With his questions answered, Hope decisively signed his name on the Hundred Year Quest contract.
The contents of the Hundred Year Quest and the Kiltina Council's request were basically the same: to subjugate the Five Dragon Gods by either killing or sealing them.
However, the reward offered by the Council was only money. Hope had come to the Northern Continent entirely because he was interested in living dragons, definitely not for the astronomical bounty of 2.5 billion J offered by the local Council.
Even if they couldn't deal with all Five Dragon Gods, managing to take down just one would still yield 500 million J.
In fact, logically speaking, this seemingly astronomical bounty wasn't much for a massive power that controlled an entire continent.
It was just that due to the trouble caused by the Five Dragon Gods, the Kiltina Council had been living quite miserably for 400 years. Not only had their funds been wasted on failed dragon subjugations, but in recent years, they also had to face extortion from a powerful guild.
The Council being disrespected by a guild was something simply unimaginable in Ishgar.
But in order to combat the Five Dragon Gods, the Council still mobilized all the funds they could muster as a request bounty, making them far more generous than their colleagues on the East Continent.
On the other hand, looking at Elefseria's request reward... Hope picked up the contract, pointed to one of the columns, and looked at Elefseria in confusion. "'Give us anything we want'... This is the mission reward you're offering?"
Hearing Hope's question, everyone else finally realized there was an issue. Previously, they were all immersed in the joy of being able to take on the Hundred Year Quest and had only focused on signing their names, completely failing to notice this point.
After all, who would have thought the reward for the Hundred Year Quest would be "anything you want"? It sounded like a vague and empty promise... Feeling everyone's gaze,
Elefseria smiled slightly, tilted his head back, and raised his hands high. "That's right! As long as you defeat the Five Dragon Gods, you can choose one thing from everything in existence. No matter what it is, I can grant it to you!"
This somewhat chuunibyou-style declaration left everyone stunned.
With the mindset of questioning first, Hope was the first to raise a query: "In that case, can you find the whereabouts of the Gods?"
Elefseria's proud expression instantly froze. Did this kid even hear what he was saying... Gods were characters that only existed in legends and various mythological stories; how could they actually appear in reality?
Isn't this making things difficult for me, an old man!
Seeing Elefseria's expression, Hope understood he knew nothing about the Gods and could only settle for the next best thing. "If you don't have the location of the Gods, then can you help me increase my 'Magnetic Field Power'?"
"Magnetic Field Power? What's that? Magnetic Magic?" Elefseria looked completely bewildered.
Hope shook his head and replied with disdain: "You don't know that either? Fine then, you can't give me what I want. Just give me money like the Council does."
Being asked two questions and knowing neither answer, Elefseria felt incredibly embarrassed. To regain some face, the old man turned to the other Fairy Tail members.
"If there's anything you want, you can tell me now. In case you succeed in subjugating the Five Dragon Gods, I can prepare what you need in advance."
Natsu was the first to jump out. "Can you defeat the Black Dragon?"
Good grief, right out of the gate with a death-wish question.
Dealing with the Earth God Dragon, the sixth of the Five Dragon Gods, had almost cost him his life. How could he possibly take on the legendary Destroyer?
Elefseria didn't want to die yet, so he acted as if he hadn't heard Natsu's words and turned his head to look at Wendy. Such a cute little girl's wish should be much simpler, right?
"Um..."
Wendy said a bit shyly, "Brother Hope told me that Grandine went into seclusion to fight the Black Dragon. I want to see her. Could you please defeat the Black Dragon, Grandpa... that way Grandine can come back."
Though he didn't know who Grandine was, Elefseria only felt a wave of dizziness. That pink-haired brat wanted to defeat the Black Dragon, and now this little girl also wanted to defeat the Black Dragon.
Is the appetite of young people nowadays really this big?
Coming up and asking him to take on the World Boss... an old man's life is a life too!
Elefseria swallowed hard and decisively switched targets again, locking his gaze onto Gajeel. This non-mainstream kid looked like a hoodlum; he seemed like he might be easier to handle.
"The Black Dragon..."
"Hahahahaha—!"
Before Gajeel could finish, Elefseria suddenly laughed out of sheer frustration. Three people in a row wanted to defeat the Black Dragon; wasn't this just a slap to his face?
He surely hadn't woken up yet.
True, how could so many people suddenly rush to take on the Hundred Year Quest?
Hehe, I must be dreaming!
Since things had come to this, he might as well go back to sleep.
Watching Elefseria suddenly return to the high platform, turn back into a dragon, and start sleeping, everyone was dumbfounded. You were the one who set the reward, yet you couldn't handle the requests of four people in a row... To escape, you even used a'Sleep Escape' technique.
Hajifa, you really... Hope coughed lightly. "Everyone, stop making things difficult for the senior. If he could defeat the Black Dragon, the Five Dragon Gods would immediately have to kneel and beg for mercy; he wouldn't need to borrow the hands of others."
"Let's just make some reasonable requests."
Hope provided a way out, and Elefseria, who was faking sleep, took the opportunity to back down. Fortunately, what the others wanted wasn't too difficult to obtain.
For instance, Lucy wanted to know the whereabouts of the libra and pisces keys, Cana wanted Giltina's best wine, Levy wanted Gajeel's singing to be less lethal, and Juvia hoped to get all of Gray's love... Except for a few ambiguous requests, Elefseria could fulfill them all.
With the rewards settled, next was the mission objective.
The Council didn't know the whereabouts of the Five Dragon Gods. If Elefseria didn't know either, then Hope really would have to take his companions back home.
After all, Giltina was so large; it was impossible for them to overturn every piece of land to find the Five Dragon Gods.
Elefseria stroked his beard. "The last time I dealt with the Five Dragon Gods was decades ago. I really don't know where they are now..."
"Then that's a real shame. We're giving up on the mission. Everyone, let's head out."
Seeing Hope turn to leave as if he had made a firm decision, the group was first stunned and then followed suit. They had only taken the Hundred Year Quest because they had Hope, the ultimate carry, with them.
Now that Hope wasn't doing it, they couldn't exactly go and throw their lives away, could they?
Elefseria's vision went dark. "I indeed don't know the whereabouts of all Five Dragon Gods, but I do have a lead on one of them."
"Oh, so it was just a misunderstanding."
Hope instantly returned to his original spot, as if nothing had happened, and said, "Senior, really, don't leave us hanging like that."
Looking at the youth's harmless, sunny smile, the corners of Elefseria's eyes twitched wildly. It was clearly because this kid interrupted him before he could finish, and now it was somehow his fault... I have never seen a person so brazenly shameless!
------------------------
There are already 70+ chapters available on my Patreon!
The story will continue to update 1 chapter per day on Webnovel,
while early access chapters are posted on Patreon.
Maybe it's not worth it today but it could be later
[email protected]/Kazenova223
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"