Chapter 478: Tomorrow, the Plan Begins
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
May, x786.
After Alfonzo dropped the bomb about the visitors being able to use [Magic Power Detection, Ur's office fell into silence. However, that silence was broken quickly enough.
*Bang!*
"How is that possible?" Ur asked as she slammed her palms onto her desk. "This is an exclusive spell of our guild. Does that mean someone betrayed us?"
Hearing Ur's assumptions, Gildarts, Ultear, Erza, Mirajane, Sun, and Lucy narrowed their eyes dangerously. Like any other member of any other guild, the one thing they could not tolerate were traitors.
"Okay now, let's calm down, everyone." Elicia said while speaking in the most soothing tone she could muster. "Let's not jump to conclusions."
"What are you talking about, Lici?" Ultear, sounding just as fiery as her mother, asked in a reprimanding tone. "This is a big deal. We need to find out who is leaking guild secrets!"
"Seriously, Tear, calm down… please." Elicia said as she pulled Ultear into a hug and began combing her fingers through her friend's hair.
However, Ultear struggled fiercely against Elicia's embrace, wanting to find who betrayed them immediately. And Alfonzo and Elicia had a pretty good idea why the mother and daughter flew off the handle so quickly.
Ur and Ultear were separated for years because someone, brain of the Oración Seis, betrayed their trust when Ultear was a young child. And because of that, they are both very sensitive to betrayal.
Luckily, the other wizards in the room, though suspicious against treachery, were much calmer. So, while Elicia tried to calm Ultear, Gildarts did the same to Ur. Though, Ur's resistance was much fiercer, resulting in Gildarts being punched in the stomach and chest several times.
"Lici's right, you know." Alfonzo said in a casual tone. "You two are jumping to conclusions."
"How can you say that." Ur growled. "Someone gave out guild secrets. Do you know how important that skill has been for the guild's development."
"Yeah, I think I know better than you, Ur." Alfonzo said while glaring at Fairy Tail's fourth guild master. "Or did you forget? I was the one who invented that technique."
Immediately, Ur and Ultear froze. As a matter of fact, they had both forgotten that fact. They had also forgotten that Alfonzo had personally taught both of them how to use it, too.
"Well, it's true that Alfonzo doesn't seem to be worried about traitors." Mirajane said while examining Alfonzo's facial expression. "But why is that?"
"It's simple, actually." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "It's because [Magic Power Detection] isn't a difficult technique to learn."
Hearing that, almost everyone looked at Alfonzo with confused expressions, Gildarts' expression being the most confused.
The reason for Gildart's' expression was simple, however. And that was because of the property of his magic power. Thanks to his [Crash Magic], Gildarts' magic power destroys just about everything it comes in contact with. Even the small amount he releases passively. So, if he actively spread it, it would more than likely cause a disaster.
The exceptions to the confusion were Elicia, Marin, and Lucy. However, all their reasons were different. Elicia did not find the technique difficult because she had seen similar techniques in anime, manga, light novels, and web novels in her previous life. Marin, on the other hand, had extremely fine magic power control thanks to her innate [Transformation Magic]. Then there was Lucy, who had no issue learning how to use [Magic Power Detection]. Rather, she had power increasing her magic power control to make the technique more effective.
In fact, just like Lucy, all the others, minus Gildarts, had the same experience at the beginning. However, they've all been using it for at least three years by now. So, they only focus on the difficulty of increasing their magic power control, no longer thinking about how easy it was to get the basics of the technique down.
And Alfonzo explained exactly that.
"I get what you're saying, Kid." Ur said as she calmed down by a significant margin. "Still, how can you say there are no traitors? All of us had to have the technique explained to us before we could even begin using it at an elementary level."
"That's not exactly true, Ur." Alfonzo said while wagging a finger in front of Ur. "There's one of us who never had to have anyone explain it to them, right?"
Hearing that, not only Ur, but just about everyone looked at Alfonzo in confusion. The only exception, Elicia, pointed a finger at Alfonzo, dispelling the confusion from the others.
"Lici's right, it's me." Alfonzo said with a smile. "Though, I'm pretty sure Lici was on the verge of figuring it out, too."
In response, Elicia smiled sweetly at her husband.
"And if their magic power control is strong enough, they would have no problem improving their usage of the technique, either."
"That still does not explain how they learned it." Erza pointed out.
"I was getting to that." Alfonzo replied with a smile. "And with strong enough control and magic power sensitivity, they would be able to feel the thinly spread out magic power of someone using [Magic Power Detection], provided the user's control isn't better than theirs."
At that moment, everyone's eyes flashed with understanding. A moment later, however, Ur's mouth fell open in shock.
"Does that mean… It's because of… me?" Ur asked in a shaky tone.
Naturally, Ur was referring to the time when she first felt Irene's magic power. Thinking that no one would detect her magic power because of how thinly she had spread it, she never considered that someone could be that sensitive to external magic power.
"Probably." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "Not that it's a big deal. I mean, I expected it to get out sooner or later, anyway."
'It probably doesn't help that Irene is a dragon.' Elicia thought to herself while feeling sorry for Ur after seeing her forlorn expression. 'I mean, dragons are basically masters of magic power. So, it's not surprising at all. In fact, despite the fact that Brandish is stronger than Ur, I would bet she didn't even notice it.'
"Anyway, there's nothing to worry about." Alfonzo continued casually. "But if you are still worried, you should start working on your magic power control. That way, nothing like this will happen again."
In fact, Alfonzo was somewhat glad that this happened, and Ur realized that it was her magic power that was most likely detected. Because, he had noticed that Ur had been much laxer in her training ever since she became guild master. And although that was normal, with all the extra responsibilities she now had, that did not mean it was okay. He did not want Ur to lose the drive to improve, after all.
And just as Alfonzo hoped, he saw the flames of determination start blazing in Ur's eyes only a moment after his words fell.
Anyway, I'm tired." Alfonzo said as he stretched his body with a smile stretching across his face. "So, I'll leave it to you to tell Laxus and Freed about this information, Ur."
Hearing that, light flashed in the eyes of all the girls. Then, they all bid Ur and Gildarts goodbye as they filed into the elevator.
A few moments later, Alfonzo, Elicia, Marin, and Ikaruga left the guild with Ultear, Erza, Mirajane, Sun, and Lucy following them. And to their annoyance, Saeko, Saya, Shizuka, and Rika also followed them back to the mansion, wanting to take a dip in the hot tub and talk to Alfonzo after a month and a half. Now, with the four extras, they could not carry out their plan to have some fun with Alfonzo in the hot tub.
Meanwhile, Irene, having followed Alfonzo and the others until they disappeared behind the barrier covering the mansion wither [Magic Power Detection] finally decided to call it a night.
Around twenty minutes later, Ireen had returned to the hotel suite she was sharing with Brandish. And when she arrived, she found Brandish still lounging on the couch. However, instead of just lying there, Brandish was reading a novel.
"Saint Slippery's Academy for Girls." Irene said curiously while reading the title of Brandish's book out loud. "I don't believe I've ever heard of that book. What is it about?"
So engrossed in her book, Brandish did not notice the sound of the door opening. However, when she heard Irene's voice, she panicked. Then, at a speed rivaling her top speed, she quickly snapped the book shut before shrinking it to the size of a dust mite with her [Command T Magic].
Brandish's magic, [Command T], allows her to manipulate the mass of an object. Whether it be reducing an object's mass, which makes the things she uses her magic on to shrink, or increasing its mass, which causes the object to expand. [Command T] is even effective on the magic of others, allowing Brandish to shrink a spell until it is no longer a threat before catching it and throwing it back at her opponent. Then, restoring it to its original size or even expanding it to make the spell more destructive.
"Irene, you're back." Brandish said, her eyes darting around the room without making eye contact with Ireen as she spoke. "So, did you find out who those new arrivals were? I even noticed another four strong magic power signatures entered the town not too long ago. Were any of them our target?"
While Brandish continued to bombard Irene with questions, Irene only stared at her with a smile. She was curious about the book that Brandish hid, after all. And Brandish knew it, too. However, she also knew that if Irene was determined to get the book there was nothing she could do about it. So, she tried to draw Irene's attention away from the book.
Shaking her head at Brandish's antics, Irene smiled, deciding she would see what kind of book Brandish felt the need to hide, later. Instead, she answered Brandish's previous questions.
"No, I was not able to identify any of the magic power signatures that arrived in the afternoon." Ireene replied as she walked towards the chair she sat in before she left the suite. "But I do believe our target has returned to Magnolia."
"*Sigh* That means we'll have to work, doesn't it." Brandish muttered in an annoyed tone.
"More specifically, you'll have to work, brandish." Irene said with a smile, enjoying the suffering of her companion. "But don't' worry, I'll always be nearby in case you need help."
"Well, considering I didn't feel anyone who had more magic power than me, I don't think I need to worry." Brandish said uncaringly.
"Don't be negligent, Brandish." Irene said, softly reprimanding her comrade. "Remember, that boy beat Serena. So, he's stronger than you."
"Either that or Serena is an idiot." Brandish replied in a proud tone. "Losing to someone with that much less power than himself is pathetic."
"Did you forget?" Irene asked as she poured herself a glass of wine. "That report said that he could raise his magic power in the midst of battle. Unfortunately, Serena was too incompetent to include the specifics in his report. So, we have no idea by how much he will be strengthened if he uses that ability."
'On top of that, we're not sure he's the only one with that strange power, either.' Irene continued in her thoughts as she sipped from her wine glass. 'And if there are more that can do the same, this may be a much more dangerous mission than even His Majesty expected.'
Though she had that thought, Irene decided to keep it to herself. Getting Brandish to take the mission she was assigned seriously was hard enough. However, if she made it known that the mission could be much more difficult, Ireen was unsure if threats and torture would be able to change Brandish's mindset.
"Anyway, you'll start tomorrow." Irene ordered. "Although they are probably wary of us due to our level of power, they have no idea why we're here. So, this shouldn't be too difficult."
"*Sigh* I hope so." Brandish replied as she sank into the couch's backrest. "I really don't wanna work too hard for this."
"Well, I saw that the target was surrounded by beautiful women." Irene said as the smile she had been wearing for the beginning widened. "So, he's probably quite the lover of beauty. So, if you use your feminine wiles, I'm sure you could end this mission quite quickly."
In response, Brandish glared at Irene as her cheeks flushed deeply, causing Irene to chuckle in amusement. And if you add the fact that Brandish had just been reading Slippery Girls, a few, rather explicit, images appeared in her head, causing her blush to deepen more fiercely and Irene's chuckle to turn into full blown laughter.
Unable to stand the embarrassment any further, Brandish stood up from the couch before rushing into her bedroom, the sound of the door slamming behind her signifying that she did not want to talk about it anymore.
Meanwhile, Irene spent the next few moments laughing uproariously. Then, once her laughter calmed, she wiped a tear from her eye as she got her breathing under control.
"Well, that was fun." Irene said as she swirled her wine. "Still, I wonder what that book was about."
Shrugging in response to her own question, Irene took another sip from her wine glass.
"I'll just take the book from her later." Irene said after swallowing her wine. "I'm sure the expression on her face when she sees me reading it one day after she comes back from investigating will be priceless."
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