It Was Already That Time

Over the next two years, Ed helped Elfman train his control over Beast King's Soul in his spare time. Elfman went berserk many times and was subsequently suppressed.

Elfman successfully mastered the power of Beast King's Soul as well. While carrying out missions, he made a name for himself as Elfman the Beast King.

During this time, Mira's demeanor changed drastically. She no longer acted like a delinquent girl and instead became quiet and refined. Most of the time, she wore long dresses, her entire presence gentle and soft.

Erza found this extremely difficult to get used to. After Elfman successfully mastered the Beast King's power, Mira gradually emerged from the shadows as well, regaining the strength of Mirajane the Demon, an S-Class Mage.

Before that, however, she had been helping Makarov manage the guild and had come to enjoy the work. As a result, she only occasionally went out on missions, spending most of her time as Fairy Tail's poster girl.

After what happened, Lisanna, who had never pursued strength that much, chose to stay at the guild with Mira for long periods and work as a waitress. She spent every day bickering and playing around with Natsu, and lived quite happily.

As for Ed, the protagonist, he had just finished a long-term mission and was on his way back.

"I'm exhausted... This one actually took more than three months... But I finished another S-Class mission. Ah... Ever since Mira stopped taking missions so often, it feels like the remaining S-Class jobs have all been monopolized by Laxus, Erza, and the rest of us. Mystogan is always being all mysterious and impossible to find, and Gildarts never comes back... Do they even have any awareness of being S-Class Mages...?" Ed grumbled nonstop as he walked.

Seeing the sky gradually darken, Ed decided to stay the night and head back tomorrow. "Come to think of it, this is my first time staying overnight in Hargeon. I'll take a look around later and see if there's anything I can bring back for Mira~"

As night fell, Ed wandered through the streets, browsing souvenir shops. "Doesn't seem like there's anything special... Hm? This necklace looks pretty good. Boss, how much is this?"

"You have a good eye, sir. This is a top-quality sapphire necklace. A sapphire this large is extremely rare. If you like it, I'll reluctantly part with it for two million J." The shopkeeper wore an expression that said Ed was getting an incredible bargain.

Ed recalled Mira telling him that when buying things, he had to haggle. And when haggling, he had to start from the ground up. As the saying went, ask for the sky and settle on the ground. Thinking of that, Ed decisively opened his mouth.

"Two hundred thousand J. Deal?"

"Deal!" The owner agreed immediately without the slightest hesitation.

Ed felt like he had spent twenty minutes being tortured by a top-lane Zilean, finally thought he could kill him and get revenge, only for the other side to surrender outright. It felt like he had won, yet not won, and somehow lost completely, but he had indeed won.

"Tch... Next time, I should start at ten thousand J..." Holding the wrapped necklace, Ed muttered to himself as he walked. Suddenly, several girls passed by him.

"Ah... What a disappointment... We actually missed Fire Dragon-sama's banquet..."

"He's a Fairy Tail Mage. You usually never get to see one at all."

"We still didn't make it. By the time we arrived, the ship had already left. We'll just have to wait and see whether there'll be another chance next time. Sigh... I'm so jealous of the girls who made it... We'll ask them what happened when they get back..."

Watching the dejected girls leave, Ed was somewhat confused.

"Fire Dragon? Fairy Tail's?? Isn't that Natsu??? That guy holds banquets now???? How long has it even been? Has Natsu evolved that far already? Does Lisanna know about this?" After thinking for a moment, Ed decided to go take a look.

"If they're talking about a ship, then it should be over at the harbor, right? Let's go check it out." Ed set off toward the harbor to investigate.

Ed quickly arrived at the harbor. Looking at the only ship sailing away into the distance, he guessed that was the one. He took out a Flying Thunder God Kunai, intending to throw it over and have a look, when a black dot suddenly flew off the ship.

"Hm? That looks like Happy? Then it really is Natsu? That guy actually invited girls to a banquet? Wait... Something doesn't seem right... The person down there doesn't look like Natsu...?"

Through Happy, Ed confirmed that Natsu was aboard the ship. But then Happy suddenly fell into the sea. Just as Ed was about to go fish him out, a burst of magic power suddenly erupted from the water, followed by a completely inexplicable tsunami rushing toward the shore.

"!" Ed looked at the oncoming tsunami and quickly left the area to find somewhere safe. The ship had already become wreckage, slammed onto the shore by the tsunami, while the enormous wave swallowed the entire harbor.

"Wow... I don't know who did that, but this scene feels really familiar... Oh! Natsu's over there!" Ed's sharp eyes spotted Natsu standing on the bow, fighting another person.

With just one roar, followed by a punch and a kick, the unknown Mage on the other side dropped to his knees. However, the shockwaves from the battle nearly turned the harbor upside down. At least half of it would probably need major repairs.

Watching Natsu finish the fight, Ed flashed over to his side.

"Quite the scene, Natsu. By the way, you actually invited girls to a banquet? Does Lisanna know about that?" Ed nodded at the bewildered blonde girl who had just run over, then spoke directly to Natsu and greeted Happy as well.

"Hm? Oh~ Long time no see, Ed! You finished your mission already? Are you heading back to the guild?" Natsu greeted him excitedly.

Then Natsu pointed at a well-dressed man in formal attire aboard the ship, who had already fallen unconscious. "Don't even mention it. That's Bora, who got kicked out of Giant's Nose before. He was pretending to be Fairy Tail's Fire Dragon and planning to become a human trafficker. Tch... I thought it was Igneel, so I rushed over here. Turns out it was just this piece of trash."

Natsu spoke with an angry expression, then seemed to suddenly remember something. "Oh right, Ed, this is Susie. She seems like she wants to join the guild."

"It's Lucy!" the blonde girl beside him shouted in protest. "Got it, got it, Ruki."

"Aye! This is Ed! He's a Fairy Tail Mage too! And he's even S-Class!" Happy introduced Ed from the side.

"! Ed the Golden Flash! It's really him!! Is today my lucky day or something..." Lucy was so excited she was nearly fainting. She had wanted to join Fairy Tail in the first place, and now she had encountered two Fairy Tail Mages in a row.

One of them was even the Golden Flash, who had risen to fame over the past two years. The excitement of a fan meeting an idol filled Lucy's mind.

"Mm... I'm heading back tomorrow. And introductions can wait. Right now, we'd better change locations." Rather than responding, Ed pointed in another direction. "Hargeon's army is coming~"

With that, Ed grabbed the two people and one cat with both hands, transforming into a streak of golden light and vanishing from the spot.