71. 2 years

Since his first S-Class job, Ben keeps getting S-Class jobs once per month. Roubaul has made a rule for Ben to just take one job each month.

S-Class jobs are difficult, so Ben can't take them too often. Besides, Ben is alone, so his jobs choices are limited. His jobs are always monsters' subjugation. He has never gotten a job with humans as enemies so far.

Roubaul personally chooses that because human enemies are more difficult. They can make strategies and fighting them alone is very disadvantageous for Ben.

Ben accepts that and just does his job. He is also happy about it because his options are limited if he fights with humans. He can't kill them even though they're dark mages, so he needs to control his strength.

If he fights with monsters, he can go all-out and kill them. If he kills humans without any authorization from Magic Council, he can be put in jail and their guild might get some penalties.

Ben also can test all his spells if he fights with monsters. He can experiment with them as he like and no one will protest. As long as he finishes his job, then everything will be fine.

Roubaul knows that Ben always wants to go all-out without any worry. That's why he choose monster subjugation jobs. He also makes sure to take jobs that Ben can finish with his current strength.

Ben also keeps training Wendy, Bella, & Carla. For Wendy, he focused on training her magic spells and fighting skills. For Bella & Carla, Ben focuses on raising their MP capacity and support skills.

They also keep training using their guns even though they don't use them too often. Ben has told them that the guns are just for backup and emergency. What they need to train is their own power, not their magic items.

In that year, very few things happen in the magic world. But the news that picked people's interest is Charm Magic that was outlawed by Magic Council and the youngest S-Class mage from Fairy Tail, Erza Scarlet.

Fairy Tail is the strongest Magic Guild, so the news really spread and become a big sensation. Even though Ben becomes S-Class at 13 y.o while Erza at 15 y.o, but Cait Shelter is just a small Guild.

Ben doesn't care about that though because it won't affect him in any way. He doesn't care much about fame. He just wants to get strong to do anything he wants and protect his loved ones.

Although the outlawing of Charm Magic picked his interest a bit. Ben has learned that magic, although he never used it. He just learned the principle and just wants to add it to his database.

Ben knows that Charm Magic has a big potential to be misused. He also doesn't really like that magic, so he's glad that Magic Council forbid that magic to be used again.

Time passed and around 1 year after Ben become an S-Class, a big threat appear. This threat isn't toward Ben or his Guild directly, but toward their Kingdom.

Another Nation tries to invade The Kingdom of Fiore. Alvarez Empire has attempted to invade Fiore for an unknown reason. But Fiore has succeeded in repelling them using a superweapon, Etherion.

Ben was ready to join the war if needed. But there's no need to do it now after the Kingdom succeeds in repelling Alvarez Empire. He is glad by it because war is never a good thing.

War will affect the lives of many people, be it mages or normal people. What Ben worried about is if the Kingdom tried to send young mages like Wendy or his ex-students to a war. There's no way he will allow that to happen.

If that happens, then he won't think twice to rebel and destroying the Kingdom. He won't let his loved ones die again. Once is enough for him. That's why he will grow strong to protect them.

Since that time, Ben starts to gather information about the world. He wants to know anything that might become a threat to his side. Ben doesn't side with Fiore, he is on his own side, so the Kingdom can be a threat for him.

"I can find information about the countries in Ishgar. But the information about the other 2 continents is very hard to find. I can find some about Guiltina, but Alakitasia is full of mysteries.

"They're the biggest threat with Alvarez Empire being there. That's why I need more information about them," says Ben while reading through the information that he has collected.

Ben keeps trying to find information every time he has a chance. The information isn't just for precaution, but also for his curiosity. This is a new world for him, so of course, it makes him curious.

There's no other trouble for the next 1 year. It's been 2 years since Ben became an S-Class. He did his jobs and finished them well while still training the girls and collecting information about magic & the world.

One day, Ben gets a strange job. He always gets monster subjugation jobs for 2 years as an S-Clads. But now he is sent on an investigation job by Roubaul.

"Why'd you send me on investigation job? Do you see me as a detective or something?" asks Ben curiously.

"Don't talk nonsense. I didn't choose this job, but it's a personal request by Magic Council. You are chosen because you have great magic sense ability. An anomaly happened in the sky of Fiore.

"The natural Ethernano on atmosphere often reduced a lot. This makes the important people worried, so they issued this job. They've chosen some mages with great sense to do this job, so you're not alone," says Roubaul.

"They choose me? Sigh, so troublesome," says Ben while sighing.

If the job is from Magic Council, then Ben doesn't have any choice other than to accept it. Refusing the job will put their guild in the Council's bad record. He wants to avoid that if he can.

Ben immediately prepares his stuff and calls Bella. Then they go to the location where they're assigned to check. They are tasked to check a mountain where many strong beasts resided.

That area is quite dense with Ethernano, so the reduction of its amount is very noticeable. The monsters that resided there might also be the reason for the Council to choose Ben because he always fought with monsters in these 2 years.

Ben reaches the mountain range in 3 hours and almost reaches the location. It's noon now, but the sky is very dark. Ben thinks that rain will fall soon, so he drives faster.

Suddenly, Ben senses a strong magic creature with an abnormal magic wavelength. He doesn't know what happens, but he knows he needs to check it. Ben drives toward the source of that magic and he is surprised by what he sees.

Ben sees a big beast is attacking 2 girls with white hair. Ben remembers them, they're Mirajane and Lisanna. He doesn't see Elfman anywhere, but he can't think of that now.

Mirajane is slumped on the ground and Ben knows she ran out of MP. The problem is he sees Lisanna standing in front of the beast while spreading her hands. It seems she tries to protect Mirajane & stop the beast.

The beast raises its hand to attack Lisanna. Ben immediately comes out of his car and runs as fast as he can to stop the beast. He punches the beast away, but Lisanna still gets hit by it.

Lisanna is sent flying even though Ben has reduced the Beast's attack power. Lisanna flies to her sister and lay weakly on the ground. The beast stands up again and tries to attack them. So Ben prepare a big spell to kill the beast with one attack.

"STOP! THAT'S ELFMAN!" says Mirajane while holding Lisanna.

"What?!" says Ben in surprise.

Ben loses focus for a moment and he gets hit by Elfman who becomes the beast. Ben crashes to a cliff, but he just gets a little damage.

"Did he try to overtake the beast but failed?" ponders Ben whole getting out of the cliff.

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