Irene woke up early that morning. She gently shook Erza awake.

"Wake up, Erza. We should begin our quest."

Erza nodded, still half asleep. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Suzuch, who must've been downstairs, walked upstairs holding a plate of pancakes. They looked freshly made.

"Here, I made us all breakfast. I'll go grab some plates and silverware." Suzuch said.

After breakfast, Suzuch gave them a map.

"Here. This is a map of the town. I marked the Ha clan's headquarters in red marker. You see the green dots?" Suzuch asked. "Those are where their guards are station."

There were green dots everywhere on the map. Most of them were on the main road and around the headquarters. However, the Ha clan's headquarters was completely unmarked, other than the red circle marking where it was.

"I know nothing about what the Ha clan's headquarters is like inside. If I could get inside, I wouldn't need to ask for help." Suzuch said.

"Got it. Thank you, Suzuch." Irene said.

Suzuch smiled. "Of course!"

"So, Erza. What's the plan?" Irene asked.

"Hmm... I think we should try to enter the headquarters from the left side," Erza said, pointing to the map. "It looks like there's the least guards there, and it's far away from the main road, so if they call for reinforcements, it will take them a while to get to us. We can't really make too detailed of a plan, since we don't have any information about the inside of their headquarters, so we'll just have to wait and see how it goes." Erza said, sighing. She liked having a plan.

"I think we should wait until night to attack. Don't you?" Irene asked.

Erza shook her head. "No. Most of their guards will be in or around their headquarters at night, instead of patrolling the main road. It's best to go during the day when the majority of their guards are guarding the main road."

"True... but won't it be easier for them to spot us if we go during the day?" Irene asked.

"Yes, but we're trying to kill them. They're going to know we're there anyways."

Irene thought about this for a second, then nodded. "Wow, I didn't realize my daughter was so smart!"

Erza blushed a little at the flattery, then nodded. "Uh-huh... anyways, let's go right now. The sooner the better."

Irene nodded, then frowned as she realized something. "Wait. Isn't this a decade quest? This seems too easy..."

Erza nodded. "It does... Suzuch, explain. Did you leave out other details? Is this job actually tougher than you explained?"

Suzuch shook her head, then after thinking about it for a moment, nodded. "I think I forgot to mention that their headquarters are huge. You probably won't have time to take out even a quarter of their guards in a full day, and that's only if you fight during the day and the night without stopping. This quest has never been completed before, so I don't know how long it will take, but the last wizards who took this job only managed to kill a few guard in a week before they were so injured they had to turn back."

"That's horrible..." Irene said.

Suzuch nodded, solemnly. "Indeed, it is. But! You've already accepted this job, so no turning back now!"

Erza stood. "We won't turn back. Come on, let's get started."

Irene followed her daughter out the door, more than a little nervous. Their outfits made them stand out, but they tried their best to blend in with the crowd. They walked in the same direction that everyone else was walking in until they got to the left side of the giant building in the center of the town. There were a lot less guards here, so they could easily slip away from the crowd without being noticed. They soon found a door, which was being heavily guarded.

"Irene, use your world reconstruction magic," Erza whispered.

Irene nodded, and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, there was a glowing cross over her pupils. She whispered a spell, and the ground beneath the guards disappeared. Their screams were muffled as Irene reconstructed the earth to cover the hole she had just made, burying the guards forever.

"That's incredible..." Erza whispered. "Anyways, let's go. We need to hurry."

Irene nodded. Once they were sure no one was watching, they ran into the building. They were instantly met with another group of guards, these ones looking stronger than the last. The guards outside the door had thin green armour with thin silver spears. These guards had thick red armour, and had long spears that looked to be made out of some sort of black stone. Irene took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. Erza requipped into her Armadura Fairy armour and began fighting them. She managed to defeat one, but the others were beginning to overpower her. They were trying to save Irene's magic for when they had to fight stronger guards, but Erza needed her to help with these guards. It seemed they really wouldn't be able to finish in one day.

Irene used an enchantment to freeze them all within a block of ice, then shattered the ice. Erza felt a little bad about killing those people. She had actually planned to not kill them, but for some reason, she felt like killing them was the right thing to do. And at the same time, it almost felt as though she wasn't killing real people. It was the strangest, most unknown feeling she had ever encountered. Something weird was going on here... something that either Suzuch hadn't known, or just hadn't bothered to tell them.

As they headed farther into the building, they encountered a few more of the guards who wore red armour. Something was off about the Ha clan's headquarters, though it took Irene a second to realise what it was. They hadn't found a single room yet. They had only walked through a courtyard in the front, and inside the building, all there was were long hallways, but not a single door. So then, what was the point of having those hallways? For defense? Where were the rooms that the guards and members of the Ha clan eat in, and sleep in? And what did they do during the day, just walk around the town? Suzuch had told them that they kill all magic users. So does that mean they just walk around all day, looking for wizards to kill?

And then Irene realized another thing that did not add up at all. Those guards saw them use magic. Yet they didn't say, "magic users! Kill them!". They just fought because they were intruding on their headquarters. Irene began to have an idea of what was going on, but it was such a crazy idea that it couldn't be true. She decided she would wait until she had more information.

They continued walking through the headquarters. They were walking down one of the halls when Erza collapsed.

"Erza! Are you okay? What's wrong? Are you injured?" Irene asked, kneeling down next to her.

Erza was covered in cuts and bruises, but that wasn't why she collapsed. "I'm... I'm okay... I ran out of magic power."

"Okay. Let's head back for today. We made good progress, and we can continue tomorrow once you've gotten some rest." Irene said, helping Erza up. "Do you think you can walk?"

"Y-yes..." Erza said.

They began walking back towards the exit, though at a very slow pace since Erza had trouble walking. They only encountered a few more guards, though Irene made quick work of them. They made it to the exit, though when they got there, Erza collapsed again. Irene picked her up, carrying her on her back.

"You sure you can carry me?" Erza asked.

"Of course I can. I'm a lot stronger than you think, you know." Irene said.

They tried to blend in with the crowd again. It didn't matter too much, since most of the guards guarding the main road had moved to the castle as soon as they had gotten word that there were intruders. They made it back to the bakery safely, though Erza was very weak by the time they had gotten back. Suzuch welcomed them at the stairs inside the bakery.

"You made it back! How'd it go? Oh no, is Erza okay?" Suzuch asked.

Irene nodded. "She just needs some rest. I'll clean up her cuts, though. Then after that, I have some questions for you." Irene said.

Suzuch nodded and looked at the ground. "Yes. I knew you would figure it out. Smart girl. Anyways, I'll answer any questions you have. But let's help Erza first."