The Pict Magic Of Fairy Tail

Chapter 44: The Bandits' Hideout

While Erza was finishing off the green wyvern, Mira, with Elfman's assistance, easily defeated the Thorn Lizard.

Gildarts then revealed to Mira that Erza hadn't been wandering aimlessly in the forest as she had assumed. Instead, Erza had already found the green wyvern's lair earlier.

After entrusting Elfman, who was in the process of taming the Thorn Lizard, to Gildarts, Mira quickly rushed to the green wyvern's lair.

Unfortunately, she arrived too late.

By the time she got there, Erza had already slain the green wyvern.

"Damn it, I'm too late!" Mira shouted in frustration as she looked at the lifeless body of the green wyvern.

"Mira, are you ready?" Erza asked with a mischievous smile, turning toward her. She was in high spirits after defeating the wyvern.

"Ready for what?" Mira, still annoyed by her late arrival, responded without thinking.

"Have you forgotten?" Cana, who had joined Erza, reminded Mira, "You two made a bet, didn't you? The loser has to unconditionally agree to one request from the winner."

"What?!" Mira froze as the realization hit her. She had completely forgotten about their wager.

As Mira and Erza began negotiating over the terms of their bet, Silver, Gray, Natsu, and Happy had already found the bandits' hideout.

The bandits had chosen a highly concealed location—a cave hidden behind a waterfall.

To make the entrance even more obscure, they had placed a massive movable boulder to block the way.

Looking at the enormous rock, Gray frowned and said, "No wonder the town's army failed to find them during their raids. If it weren't for Silver, Natsu and I would never have been able to locate this place."

"Hey, don't forget about me," Happy piped up, flying in front of Gray to remind him of his presence.

"Right, you too," Gray acknowledged.

"So, what's the plan now?" Natsu asked, turning to Silver.

Silver pointed at the boulder and said, "What else? Let's move this thing out of the way."

Natsu and Gray immediately moved to the boulder and began pushing with all their strength.

Seeing that the two of them couldn't budge it, Happy flew over to help, but even with his assistance, the boulder remained immovable.

"Hey, you may be the leader of this operation, but that doesn't mean you get to just stand there and watch!" Gray complained to Silver, who had been observing their efforts.

"Fine, I'm coming," Silver said, stepping forward. He joined Natsu and placed his hands on the boulder.

With the combined strength of the three, the boulder finally began to move, rolling aside with a deep rumble.

Behind it was a short passage, barely ten meters long, leading to a large cavern.

At that moment, Natsu excitedly shouted, "Happy, let's go!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy responded, grabbing Natsu and flying into the cave.

"Hey, you two—" Silver called out, realizing what they were doing. But before he could finish, the pair had already disappeared into the cavern.

"What are you going to do now?" Gray asked, smirking at Silver.

"Tch, what's the big deal?" Silver replied dismissively. "I already planned for something like this."

He glanced at Gray and said, "Gray, you stay here and guard the entrance. Don't let anyone escape. And remember, don't kill them. The more bandits we capture, the bigger the reward we'll get."

"Ah, I see," Gray said with a knowing look. "So that's why you didn't want us to kill the bandits. All that talk about losing our wizard licenses was just a cover, wasn't it?"

"Just keep it in mind," Silver said as he turned and began walking toward the bandits' hideout, speaking to Gray over his shoulder.

Silver's words weren't unfounded. In this world, wizards could indeed lose their official licenses if they killed excessively.

However, the true reason wasn't the amount of killing during missions.

This was a high-magic world, filled with endless magical experiments.

Some of these experiments required human subjects. But how could this be handled?

Using civilians was out of the question—any country that tried such a thing would face utter ruin.

In their desperation, the powers-that-be turned their attention to bandits, thieves, and murderers—those who flouted the law.

This not only solved the issue of obtaining human test subjects but also served to remove these troublemakers from society.

Silver's earlier remark about earning rewards for each captured bandit also wasn't just a joke.

The so-called rewards were essentially the price for "selling" these bandits into service.

However, these payments were disguised as bounties.

As Silver glanced at Natsu causing chaos in the hideout's central hall, he shook his head slightly and turned down a side corridor.

Not far along the corridor, a bandit appeared from around a corner, fastening his belt and muttering curses under his breath.

Without hesitation, Silver leaped toward him.

Before the bandit could react, Silver delivered a spinning double kick directly to the man's left ear, knocking him unconscious instantly.

The bandit had just finished some "intense activities" and, irritated by the sudden noise coming from the central hall, turned the corner in frustration.

But before he could make sense of the situation, a green blur struck him twice in quick succession, rendering him unconscious.

"It seems Natsu's yelling has already alerted all the bandits," Silver muttered, glancing at the unconscious man. He turned another corner and approached the room the bandit had just exited. Pushing the door open, he froze.

Inside the room were several young women, all unclothed. At the sound of the door opening, they huddled together in the corner, trembling in fear and staring at Silver with wide, terrified eyes.

Silver, caught off guard by the unexpected scene, stood motionless in the doorway, momentarily stunned.