It was a normal day in Era, well as normal as it possibly could be. He spent the majority of his days like this, hopelessly wandering around looking for things to do, even if there was truly nothing to do at all. He would always find something to keep himself entertained. Though he did wonder how today would honestly go, it had been interesting, the previous day he had met a woman who belonged to the magic council, he had never meet the tin men up close and personal before. They were very, interesting to say the least. Even though he had honestly not seen too many interesting things in his life, it was quite dull to say the least. But soon his ears would perk up. He heard people on the streets talking about the recent fatal wolf attacks. This certain wolf had racked up a large one. Manzo stopped in the streets to talk to the people to see what all the fuss was about. He stopped a young woman who had been talking about it with another passerby. "Miss, I'm sorry to barge in on you like this, I'm sure you've got a lot to do I've just got some questions for you." The young woman turned to him and nodded his head. "Sure it's not a problem, ask away, maybe you could do something about it, you look at least semi capable." Manzo shrugged that particular comment of. "So tell me, what's going on, why is this wolf attacking people, is it rabid?" The young woman shook her head. "I don't know a thing about that honestly. All I know is that we've lost some good people to this monster." Manzo couldn't bring himself to believe that this animal was a monster, even though in his heart he knew something had to be done about this beast. "When does he attack?" The woman cocked her head to the side, she had to think for a moment. Manzo was certainly losing his patience quite quickly, he didn't enjoy being kept waiting, especially not with a matter that seemed urgent from the sound of it. After a few moments the woman turned her gaze back to him. "Well, from what I know, this wolf only comes out at night. He attacks passerby's. And often times, they do not get away, he devours them, leaving nothing but bones in his wake. It's truly terrible. This monster has taken good people off the streets, children, shop owners. And even friends of mine. If you truly care about this, you should seek out the magic council, they might have a bounty on this particular animal. If doing it out of the goodness of your heart isn't enough, I'm sure they can line your pockets." Finally, she had said something of worth. He nodded his head. "Thank you, I'll be sure to seek this magic council out, and see if I can't help the city out in one way or the other.

Manzo then took his leave from the woman, thankfully without a moment to spare, he was becoming quite annoyed with this woman, she had taken almost a decade to tell him the important parts of this whole ordeal, but thankfully now he was on his way to find this beast, well as soon as he finished up this whole finding the magic council business. After what seemed like an eternity of searching, he spotted what looked like a dragon man. Manzo looked down to study the man. Before he ultimately got bored and blurted out the following phrase. "You. Dragon man. Explain now." The draconoid looked over to Manzo and tilted his head. "What." Manzo blurted out the phrase once more. This only served to confuse the draconoid. "My names not dragon man, now stop being a spazz and come over here." Manzo nodded his head and then walked over to the draconoid. "The names Daragast, not dragon man, don't call me that." Manzo nodded his head, this would be a prime opportunity to ask about the wherabouts of this magic council he has heard so much about. "So daragast, tell me, who is the magic council and where do I find them. I need to speak to them about a matter of what seems to be of great important, or something like that." Daragast looked at Manzo, thought for a second. "Why do you want to find the magic council, is there something you need?" Manzo nodded his head. "Yes, I do need something, need a lot of things actually, but I can't just tell you that, you're not a part of the magic council, your just some strange dragon human, man, thing!" This only served to frustrate Daragast. "What is wrong with you? No really, what happened to you to make you this way? Were you raised by wolves, dropped on your head, like what? No really what?" Manzo cocked his head to the side to think for a moment, though Daragast would ruin the silence. "Look I serve the magic council, so I can help you, but you have to tell me what you're after here. If you don't tell me I can't help." Manzo could agree with that, but he still didn't trust that Daragast was a member of the magic council. "How do I know you're really a part of the magic council? You got a badge? Anything like that, I'm not just gonna tell you." This further flabbergasted Daragast. He had just about enough of Manzo's insanity. "Alright, here's my badge, my birth certificate, and my license. That good enough for you, now tell me, what the hell do you need man." This was enough to satisfy Manzo, the theatrics were necessary in order for him to truly know that this man dragon thing was truly telling him the truth. "Alright, I need to find the magic council so that I can ask them about a job, I hear there is a wolf on the prowl that needs to be dealt with, and I'd like to help you guys out by taking care of this wolf if I can. I have extensive Knowledge of wild life and I think I could be of great help to you guys in taking care of this wolf. My keen sense of smell will also allow me to locate this wolf before it can harm another person. So what do you say dragon man, do I have the job?"

Daragast nodded his head. "You can have the job, but this wolf is no joke. I don't want to send you to your death, what's your rank, and what magic do you use. I'd feel terribly if I sent someone, even you, underprepared and they turned up dead, it wouldn't be a good thing, let me tell you, they'd have my scales back at the council." Manzo nodded his head, he could understand that, this guy clearly enjoyed his job. But he still had questions of his own that needed be answered before he answered any of his. His tone would take a dramatic shift. "Alright Daragast, I need to cross reference some information with you. I heard about this job from a woman on the streets. She told me this wolf only comes out at night and isn't picky about the victims it chooses. I am an animal lover and I don't want to put one down without cause. Tell me about the wolf, how did it get here, why is it attacking people, and what needs to be done to stop it, dead or alive. I'd prefer alive but if there is no other choice I will perform the job as it is requested." Daragast was truly blown away by the sudden tone shift, this guy was quite the character. "Alright so the information you just gave me does line up with what we know about the target in question. We're not sure why it's attacking people other than we think it's gone rabid. It used to be the loyal pet of a local man, but honestly, we tried to warn him this might happen. Keeping wild animals as pets is never a smart idea. No matter how much they seem to trust or like you, they're still wild after all." Manzo nodded his head. "Alright, thank you. I will begin my search for this animal, and put an end to it's feeding spree. But to answer your questions. I'm a B rank mage, and I use the art of Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic. I'll exterminate this animal with no problem, be ready with my reward Daragast." Manzo began to turn his back on Daragast and walk away from the man. Daragast called out. "You never gave me your name!" Manzo turned back round to answer him. "Name's Manzo." Daragast nodded. "Alright Manzo meet me at the gates of era once this over with! I'll have your reward ready to go!" Manzo nodded. "Understood, see you then." With that Manzo took his leave.

Night had finally descended, but that was only a liability, with all of these people on the streets it only proved to be a feeding frenzy for this wolf. He had to follow his nose, but with all the street vendors out tonight it would be hard for him to locate the source of the wolfs scent. This wolf in question would sure smell of blood. The scent of iron, that would be the first place for him to look, follow the trail of the scent. Manzo took a whiff of the night air, there was too many scents that he couldn't pinpoint it from where he was, but there was just a faint trace, something to go off of hopefully. Manzo moved as quickly as he could to where he thought it was coming from. But with no luck, it was just a black smiths shop. This was proving to be harder than he believed. Until he finally heard a scream coming from an alley way. He made a mad dash for the alleyway, moving at break neck speeds to get there hopefully before anything else could happen to the victim. In a few moments he came face to face with the wolf. The wolf was devouring his latest victim, Manzo wasn't fast enough to get here in time. "Damn." The wolf looked up from his meal, began to back away and prepare himself for a fight. It growled at Manzo relentlessly. Manzo's eyes shifted from green to red, as piercing a color as what cascaded the wolf's mouth. His lacrima activated, the battle was over before it began. This wolf did not possess what it took to slay a slayer of legends. The wolf lunged, Manzo out sped the wolf by quite a bit, he quickly dodged and countered with a heel strike imbued with his magic. He heard a loud crack in the wolf's rib cage, it now gasped for air. "You're a pathetic animal, turning on your own master, and terrorizing the people of this city. I won't allow it anymore." Manzo walked over to the wolf, imbued himself with a supplementary spell, and snapped the wolf's neck. Manzo quickly exited the alleyway and made his way to era gates. Daragast was there as he told Manzo he would be. "Well, did you get it done?" Manzo nodded his head, his eyes still piercing red. Daragast took notice of this. "I see you weren't kidding when you said you were a dragon slayer, those eyes say it all." Daragast took the sack of jewels from the ground where he was standing and handed it over to Manzo. "Thank you for everything you've done. You've been of great service to the city and to the people. If I have anymore jobs available when our paths cross again, I'll be sure to let you know." Manzo nodded his head and said his goodbyes to Daragast. He truly felt awful for what he had to do to the wolf, but there was nothing that could be done now.

Spoiler:

[EXIT]

Word Count: 2015