The magic flying carpet was impressively fast. In just a few hours, the group zipped from Magnolia to Ghost Lotus City.
Ghost Lotus wasn't nearly as lively as Magnolia. It lacked a powerful magic guild or any famous tourist spots, so it felt a bit rundown in comparison.
"So, where do we start investigating?" Lucy asked.
The group wandered aimlessly down the streets after hopping off the carpet. Tracking down Eisenwald's hideout wasn't going to be easy. Dark guilds were basically dens for thugs and criminals, so their locations were kept hush-hush—not exactly marked on a tourist map.
"Books say the best places to gather intel are taverns and…" Kira trailed off, catching himself. "Let's just head to the tavern where Erza ran into those guys."
Erza nodded. "Good idea. Here's the plan: Gray and I will check out the tavern. Kira, Natsu, Happy, and Lucy, you four scout around town for any leads. We'll meet back here in two hours."
"Got it," Kira said.
He agreed readily enough, but as soon as Erza and Gray left, Kira turned to the others with a sly grin. "Let's split up. It'll be more efficient that way."
Lucy, uneasy in this unfamiliar town and facing the prospect of dealing with an entire dark guild, hesitated. "Wait, split up?"
"Yup," Kira said, not missing a beat. "Natsu and Happy aren't exactly the sharpest, so you'll have to keep an eye on them, Lucy. I'll go solo. Catch you later!"
Before anyone could protest, Kira vanished around a corner, leaving a bewildered Lucy, a clueless Happy, and an overly enthusiastic Natsu behind.
Kira wasn't just slacking off—he had a motive. He wanted to give Natsu and Lucy some alone time. Back in the day, he'd been a die-hard Nalu shipper!
"Two hours to kill… maybe I'll grab a bite and chill," Kira muttered to himself, planning a cozy afternoon. But then, something caught his eye. "Wait, what's that?"
His peripheral vision locked onto something intriguing.
"Could it be… the legendary…?"
Glancing around cautiously—good, no one was watching—he hummed a little tune, casually strolling toward his target. Then, in one smooth move, he crouched to "tie his shoe," snatching a small white card off the ground as he stood.
Kira shielded the card, which seemed to glow with a faint holy light, and his eyes widened in disbelief. The card featured a very enticing image and a few heart-pounding words.
No way—it's that kind of thing! To think he'd stumble across it by chance and have plenty of time to act on it? This was fate!
A mysterious smile crept across Kira's face…
---
Two hours later, in the food district.
"Half-off everything? That was amazing!" Kira said, one hand on his hip, the other patting his satisfied stomach. "What a perfect afternoon. Time to meet up with the others."
As he rounded a corner, bam!—he collided with someone.
Life is full of surprises and accidents. The crash caught Kira off guard, but he was no rookie. With a quick sidestep, he steadied himself like the seasoned mage he was. The other guy wasn't so lucky, stumbling and dropping what he was carrying.
Clatter! Roll, roll…
The sound suggested something wooden—and long.
Not that Kira deduced the shape from the sound. No, the object had fallen out of its bag and rolled right to his feet.
Glancing down, Kira saw a wooden flute adorned with three skull designs.
Well, well, well… This familiar vibe, this eerie aura—was this the legendary magic flute… Lullaby?
Talk about life throwing you curveballs!
In a quarter of a second, Kira dropped to the ground, his wide white-and-gold magic robe conveniently covering the flute, blocking it from the other guy's view for a moment. Then…
Word Spirit Magic: Text Manipulation, Swap and Switch!
The guy—Kageyama, Kira realized—scrambled to his feet, looking panicked as he noticed Lullaby had fallen out. That flute was critical, and losing it would mean big trouble.
But after eyeing Kira for two seconds, Kageyama relaxed. No magic power. Just some good-looking normal guy. Our plan's too secret to be sniffed out like this. No way this is a coincidence—I'm just being paranoid.
After some quick self-reassurance, Kageyama dusted himself off, stepped forward, and picked up the flute, slipping it back into its bag with practiced ease. Then he turned to Kira, still on the ground. "You okay?"
Gotta hand it to him—Kageyama's fake smile was convincing. If Kira didn't already know the guy was bad news, he might've bought it.
Ugh, this two-faced act… not something an honest guy like me could pull off!
Kira grabbed Kageyama's offered hand, standing up with a polite smile. "I'm fine. Sorry about that!"
Kageyama blinked, caught off guard. Usually, people in these situations just started yelling, which was why he'd perfected that fake smile. This guy's handsome, dressed like he's loaded… I thought he'd be some spoiled rich kid. Didn't expect him to be so polite!
"No worries, no worries," Kageyama said with a grin.
After a brief pause, the two parted ways.
---
The streets were still bustling when Kira arrived, a little late, at the meeting spot. Erza and the others had just gotten back.
"Any leads, Kira?" Erza asked.
Kira's face turned serious as he shook his head. "Nope, sadly, I didn't—burp—find anything about Eisenwald. What about you guys?"
Erza replied, "We didn't pin down Eisenwald's hideout, but we heard something else. Apparently, a group of mages is gathering in Kunugi."
"Kunugi… isn't that the stop before Clover Town?" Gray said.
Clover Town was where the guild masters held their regular council meetings.
"There's only one route to Clover—by train," Erza explained. "If they control Kunugi's station, they can block anyone from reaching Clover."
She gave Kira a meaningful look. "Looks like you were right. Their target is the guild masters at the meeting."
Natsu, ever the hothead, jumped up. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go save the Master!"
"Hold it, Natsu!" Kira grabbed his shoulder. "The Master doesn't need you playing hero. Besides, didn't we have Mira notify him before we left? They should already know what's up."
"All we need to do now is deal with the Eisenwald mages holed up at Kunugi Station," Erza added.
"Oh, I'm fired up!" Natsu shouted. "Happy, let's go!"
"Aye, sir!"
"Natsu, wait—!"
Before anyone could stop him, Natsu was already airborne, carried off by Happy as they zoomed toward Kunugi.
"That idiot never listens!" Gray groaned.
"Isn't this fine?" Kira said with a smirk. "Natsu's charging in first, so we can take it easy. Let's catch a train."
"??"
"What are you talking about, Kira?" Erza snapped. "The enemy has Lullaby! Natsu's in danger going alone. We need to—" She froze, her eyes locking onto the wooden flute Kira casually pulled out.
"What did you just say the enemy has?"
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