A carriage traveled along a winding road.
Inside the carriage, Kenichi, Erza, Wendy, and Lucy sat facing each other in pairs.
Seeing Wendy fidgeting, seemingly a bit nervous, Erza comforted her:
"Wendy, don't be nervous. This mission isn't difficult."
Hearing Erza's words, Wendy hurriedly waved her hands and explained: "No, it's not nervousness, just a bit of excitement!"
"Excitement?"
"Not excitement, happiness! It's my first time working outside with Kenichi-nii and you, Erza-san!"
"Weren't we together during the Oracion Seis incident last time?"
"That time doesn't count! I hadn't joined the Fairy Tail Guild then!"
Hearing Wendy's words, Erza said with a smile: "Don't worry, there will be plenty of chances to work together in the future!"
"I'll do my best!"
Wendy clenched her fists and said with a serious expression.
Seeing the seriousness on Wendy's little face, Kenichi smiled and shook his head, then said to Erza beside him: "Erza, tell us the specific details of this job."
Kenichi had also seen the task list.
But only Erza knew the specific details.
Hearing Kenichi, Erza said: "The location for this job is Ruben Karu City. Recently, monsters have been frequently appearing in the outskirts of Ruben Karu City..."
After Erza finished, Lucy said: "So, the job is to eliminate the monsters outside Ruben Karu City, right?"
"According to Mira, the client for this job has commissioned our guild, but also other guilds."
As soon as Erza said this, Kenichi and Wendy both turned their gazes towards her.
"Other guilds? Which guild?"
Kenichi raised an eyebrow and asked curiously.
"Mirajane didn't say. She told me we'll find out when we reach Ruben Karu City!"
"Working with members from other guilds? Feels like the mission might be complicated..."
Lucy thought of the time with the Oracion Seis and had a bad feeling.
"Don't worry, this is just an ordinary mission. Probably there's just a large number of monsters."
While Kenichi, Erza, and the others were talking, the carriage arrived outside a huge city.
"We're here. This is Ruben Karu City."
After getting off the carriage, Erza looked at the huge city ahead and spoke to Kenichi, Wendy, and the others behind her.
"Eh?"
"It feels quite ancient!"
Lucy looked at the city and commented casually.
"Let's go. Members from the other guild might already be here."
Erza turned and said, then walked into Ruben Karu City with Kenichi and the others.
"Target, spotted!"
Not long after Kenichi, Erza, and the others entered the city, a cat girl lying on a rooftop beside the street twitched her ears.
With that, the cat girl leaped up, her figure turning into a black shadow as she pounced directly towards Kenichi, Erza, and the others on the street below.
Once close to Kenichi's group, the cat girl moved her whip, and the next second, the long whip whistled towards Kenichi.
Whoosh-
Just as the whip was about to hit Kenichi, he raised his hand and firmly grabbed the whip.
Then, with a strong pull, the whip-wielding cat girl fell directly to the ground.
"Who's there?"
This sudden turn of events caused Erza's expression to change.
However, just as Erza drew her sword, the cat girl lying on the ground looked up, baring her teeth: "Ouch, ouch, ouch!"
After clearly seeing the person who launched the surprise attack, Erza cried out in surprise: "Millianna?!"
"Long time no see, Erza!"
The cat girl stood up and greeted them with a smile.
"Someone you know?"
Wendy, seeing Erza and the cat girl talking, asked curiously.
"Yes, a childhood companion of Erza's."
Kenichi looked at Millianna and answered Wendy.
"By the way, Kenichi, you really hit hard! You almost threw me to my death!"
Millianna greeted Erza, then complained to Kenichi with dissatisfaction.
"Who told you to launch a sneak attack!"
"I was just joking..."
Millianna originally meant to say she was joking, but before she could finish, she noticed Carla beside Wendy.
"A cat?!"
The moment she saw Carla, Millianna's eyes lit up.
"Meow!"
She immediately squatted down to greet Carla, but Carla just turned her head away: "Hmph!"
Seeing Carla reject her, Millianna stood frozen in place as if struck by lightning.
"Millianna, you still love cats so much. By the way, why are you in this city?"
Erza asked Millianna.
"Here for a job!"
Millianna stood up, looked at Erza, and blinked.
"A job? You don't mean..."
"Yep! Our guild and your guild are working on this job together!"
"You joined a guild?" Erza asked excitedly.
Hearing Erza's question, Millianna proudly lifted her clothes, revealing the guild emblem on her waist.
"This emblem is... Mermaid Heel?"
"After we parted last time, I joined Mermaid Heel!!"
As soon as Millianna finished speaking, a female voice came from ahead: "Millianna, what are you doing?"
Hearing the voice, Kenichi, Erza, and the others all looked.
They saw a woman holding a long sword walking towards them.
The woman had brownish hair, fair skin, and a cool, aloof face, giving off an unapproachable feeling.
But it was this very aloofness that created the image of an ice queen.
The moment Kenichi saw this woman, his eyebrow twitched.
Perhaps Erza and Wendy didn't know this woman, but Kenichi did.
This woman was none other than Kagura from Mermaid Heel.
It's just that the Kagura before him was much younger than he remembered.
After all, Kagura first appeared during the Grand Magic Games, when she was 23 years old.
But currently, Kagura was only 16.
However, even at 16, Kagura still gave off a steady, composed feeling.
"Let me introduce you. This is the strongest mage in our guild, Kagura. Don't let her youth fool you… she might even be stronger than you, Erza!"
"Stronger than Erza? You're joking, right?"
Hearing Millianna's words, both Wendy and Lucy showed expressions of disbelief.
After all, in Wendy and Lucy's eyes, Erza was an S-Class mage.
So how can this person in front of them was stronger than Erza?
But Kenichi knew that Millianna was not exaggerating.
Kagura was indeed very strong, though it's unknown if the current her is stronger than Erza.
While Lucy and Wendy were marveling, Millianna turned to Kagura and said: "This is the Erza I told you about before, and this is Kenichi, whom you've always wanted to meet!"
"Kenichi?"
"You're Kenichi?"
Hearing Millianna's words, a trace of panic actually appeared on Kagura's ice-cold, pretty face.
'Always wanted to meet?'
'What the heck?'
Kenichi was completely baffled.