A Child to Force a Ship Together

The sea breeze rustled through the treetops, creating a soft, whispering sound as the leaves brushed against each other.

A moment of silence fell over the treetop as the two boys and the two gourds stared at each other.

On the left is a shrunken version of the Magic King August, his face etched with bewilderment; on the right is Larcade, frozen like a stone statue with his hands clasped together; and directly in front are two large gourds, one black and one gold, hanging from a tree branch and swaying.

This bizarre family reunion scene was so awkward that the air seemed to freeze.

August opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a word. He didn't know where to begin and looked pleadingly at the talkative Riyao.

Even if he possessed all the magical knowledge from ancient and modern times, both Chinese and foreign, no magic book would ever teach him how to introduce himself if his parents didn't know he had given birth to him—a question that could be fatal!

Click, click.

Riyao chatting with Mirajane and Irene, eating sunflower seeds and watching the commotion, when he was suddenly looked at like this, leaving him a little confused.

The three people squatted neatly on a thick horizontal branch, each holding a handful of spiced melon seeds, with a small pile of seed shells already scattered at their feet.

Meanwhile, on the branch directly in front of them, the Mavis gourd was still bouncing around wildly, relentlessly attacking the Zeref gourd.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The light gold gourd, as if powered by a motor, relentlessly attacked the black gourd, causing black ash to flake off its surface.

After taking a beating for half a day, Zeref couldn't take it anymore and had to ask for help from the sidelines.

"So what exactly is going on, Riyao?"

"Huh?! You're asking me? Do I look like some kind of old butler in your household? How would I know what you've been up to?"

Riyao rolled his eyes in annoyance. He also wanted to know how they got pregnant just from kissing. Darwin must be turning in his grave.

According to common sense from a sex education class, a hundred years ago these two only kissed in the forest and didn't even get close to home base, yet they somehow managed to asexually reproduce and produce a magic king of the highest level among humans.

Is this a joke by the god Ankhseram?

I didn't expect this guy to be a CP (couple) fan. He directly sent a baby to force a CP pairing. I have to say, he's pretty good at it.

The black gourd on the branch remained silent for two seconds, Zeref thought about it with a headache.

Larcade knew what was going on; ever since he was created, he had wanted to call himself father.

That was an excellent Etherious he created during the experiment to revive Natsu, and he bestowed upon it the surname Dragneel, so they could be considered father and son.

But the question is, what exactly is the situation with August?

Isn't this the child I picked up on the street? How did he become my own?!

Back when he was wandering around mainland China, he casually picked up a homeless child with amazing magical powers. How did he wake up one day to find that his adoption certificate had turned into a birth certificate?

The black gourd was depressed. For four hundred years, it had intermittently shut down its emotions, and now it really didn't know how to handle this aspect.

Destroying a country or creating a few demons is his specialty, but suddenly having a biological son and an artificial son standing in front of him waiting to acknowledge him as their father is even more terrifying than having to fight Riyao again.

After hesitating for a long time, the black gourd could only grit its teeth and shake it.

"August, what's going on? You're my and Mavis's child?"

August gave a wry smile. "As expected."

His own parents had no idea that he had a child.

For over eighty years, the reason he kept the secret to himself and willingly remained by Zeref's side as a subject was because he feared that revealing the truth would cause his father, who was tormented by the curse, even more pain.

But now that he's shrunk to twelve years old and his parents' curse has been lifted, there's no point in hiding it anymore.

Young August lowered his eyelids and calmly laid out the events of that year in the sunlight.

"Here's what happened. When you sent Mavis back to Fairy Tail, the second guild master of Fairy Tail discovered she was pregnant with me. After ten months, she delivered me and then abandoned me. I ended up on the streets, and that's when I met you."

It was said briefly, but everyone present understood the general meaning.

There wasn't a single word of sob story, nor any complaint about the hardships he endured as a child wandering in the wilderness. But the more understated his tone, the more unpleasant it sounded to others.

The activity of cracking sunflower seeds on the tree branch stopped.

"The second-generation rich kid is a real scoundrel!"

"That's right!"

Me too!

Three bystanders voiced their opinions, strongly condemning the second-generation chairman Precht, for abandoning such a young child!

Riyao was the first to spit out a sunflower seed shell, Mirajane clenched her little fists angrily in agreement, and even Irene, who was holding a cake next to her, raised her hand in strong agreement and repeated.

If August had stayed, it's unimaginable who would be the current president.

Makarov and Eugene were only one year apart in age. Eugene was more talented than Makarov and had no issues with his character.

If Precht hadn't made the foolish mistake of abandoning his children back then, and instead let August and Makarov grow up together in the guild, Fairy Tail would probably have been able to dominate the entire Continent of Ishgar decades ago, and there wouldn't have been any need for Grimoire Heart later on!

Meanwhile, on the other side, the golden gourd, still swaying wildly after hearing the whole story, finally confirmed for Mavis that the child had indeed come from her belly.

All she remembered was falling into a suspended Sleep after Zeref took her life. At that time, her mind was still inside her body, and she had no idea that she had gone through the process of pregnancy and childbirth!

"Ahhh..."

Zera! Help me!

The first president's supposedly infallible Fairy Tactician brain completely overloaded and crashed. The golden gourd spun wildly on the vines, wishing it could just twist itself off and fall into the sea to drown.

"You see, when faced with a difficult question, they just stay silent."

Riyao nudged Mirajane on the shoulder, and the three bystanders, oblivious to the drama, somewhat eased the awkward atmosphere.

Mirajane held the peeled sunflower seeds to Riyao's lips, tilted his head, and muttered something under his breath.

"Are we obstructing their family reunion by squatting here?"

"How could that be? We must witness such a meaningful moment."

"Riyao makes a good point."

Irene nodded, expressing complete agreement with Riyao's words.

Having just experienced the humiliating ordeal of staring at her daughter Erza, and now that Mavis and Zeref are suffering, how could she possibly miss out on such a perfect spectacle to watch while eating!

Hearing that the three onlookers refused to budge, the golden gourd shook, and her mind raced, coming up with a terrible idea.

Since she's still just a thirteen-year-old girl and really doesn't know how to be a mother, why not just shift the blame to the richest family in the guild?

"Riyao, do you want children?"

"Roll!"

"All right."

The golden gourd was rebuffed by Riyao with a single word, becoming as docile as a quail.

Riyao brushed the sunflower seed dust off his hands and, with a look of exasperation, pointed at the two gourds on the tree and began to berate them.

"You want to disturb my and Mira's time alone? Get out of here. And you guys are so irresponsible! Look, Little August and Little Larcade are almost crying."

Riyao had his back to the two gourds, his right eyelid blinking wildly at the two brothers as if he were having a spasm, and he gestured with his hands in front of his chest as if he wanted to play the victim.

August and Larcade understood immediately, lowered their heads, their faces flushed, and forced two large tears from the corners of their eyes, looking utterly pitiful.

This self-inflicted injury tactic worked as expected.

"Um, Riyao, could you give us some private space?"

The black gourd shook, making a somewhat awkward sound.

Having a heart-to-heart talk with your two sons in front of three bystanders eating sunflower seeds and drinking tea is something even a dark mage with thick skin would find hard to resist!

Riyao readily nodded, and jumped down from the Parasol Tree with Mirajane and Irene. As long as they were still in the canopy, it didn't matter where he eavesdropped.

Before leaving, he mouthed encouragement to the two brothers, then slid down the tree trunk with them, the two small green leaves beside his ears quietly glowing with a familiar light.