Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari
----------
Caught between two formidable female Mages, Noah, feeling like he was sitting on pins and needles, still managed to endure the meal with his excellent physical constitution.
Erza, holding a cup of Winter Snow Grass tea, brought up the real reason she'd come to see Noah. "The Magic Council sent word that Jose has disappeared from prison. After investigation, it was confirmed that someone used Spatial Magic to rescue him."
"Jose?"
Mira, having finished cleaning the food box, sat down beside Noah. "Wasn't he crippled by us, having lost his qualifications as a Mage? Can the Magic Council really not even guard a cripple?"
Noah scoffed. If there were no screw-ups, would it still be the Magic Council? "Maybe they thought Jose couldn't stir up any more trouble, so they relaxed their guard on him."
No matter what, Jose was once a Ten Wizard Saints-level Mage. Although Phantom Lord disbanded and Jose fell from grace, the connections he'd accumulated over so many years still left something behind.
"What did the Guild Master say about this?"
Facing Noah's question, Erza shook her head. She'd come to Noah because she hadn't been able to discuss it with Makarov yet.
Noah then looked at Mira. As the Guild's hostess and manager, Makarov would definitely inform her if he were going out, so the Guild would have someone in charge.
Mira twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "The Guild Master went to visit an elder. He said he wouldn't be back for half a month, but he looked a bit reluctant about it."
Makarov was over eighty years old, and there were very few people in the Magic World he'd call an elder. Noah had a vague idea of who the old man went to visit.
It was most likely the only survivor of the four who founded Fairy Tail.
"Speaking of which, even if we know Jose was rescued, what can we do?" Mira understood that Erza wanted to find Jose, but that would undoubtedly be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Erza nodded. "True, it'll be difficult to catch Jose, but we can wait for him to come to us."
Although Jose was crippled, there was a lot of Magic in this world. With Wendy having brought back a severely injured Jellal before, it was possible that whoever took Jose had Magic that could heal his body.
After Phantom Lord's crushing defeat and complete destruction of its reputation, Jose could be said to harbor extreme hatred for Fairy Tail. If his body recovered, he'd surely target the Guild that gave him such a painful lesson again.
Erza had come today to ask Noah to set up some Magic arrays in Magnolia to guard against potential enemies.
Since mastering Devil Slayer Magic, Noah's development of wind-based abilities had reached an unparalleled level. Setting up a warning Magic array with Wind Magic wasn't difficult.
But Noah didn't want to do that.
"Erza, although Natsu's always reckless, sometimes he can bring us surprises."
Why bring up Natsu all of a sudden? A bewildered Erza quickly caught on and looked at Noah with Mira, surprised. "Are you saying Natsu knows where Jose is?!"
"We should leave quickly, otherwise I'm afraid Natsu and Gajeel won't be able to hold on."
Looking at the puzzled Erza and Mira, Noah smiled. He certainly wouldn't say that he'd just received a Wish request from Natsu.
pLocal Wish Request]
[Upon arriving at Sabertooth, Natsu encountered Sabertooth Guild Master Jiemma, and... Jose, whose strength had returned to its peak. Please help Natsu defeat the hateful enemy who angered him.]
[Reward: Lost Magic, Fire Dragon Slayer Magic]
[Deadline: Before Natsu falls into despair and awakens another terrifying power.]
Finally getting the Dragon Slayer Magic he'd been thinking about, Noah was very satisfied. However, besides Dragon Slayer Magic, Natsu seemed to have a hidden powerful strength.
But with Natsu's personality, would he allow himself to hide his true strength like that?
Noah suspected Natsu didn't even know he had other powers.
Crocus Town, a quiet small town under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Fiore.
The town wasn't large, but it was fully equipped with all kinds of living facilities, and there was also a small Magic Guild called Sabertooth located here.
Although Sabertooth's name sounded very powerful, its conduct was surprisingly gentle. The old Guild Master, Kohler, was not only helpful but also loving, taking in some homeless children.
Whenever locals mentioned Sabertooth, they compared it to a small Fairy Tail, because their conduct was very similar—the only difference was their strength.
However, everything changed a year ago when a father-daughter pair of Mages joined Sabertooth.
Old Guild Master Kohler suddenly disappeared, with no body found alive or dead. And the newly joined Mage, a man named Jiemma, took over the Guild Master's position.
Jiemma's domineering personality and strength allowed him to control Sabertooth effortlessly. From that day on, the gentle tiger revealed its sharp fangs, and the first thing it bit was its own members and the residents who'd trusted it.
Not only did he demand clients significantly increase their commission fees, but he also collected protection money from town residents under the guise of protection.
The residents once reported Jiemma's actions to the Magic Council, as well as his possible role in Guild Master Kohler's disappearance. However, not only did they receive no reply, but the Magic Council also recognized Jiemma's identity as Sabertooth's Guild Master.
Since then, the residents dared not speak out in anger.
After expelling the few Guild members who were originally there, Jiemma kept the children taken in by the old Guild Master because of their high Magic talent.
Having lost the kind grandfather who'd taken them in, the children had to face Jiemma's strictness and cruelty.
And the original owner of the Libra Celestial Spirit Key was one of those poor children, a little girl named Yukino Aguria.
When Lucy told Natsu and Gajeel the information she'd gathered, anger appeared on their faces.
Even Gajeel, who'd originally been forced into the team, now developed ill will toward Jiemma, because one piece of information Lucy collected was:
A child named Rogue came to visit his friend Sting at Sabertooth, but Jiemma took notice of his talent and forcibly branded him with Sabertooth's Guild emblem.
When Gajeel was in Phantom Lord, besides Juvia, his only friend, he'd actually had a little follower who admired him.
After Phantom Lord disbanded, Gajeel had also wanted to have his little follower join Fairy Tail with him, but he'd never found him. He didn't expect him to be forcibly taken into Sabertooth.
Two furious Dragon Slayers thus abandoned their plan to secretly take Yukino away and directly stormed the usurped Sabertooth.
However, they had to face not only a Jiemma whose strength was unfathomable, but also a great Mage who harbored infinite hatred for Fairy Tail—the former Guild Master of Phantom Lord, Jose.
With new and old grievances combined, the two sides even skipped the stage of exchanging threats and immediately started a fierce battle.