It took us another day of walking to reach Crocus. Our client was the chief of a village in the forest outside of Crocus. The sun was setting as we step foot into Crocus so we decided to stay at an inn called 'Ruby Dawn'.
Erza went up to the front desk and booked us in a four-bed room. Leaving our gear in our room, we went to the downstairs bar. Sitting at a small round table, the waitress came over showing us the menu and took our orders. Lucy ordered the fish and chips, I ordered a large steak, Happy ordered a raw fish, Erza and Gray ordered the shepherd's pie. When we finished dinner, we went back to the room to get some sleep.
Ever since the attack, Lucy hasn't left my side once. "Papa can I sleep with you?" she asked me as I laid down on my bed. I blushed at the thought of 17 year old Lucy asking me that instead of Lucy Kicking me out of her bed. Shaking the thought out of my head, "sure, come here" I replied opening my arms. She crawled onto my bed lying beside me in my arms and I patted her head.
"I'll keep guard tonight" Erza said, Gray and I nodded in agreement. I turned to look at Lucy in my arms and she was fast asleep. I smiled at her before falling asleep myself, everyone except Erza fell asleep.
The next morning after breakfast, we headed to the village called 'Iron Valley'. "I wonder why it's called Iron Valley?" Gray spoke up while we walked. "The village has the largest iron mining in all of Fiore, lots of people want the riches hidden beneath" Erza explained.
As we were walking through the forest towards the village, we were suddenly surrounded by a small group of bandits. "This is a warning, leave now and we won't harm you" one of the bandits said. Gray, Happy and I were laughing while Lucy hid behind my legs and Erza kept a serious expression.
The bandits seemed shocked at our reaction to their warning. "What's so funny?!" another bandit asked but we ignored the bandit. I turned to Happy, "take care of Lucy, Happy" I said cracking my knuckles prepared for a fight. As soon as Happy replied "aye!" Erza, Gray and I separated beating up the bandits. It seemed that one of the bandits used magic because he aimed his Wood Maker sword at Lucy.
The wooden sword sped towards Lucy, Happy quickly picked her up and moved her out of danger. "Good job Happy!" I shouted then turning to the guy who shot the wooden sword. Seeing my rage and all his comrades knocked out, he started to shake with fear. "You dared to try to harm Lucy" I said with a deadly aura, I punched him hard with my Fire Dragon Iron Fist. With one punch he was knocked out like his comrades. Tying the bandit up, we took them with us towards the village.
When we arrived at Iron Valley, we were greeted by the chief of the village "welcome, you must be the Fairy Tail wizards who accepted the job, I can tell from your insignias" he said with delight. "We are indeed, please explain what the bandits have been doing to your village" Erza replied.
"These bandits take our iron exports when we send our merchants to go sell them, we are running low on money and food. They have isolated us from going to get supplies, whenever we send our merchants they come back injured" he told us. "We will get rid of these bandits for you, sir" Erza said to him. "Thank you so much, feel free to stay at my place, I have a room you can use" he said pointing to where his house is.
"Thank you for your hospitality, by the way what would you like to do with the bandits we've caught on the way here?" Erza asked. The chief looked to the back of the trailer where the tied up bandits were. He called a few villagers to take them to the jail they had in their village.
The sky turned into an orange hue signalling the sun setting. We decided to start working tomorrow. We set our bedding on the floor and I couldn't help but hear the conversation Lucy and Happy were having. "Kitty is my hero!" Lucy said to Happy, he just blushed and bragged about how strong he was. I growled, 'traitor' I thought, "what's wrong Fire Clown?" Gray said I growled again. He looked over at what I was looking, "is Dragon Breath jealous?" he snickered. "Shut up Frosty" I retorted, "don't worry you've saved her many times before, let Happy have this victory" he said patting my shoulder before going to do something else. Just before he left I said "thanks man" without looking at him but I swear I could feel him smiling.
"Papa!" Lucy called out running up to me, "what's up Lucy?" I asked her. "Could I sleep in your bed again tonight?" she asked, I smiled "of course" I replied. She sat on my lap while we hugged each other then suddenly she surprised me with what she said next "you're always my hero Papa." "Why did you say that now?" I asked, "I saw Papa upset when I said Kitty was my hero, but Papa is my real hero" she told me. I hugged her tighter "thank you" I whispered to her and she smiled.
The chief gave us some dinner and we went to bed. I told Erza and Gray that I would be on guard tonight and they agreed. Staying awake, I watched Lucy asleep in my arms. 'She looked so peaceful' I thought as I tucked some hair behind her ear that fell on her face. It stayed peaceful throughout the entire night and I was relieved by this. I couldn't help think are those twin Demon Slayers watching us right this very moment.