Chapter 28

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"Actually, not long ago, the villagers who went into the forest to hunt often heard the sound of a ghost crying!"

With these words, the village chief began his explanation.

Not far from this village, there was a forest rarely visited by people.

This forest was not particularly special. Unlike the forest near Magnolia Town, which was home to various monsters, this was just an ordinary forest, with at most some wild beasts or weak monsters from outside.

Because of this, the village used this forest as a hunting ground, entering it daily to hunt, which was a major source of food for the village.

Not long ago, many villagers hunting in the forest could faintly hear the sound of a girl crying.

At first, the villagers thought it was a child who had wandered into the forest by mistake and wanted to find the child and bring them out.

However, before the villagers could start searching for the child, strange phenomena began to occur.

Noah naturally did not know what these phenomena were.

But according to the village chief, a hole appeared in the sky!

Due to this bizarre phenomenon, the villagers stopped searching for the child. However, since then, they could still occasionally hear the sound of a child crying in the forest, and the sky would occasionally break open, causing chills to run down their spines.

Thus, the rumor spread in the village that the child crying in the forest was a ghost that could cause the sky to break when it cried.

The villagers in the village were quite simple and naive, and they believed this rumor without doubt.

So, gradually, the villagers no longer dared to enter the forest to hunt, causing the village, which relied on the forest's game as a primary food source, to face a significant shortage of food.

With no other choice, the village chief had to send a request to the nearest magic guild, asking for someone to exorcise the ghost.

To be more precise, the request was to find the true source of the crying and the reason for the sky breaking, to restore the village to its former state.

"The reward is what all the villagers have pooled together. Although it's not much, only 200,000 J, we still hope you can help us." The village chief slightly bowed his head and bent his waist, which was already his limit at his age.

"Can you accept our request?"

Noah frowned slightly and fell silent.

It wasn't that Noah didn't want to accept the request, but there were too many uncertainties. Noah couldn't guarantee that he could complete the village chief's request on his own.

As for the reward, for such an uncertain task, it couldn't be said to be much or little. It could only be said that, as long as nothing went wrong, it would be considerable.

Moreover, Noah wasn't particularly concerned about the reward. The one million J reward from the last activation of the Ritual Lake task was still in his account, and he wasn't in urgent need of money, so he didn't need to be too picky about the reward.

After some consideration, Noah said:

"To be honest, Chief, there are too many uncertainties in this case. It's not yet determined whether the ghost is causing the sky to break. I can't guarantee that I can help you. So, I would like to stay in the village for one night and go to the forest tomorrow to take a look before making a decision. Is that okay?"

"Yes! Thank you very much!"

The village chief's voice had a slightly relieved tone, which made Noah smile slightly. He tightened the long, bag-like strap slung over his shoulder and began to think about what he should pay attention to for tomorrow's task.

...

For a village, this one was not very large but surprisingly not very backward.

The houses, though somewhat old compared to those in Magnolia, were not much different in style. Unlike some villages with only stone houses, the inn provided to Noah, though small, was impeccable and left nothing to complain about.

At the village chief's request, the innkeeper knew that Noah was a mage from 'Fairy Tail' who had come to help the village with the ghost problem, so he did not charge Noah for his stay.

However, unlike the village chief, the innkeeper, upon learning that the mage from 'Fairy Tail' was just a child, did not say much but had an unmistakable look of disappointment in his eyes, which made Noah quite depressed.

Hopefully, tomorrow's task will go smoothly...

With this thought, Noah settled in a bit, then left his room and sat down at a wooden table in the inn's hall, ordering a meal to replenish the energy he had expended throughout the day.

However, just as Noah was enjoying his dinner, three people entered the inn.

They were three boys and girls, around eleven or twelve years old, about the same age as Noah, but very eye-catching.

The reason they were eye-catching was that all three, around eleven or twelve years old, had striking white hair.

In the middle stood a girl with long white hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a revealing outfit like a swimsuit, with a very unpleasant face and a fierce look in her eyes.

On the girl's left was a boy wearing a formal school uniform with short pants, who was quite muscular for his age, with slightly dark skin but a weak expression, forming a stark contrast to the ponytailed girl, making one wonder if the roles were mixed up.

On the girl's right was the shortest and youngest-looking of the three, with a bob cut and wearing a cute dress.

At that moment, the girl with the bob cut was speaking to the ponytailed girl with a worried look on her face, but the ponytailed girl was ignoring her.

The muscular boy also seemed to be timidly advising the ponytailed girl, but he was met with a fierce glare from her, causing him to shrink back, looking like he was about to cry, which was quite amusing.

This peculiar trio naturally caught Noah's attention, and he slowed his eating, observing them with interest.

Just as Noah was observing the three white-haired boys and girls, the ponytailed girl seemed to notice his gaze, turned her head, and their eyes met.

Noah could clearly see the obvious displeasure on her face, clearly not liking his attention. Just as she was about to glare at Noah, she noticed the 'Fairy Tail' guild mark on his right hand.

The ponytailed girl was taken aback, then her face showed a puzzled expression.

It was as if she had been searching for someone with great effort, only to find that the person did not match her expectations at all.

However, the ponytailed girl quickly dismissed these thoughts and, ignoring the timid boy and the worried girl beside her, walked toward Noah.

Seeing this, even if Noah were slow, he could guess what was happening.

They were coming for him!

"Hey!"

Sure enough, the ponytailed girl came directly to Noah's table and asked rudely.

"Are you the mage from 'Fairy Tail'? The one who came to solve the ghost problem in the forest near this village?"

The tone of the ponytailed girl, which sounded like she was looking for trouble, made Noah frown deeply, and he put down his utensils.

"Mira-nee!"

At this moment, the girl with the bob cut and the cute dress also came over, pulling on the ponytailed girl's arm as if trying to mediate, and bowed deeply to Noah, apologizing repeatedly.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Mira-nee didn't mean to!"

"I'm really sorry!" The muscular boy also came over and bowed deeply to Noah.

"My sister really didn't mean to, please don't blame her!"

Noah nodded at the three of them, his tone free of any anger.

"May I ask what you need from me?"

"My name is Mirajane Strauss!"

The girl named Mira, with a delicate and beautiful face, pulled a grin that looked more like a sneer and said:

"Although it's embarrassing, your job is ours now!"