บท 474: Putting Fairy Tail on Alert

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

May, x786.

Nearly six weeks have passed since Alfonzo began his work at the Quatro Cerberus guild hall. During that time, not much of note took place. While Ikkaku challenged Elicia, Marin, and Ikaruga to daily spars, Yumichika did not seem all that interested.

Naturally, Guy was not to be left out of the sparring. He even managed to drag Genma into it on several occasions as well. Though, none of them got the chance to spar with Alfonzo, who claimed he was too tired after finishing his work on the training chambers each day.

Though Yumichika did not spend much time sparring with the visitors from Fairy Tail, he did spend quite a bit of time talking to them. Well, to Elicia and Marin, to be precise. Because he was so interested in beautiful things, he found the two of them quite fascinating. Not to say that Yumichika did not see Ikaruga as beautiful. However, Elicia's way with fashion and Marin's [Transformation Magic] that allowed her to take on any appearance she chose, really piqued his interest.

As for how Alfonzo, Elicia, Marin, and Ikaruga spent their free time, Alfonzo read up on [Archive Magic]. Though, he was unable to use it at this point. Elicia spent her time sketching new clothes. She even started drawing up something she could make with the Lightning Mink pelt Erza gave her for her birthday last year. Marin, on the other hand, spent her time working on her [Dagger Magic]. She still had not given up on creating wind pressure slashes like she had seen from Sun at the first Battle of Fairy Tail tournament. And Ikaruga only focused on her duties as a maid. Though, Alfonzo was certain that she spent quite a bit of time training when she thought he and the girls were asleep.

Meanwhile, back in Magnolia, a pair of newcomers had just entered the town on foot.

"I hope we don't have to go back after we've finished collecting information on this Alfonzo guy." A green-haired woman said as she approached Magnolia's southern gate. "It took us almost two months to get here. It would be way too much work to go back."

"Well, I wouldn't count on us being allowed to stay here." A tall, extremely voluptuous, scarlet red-haired woman replied with a smile on her face. "But who knows. Collecting information may take longer than we expected."

In response, the green-haired woman, Brandish, wore a hopeful expression. However, her expression darkened after her scarlet-haired companion, Irene's next words.

"But we'll more than likely be asked to return to report on what we found out." Irene added, her smile widening as Brandish expression fell.

"*Sigh* Why did I have to be the only one not on a mission when the order came out?" Brandish asked in a distraught tone.

Irene simply smiled at Brandish's lamentation.

Eventually, the duo reached the town gate. And when they did, Irene stopped and looked up at the gates with interest.

"What's wrong, Irene?" Brandish asked.

"Someone set up quite the sensing barrier around the town." Irene said in an intrigued tone. "It's really quite ingenious... If not a bit simple. But I guess there's no need to make things complicated if simple gets the job done."

"A sensing barrier?" Brandish asked in a curious tone. "Does that mean we won't be able to enter the town?"

"No, not at all." Irene replied while shaking her head. "It just means that no one over a certain threshold of magic power can enter undetected. Luckily, I can do something about that."

As she spoke, the tip of Irene's staff lit up with magic power. Then, she began drawing sigils in the air. A moment later, after drawing the sigils she wanted, she tapped the created sigils with the tip of her staff. As a result, the sigils moved forward before fusing into the wall surrounding the town.

"There." Irene said with a smile. "That should do it. Now, let's go inside and get familiar with the town's layout. We can start getting close to the target after that."

Nodding in response, Brandish walked alongside Irene as they entered the town.

At the same time in the Fairy Tail guild hall, Ur, who as filling out a compensation report while occasionally glaring at Gildarts, suddenly stopped her pen and put on a solemn expression when the control tablet o her desk started flashing in a certain pattern.

"Ur, what's wrong?" Gildarts asked after seeing Ur's change in expression.

"Someone just tampered with the barrier Alfonzo set up around the town." Ur said in a serious tone as she put down her pen. A moment later, she reached for the tablet on her desk and looked over the data. "Apparently, they raised the magic power threshold before the alarm was triggered."

"Why would they even need to do that" Gildarts asked in a puzzled tone. "Didn't the kid set me as the bar for that barrier?"

"It means that whoever came into the town has---" Ur began to explain as she spread her [Magic Power Detection].

As Ur's [Magic Power Detection] picked up Irene and Brandish, who were not far from the south gate, her words stopped, her face paled, and her eyes began to shake.

"Ur, what's wrong?" Gildarts, now with a solemn expression on his face, asked after seeing another change in expression on Ur's face.

Unfortunately, due to her shock, Ur was unable to speak for a moment, making Gildarts even more worried. Luckily, due to her experience, Ur snapped out of her stupor soon enough.

"They're both... They're both stronger than me." Ur said after taking a deep breath. Then, she looked deeply into Gildarts eyes as she continued. "And one of them has more magic power than even you."

Finally understanding the gravity of the situation, Gildarts expression turned extremely solemn.

"What do you think we should do about it?" Gildarts asked, his expression showing that he was ready to fight if necessary, to protect the guild, the town, Ur, and most importantly, Cana.

Shaking her head, Ur could only do her best to calm herself down. Then, when she felt she was completely in control of her emotions again, she spoke.

"For now, we do nothing." Ur replied. "We need to figure out who they are before we do anything. As far as we know, they're just wizards who had been living in obscurity and decided to get a change of scenery."

Though she said that, Ur did not believe her own words for even a second. She had a bad feeling about the new visitors in the town. And she has always trusted her instincts in those cases.

"Although I seriously doubt that..." Gildarts said while shaking his head. "You're the guild master. So, I'll listen to you. But how are we gonna figure out why they're here? I mean Lici, the person best suited for that isn't here. And neither is the second best option, Marin."

Hearing that, Ur lowered her head while gritting her teeth.

"I know that." Ur replied. "The only thing we can do without giving ourselves away is to wait.... Wait until those three get back."

"*Sigh* I guess you're right." Gildarts replied.

A moment later, however, Ur raised her head with the light of resolve flashing in her eyes.

"Still, that doesn't mean we can't be ready for the worst." Ur said in a resolute tone. "I'll gather all the S-Classes in the town and let them know about this. If they're here to cause trouble, we'll make sure they know it's not a good idea to mess with Fairy Tail."

Hearing that, Gildarts smiled at his girlfriend while she operated the control tablet to project her voice throughout the guild hall.

Meanwhile, at the same time Ur spread her [Magic Power Detection] Irene and Brandish had barely walked a block after entering the town.

"Oh, what is this?" Irene asked with an eyebrow raised and an intrigued smile on her lips.

"What do you mean?" Brandish asked curiously.

"Well, I'm not surprised that you didn't feel it, Brandish." Irene replied. "But a very, and when I say very, I mean very, very thin magic power just washed over us, and if I'm not mistaken, it covered the entire town.

Hearing that, Brandish looked at Irene with confusion on her face.

"Why would anyone do that?" Brandish asked. "I mean, what can you do by spreading out magic power that thinly."

"That... Is a great question." Irene said as she smiled widely. "And I think I'll find out."

With that, Irene stopped walking, causing Brandish to stop as well. Then, she closed her eyes to concentrate. A moment later, just like she felt a moment ago, Irene spread her magic power. However, hers was spread even more thinly than Ur's. As a result, none of the wizards in the town could feel it.

"I see." Irene said, sounding happy to have gained new knowledge. "With my magic power spread like this, I can feel everything with magic power within the range of my magic power."

That was enough to make Brandish open her eyes wide in surprise. Meanwhile, Irene continued to examine all the magic power signatures she could sense. And there were three that really stood out among the rest.

First was a large tower-shaped magic power she could feel in the north of the town. Second was a dome shaped magic power on the shore of the lake she and Brandish noticed while heading to the town. And third was a large structure in the center of the lake.

'We'll definitely have to check out those three places while we're here.' Irene thought to herself. 'I'm quite interested in them. Not only are they large, but I can't feel anything inside of them, either.'

Just as Irene thought, because of the security Alfonzo set up on the guild hall, his old mansion, and the new mansion, Irene was completely incapable of penetrating any of the three structures she felt. And the reason for that was simple, if an individual was not registered with the security system at the guild, or either of the two mansions Alfonzo designed, their magic power would not be able to see what was inside.

Of course, there was an exception to that set up. As Alfonzo's security system would not be able to stop anyone strong enough to completely over power the security system. However, if they were to do that, it would alert the inhabitants.

"I think the empire would benefit greatly with a skill like that." brandish said once her shock wore off. "Emperor Spriggan will be pleased."

"Indeed." Irene replied with a nod as she opened her eyes. "I've lived for a long time. Yet, I've never considered using my magic power in such a way. I doubt His Majesty has ever considered it either. Most wizards only look to increase the potency of their magic, after all."

Brandish nodded in agreement with Irene's assessment. Although she had not lived for nearly as long as Irene, in all the time she spent training, the only thing she ever did in training was trying to increase the control and output of her own magic, [Command T].

"Either way, if I ever get the chance, I think I'd like to meet the wizard who came up with such a magic power utilization method. *Sigh* That makes two wizards I would like to meet before returning home, now."

Like that, Irene and Brandish continued to explore the town while discussing the things they saw along the way. Meanwhile, Ur had gathered Laxus, Fried, Ultear, Mirajane, and Sun in her office to explain what she found. Unfortunately, those five were the only ones in Magnolia at present, as Alfonzo, Elicia, Cana, and Erza were out of town on other business.

As soon as Ur finished explaining the situation to her S-Class wizards, the five spread out their own [Magic Power Detection], causing Irene to raise an eyebrow, once again, at the number of wizards capable of such fine magic power control.