Fairy Tail: Jinchuriki

Alex finally passes the "test" and they finally go to the forest that's located quite far from Magnolia. They need to hit the road first using some carriages and somehow the noble boy wants Alex to stay in the same carriage as him.

Others might think that the noble kid wants to befriend Alex who is around the same age as him, but Alex knows that he just wants to play with Meteor Destroyer.

Now the noble kid isn't afraid of the bear cub anymore, but he still only dares to pet Meteor Destroyer lightly. But thanks to him being that gentle, Meteor Destroyer is comfortable around him.

After all, Meteor Destroyer doesn't like the Knights because they laughed at his name before. Only the noble kid thinks that it's an adorable name, so Meteor Destroyer gets closer to him quickly, which makes him really happy.

"By the way, Randy, what kind of flower are you looking for in the forest?" Alex asks because the noble kid, Randy Gracia.

"I-I can't say." Randy seems hesitant to tell Alex.

"What? Then how do you expect me to help you if I don't even know what we are looking for? Or do you have a way to find it without my help?"

"W-well, not really. I only know that it's located in that forest and grows around this time."

"Then what is it? You made it sound illegal."

"....." Randy doesn't say anything.

"..... Alright, I'm going home."

"No! You need to help me! I've hired you."

Alex wants to get out of the carriage, but Randy grabs and stops him.

"There's no way I'm going to help you do something illegal. I haven't even lived that long yet."

"I-It's not illegal, I swear!"

"Then tell me what we are looking for, dammit!"

"T-that's..... C-can you keep it a secret?"

"As I thought this is an illegal business."

"IT'S NOT! I-it's just that the item I want might not exist."

"So what is it?" Alex still wants to know what it is.

"T-the Healing Spring." Randy looks down with a red face, but Alex just tilts his head.

"Huh? What's that? I thought we were looking for a flower."

"..... Are you saying you don't know the Healing Spring?" Randy's jaw drops.

"Should I know?"

"..... Well, not really. But I feel stupid for worrying about it." Randy slaps his forehead.

"So what is it? And what about the flower?"

"Sigh, Healing Spring is a spring from the legend. It's said that the water from that spring can heal any illness. As for the flower, it's just an excuse to enter the forest because no one will allow me to enter it if they know I am looking for that Spring because it's just a myth."

"You sick?" Alex looks worried now.

"No, not me, it's my father. He is severely ill. That's the reason why I am the one who keeps going as the family's representative for everything even if I haven't even come of age yet. My mother was handling everything at first, but her body was weak, so she fell sick sometime ago and can't do it anymore now, so I take over the job. The doctor said there's no cure for my father's illness and told us to give up. But there's no way I would give up."

Alex can sense that there are more things that Randy can't say. Probably things related to being nobles like political things or noble familial things that Alex will never understand.

"So you are looking for this Spring that can heal any illness even if it doesn't exist?"

"I want to believe that it exists."

"Hmm, how does the Spring look?"

"Y-you'll help me look for it?"

"I will even look for a living dragon if you pay me enough."

Randy smiles then explains the Healing Spring's characteristics to Alex.

"How long are we going to look for it?"

"A week. If we can't find it in a week, then we need to leave no matter what. In a week, I need to go back because I need to prepare for the family meeting. Ah, by family I mean big family. If I can't find a cure for my father in this 1 week, then my Uncles will try to take my father's position and I won't win even if we take this matter to the Royal Court because I am still too young to inherit my father's title. So I need to find the cure in a week."

This is a very difficult matter, but Alex doesn't want to get involved in this nobility problem. He'll only do what he is paid for. Anything else is beyond his capability. So he won't butt his head into this nobility problem.

Anyway, their forest exploration is finally started the next day. They explore the forest carefully with Alex leading the group. After all, he is the most experienced even though all the Knights are much older than him.

But he has explored forests more than any one of them. So he knows which paths they need to choose to avoid dangerous creatures, when to rest, where to set up camps, what things they can eat, and how to get food.

With Alex's help, they can find many water sources or Springs following the map that Randy has. But as he and all of them thought, they don't find any Springs with the characteristics of the legendary Healing Spring.

They encounter quite a lot of magical creatures and some of them are aggressive, so Alex needs to fight those creatures which isn't that difficult. He doesn't kill all of them though because it's faster and easier to just scare them, and it takes less energy.

Anyway, instead of the Healing Spring, they find many medicinal herbs. Alex collects the herbs because they are valuable and there are quite a lot of rare herbs among them. He also collects the Knights to collect the herbs because they might be useful one day.

As Alex and everyone thought, they can't find the Healing Spring even after a week. So they don't have any other choice but to give up and go to Capital City. Randy looks very dispirited on their way there.

"You know, I think Healing Spring is just a figurative name. It might just mean that we can find so many medicinal herbs that can be used to heal many types of illnesses there because there are rare herbs and even specific herbs that only grow there."

"That's.... You may be right." Now that Randy thinks about it, what Alex says might be true.

It's called Healing Spring because there are many herbs that can be used to cure many illnesses. If exaggerated, it can be said that they can find any herb to cure any illness there. After all, if there really is a Spring that can heal anything, then there would be no use for doctors and medicines.

"Well, let's look at the positive side. Maybe we can find a way to cure your father using the herbs we found there."

Alex tries to cheer Randy up and it works a little. At least now the atmosphere won't be so gloomy because it will make their travel very torturing. After all, they need 2 days to reach the Capital City.

After they arrive at Gracia's family mansion safely, Alex wants to ask Randy to sign the job done form immediately. But the kid storms off right after they arrive. So he sighs and follows Randy into the mansion because he needs Randy's signature.

He follows Randy to a big bedroom on the 2nd floor. It's Randy's parents' bedroom where his father is bedridden. His mother is also there, taking care of her husband. She looks pale but she still can move around while her husband is unconscious.

When Alex enters the room, he immediately frowns. His senses are tingling for an unknown reason, so he activates his magic sense to find the source of his uneasiness. He finds it very quickly and it only makes his frown get deeper.

"Randy, can we talk?" Alex approaches Randy.

"Eh? Ah, right, you have finished your job. Sorry, I wanted to see my father's condition immediately, so I just left the carriage. I will sign the paper now."

"It's not about that, there's something else I need to say, but I can't say it in front of others." Alex looks around.

There are some servants and even guards in the room. Randy immediately understands that Alex wants to say something important although he doesn't know what it is.

"Do you need to say it now?"

"Yeah, you would want to hear it now."

"Alright, let's talk in my room."

Alex nods and they go to Randy's room. After arriving there, Alex quickly scans his surroundings to make sure that no one is listening. After making sure that it's safe here, Alex finally tells Randy something surprising.

"Your father, I think I know what causes his illness."

"WHAT?!"

This is not what Randy expected Alex to say, so it really is shocking.

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

Thank you for reading this story. Please support by clicking like or vote if you like this story. It is much appreciated.

Read ahead up to +50 chapters in my patreon page, patreon.com/GrimFairy

Ch. 106: Traumatizing Jose