Dragon Tale - Chapter 2.1 (Patreon)

Hmmm.

Brody frowned as he looked down at his bare arm. There was no green fur in sight, and while a moment ago he was bare chested, he was now once again wearing the sleeveless hoodie he'd put on this morning before ending up here.

…Where did it go when he assumed that weird Take Over monkey form? Beast Soul: Vulcan? Were Vulcan's beasts like the ones Elfman took over? He assumed so.

'Do I have a Requip space that automatically holds my clothes for me when I use Take Over?' he wondered. Or did his transformed state literally come over his physical body like a shell including his clothing? But, how did that work? Considering he could still feel?

He shook his head and banished those thoughts. It was magic, trying to pin logic on it was just going to give him a sore head.

Honestly, he should just be giddy that he somehow avoided death and now had magic powers.

Well, he'd love to but right now, he needed to secure a roof over his head for the moment. All he had to his name here, in this world, was the clothes on his back and a wallet filled with money that meant nothing in this world.

Thankfully, he'd found his way out of the forest easily enough and that led him to now.

In a little town known as Onibus Town.

A vaguely familiar name to Brody, but he couldn't pin why.

His feet led him through the streets of the small town, taking in the sights as he passed by a large theatre, and a train station at the edge of the town, before finally finding himself entering a bar he caught sight of a few drunken patrons stumbling out of.

A bar, especially in a place like this, would be a good place to pick up rumours of a place to work, and maybe just give him a place to sit down and think.

He entered through the doors and paused for a moment, taking in the place. It wasn't very busy, but there was a noticeable amount, a dozen or so people spread about, while the stools at the bar itself were empty and behind the bar stood a stout, older man with distinct laugh lines and long white hair.

Brody made his way over to the bar and sat down on the stool directly in front of the barkeep.

The man didn't say anything for a moment and just finished cleaning the glass he was drying with a towel, before setting it down. Then he looked Brody in the eye and gave him a cheerful smile, "What can I get you son?" he asked.

Hmm. Interesting, no suspicion on why a teenager his age was in a bar in the middle of the day. Sure, he'd bulked up a little after his little reverse buffet field trip that was noticeable to him even outside his Take Over form, and reflected the fact that he still felt massively stronger even in his normal form, but he still looked young.

He was only fifteen.

"Nothing right now," Brody shrugged, "Unless you know anywhere looking to hire or some odd jobs where I can make some quick cash?"

"How quick we talkin' lad?" The barkeep raised an eyebrow, "I know a few places round' here that could use a strapping lad like yourself to help out, heck I could."

Well, that was lucky.

"Considering all I've got is literally the clothes on my back and nowhere to go…" Brody trailed off with a self-deprecating smile before shrugging, "The kind that pays enough immediately for me to get a place to stay."

"Mmm, well, I've got a few empty rooms upstairs, you work for me you can stay in one of em', though usually they're two thousand five hundred jewel a night with breakfast and dinner included," the old barkeep replied, "Otherwise, you're gonna want to take a look at that." he added, raising his arm and jabbing his thumb at a large board held up on the wall to the side of the bar, a bunch of sheets of paper tacked to it.

"And what's that?" Brody asked, eyebrow raising.

"Mission board," the old man replied promptly, "Most missions get sent to guilds and the like, but there's no guarantee they'll be taken in a time frame needed, so most get posted around bars in the hopes of passing mages stopping for a drink seeing em' and decided to take them up. Granted, I say missions, but a lot of em' are just just silly things like helping clean mansions or carrying heavy crap around, though you'll find some doozies about too like getting of some big beasties out of the way."

Oh…right. Guilds. Somehow, despite knowing he was in the world of Fairy Tail, he'd completely missed that fact.

He could go join Fairy Tail if he wanted.

That would be…awesome. Getting to meet characters he'd only seen and admired through a screen before and once thought fictional. Getting to be around voluptuous, gorgeous beauties like Mirajane and Erza, or even the scantly clad Cana Alberona who was always walking around in what amounted to a bikini top.

…Also home to the centre of the series he'd seen though. The place where most of the events took place, and a target for murderous maniacs like Jose the head of Phantom Lord and even Grimoire Heart and more.

As amazing and strong as he felt now, he was very aware of the fact that Natsu even at the beginning of the series could crush dozens of Vulcan's easily, even Macao had by his own admission taken out nineteen of them before getting caught off guard by one and that was Macao…a total scrub.

He was far below the level of a scrub right now.

Fuck that.

For now at least.

Not to mention, he didn't even know when he was. For all he knew, it could be years before the canon timeline started, or he could be right in the middle of the seven year time period after Acnologia attacked Tenrou Island.

"Though I don't recommend goin' after any of them beasties unless you've got magic lad, otherwise it'll just be suicide." the old man added.

"Well, luckily for me I'm a bit of a mage," Brody replied with another shrug, he'd find out when he was later, "But, putting that aside for now, what kinda rates do you offer old man?"

Taking care of getting a place to stay, was more important.

"Hoh, a mage eh? Don't see too many round these parts with Magnolia bein' so close," the old man whistled, "And it's simple pay lad. Ten hour shifts, five days a week and six hundred and fifty jewels an hour. We're not that big a place, so I can't offer any more than that. And I'm gettin' old and need the help after my last helper ran off to get married to some socialite girl after winning a big cash prize, the dumb brat."

Hmm.

So that would be what? 195,000 Jewels a month?

He wasn't really sure how good that was, the most he had to go on for reference was Lucy going on about how much her apartment cost monthly, which was seventy-five thousand Jewels.

The closest he could fathom that to, was seven hundred and fifty pounds a month in rent to make sense in his head. So, divide by a hundred? Which would be in his own homes currency, £1950 a month?

That, with his living situation taken care of, and both breakfast and dinner provided, was actually pretty good by his estimates.

"When can I start?" Brody eagerly asked the old man.

"Tomorrow," the barkeep replied with a snort, "You're eager, eh? Well, I won't turn away the help. But you said you didn't have anywhere to stay or anything to your name, so we'll just get you settled in a room tonight, get you some grub and I'll show you the ropes of how things work tonight, then we can start you fresh tomorrow."

"Oh," Brody blinked before smiling at the man, "Fine with me, I'll do my best not to disappoint you then old man."

"Names Garrick lad, remember it," the newly introduced Garrick snorted and held out his hand to the teenager, "And I don't doubt it, sides' even if you're a klutz, havin' a mage in my employ will be good for keepin' the rowdy ones from making too much of a ruckus."

"Brody and fine by me." The teen laughed and took the mans hand, shaking it.

This would be a good place to get his bearings and decide on what exactly he wanted to do going forward.

"What kinda magic to you use anyway lad?" Garrick asked when he released his hand a moment later.

"Take Over magic," the teen replied, "Nothing too flashy right now, but I dealt with a few of the vulcans in the forest and used it on them, so they won't be bothering anybody from now on."

"Oh? That's interestin'." Garrick mused, bushy white eyebrows rising high on his forehead.

"In what way?" Brody asked, confused, his own brows furrowing.

The old bar tender jabbed his thumb at the mission board, "Take a looksie, you'll see it right in the middle of the board, it's an ongoing thing." he said.

Blinking at his words, Brody rose from the stool he was sitting on and made his way over to the board.

There were dozens of sheets of paper on it, and like Garrick said he noticed a ton of them that were simple things like carrying a refrigerator or couch to a different location for a few thousand jewels.

Not bad to be honest, with his massive increase in strength he could do a bunch of these easily and quickly without any risk to himself. Something to keep in mind for his free days when he wouldn't be working he supposed.

And had learned his way around.

Finally his eyes went to the middle of the board, where a distinct piece of paper sat pinned, and the title atop it said it all.

'Vulcan Extermination'.

'Hoh?' Brody hummed with interest and quickly began reading over the sheet of paper, his lips tugging into a grin as he read.

To be exact, it was a simple mission or quest. For each Vulcan dealt with, the one who did it would be provided with thirty thousand jewels. Apparently because of just how large the forest was that he'd found himself within, so large it spread over a fast distance that spanned across multiple towns and cities and went right on to high plains and wastelands, many a magical beast found themselves drawn to the forest and living there.

And Vulcans especially of the creatures that lived within, were a big problem because they were sexually attracted to human females and would assault them on sight and human males, that were generally on average much weaker than them, were perfect targets for their Take Over magic.

Basically, because of those factors, there was a thirty thousand jewel bounty on the heads of any Vulcan. And he would be paid for them, as long as he could prove he'd did them in.

'Well now, isn't that interesting?' Brody mused.

He wondered where he went to cash in? Because right now, he could definitely prove he'd taken care of at least one Vulcan and he wouldn't say no to thirty thousand jewels filling up his empty pockets.

That was roughly the equivalent of three hundred quid back home.

Since he wasn't going to be working until tomorrow, Brody decided to test his luck. And after finding out exactly where he went to cash in on the bounties by asking Garrack and finding out that it was a mission established by the mayor of the city, he headed out.

As he expected, he could not provide proof of taking care of two forest vulcans, so he ended up only getting paid for one.

Not that he was complaining at all.

It was free cash after all and the woman who had been overseeing it, the mayor's secretary and a pretty older brown haired lady in smart glasses, had given him quite the ego boost when he transformed into his Vulcan form and he caught her ogling him.