Fairy Tail - Eyes of Ice

Chapter 3 - Phantom Lord Pt. 1

Master Makarov hopped onto the table where Kai sat. Iggy silently drank a cup of water.

"What's got you down, son?"

"Those idiots Gray and Natsu," Kai said. "An S-Class quest, Master? What the hell were they thinking?"

"I want you to consider whose idea it was and restate that sentiment."

"You're right, Natsu wasn't thinking. But at least Erza's with them."

"She can handle herself and the boys."

"Have you thought of their punishment yet?"

Makarov smiled behind a bushy mustache. "I'm sure Erza is seeing to it herself right now."

Kai laughed and crunched on some more ice. "You're probably right."

"Right now I'm more interested in something else, something I could probably use you for," Makarov said. "We had quite an odd job come in the other day, one that specifically asked for a Dragon Slayer."

Makarov slid the paper onto the table. Kai raised an eyebrow and glanced down at it.

"Doesn't seem like it's that far from here."

"That's why I only want you to take a look around the area and see if you can find out what's going on before we accept the job," Makarov said. He handed Kai another paper. "This has the exact details but isn't the request itself, I don't want the requester to get confused if they see you with it."

"Seems like it's going to pay quite a bit."

"You see where my optimism lies, then."

Kai nodded and stood, downing the rest of his ice while Iggy pawed away some milk on her face.

"I'll check it out, thank you, Master."

"Kai!"

Another more cheerful voice called to him. It was Mirajane from behind the bar.

"Do you want an ice pack before you hit the road?"

"No thank you," Kai said and waved at her. Thankfully he still had his go-bag from the previous trip. He slung it over his shoulder and said goodbye to master, then headed back out of the guild hall.

He examined the request while he read. It was given to them by a man named Joseph from a village not too far from Magnolia. While there hadn't been any direct signs of a dragon, there appeared to be some dragon-lings that were sulking about. They hadn't done anything to the down, but, wanted to hire one of the Fairy Tail Dragon Slayers to check it out.

"Mirajane seemed keen to help you."

"Iggy!"

"Come on, Kai! Erza sees you as little more than a friend. Mirajane flirts with you."

"Mirajane is just being nice, she's like that with everyone. And besides, I don't like Mirajane."

Iggy purred and sat on his shoulder. "I'm only looking out for you. I want you to be happy."

"I'm happy when I'm with Erza."

"And is she happy when she's with you?"

"If you're comparing rays of sunshine of course Mirajane shines brighter. Have you ever seen her sad, or unhappy? I've seen her take a direct shot from Natsu and giggle."

Kai folded the request and slid it into his jacket pocket as he headed out the gates of Magnolia. Once again, he didn't want Iggy to fly him there. It felt good to walk and to think through some of the things on his mind.