Conflict! The Magic Divine Crystal Reappears!

He doesn't look 21 at all!

Meanwhile, Totomaru continued speaking, her tone tinged with excitement. "Jura of [Rock Iron] from Lamia Scale, Laxus, the grandson of Makarov, Ten Wizard Saints from Fairy Tail, and Aria of [Wind Element] from our Phantom Lord —have all the strongest mages from their respective guilds gathered together?"

Chiba couldn't help but think that this guy was still a complete chuunibyou (delusional teenager), but the fact that he became S-Class Mage of Phantom Lord at the age of seventeen was quite impressive.

As for the current Phantom Lords, it's unknown whether the Iron Dragon Slayer Gajeel has joined them, so apart from Guild Master Jose, the strongest should be this cunning old fox Aria.

As for Lamia Scale, the strongest mage is Jura, without a doubt.

But in Fairy Tail, Laxus isn't the strongest.

However, this kid had the audacity to mention Laxus, the grandson of Makarov, Ten Wizard Saints... I really don't know if he meant it or was deliberately trying to stir up trouble.

Laxus absolutely hates it when people say he's Makarov's grandson.

This would make him feel that his strength is entirely due to his status. He is the grandson of Ten Wizard Saints, so he is naturally powerful.

He wanted fair evaluations from others, evaluations of himself as Laxus, not as the grandson of Ten Wizard Saints.

As Chiba expected, after hearing Totomaru's words, Laxus's eye twitched slightly. He said calmly, "Oh? You really are ignorant. Who told you that I'm the strongest in Fairy Tail?"

"Isn't that right?" Totomaru grinned. "Whether it is or not doesn't matter. That kind of guild is nothing special anyway. If the guild leader weren't one of the Ten Wizard Saints, how could such a guild be ranked below us Phantom Lords? It would probably be ranked way down."

"Oh right, I seem to remember that the only S-Class mage in your guild is also a new S-Class Mage just became one this year, and he's from the same batch as me. But I'm only ranked third among the Phantom Lords..."

"What? You've just become S-Class Mage and you're already eager to take your guildmates on an S-Class Mission? You're really fearless, aren't you? Or... will Makarov come to your rescue?"

After Totomaru finished speaking, he burst into laughter. But no one around him laughed, because the others felt a chilling aura emanating from him.

That's the aura of the four members of Fairy Tail!

"Are you..." Lightning crackled around Laxus, his face turning incredibly grim. "Challenging my bottom line?"

"Oh no, no!" Totomaru seemed startled and backed away, but still chuckled, "How could I dare to clash with the grandson of Ten Wizard Saints? Besides, we're both legitimate guilds; fighting between legitimate guilds isn't allowed."

In his last sentence, he was clearly using the rules set by the Magic Council to threaten Laxus.

"Totomaru." At that moment, Jura's voice rang out, and he said in a deep voice, "Please stop making such pointless jokes. We are here to complete the task entrusted to us by the village chief, not to argue endlessly about who is stronger or weaker."

"How sad..."

Aria also spoke up, but two tears streamed down his face, his voice filled with sorrow. "Totomaru, please don't let the Fairies start fighting."

"Hi, Lady Aria!" Totomaru replied with a smile.

He retreated behind Aria, but the provocation in his eyes was unmistakable.

"Damn it!" Mira cursed angrily. With her fiery temper, she should have lost her temper long ago upon hearing such provocation, but Laxus remained silent. She was no match for Aria on her own.

"I didn't ignore his provocation."

At that moment, Chiba walked towards them and said calmly.

Jura and Aria both turned to the boy in white robes.

"Your name is Totomaru, right? Your statement, '[I'm afraid everyone here knows each other],' was wrong from the start. To be honest, if Mira hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known that there was someone like you in Phantom Lord... a... seemingly trashy person who only knows how to talk." Chiba said sarcastically with a smile.

"Does that mean you're the only kind of trash among the Phantom Lord?"

Chiba didn't care about his reputation at all, or even the reputation of the Phantom Lord.

He wasn't afraid of the two Phantom Lords in the slightest, whether it was a war of words or a direct confrontation.

"You!" Totomaru showed anger.

"Alright, alright," the village chief said, trying to smooth things over. He could see the mages he'd invited were somewhat exasperated. He hadn't heard anything about their previous conflict, so he could only say, "Let's talk about the mission..."

They stopped arguing. Although they disliked each other, they listened attentively to the village chief explaining the specifics of the task.

The gist of the story is that demons have existed in the village since ancient times. This village is exceptionally developed in mining, to the point that it's almost as developed as a town. But every night, demons appear in the mines behind the village. These demons destroy the mining tools, and if anyone tries to stop them, they are devoured. The next day, all that remains are piles of bones.

Many teams of mages have come to take on the mission, but they were all severely injured and forced to leave by this demon. Even S-Class mages who came to complete the mission ultimately failed.

"Since this demon chose to appear at night, let's go to the mine tonight and eliminate it," Jura.

No one else objected.

"Then I'll leave it to you all," the village chief said sincerely.

Afterwards, the mages from the major guilds went their separate ways, mainly because Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord had a near-irreconcilable conflict. They did not travel together, but their common goal was the mines above the village.

On the mountain.

Looking down from the mountaintop, perhaps because there aren't many people, the village doesn't seem as big as I had imagined.

"Those Phantom Lords! They're infuriating!" Mira punched a tree trunk and said angrily.

"Hmph..." Laxus snorted coldly, her expression equally unpleasant.

Erza, though equally furious, remained relatively rational, saying, "They must have come for... that thing too, right?"

"Hmm..." Laxus glanced at Chiba, then said, "For... the Magic Divine Crystal."

Chiba looked surprised.

"Could there be Magic Divine Crystals here too?" he couldn't help but ask.

Laxus nodded slightly.