Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
July 1, x786.
"They just left the town." Irene muttered while watching the Escalade leave Magnolia's town gate through her [Magic Power Detection]. "Looks like the intel was correct."
"Yeah, but I couldn't get their destination out of her." Brandish replied. "Only that they were leaving."
Currently, Irene and Brandish were discussing how to handle Alfonzo's departure from Magnolia. However, because they had no idea where he was going, they did not know if it was a good idea to follow. And the fact that all of Fairy Tail was suspicious of them made the decision even more difficult.
"That's not important." Irene replied casually. "The issue is raising their suspicion any further if they realize one, or both, of us are following them."
Brandish nodded in agreement.
"Then, what do you suggest we do?" Brandish asked in a solemn tone.
"*Sigh* Honestly, I'm not sure." Irene replied. "If it weren't for this detection method, I would just follow them while staying hidden. But things are more complicated than that."
Once again, Brandish nodded her head in agreement. Unfortunately, neither woman had a good idea of what they should do about the current situation.
"Well, you should just keep doing what you've been doing." Irene said after thinking for a while. "Even though the one called Erza is not here, you can still continue to interact with Marin and Lucy."
"*Sigh* I really hope she invites me over to their house more often." Brandish muttered as she thought about her interactions with Marin. "She talks way too animatedly about her hobbies in public."
In response, Irene grinned sadistically.
"Yes, I can understand why you'd rather not talk about those books in public." Irene said as she made a copy of Saint Slippery's Academy for Girls 2 appear in her hand. "These books are rather... risqué."
Irene then opened the book to a dog eared page. Then, she began to read the page allowed.
Immediately, Brandish's face turned as red as her companion's hair. A moment later, she realized that Irene was reading her favorite part of the book. After that, Brandish's face paled rapidly as she ran into her bedroom to find her copy of the book.
"Ahh~~~~~~~~~!" Brandish screamed after she realized her copy of the book was missing. Then, she ran out of the bedroom, only to see Irene smirking at her.
"I would have never expected that you would be into books like this one, Brandish." Irene said while waving the book back and forth. "I wonder what Dimaria would think of this information."
Immediately, Brandish paled even further. Then, she dashed towards Irene with desperation in her eyes before dropping to her knees and pressing her forehead to the floor.
"Please, Irene, don't tell anyone back home about this." Brandish said in a pleading tone. "If they ever found out, my reputation would be ruined."
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Open Road.
"No one's following us." Alfonzo muttered while steering the Escalade. "I was almost certain that Irene would be following us from a distance."
"She still might." Erza said in a serious tone. "You mentioned that woman's [Magic Power Detection] range being quite vast, correct?"
"That's right." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "But since I doubt she has any idea how big my range is, she's probably wary."
In actuality, Irene's range was much larger than Alfonzo's. Unfortunately, she had no way to judge that. Also, she was well aware that Alfonzo was able to feel her surveillance. So, even if she kept him at the very edge of her detection range, he would still be able to feel her tracking his location.
"It's still hard to believe that she's that much stronger than Gildarts, though." Mirajane said as she reached over from the passenger seat and gripped Alfonzo's hand nervously. "And we still have no idea what she wants."
"We don't even know if she's really here because of God Serena." Sun added.
"Please, don't call him God." Alfonzo said while squeezing Mirajane's hand reassuringly. "He's just a dickhead with an over inflated ego. Sure, finding that many Dragon Slayer Lacrima is impressive, but he didn't have to work nearly as hard as Gildarts to get as strong as he is. Hell, Even Brandish has probably worked a lot harder than he did. Especially when you consider that she's about the same age as Lucy."
"*Sigh* And what does that say about us?' Mirajane said while shaking her head. "Me, you, Lici, Tear, and Erza are all two years older than her. But she's got more magic power than any of us."
"There's probably a reason for that, though." Erza said. "We focus more on magic power control than just recklessly increasing our magic power."
"I guess you're right." Mirajane replied. "If we were only focused on increasing our magic power, especially with the training chambers making strengthening our bodies so much easier, we would probably have crazy amounts of magic power."
"On top of that, we focus on compressing our magic power, too." Alfonzo replied with a smile. "Not to say Brandish doesn't. But all of us have much denser magic power than she does. It's just that she's got enough to over compensate."
Hearing that, the three ladies nodded their heads.
"But we've also got the [Soul Armaments]." Alfonzo continued. "And those give us a huge advantage over wizards at a similar level."
Once again, the ladies nodded.
"Well, as long as they don't attack, we don't have anything to worry about." Sun said while smiling happily. "And if they do, we'll show them why it's a bad idea, ya see."
"Damn right, we will." Alfonzo said with a strong nod. "For now, let's just focus on getting stronger. Hopefully, they'll give us enough time to catch up."
"Yeah." x 3
With that, the group of four decided to drop the subject. Instead, they talked about the things they could do in Onibus, the town closest to Blue Pegasus guild hall.
"Oh, I almost forgot." Mirajane said as she placed a finger on her lower lip. "What are we gonna do about gravity training while we're away from the guild. No one ever mentioned that after your other two trips."
"Oh, that's simple." Alfonzo replied. "I can increase the gravity in an area with my [Electromagnetism Magic]. Unfortunately, I can't exclude the oxygen from the effect without the accompanying sigils. So, we can do gravity training, but you'll have to be careful like we used to before my trip to Mermaid Heel."
"Okay." Mirajane replied.
"Got it." Sun replied.
"Understood." Erza replied with a nod.
With that, the rest of the trip went on without issue. And when Alfonzo felt that they had finally left Irene's detection range, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Onibus.
A few hours after Alfonzo, Erza, Mirajane, and Sun left Magnolia, the members of Blue Pegasus, who were not out on quests, were sitting around the guild hall. And while most of them were just chatting with the people they usually hung out with, there was one green-haired woman who was grumbling.
Sitting at the same table as the green-haired woman, Karen Lilica, was a light blue-haired woman who just received a drink order. With the drink in her hand, the light blue-haired woman, Sorano Agria, found Karen's antics rather amusing.
"I swear, if he didn't bring her with him, I'm going to kick his ass." Karen said in a disgruntled tone.
"You really need to give up, Karen." Sorano said with a smile while swirling a cocktail. "It's clear Elicia isn't interested in you like that."
"Shut up, Bitch." Karen replied harshly. "You have no idea what you're talking about. It's clear she wants me as her pet. Didn't you see the way she tied me up and threw me in that room before forgetting me?"
Shaking her head, Sorano could not help but remember the night before Alfonzo and Elicia's wedding when Elicia did exactly as Karen said. However, it was clearly not because Elicia was interested in having Karen as a pet.
Instead, it was because Karen was causing a ruckus over the fact that Elicia would not cancel the wedding. Then, when Elicia was tired of hearing her repeat the same thing, she used her threads to gag and tie up Karen before throwing her in the only remaining guest room.
"Whatever you say." Sorano said before taking a sip from her drink.
"Now, now, now, ladies." Ichiya, who had overheard Karen and Sorano's conversation, made his way over to the table they were sharing while wearing his best smile. "There's no reason for such lovely flowers like the two of you to fight. Instead, we should have a cup of---"
"[Ring Magic: Twister]." Karen chanted while pointing her right hand at Ichiya.
In the next instant, a column of swirling winds was fired from the ring on Karen's right index finger. Then, Ichiya, without enough time to resist, was blown away before slamming towards the wall behind him.
"Men~~~~~~~~~~!" Ichiya shouted as he flew through the air.
*Bang!*
"Ichiya~~~!" Ren, Hibiki, and Eve shouted as they ran towards their mentor.
"Even if I wanted a cup of tea, I damn sure wouldn't be drinking it with you!" Karen said disdainfully.
"*Sigh* If nothing else, he sticks to his guns." Sorano said while shaking her head. A moment later, she looked in a particular direction. "Still, I hope Alfonzo gets here soon. Master Bob is freaking me out."
Hearing Sorano's words, Karen could not help but look in the same direction. At the end of their lines of sight, Bob, the master of the Blue Pegasus guild, was constantly checking himself out in a hand mirror while touching up his make-up.
"Yeah, I don't even like the guy, but I wouldn't subject him to whatever Master Bob has got planned for him." Karen said as she looked away from her guild master.
"Seriously." Sorano added as she, too, looked away from Master Bob. "Making himself up like that is not gonna make him switch guilds."
At that moment, the sound of high heels clicking against the floor could be heard approaching the table where Karen and Sorano were seated. Naturally, those clicks drew the two ladies' attention.
However, Karen and Sorano's reactions were completely different after seeing who was approaching. While Sorano nodded at the new arrival with a smile, Karen snorted and turned away.
"What's up, Jenny?" Sorano asked. "Need something?"
"I was just curious to know about Alfonzo Marcus." Jenny replied cheerfully.
Jenny, or Jenny Realight, was a beautiful young woman with big blue eyes and wavy blonde hair tied into a ponytail that reached the middle of her back, bangs that frame her face, full lips, and a slim-yet very curvaceous, figure.
Accentuating her beauty and highlighting her figure, Jenny wore a light pink, calf-length, strapless dress with a slit on the left side that started above her hip, matching high heels, a cream colored sash wrapped around her waist, and a flower with large petals in her hair on the right side of her head.
Jenny also wore quite a few pieces of jewelry, as well. Namely, a pair of earrings, a necklace with a number of rectangular plates, three bracelets on her wrists, one on the left and two on the right, and a ring on her left pinky finger.
"Oh, does our little Jenny have a crush?" Sorano asked in a teasing tone.
"Maybe." Jenny replied with a smile. "He's really quite handsome."
"Tch!" Karen clicked her tongue disdainfully. "He really is just a playboy. Lici is too good for him."
"How is this even his fault?" Sorano asked while looking at Karen incredulously.
"Tch!" Karen once again clicked her tongue.
"Anyway, that's not why I'm asking, though." Jenny replied. "It's more for my magic."
"Ah~~~, that makes sense." Sorano replied. "Yeah, all the stuff he creates would go well with your [Take Over: Machina Soul], which allows you to take on the abilities of different kinds of machinery. So, getting him to build stuff for you could seriously increase your firepower."
"That's right." Jenny replied with a nod. "And from what everyone says, he's the best magic item craftsman on the continent. So, I wanted to know what the chances of him making something for me would be while he's here."
"Honestly, I don't know him well enough to answer that question." Sorano replied with a shrug. "But all you have to do is ask when he gets here, right?"
"You're right." Jenny said with a nod.
"Tch!" Karen clicked her tongue for a third time. "He's nothing but a dog in heat. I would say just flash a little leg and he'll be putty in your hands. But you've already got that taken care of."
"Don't mind her." Sorano said while waving off Karen's scathing words. "Alfonzo's not that bad. Just be careful, he doesn't play around when it comes to money. So, you might end up paying a lot more than you expect for anything he makes for you. Then again, with his skill, it will definitely be worth it."
Nodding her head once again, Jenny continued chatting with Sorano about what would be the best way to get Alfonzo to agree to make something for her, while ignoring Karen's disgruntled mumblings. Their conversation eventually came to an end, however, when the doors to the guild hall opened, revealing the silhouettes of four people, one man and three women.