Who Is the Child's Father?

Over the next few days, a thriving floating market naturally formed around the Parasol Trees on the sea, attracting a constant stream of tourists.

"The mayor of Hargeon was found crying in the bar's restroom, muttering 'trees, trees' as he was being discovered."

Max flipped through today's newspaper, his eye twitching.

The social section headline also included a photo of a balding, middle-aged, overweight man weeping while hugging a toilet in a bar, with the headline "A Century-Old Wonder Vanishes Overnight, Hargeon's Tourism Dream Shattered at Dawn."

What kind of ridiculous news is this?!

He looked at Riyao, who seemed completely unaffected.

The culprit was sitting on a bench with his legs crossed, peeling an orange, his whole being screaming "It's none of my business."

"That was originally mine. What can I do if I take it back? I'll just send our mayor to fight him one-on-one. If he loses, he'll go to a bar and get drugged. It's not my fault."

Riyao leaned lazily against Mirajane, like a giant golden retriever.

He fed Mirajane the peeled orange segments, then casually rested his chin on his wife's soft shoulder, looking so self-righteous it made you want to punch him.

After all, when Magnolia's mayor heard about this windfall, he immediately declared that the city hall would be fully responsible for all diplomatic disputes. The two mayors argued for three hours, Hargeon's side was completely defeated. Who could be blamed for that?

Just then, a petite figure with red hair came running over.

Irene walked over, poked Riyao, and blinked her eyes, looking rather adorable.

With her hands behind her back, she tilted her head back, revealing a delicate face that looked exactly like Erza's when she was a child, and called out in a high-pitched voice.

"Riyao ~"

Riyao felt a chill run down his spine, and he almost dropped the orange peel in his hand.

"Stop! Can you please stop? I'm scared. You've lived for four hundred years, stop pretending to be a little girl."

He shrank back into Mirajane's arms, looking terrified.

Others might not know the details, but he knew everything. This seemingly harmless little girl was actually a 400-year-old ancestor with Enchantment Magic!

With Erza's childlike face, she's acting all cute and affectionate with a high-pitched voice—who could resist that!

Speaking of which, when Irene first appeared in the guild, it caused a major upheaval.

The moment Erza led Irene into the guild when she returned a few days ago.

The once noisy Fairy Tail lobby, filled with flying glasses, suddenly fell silent, as if someone had pressed the mute button.

The bottle in Macao's hand clattered to the ground, Wakaba's pipe burned his chin. Dozens of eyes were fixed on the red-haired girl Erza was leading.

The same long, crimson hair, the same eyebrow and eye contours—they're practically miniature versions of each other!

Everyone had only one thought in their minds.

Who is the father of the child!?

After a full three seconds of silence, the hall erupted in chaos.

Erza gave birth?!

"Who is so brave?! They actually conquered the Titania!?"

"I've discovered something even more terrifying! The child is already so big, how old is Erza again?"

Several drunkards, who usually couldn't keep their mouths shut, counted on their fingers, their eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.

Erza is only in her early twenties, while this little girl looks eleven or twelve. Doesn't this look like a crime scene?!

Click!

Erza's wooden floor shattered instantly, veins bulged on her forehead, and a longsword appeared in her hand. Today, every single one of them would have to fall.

These bastards, their minds filled with filthy scum, are spreading rumors about her!

After a fierce struggle, the guild members huddled together.

The screams and the sounds of tables and chairs shattering lasted for less than three minutes. In the center of the hall, a human mountain more than two meters high was piled up, with Macao and Wakaba at the bottom, their hands twitching helplessly outside.

Makarov sat at the bar sipping his tea, thankful that he was a respected elder who hadn't been purged, even though he had just chimed in.

The old man's hand holding the teacup trembled slightly. Luckily, the hall was too noisy for Erza to hear, otherwise, his old bones would have been piled on top of each other today.

He looked at Irene and had a hallucination, as if he were seeing Erza when she first came to the guild.

It was thin and small, dressed in tattered clothes, with a determined look on its face.

So many years have passed in the blink of an eye. The little girl from back then has grown into a capable S-Class Mage. As the old man thought about it, his eyes welled up and two tears slid down his cheeks.

"Hey? Why is the old man crying?"

Riyao's sarcastic voice rang in his ears, pulling him out of his reverie.

Just after finishing beating up Natsu and the others outside the door, Riyao pushed open the door, went to the bar, and poked Makarov's old face with his finger.

Makarov blushed, and in a fit of embarrassment and anger, pointed back!

Erza, there's one more here!

Makarov pointed to the Riyao.

"Hey! I just got into a fight outside and just got in, okay?!"

Riyao's eyes widened. How could this old man be so ungrateful and try to shift the blame?!

Erza has gone berserk; now she'll beat up even a dog that walks by, let alone this annoying golden retriever.

She carried a long sword that gleamed coldly, approaching the bar step by step, her eyes so fierce it looked like she wanted to chop Riyao into mincemeat and make dumplings.

Seeing that things were going badly, Riyao immediately ran behind Mirajane.

He slid behind his wife, peeked out halfway, and with a flick of his wrist, magically produced a plate of cream cake topped with bright red strawberries!

"Calm down, calm down, look! It's a strawberry cake!"

When the strawberry cake appeared, Erza was stunned for a moment. Now, she couldn't pretend to be bloodthirsty and take the opportunity to beat up Riyao.

She had actually recognized Riyao as soon as he entered, and she just wanted to take advantage of clearing the room to beat up this annoying guy, but he pulled out a get-out-of-jail-free card!

She clicked her tongue, sheathed her longsword, and glared at the fallen members with hostility.

After casually taking the strawberry cake and handing it to Mirajane for safekeeping, Erza cleared her throat, pulled the onlooker Irene to the front of the crowd, and began to formally introduce the cake.

"This is the Scarlet Despair of the Twin Walls of Despair! Irene Belserion!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the little girl next to him became unhappy.

"No, no, I'm the Scarlet Heavenly Maiden! The name Scarlet Despair doesn't do justice to my beauty at all!"

Irene raised her chin. She had long been dissatisfied with this 'Scarlet Despair' nickname. She didn't want her to find out who gave her this lousy nickname, or she would scatter her ashes.

She was the former queen of the Kingdom of Dragnof, and she was as beautiful as a flower. Yet those people with no aesthetic sense insisted on giving her a title that sounded like an old woman. It was simply outrageous!

Erza pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling utterly exhausted.

Is this the time to agonize over a title?

"Why not? This is an introduction of the Heavenly Maiden, of course I have to introduce her correctly. If they call her by the wrong name, I'll lose my temper and beat them up!"

With her hands on her hips, Irene delivered an extremely terrifying threat with a smile.

The members lying on the ground, who had just been in shock, were sent a chill down their spines by Irene's words.

What the hell?! This little kid who looks only twelve years old is actually the strongest female demon of the Spriggan 12 of the Alvarez Empire, who can crush the entire continent like a towel?!

Damn! Another terrifying being has arrived who can take them down.

Erza and Mirajane were already enough to give them a run for their money, and now they have the formidable "Scarlet Heavenly Maiden" added to the mix. From now on, they'll have to be very careful what they say in the guild!

Back to the present, the Fairy Tail members would greet Irene with "Greetings, Celestial Maiden!"

As Macao and Wakaba passed by the bench, they instinctively straightened their backs and greeted the person respectfully, their survival instincts running high.

Some are stubborn, like Natsu, who doesn't think Irene, who doesn't have much magic right now, is that scary.

Natsu had just crawled in from the muddy puddle outside, dusted himself off and spotted Irene. He immediately rushed over, eager to fight her one-on-one.

Irene doesn't have much magic left, but she still has knowledge and High Enchantment Magic.

Facing the menacing Fire Dragon rushing towards her, Little Irene didn't even lift her eyelids. She simply stretched out a delicate little finger and gently tapped it in the air.

"Additional - Zero Friction."

Snap!

The friction between Natsu's feet and the ground instantly dropped to zero. He couldn't even brake, and his feet slid wildly in place. Then, like a yo-yo launched from its shell, he "whooshed" straight out of the guild gate along the ramp!

Natsu rolled all the way into the sea, shouting, "I'll be back!"

With a loud splash, a huge spray of water erupted from the sea.

Irene blew on her fingertips and waved her little hand with a smile toward the door.

"You must learn to respect your elders, Natsu."

"That's right."

Makarov nodded in agreement.