‘C-rank? Why is this so?’

Were words easily sputtered by anyone not as great as Maarschalk. Anyone not as great Maarschalk would consider this mission to be of poor motive – C-ranks should be about mighty warriors, slaying mighty dragons and the such. Shouldn’t it? These were the internal arguments that men had, men not as great as the great Maarschalk.

The great Maarschalks opinion differed from other(s) opinion. He knew that the position in which the lord noble held, was a title of such prestige and what accompanied this prestige was reputation. His old hands stretched out to those who are poor, and dropped a coin of gold in those palms – and those people are happy and satisfied. Why wouldn’t they be? An easy coin is made by forcing a smile. The civilians in this town had an odd appearance to tourists. Tourists like Maarschalk especially were caught off-guard easily. Kissing the ring was a thing here. Slaves in modern outfits, pretending to be free – that’s what Maarschalks perception of this town was. The nobles that ruled the streets in these parts, ruled them with gold instead of respect. The respect that they were given by its people was given because of their gold.

Unlike Orchidia, where respect is given to the powerful and bold. The thing that made this town different from many others was its ability to seem happy – but maybe they were happy and Maarschalk just didn’t realize it. These were all possible possibilities, but, could the great Maarschalk make such a mistake? Was it his inability to discern true happiness from false happiness? The happiness one puts up when they’re pretending to be, to hide their sadness and crippling depression.

He couldn’t be a victim of such misconception. With his stubborn mind focused on one thing and one thing only; gold; he proceeded onwards in this town. He pranced like a fairy, under the spotlight of the common eye. His strut reminded some of the locals of a jester that had been wandering through these parts earlier this year. Needless to say, with Maarschalks reputation – only few recognized him. And these figures who did recognize him were mages who spent most of their time dwelling their own guild, emptying the stock of its beer and meat. This town didn’t leave a positive impression on Maarschalks. Many had come here to find new life, but most of its location used to be locals. They grew up through the generations and went onwards to be the pioneers of the city. Some held their responsibility, and some became relevant in the politics of this city.

This cities name was Magnolia. The home of the fairies, Fairy Tail; which was irrelevant to most of civilization, it was relevant for Maarschalk. A Lamian- Scale mage. Who was the greatest, at least, according to his own thoughts.
 
It wasn’t more than a few hours ago, when he was wandering the street that he caught a noble in the corner of his eye drop a coin of pure gold in the hand of a local. This local who had lived here for quite some time seemed to understand the underground economics of this town. Where nobles pay you off to do something silly.

534/2000

While moving through Magnolia some more he noticed the number of religious figures lurking these streets. It was more than in Era; how strange. Was Magnolia known for its tight religious relations with their god? He couldn’t tell. The number of necklaces with religious figures, and the fathers walking around was certainly noticeable. Maarschalk made note of it and continued onwards. He was called for help. Well, not directly – one of the nobles needed help and he knew what that implied. Gold, gold for days. As soon as Maarschalk had managed to gather himself at his temporary stay he headed onwards. Nothing about these streets seemed to interest him more than usual. It was the grey skies that managed to put him in a good mood. The heat wasn’t overwhelming him; it was cool – and a nice wind out indicated this.

He took his vitamin pills a bit late that day. After all, having as little contact with the sun as he could the last few days really did a number on him. Both mentally and physically; the physical aspect leaves him in a state where he lacks a certain vitamin to properly function. The mental aspect resulted in him believing that the sun would only hurt him – since the runabout in Era in which he used his powers he’s been keen on keeping himself on edge. The sun, a la natural enemy of the Dark, could damage his natural awareness. And for this reason, he’s remained out of the light whenever he could. Whether this was a conscious thing or a subconscious thing it was unknown for him.

Maarschalk is a bad boy, he does what he likes. If he sees titties, he fondles them. If he sees ass, he gropes them. Though in a purist town like Magnolia, groping the tits and ass of a local is a bad idea; these people aren’t good-looking by any definition. The women were old, older than himself. And the teenagers wore traditional clothing, making them look like the Amish.

He didn't draw too much attention to it, or at least, didn't try to. This man minded his own busniess. Not taking shit from anyone around. The noble that called him out for help required an extra pair of hands, and were it not for his status this task he gave out would be ranked much below.

But nevertheless. Maarschalk didn't fail in forcing a smile as he walked up to the locals who explained what they needed to do. It was about some kind of birthday party for his daughter. This lord went by the name of Medias. Word on the street was that he was one of the few 'good' nobles, whatever that meant anyway. Maarschalk didn't take any qualms in the task that was given him and he proceeded to look into the street. Wondering what the best way was to take on this mission. Of course, the street was pretty wide and big. Just like some other things.


1044/2000

After he understood the situation, about what was needed to be done he headed towards Medias. He explained that this event was very important to his daughter, since he is her little princess after all. Maarschalk agreed to the terms and conditions and told Medias he was willing to help him out. He understood that the deadline of this event was at 5PM. That's when everything needed to be ready. Which wasn't going to be until a few hours from now, given Maarschalk ample of time to resolve the issues that Medias was having.

His first task was going to be the trash in the street. There were some empty cans here and there. He moved forwards and begun cleaning up this trash, it didn't take him a very long time to clean the easy things of the street. What did cause him to get bothered though was the more subtle stuff, and since people love attention to detail he made it his task to find out what things he could make minimalist given the situation that the street was in he didn't really need to think a lot. A house nearby the street had paint wearing off, and he repainted that building with appropriate colors, once this was done and a few other fences got fixed up the street was ready for decoration. Some gardens here and there needed fixing up as well, the citizens of these streets were very grateful for the help that Maarschalk provided them. Since he basically was cleaning their shit for them. It wasn't a very difficult task, but most people didn't have the time to do it. Maarschalk cleaned up everything real nice. This meant that he could start decorating the street. Since he was limited on time, he got some of the locals to help out. These were the same locals that he helped out earlier, by painting and whatnot. So they were returning the favor to him, more or less.

He begun with hanging up congratulations! slingers everywhere. From street corner to street corner, from postal lamp to another. The task at hand was quite mind numbing. Physical work was pretty mind numbing, since he couldn't relieve his mental tension with physical tension.

The next job was to remove the foods from the stalls that were put up. Since the stalls facing the street were meant to be used as some kind of market vendors. This was close to a shopping district, and a lot of people came here first to check out what they could get from these vendors instead from a mall or whatever. These stalls are usually a mild amount cheaper, and the lord who hosted a party for his daughter here meant great business for the owners of the stall. Since it would mean that they gained more attention by potential customers. Potential, rich customers. After removing the food from the stalls Maarschalk had picked up some linnen to cover the foodstalls. The stains from the various foods and whatnot hadn't needed to be cleaned- but merely covered temporarily.

1564/2000

After lining up the food stalls next to each other and covering the empty stalls with pink linnen cloth the street seemed to be cheered up a whole lot. Maarschalk assisted some waiters in putting some drinks around. These weren't alcoholic drinks, but rather stuff like lemonade and such. He wondered what the age of his child was, since he was quite of age himself. Older than Maarschalk at least, it was pretty funny to consider that his wife was probably a young harlot. After preparing everything and lining up every small detail Maarschalk was finished with this task. He went back to Medias who gave him his reward. He was invited to stay and have a chat with him after, and Maarschalk accepted this invitation. In an hour or so many parents of the children who came to the party came. This painted a better picture of what kind of town Magnolia was. It wasn't exactly a puppet show, where people pretended to be something that they weren't. Instead it was just one big family type of thing, with a few bad rotten apples in the bunch. This came as to no surprise to Maarschalk, who had been used to this type of scenario from other towns. Orchidia, his home town, had a bigger diverse crowd than the one in Magnolia. Many more mercenaries, and the types that solve their issues with their fists.

Maarschalk had a slight chat with Merdias, to tell him what he thought of Magnolia. He had little to respond with, other than a few chuckles here and there. The lord thought of Maarschalk to be naive, without realizing the fact that he's thirty-two, and assuming he's just a young whippersnapper. This begun becoming obvious to Maarschalk; but the natural jester he is, he wouldn't reveal more about his own life than he needed to. After collecting his reward, he made quick exit -- leaving the party with style. Well, not really, he just disappeared within the shadows. This had become common practice for an individual with mysterious powers, like Maarschalk. Albeit he was not sure if there were other beings with powers similar to his, since his abilities are very flexible. After leaving the party he headed towards the town hall. He knew that there were a few bars here. They were pretty cheap too, and he hadn't eaten yet. So he might go grab a dinner before hitting up the town hall. The dinner that he got was take-out of course, he skilled enough to cook for himself without getting frustrated. His dinner was cheap that night, and so was his beer. He went to sleep with a decent feeling, the feeling of a full stomach was a good one. Even though he had his own riches, doing missions like these wasn't a horrible idea for the future. Who knew what else he could obtain from those more difficult missions. This one? It was easy.

2065/2000