章 270: Arriving in the Royal Capital

Edolas, Edolas Continent, Louen.

November, x784.

After Alfonzo explained his plan, which was actually quite simple, Alfonzo, Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Wendy, and Carla made their way over to the airship dock. Along the way, with the use of his [Electromagnetism Magic], Alfonzo made them all invisible by bending the visible light around the group. As a result, they were able to get extremely close to the Royal Army's airship without being detected.

Meanwhile, Elicia, moving on her own, spread her [Magic Power Detection] all over the town of Louen. Although she was unable to detect the presence of any of the people in the town, she could sense all the magic items the Royal Army held. So, following them to their destination was quite simple.

On top of that, using her [Camouflage magic], she, like Alfonzo, rendered herself invisible to the members of the Royal Army as she approached.

'It looks like Fonzie was right.' Elicia thought to herself as she reached the Royal Army's destination. 'They were here to shut down the underground black market.'

Upon arrival, the first thing Elicia noticed were the soldiers guarding the black market's entrance. Although it seemed as though the soldiers were making sure that no one would be able to enter and disturb their operation, she knew they were actually there for the exact opposite reason.

'They really don't wanna let anyone escape, huh?' Elicia thought as she walked past the soldier's blockade. 'Still, I need to know their next destination. We can't afford to end up somewhere other than the Royal Capital if we hitch a ride on their airship.'

With that thought, Elicia made her way into the underground black market. And when she finally arrived where the merchants usually sold their goods, the only thing she could see was pandemonium. Everywhere she looked, soldiers of the Royal Army were apprehending the merchants who illegally sold magic items. And for those who resisted, they were killed directly.

Knowing that the merchants in this place were only trying to make a living, Elicia's first reaction was to help them. Unfortunately, that would alert the Royal army of her presence. So, with her fists clenched and her teeth gritted, Elicia simply watched what was going on as she moved among the people.

After a few minutes spent observing the Royal Army and how they efficiently defeated all the merchants and their guards, Elicia finally came across a familiar face.

'It's this world's Erza.' Elicia thought to herself as she approached the well-endowed tall woman with long, wavy, scarlet red hair with an elegant knot tied at the back of her head. 'And she's definitely just as shameless as our Erza, having no issue showing off the goods to anyone who wants to see them.'

As Elicia whispered that last part, she observed the black bikini armor, lightly armored gauntlets and greaves, black thigh-high boots, and the white cloth hanging from the left hips that Erza wore while supervising her soldiers.

"But that weapon could be dangerous." Elicia said to herself as she noticed the black, metallic spear resting against the Edolas Erza's, Erza Knightwalker's, shoulder. "Well, it could be dangerous to anyone except Fonzie, anyway. But what was it called again? Ten Commandments? I think that's it."

"Captain Knightwalker, Ma'am." A Royal army soldier said with a salute. "All the criminals have been arrested. We await your orders."

"Very good." The Edolas Erza said with a nod while her expression remained stern. "Prepare to transport this riff-raff to the capital. They will be executed publicly for their crimes and disrespect against the crown."

"Ma'am!" The soldier replied with another salute as he ran back towards the other soldiers to relay his captain's orders."

"Ha! It's already been two years since that woman died. But now that I'm the Captain of the Second Magic War Division, All the Kingdom's enemy's will be destroyed." Erza muttered after the soldier left. "I can't believe I spent so much time as her second in command. That disgrace Elicia Phyllis actually fell in love with a member of those criminals from Fairy Tail. But at least she did something good by killing quite a few of its members. She even managed to kill their troublesome guild master. But how stupid was she to kill herself afterwards? If it were me, I would have captured him, chained him up in my quarters and had my way with him for the rest of his miserable life."

The more she spoke about what she would have done to Alfonzo's counterpart from Edolas, Erza Knightwalker's breath started becoming ragged as she began rubbing her thighs together. On top of that, she started hugging her spear's shaft while rubbing her body on it.

'So, my counterpart killed herself after killing Fonzie's counterpart, huh?' Elicia asked herself internally after hearing Knightwalker's muttering. 'She must have loved him as much as I love my Fonzie. It even looks like this world's Erza had a thing for him, too. But what's up with the other Fonzie's ability to attract crazy women?'

A moment later, Elicia's shoulders sagged in slight depression.

'Don't I have the same problem on Earth Land? I mean, Karen, Darkness, Virgo, Bacchus, though that one might have been fixed, and Ichiya.' Elicia thought to herself as she remembered all the weirdos that were attracted to her. 'I guess I don't really have any room to tease Fonzie about this.'

*Swoosh!*

Just as that thought was finished, Elicia quickly ducked down to avoid the tip of the Edolas Erza's spear.

'Her instincts are pretty good.' Elicia thought as she slowly backed away from Knightwalker, who was inspecting the tip of her spear curiously. 'She shouldn't have been able to sense me with any of her five senses thanks to [Hiding in Plain Sight]. But she still almost stabbed me. Anyway, I got the information I needed. It's time to get back to Fonzie and the others.'

And just like that, Elicia made her way out of the underground black market just as quietly as she entered. Meanwhile, the Edolas Erza, who thought she felt someone watching her was confused by the lack on the tip of her spear.

"Was it just my imagination?" The Edolas Erza asked herself as she rested her spear over her shoulder again. "But it really did feel like someone was watching me from close by."

"Captain Knightwalker, are you alright?" Several soldiers asked after seeing their captain thrust her spear at empty air.

"I'm fine. Just complete your orders." Knightwalker barked in return.

Scared by their captain's tone, the soldiers moved faster to make sure that all the prisoners and contraband items were secured. Then, once everything was secured, the Edolas Erza led them out of the underground black market and back to their airship.

At around the same time The Edolas and her soldiers left the underground black market, Elicia reached the rest of her group.

"Hey Lici. Welcome back." Alfonzo said just before Elicia clung to him from behind. "How did everything go? Will there be an issue with us boarding this airship?"

"I'm not sure." Elicia replied while leaning her forehead on Alfonzo's back.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked curiously. "Did they not say where they were going after they left Louen?"

"No, that's not the problem." Elicia replied with a shake of her head. "It's their commander, Erza Knightwalker."

Hearing that name, Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Wendy, and Carla shuddered involuntarily. Though they had never met Erza's Edolas counterpart, they had heard stories about her from the members of the Edolas Fairy Tail. And from what they heard, they knew that she was strong, sadistic, and cruel.

"But her being here shouldn't be enough to make you unsure." Alfonzo replied, pulling Elicia in front of him and wrapping his arms around her. "Did something happen?"

"Yeah." Elicia replied with a nod. "She noticed me even while I was using [Hiding in Plain Sight]."

Seriously?" Natsu asked in disbelief. "I can't' even smell you when you use that spell, even if you're standing right in front of me. How did she notice you?"

"Well, saying that she noticed me might be a bit in accurate." Elicia replied. "It's more like she felt me watching her. Her instincts are scary sharp."

"Does that mean she'll notice us when we sneak on to the air ship?" Wendy asked in a worried tone.

"Even if she does, we'll just fight her." Natsu said while clenching his fists.

"Are you stupid?" Carla asked in a disdainful tone. "If we do that, the ship might crash."

"Plus, we might not make it to the Royal Capital." Lucy added.

"Oh yeah." Natsu replied while scratching his head with a sheepish smile on his face. "I forgot about that."

"I don't think we need to worry about that." Alfonzo said, cutting in to the conversation. "As long as we keep some distance , she shouldn't notice us. And even if she does, Natsu's right. We can just fight. As long as we know which way it is to the capital, I can fly everyone there."

Hearing Alfonzo's analysis, everyone stopped to think about it for a moment. Then, when they realized he was right, they all nodded in agreement.

"Still, we should do our best to not be noticed." Alfonzo added. "We don't know if they have a way to alert the forces in the capital on board the ship. But we should assume they do. And we don't want those assholes to know we're coming."

Once again, the rest of the group nodded in agreement.

"Then, we should get going." Elicia said. "We need to find a good place to stow away before the other Erza comes back with her soldiers."

With that, Elicia wrapped a thread around each of her companions. Then, she covered them all with her [Hiding in Plain Sight] spell before they quietly boarded the airship. After that, it only took the a few minutes to find somewhere out of the way to hide and they waited for Erza Knightwalker to return and give the order to take off.

About half an hour after the Earth Land wizards found their hiding spot, Erza Knightwalker returned to the ship with her soldiers, the captives, and all the confiscated magic items. And once they were all on board and the criminals and magic items were secured, the Edolas Erza gave the order to return to the Royal Capital.

At the same time Wendy cast her [Troia] spell on Natsu. It would be a tragedy if they were noticed because Natsu's motion sickness kicked in while they were moving.

Edolas, Edolas Continent, Royal Capital.

Four hours after the Royal Army airship took off, it entered the airspace over the Royal Capital.

"Alright, is everyone ready?" Alfonzo asked as he looked over the side of the airship at the city below. "This is our stop."

Nodding in response, Elicia, Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Wendy, and Carla prepared themselves to jump overboard. While Lucy positioned herself in front of Alfonzo with a slight blush on her face, Elicia clung to his back with a smile. Meanwhile, Happy and Carla grabbed onto Natsu and Wendy's backs, respectively. Then, after Alfonzo picked up Lucy in a princess carry, they all jumped off the side of the air ship.

Immediately afterward, Alfonzo used his [Electromagnetism Magic] to levitate all seven of the Earth Landers and slowly guided them down to an uninhabited part of the city.

"That went smoother than I thought." Lucy said as Alfonzo put her on the ground. "Still, it's weird that you two still can't fly, Happy and Carla."

"They probably just need to get used to the environment in Edolas." Elicia suggested. "I mean, the ethernano in the air is so thin."

"Yeah, but Lucy's right." Alfonzo said. "I mean, according to what the other Levy told us, the Exceed originated from Edolas."

Even though he said that, Alfonzo knew that Happy and Carla were more than likely facing difficulties due to their mental states. Finding out they were from another world was probably a pretty hard blow to them, who had been born and raised in Earth Land.

Hearing that, Hapy and Carla could only hang their heads in shame. AT this point, they were not very useful to the team.

"Don't worry about it, Little Buddy." Natsu said while patting Happy's head. "I'm sure it will come back to you. Just give it time."

"Natsu's right." Wendy said to Carla in a conciliatory tone. "Don't give up. I know you can do it."

Hearing their best friends' words of encouragement, Happy and Carla put on forced smiles. But the flames of determination were burning in their eyes.

"Anyway, now that we're in the capital, what do we do next?" Lucy asked curiously.

"We find Gajeel." Alfonzo and Elicia replied simultaneously.

"But are we sure he's here?" Lucy asked.

"Pretty sure." Elicia replied.

"He came to Edolas with Mystogan." Alfonzo added. "And I'm pretty sure this was the first place Mystogan came when he got here."

As he spoke, Alfonzo spread out his [Magic Power Detection. And unlike in Louen, there were quite a few magic power signatures in this city. However, there were only two that came from living beings.

"Let's see. I found two living magic power signatures." Alfonzo said as he sifted through the magical information he received from his scan. "There's one in the Royal Castle. If I had to guess, that's probably Panther Lily, the Exceed that holds the position of Captain of the First Magic War Division. And the second one is in a building near the center of the city. That's probably Gajeel."

"Only two?" Wendy asked in a tone mixed with confusion and worry. "Does that mean that Mystogan isn't in the city."

"No, that's not it." Elicia said gently. "Remember, Mystogan is from Edolas. So, he doesn't have any magic power in his body."

"Lici's right." Alfonzo added. "Besides, I can feel his staves in another part of the city. I'm not sure what the hell he's doing, though. Anyway, let's get going. We need to meet up with Gajeel and find out what he's learned.

With that said, Alfonzo led the group to the area where he felt Gajeel's presence."