Dark Guilds

Iron Forest Dark Guilds (Two Days Ago)

"Which guild was that armored woman from?"

"Don't know."

"She looked like a fine woman."

"Damn it! I forgot to hit on her."

Several Iron Forest members were discussing Erza, whom they had met yesterday. They had been deeply captivated by her presence.

At that moment, Iron Forest's ace, the Grim Reaper Erigor, asked, "Hasn't Kageyama returned yet?"

"Wait a little longer. That seal won't be easy to deal with."

"He works too slowly. Now is the perfect time to wipe out those guild masters. We can't miss it. Tell him to hurry up!"

On the train, Ye and the others.

"Tell me, why did you all follow us?"

Happy immediately sold them out. "Natsu heard you invited Ye along for a job, so he got really curious and half-dragged Lucy here."

"You were the ones who forcibly dragged me out!"

"What about Gray?"

Happy said, "We found Gray after we arrived. He followed us too."

"I was curious what kind of job it was, so I sneaked over. Who knew I'd run into these guys? Then Ye found me."

"I see~"

Ye said lazily, "Since you're here, work hard. I can finally slack off, hehehe."

Erza shot Ye an unfriendly look, making cold sweat drip down his back.

At that moment, the train started moving.

Whooo~ Whooo~ Whooo~!

Σ_(꒪ཀ꒪"∠) "Blegh... It really is still so disgusting."

Everyone looked at motion-sick Natsu. Erza said sympathetically, "Come here. I'll help you."

Erza punched Natsu in the stomach. His eyes rolled back, and he fainted on the spot.

"Th-thank... you..."

"Feeling better?"

Seeing Erza ask if he felt better, Ye thought, What the hell do you mean, feeling better? That was straight-up physical exorcism.

Seeing how practiced Erza was with that punch, Lucy broke out in a cold sweat.

After an unknown amount of travel time, Lucy asked, "At the guild, I only saw Natsu and Ye use magic. I haven't seen anyone else's magic. Miss Erza, what kind of magic do you use?"

"Just call me Erza."

Happy said, "Erza's magic is beautiful. Lots of blood flows—enemy blood."

Lucy sweated. "Is that how you define beautiful?"

"It's nothing special. I think Gray's magic is prettier."

Lucy looked curiously at Gray.

Gray clenched his right hand into a fist and placed it against his left palm. Pale blue magic radiated from his palm, and soon, a Fairy Tail emblem made of ice appeared in his hand.

"I use Ice-Make Magic."

"It really is beautiful!" No girl could dislike sparkling things.

"No wonder he and Natsu can never get along. Their attributes are opposites."

Erza looked at Lucy and asked, "You've seen Ye use magic?" Erza knew Ye had no Magic Source and couldn't use magic.

Lucy asked in confusion, "Yeah. Isn't Ye's magic wind magic? That day, I saw him wave his hand and stir up a gale that blew everyone outside."

Erza said, "That wasn't his magic. You'll have the chance to understand someday."

Lucy curiously looked at the sleeping Ye. "That wasn't his magic?"

Ye noticed someone staring at him and slowly opened his eyes, only to see Lucy looking at him.

"Although I'm incredibly handsome, I already have Mira. Even if you like me, it's useless unless you can persuade Mira."

Lucy glared angrily. "Who would like you?! Stop being so narcissistic!"

Having slept enough, Ye asked Erza, "All right, Erza. You should tell us about this job now."

Ye knew Erza's personality very well. Aside from the first time she showed him the process of taking requests, she always completed jobs alone.

"Yeah. Did you run into something troublesome? If you called Ye along, it definitely isn't something minor." Gray also knew Erza's personality well.

"That's true." Erza told everyone about the news she had heard in a tavern after completing her previous request.

"Lullaby... That sounds a little familiar." Ye pondered it.

"You know it?"

"Maybe! But I can't remember right now." Ye roughly knew Fairy Tail's plot, but too much time had passed, and he had forgotten many of the specifics.

Hearing the name Lullaby, Lucy murmured, "A lullaby? Is it some kind of sleep magic?"

"I don't know. But magic sealed away like that must be extremely powerful."

"Maybe those people were only hired to break the seal or something. There's no need to make such a big fuss, right?"

"That's what I thought at first too, until I heard the name Grim Reaper Erigor."

"He's Iron Forest's ace. Since he takes assassination-type requests, he's called the Grim Reaper. He's from a Dark Guild."

The moment Lucy heard the words Grim Reaper and Dark Guild, she jumped in fright.

"Is... is it still not too late for me to leave?"

Happy said, "Lucy, you're leaking lots of juice."

"That's sweat!!!"

"Wait, won't they be punished?" Erza shook her head. "Iron Forest's guild master was arrested, and Iron Forest was disbanded. But Dark Guilds ignore disbandment orders and continue operating. I was far too careless. The moment I heard Erigor's name, I should have caught them and used Blood Sacrifice!"

"Eek! If I'd known, I wouldn't have come. I'm scared I'll lose my little life here."

Ye thought, "Dark Guilds? Those sewer rats who can't show their faces have surfaced again? They really never stop. Didn't what happened back then scare them into staying down?"

Since coming to the world of Fairy Tail, Ye had destroyed so many Dark Guilds that he had lost count.

"No helping it. Since we're here, let's wipe out Iron Forest."

"Whoa! Don't say something so terrifying so casually! They're a Dark Guild! Can just the few of us really handle them?"

The moment Lucy heard the words Dark Guild, she knew these were not people to mess with. They were terrorists among wizards, yet Ye talked about them as lightly as crushing an insect.

Happy said, "It's okay, Lucy. Ye, Erza, Gray, and Natsu are all really strong!"

"Yes, that's right."

"See? Even Erza says—"

"So this job is to find them and eliminate them."

"Whaaat?!"

"Lucy~, you're leaking lots of juice again."

"I told you, that's sweat!!!"

Erza continued, "If they want to unseal Lullaby, they must be planning something extremely dangerous. I can't stand by and ignore it."

Gray said excitedly, "Destroying a Dark Guild? That sounds really fun."

Lucy was completely despairing when Gray said that too. "Damn it, I never should have let Natsu drag me here. Huh? Where's Natsu?"

"Huh?!!! Natsu is gone?"

"What? Natsu got lost?"

"What are we waiting for? Let's go find him!"

Ye said slowly, "Don't panic. Where did we last see Natsu?"

"On the train!! We left Natsu on the train!"

"None of you called for him?"

"We were talking the whole time and completely forgot."

Inside the train.

Natsu woke up and found everyone gone.

"Help me~! How could everyone leave me behind?"

Ye and the others rushed back to Onibus Station.

Erza said remorsefully, "Ah, it's all my fault. I was so focused on talking that I left him behind. He gets motion sickness too. Anyway, it's my fault. Go ahead and punch me."

Lucy tried to comfort her. "It's not that serious. Natsu isn't a child."

"That's right!"

Erza ran to the train control station and explained the situation to the administrator. "That's what happened. I need to stop the train."

There was no room for negotiation.

The administrator stared blankly at Erza. "Is... is that really what happened?"

Lucy no longer had the strength to complain. "Does everyone in Fairy Tail do things the same way?"

Gray hurriedly said, "Hey! We're very serious people."

"Put on some clothes first, exhibitionist!"

"Ah! Since when?!"

The administrator sternly said to Ye and the others, "Stop joking around. I can't halt a train just for one passenger."

Ye spotted the emergency stop signal behind the administrator and walked toward it.

"Sir, what are you doing?"

"Nothing. I'm just looking around."

"Wait, ordinary people aren't allowed in there without permission."

Ye raised his foot and smashed open the door. Seeing the handbrake, he grabbed it and pulled.

Suddenly, everyone on the train heard the alarm ring. "Ding ding ding."

"Was there a malfunction ahead?"

Inside the control room.

"Sorry, I accidentally touched this. Good thing it isn't broken. I'll pull it back."

The administrator's eye twitched as he looked at the broken door.

"Do you really think I'm an idiot? The signal has already been sent out. What's the point of pulling it back?"

Erza hurriedly said upon seeing the brake pulled down, "All right, the train has stopped. Let's hurry and catch up!"

"But the train has already been going for so long. How are we supposed to catch it?"

Erza looked around and spotted a magic four-wheeled vehicle.

She handed all their luggage to the administrator and told him to deliver it to the hotel. Without caring whether he agreed or not, she got into the vehicle and drove away.

As the dust settled, the bewildered administrator was left behind with a cart full of luggage.