บท 553: Revealing Secrets... But not all of Them
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
December 13, x787.
Sitting in her office, Ur was making the final preparations for her trip to Tenrou Island. Though, there was admittedly not much to prepare, she still wanted to make sure that everything was in order before she left.
Before she could finish going over everything there was to go over before her trip, however, she raised her head from the paperwork on her desk when she heard the elevator rising to the top floor. A moment later, the doors slid open revealing four women.
"Irene, Brandish, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Ur asked while putting down the document in her hand. "Please don't tell me you intend to get rid of me now that all the other S-Class wizards are gone."
As she spoke, Ur smiled at the four women entering her office. However, when she saw the smile on Irene's face, a smile that made it seem as if her little joke might be a glimpse into the future, her smile froze.
Seeing the change in expression on Ur's face, Irene's smile, which was filled with malice morphed into one filled with glee. Sadistic glee, but glee nonetheless. Then, she threw her head back, gripped the brim of her hat with her right hand, and started laughing uproariously.
"Oh, you should have seen the look on your face." Irene said after getting her laughter under control and taking a seat on one of the couches in the office. "It was priceless."
While both Heine and Juliet, who were the other two women that arrived in Ur's office with Irene, smirked at Ur as they positioned themselves behind the couch Irene sat on. Meanwhile, Brandish only shook her head at Irene's dark sense of humor as she took a seat on the opposite couch. At the same time, Ur stared at Irene with a gob smacked expression
"*Sigh* Irene, I beg you, please don't joke like that anymore." Ur said after exhaling the uneasy feeling she was feeling. "I'm not young any more. My heart can't take the strain."
"Hmph! Not young, don't make me laugh." Irene said in a derisive tone. "You're at most, what? Forty-five? Come talk to me about being old when you've reached triple digits."
"It's forty-three…" Ur muttered. "but I get your point. So, I ask you once again, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
Smiling at Ur once again, Irene gestured towards Heine and Juliet, who were standing behind her.
"There are actually two… No, three reasons I came to see you, Ur." Irene said with a smile. "The first is to formally introduce you to these two, Heine Lunasea and Juliet Sun, and ask that you accept them into the guild."
Hearing that, Ur turned her gaze from Irene to Heine and Juliet, inspecting them with her [Magic Power Detection] in detail. And just like her senses first told her, she could tell they weren't human.
"Well, they seem pretty strong." Ur said with a nod. "On that basis alone, there's no problem accepting them into the guild. From what I can tell, they're at least, A-Class in strength."
After getting that far, Ur turned her attention back to Irene.
"But they aren't human." Ur said in a solemn tone. "Not that I have anything against non-humans, mind you. I mean, we have several of them in the guild already, after all. But I need to know what I'm working with."
"Ah, you must be talking about those cats and the merfolk." Irene replied with a nod.
In response, not only Ur looked at Irene with a gaze filled with disbelief, but even Brandish, Heine, and Juliet looked at her with the same level of disbelief. While Brandish, Heine, and Juliet were dumbfounded to find out that a species as mythical as merfolk were members of Fairy Tail, Ur was astonished that Irene knew there were merfolk in the guild.
"How…?" Ur muttered in disbelief.
"Oh, sweetie, I've been alive for a long time." Irene replied with a grin. "And I've seen a lot in my long life. So, spotting merfolk among a group of humans is quite simple for me. What I'm sure that you didn't know, however, is the fact that you have one more person of a totally different species among your wizards, as well."
That last statement dumbfounded Ur even more. Meanwhile, Brandish, Heine, and Juliet were quite curious to know who the merfolk were, as well as the other mysterious individual Irene was talking about.
"Who are they, Irene?" Juliet asked energetically after she snapped back from her shocked state. "I've never seen a merfolk. But I thought they had fish tails and stuff. But everyone in the guild has two legs. Can they transform, or something? Do they use [Transformation Magic]? And what about the person that's of another race? What race are they? Who is it?"
"That's enough, Juliet." Heine barked. "If Lady Irene wished for us to know, she would tell us. For now, just be silent."
"But Black Angel, aren't you curious, too?" Juliet asked in a whiny tone.
"I told you not to call me that!" Heine shouted back. "And we have no right to question Lady Irene like that. So, just be silent."
"but Black Angel~~~~…" Juliet continued to whine.
Like that, the two sentient swords continued to bicker. Meanwhile, Brandish decided to tune them out while Ur looked on in amusement. Irene, on the other hand, smiled at her two subordinates fondly. Though, neither of them seemed to notice. And Irene intended to keep it that way.
'*Sigh* If I had been able to be human again much earlier, perhaps Erza, Heine, and Juliet might have been like sisters by now.' Irene thought to herself while watching her swords argue. '*Sigh* I really need to find a time to talk about the past with her. But I'm almost afraid of how she'll react when she finds out. Then again, she probably already knows and is just waiting for me to say something.'
"I'm actually curious to know who this other non-human member of the guild is, as well." Ur said, snapping Irene out of her internal musings.
"Sorry, that's not my secret to tell." Irene replied, putting her thoughts of Erza to the back of her mind, for now. "but I'm sure there are, at least, two members who know what I'm talking about. And before you ask, I have no idea how they could possibly know. And no, I'm not telling you who they are."
Hearing that, images of Alfonzo and Elicia popped into Ur's mind. Then, she remembered the incident where Acnologia attacked Tenrou Island. And she came to the conclusion that those two seemed to always know more than they were supposed to. Still, she would not press them. She almost destroyed her relationship with Alfonzo after she let suspicion guide her actions three years ago.
'If the one Irene was talking about was a danger to the guild or anyone they cared about, Alfonzo and Elicia would either tell me about it on their own or do something about it.' Ur thought to herself. 'So, there's no need to worry if it's the two of them who know. I trust them implicitly. And I know they love the guild as much as any other member, present or past.'
"Very well, I won't ask." Ur replied calmly, surprising both Irene and Brandish. "So, will you tell me what those two are since they aren't human?"
"Ah, yes." Irene replied with a nod, snapping out of her surprised state. "They are swords I [Enchanted] to have human forms and personalities."
That seemed to intrigue Ur. However, she only nodded her head in response.
"I see." Ur said with a nod. "Well, I don't see any reason why they can't be members of the guild. AS long as they don't plan to do anything to harm it, that is."
"Trust me, they won't." Irene replied confidently. "The only reason they would do something like that is if I ordered them to do so. And I owe Alfonzo too much to ever do that."
"That's good to hear." Ur replied. "so, what's your second question?"
"Well, the second thing I wanted to talk about isn't a question, per se." Irene said, taking a more serious tone as she replied to Ur's question. "Since you've shown that you trust me enough to promote me to S-Class, I'll give you the same trust. I know what the Alvarez Empire wanted when they attacked Ishgar five years ago. I also know the identity of the emperor."
Hearing that, Ur's eyes opened wide in surprise. Meanwhile, Brandish, who had remained silent until now, looked at Irene with a gaze that asked: "Are you sure about this?" In response, after feeling Brandish's gaze, Irene turned to her before nodding in confirmation.
"Really?" Ur asked in dumbfounded amazement. "And what did they want?"
"The Lumen Histoire, or Fairy Heart." Irene replied in a solemn tone.
Immediately, Ur's entire body froze. She had heard about the Fairy Heart when Makarov handed over the seat of guild master to her. And she knew it was a source of great magical power. It could even be called unlimited. And that caused her to wonder what the Alvarez Empire could want it for. World Domination? Destruction of everything?
But more important than that, the Fairy Heart was a guild secret. One of the highest magnitude. So, how could anyone from the Alvarez Empire know about it? Or rather, who was this Emperor Spriggan who knew about it?
"And… Who is this Emperor Spriggan?" Ur asked in a shaky voice. A moment later, she remembered about a member of the guild who was excommunicated because he wanted to obtain Fairy Heart for himself. "Is it Ivan Dreyar? Did he go to Alakitasia to gather forces to take it from Fairy Tail?"
Hearing that, Irene froze for a moment and Brandish looked at Ur in dumbfounded amazement. Even Heine and Juliet finally stopped their argument to look at Ur incredulously. Meanwhile, Ur stared at the quartet with a tense expression on her face.
Like that, Ur's office fell into silence. A silence that quickly grew awkward. And that awkward silence made Ur think that she might have asked a stupid question. And Irene's following action cemented that feeling.
"Hahahahahahahahahaha!" Irene burst into hardy, raucous laughter. In fact, she laughed so hard that she doubled over, causing her hat to fall off. Then, after struggling with her laughter for a while, she finally got it under control enough to reply. "Oh, heavens no! Hahaha! That fool, Ivan Dreyar? The Emperor of the Alvarez Empire? Haha! He's just a weakling lusting over something he doesn't have the power to possess."
Irene's unbridled laughter made Ur feel even more awkward. And when she heard the explanation about why Irene was laughing, she felt a little stupid, as well. And that led to her becoming irritated.
"Then, who is it?" Ur asked in a clearly irritated tone.
After a few more seconds of chuckling at Ur's assertion, Irene finally stopped laughing completely. And when she did, she put on an unprecedentedly solemn expression.
"The emperor of the Alvarez Empire is…" Irene said, pausing for a moment to build tension. "The Black Wizard, Zeref. And despite having been stopped by the Etherion five years ago, he has not given up on the Fairy Heart. He will try again. And next time, the Etherion won't be enough to even slow him down."
That caused Ur to freeze completely, an expression of disbelief on her face. Meanwhile, Irene maintained her solemn expression while thinking something totally different.
'I probably shouldn't say his surname.' Irene thought to herself. 'Otherwise, she might start to suspect that Fire Dragon Slayer kid. And that would just be an unnecessary worry.'
"Im-Impossible…" Ur muttered after staying silent for a few seconds. "He's supposed to be dead. I mean… He lived over four hundred years ago, right? That's why all the dark wizards and Zeref cultists are trying to resurrect him, right?"
"Unfortunately, that couldn't be further from the truth." A young sounding female voice said, echoing through the office.
A moment later, the transparent figure of a seemingly young girl with long, pastel yellow hair and brilliant green eyes rose from the floor just to the right of Ur's chair wearing an unprecedented serious expression on her face.
"First Master…" Ur muttered as she glanced to her right.
While Ur was surprised to see the first master of Fairy Tail, Mavis Vermillion, appearing in her office, Irene, Brandish, Heine, and Juliet looked at her in interest.
"Unfortunately, there is no point in discussing Zeref for now." Mavis continued while shaking her head. "No one in the guild is strong enough to contend with him for now. On top of that, because of the curse he is plagued with, he is exceedingly dangerous to anyone under a certain level."
"She's right, Ur." Irene replied in a solemn tone. "I only wanted you to know what you were up against in the future. That way, you and the rest of the guild could train and hopefully prepare for the inevitable."
Hearing that, Ur slumped back into her seat. However, the light of resolve was burning fiercely in her eyes. And from what the others in the room could tell, she was not willing to give up. She would do anything to protect the family she had come to love over the years.
"I understand." Ur said in a resolute tone. "I'll start pushing everyone to train harder. Whenever this attack comes, Fairy Tail will be ready. And we will win."
Seeing Ur bounce back so quickly, Mavis and Irene both smiled. Even Brandish came to admire Ur's spirit, as well. Meanwhile, Heine and Juliet were thinking that everything would be fine as long as Irene was there. So, they were not worried at all.
"Good." Mavis said with a satisfied nod. "Fairy Tail wizards never give up, no matter the challenge ahead of them. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna head over to Tenrou Island. I wanna watch this year's S-Class Promotion Exam."
With that, while smiling happily, Mavis flew through the wall in the direction of Tenrou Island.
"*Sigh* So, what's the last thing you wanted to talk about?" Ur asked after sighing out all her negative emotions for the moment.
"It has something to do with the last thing the First Master mentioned." Irene said with a smile. A smile that made Ur start sweating again. "Why wasn't I allowed to be one of the judges for the S-Class Promotion Exam like the others? I mean, even if you didn't say it specifically, that's the reason I wasn't brought along to set up the area, wasn't it? Even if I know there's no way any of the candidates would challenge me if they won your little tournament, I'm still S-Class, right?"
Not only Irene, but brandish also looked at Ur with a questioning gaze. Meanwhile, Ur's cold sweat started running down her back like a river.
'Telling them that, like me and Elicia, they couldn't be part of the exam after being promoted without an exam for their first S-Class Promotion probably won't fly.' Ur said to herself while the wheels in her head spun at high speed. 'Damn it, I should have known this question was coming. Why didn't I think up something beforehand.'
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