Chapitre 101: Returning to the Guild

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

September, x781.

"Ultear, who is this you brought back with you?" Makarov asked after seeing the little girl following behind Ultear.

"*Sigh* That's a long story." Ultear said while scanning the guild hall. Then, after not seeing who she was hoping to see, she started walking toward the bar. "I met her after I finished my quest. On the way back, I came across a village that was being attacked by a Dark Guild."

"Did you engage?" Makarov asked.

"I did." Ultear replied with a nod. "But by the time I got there, most of the villagers had already been killed. There were only a few weak wizards going around checking for survivors."

"Do you know which Dark Guild they came from?" Ur asked curiously.

"After calling the people from the Magic Council to pick up the ones I captured, they said they were from Grimoire Heart."

With that, Makarov, Ur, Ren, and Masa fell silent for a few moments.

"Grimoire Heart, huh?" Makarov said in a solemn tone before taking a swig from his mug of ale. "*Sigh* That village was really unlucky."

"Seriously unlucky." Ur added while shaking her head. "They weren't even taking prisoners. That means they were probably there just for resources."

"Wait… You know who they are?" Ultear asked.

"Of course we do." Ren said. "They're one of the big three Dark Guilds that make up the Balam Alliance."

"The Balam Alliance is basically in charge of all the weaker Dark Guilds in Fiore." Ur continued. "And according to rumors, they have multiple S-Class wizards among their numbers."

"Anyway, back to the matter at hand." Makarov said. "So, I assume you want to let her join the guild, correct."

"That's right." Ultear replied. "From what I can tell, she has a good talent for magic. But it doesn't look like she's awakened it yet."

"Hm…" Makarov hummed as he focused on the little girl behind Ultear.

Along with Makarov, the other three also focused on the pink-haired little girl. When they did, what they saw was a girl around the age of nine with short, straight pink hair and green eyes gripping onto the back of Ultear's clothes while only showing half of her face from behind the older girl.

"Child, come a little closer." Makarov said as he hopped down from the bar top. "I promise you are safe here. I just want to check your potential for magic."

Not moving immediately, the little girl first looked up to Ultear, who nodded at her encouragingly. Then, she let go of Ultear's clothes and took a step forward from behind her.

"What is your name, Child?" Makarov asked while wearing a grandfatherly smile.

"Meredy…" The little girl, Meredy, replied quietly.

"Quite the lovely name, I must say." Makarov replied, maintaining his smile. "Then, he extended his hand toward Meredy as he continued. "Please, give me your hand. I'll check for magic power in your body. And I'll awaken it if you do indeed have some."

Hearing that the old man standing in front of her would awaken her magic power, Meredy's eyes lit up.

"Does that mean I'll be able to do magic like the performers in my village?" Meredy asked excitedly. "Will I be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat? Or maybe cut a person in half and put them back together? Ooh, what about---"

"Hahaha!" Makarov laughed loudly at the quick change in attitude from a shy little girl who was uncomfortable around strangers to an energetic girl who was curious about magic, bringing an end to Meredy's excited ramblings. "Child, If it is true that you have magic power inside of you, you'll be able to do so much more."

At first, when Makarov began laughing, Meredy recoiled. Thinking that she had spoken out of turn, she lowered her head. However, when she heard Makarov's following words, she could not help her eyes lighting up again with a smile gracing her faced shortly afterward.

A moment later, Meredy finally extended her hand toward Makarov, the anxiety in her expression nowhere to be seen by now.

Meanwhile, Makarov, after taking the girls hand, closed his eyes to feel the flow of magic power in Meredy's body. However, less than a second later, he frowned slightly before opening his eyes wide in surprise.

"Master, is there something wrong?" Ultear asked after seeing Makarov's reaction.

"No, quite the contrary." Makarov replied. "It's no wonder you couldn't tell that this child's magic power had been awakened."

"Huh? What do you mean" Ultear asked in confusion.

At the same time, Ur stood from her seat at the bar. Then, after taking a few steps forward, she crouched down in front of Meredy, next to Makarov. Then, she swatted at the back of Makarov's head, who thought he was stealthily stealing glances at her behind after she crouched.

"Damn perverted old geezer." Ur muttered before focusing on Meredy again. "Would you mind if I inspected your magic power as well?"

Instead of answering immediately, Meredy focused on Ur's face for a few moments. Then, her attention turned toward Ultear, returning to Ur a moment later. This action repeated itself several times before Ultear spoke up, clearing up Meredy's confusion.

"We look alike, huh?" Ultear said with a smile.

"Uh huh." Meredy replied with a nod.

"Well, that's because she's my mother, Ur… Ur Milkovich." Ultear said with a smile.

"Oh~~." Meredy replied in realization. Then, she looked at Ur again. "I thought she was your big sister."

Hearing that, Ur puffed up with pride.

"Well, I do look good for my age, after all." Ur said as she took hold of Meredy's hand.

*Bang!*

"Aunt Ur! Gramps! I'm back!" Elicia shouted as she swung the doors to the guild hall open. "Is Fonzie---"

Elicia's words were caught in her throat at that moment. Feeling an intense dark aura, Elicia looked for its source. Eventually, she found it near the bar. Seeing Ur crouching in front of a pink-haired little girl while said little girl was holding back a giggle, Elicia immediately realized why Ur was so angry.

'She must have been bragging about how good she looks for her age in front of that little girl.' Elicia thought to herself after assessing the situation. 'Until I called her "Aunt" so loudly, at least. By the way, that little girl looks kinda familiar. That pink hair, those green eyes… Is that Meredy?'

"Damn you, Elicia." Ur said through gritted teeth. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Aunt? Even Alfonzo has stopped."

"But you're, like---" Elicia started to say while tilting her head cutely.

"If you finish that sentence, you'll regret it." Ur said in a dark tone.

"Come on, Lici, stop messing with Ur." Marin, who no one noticed walking next to Elicia thanks to her loud entrance, said with a smile on her face.

As it turns out, Elicia had taken Marin along with her on a quest to gain experience, much like Alfonzo did with Sun. Although Marin was sill only a C-Class wizard, and most of the wizards in her generation, with the exception of Levy, Jet, and Droy, took quests alone until they were B-Class, Marin was an exception, having started training much later in life than the rest.

"*Sigh* Fine…" Elicia said with a pout. "But I love seeing that look on her face. It's kinda cute."

"You have some really strange tastes, Lici." Marin said with a wry smile. "How can you call Ur's angry face cute?"

"I mean… She's really pretty, so most of her expressions are either cute or beautiful, right?" Elicia replied as she and Marin started walking toward the bar to report their quest.

"That actually… makes sense?" Marin replied, a little lost for words.

At the same time, after being praised as pretty, a lot of Ur's hostility vanished instantly. Meanwhile, Ultear could only look on with a wry smile.

'*Sigh* I need to take some lessons from Elicia.' Ultear thought to herself. 'Whenever Mom gets mad at me, I just freeze up. Yet, Elicia handles her anger so easily.'

"Anyway, what di you mean when you said it made sense that I couldn't tell if Meredy's magic power had been awakened, Master?" Ultear asked, trying to get the conversation back on topic.

"Ahem! Right." Makarov said, trying to cover up the fac that he was giggling at Ur's misfortune. "What I meant was---"

"Her magic power is awakened." Ur cut in. "But her magic power flow is so smooth that it's hard to tell. The only ones among you with this level of magic power flow are Alfonzo, Elicia, and Marin, but that's mostly due to the kind of magic she uses."

"Yeah…" Marin replied with a nod. "If my magic power moved to erratically, people would be able to tell that I was transformed."

In fact, Marin's magic, [Transformation Magic], was much more than the [Disguise Magic] Cana originally mentioned. Instead of just changing her outward appearance, Marin could change everything about herself to match the target. Everything except for her memories, that is.

On top of that, she could also transform any object that she touched into something else, too. Though, there were many more restrictions in that case. For example, she could [Transform] a knife into a sword if she wanted to. Though the sword would be much lighter than an average sword and much more fragile as well.

However, she would not be able to turn that same knife into a strawberry shortcake, something Erza pestered her to try while Alfonzo was not able to cook. And the reason was simple, the components making up the two were two different.

Another thing to take note of with Marin's [Transformation Magic] was that anything Marin transformed, including herself, would only last as long as Marin's magic power was inside of it.

"Then, that means her magic power control should be pretty good, right?" Elicia asked with a smile. Then, she approached Meredy and crouched down in front of her. "Hi, I'm Elicia. It's nice to meet you."

"Hi, I'm Meredy." Meredy replied energetically, much like Elicia had done.

"After deciding what kind of magic you want to use, you're gonna train with us from now on, okay" Elicia asked.

"Train?" Meredy asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"It's what you do to get stronger and learn how to use your magic better." Elicia replied.

A moment later, Elicia held out her hands out in front of Meredy. Then, from the tips of her fingers, a large number of threads were ejected before weaving themselves together into a pair of golden, wing-shaped accessories that she placed in Meredy's hair, just behind the little girl's ears.

"O.M.G. Those are like-uber-cute!" Marin exclaimed after seeing the accessories Elicia made.

Hearing that, Meredy slowly raised her hands to her ears. Then, she gently touched the ornaments in her hair. A moment later, she smiled happily before turning to Ultear.

"Ultear, are they cute?" Meredy asked with an innocent smile on her face.

"They are." Ultear replied with a smile.

'So, she's already imprinted on Ultear.' Elicia thought to herself. 'But with Ur here, she'll probably see her as a big sister rather than a mother… I think.'

"Anyway, the three of you need to report on your quests." Makarov said, breaking the fluffy atmosphere.

"Oh yeah, completely forgot about that." Elicia replied before sticking out her tongue. A moment later, her expression turned melancholy. "I wonder how Fonzie's quest is going. *Sigh* I miss Fonzie. I wonder when he's coming back. It's already been more than a week."

"Maybe it's taking longer than usual because he's trying to cure the disease." Marin said, patting Elicia on the shoulder. "But I don't think there's a reason to worry. After what happened with the Leviathan, Alfonzo will probably be even more careful than usual. On top of that, Sun is with him---"

"Sun~~~~~~~~~!" Gozaburo groaned loudly after hearing his daughter's name. "Where are you, Sun? Daddy misses you. I promise I'll even be nice to that brat if you come back to me!"

Naturally, Gozaburo's outburst caused… very few of the guild members to pay him any attention. It is not like this was the first time Gozaburo had shouted for Sun since she left with Alfonzo. So, they had all gotten used to it over the last few days.

"Geez, Dad, can you knock it off? That's so embarrassing." The voice Gozaburo had been waiting for sounded from the guild hall's entrance. "Still, You'd better keep your promise. If you don't, I'll never talk to you again."

Looking over to the source of the voice, everyone saw Alfonzo and Sun walking through the guild's entrance. While Alfonzo was smiling wryly, Sun wore an embarrassed blush on her face.

"Sun!" Gozaburo shouted, standing up in an explosive manner.

"Fonzie!" Elicia shouted with just as much vigor as Gozaburo.

A moment later, Elicia and Gozaburo had rushed to the newly arrived duo and wrapped Alfonzo and Sun in tight hugs, respectively.

"Welcome back, Fonzie/Sun! I missed you!" Elicia and Gozaburo shouted in unison.

While Alfonzo's wry smile morphed into a genuine one, Sun's embarrassed blush turned into awry smile. Even so, they both replied to the person clinging to them.

"I'm back."

L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS
SixthSense1029

2/3

Still got one more to come.

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Chapitre 102: The Three Reports

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

September, x781.

A few moments later, Alfonzo, with Elicia hanging off of him like a cloak, and Sun, with Gozaburo clinging to her as if he would never let her go, approached the small group gathered by the bar. However, before either of them could greet the others, a blue blur flew toward Alfonzo.

"Alfonzo's back!" happy shouted as he landed on Alfonzo's left shoulder and began hugging his head. "I missed you so~~ much."

While Sun and Gozaburo slowly started inching away from Alfonzo, Elicia smiled at the cute creature that is Happy. Meanwhile, Alfonzo narrowed his eyes, feeling that Happy wanted something from him.

"What's up, Happy?" Alfonzo asked. "You need something?"

"Can't I just be happy to see you?" Happy asked with an innocent expression on his face.

A moment later, Natsu, who was also in the guild hall, approached quickly.

"Hey, Alfonzo, since you're back, can you cook this fish I caught?" Natsu asked with a smile while carrying a large fish.

"No way, Natsu!" Happy shouted from atop Alfonzo's shoulder. "Fishies are best eaten raw!"

"No way, Happy… Fish is bet however Alfonzo cooks it." Natsu disagreed.

As the two best friends argued about the best way to eat a fish, Alfonzo narrowed his eyes even further.

"So, you only came to greet me because you wanted me to agree to make the fish into sushi or sashimi before Natsu could say anything, huh?" Alfonzo asked as he turned his head and stared into Happy's eyes.

"N-No, of course not." Happy sputtered. "I was just glad you came back safely."

After speaking, Happy broke eye contact by turning his head to the side. Then, he tried, and failed, to whistle innocently, resulting in the side of Alfonzo's face being showered in his saliva.

Greatly annoyed by Happy's antics, Alfonzo raised his right hand and wiped off the saliva. Then, he looked at Natsu.

"Got any ideas on how you want the fish cooked, Natsu?" Alfonzo asked.

Hearing that, Natsu's eyes lit up. At the same time, Happy's expression fell, feeling betrayed.

"Alfonzo, you're so mean~~~!" Happy cried as he spread his [Aero Magic], and flew away from Alfonzo's shoulder.

Seeing the tears in Happy's eyes, Natsu was snapped back to reality. Then, he quickly turned around and chased after Happy.

"You can cook it in whatever way you think is best, Alfonzo!" Natsu shouted as he ran toward the back entrance of the guild hall. "Hey, Happy, wait up! I promise to share it with you."

"Fonzie, wasn't that a bit too much?" Elicia asked in a slightly reprimanding tone.

"Hell no." Alfonzo said, still wiping cat saliva out of his face. "That cat spit all over my face. He's lucky I didn't turn him into a delicacy."

Meanwhile, Sun and, for the first time, Gozaburo looked at Alfonzo with admiration in their gazes. They were quite impressed at how easily he drove their arch-nemesis, a cat, away without resorting to violence.

Not paying attention to the gazes of admiration, Alfonzo greeted the gathered people. Then, he glanced at Meredy, who he recognized immediately.

'With Ultear and Meredy here, two of the Seven Kin of Purgatory are members of Fairy Tail.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'I wonder if Hades will recruit people to fill their spots. Or maybe those two… I can't remember their names… the ones who fought Levy and Gajeel, will be part of the seven.'

"Anyway, I assume the five of you were able to complete your quests." Makarov said once their was a break in the conversation. "Why don't you give your reports."

With that, Ultear, the first to arrive, was the first to give her report.

"Well, as you know, I took a quest to investigate the cause of a polluted hot spring." Ultear said, starting her report. "It wasn't a tourist spot, or anything. Just a hot spring used by a village for relaxation. Anyway, when I arrived, the spring was a murky brown color. So, I froze the entire spring and had the villagers help me remove the block of ice."

*Smack!*

When Ultear got to that point, Makarov face palmed hard enough to leave a red handprint on his face.

"What's the matter, Master?" Ultear asked in confusion.

"We don't have to compensate for the frozen spring, do we?" Makarov asked, a pleading expression on his face.

"*Cough* Anyway, like I was saying…" Ultear continued. "After removing the ice from the pond, we found a corrosive slime frozen solid in the ice."

"Why can't you kids do anything without destroying whatever it is you touch?" Makarov asked with tears in his eyes.

"Anyway, after I shattered the ice into dust, the slime shattered along with it." Ultear said, acting as if she could not see Makarov's tears. "So, they gave me the completion letter and the promised bonus for taking care of the cause of the hot spring's state.."

Ultear then reached into her traveling bag, that was still on her back, and pulled out an envelope filled with money and the completion letter.

"Then, while I was on my way back to the nearest town with a train station, I came across Meredy's village being attacked and I saved her from the members of Grimoire Heart."

"*Sigh* Good job, Ultear." Makarov said while shaking his head. "But try not to destroy anything on your next quest."

"I'll try." Ultear said while averting her gaze.

"What about you two?" Makarov asked, now looking at Elicia and Marin. "You two didn't destroy anything, right?"

"No, we didn't." Elicia said proudly. "Come on Gramps, have I ever done that?"

"*Sigh* And that's why you're one of my favorites." Makarov replied with a smile. "Anyway, let's hear your report."

"Okay!" Elicia said happily. "Marin and I took a B-Class quest to retrieve a stolen book. But the key was that we couldn't be seen while doing so. And that's where Marin's magic really came in handy."

Hearing Elicia praise her excitedly, Marin could not help but blush a little. Even so, she wore a happy smile the whole time.

"So, after scoping out the place, you know like ninjas, we found out that there was a freshly recruited group of guards." Elicia said, continuing her report. "Oh, by the way, the stolen book was in the private library of someone in the capital. So, we were in Crocus."

"The client was in Crocus, too." Marin added.

"That's right." Elicia said with a nod. "If we had to run around from place to place, this job would have been a pain. Anyway, after we identified the guard who was the least familiar with everyone else, I knocked him out. Then, Marin [Transformed] into him."

"Then, I spent the next few days trying to gain access to the library." Marin continued where Elicia left off. "Eventually, I was asked to go in and find a book for the mistress of the house. And that's when I got the chance."

"Still, you were lucky." Elicia said with a smile. "To think, when you got frustrated after not being able to find the book and kicked a bookshelf, it would just fall on your head."

"Lici, you dint' have to tell them that part." Marin said with a pout.

"Hold on, why do you know all that?" Ur asked curiously. "It almost sounds like you were right there with her."

"Oh, that's because I was." Elicia said, puffing out her chest in pride.

"So, you used your [Hiding in Plain Sight] spell to follow Marin around the whole time?" Alfonzo asked.

"Yup!" Elicia said as she tightened her hug on Alfonzo. "You know me so well."

"If you could do that, why didn't you just go in and steal the book yourself?" Ren asked.

"Because… I took this quest with Marin so she could gain some experience." Elicia said, her playful expression disappearing for a moment. A moment later, however, she was back to smiling brightly. "And watching Marin was awesome. She's like a spy master!"

"Come on Elicia, you're exaggerating." Marin said with a blush.

"Anyway, so what did you do after finding the book?" Makarov asked, reminding the duo that they were supposed to be giving a report.

"Oh, right." Marin replied, her blush deepening with her embarrassment. "After making sure it was the right book, I took a book that I had been carrying with me and [Transformed its outer appearance into the book we were looking for, charging it with enough magic power to last for three days. Then, I put it in the place our book fell from."

"After that, we waited until nighttime, then when it was time for the guy Marin [Transformed] into to go to bed, we put him in his bed and snuck out of the mansion." Elicia said with a smile. "Then, we brought the book to the client and got the quest completion letter."

"Wait, you said you spent a few days in the mansion, right, Marin?" Ur asked.

"Yeah, that's right." Marin replied in a slightly confused tone.

"Then what did you do with the guard during that time?" Ur asked another question. "I mean, while you took his place.

"Oh, I took care of that." Elicia said, raising her hand above her head. "After knocking him out, I would wake him up when it was time to eat. Then, I would give him a meal and something to drink. After that, I would knock him out again. And he never saw me the whole time. I bet he thought he was having a nightmare when he went back to his normal schedule."

While Elicia giggled at the way she handled the situation, everyone, other than Alfonzo and Marin, felt a chill go down their backs. Then, they all had the same thought at the same time.

'Note to self, don't piss off Elicia.'

"So, what kind of book was it?" Alfonzo asked curiously.

"*Sigh* It was a limited-edition erotic novel." Marin said in a tone of regret. "Oh, how I wanted to fail the quest and keep it for myself. It would have looked so glorious sitting at the top of my collection."

"Bad, Marin." Elicia scolded jokingly. "As Fairy Tail wizards, we don't fail quests."

"Yeah, I know…." Marin replied with her shoulders slumping.

"What's an erotic novel?" Meredy asked in an innocent tone filled with curiosity.

Immediately, Ultear's head snapped in Marin's direction as she glared at the guild's source of corruption.

"Come on, Ultear, don't look at me like that." Marin said with a sheepish smile on her face. "You forgot she was here, too."

While Marin's statement was not enough to stop Ultear's glare, it did manage to cause a light dusting of red to climb onto her cheeks. Meanwhile, Ur pulled Meredy into a hug to avert her attention.

"What kind of magic do you wanna learn?" Ur asked with a smile. "We have a whole library filled with magic books to pick from."

"Really?" Meredy asked, completely forgetting the conversation about erotic novels. "Can I learn any kind I want? How many can I learn? How many can you use? What kind is your favorite?"

While Meredy bombarded Ur with questions about magic, everyone else sighed in relief after the crisis of a little girl learning about erotic novels too early was averted.

"And what about you two?" Makarov asked, turning his attention to Alfonzo and Sun.

At that moment, Alfonzo and Sun exchanged glances.

"Alright, I'll give the report." Alfonzo said with a nod after breaking eye contact with Sun. "The first thing we did after arriving in Resenbool was ask someone for directions to the Rockbell residence, where the client lived."

As Alfonzo spoke to that point, he glanced at Elicia, whose eyes were shining in recognition. Then, Alfonzo went on to explain everything that went on during their stay in Resenbool, including his recovery from magic power exhaustion. On top of that, he did not skimp on praise for Sun and how well she handled herself in the mine.

"Come on, Alfonzo, I wasn't that great, ya see." Sun said with a bashful expression on her face. "In the end, you still had to save me."

Meanwhile, Gozaburo wore a conflicted expression. After seeing the expression on Sun's face and hearing that Alfonzo kept her from being hurt, he didn't know what to think. While on the one hand, he would never think that Alfonzo was good enough for his darling, perfect Sun. He understood that Alfonzo was strong enough to keep her save.

Seeing Gozaburo's conflicted expression, Ren approached him and whispered in his ear.

"Why don't you try judging him by his actions." Ren said in a whisper. "You might see that he's much better than you expected."

'Besides, if you don't get your act together, I'll end up leaving you. I might even try to get in his bed.' Ren thought to herself. 'I've heard Cana brag about how good he is in bed when she's had too much to drink. And Mama has needs, after all.'

Not long later, Alfonzo finished the report.

"Well, all of you did a great job." Makarov said with a smile. "Why don't you all head home and take the rest of the day off. You've earned it."

"Sounds good to me." Alfonzo replied with a smile. "Ultear, Marin, why don't you drop by at our house and have dinner with us."

"That sounds great." Ultear replied with a slight blush on her face.

"Hell yeah!" Marin cheered. "Delicious food, get!"

At that moment, Meredy separated from Ur. Then, she tugged on the hem of Ultear's shirt.

"Ultear, can I come, too?" Meredy asked, clearly not wanting to separate from Ultear.

Instead of answering, Ultear looked at Alfonzo and Elicia. It was their house, after all.

"Of course you can come." Elicia said with a smile. "That's not a problem, is it?"

"Nope." Alfonzo replied. "Anyway, let's get going."

With that, Alfonzo turned toward the rest of the guild hall.

"Hey, Natsu!" Alfonzo shouted, not sue if Natsu had returned with Happy yet. "If you want me to cook that fish for you today, come to my house!"

Then, Alfonzo and the girls left the guild hall and got in the cars before heading toward the mansion, with Ultear and Meredy riding with Elicia, in her Z3. Meanwhile, Marin climbed in the back seat of Alfonzo's Vanquish with Sun riding in the passenger seat.