Guiltina

Riyao and his companions thoroughly explored the floating market, returning to the treetops laden with bags full of snacks.

As for the "Azure Dragon Guild Wind Chime" hanging in mid-air, it had already been taken away by the port security team who rushed over after hearing the news, along with the person and the rattan cane. Gray was only taken down with a dark face after being surrounded and watched for a full ten minutes.

After resolving this minor incident, the group transformed into shopping frenzies, devouring the entire floating food street from bow to stern.

Finally, Riyao summoned several Parasol branches to act as an elevator, carrying the people and dozens of bags of spoils back to the huge tree canopy above the clouds.

A thick carpet of soft leaves covered the flat, wide canopy of trees. Sizzling, oily grilled meat skewers, golden-brown and crispy seafood tempura, and several barrels of chilled fruit wine and malt liquor were piled up like a small mountain, their aromas wafting far on the night breeze.

As Riyao snapped his fingers, the intertwined green leaves overhead parted in all directions with a rustling sound, as if a natural skylight had been opened.

The starry sky and the bright moon cast their gentle glow, which, combined with the shimmering green light flowing through the leaves, created a scene as beautiful as a fairytale wonderland.

Several people sat on the ground, enjoying the food and discussing interesting and unusual things.

Having just survived a life-or-death battle, it was a rare treat to have such a pleasant and relaxing evening. Everyone leaned haphazardly against the soft tree branch backrests, holding skewers and wine glasses, chatting animatedly.

Lucy swallowed a mouthful of honey-glazed chicken wing, wiped her mouth with a tissue, and looked up at the night sky.

"Is the Northern Continent called Guiltina?"

Now that she had filled her stomach, the novelist's curiosity began to resurface.

Gray nodded. He used to live in the northern part of the Continent of Ishgar and had heard about Guiltina.

He held a can of chilled ale in his hand. The gloom from being hanged had mostly dissipated. He sat cross-legged on the ice seat and casually picked up the conversation.

"I've never heard of any Dragon Slayer from Guiltina before."

"I've heard of very little magic, haven't I?"

Riyao rolled his eyes. Many places on the Continent of Ishgar were isolated from information, such as Mirajane's former village.

He leaned against Mirajane's bent knees, opened his mouth to catch a peeled, chilled grape that his wife fed him, and mumbled a complaint.

The latest information in this world relies entirely on newspapers and carrier pigeons; in remote areas, Take Over Magic can be mistaken for demonic possession.

What novelties could the Northern Continent, separated by a vast ocean, possibly have? It would be a miracle if Gray had ever heard of the icy, snowy countryside he grew up in.

"That's true."

Gray scratched his head; he only learned about Dragon Slayer Magic after Natsu joined the guild.

Natsu was engrossed in devouring a large plate of grilled squid, suddenly stopped, half a bamboo skewer dangling from his mouth, and a small lightbulb appearing on his forehead.

"By the way, Gildarts mentioned that his 100-Year Quest is located in Guiltina on the Northern Continent!"

"What?!"

This caused a gasp of surprise from the crowd.

Lisanna, Levy, and Wendy, who were sipping their fruit wine, all stopped abruptly. Even Lucy, who was peeling shrimp for Carla, turned around abruptly, her eyes wide with surprise.

"What exactly are they going there to do?!"

Lucy leaned forward and pressed for an answer.

100-Year Quest!

That was a legendary mission that no one had been able to complete in nearly a hundred years; even a monster like Gildarts failed miserably!

"Gildarts wouldn't say, and Guiltina just let it slip when he was drunk."

Happy was holding a grilled fish bigger than itself in its arms, chewing it with gusto, its mouth dripping with oil, and in doing so, it revealed its secrets.

The 100-Year Quest aroused everyone's interest, and they all looked at Riyao.

Riyao felt a chill run down his spine from the stare and sat up straight, holding his wine glass.

"Why are you looking at me?! You don't think I know what the 100-Year Quest is about, do you? The old man has always kept that commission in a safe, with his collection of magazines. How could I possibly see it?"

He took a sip of the fruit wine in his glass, his voice confident and self-assured, and at first glance, it seemed perfectly reasonable.

His expression was so righteous and upright, as if suspecting him of peeping into the president's office of confidential matters was a great insult to his pure character.

Upon closer examination, one will find flaws in his statements.

There was a two-second silence in the treetops, broken only by the rustling of the leaves in the sea breeze.

Levy her glasses, and a bright white light flashed across the lenses Levy her nose; the detective girl was online.

"Wait Riyao minute! How did you know the chairman's safe contained collectible magazines?!"

The entire audience erupted in uproar!

Yes!

He even knows exactly which shelf in the safe the old man hides his prized swimsuit photo magazines on, so you dare say you've never broken into the chairman's safe?!

"Oh dear, I'm drunk!"

Riyao's eye twitched, and without batting an eye, he slammed the glass of fruit wine, which had an alcohol content similar to juice, onto the ground, letting out a affected groan.

He had just closed his eyes, preparing to feign death and cling to his wife's arms to get away with it, when a slender, white index finger precisely pressed against his cheek, forcefully pushing his head back down.

Mirajane tilted her head, a kind and gentle smile on her face, her blue eyes curving into crescents.

"I want to know too."

Even his own wife betrayed him!

Riyao opened one eye and, seeing Mirajane's "If you don't tell me, you're going to experience the new world of fun tonight" look, decisively chose to follow his heart.

He rolled his eyes, glanced at Natsu and Gray who were eavesdropping nearby, and a smug smile crept onto his lips.

"Hey, I'll tell you quietly later, but I won't tell these people who aren't even S-Class."

In short, it directly triggered a precise map-wide attack!

Natsu and Gray, both hot-tempered, jumped to their feet, rolling up their sleeves menacingly, looking ready to fight Riyao to the death.

Two plumes of black smoke instantly billowed from the top of their heads, they slammed the skewers in their hands onto the plate, exhaled heavily from their nostrils, and the tree branches under their feet creaked under their feet.

"Damn you, Riyao!"

"Who are you looking down on?! We're definitely better than you were when you just passed the S-Class Exam, aren't we?!"

You should know that the title of S-Class Mage is a sore spot for both of them!

They even defeated the Spriggan 12 of the Empire, but due to the interruption of the Tenrou Island assessment and various other unforeseen circumstances, they are still nominally ordinary mages. Who can tolerate being attacked by Riyao face-to-face with his ultimate skill?

Riyao curled his lip. "Don't you two have any idea why you couldn't pass the S-Class Exam?"

What good is being good at S-Class Exam if you can only fight? If the old man really entrusts an S-Class mission to you two, I'm afraid the client and half a city will be wiped out by you two!

"One is a vandal, the other an exhibitionist."

Riyao raised two fingers and slowly uttered eight words, each one piercing to the heart.

"Hey! Who are you calling a destroyer, you bastard!"

Natsu ignited flames in his hands and pounced on Riyao like a hungry tiger.

Two balls of crimson flames erupted and engulfed his fist. Natsu leaped into the air like a cannonball, baring his fangs and claws as he lunged at the Riyao's facade.

Gray, who was about to go with Natsu, had just gotten into position for his Molding Magic when he suddenly felt a chill on his stomach. Looking down, he realized he was only wearing boxer shorts again!

"Oh no! When did my clothes disappear again?!"

Gray frantically groped around, while Juvia beside him happily offered him a neatly folded coat with both hands.

Juvia has kept Lord Gray's clothes safe and sound.

Just as Gray was getting dressed, Natsu, who was in mid-air, had already pounced to within three feet of Riyao's head.

Riyao didn't even change his sitting posture; he simply lazily raised his right hand, made a fist, and thrust it forward.

Bang!!

Riyao knocked Natsu down with a single punch; his over ten years of professional firefighting experience is no exaggeration.

A simple, straightforward straight punch landed precisely on Natsu's Natsu, instantly extinguishing the flames on his hand.

Like a mosquito swatted by a fly swatter, I crashed straight into the soft leaves of the tree canopy at my feet, sprawled out no matter how hard I tried to pry myself out.

Riyao blew away non-existent dust from his fist and glanced at the crater in the ground.

"I won't hang you up and whip you today, in case you vomit and the people below cry their eyes out."

You should know that there are currently hundreds of food boats and tens of thousands of tourists moored under this Parasol Tree!

Given Natsu's tendency to get motion sickness and spin-induced dizziness, if he were to hang from a treetop and swing around a couple of times, unleashing a torrent of vomiting like a shower of petals from the sky, the night market below would instantly turn into a biohazard disaster site!

Everyone imagined the scene and their eyes twitched.

Lucy and Levy's skewers suddenly lost their appeal; they both put down their skewers, their stomachs churning.

The scene was too beautiful to contemplate.

Riyao leaned back into Mirajane's arms, picked up his glass, swirled it, and glanced at the group still scratching their heads, then casually added insult to injury.

"If you're so curious, why don't you go ask the guild leader for the 100-Year Quest and see what's stronger than the Black Dragon?"

Riyao's words undoubtedly revealed once again that he knew the contents of the commission.

This piqued the curiosity of Lucy, Lisanna, and Levy.

The three girls stared at each other, wishing they could tie Riyao up with ropes and torture him to extract a confession right now.

He knew that the channel for 100-Year Quest wasn't a commission form; it only had a location on it. Once they arrived at the location, the commissioning person would tell them the details.

While everyone was arguing about how to extract information about Riyao, the edge of the tree canopy was unusually quiet.

Erza remained silent, staring blankly at the red gourd, clearly feeling the throbbing of blood ties connecting them.

On the branch in front of her, a palm-sized, bright red gourd was emitting faint, warm red light. Each flicker was like a warm heart beating gently, creating a wonderful resonance with the pulse in her chest.

That was her mother, Irene.

At the tip of the emerald green vine connecting to the gourd's stem, a point of golden light was quietly gathering. With a gentle breeze in the night, the entire red gourd swayed more and more violently, as if it were about to ripen and fall off at any moment.