A Woman Who Yearns for Dragons

"Everyone! I really saw a dragon! A huge black dragon!"

The little girl raised her hand high, struggling to gesture the size of the black dragon she spoke of.

But the adults around her paid no mind. She had said this many times before, and they dismissed it as childish nonsense.

"Daphne, you're fantasizing again."

"What dragons are even left in this world?"

"Yeah, they're all dead."

"Maybe you mistook a winged lizard monster for a dragon? Kids have the best imaginations."

"..."

The adults laughed and humored her, but Daphne insisted she had seen a dragon with her own eyes. Her repeated claims wore on some of them.

"Stop being ridiculous, Daphne. You're just an orphan kid—what's the point of imagining all that?!"

"How can you pick on a child like that?"

"Daphne, are you okay? Here, have some candy..."

"..."

Pushed down and then helped up, the little girl's eyes were red. That day, she made up her mind: she would bring dragons back into this world.

If she couldn't prove the giant black dragon she'd seen was real, then she would create one herself!

From then on, for the sake of reviving the dragons she worshipped, Daphne studied hard every day until late, eventually becoming a highly talented magical scientist.

But magical science research required massive funding and resources, especially a project as resource-intensive as recreating a dragon. Daphne couldn't afford it, nor could she find anyone willing to invest.

Yet, when all seemed lost, a priest claiming interest in dragons approached Daphne, offering to fund her and providing a fire-attribute "Dragon Slayer Lacrima."

Faced with this unexpected olive branch, even knowing the man wasn't trustworthy, Daphne accepted without hesitation, driven by her longing for dragons.

The priest demanded she not conduct research in areas under the Council's supervision, so she returned to her hometown, a small town where she opened a research institute in a corner.

As her research deepened, Daphne's focus narrowed to "dragons" alone. She created an Artificial Lifeform with consciousness and gave it the form of a dragon.

For her experiments, Daphne went so far as to force the townspeople to fight the "Artificial Lifeform: Dragoon," a ridiculous act.

But every villager knew "Concealment" magic, and terrified of Daphne, they all hid using it.

This enraged Daphne, whose mind had grown fanatical. Using the Dragoon's power, she sealed off the town and made the "Concealment" magic impossible to undo.

Yet the Dragoon's research soon hit a dead end.

Though the Dragon Slayer Lacrima was made from the hearts of dead dragons, its magic was ultimately finite, unable to sustain the Dragoon's activity long-term.

A dragon's life force and magic far surpassed a human's. With dragons extinct, the only way to find matching magic was to use Dragon Slayer Mages, who fought with "dragon power."

Since the Dragoon was created around a fire-attribute Dragon Slayer Lacrima, Daphne needed a Dragon Slayer Mage of the same element.

The cherry-haired boy who had once barged into Silent Town was a perfect target.

But the collaborating priest stopped Daphne, warning that the target's magic guild was too troublesome for them to handle.

Years passed without finding another Fire Dragon Slayer, but Daphne never expected that her former target would deliver himself to her doorstep.

Her glasses reflected Natsu's figure as the Dragoon behind her roared. Daphne stared at Natsu, consumed by extreme emotion.

Turn the Dragoon into a true dragon!

The Artificial Lifeform dragon opened its maw and spewed a blazing torrent of fire, mercilessly engulfing the intruder.

The white-robed priest Dartz glanced at his partner. "Hey, Daphne! Don't burn that Dragon Slayer to death."

"Relax. A Fire Dragon Slayer is immune to most flames. I'll need you to help capture him later."

Daphne commanded the Dragoon's attack, her real goal to eliminate everyone except Natsu.

Unfortunately, she underestimated the Dragon Slayer and overestimated the Dragoon's power.

The flames from the Dragoon suddenly twisted, coiling into noodle-like strands, and before Daphne's stunned eyes, Natsu devoured them all.

Beyond immunity, there was ingestion—the "Dragon Slayer" magic that granted humans a dragon's constitution was no simple thing.

Wiping his mouth, Natsu's lips curled into a slight smirk.

"Thanks for the meal."

"Now, here's my return gift!"

Magic erupted as Natsu unleashed the Fire Dragon's Iron Fist again.

But this time, his right arm was coated in a mysterious, pitch-black luster, even the spinning crimson magic circle tinged with a deep darkness.

The roaring Dragon Slayer flames, the unyielding Haki-clad fist.

With one blow, Natsu shattered half of the Dragoon's body.

Noah casually knocked a Dark Magic Cult member unconscious, watching expressionlessly as Natsu tore the Dragoon apart piece by piece.

A dragon-shaped biological weapon built around a Dragon Slayer Lacrima, going up against a Dragon Slayer Mage—of course it was a lost cause.

An Artificial Lifeform dragon, after all, was no true dragon.

Still, this left Noah with a deeper impression of Dragon Slayer Magic.

He absolutely could not let his own "Dragon Knights" face off against Dragon Slayer Mages—Noah had no desire to see Edolas's four hundred years of effort smashed to pieces like the "Dragoons."

"Noah! Stop posing and looking cool! That priest is getting away!"

Gray knocked the small fry howling with a hammer of ice, but he couldn't stop the Black Magic Priest Dartz from making his escape.

But before Noah could move, Mira, who had taken on her Satan Soul, was faster and gave chase. Watching the two of them fight farther and farther away, Noah chose not to follow.

Though it was widely rumored that Black Magic Priests were on par with S-Class Mages, based on Noah's previous encounters with three of them, that claim held no water.

He didn't know about other guilds, but at least Noah could be sure that Fairy Tail's S-Class Mages were absolutely stronger than Black Magic Priests.

A guild that brawled every day—wasn't it only natural for them to be a bit stronger?

Besides, Noah had another reason to stay behind.

Daphne's Artificial Lifeform dragon possessed a certain degree of self-awareness—in other words, life.

Noah wanted to get his hands on that technology.