On the day of the Harvest Festival, Magnolia was packed with people from early morning.
Rows of stalls lined both sides of South Street, mingling the aromas of roasted meat, candied apples, and freshly baked bread. Grain merchants tied ears of wheat into golden arches, and children wearing paper fairy wings chased and ran through the crowd.
The Fairy Tail store was also in a flurry of activity.
Erza is inspecting the securing ropes of the lead float. She has ultimately abandoned the cannon, but has kept the twelve shields that can be deployed simultaneously, each concealing a cluster of petals behind it.
Natsu and Gray's float was parked on the other side. Half of it was a fire-breathing dragon head, and the other half was an ice-sculpted castle. The two decorations began to encroach on each other from the middle, neither willing to give way.
"Your ice is blocking the dragon's tail!"
"Your dragon tail melted my city walls first!"
The two hadn't even officially set off yet when they started fighting around the float.
Lin Yuan fixed the last True Magic lamp to the sixth float. Mira stood in the center of the float and put eight hundred sheets of silver paper into four cloth bags, making sure that each bag could be opened smoothly.
"We'll use all the paper wings when we get to the central square," she said. "We'll use two hundred for the first two sections."
"The entrance to the space has been adjusted to fit the width of the three street sections."
"Then all that's left is to officially begin."
Mira had just tied up the last bag when Macao came running from the street corner. He was carrying a long staff for lighting fires, but his expression didn't seem to be urging the parade on.
Where is the president?
"Inside the guild," Mira asked, "Was there a problem with the fireworks?"
Macao took a breath. "It wasn't the fireworks that malfunctioned, the whole car is gone."
The Fantasia will conclude with a fireworks display on the riverbank. The regular fireworks prepared by the City Hall and the True Magic fireworks made by Fairy Tail are all loaded into the same enclosed truck, which was originally parked behind the North Warehouse and guarded by two staff members.
When the shift changed in the morning, the truck was still there. Less than half an hour later, only the cut chains remained.
Makarov arrived quickly. After hearing what had happened, he did not immediately alert the other members, but instead had Macao notify the city hall to block the small road near the North Warehouse.
"The disappearance of a truckload of fireworks during the festival will only cause chaos," he said. "The parade will proceed as scheduled."
"We have an hour before we set off," Erza, walking over. "I can take some people to go find them."
"You can't be missing from the lead float."
Makarov looked at Lin Yuan and Mira: "Your float doesn't need to be performed until the very end. Go check the warehouse first. Once you find it, don't use True Magic to move it directly. The fireworks Magic Crystal has been hit and may be unstable."
Lin Yuan put away " Nameless ". Mira handed the four cloth bags to Lisanna for safekeeping, and the two of them walked through the celebrating crowd and headed towards the north of the city.
The North Warehouse is not far from the river, and the nearby stalls have not yet officially opened. Two guards stand next to the empty space, with a piece of cut iron chain lying on the ground.
Lin Yuan crouched down to examine the broken chain. It wasn't destroyed by True Magic, but rather repeatedly snapped by large iron clamps. Two clear wheel tracks remained on the muddy ground, stretching from the back of the warehouse all the way to the alley.
Mira followed the trail for a dozen steps and picked up a yellow cloth strip from the corner of the wall.
"This is the marking for the Harvest Festival wagon."
The guard hurriedly explained, "All trucks entering the North Warehouse are fitted with these cloth straps. People outside won't stop them for inspection once they see them."
"They prepared pliers in advance and even knew when to change shifts," Mira said. "It wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision."
Lin Yuan extended his spatial perception along the alley. There were too many trucks during the festival, and the tire tracks left on the ground overlapped, making it impossible to keep tracking them. He closed his eyes and instead searched for the residual magic power of the fireworks Magic Crystal.
The area behind the warehouse was filled with the lingering scents of festive supplies being transported, while a wisp of fire-attribute magic intermittently extended towards the north gate.
"They didn't go through the main street." Lin Yuan stood up. "The trucks passed the old mill and went to the North Gate."
"Have you left the city?" Mira asked.
"It's not certain yet. The traces of magic stopped once near the city wall."
The two followed the path to the old mill. The roadside vendors were setting up their goods. Hearing their questions, they quickly remembered that a truck covered with a gray tarpaulin had indeed passed by half an hour earlier.
"There were three people driving the cart," the old pottery seller said. "They said they were taking the broken fireworks out of town to dispose of them. I even made way for them."
"Which way?" Mira asked.
"The abandoned quarry outside the North Gate."
Lin Yuan looked at the clock on the city wall. There were only forty minutes left before Fantasia's departure.
What's more troublesome is that the previously stable wisp of fire-attribute magic in the distance suddenly flickered.
One of the firework Magic Crystal is heating up on its own inside the truck.