Gajeel, the Iron Dragon Slayer. In the original story, he would have joined Phantom Lord, then left the guild after its war with Fairy Tail, wandering alone for a while before Makarov eventually brought him back. But in this world, since Phantom Lord had already been disbanded early on by Kabe, Gajeel's fate had changed along with it.
Looking at the photo of Gajeel, defiant faced, being restrained by two Fiore Kingdom soldiers, Kabe read through the article with curiosity. The story behind it was simple enough. Without a guild to join, Gajeel had no job and no income, so this genius came up with a bright idea: he snuck into a scrap iron smelting plant in some city and got by eating the scrap the plant had collected. Absurdly, he lived there for half a year straight, until management noticed the tonnage on hand no longer matched their records. Suspicion fell on the staff, everyone assuming the missing metal had been sold off on the side, and in the search for the culprit, they finally dragged Gajeel out of the scrap pile where he'd been enjoying a six month buffet.
As expected, the matter got reported up to the local Magic Department, and it took the city guard to finally catch this "scrap metal thief" and haul him off to jail. It was only thanks to Gajeel remembering, in his own way, that the plant owner had fed him for half a year that he didn't put up a fight. Otherwise, ordinary guards would have had a much harder time bringing him in. Naturally, such a bizarre little story caught the attention of a few reporters, which was how the article in Kabe's hands had come to be.
According to the paper, while Gajeel hadn't caused any severe damage, the value of the scrap he'd eaten wasn't small either, and under the Kingdom's laws, destruction of property like this would land him at least a year or two behind bars, if not more, unless someone could cover the loss and settle things with the owner.
Finished reading, Kabe folded the paper back up and turned to Mavis, who was watching him with hopeful eyes, choosing his words carefully.
"Sounds like just a weirdo, a small time thief who got desperate enough to lose his head over hunger. But even at his most down and out, he never once thought to use his magic to hurt anyone. Looking at it that way, he really does fit what we look for."
He paused, leaned back, and called out to Laki, busy behind the bar.
"Laki, where's the old man? Time for his favorite part, the human trafficking segment. Get him over here."
The words had barely left him before Makarov's head poked out over the second floor railing.
"Shut it! You brat, don't go slandering me in front of Lady Mavis!"
"How's that slander? I was complimenting you. If you hadn't had the eye to pick up all of us strays, myself included, Fairy Tail wouldn't be nearly as strong as it is today."
Not having expected the man himself to actually be right there, Kabe, looking a little sheepish after praising the old man like that, quickly turned back to Mavis.
"First Master, this is a job for the Guild Master, no question. As long as the compensation gets paid in full, the local city guard will show the old man some courtesy for my sake and won't give him any trouble."
"Mm hm." Mavis nodded happily. "Then I'll leave it to you, Makarov."
Makarov hopped lightly down from the second floor, landing right on the table in front of Kabe.
"No trouble at all. Recruiting a promising new member is well within a Guild Master's duty."
He shot Kabe a glare, snatched the paper out of his hands, and gave it a quick once over, eyes lighting up at once.
"Lady Mavis, as expected, has quite the eye for talent. Can't let a kid with this much potential slip away. I'm heading out right now, before anyone else notices him, to bring him back."
Having taken an instant liking to Gajeel, Makarov didn't bother arguing with Kabe any further, and with those words, he set off in a hurry. Watching him rush off, Kabe turned to Mavis and raised an eyebrow.
"See, I told you this was a job best left to the Guild Master."
Mavis nodded in agreement, thoroughly pleased with herself and full of energy at having helped find a promising new member. With that, she waved goodbye to everyone, dove straight back through the floor, and vanished from sight.
Once she was gone, Ultear finally got the chance to remark, almost wistfully.
"Lady Mavis really does put in the effort. Even in her state, she still wants to help recruit talent for the guild."
"That's the optimistic way to put it. Look at it another way, and, well, the great and mighty First Master of Fairy Tail, decades after her death, still has to drag her ghostly form around, wearing herself thin worrying about the guild's future. Put that way, doesn't it sound a lot more exhausting?"
Ultear and Lucy: ...
A perfectly nice thing, and somehow it always came out sounding wrong the moment it left this guy's mouth. Not wanting to dwell on the topic with Kabe any longer, Lucy quickly moved on to something else that had been nagging at her curiosity.
"Hey, what did Lady Mavis mean earlier, saying the guild has two Dragon Slayers? Besides Natsu, who's the other one?"
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