Since many years ago, wild animals have frequently appeared in the mountain range north of Magnolia.
For those who enjoy hunting, this is the premier hunting ground.
For example, back when Blue Skull ruled Magnolia, their master, Geoffrey, would come here once a week to hunt.
Even for those not particularly fond of hunting, if they simply enjoy adventure or camping, this place is a fine choice.
Because there are enough wild beasts, one never lacks a challenge or something to eat.
Given this unique environment, Weston set it as the location for the second stage of this examination.
While Darwin and Erza were in the western forest handing the hard-won Golden Lion Coins to Yuri, Chris had already taken her two teammates into the northern mountains to begin her second stage of the assessment.
In order to obtain a higher score than Darwin in this examination and maintain her winning streak, Chris was being unusually serious today.
She had tied her hair into two neat, sharp twin-tails and changed into an autumn outfit—
On her upper body was an orange long-sleeved shirt, and on her lower body, she wore form-fitting shorts for ease of movement, with long stockings over her legs to stay warm while preventing insect bites. Finally, she wore a pair of brown hiking boots on her feet.
Overall, she looked eighty to ninety percent similar to her mother, Zera, in her youth.
At this moment, Chris was standing with one hand on her hip like a cool and gallant female commander, directing the actions of her two teammates.
"Listen up, you two. Observe the surroundings carefully!"
"Once you find the target, notify me immediately!"
The two teammates were hovering in the air before her; their pure white wings were a pleasant sight, and their twenty-centimeter height made them look adorably stout—they were the siblings from the Exceed, Morgan and Sura.
Indeed, Chris did not choose the uncles in the guild as her teammates, but chose these two cats instead.
In her view, those uncles who spent all day drinking and bragging were each more useless than the last. Rather than bringing them along to drag her down, it was better to choose the siblings Morgan and Sura; at least they could fly, giving her a massive lead in mobility.
As it turned out, Chris's decision was correct.
While others were still circling the tree labyrinth in the western forest, she had already found the Golden Lion Coin at high speed, delivered the mission, and unlocked the second stage.
—Of course, this was because she had also cracked the puzzle of the "Golden Lion Coin" instantly.
"I say, you brat!"
"Can't you improve your attitude a bit?!"
Morgan had his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes slightly drooping in a world-weary expression. He looked much like Gintoki turned into a cat from a certain manga, only with a pair of wings.
"Even though our current relationship is that of teammates, we are still your seniors. Adding the word 'please' when you speak wouldn't be too much to ask!"
Chris stared blankly at Morgan, tilting her head with a look that was half-puzzled and half-odd, as if confirming whether his words were sincere.
After a good while, she spoke again: "Oh, I see!"
"Keep a close watch on the surroundings. Once you find the target, remember to come and please me immediately!"
Morgan: "???"
I asked you to add "please" to your sentences, but not like that!!
"This little girl is even more annoying than her father and mother!"
Hearing this, Sura chuckled and said, "Really? I think Chris-chan is quite interesting!!"
The "Transfer Incident" that swapped two Yuris and led Weston and the others to Edolas occurred at the end of X689, and the current year is X700.
In other words, ten years have passed since the siblings Morgan and Sura brought their clansmen to settle in Magnolia!
Today, the older brother of the two cats, Morgan, is an 18-year-old big cat, and the younger sister, Sura, just celebrated her 16th birthday last week.
If they were ordinary cats, this age would be equivalent to a human over 90 years old—elderly individuals nearing the end of their lives.
Fortunately, Exceeds are different from ordinary cats; their lifespan is much longer and closer to that of humans!
Among Exceeds, 18 and 16 years old are roughly equivalent to 30 and 26 years old in humans.
Thus, the current Morgan and Sura are in the prime of their lives.
Combined with the fact that they are wizards of Fairy Tail and representatives of Magnolia's "Cat Enterprise," they are famous figures within the Exceed—pursued, admired, and looked up to as role models by everyone.
"Chris-chan, have you analyzed anything from the prompt for this stage of the examination?"
During the previous assessment in the western forest, Chris had keenly noticed "Leo" as the breakthrough point to solve the puzzle, which earned her great praise for her wisdom from Sura. This was why Sura was asking for her thoughts again now.
The content of the second stage was: In the northern mountains, defeat any one "Beast King," seize the "Beast King Treasure" from them, and bring it back to Magnolia to hand over to Licht—the Question-Setter for the third stage.
Yuri did not explicitly state what kind of wild beast the "Beast King" was, only informing them: "The one carrying the 'Treasure' is it!"
The only certainty was that the "Beast King Treasure" here was not a real "treasure," but a palm-sized stone plaque in the shape of the guild emblem.
Weston had manufactured many items for this examination.
In the first stage, he used the "Golden Lion Coin" as the clear marker; in this second stage, the same type of item was called the "Beast King Treasure."
—Though these items were referred to as "scrap metal" by others.
"Regrettably, I don't think there is any hidden information in the prompt this time."
"Are you sure?"
Chris nodded and said: "If my guess is correct, the four stages of this examination are likely testing different aspects of ourselves."
"For example, the first stage tested our insight and puzzle-solving abilities; this second stage tests our scouting and combat abilities!"
"Testing different abilities in different stages? That certainly fits the Guild Master's style!"
Sura immediately agreed with Chris's hypothesis and asked: "The territory of the northern mountains is several times larger than the western forest, and the terrain is much more complex. Even if we have a wider view from the sky, finding a 'Beast King' won't be easy. Is there a more convenient search method?"
Chris was already well-prepared for this: "Papa taught me that no matter how powerful a beast is, it always needs to drink water."
"Let's start our search for the Beast King's tracks at the water sources!"