Magic Council

Inside the Magic Council

Because Iron Forest had taken a train station hostage and planned to use "Lullaby" to assassinate the heads of the major guilds, the matter had made headlines and spread throughout the Kingdom of Fiore.

Org said angrily, "These Dark Guilds are completely lawless. They actually dared to target the guild masters."

With so many witnesses, the Magic Council could not simply ignore the matter. The councilors once again discussed how to resolve this incident.

"How about we launch an extermination campaign against the Dark Guilds?"

"But how exactly would that be carried out?"

"Well..."

Siegrain proposed, "Let's put that matter aside for now and deal with this incident first. The Dark Guilds were able to obtain Zeref's magic so easily. If we pursue the matter, the management cannot escape responsibility. Fortunately, Fairy Tail was there and resolved the incident. Otherwise, if the masters of the major guilds had been harmed, I doubt any of us here would be able to keep our positions."

Hearing Siegrain's words, the councilors all fell into deep thought. It was not merely a matter of keeping their positions; if the guild members caused an uproar, they did not even know whether they could settle it.

"Therefore, I propose that Fairy Tail be rewarded this time."

Those among the councilors who disliked Fairy Tail felt rather uncomfortable. They were usually receiving complaints about Fairy Tail, yet this time they had to reward them.

Org spoke at that moment. "Rewards are necessary, but punishment cannot be omitted either. The main switch at Onibus Train Station was destroyed, they forcibly seized a magic four-wheeler, and more than half of Kurogi Train Station was demolished! Clover Town's land also suffered widespread, severe damage!"

"Just thinking about all that gives me a headache. Couldn't those idiots have gone a little easier on the damage? We have to clean up after them."

Yajima smiled. "Compared to before, they've already improved a lot, haven't they? Most importantly, what they did was a good thing."

Councilor Reiji suddenly shouted, "They must be severely punished! Otherwise, where will the dignity of our Magic Council be?" The reason Councilor Reiji hated Fairy Tail so much was not merely their destructive tendencies. More importantly, his granddaughter had been completely smitten with one of Fairy Tail's members.

Everyone looked at the enraged Councilor Reiji. Siegrain had just suggested rewarding Fairy Tail, yet Reiji wanted to punish them severely. No one joined in with him.

Chairman Crawford Seam slowly said, "Then issue an order commending Fairy Tail and arrest the culprit of this incident—Ye!"

When everyone heard the chairman say that Ye was to be arrested, they were all stunned. "Chairman Crawford, why arrest that killing god? Isn't that just asking for trouble?"

"Enough, everyone. My decision is final!"

Inside the Fairy Tail guild

Lucy said pitifully, "Ye, you guys went way too far! I got caught by the Magic Council and lectured for an entire day because of you."

Ye looked at Lucy's expression. "Come on, didn't I warn you? Besides, it was a pretty good experience. You'll know what to do next time you run into something like that. Hahahaha."

Lucy said through tears, "I never want to have an experience like that again (•̩̩̩̩＿•̩̩̩̩)."

Gray hurriedly said, "Don't be sad, Lucy. You've become famous this time—the Iron Maiden of Fairy Tail, who tore Lullaby apart with her bare hands."

Lucy said angrily, "I'd rather not have that title! Iron Maiden, my ass!"

Natsu looked at Erza seriously. "Erza, fight me!"

Everyone in the guild turned to look at Natsu with identical expressions of disbelief.

Gray tried to dissuade him. "You'll be killed. Half a year ago, you got beaten black and blue."

Natsu said seriously, "I'm not who I used to be. This time, I'm confident."

Erza looked at the serious Natsu. "It seems you've grown a lot over the past six months. I can't say I could defeat you easily now, either. Then come on! Let me see how much you've grown these past six months."

"Oh! I'm fired up!"

The two immediately went to the guild entrance and began their duel.

"Place your bets! Place your bets! Erza wins at 1:1.05, Natsu wins at 1:10!"

Lucy looked at those outrageous odds and noticed that Happy was betting as well. Happy looked at the odds before decisively choosing Erza to win.

"You heartless cat!"

"Don't say that, Lucy. I need to survive too."

Lucy said helplessly, "The strongest team is actually fighting each other... :-("

Gray asked in confusion, "What strongest team?"

Lucy hurriedly said, "You, Natsu, Erza, and Ye. Aren't you the strongest people in the guild?"

Gray exclaimed, "Huh? Which bastard told you that? That's completely untrue!"

Mira said tearfully, "It was me. I just thought that if you all worked together, you'd make a really great team."

"You made Mira cry. You're done for—Ye is going to crush you!"

Gray panicked. "Mira, um... this! I didn't mean it! Don't cry!"

At that moment, Elfman said, "If we're talking about the strongest woman, then Erza is unquestionably number one. If we're talking about the strongest man, then it has to be my brother-in-law. A real man!"

"But compared to Natsu, there are still many powerful mages. For example, me," Elfman said proudly.

Lucy looked at Elfman speechlessly and thought, Looks like I still don't understand the people in this guild very well.

At that moment, everything was ready, and the battle was about to begin.

"Requip! Flame Emperor Armor!"

Everyone exclaimed, "Erza even brought out that armor? She's really serious this time."

Natsu looked at Erza as she put on the Flame Emperor Armor. "So I can finally cut loose!"

"Come on, Erza! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

Just as the fist and sword were about to collide—

Smack!

"Alright, alright, stop your duel."

A frog wearing clothes appeared before the members of Fairy Tail.

Lucy complained, "Doesn't anyone think this is strange? A frog wearing clothes (ﾟ⊿ﾟ)ﾂ"

"I will now read the notice issued by the Magic Council. Because the members of Fairy Tail successfully prevented the Iron Forest incident, Fairy Tail is hereby commended."

"Secondly, due to the severe destruction at Kurogi Train Station, Clover Town, and other locations, Fairy Tail mage Ye is hereby placed under arrest!"

When the guild members heard that the Magic Council was going after Ye, they all showed expressions of disbelief.

"Guards, put the Anti-Magic Shackles on him."

Ye looked at the frog before him with displeasure. "What an ill-mannered fellow. Won't someone teach him some manners?" Ye released a faint trace of Conqueror's Haki.

The Magic Council frog trembled as he looked at the young man before him, as though he were seeing a demon.

At that moment, the captain of the soldiers appeared before the frog, giving him a little more confidence.

The captain then came before Ye and said respectfully, "Lord Ye, they are newcomers and don't understand. I'll make sure to teach them properly when we return."

The frog watched as the captain of the soldiers acted so humbly toward a mage.

"You!"

The captain shook his head without speaking. He could not afford to offend either side.

Ye slowly said, "This thing is useless against me." He casually crushed the Anti-Magic Shackles.

Ye said indifferently, "Let's go. Lead the way. I haven't been there in a long time, so I might as well visit some old friends."

"Place your bets, place your bets! Ye is released in court at 1:1, Ye is held for one day at 1:2, two days at 1:3, three days at 1:4."

Lucy watched as no one seemed concerned about Ye and hurriedly said, "Everyone, Ye was arrested! Aren't you worried at all? You're even opening a betting pool instead!"

Mira slowly said, "Because he's Ye."

Lucy looked at Mira in confusion. "Why do you say that?"

"Every time Ye returned from a job before, he would be summoned to the Magic Council. But after the Monster Forest incident, Ye was never summoned again, so no one is worried."

"Still, none of us expected Ye to be summoned this time. The Magic Council finally grew a spine for once."

Lucy asked in confusion, "What happened in the Monster Forest?"

Mira smiled without answering, then turned around and searched through a drawer for something.

"Here, see for yourself."

Lucy looked at the newspaper Mira handed her and muttered, "What is this?"

When Lucy saw the report inside, she said in disbelief, "Th-this... is all of this real?"

"It's real~"

Lucy suddenly understood. "No wonder those soldiers were so respectful after seeing Ye. But is that really something a person can do?"

"It was simply too shocking, so many people are unwilling to believe it was real."

"If it were me, I wouldn't believe it either!"

"But Ye usually acts so carefree. He doesn't seem like that at all!"

"In Ye's words, there hasn't been anyone who can match him so far, so he might as well live life properly. In short, he's taking it easy."

Inside the Magic Council

"Oh~, it's been a long time, everyone. Org, you've gotten quite a bit older."

Org said speechlessly, "With you causing trouble everywhere, how could I not get older?"

"Alright, stop chatting. Criminal Ye, during the Iron Forest incident, you destroyed Kurogi Train Station and caused severe damage to Clover Town. Do you plead guilty?"

"I plead guilty!"

"Alright then, I'll be leaving now. Everyone, you've worked hard!"

After saying that, Ye strode out of the Magic Council and discovered a silver wolf waiting for him.

"Oh! Hati, did you come to pick me up? Come on, I'll take you to eat some meat!"

"Awooo!"

"Chairman, look at him! His attitude is so disrespectful."

The chairman said speechlessly, "== You know that, so don't say it out loud. Seriously."

"Jellal, what do you think of him?"

Jellal slowly said, "He's very strange. I couldn't sense any magic power fluctuations from him, but there is an extremely immense power within his body."

"Then do you think the Monster Forest incident was real?"

"That was probably exaggerated by people. Perhaps the kingdom needed a hero to stabilize public morale."

"Then who do you think is stronger, you or him?"

"Why are you asking that question again?"

"Before, it was all speculation. Now that you've had a direct impression of him, I'm simply asking again."

Jellal thought deeply for a moment, then said confidently, "Do you think he can catch up to my speed?"

Ultear thought of Jellal's magic. In the world of magic, few could keep up with his speed.

Ultear said mysteriously, "I'm really looking forward to a direct confrontation between you and him!"