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28.01% Fairy Tail: Metal and Threads / Chapter 192: A Burden Has Been Lifted

章節 192: A Burden Has Been Lifted

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Akane Beach.

 

September, x784.

 

A few hours after their night activities ended, Alfonzo was the first to wake up, as usual. When he did, he first took a few seconds to properly boot up his brain. After that, he smiled at the four girls clinging to him in their sleep.

 

"Damn, that was much wilder than usual." Alfonzo muttered quietly while he swept Elicia's hair out of her face. "I guess getting rid of that god damn tower took a lot of weight off my shoulders. Well, not just mine, but Lici's and Erza's too."

 

While speaking to himself, Alfonzo circulated his magic power through his body once, to knock off any lingering effects of sleep. However, when he did, he noticed something different.

 

"I guess I had some kind of mental breakthrough, too." Alfonzo muttered once again. "It feels like my magic power is flowing much smoother than before."

 

Like that, Alfonzo continued to experiment with how well his magic power flowed, occasionally flaring it to assess how quickly he could gather his magic power to perform spells. Unfortunately, although he tried to keep the output as low as possible, his little experimentation session was noticed by two of the four sleeping girls. Namely, Cana and Erza.

 

"What are you doing so early in the morning, Fonzie?" Cana asked in an annoyed tone as she rubbed her eyes with her right hand.

 

"I felt your magic power, Alfonzo, is something wrong?" Erza asked, much more alert than Cana after waking up.

 

"Sorry about that." Alfonzo replied with a wry smile. "I just felt like my magic power was flowing much better after yesterday's fight. So, I tested it out a bit."

 

"So, now your magic power can improve after we have sex?" Cana asked curiously. "If that's the case, we should do it more often."

 

"But Cana, we do it almost every night." Erza replied. "How can we do it more often?"

 

"We'll have to start doing it during the day, then." Cana replied as if it were obvious.

 

Watching Cana and Erza discussing the best way to increase the amount of time they could have sex daily; Alfonzo could only shake his head.

 

"As tempting as that sounds, I wasn't talking about THAT kind of fight." Alfonzo said, interrupting the discussion with a wry smile on his face. "I meant the fight with Jellal."

 

"I see." Erza replied with a slight blush and a nod.

 

"So what?" Cana said. "That doesn't mean we can't' increase the amount of sex we have, does it?"

 

Smiling wryly once again, Alfonzo decided to not entertain that line of questioning… For now. Instead, he went on to explain what he meant, which gained a cute pout from Cana.

 

"As you both know, Lici and I lost our parents due to the cultists that started building the Tower of Heaven." Alfonzo said in a solemn tone. "And we were finally able to get rid of it yesterday morning."

 

That was enough to stop Cana's pout while she and Erza focused all their attention on Alfonzo's following words.

 

"Now, after finally having the time to relax, I felt… different." Alfonzo continued. "Lighter. As if a burden that was weighing me down had been removed. Obviously, the existence of that tower was bothering me. But I guess it was worse than I realized."

 

Hearing that, Cana instinctively hugged Alfonzo tightly while Erza grasped his hand lovingly.

 

"But now that the burden is gone, everything feels like it's flowing more naturally." Alfonzo said, his explanation nearing its end. "And when I say everything, I mean everything. My magic power flows better. My body feels more coordinated, and my mind feels clearer."

 

After saying all that, Alfonzo turned towards Erza before he spoke once again.

 

"I would bet that you and Lici are probably going through the same thing, too, Erza." Alfonzo said with a gentle smile. "Now that the tower that caused you so much pain is gone, there's no way you can't be feeling better. Or so I would imagine."

 

Hearing that, Cana also turned towards Erza with curiosity in her gaze. Meanwhile, Erza closed her eyes to consider Alfonzo's words while simultaneously checking the condition of her body and magic power.

 

"It would seem that you are correct." Erza said after a few moments. "I feel… free. Like my limits have been removed. But I do still feel some regret that we were unable to find Jellal after everything was over."

 

"Yeah, that's really weird." Cana chipped in. "I mean, it's not like you two talked all that long after the fight was over. On top of that, you weren't that far away. So, how could the current have carried him out of the range of any of our [Magic power Detection] in such a short period of time."

 

Erza nodded in agreement with Cana's suspicions. Meanwhile, Alfonzo closed his eyes for a moment. Then, once he gathered his thoughts, he opened his eyes and spoke them aloud.

 

"Something tells me that someone.. or something was influencing Jellal's mind." Alfonzo said cautiously. "After I landed my last attack and he was floating on the water's surface, I noticed something different about him. Though I can't put my finger on what it was. Still, it seemed like something had changed."

 

In response, Cana started contemplating Alfonzo's words. Erza, on the other hand, latched on to one part of Alfonzo's analysis.

 

"Something was influencing him?" Erza asked, now gripping Alfonzo's hand with both of her own. "What do you mean?"

 

"If I had to guess, it had been going on for a long time. It was probably the reason why he changed so much after the rebellion, too." Alfonzo said. "While I was fighting him, I kept my [Magic Power Detection] active the whole time. I mean, he was pretty fast. And even though I'm confident in my speed and reaction speed, losing track of him would have been pretty amateur, ya know. Anyway… While I can't detect which spell will be performed with [Magic Power Detection] I can feel the flow of magic power in others. And when he lost, the flow of his magic power changed completely."

 

Once again, the trio fell silent after Alfonzo's declaration. Eventually, Cana was the first to break the silence.

 

"But couldn't that just be attributed to the fact that he was on the verge of unconsciousness?" Cana asked.

 

"It could." Alfonzo replied with a nod.

 

"But you don't think that's it." Erza followed. "Do you?"

 

"Nope." Alfonzo replied with a shake of his head. "There are two reasons for that, actually."

 

Once again, Cana and Erza focused on Alfonzo's following words.

 

"First, I saw his magic power flow before the fight." Alfonzo said. "And it was completely different than how it was after the fight."

 

Nodding in understanding, Cana and Erza waited for Alfonzo to continue.

 

"Second, and this is just speculation, but why would he just disappear like that after the battle if something fishy wasn't going on." Alfonzo asked, slightly furrowing his brow. "Unless the one who was influencing him was afraid that the authorities would find out what was happening after scanning Jellal's mind for whatever reason."

 

"Like you said, for whatever reason." Cana said. "I mean, that's not something that happens very often. The only reason they would do that is if they thought Jellal had information they wanted. But other than creating the tower, what else could he have known?"

 

"That's why I said it was just speculation." Alfonzo replied. "But I an think of a few reasons why they would want to take a look inside Jellal's head. Chief among them being the fact that he was a spy on the Magic Council. There's no telling what else he had his hands in while he was there."

 

"I guess you're right." Cana replied with a contemplative expression on her face.

 

"Ugh…" A groan sounded from nearby, interrupting to the discussion.

 

Looking over, Alfonzo, Cana, and Erza noticed that Ultear had awoken and was wiping the sleep out of her eyes.

 

"It's too early for such deep topics of discussion." Ultear said, clearly still exhausted from last night's activities.

 

On a side note, Ultear was probably the most exhausted of the four girls after last night's fun. For some reason, she continuously provoked Alfonzo into punishing her. Which Alfonzo did. As a result, Ultear lost consciousness several times during the course of the night before completely passing out just before Alfonzo's last round with Erza.

 

That was the reason why, despite being an early riser, like Alfonzo, she did not wake up immediately after Alfonzo started flaring his magic power during his experiments on his magic power flow.

 

Something else to take note of is the fact that Elicia was also extra wild last night. The likely reason being that the disappearance of the Tower of Heaven's burden on her heart and mind made her much more energetic than usual.  Though, that had no bearing on the fact that she was still asleep, even now. Since it's a well-known fact that Elicia is not, and never will be, a morning person.

 

"Let everyone wake up properly first… Maybe have some breakfast… before having that kind of conversation." Ultear continued.

 

In response, Alfonzo smiled wryly while Cana simply shrugged her shoulders. Meanwhile, Erza turned towards Ultear and spoke with sincerity.

 

"Please forgive us, Ultear." Erza said, clenching her fist in front of her still naked chest. "WE had no intension of waking you. As recompense, you may strike me, should you desire to do so."

 

To that, Alfonzo's wry smile widened. At the same time, Cana and Ultear also put on wry smiles. Though, all three of them were happy that even after going through something that dealt with her traumatic past, Erza was still the Erza they knew.

 

"*Sigh* This isn't an anime. This world is as real as any other.' Alfonzo thought to himself while looking at the sincere expression on Erza's face. 'I mean, this event could have left some PTSD with any of us. Especially me, Lici, and Erza. But I'm glad it didn't… Or doesn't look like it did for now. I mean, what if Lici lost her bubbly personality? Or what if Erza ended up acting all emo.'

 

After finishing that thought, an image of Erza dressed in all black with black armor, her hair dyed black, and black nail polish appeared in his mind. On top of that, she was wearing a black eyepatch with a silver Fairy Tail emblem stitched on it.

 

Then, to complete the image, Erza raised her right hand and covered the eyepatch as she said: "This eye patch is used to seal the darkness in my heart. Should it ever be removed, a calamity shall befall this world."

 

Immediately after that image flashed in his mind, Alfonzo shook his head vigorously with a weirded out expression on his face.

 

'The fuck is wrong with me?' Alfonzo asked himself. 'How did I mix some chuunibyou into my image of emo Erza?'

 

"Alfonzo, are you okay?" Ultear asked, concern filling her tone.

 

Ultear's question snapped Alfonzo out of his internal musings. Then, he looked around and noticed the expressions of concern on Cana, Ultear, and Erza's faces.

 

"I'm fine, don't worry about it." Alfonzo replied with a reassuring smile. "I was just thinking about something, that's all."

 

'Damn, I gotta stop thinking about stupid shit like that.' Alfonzo scolded himself mentally. 'I bet I was making a pretty weird face while I was thinking about that shit. And that's probably why they look so concerned.'

 

*Growl!*

 

Before the girls could ask Alfonzo anymore about it, the atmosphere was broken by the sound of  a growling tummy.

 

Naturally, the four knew who it belonged to. So, they all looked in the direction the growl came from. And unsurprisingly, Elicia's eye lashes were starting to flutter as she was waking up.

 

A moment later, Elicia sleepily opened her eyes. Then, she let them lazily scan her surroundings before they landed on Alfonso and stopped.

 

"Fonzie… I'm hungry." Elicia said in a groggy tone. "What's for breakfast."

 

After the conversation from before, Alfonzo and Cana both smiled at Elicia, happy that she, like Erza, had not changed after the whole Tower of Heaven incident. Meanwhile, Ultear only rolled her eyes, having expected the first words out of Elicia's mouth. Erza, on the other hand, nodded in agreement with Elicia's statement as she placed her left hand on her tummy.

 

"Indeed." Erza said after nodding. "We used up quite the large amount of energy last night. I think it would be in our best interest to have something to eat."

 

Hearing Erza's logical statement, everyone nodded in agreement. However, her following words caused all of them, even Elicia, who was still half asleep, to deadpan.

 

"And I think strawberry shortcake would be the perfect breakfast after a night like the one we had last night." Erza said with her eyes sparkling. "The carbs, the fruit, and the sugar would be a perfect pick me up after such an intense evening."

 

Instead of responding, everyone simply looked away and started getting out of bed.

 

"So, what do you guys feel like having for breakfast?" Cana asked. "Personally, I'm good with anything as long as they have mimosas."

 

"Of course you are." Ultear replied while rolling her eyes.

 

"Fonzie, I want you to cook something." Elicia said while draping herself on Alfonzo as he walked towards the bathroom to get cleaned up for the day.

 

"No can do." Alfonzo replied. "You all picked a room without a kitchen, remember? You said something about me not cooking because we were here to relax."

 

To that reminder, Elicia, Cana, and Ultear all groaned in disappointment at themselves for such a stupid decision as they all disappeared into the bathrooms in the suite.

 

Meanwhile, Erza was left sitting alone with a confused expression on her face.

 

"Why did they all leave?" Erza asked herself aloud. "Did they not think strawberry shortcake for breakfast was a good idea? But I listed a few reasons why it would be. *Sigh* I don't get it. OH well, I guess I should go to the bathroom and get cleaned up, too."


創作者的想法
SixthSense1029 SixthSense1029

You can read 5 chapters ahead on my Patr3on at:

https://patr3on.com/SixthSense1029

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the story.

Comments, Reviews, and Power Stones are always aprpreciated.

章節 193: Laxus' Return to Magnolia

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

 

September, x784.

 

While Alfonzo, Elicia, Cana, Ultear, and Erza were having breakfast and preparing to check out of the Akane Resort, Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe were finally returning to Magnolia after their long absence.

 

"Ha! Now that we're done with our little tour, there are a lot fewer Dark Guild's in Fiore." Bickslow said loudly as he walked with Laxus, Fried, and Evergreen towards the southern gates of Magnolia.

 

"Less Dark Guilds! Less Darrk Guilds!" A chorus of voices echoed from behind Bickslow.

 

"That's right, my babies." Bickslow said happily.

 

"Yeah, in a little over a month, we destroyed nineteen Dark Guilds." Evergreen said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they put a bounty on us after this."

 

"Even if they did, they would just be sending more Dark Guilds to their destruction." Laxus said, sounding completely unbothered by the thought of having a bounty on his head.

 

"Laxus, we ignored the guild's summons when it was attacked by Phantom Lord." Fried said, sounding a bit concerned. "Are you sure that was a good idea."

 

"For the last time, Fried..." Laxus said in an annoyed tone, coming to a stop as he spoke.

 

Naturally, when Laxus stopped, the rest of the Thunder God Tribe came to a stop as well. Then, Laxus slowly turned around and looked directly into Fried's eyes, causing his heart to begin racing. Whether that happened due to the nervousness Laxus' annoyed tone caused or for some other reason, only Fried would ever know.

 

"With all the recently added S-Class wizards, there is no way they should have lost." Laxus said, begrudgingly admitting that the top level combat strength of the guild was strong. "And if they had, that just proves that I should be named the new guild master."

 

"Even if they won, you should still be named the new guild master, Laxus." Bickslow chimed in.

 

"New guild master! New guild master!" Bickslow's dolls parroted.

 

"Indeed, there is no one better suited to become the guild master than you, Laxus." Evergreen said with a smile.

 

Although Fried agreed with the rest of them, he still did not think it was right to ignore an emergency summons from the guild. Because in the end, Laxus was not the guild master yet. Though, he was smart enough to not mention that thought aloud.

 

"I understand, Laxus." Fried replied, slightly bowing his head. "I won't bring it up again."

 

Nodding in reply, Laxus patted Fried on the shoulder before turning around to continue walking towards the town.

 

After that short conversation, the quartet continued as usual, engaging in small talk as they walked. Not long afterward, they arrived at the southern gates of the town and finally returned to Magnolia.

 

As they walked through the town, they saw that there were slight signs of the battle that took place when Phantom Lord attacked. Though, none of the damage the battle caused seemed to be too serious, other than a large portion of a certain apartment building being destroyed, that is. They did, however, hear the real reason why Phantom Lord decided to attack.

 

"Ha! Other than her pretty face, I knew there was nothing the new girl would bring to the guild other than trouble." Laxus said disdainfully. "On top of that, she's weak. Gramps should have listened when I said to send her away."

 

'You literally say that about everyone.' Bickslow, Fried, and Evergreen thought to themselves simultaneously. 'You even said it about Alfonzo, who has beaten you up more times than I can count.'

 

"You're right, Laxus." Evergreen replied. "besides, she's not even that pretty."

 

"Of course that's what you're most concerned with." Bickslow said. "Whether she's pretty or not has nothing to do with being weak or strong, you know."

 

"Of course, it does." Evergreen replied, slightly raising her head with pride. "Just look at me. I'm absolutely stunning. On top of that, I'm the strongest woman in the younger generation of the guild."

 

When she got there, Evergreen gritted her teeth.

 

"Those bitches Erza, Mirajane, and Ultear just got lucky during the S-Class exams." Evergreen continued in an angry tone. "There's no way they should have become S-Class before me. And how dare those fools of the kingdom give Erza the epitaph Titania? The title, Queen of the Fairies, fits no one better than me!"

 

"*Sigh* And there she goes again." Bickslow muttered. "Besides, Elicia is definitely prettier than her."

 

As soon as Bickslow finished his mutterings, he immediately slapped his hands over his mouth. A moment later, he felt a glare hot enough to melt sand into glass focused on the side of his head. Then, after another moment, he felt a hand land on the shoulder opposite the glare.

 

Looking in the direction of the hand, Bickslow almost teared up when he saw Fried smiling at him. However, after hearing what Fried had to say, he actually started crying.

 

"Good luck, my friend." Fried said as he walked past Bickslow.

 

Following Fried with his eyes, he watched as the emerald green-haired young man picked up the pace of his steps to catch up with Laxus, who had also started walking faster.

 

'They abandoned me.' Bickslow thought to himself while the intensity of the glare he was feeling increased. '*Sigh* But I guess I did this to myself. Still, how could they just leave me behind like that?'

 

After having that thought, Bickslow slowly turned his head in the direction of the glare. And when he did, he almost soiled himself.

 

As he expected, Evergreen was the one glaring at him. However, unlike her usual pretty face, her expression right now did not look all that human. The anger contorting her facial expressions made sure of that.

 

'Has Ever been training with Mirajane and her siblings?' Bickslow thought absent mindedly. 'Because that's gotta be a [Take Over] of some kind, right?'

 

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

 

While Bickslow's mind was drifting away from reality, Evergreen opted to hit first and ask questions later. So, she punched him in the face with a devastating right hook. Then, she followed up with a left then a right hook to his gut, causing him to bend over. After that, she lowered a double handed smash on the back of his head before he slammed face first onto the street.

 

"What did you just say?" Evergreen asked while standing over Bickslow with her hands on her hips. "Because I know you did not just say that girl was prettier than me. I'll admit the clothes she makes are gorgeous but to say she's prettier than me? Has that eye magic of yours caused you to go blind, or something?"

 

While Evergreen continued to scold the barely conscious Bickslow in the middle of the street, Laxus and Fried continued walking towards the guild hall.

 

"*Sigh* Will he ever learn" Laxus muttered, still able to hear the scolding from Evergreen even though he and Fried had covered a considerable distance.

 

"Beauty IS in the eye of the beholder, after all." Fried replied. "But still, he definitely does not have to give his opinion aloud. At least not when Ever is around.'

 

"Maybe he just likes getting beaten up." Laxus muttered before recoiling in disgust. "Damn, that just made me remember that crazy blonde knight. The rest of my day just got ruined."

 

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.

 

On one of the training grounds in the knight's barracks, a team of three, two males and a female, were practicing their sword forms on wooden dummies. While they all swung their swords gracefully, as expected of knights, there were only two sounds of the dummies being struck echoing through the training ground.

 

The reason for that is simple, the two male knights continuously struck the vital spots on the dummies. Meanwhile, every swing of the female knight's sword missed its target by a large margin, not even touching the dummy in front of her.

 

'How in the world did she get promoted to Squad Captain with sword skills like this?' The male knights thought to themselves. 'Has she been using her body to climb the ranks?'

 

After that thought, they quickly shook their heads after remembering their squad captain's usual antics.

 

*Sneeze!*

 

The sound of their captain sneezing broke the two male knights from their internal musings. At the same time, they stopped their sword practice and looked in her direction.

 

"Lady Dustiness, are you okay?" One of the knights asked with concern. "If you're not feeling well, perhaps we should escort you to the infirmary."

 

"Yes, Captain, you have to take care of your health." The other knight added.

 

"*Sniff* No, I'm fine." The captain of the three-man squad, Darkness, said while dismissively waving away her men's concerns. "There's probably someone talking about me. There probably saying something bad about me behind my back. Maybe, they're starting a terrible rumor about me that will get me demoted back to a squire. *Pant* And when that happens, my family will disown me. *Pant* After that, I'll be forced to live on the streets, *Pant* forced to sell my body for a stale loaf of bread *Pant* …"

 

"And there she goes." The two knights muttered simultaneously.

 

"Hey, let's go grab an ale." The first knight said, sheathing his sword as he spoke.

 

"Only if you're paying." The other knight replied. "I just spent most of my salary on an engagement ring for my girlfriend. So, I don't have the extra jewels."

 

"Oh, you're finally popping the question, huh?" The first knight said with interest as he started walking towards the entrance of the training ground. "When are you gonna do it?"

 

"On our next free day…" The second knight replied as he and the other knight left the training ground.

 

Meanwhile, Darkness, who had not even noticed the departure of her squad was writhing in place in the middle of the training ground with her hands covering her reddened cheeks as she continued to fantasize about the cruel fate that would be fall her because of the malicious rumors.

 

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

 

Shortly after mention Darkness, Laxus shuddered. Then, he quickly scanned the surroundings, feeling that he may be in danger.

 

"Laxus, are you alright?" Fried asked in a concerned tone.

 

"Yeah…" Laxus said unsurely as he looked around. "I just feel like something dangerous happened. But I'm not sure why, or what it was."

 

"That is quite the odd occurrence." Fried said while tilting his head in confusion. "but the senses of a strong wizard should never be underestimated. So, I will stay by your side to help in case anything happens."

 

Shaking his head to rid himself of the strange feeling, Laxus started walking once again.

 

"Though that won't be necessary." Laxus said, regaining his normal tone. "I appreciate the thought."

 

In response, Fried nodded and started walking again as well. However, he noticed that Laxus came to a stop once again shortly after entering the central plaza.

 

"Laxus, did you get that feeling again?" Fried asked as he approached Laxus.

 

This time, however, Fried did not receive a response. So, he quickened his steps. However, once he entered the central plaza, he knew exactly why Laxus had stopped.

 

From their current position, now that they were past the Kardia Cathedral, Laxus and Fried could now see the tall, metallic building with a Fairy Tail emblem towering above the rest of the buildings in the town at the end of the road leading to the north.

 

"What the hell is that?" Laxus exclaimed after finally coming out of his daze.

 

"I heard that the guild hall had been rebuilt on our way back." Fried said, looking at the tall building with his eyes wide open. "But I never thought it would be something like… this…"

 

"How does something like that get built in only a month?" Laxus asked in disbelief.

 

"Hey, I can't believe you guys abandoned me!" Bickslow shouted as he approached the duo form behind. "You could have at least tried to calm… her… down…"

 

Like Laxus and Fried, Bickslow also came to a stop as soon as he saw the towering building at the end of the road.

 

"What the hell?" Bickslow asked in a confused tone.

 

"The hell? The hell?" Bickslow's dolls parroted.

 

Evergreen, on the other hand, was too shocked after seeing the new guild hall while she approached with Bickslow to say anything.

 

Eventually, Laxus was the first to break out of his stupor. And when he did, he started walking towards the new guild hall with determined steps.

 

Naturally, Laxus' departure pulled the members of the Thunder God Tribe out of their dazes as well. So, they all picked up the pace and followed Laxus to the guild hall.

 

'Although I'm not sure why, after seeing the new guild hall, I have a really bad feeling.' Laxus muttered to himself as he approached the guild hall. 'I need to talk to Gramps. If I do, I'm sure I'll understand what this bad feeling is about.'


創作者的想法
SixthSense1029 SixthSense1029

You can read 5 chapters ahead on my Patr3on at:

https://patr3on.com/SixthSense1029

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the story.

Comments, Reviews, and Power Stones are always aprpreciated.

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