October X777
After surviving Erza's vocabulary lessons, Natsu started going out on easy jobs around Magnolia, and sometimes further out to other cities. Now, he spends a lot of his time either inside the guild, or off on jobs. And while he does that, I stay put around the guild and spend my time practicing my magic. Though because of Natsu's insistence, I take medicine and rest whenever I start getting sick. He never wants me to push myself so hard that I'll collapse. But despite his worrying, with a healthy diet, medicine in case of emergencies, and plenty of training, my episodes slowly start to come less and less often. And I'm soon healthy enough to go exploring around without supervision, and even to get into slightly more intense and exhausting training.
I train with Erza most days, and despite the vast improvement in my health, she's always careful to push me just hard enough to get results, but not so hard that I'll get hurt. That said, I still end up with a big collection of bruises after training sessions with her. Going unarmed against someone who specializes in weapons is not nearly as easy as one might think. Especially since I have to try my best not to hurt her. It's called Dragon Slayer Magic for a reason. It's meant to be lethal to some of the toughest magical creatures out there. Humans aren't supposed to be able to stand a chance. Which is why holding back is a necessary precaution. If I don't, she could end up dead.
After one particularly painful training session, the two of us sit out on the grass behind the guild. It's something that we do, she always says that it promotes harmony to relax together like this.
"You're really improving, Haru." Erza looks over at me with a calm smile. "I can see that Igneel trained you well."
I nod and lie back in the grass. "Yeah, he did. Even though he couldn't teach me as much as Natsu, he still did his best. And what he couldn't teach me, I kind of learned all on my own. And I even invented some stuff, since his friend couldn't come and teach me herself."
"His friend?" She sounds curious now. "So there was another dragon involved?"
"Sort of…" I touch the place just over my heart, remembering some of what Igneel said. "Because I was a sick kid, it was hard, almost impossible for me to safely learn magic. So instead of doing it himself, Igneel asked a friend of his to give me something called lacrima. It was supposed to make me stronger, make me less fragile. And I guess it worked, because I could actually start learning magic. He said that it woke the magic sleeping inside me."
Erza nods. "Okay, so there was crystallized magic involved? What else?"
"Well… since it came from a wind dragon, the powers I have are very different to Natsu's. Of course, Igneel planned it that way. He said that it would be better if our magics complemented each other, instead of having us both wield the exact same magic. And I also studied magic from really old books. So I've got a wider range of spells to use than Natsu. But to be fair… he's way stronger than I am. The only way I can beat him is if I get the drop on him."
"Hm…" Erza looks out at the water, thinking hard. "I think that Igneel had the right idea." She picks up a stone and skips it across the water. "If you and Natsu both used fire magic, then if you got into trouble with water or wind magic, then you guys would have been helpless. But this way, no matter what kind of situation you're in, you'll never have an elemental disadvantage."
I consider her words, then smile in agreement. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But it might also have something to do with our personalities. Natsu is a bit more… fiery than I am. And I'm a bit more free-spirited than him. That's why it sucked so much to always be trapped by being sick. I hated it so much." I pick up a stone myself, blow on it, and skip it across the water so hard that it skips right out of sight. "But once I'm strong, I'll be able to go on jobs just like Natsu. I'll be a great wizard!"
"So…you want to go on a job, huh?" Erza gets to her feet and brushes the grass off her skirt. "Then let's go on a job!"
I blink at her in confusion. "Go on a job?"
"Yeah, you and me!" She holds out her hand to me with a smile. "You want to get out of the guild and do something, right? I'm sure that if the two of us go together, Master won't object."
I digest the meaning of her words, and a great big smile crosses my face. "Alright!" I grab her hand and she pulls me to my feet. "So what kind of job did you have in mind?"
She taps her lip lightly. "Well… maybe something just outside Magnolia. I'm sure that there should be an easy monster hunting job on the board."
I nod eagerly. "I can do that!"
"Then let's go!" She grabs my hand and pulls me back inside the guild. People turn to stare at us as we run towards the job board. Erza starts looking all over the board. "Okay… we should look for something between a hundred and two hundred thousand jewel. That should be easy enough for us, but challenging enough that we'll benefit from the experience. And we'll be able to make some money from it too."
"Okay." I glance over my side of the board, and see half a dozen jobs that fall into that range. Something just outside Magnolia… and involves hunting something. My eyes flick over the jobs as I quickly read the many descriptions. And then, I spot something. "Hey Erza, look at this!"
She shuffles over to look at the job I've got my eye on. "Huh, that's just one town over. It's close enough that we could actually walk there. And the reward is a hundred and sixty thousand jewel for wiping out an infestation of magical bees along the road through a forest. Those must be some pretty annoying bees if they're offering this much of a reward for exterminating them."
My eyes glitter with anticipation. "If it's just bugs, I can blow them away easy! You could swing that blade of yours around and knock the hives down, and once the bees are swarming, I can roar them right out of existence!" Then a thought occurs to me. "Wait, you aren't allergic to bees, are you?"
"No, I'm not." Erza grins eagerly. "I was about to ask you the same thing, but if you're asking me, then it means you're probably not. So we can definitely do this job on our own." She pulls the flyer off the board and gestures over to the bar. "Let's tell the master that we're taking this one."
I follow her over to the bar, where Gramps is drinking like there's no tomorrow. "Uh, Gramps? You there?" Somehow… I doubt he's all there right now.
He puts down his mug and looks at us, his eyes all glazed over. "Oh, hello Erza, Haru. What brings you back inside? Done training for the day?"
Erza holds up the flyer. "Actually, Master, we'd like to take this job."
"You two, huh?" He peers at the job, then at me. "You sure? It doesn't look too easy…"
I nod excitedly. "Yeah, we wanna take it! I've been cooped up here so long, and I want to go on a job. Erza said she'd take me! And this job looks easy enough for us! She just has to knock some hives out of trees while I blow all the bees away! And it'll be fine! It's not like I could burn the forest down!" Making sure that he knows that I wouldn't mess things up like Natsu could is one of my biggest selling points.
He frowns, then waves his hand. "Alright. I don't see why not. Erza, watch out for her, alright? And make sure that you two make Fairy Tail proud, alright?"
"Of course." Erza looks at me, and I quietly celebrate. "Let's go, Haru!"
I nod eagerly at her and the two of us race out of the guild hall. How awesome! I'm finally going on my first job! Natsu's going to be so jealous that he didn't get to come! I'll brag about it to him when we get back.