The next day.
News of the attack on ERA, the Magic Council's headquarters, spread throughout the Kingdom of Fiore overnight.
Magic Flash News printed extra newspapers through the night.
At daybreak, long lines had already formed outside the town's newsstands. Newspapers covered the noticeboards, with crowds packed several rows deep around them.
After all, the headquarters of the Magic Council, which maintained order throughout the magic world, had actually been destroyed. In any era, that would have been a major event that shocked the entire nation.
What was more, the incident involved the famous Fairy Tail.
Magnolia, the temporary base beside the new guild's construction site.
Mira's open-air bar was open for business as usual. Several old tables had been pushed together, their surfaces covered with glasses of liquor and steaming breakfasts.
Everyone had only returned to town late the previous night. As soon as the ship docked, Erza contacted the Magic Council's branch and handed over an entire shipload of prisoners. By the time everything was finished, it was well past midnight, and everyone was exhausted.
So nobody felt like working that day. They all slumped in their chairs, lazily basking in the sunshine, drinking, and catching up on sleep.
"Extra! Big news!!"
Just then, Macao jogged into the base, holding a newspaper high overhead and shouting at the top of his lungs, "The Dark Guild attack on the Magic Council's headquarters made the papers!"
All he received in response, however, was a chorus of halfhearted murmurs.
"Didn't we already know about that...?"
"Exactly. Didn't the Guild Master contact Mira through a Magic Crystal last night? The Council's higher-ups are fine, and all the attackers were defeated."
"The Council won in the end anyway. What's there to make such a fuss about? Yaaawn..."
Natsu simply lay sprawled across