Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
December, x774.
"So, how does it feel?" Alfonzo asked.
"Actually, it feels incredible." Ur replied. "And even though it's weak, I have a sense of feel in the new leg, too."
Nodding in satisfaction, Alfonzo, along with Elicia, Gray and Ultear watched Ur move around in Porlyusica's house. Today was the day when Alfonzo made the last of the adjustments to Ur's prosthetic leg that he had created with Nell supervision and Porlyusica's help.
Although Elicia was afraid of Porlyusica, she was too excited to see Alfonzo's first attempt at making Automail. So, she ignored her instinctive fear and tagged along to see the finished product.
Surprisingly, when Porlyusica told Ur that she had several designs to choose from, those were only external desings. In fact, most of the last four months was spent with Porlyusica teaching Alfonzo about the human body.
What surprised Alfonzo even more was that Nell agreed to let him take on this project without her assistance at all. The only thing she did at the beginning was teach Alfonzo a few more inscriptions that would probably make the leg feel more alive to its wearer.
"Good." Porlyusica said in her usual unfriendly tone. "Now, if you're done dancing around in my house, get out!"
With that, a broom appeared in Porlyusica's hand, and she began approaching the quintet with menacing steps. Naturally, Elicia was the first to bolt for the front door. Just like for Gildarts, when she punched him in the crotch, the trauma of being chased away with a broom stuck.
Although less frantic than Elicia, the rest of the group also quickly made their way to the tree house's front door. Then, when they were all out of the house, Porlyusica surveyed them all one last time before snorting and slamming the door as she went back to doing whatever it was that she did.
"She's so scary." Elicia said while cautiously looking back over her shoulder.
"She's really not that bad." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "She's just an old lady who likes her quiet and solitude."
Hearing that, Ur began to chuckle at Alfonzo and Elicia's conversation.
"Mom, why are you laughing?" Ultear asked with curiosity in her tone.
"Well, the two of them," Ur said while pointing at Alfonzo and Elicia, "are acting like the other usually does right now."
"What do you mean?" Gray asked, curious what his master meant.
"Well, how do I put this?" Ur asked herself while she had gained all four children's attention by now. "Usually, Elicia is the one who sees the good in everyone and everything while Alfonzo points out any negative points."
With that, the group understood exactly what Ur meant.
"But this time, Elicia is pointing out a negative point about miss Porlyusica while Alfonzo is defending her and giving her good points." Ur said, concluding her explanation.
While Gray and Ultear giggled at Ur's explanation, Elicia looked away in embarrassment. Meanwhile, Alfonzo rubbed the back of his head bashfully.
"Anyway, it's almost that time again, right?" Alfonzo said in an obvious attempt to change the subject.
"What time are you talking about?" Ultear asked curiously.
Not just Ultear, but both Ur and Gray were also curious to know what Alfonzo was talking about. And they all decided that if the topic was interesting enough, they would let his changing the subject slide and not bring up his and Elicia's opposite behavior again… For a while at least.
"It's almost time for the S-Class promotion exams." Alfonzo said.
"Oh yeah, it is about that time again, isn't it?" Elicia added. "It really feels like this year just flew by."
Nodding in agreement, Alfonzo continued.
"Yeah, I guess going on all those quests really helps, huh?" Alfonzo asked with a smile.
By now, Alfonzo and Elicia had both been doing D-Class quests for around half a year. And although they don't really pay all that much, combining them with their own jobs as a chef and a seamstress, the two of them were some of the best paid wizards in Fairy Tail below the A-Class.
On top of that, they have both completed all their quests without causing any collateral damage to private property. So, Makarov has been over the moon that he finally got some wizards who cared about the guild's reputation.
"What's so special about the S-Class promotion exams?" Ultear asked curiously.
"S-Class Wizards are the backbone of any guild." Ur replied to Ultear's question. "Right now, Fairy Tail only has two S-Class wizards, Master Makarov and Gildarts…"
"Before we were born, the guild had four, though." Elicia said in a cheerful tone.
"That's right." Ur said with a nod and a smile. "Both Alfonzo's mother, Bianca, and Elicia's father, Orlando, were also S-Class wizards. And with their help, Fairy Tail was unofficially dubbed the strongest guild in Fiore."
Hearing that, both Gray and Ultear's eyes lit up as they looked at Alfonzo and Elicia.
"What kind of magic did they use?" Ultear asked excitedly.
"My mom used [Dispel Magic]." Alfonzo replied. "She could pretty much cancel any magic as long as she used enough magic power."
"And my Poppa used [Super Sonic Magic]." Elicia added. "He could generate waves in the air that traveled faster than the speed of sound."
"Ugh." Alfonzo groaned just thinking about the magic. "I hated that magic."
"He woke you up with hit, too, huh?" Ur asked with a similar grimace on her face.
"Uh huh.' Alfonzo nodded in reply.
Back when he was still alive, Orlando, Elicia's father, like to prank heavy sleepers by shooting one of his super sonic waves near them. Naturally, when the wave passed the intended target, it would cause a sonic boom, startling the unsuspecting victim from their sleep.
There were only three people who were ever safe from this treatment. Naturally, his wife and daughter were among them. And the third was Bianca, Alfonzo's mother, because she would beat him severely, every time he woke her up like that. And it only took one trip to see Porlyusica for him to realize that it was not the best idea to wake up Bianca like that.
"He never did that to me or Momma, though." Elicia said innocently.
"That's because he was too afraid that Aunt Sydney would make him sleep on the couch." Alfonzo countered. "And he doted on you too much to wake you up like that. That's why he always made me wake you up back then. He would come to my house and use those damned supersonic waves to wake me up. Then, he would order me to go wake you up."
"Bianca never did anything about it?" Ur asked while trying to stifle her laughter.
"Yeah, she started training me in hand-to-hand combat." Alfonzo grumbled. "She told me that Uncle Orlando would stop when I was strong enough to kick his ass."
With that, Ur burst into laughter before patting Alfonzo on the shoulder.
"She told me the same thing when I asked her to make him stop." Ur said with a fond smile on her face.
The quintet continued to chat as they walked through the streets of magnolia toward the guild hall. When they finally arrived at the guild hall, they were amazed to see that everyone was in the guild hall.
"Like I said, it's about that time." Alfonzo said as he looked at Makarov and Gildarts standing on a makeshift stage to address the rest of the guild.
"Good, everyone is here now." Makarov said, raising his voice so that everyone in the guild hall could hear him. "As I am sure you are aware, Fairy Tail's S-Class promotion exams are held in the middle of December every year."
The entirety of the guild nodded to Makarov's words.
"Well, this year will be no different." Makarov continued. "So, now I will announce the wizards who qualify to take this year's exam."
With that, a few of the wizards who thought that they should qualify had their ears perk up. As Makarov announced the names of the wizards who would participate in the exam, some were happy, while some grew disappointed. Eventually, Makarov made it to the last of the six names who had qualified for this year's exam.
"… Macao Conbolt, and Wakaba Mine." Makarov announced. "Unfortunately, there are only six qualifying wizards in our guild this year. But I hope you all will continue to improve yourselves so that you can compete for S-Class in the coming years."
"Hold on a minute!" Ultear shouted from the back of the crowd. "My mom was an S-Class independent wizard. How could she not have qualified to take the S-Class exam?"
Hearing that, everyone looked back at Ultear who was standing with Ur, Alfonzo, Elicia, and Gray. While Gray was nodding in agreement with Ultear, Alfonzo and Elicia were smiling at Makarov, wondering what he would say to answer the question. Meanwhile, Ur had face palmed, she knew that if Ultear had been a little more patient, the answer to that question would have been given without the need to ask it.
"Like you said, Ultear, your mother was an S-Class independent wizard." Makarov said with a grandfatherly smile on his face. "She is someone who passed the kingdom's rigorous assessment of her abilities."
Hearing Makarov's praise of Ur, both Ultear and Gray smiled proudly. But when they heard the rest of what Makarov had to say, they were dumbfounded.
"So, unlike wizards who leave one guild and join another, she does not have to take the exam to regain her S-Class privileges, since she never lost them in the first place." Makarov continued.
"Huh?" The entire guild, other than Makarov and Ur, exclaimed simultaneously.
Although Alfonzo and Elicia knew a lot about the world of Fairy Tail, that did not mean they knew everything about it. For example, they passed away in their previous lives before The 100 Years Quest was published. So, their knowledge of the canon stops at the end of the original story.
Even so, there were some things that were never explained in the anime and manga. For example, what happened if an S-Class wizard left a guild and joined another. Or if a normal independent wizard joined a guild, let alone an S-Class independent wizard.
"You knew that already, didn't you, Aunt Ur?" Alfonzo asked with a dry expression on his face.
"I did." Ur replied while her eyebrow twitched at being called an aunt.
"But Aunt Ur, if you knew that, why didn't you say anything when we were talking about the promotion exam?" Elicia asked, causing Ur's eyebrow to twitch once again.
"Yeah, Mom, if you had told us that, I wouldn't have embarrassed myself just now." Ur asked with an embarrassed blush covering her face all the way up to the tips of her ears.
"Yeah, what's the big idea, Master?" Gray asked.
"Well, the reason is quite simple, actually." Ur replied while rubbing the back of her head bashfully.
Hearing that, everyone in the guild's gazes focused on Ur. Waiting to see what simple reason could have made her not mention that fact to anyone.
"Because until you asked Master Makarov your question, I had forgotten." Ur said with a sheepish smile on her face.
*Bang!*
Simultaneously, everyone in the guild hall, other than Makarov and Ur, fell to the ground in shock. Then, they all quickly stood up and glared at Ur. Eventually, someone threw an empty beer mug at her. Naturally, this led to everyone else deciding to take a shot at her as well.
With every additional incoming projectile, Ur's eyebrow twitched as she dodged gracefully.
'Wow, this new leg feels great even when I move with a purpose.' Ur thought to herself as she dodged yet another beer mug. However, she began to frown when a chair came flying at her. 'Still, I'm gonna have to show these bastards why I'm an S-Class wizard… And they aren't.'
Then, with the ferocity of a lioness, Ur dashed into the crowd of annoyed Fairy Tail wizards and began throwing punches. As the guild hall devolved into a battle royale warzone, Alfonzo, Elicia, Ultear, and Gray met up with Cana, Laki, Alzack, Levy, Jet, and Droy by the bar.
"It looks like this is gonna take a while." Alfonzo said as the group of younger wizards watched the brawl. "If you guys want something to eat, I'll do a little cooking."
*Bang!*
Before any of the young wizards he was gathered with could speak, Laxus had slammed his Jewels on the bar top.
"Gimme a bacon cheeseburger with onions and jalapenos." Laxus said while glaring at Alfonzo. "And I'll take a side of cheese fries, too."
Following Laxus, the rest of the Thunder God Tribe also placed their orders.
Shrugging his shoulders, Alfonzo collected the money, then he turned toward his friends and waited for their orders. Like Laxus, they also paid for their meals, knowing Alfonzo's personality as well as they did. Then, once Alfonzo was done cooking, all the wizards of the younger generation just watched the ongoing brawl while they ate.