A great beast that was terrorizing the citizens of Era with its sharp fangs and immense killing intent. That was the story that was going around the city when Houren arrived there, and immediately, he took it upon himself to rid the city of the supposed monster, not because he wanted the money or the fame of being the savior of the city or anything, but because it was just another step in Houren's never ending quest to become a true hero of justice. He was aware that the chances of him becoming a hero of justice in his lifetime was rare, no matter how heroic your deeds, as long as you lived, as long as your legacy was not yet set in stone by way of the grave, there was always going to be doubts about whether you were a hero of villain. Houren knew that, but it no longer mattered to him in the least.  History could decide whether he was a true hero, whether the deeds he had committed in life were worthy of praise, whether the way he lived his life was in vain or not. His slaying of this beast that seemed to terrorize Era would be the first of many great deeds for him, Houren decided, and he could only hope that, in the future, when historians recounted the fierce battle that was about to take place, they would see his victory as being significant. Perhaps, at the last minute, he would end up saving some young boy from being eaten by the wolf who would one day grow up to become the greatest mage of all time? Or perhaps that boy would grow up to be a great leader of men, someone who would revolutionize the way things in this country were being run. No matter what the people Houren would save by taking down this beast would become, it would all start here; if he let this wolf take even one more life, then the cure for terminal illness was potentially gone, the life of someone who could have accomplished great things.

There were many variations on the story traveling around, but the one that Daragast told him was most likely the most accurate account. Apparently, the wolf was a fierce beast ever since it was a pup and a man had attempted to raise it as though it were some sort of domesticated dog.  Obviously, this was not a very good idea at all. The man had been able to control the wolf when it was just a pup, y'know, since it was just a pup, but once the teeth kicked in, things started getting more and more difficult. Instead of admitting defeat and letting the wolf free in the wild, or better yet, killing it before it could kill anybody else, the man continued to raise it until his dinner table scraps were no longer enough to sate the beast's hunger. One day, the wolf literally bit off the hand that fed him, killed the master and ran off, with its collar still around its neck. The chain that bind the wolf to what Houren could only assume the lamp post outside was broken though, and it was left free to roam the city. Of course, it was a wolf, an animal that tended to hunt in packs, but who knows what it would do when it was hungry? Houren bet that it would even go against its nature of hunting in packs and begin to attack alone; perhaps it would start with small, certain prey like birds or neighborhood cats, but eventually that would prove to be too small, too insignificant and much too little to fill up a beast that was a whole meter in length. Somewhere along the line, it probably started to attack bigger targets, probably human children and when it, he or she realized that these children were absolutely powerless to defend themselves, the wolf started to go after the adults. They were stronger true, the wolf probably knew that, but in the end, once you got fang deep in the jugular, it didn't really how big or strong your target was. The wolf was probably oozing in confidence, thinking to itself, himself, herself that humans were weak, just like its old master and that it could stalk the streets of Era without a care in the world. Of course, that was anything but the case. It had gained too big of a name for itself, and now people were coming after it. Houren was well aware that there was probably other people in the city who were interested in taking up the job of killing the beast, but for now, were content to allow this freelance mage to do the work. If Houren failed and was killed or something, his place would probably be taken by others, be they other mages who wanted the same thing as Houren did, or just the money and recognition that came with killing a beast, or angry townsfolk who were tired of being terrorized by what one could only say was a stray pet, that had decided it wanted to become feral by killing its owner in cold blood. At the same time, there wasn't a single fiber in the Fairy Tail mage's body that thought he was going to lose.

In all honesty, this wolf of Era reminded him of that giant rat that had been causing trouble in Crocus. Of course, they were completely different in some ways; for example, this beast terrorized the town because a fool thought that raising a wild animal with no history of having ever been domesticated was a bad idea, and thereby forcing everyone else to pay for his stupidity. The rat in Crocus had been a mistake, a simple rat that was common throughout the city sewers that ended up being in an experiment gone wrong. A certain potion was poured onto the vermin that contained chemicals that caused it to grow exponentially, until it actually became a threat to the living populace of the city. Compared to a powered up rat, and a simple wolf who only had a bounty because it had decided to set up shop in a city where humans lived, Houren considered the rat to be a greater adversary than the wolf. And if anybody followed Houren's adventures, then they would also be aware that that very same rat was now buried six feet under in some plains outside the city of Crocus, where it would never ever bother anybody ever again. He considered doing the same thing with the wolf, but then again, there was really no need to bury his corpse, was there? It wasn't as though he had been infected with any chemicals; one of the main reasons why Houren had buried the rat was because it had been infected with chemicals, and if someone came along and ate up its corpse, then it would likely suffer from the same size effects. A giant mutated rat was pretty bad, but imagine if it had been another animal that had been mutated by the chemicals? A bigger one? A more fierce one? Houren, and probably the people of Crocus, shuddered at the thought and in the end, there was no choice but to give that beast a proper burial.

It was fairly late at night and Houren was walking around the streets of the city trying to find the beast, when he saw a few Rune Knights on patrol. They weren't the high level Rune Knights that Houren admired, and simply from the looks of them, they look to be newly minted knights, too experienced and strong to be called mere recruits, but still too weak and inexperienced to be called true Rune Knights, to earn a true seat in the organization. In other words, they were simple troopers that mattered little, insignificant people who seemed to make up the bulk of the law enforcement organization known as the Rune Knights. Their faces seemed to suggest that they had no interest in being in a place like this, and Houren could only guess that they had been asked by their superior to patrol this area for duty. Of course, it wasn't unusual for a Rune Knight to be incredibly irritable when doing guard duty, because hey, who actually likes doing guard duty? But no, the faces on these two Rune Knights were not the faces of two men who were incredibly bored because they were being forced to do duty, and would much rather be in their bunks sleeping or doing something or another. The faces on these two suggested fear, probably they were people who knew all about the wolf attacks in Era, and they must have been genuinely terrified at the prospect of coming face to face with the beast that was capable of killing a man with its strong jaws and sharp fangs.

It was the wrong kind of attitude to have, Houren thought, to look incredibly scared of fighting when the people of the city actually look up to you. He couldn't help but think that these two Rune Knights were giving a bad example to everybody. If these people, who had sworn to defend the King and everyone under that King with their lives were standing around, looking so terrified and literally trembling with fear, then what were the commoners to think? Can you really expect them to have confidence in your ability to keep them safe? Of course not! If he was a Rune Knight, he would be much better than these two at least, and that is something that Houren genuinely took pride in. The Fairy Tail mage nodded at the two soldiers as they walked past, as though he were their commanding officer or something, and due to his size and what he assumed was his aura, they nodded back, not in acknowledgement but in respect, as they attempted to keep a straight face and to stop their bodies from trembling. It was as though they were doing their best to not look weak in front of Houren, as though he really was their direct superior or something along those lines. The Fairy Tail mage was feeling pretty good about that when he turned the corridor into an alley, but his expression immediately changed when he realized that he was now face to face with the wolf that he had been searching for, the beast that was responsible for many deaths and was a direct threat to the inhabitants of the city. Houren immediately assumed a fighting stance.

The wolf was a lot faster than Houren imagined, but in the end, it wasn't like the beast was something that he couldn't handle at all. Arrogance had overtook the beast and he had attempted to attack Houren straight on, probably thinking that the Fairy Tail mage was just a bigger, only slightly stronger version of the people that he had mauled before by digging his fangs into their jugulars. Instead, he was in for a surprise as Houren punched the beast, knocking it way, and forcing it back with great strength. As the wolf attempted to compose itself, Houren inhaled and gathered up fire in his jaws before releasing it. The beast, if he had been able to run, might possibly have been able to dodge it, but as it was still recovering from the shock of fighting a worthy human, it took the full brunt of the attack and was promptly knocked out; a quick slit of the throat finished up the job. Instead of burying the wolf like he had done for the rat, Houren simply left its corpse there to be devoured by crows, and so that, in the morning, someone would find it and spread the news that the beast that had been terrorizing the town was dead and gone. Next, Houren headed towards the gates where his employer was waiting, money in hand as though he had never, for even a second, doubted him.

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