up. He saw bodies being carted away in batches.
All, while seeing a steady number of rats roaming around. These rats had to be among the braver ones he ever saw as they didn't care about humans or even chase the children. He saw a small child chased by four or five rats.
'Time to find the client.' Felix began looking for the Mayor.
Unlike the time with the cannibal necromancer, the Mayor wasn't taken. It would be weird if the Mayor is taken since he isn't a child. Granted it made him feel strange as he looked at the grand house of the Mayor.
Standing before a large house with neatly trimmed grass and gate with fancy statues guarding it. He looked at the pathway and large fountain before the doors. This place seemed to scream of wealth unlike the neighbors who seemed to be struggling.
'Embezzlement?' This is Felix's first thought seeing this.
Turning his head, he looked at the fat guard in the booth who was looking at the latest issue of Sorcerer Weekly. On the cover there is a Blue Pegasus Girl posing in a swimsuit and if he correctly recalled she is the number one model this year.
So the fat man looked like Master Makarov as he stared at the magazine with a goofy smile. Politely tapping the bell, Felix looked at the fat guard who looked annoyed at being interrupted.
"Who are you kid?"
"Felix, a mage of Fairy Tail."
The fat guard scanned him head to toe before clicking his tongue as if he didn't believe him. So, Felix rolled back his sleeve showing his guild mark. After which with great annoyance and slow movements as he tried to get unstuck from his chair. He opened up the gate for him.
"Just go straight and don't touch anything you can't afford. Which is most things here, kid."