Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
September, x781.
"Ultear, who is this you brought back with you?" Makarov asked after seeing the little girl following behind Ultear.
"*Sigh* That's a long story." Ultear said while scanning the guild hall. Then, after not seeing who she was hoping to see, she started walking toward the bar. "I met her after I finished my quest. On the way back, I came across a village that was being attacked by a Dark Guild."
"Did you engage?" Makarov asked.
"I did." Ultear replied with a nod. "But by the time I got there, most of the villagers had already been killed. There were only a few weak wizards going around checking for survivors."
"Do you know which Dark Guild they came from?" Ur asked curiously.
"After calling the people from the Magic Council to pick up the ones I captured, they said they were from Grimoire Heart."
With that, Makarov, Ur, Ren, and Masa fell silent for a few moments.
"Grimoire Heart, huh?" Makarov said in a solemn tone before taking a swig from his mug of ale. "*Sigh* That village was really unlucky."
"Seriously unlucky." Ur added while shaking her head. "They weren't even taking prisoners. That means they were probably there just for resources."
"Wait… You know who they are?" Ultear asked.
"Of course we do." Ren said. "They're one of the big three Dark Guilds that make up the Balam Alliance."
"The Balam Alliance is basically in charge of all the weaker Dark Guilds in Fiore." Ur continued. "And according to rumors, they have multiple S-Class wizards among their numbers."
"Anyway, back to the matter at hand." Makarov said. "So, I assume you want to let her join the guild, correct."
"That's right." Ultear replied. "From what I can tell, she has a good talent for magic. But it doesn't look like she's awakened it yet."
"Hm…" Makarov hummed as he focused on the little girl behind Ultear.
Along with Makarov, the other three also focused on the pink-haired little girl. When they did, what they saw was a girl around the age of nine with short, straight pink hair and green eyes gripping onto the back of Ultear's clothes while only showing half of her face from behind the older girl.
"Child, come a little closer." Makarov said as he hopped down from the bar top. "I promise you are safe here. I just want to check your potential for magic."
Not moving immediately, the little girl first looked up to Ultear, who nodded at her encouragingly. Then, she let go of Ultear's clothes and took a step forward from behind her.
"What is your name, Child?" Makarov asked while wearing a grandfatherly smile.
"Meredy…" The little girl, Meredy, replied quietly.
"Quite the lovely name, I must say." Makarov replied, maintaining his smile. "Then, he extended his hand toward Meredy as he continued. "Please, give me your hand. I'll check for magic power in your body. And I'll awaken it if you do indeed have some."
Hearing that the old man standing in front of her would awaken her magic power, Meredy's eyes lit up.
"Does that mean I'll be able to do magic like the performers in my village?" Meredy asked excitedly. "Will I be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat? Or maybe cut a person in half and put them back together? Ooh, what about---"
"Hahaha!" Makarov laughed loudly at the quick change in attitude from a shy little girl who was uncomfortable around strangers to an energetic girl who was curious about magic, bringing an end to Meredy's excited ramblings. "Child, If it is true that you have magic power inside of you, you'll be able to do so much more."
At first, when Makarov began laughing, Meredy recoiled. Thinking that she had spoken out of turn, she lowered her head. However, when she heard Makarov's following words, she could not help her eyes lighting up again with a smile gracing her faced shortly afterward.
A moment later, Meredy finally extended her hand toward Makarov, the anxiety in her expression nowhere to be seen by now.
Meanwhile, Makarov, after taking the girls hand, closed his eyes to feel the flow of magic power in Meredy's body. However, less than a second later, he frowned slightly before opening his eyes wide in surprise.
"Master, is there something wrong?" Ultear asked after seeing Makarov's reaction.
"No, quite the contrary." Makarov replied. "It's no wonder you couldn't tell that this child's magic power had been awakened."
"Huh? What do you mean" Ultear asked in confusion.
At the same time, Ur stood from her seat at the bar. Then, after taking a few steps forward, she crouched down in front of Meredy, next to Makarov. Then, she swatted at the back of Makarov's head, who thought he was stealthily stealing glances at her behind after she crouched.
"Damn perverted old geezer." Ur muttered before focusing on Meredy again. "Would you mind if I inspected your magic power as well?"
Instead of answering immediately, Meredy focused on Ur's face for a few moments. Then, her attention turned toward Ultear, returning to Ur a moment later. This action repeated itself several times before Ultear spoke up, clearing up Meredy's confusion.
"We look alike, huh?" Ultear said with a smile.
"Uh huh." Meredy replied with a nod.
"Well, that's because she's my mother, Ur… Ur Milkovich." Ultear said with a smile.
"Oh~~." Meredy replied in realization. Then, she looked at Ur again. "I thought she was your big sister."
Hearing that, Ur puffed up with pride.
"Well, I do look good for my age, after all." Ur said as she took hold of Meredy's hand.
*Bang!*
"Aunt Ur! Gramps! I'm back!" Elicia shouted as she swung the doors to the guild hall open. "Is Fonzie---"
Elicia's words were caught in her throat at that moment. Feeling an intense dark aura, Elicia looked for its source. Eventually, she found it near the bar. Seeing Ur crouching in front of a pink-haired little girl while said little girl was holding back a giggle, Elicia immediately realized why Ur was so angry.
'She must have been bragging about how good she looks for her age in front of that little girl.' Elicia thought to herself after assessing the situation. 'Until I called her "Aunt" so loudly, at least. By the way, that little girl looks kinda familiar. That pink hair, those green eyes… Is that Meredy?'
"Damn you, Elicia." Ur said through gritted teeth. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Aunt? Even Alfonzo has stopped."
"But you're, like---" Elicia started to say while tilting her head cutely.
"If you finish that sentence, you'll regret it." Ur said in a dark tone.
"Come on, Lici, stop messing with Ur." Marin, who no one noticed walking next to Elicia thanks to her loud entrance, said with a smile on her face.
As it turns out, Elicia had taken Marin along with her on a quest to gain experience, much like Alfonzo did with Sun. Although Marin was sill only a C-Class wizard, and most of the wizards in her generation, with the exception of Levy, Jet, and Droy, took quests alone until they were B-Class, Marin was an exception, having started training much later in life than the rest.
"*Sigh* Fine…" Elicia said with a pout. "But I love seeing that look on her face. It's kinda cute."
"You have some really strange tastes, Lici." Marin said with a wry smile. "How can you call Ur's angry face cute?"
"I mean… She's really pretty, so most of her expressions are either cute or beautiful, right?" Elicia replied as she and Marin started walking toward the bar to report their quest.
"That actually… makes sense?" Marin replied, a little lost for words.
At the same time, after being praised as pretty, a lot of Ur's hostility vanished instantly. Meanwhile, Ultear could only look on with a wry smile.
'*Sigh* I need to take some lessons from Elicia.' Ultear thought to herself. 'Whenever Mom gets mad at me, I just freeze up. Yet, Elicia handles her anger so easily.'
"Anyway, what di you mean when you said it made sense that I couldn't tell if Meredy's magic power had been awakened, Master?" Ultear asked, trying to get the conversation back on topic.
"Ahem! Right." Makarov said, trying to cover up the fac that he was giggling at Ur's misfortune. "What I meant was---"
"Her magic power is awakened." Ur cut in. "But her magic power flow is so smooth that it's hard to tell. The only ones among you with this level of magic power flow are Alfonzo, Elicia, and Marin, but that's mostly due to the kind of magic she uses."
"Yeah…" Marin replied with a nod. "If my magic power moved to erratically, people would be able to tell that I was transformed."
In fact, Marin's magic, [Transformation Magic], was much more than the [Disguise Magic] Cana originally mentioned. Instead of just changing her outward appearance, Marin could change everything about herself to match the target. Everything except for her memories, that is.
On top of that, she could also transform any object that she touched into something else, too. Though, there were many more restrictions in that case. For example, she could [Transform] a knife into a sword if she wanted to. Though the sword would be much lighter than an average sword and much more fragile as well.
However, she would not be able to turn that same knife into a strawberry shortcake, something Erza pestered her to try while Alfonzo was not able to cook. And the reason was simple, the components making up the two were two different.
Another thing to take note of with Marin's [Transformation Magic] was that anything Marin transformed, including herself, would only last as long as Marin's magic power was inside of it.
"Then, that means her magic power control should be pretty good, right?" Elicia asked with a smile. Then, she approached Meredy and crouched down in front of her. "Hi, I'm Elicia. It's nice to meet you."
"Hi, I'm Meredy." Meredy replied energetically, much like Elicia had done.
"After deciding what kind of magic you want to use, you're gonna train with us from now on, okay" Elicia asked.
"Train?" Meredy asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"It's what you do to get stronger and learn how to use your magic better." Elicia replied.
A moment later, Elicia held out her hands out in front of Meredy. Then, from the tips of her fingers, a large number of threads were ejected before weaving themselves together into a pair of golden, wing-shaped accessories that she placed in Meredy's hair, just behind the little girl's ears.
"O.M.G. Those are like-uber-cute!" Marin exclaimed after seeing the accessories Elicia made.
Hearing that, Meredy slowly raised her hands to her ears. Then, she gently touched the ornaments in her hair. A moment later, she smiled happily before turning to Ultear.
"Ultear, are they cute?" Meredy asked with an innocent smile on her face.
"They are." Ultear replied with a smile.
'So, she's already imprinted on Ultear.' Elicia thought to herself. 'But with Ur here, she'll probably see her as a big sister rather than a mother… I think.'
"Anyway, the three of you need to report on your quests." Makarov said, breaking the fluffy atmosphere.
"Oh yeah, completely forgot about that." Elicia replied before sticking out her tongue. A moment later, her expression turned melancholy. "I wonder how Fonzie's quest is going. *Sigh* I miss Fonzie. I wonder when he's coming back. It's already been more than a week."
"Maybe it's taking longer than usual because he's trying to cure the disease." Marin said, patting Elicia on the shoulder. "But I don't think there's a reason to worry. After what happened with the Leviathan, Alfonzo will probably be even more careful than usual. On top of that, Sun is with him---"
"Sun~~~~~~~~~!" Gozaburo groaned loudly after hearing his daughter's name. "Where are you, Sun? Daddy misses you. I promise I'll even be nice to that brat if you come back to me!"
Naturally, Gozaburo's outburst caused… very few of the guild members to pay him any attention. It is not like this was the first time Gozaburo had shouted for Sun since she left with Alfonzo. So, they had all gotten used to it over the last few days.
"Geez, Dad, can you knock it off? That's so embarrassing." The voice Gozaburo had been waiting for sounded from the guild hall's entrance. "Still, You'd better keep your promise. If you don't, I'll never talk to you again."
Looking over to the source of the voice, everyone saw Alfonzo and Sun walking through the guild's entrance. While Alfonzo was smiling wryly, Sun wore an embarrassed blush on her face.
"Sun!" Gozaburo shouted, standing up in an explosive manner.
"Fonzie!" Elicia shouted with just as much vigor as Gozaburo.
A moment later, Elicia and Gozaburo had rushed to the newly arrived duo and wrapped Alfonzo and Sun in tight hugs, respectively.
"Welcome back, Fonzie/Sun! I missed you!" Elicia and Gozaburo shouted in unison.
While Alfonzo's wry smile morphed into a genuine one, Sun's embarrassed blush turned into awry smile. Even so, they both replied to the person clinging to them.
"I'm back."