Before leaving the guild master’s office Aegis gives Jellal a letter to pass to the guards on his way out of the city. Since it’s part of gaining the ability to skip the line at will he happily accepts the letter. He’s also given a key to a large room on the second floor which he can use to dump his junk in.

He’s already come to an understanding regarding the sales of his stuff with the guild master so he doesn’t have to worry about being shortchanged. According to the guild master’s plan they’ll hold the items for a week so their original owners have a chance to buy them back at a reduced price. If no one claims them they’ll be passed off to the merchant association to be sold.

As for the price of the sales, it isn’t that important. At the very least they came to a mutual understanding not to sell if they’re intentionally lowballed. Just in case things don’t work out Aegis even guaranteed a minimum price based off of how Jellal described the items and the remaining amount.

Stepping through the door he makes a b-line for the stairs and the second floor. On the second floor he walks down a straight corridor with lettered doors on each side. His key is for room J which could either represent the first letter of his name or stand for junk since that’s what he’s loading it up with.

Locating the door, he inserts the key into the lock and turns it. Pushing open the door he’s met with a large albeit very dusty room which looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in the last decade.

Using wind magic he creates a gust spreading throughout the entire room. The wind leads all the built up dust to one corner where it’s quickly burnt with fire magic. He immediately puts out the flames with water magic before making the excess water evaporate. Even though there’s a little soot left over he calls it good enough and begins unpacking his bag.

Exiting the room he locks the door before making for the stairs again. Back on the first floor he passes by the counters and walks out the front door.

He considered stopping to pick up a quest and a mentor so he could get it out of the way, but he was already going to come back later so it’s better to do it then. At least in this way he can avoid any annoyances that may come with a mentor, for now.

After leaving the building he doesn’t head toward the plaza and the city gate, but in the opposite direction. When he comes to the tailor’s shop he dips inside to see if his order is finished yet.

Behind the counter the owner is struggling to stay awake while looking over the shop. Her eyes have dark circles under them and her head is constantly drooping and jerking back up, making it obvious for anyone to see she didn’t sleep last night.

It takes a moment to register when she sees Jellal come in. After a moment she realizes why he’s here and runs to the back room to grab his order. The clothes are neatly folded and stuffed into a bag before being handed over to him.

Examining the clothes there’s nothing to complain about. The workmanship is flawless despite the order being rushed and her pulling an overnighter. The shades are all dark as he requested and the varying colors give him plenty of options to choose from.

Giving a nod of approval he puts the clothes into his bag and turns to leave. Stepping out of the shop he heads over next door to pay the old leather worker a visit.

When Jellal enters the grumpy old store owner is sitting in a chair behind the counter with his head barely visible as only his eyes and above is poking out. Glancing at the customer he snorts and turns his head away.

[Say geezer, do you know anyone who makes good chairs? An old bastard like you should have a guy, right? Also I need someone who knows how to take care of a wyvern corpse.]

[Who ya calling geezer, pipsqueak? Also, are ya saying I should know a chair maker because I’m old and have to sit down all the time or because I’m an experienced craftsman? It’s important to differentiate insults and complements after all. And what’s this nonsense about a wyvern corpse? Do I look like yer damn butler?]

[Oh put a sock in it. Can you help or not? If you’re lucky I might even sell some of the hide to you without raising the price sky high if you’re useful, mister butler.]

[Humph, ya think I can’t take care of wyvern. Unlike an uneducated brat like you, I have a lot of experience dealing those overgrown lizards. Since you obviously don’t know how, I can do it myself. If ya got some gold from yer mommy I might consider teaching ya.]

[You think you know something I don’t? That’s the best joke I’ve heard all day. I could take care of the lizard if I felt like, but it’s beneath me. Why would I waste my time on it when I can have someone else do it instead?]

[Let’s find a place to plop it down and I’ll give ya my price.]

[Does this shed you call a shop have enough room to fit a wyvern?]

[That’s a low blow even for a brat like you. I’ll have ya know this here shop is on one of the best locations in the city. It’s not my fault the person who built it originally made it so small. Luckily the land behind it was cheap so I bought it so I could have my workshop, which is where we’re going.]

Following the shop keeper through the back door he passes through a small backyard to reach the workshop. Inside there are numerous racks with hides hung on them as well as workbenches and various tools lining the walls.

[I told you there wasn’t enough space. Unless you want to waste my time moving all the racks to open up the floor it isn’t fitting.]

[Alright brat, ya think yer so smart then we’ll do it yer way, but if it aint as big as ya claim it to be I’m charging extra regardless of if I take the job or not.]

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Jellal waits on the side while the old man laboriously pushes the racks to one side of the building. Instead of waiting quietly he constantly taps on a workbench with his nail causing a rhythmic tink to ring through the building like an annoyingly loud second hand on a clock.

After clearing up some space the grumpy old man glares at him with a “put up or shut up” kind of look. Without saying a word he removes the goliath wyvern from his bag, leaving it empty save for his clothes.

The massive body takes up a majority of the space in the building causing the old man’s face to twitch. Seeing his reaction Jellal smirks beneath his mask like a kid who just pulled a prank on his teacher and got away with it.

[Yer having fun at my expense aren’t ya? Ya never said it was a mutated ya bastard.]

[So you taking the job or not? I want everything useful removed. Skeleton, meat, claws, everything. And don’t think about swiping anything for yourself, I’ll know if there’s anything missing.]

[Ya say you want the useful bits so why do ya want the meat? Even an idiot knows it’s poisonous. Unless yer planning on trying to find someone to buy it for the poison before it rots yer better off tossing it.]

[I said I want the meat. What I want it for is none of your business. The important thing’s knowing how much of the hide you want in exchange. I could pay you in gold, but we both know you’re going to try to buy it anyways so why not cut to the chase.]

[I’ll only ask for one square meter in exchange, but I get to pick where it’s from.]

[Alright, deal. How long will it take you to finish? An old man like you can probably barely hold a feather without shaking, much less a knife.]

[Humph, I aint no amateur like you. I’ve got some people I can have help so we can finish it by the end of the day and yer meat won’t go bad. It’ll cost me a bit of money, but this kind of hide never ends up on the market so it’s worth it.]

[Good, I’ll be back later. If anything other than your payment is missing I’ll make your business go missing to make up for it, kekeke.]

Leaving behind his obligatory warning, Jellal shows himself to the exit. Making his way back to the main road he starts walking toward the plaza. Even though he wants to find someone to make him a fancy custom chair it isn’t like it’s urgent. More importantly his deal with the Aegis is time sensitive and he has to keep an eye out for the former captives when they arrive so he doesn’t want to have obligations outside the city.

As he’s walking through the plaza he comes across the little girl he bought the seedling from. Together with a dirt caked young man she waits for people to stop by her stall. This time her tattered blanket has some wood carvings laid out on it.

Looking carefully at the carvings Jellal decides he stop by the stall again. He picks up one of the carvings and examines it from close up. Despite the shoddy wood the carving is well made and the one who made it even worked around the knots in a way that doesn’t ruin its looks.

[Hey runt where’d you get this?]

[Who’re you calling runt, runt? It’s mine so don’t go around acting like I stole it. What kind of carver would use such crappy wood if they could get their hands on anything better? If I could buy some descent wood my sculptures would sell for sure.]

[You made this? Not bad for a runt. How are you with making things other than sculptures, like a chair for instance?]

[A chair? Any idiot could make a chair. If you’re asking if I can carve a chair to look good the way I do sculpture than the answer is obviously yes. Why do you care?]

[Oh, then how about you make a chair for me? Of course, a plain chair doesn’t suit me so you’ll have your work cut out for you. Design wise I don’t care as long as it suits me. Can you handle that, runt?]

[I could if I had the materials, but I can’t even get my hands on any descent wood.]

[I have some things to take care of right now. If you’re still here when I get back and have some free time we can talk business. If you’re not here, I’ll look for someone else.]

Placing the sculpture back on the blanket, Jellal turns around and continues on his way to the gate. Upon arriving he passes Aegis’ letter to one of the guards before leaving the city.

Stepping outside the city he faces in the direction of the village he was told about. Rather than getting directions he had Aegis point toward its location so he could go there in a straight line without wasting any time following a set path.

Since there are a lot of people around he starts off running. Gradually he picks up speed as the distance between him and the onlookers widens. To him it feels like he’s moving at a snail’s pace, but for the onlookers his speed seems inhuman.

When he gets far enough away to be certain he’s out of visual range he stops to take off his disguise. Just as he’s about to take off his cape he thinks of a brilliant idea. Up till now he’s been taking his clothes off then stuffing them into his bag. What would happen if he tried to put them in the bag directly from his body?

His first attempt ends in failure but he doesn’t get discouraged. He goes through three more tries before he figures out the trick to putting his clothes into the bag while he’s wearing them. Not content with just that he tries to put them on directly from the bag as well.

It may seem like something insignificant to save time, but for someone who uses lightning to travel it’s much more convenient than that. If it works he won’t have to stop and change clothes before and after he travels. Instead he can put them on while he’s landing and his visage is obscured by the lightning.

It takes a few tries to work out the kinks, but in the end he’s able to put on an outfit directly from his bag. The caveat with using the bag is that he has to have been wearing it when he put it away to put it on from the bag due to how it works. Items will remain in the position they’re put in the bag at. If he isn’t wearing the clothes when he puts them in his bag they won’t be able to come out ready to wear.

To ensure the ease of changing in the future he puts on each set of clothes before putting them back into the bag. Instead of putting them in the second bag he puts them in the money bag so they don’t waste space. To achieve this he takes out a bunch of money and puts it back in after he puts the clothes in. The money ends up all around and inside the cavity in the clothes, but doesn’t touch them. Thanks to this the space taken up is minimal.

With his outfit situation handled he sets out for the village. The place has a population of less than a hundred and doesn’t even have a proper name, but Aegis is still willing to deal with his demands just to have him check out the village.

Since he’s never been to the location before, he maintains the slowest possible speed and keeps his eyes peeled. As he’s looking around he spots smoke in the distance. Since it’s the way he’s going and there shouldn’t be any other settlements in this area it can only be his target or some sort of natural disaster. While it is possible a fire broke out or some mage blasted a meteor into the ground, it’s highly unlikely for it not to be his destination.

As he approaches he sees a horde of monsters bearing down on the village, which is already in ruins. Rather than these monsters being the attackers it’s more likely they’re just a horde that happened to notice a commotion and came over to look for something to attack.

Further along a familiar group of knights hold a defensive circle around a group of civilians. Judging by the number of people it’s likely the knights were at or around the village when it was attacked. If they weren’t he would have to question the prowess of the monster hordes.

‘I’m already here, and I did agree to intervene if the village was attacked so I guess I should take care of this. I’ll be sure to think up something good for my extra payment.’

Dropping in altitude, Jellal flies two meters above the ground. As he passes over the horde outside the village he discharges lightning without stopping. His lightning arcs through the horde turning the monsters into smoldering corpses.

Before approaching the original horde that’s currently engaged with the knight he goes high into the air. Dropping into the middle of the horde he sends out his arcs along the shockwave, but carefully controls it so it doesn’t fry the knights or civilians. For the shockwave, on the other hand, they’re on their own.

As he lands he quickly swaps into a new set of clothes. Since landing in the middle of the horde and wiping them all out in an instant isn’t a cool enough way to enter he blitzes behind Freya before anyone notices and stands there with his arms crossed.

[I don’t know if I should call you unlucky after being caught in two ambushes by hordes in two days, or if you’re lucky I happened to be passing by both times. Perhaps you’re beyond just lucky since I usually wouldn’t bail someone out without a reason, yet this is two times you’ve been helped by me.]

While giving his speech he has electricity arc around him to give him the cool and imposing air he wishes to give off. Of course he carefully controls it so it doesn’t affect his clothes and ruin his image.

The knights and civilians are obviously surprised when someone appears in the middle of the knights out of nowhere. Unable to understand how he got there they can only thank their lucky stars he’s on their side and not an enemy.

The calmest amongst the group, Freya, turns around to greet Jellal.

[We had everything under control, but I appreciate the help no less. With your complete lack of chivalry it’s obvious you’re not a knight, so I guess I should consider myself lucky you went out of your way on our account.]

[You should be more careful in the future. I won’t always be around to throw a rope down when you dig yourself into a hole.]

[Even if that’s the case it doesn’t matter. I can take care of myself. And I would appreciate it if you didn’t treat me like some damsel who would break down and cry for help if I was ever in a perilous situation.]

[Maybe you should try it. You never know, I might just show up to take in the sight, kekeke.]

[Hehe, I’ll keep that in mind.]