Ch.29 Finishing his first S-class job

Once the fight was finished, they escorted the beautiful blue-haired lady back to the royal palace. The mission was done, and she had finished her show. She wouldn't need an escort once they reached the royal palace.

"So, how'd you feel taking that fireball straight in the face?" Gildart's asked once they left the stadium and were in a carriage while laughing.

"Hum, it hurts like hell, but I've been through worse." Jax laughed back. He was relaxed now that the job was finished. After all, the dark mages had most likely all attacked during the show.

"Those scars, huh. I've heard from the master." Gildarts nodded as he understood why he didn't seem to be very bothered by the burns once he received that fireball and jumped right in the fight.

"Haha, it's thanks to Fairy Tail that I managed to leave that place, so I'm good now." Jax laughed, trying to lighten the atmosphere which had unknowingly turned dark once Gildarts mentioned his scars.

"HAHA, well said!" Gildarts smiled and tapped on Jax's back.

"Hey, careful, I'm still healing myself here." Shouted Jax as the two others in the carriage laughed at his expression.

"So, do you mind telling me how you got these scars?" Asked Rekea as she saw that the subject had been breached without any problems. Moreover, she had been very curious about the scars since she saw them. One usually wouldn't have such scars unless one had a complicated past. It was when she thought up to this that she regretted asking about the scars, especially since it should be personal.

However, Jax wasn't one to care about such things at all. He understood the reason for his scars and wasn't ashamed of them as they represented not only his years of suffering but also the other kids who had been locked up in there with him.

"Hum, I was kidnapped when I was still a baby. I should have been at most a few months old at that time. They used other kids and me to test a dark ritual. I'm the only one who survived, and those scars are the trace of that ritual or maybe they are the scars from the torture that went with it. I really can't tell." Jax answered nonchalantly. He didn't have problems telling his story. Of course, he wouldn't reveal it to any random people passing in his life but only people who either asked or those close to him.

After he answered, the atmosphere turned silent again as Jax turned the topic to something else. "So Gildarts. Once we're done with the job, what do we do?"

"Well, we're going to stick to the royal palace a bit, the king promised to drink with me, and the princess seems to like to play with you, so take a few days off to relax. I'll also have the magic council send us our rewards for the mages we took down and the mages you captured, and we'll collect our reward from this nice lady right in front of you." He said with a smile as he seemed more interested in the drinking bout he would have with the king than anything else.

An hour later, they were back in the royal palace. Jax had managed to heal his burns thanks to his fairy magic, and he decided to focus on increasing this magic in the future since it would be quite useful. Looking at the entrance of the palace, the king and the little princess were waiting for them. When they got off the carriage and walked towards the entrance of the castle, the king, Toma E. Fiore, went to Gildarts and the young lady while the princess threw herself directly at Jax, hugging him and shouting: "I want to fly! I already wore the right clothes!" Upon which Jax took her off of him while he used his air magic to make her fly in the sky.

The king and the two adults talked to each other while Hisui had her fun, and they all walked in the hall after a small conversation with the princess flying above them, laughing. The princess never had people truly playing with her before. All those who played with her were the son or daughter of other nobles or essential ministers. The boys were told to respect her or to try to court her despite her young age. On the contrary, the daughters had been told to respect her and accept everything she said. Jax was different. For him, she was simply another seven-year-old kid he agreed to play with. He wasn't forced or told to do something and was simply himself when he communicated with her.

The king seemed to notice this fact and offered Gildarts and Jax to stay in the royal castle for another week, upon which Gildarts readily agreed since all the booze was given and he had a drinking buddy. As for Jax, he didn't mind. He had nothing else to do back at the guild. If he were to go back, he would probably just take another job. So, he agreed to the invitation. Not only was it rare to be able to stay in a royal palace, but he also thought of using this time to complete the groove of a few magics and use another pearl to improve his magic.

His air magic was at 98%, not far from a breakthrough. His water and sound magic were even closer as they had been at 99% for quite a while already. As for nature, it was only at 97%, but he could still try to improve it as well within the week. The groove of those four magics had been relatively high already, and after the last job, they had improved quite a bit.

Moreover, he believed that as long as he engraved another pearl in the groove, his magic would take a leap towards the peak of A-rank, and by filling the groove, he would be able to get into the weakest of the S-rank class.

As such, with a week of holiday, Jax trained with weapons and magic in the morning. Hisui simply watched him train in the morning, and he taught her a bit of swordsmanship when she asked. After the training, they played together, had diner, continued playing together until supper. Jax then played some piano with the princess as audience after supper since it helped him understand his sound power and improve it. Finally, for two hours before going to bed, Jax and the green-eyed girl read together at the royal library. In the end, they did everything together from morning to night except sleeping together, much to the disappointment of the princess when she wanted to spend more time with Jax. For her, having Jax staying in the castle was like having a friend over, and she wanted to spend as much time together as possible.

Three days into their stay in the castle, the king stopped bringing his daughter back to her room every night since he noticed she sneaked out and went back to see Jax afterwards. Besides, considering that they were simply seven years old, he wasn't worried about anything and let her do whatever she wanted.

On the third day, Jax managed to improve his sound magic completely, and he immediately inserted a pearl into the groove. He was surprised to find that his voice sounded better afterwards, and even when he was playing the piano, the sound came out better.

On the fourth day, Jax managed to increase his air magic to 99% and his nature magic to 98%. As for his water magic, it was still stuck at 99%. At this point, he simply focused on those three magic, stopping practising the others, even his newly improved sound magic. The only time he trained his sound magic was when he played the piano in the evening. At this point, not only was the princess listening to him but even the king, Gildarts, some servants of the royal castle and the royal guards who were guarding the interior.

Jax later learned that the guards were fighting with the opportunity to guard the interior of the castle simply to listen to his magic. It soon became a big thing in the castle as even the pianist invited in previous banquets weren't as good as Jax. At this point, Jax understood that his talent in music came from his sound magic. However, he also knew that his voice slightly changed with the improvement of his sound magic. He wondered if he was also a good singer, but he felt shy of singing in front of a group of people.

As such, on the fifth day, Jax managed to breakthrough his water magic, and he inserted a new pearl. Afterwards, instead of playing with Hisui, they sneaked into the living room with the piano. Yes, they crept in since if the servants or guards saw them entering, they would alert the others, and he would have to play for a group again. This time, he wanted to have Hisui rate his music if he sang along with his music. He was too shy to do it in front of a group of people.

Jax didn't feel any shyness in front of Hisui. It wasn't like Laxus. He knew he could leave his back to Laxus, but he also knew that if he messed up and his singing was terrible, Laxus would laugh his ass off and spread it in the guild. On the contrary, Hisui would encourage him. Furthermore, he and Hisui had seen each other in underwear when they wanted to go to the pool but had forgotten their swimsuit. As such, there wasn't much shyness left between the two of them. They simply accepted the other unconditionally. Their friendship had grown quickly since they met each other, and they learned to like spending time together.

On the fifth day, a bit before diner time, they sneaked in the room, and Jax started playing the piano, and once he felt ready, he started to sing along with the music. The performance continued for almost ten minutes before he finally stopped playing the piano and singing. As he turned around, he saw Hisui in a daze.

As he looked at her, he smiled and asked: "So, how was it?"

"It was great! You sing very well, and when you play the piano with it, it's even better!" Shouted the little princess as she jumped high and hugged Jax as she was still thrilled by the song.

Right as he was about to answer her, another voice interrupted her. "Indeed, it was very good! You are already at my level in signing, and since you play the piano with it, it's even better than me!" Unknowingly, Rekea had entered the room during the performance, and Jax hadn't noticed due to being so fixated on his song.

Cold sweat went down his back as he knew that if she were an enemy, then he would already be dead. However, he soon relaxed and promised himself never to relax his guard that much. "Thank you, Hisui, miss Robin. I wasn't very sure whether it would be good, I'm happy it is." Jax said with a smile on his face.