Chapter 59 - My SI Stash #59 - The Muggle Among Mages by PhantomGalaxy13 (Fairy Tail) (1/2)

-For Claytank~~

*Author's more consistent than my grades I mean the guy's just really productive and you can see it in the chapters~ Fairy Tail SI fic that will get you off guard（￣︶￣）↗

Sypnosis: What happens when a young man suddenly finds himself in the land of Fiore where danger lurks around every corner? Why overcome all odds with the power of friendship! …Yeah-no. That kid is going to be deader than his own ancestors. (Self-Insert)

Rated: M

Words: 461K

Posted on: fanfiction.net/s/12645957/1/The-Muggle-among-Mages (PhantomGalaxy13)

PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀)

-I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)

Chapter 1

The Muggle among Mages.

What happens when a young man suddenly finds himself in the land of Fiore where danger lurks around every corner? Why, overcome all odds with the power of friendship! …Yeah-no. That kid is going to be deader than his own ancestors. (Self insert)

I once believed the word magic explained every non explainable thing ever. Unfortunately, no matter how 'magic' could categorize people wielding sticks that shoot lasers, n_a_k_e_d red men fighting robed white guys with wings in a political game of super morality, or the birth of the cosmos by deities fighting to the Super Death (because let's face it: if deities actually died it would be hell-a-lot cooler than growing old or trying to pull off Die Hard) …

Magic could never explain the impossibility of Reality.

It was a whole lot of fun. I would practice my tricks for days until I could pull them off in public in wowing other people. I really loved practicing it as much as I loved to see the look of surprise in people when they wondered how I performed certain tricks. It made me feel accomplished that I could make even the most cynical people just get really into my tricks by staring hard as if they could find some way to figure out my sleight of hand.

However, I had problems with this in my family.

”You did what?! Kain, you're supposed to be studying for your finals!”

”Dad, I told you, I was studying, but I took a break for a while, it's not that big of a deal.”

Looking, back, I knew better. We weren't a rich family and my dad was especially hard on me for school. He wanted a better life and to him I was probably goofing off. Whether or not you believe him was your choice, but me? I just needed to get my mind off amazingly stressful things.

”Not that big of a deal? This is your future, Kain, and you can't spend it wasting time with useless things like that! You need to take this seriously!”

”I am taking this seriously!”

This was how it always went between us. Looking back… I can only remember the arguments I had with my dad. I barely remember anything really fond with him. I still love him, I won't doubt that, but… he was just so much grief during that period of my life. College was eating up all of my time and I wasn't all that happy with what courses I was taking. Magic tricks were a great stress reliever, but my dad always saw them as distraction.

”You need to stop and think of your future!”

”I am! Get off my back, old man!”

I… maybe if we talked better, it could have been solved, maybe if we actually talked instead of just yelling at each other nearly every time we met, things would have been different.

But they weren't.

After a fight went really bad, I went out to bike. On that day, the winds were bad and it looked like a storm was coming, but I really, really didn't care.

It started to rain hard and I still didn't care.

I probably should have cared that I was riding on a bridge when the storm became worse.

There was a car that was driving on the other side of the road, one that didn't have his head lights on, swerved right for me. I panicked and tried to break-turn—anything.

However, I ended up being thrown into river. But before I fell into the water, I swore I saw a face smiling at me that looked nothing like my own reflection.

There was a sound of mumbling, that made me realize all was dark. My eyes were still closed, but my mind was slowly getting back up.

”Wa..er”

My body jerked upward automatically, my lungs coughed up water violently while I gasped for air.

”Oh thank god! You're alright! You kinda scared me for a second there dude!” There was another voice coming from behind me. It took me a second to realize their shadow was cast over me as if they were looking over me.

”Are you alright?”

My eyes still hurt so I closed them back shut. ”I-I'm alright. I thought I was a goner when I fell into the river…”

”Man, you're telling me. At first I didn't find a pulse on you after I fished your body out of the water.”

”Aye! It was scary!” A second voice, it sounded younger and smaller agreed with the first voice.

But still, ”Thanks a lot for fishing me out. I might have actually drowned if you didn't do that.”

It was then I noticed something strange. It was somewhat hot out on the grass I was sitting. Not just hot, it felt dry which should have been impossible considering the storm just a while ago.

”No problem at all!” The first voice said as I finally looked up at—

”You alright?” The pink haired man asked with confusion.

”Yeah, yeah…” He looked a lot like Natsu Dragneel from the famous Fairy Tail series; the same clothes, the same hair, style, and physique. There was even a blue cat that stood on two legs with giant eyes with a small bag tied behind his back. Unless it was a hologram, and even then 3D animation and holographic technology was still in it's infancy stages, no cat alive was blue, could talk, and stood on two legs while having a head bigger than his body.

It was strange none the less, but as I subconsciously took in the area around me: a forest when I should have been in a park in Vancouver, the sun shining brightly without a single cloud despite how a storm was brewing so suddenly, and the fact there wasn't a single cement path within sight due to all the trees even though I saw a sign of civilization nearly everywhere I glanced before.

My mind was jumping to a rather farfetched, but potentially plausible idea.

”By any chance are you… Natsu Dragneel?”

The pink haired man's eyes lit up. ”Oh huh? You heard about me?”

There wasn't a hint of acting in his voice. Either he was in a very deep cosplay and acting—which I heavily doubted due to circ_u_mstances such as the fact he was cosplaying in the middle of a forest and not a city park where I had fallen into.

Or I had somehow met the real Natsu Dragneel, which in turn meant that I had entered into a different world described in countless fantasy fiction.

The latter was the most unlikely, but then again science has explained nothing is truly impossible, only very, very unlikely to happen.

”Yeah, you're from Fairy Tale, right? Wait, how do you spell that last part? I sometimes get confused if you mean the body part of something similar to stories.” Of all the worlds to go to, why this one? Most stories described hardcore fans going to their favorite fictional world, yet here I was in one that I was interested but never invested any time into unlike my friend Jerry.

”The tail part!” The blue cat, which I'm assuming is the mascot Happy, raised his hand out to answer me while emphasizing his own moving tail that was definitely longer than a regular cat's.

Natsu seemingly huffed with pride. ”I bet you've heard many great stories about me!”

His easy going attitude made me smile and put aside my observations for a moment as I replied, ”Well from the people I heard, you are great in your heroics,” It was true, my friends who did enjoy the story loved the characters even if some of my other friends pointed out the many plot holes in it, their back and forth arguments were one of the reasons why I never really bothered with the story.

The famed mage beamed with pride with a smile that would last until the end of time because of my compliment. It was just too bad I decided to continue what I was saying. ”But your collateral damage speaks in more volumes.”

Happy laughed as Natsu blanched out of his prideful huff. ”Err, dang it!”

I smiled at him and it seemed like he instantly got I was messing with him.

”So what's your name?”

Ah right. That. ”Before I answer that, do you mind if I ask a few more questions?”

The two tilted their head at me. ”Huh? Why?”

Confirmation. While I had this sneaking suspicion that my other world theory was more solid due to the fact I was speaking with a talking blue cat, I wanted to be absolutely sure of some basics I recall from the few times I've heard of this story. ”Just for clarity's sake. We are in… Fiore right?”

”Yeah.” Such a simple answer for questions I cannot even begin to start with. It does make more sense for me to be in this area instead of a park.

”There's a lot of magic here, right?” From what I could recall, they never really specified with this type of mystical magic. Most of my friends who didn't like the story, like Bob, told me their magic was just poorly written super powers. There wasn't much application of actual mysticism or respect to supernatural elements to the fantasy genre.

He argued it was more of a waste of potential rather than something he hated.

”I guess?” Natsu and Happy shared another look at each other.

”Oh!” The blue cat's eyes widened and he raised his hand—or paw again. ”Are you from a different country? Is that why you're wearing weird clothes?”

I looked back at my red hoodie, brown and baggy cargo pants, and my black rubber sneakers. ”I guess they would be weird to you. But before I get off tangent, my name is Kain Reynolds, nice to meet you.”

”Hey Kain! So which country are you from?” Natsu asked, jumping to the conclusion that I was from another country.

Alright, give me a few seconds about this because this is important. I'm not ignorant enough to know that there are stories of other people going into other worlds of their favorite media. I also know that some people either lie or never even say that they are from another world, or their original home. See, I know and don't really care much for it when enjoying their takes on it.

But here's the problem that I have that almost none of them do.

I need to get back home. I want to get back home.

I am one hundred and ten percent sure I don't have any powers and I don't have any interest staying in this wonderful world because I know how Shonen Anime works, I know there is going to be scary over powered bullshit waiting around the corner that can one shot a civilian like me without even knowing I exist, or I might even be used to demonstrate how bad a villain can be. And hell, I don't want that, even if these characters are nice and super cool.

The worst thing I can do about this situation is lie or keep it a secret. What the heck will that even get me? It won't get me anything, where if by some chance someone in this rock believes and helps me, my chances of going home skyrocket compared to me bumbling around with all the knowledge of a headless chicken. I need to get back home even at the risk of sounding like a lunatic, which I don't think Natsu, being a titular protagonist that I hear about, would do. I have a feeling he might actually take me more seriously.

So it's time for me to break the rules of all other stories when I say, one of the first things to a person you shouldn't say at all:

”Actually, I don't know if you'll believe me or not, but I am from another world.”

Oh. I really did expect them to scoff or call me crazy. I did not expect their jaws to drop out of their mouth and stare at me in shock. Wait, are mouths supposed to drop that long? Note to self: check how the physics of my world translated over here…

”Y-you're from another world!?” Natsu cried out in shock and awe.

It was in my best interest to be as honest as possible, even with my limited knowledge. ”I believe so. From where I come from, you're a famous fictional character. It's one of the reasons why I recognized you so quickly.”

No sooner than I said that, I noticed Natsu laughing out loud and going back to being proud. ”Did you hear that, Happy?! I'm famous even in another world!”

”Hey! Hey! Am I famous too!?” Happy asked with anticipation in his eyes before I nodded.

The two were whooping in joy and repeating how they were famous even in another world.

However, I was more confused by their actions. ”Aren't you going to question if I'm lying… or crazy? I mean, for anyone this would sound absurd.”

The two stopped their miniature celebration and turned to me.

”Are you lying to us?” The pink haired mage asked me plainly.

”No,” I answered with a bit of confusion at the rather simple answer. ”I don't believe I am.”

”Then we believe you.” Natsu and Happy said at the same time.

I was surprised, but the same time I understood their reactions since they didn't really seem to let odd things like me get in the way of their job. But was that really it? They'd believe me that easily?

”Really? I mean, I could try to prove it… maybe I have something in my pockets…”

Even though I tried to fish to see if I had any of my personal items, I heard Natsu speak up again.

”You don't look crazy. And you don't seem like a liar, so I trust you.” He said that plain and simple, as if that was all it took for him to believe I was in another world.

I then realized that he was simple. Even besides the things he does on a regular basis, I didn't really do anything to hint I was lying or trying to trick him. Not that I have any intention to in the first place, I might need his help later on. I guess that was a good trait of being a heroic character, they had most of the good qualities in them.

I probably should have reacted more considering the fact I was meeting supposedly fictional characters in a made up world, but then again, panicking like a lunatic wouldn't help me at all in the slightest way possible.

Huh, was that why Jerry and Bob's parents always looked to me to be the responsible friend? I guess I was the cool headed guy among us… but anyway I'm digressing again.

Information, I need more information. If I have any chance to figure how I came here, why I'm here, and how I'm going to get home, I need to have information or start looking for some that can in any way help.

”So, do you mind if I ask where exactly in the country are we? And where you two were going?” I asked before I noticed the horrified look on both Natsu and Happy the moment I asked.

”Aww crap! The quest!” The fire mage cried out before running with Happy past me.

Considering they were my only hope in even figuring out what was going on, I chased after them. Eventually, they ran up a hill looking over a small town with a well in the center plaza and it was surrounded by acres of cornfield that spanned some hundred acres.

Natsu threw his hands up in the air. ”Here we are: the village of Juter! Now we can finally accept the request!”

”What request is that?”

”The village has had a problem with wild animals harassing their fields, and for some reason they wanted a mage to help them out with this problem. It was a low level job with low pay. We took up the offer because it's nearby a place we wanna check out later.” Happy explained as I followed them down the road to the place.

However, even though I was doing my best to observe, anyone could have noticed how 'afraid' people were when we came into the town. The windows instantly closed all around us, doors slammed in the distance, and whenever I would see an eye peaking from a hole, they would vanish, as if all three of us were monsters.

Yet, my mouth seemed to move without me noticing, getting a message from my brain that I had not fully processed yet. ”There's no men.”

Natsu and Happy snapped their heads towards me as I slowly started to recall what I saw briefly. ”Did any of you guys see a grown man?” I asked them both.

The two remained silent. Natsu sniffed the air and his face turned sour, as if he was trying to somehow find any clue to deny my observation. A small piece of me hoped I just jumped to conclusions.

”Something isn't right for a low level mission….” It was the first time I saw him solemn.

We walked up to the biggest house of the town, there was an elderly man waiting in front of the doors and slowly lift his head towards us.

”Are you the mages who answered our call?” The look on his face seemed to grow more worrisome as he continued to view us from the down up. Was he expecting something more for animal control?

”Yeah, we're from Fairy Tail!” I was kind of baffled when he said that. But before I could ask why he said that since I wasn't a part of the guild at all, I heard murmurs around the town coming from our back.

”F-Fairy Tail!? Oh thank gods, we're saved!” The old man's face suddenly changed into one with relief.

I know I wasn't a part of their guild, but my curious nature got the best of me. ”Um, excuse me? Why did you say that? I thought your mission request was to clear some wild animals harassing your farmers?”

The murmurs instantly died all around us and the relief on the old man's face turned back into something of despair. ”P-Please follow me.”

We came in to the man's humble abode. The first thing I noticed was the table for four that was set only for two people.

He let us get comfortable on a couch before a small young boy who was probably no older than five peeked out of one of the doors.

”Litche, please, go back to studying.”

”Gra-gra, are they the mages?”

”Litche, please, go to your room.” The older man repeated before the young kid closed the door to his room.

”You have to forgive my people; we've had a very hard month.” He then stood back up. ”Would you like some tea? It's not much, but we can offer you some.”

”I—” Glancing over to Natsu and Happy, I saw them both looking at me before I continued speaking for them, ”That isn't necessary, sir. But please, what is going on?”

The old man sighed and sat back down across from us.

”It started a month ago…” the old man put a hand on his head, ”m-my son… he went missing after one day from managing the fields. We all looked for him, but strangely we found no trace of him. My daughter-in-law searched and searched. Three nights after his disappearance, she thought she heard something and went outside to investigate… she never came back…”

I instinctively looked back at the table. A seat of four, set only for two. That was why I was attracted to that detail.

Fighting back tears, the elder continued. ”It only got worse,” his voice cracked. ”Soon Hoggins, Terieo, Modaf… everyone who went out on the field slowly but surely started to disappear without a trace. It's gotten so bad that we had to ban anyone from going near the fields. Things have been desperate, we're running low on supplies, and we are too far from any regular town and we've just used up our money on farming tools before this madness came down on us.”

”I don't get it,” Natsu interrupted. ”You guys posted that your farmers were being harassed by animals. If it was that bad, why did you lie about the message? It would have definitely bumped up the level if you told them the truth.”

”W-We don't have money to afford the bigger quests…” My eyes widened as I recalled what the man just said. I didn't know much about this world, but I knew enough about fantasy settings to recall that the bigger the jobs, the higher the pay. If this really was a high pay job, the town would be further pushed into bankruptcy or worse. ”The lowest one was all we could afford left. We only hoped that a strong mage would take this quest, and it appears our prayers have been answered.”

”Don't worry.” Natsu stood up quickly, his eyes determined. ”We'll make sure who, or what is ever causing this will pay! Come on, Happy! Kain!”

”Aye~!” ”Wait what?” Apparently, Natsu didn't really seem to register my voice as it spoke at the same time as Happy. He ran out the door with his flying cat right after him.

I also went up to try and chase my… would friend be an alright term to use right now? Regardless, I tried to chase them down after I looked back at the elder of the town. ”We uhh… we'll be right back.”

Unfortunately for me, I was basically a normal person. Running after someone like Natsu or Happy was already draining my less-than-stellar stamina.

”Natsu! Natsu!” I kept shouting his name before I eventually caught up to him while he was standing right in front of a giant cornfield.

A cornfield. … Cruse you, Stephen King.

If there are any Amish dressed children in there—I swear to god! ”N-Natsu, wo-would you please… hold on I need to breathe… wait a second?” Oh wow I am out of shape.

”We gotta help these people, Kain. Whoever did this to them is going to pay!” He slammed his fists together.

”Natsu,” After getting more of my breath back, I stood back up. ”Look, I want to help these guys as much as the next guy, but you can't just blindly search for something we don't even know is causing all this!”

It didn't take much to tell that Natsu was slowly agreeing with my idea, even if he didn't like it. I explained to him we should gather information and look for clues, it would take a while, but maybe we could find something that could help us.

Time went on after that. The elder explained that there was no sign at all they just disappeared without a trace. Even asking everyone around there showed no signal for when or how they all disappeared.

”Augh this isn't getting us anywhere!” Natsu cried out, it was already getting late and curfew was going up. People were closing their doors and we still had not a single idea where these people could have gone.

”I even flew around the place,” Happy finished eating a fish then swallowed. ”Nothing looks out of the ordinary.”

Natsu was right though. It's been hours, but there's almost nothing we got except that all of the people who disappeared went into…

Curse you, Stephen King…

The cornfield.

Trying my best to forget about He Who Walks Behind The Rows, I spoke up. ”The last place we haven't checked is the cornfield itself. But it's a perfect place for whatever is out there to ambush us.”

I heard a rather intimidating growl coming from Natsu. ”It's time we took the fight to them! Come on guys!” He ran into the place with reckless abandon.

”Aye!”

I on the other hand hesitated. The set up was too damn similar and if me coming here was possible, whose to say there wasn't some kind of evil deity in there? I'm not Natsu, have no qualities that could help me survive in the first place.

But…

I sighed. ”Litche needs his parents.” Just like how I need to get home and apologize to my dad.

Natsu forsook all caution and ran head first into the cornfield with Happy flying right after him. It was only thanks to Happy I could even follow Natsu with how fast he was running… and with how loud he was screaming to whatever was out there to come out and face him.

Though after a while of running, we still got nothing. (That did not help my paranoia for anything with a giant eye in here) Eventually, Natsu's temper died down faster than his stamina as he came to a stop to wait for me.

”… O-Okay… can… can we… take… a break or two?” I wheezed for air as I tried to support myself by my knees.

”Jeeze, Kain, you need to work out more.” Natsu was obviously disappointed in me, but I was too tired to really argue with that notion. I would probably need to be more fit if I had any inkling of surviving here.

”In my defense,” I gasped. ”I never needed to before today.” I mean, I played a few sports for fun, but nothing worth working out over.

”WWWAAAAHHH!”