The Frozen Forbidden Ground

"Eh~ Wendy, you're not coming with us?" Feng Lan asked, leaning over the table and pinching Wendy's little cheeks.

Wendy nodded. "Mm... Wendy isn't a mage from an official guild yet, so I won't be taking requests with you, Brother. I want to join the guild where you work first. That way, Wendy can work with you!"

Feng Lan pouted, clearly reluctant to part with her. "All right~ Wendy, be careful, okay? Here's 500,000 J. If it's not enough, ask the Guild Master for more—he's got plenty stashed away. Here's a map, and these are the keys to my house and the front door. Stay at my place for now. Buy whatever you like. Also, once you join the guild, stay away from two uncles named Macao and Wakaba. Those two aren't good people. And..."

Mira chopped Feng Lan on the head with her hand. "Enough. Wendy is a mage, not a baby. Let her go already. We need to set off soon too."

"Mm! Wendy will be fine, Brother, so don't worry!" Wendy said with renewed determination.

Feng Lan watched Wendy walk away reluctantly, but Mira eventually dragged him off.

Elfman walked beside Feng Lan and said awkwardly, "Brother Feng Lan, this is... this is really nice..."

Feng Lan tilted his head. "What is it? Why do you look like that, Elfman?"

Elfman looked speechlessly at Feng Lan and Mira, then at Natsu and Lisanna, before shaking his head. "Nothing..."

Feng Lan turned around and saw Lisanna and Natsu's red-and-blue color scheme, along with their matching scarves, the most obvious sign of all. Then he looked at Mira beside him. Her trench coat matched his, also in the standard red-and-blue couple colors, while their earrings—one green, one purple—were a matching pair as well.

Feng Lan's face darkened. "Aren't your outfits a little too obvious?"

Blushing, Mira turned her head away and huffed arrogantly. "Wh-who said our clothes are obvious? You're just being full of yourself."

With a wicked grin, Feng Lan said, "Eh~ Then I should take off the trench coat and earrings first. It'd be bad for our little Mira's reputation if people got the wrong idea." As he spoke, he pulled off half his trench coat.

"Hey! Don't..." Mira hurriedly turned back and cried out aggrievedly.

Seeing Feng Lan's mischievous smile and Natsu and the others watching eagerly, Mira's face instantly flushed crimson. She sped ahead alone. "I'm ignoring all of you!"

Natsu said smugly, "What? Bro, aren't you going to coax your wife?"

Feng Lan glanced at Lisanna, who was fiddling with her scarf nearby. "Natsu, you should keep an eye on your bride instead."

Natsu shouted, blushing, "No! That was just a joke!"

Feng Lan grabbed Natsu and Lisanna's scarves and compared them. "Still saying that? Sister-in-law, don't mind him. You know what my little brother is like."

Lisanna put her hands on her hips and said proudly, "Of course. After all, I'm Natsu's future bride~"

Natsu's face turned even redder. "Don't agree so readily!"

Mira, who had already walked far ahead, turned around and saw that no one was paying attention to her. She called out anxiously, "Hey! Hurry up! If you don't, I'm leaving!"

Feng Lan smiled. "Coming! Don't walk so fast—I can barely catch up."

...By evening, the five of them had lit a fire and begun grilling the food they had prepared along the way.

Lisanna sat beside Feng Lan. "Brother Feng Lan, you really dote on Wendy. How did you first meet?"

Feng Lan tossed aside the skewer he had finished. "I first met Wendy by a river. She was barely over a year old then, and I had only just met Slokard. She was lying in a bamboo basket. I guess her parents had sent her away."

Mira asked in confusion, "Did her parents abandon her...? Why?"

Feng Lan lowered his head and watched the flickering flames. "I don't know the details, but judging from what was written in a letter that had been beside Wendy at the time... the place where Wendy had lived was probably attacked by dragons. Her parents must have desperately sent her away.

"After that, she lived with me for five or six years. I took care of Wendy throughout those years, and since we already looked somewhat alike, Wendy became my adopted little sister. Later, though, Slokard said she had great talent for Sky Magic, so he entrusted her to the Sky Dragon Grandine to raise."

Lisanna touched Natsu's scarf. "Where did Natsu get this scarf? He's never willing to take it off."

Natsu looked at the scarf around his neck, recalling the past. "Teacher Anna knitted it for me from Igneel's scales."

Lisanna tilted her head. "Teacher Anna? Who's that?"

Natsu looked up at the starry sky. "Teacher Anna was the teacher who taught us Dragon Slayer Mages general knowledge."

Elfman touched Natsu's scarf as well. "But this scarf is so soft. Is it really made from dragon scales? And isn't Igneel a red dragon? This scarf is white."

Natsu scratched his head. "Brother Feng Lan, you explain it."

Feng Lan looked at Natsu with a dark expression and explained, "Dragon scales aren't necessarily hard. They just have high resistance to all kinds of things. In reality, they're simply dragon skin. And after scales fall off a dragon's body, they gradually lose their vitality and turn white.

"...I forgot. When this was being taught, you and Gajeel were being punished for fighting and had to stand off to the side, so you didn't hear it."

Natsu complained awkwardly, "Bro only has a good memory at times like this..."

Feng Lan knocked Natsu on the head. "All right, get some sleep. We'll arrive by noon tomorrow. Natsu, put out the fire."

Natsu swallowed the campfire in one gulp, and everyone quickly went to sleep.

Strange... Where am I? Wait, Slokard! Is that you!? What are you saying? Wait, don't go!... Who are you! A black dragon? Could it be a Shadow Dragon? It disappeared... Ah! What's going on? Why are there so many dragons!? There have to be several hundred of them! That's Igneel! Grandine! Metalicana is there too! And Pershion and Skiadra!... Slokard? Why isn't Slokard here...?

"Slokard!" Feng Lan abruptly opened his eyes and cried out, startling Mira and the others.

Mira looked at Feng Lan, who was drenched in sweat, and asked worriedly, "What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"

Feng Lan looked around before finally coming to his senses. "So it was a dream... I'm fine. I just had a dream."

Mira walked over and touched Feng Lan's forehead. "Mm, I thought you had a fever, but apparently not... Come on, we'll be there soon."

By noon, Feng Lan's group had finally arrived at Mikare Peak. At an outpost on the outskirts of Mikare Peak, someone came out to receive them.

"Wait. Unauthorized people are forbidden from entering."

Feng Lan and the others showed him their guild emblems. "We're mages here to investigate. Could you tell us what's going on?"

Upon seeing their guild emblems, the man immediately became respectful. "Of course. Please follow me."

"Brothers! The mages we've been waiting for are finally here!"

At his shout, several people emerged from the tents and surrounded Feng Lan's group.

Feng Lan stepped forward. "What is the situation right now? Is there no information at all?"

The man shook his head. "No. The only thing we know is that beastly roars and towering icy breath occasionally come from inside... Look!"

"Roar!" A tremendous roar came from deep within the Ice Plain, followed by a blue-white blast of freezing breath.

The sound nearly stunned everyone present. Only Feng Lan and Natsu exchanged terrified looks. "That's... a Dragon's Roar!?"