Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Onibus.
September 1, x786.
Time passed quickly with Alfonzo working on the training chambers for the Blue Pegasus guild hall, as well as working on the [Archive Magic Network] for the telecommunications plan with Hibiki. And just like that, after finishing the installation of the training chambers, Alfonzo, Erza, Mirajane, and Sun were ready to return to Magnolia.
Naturally, all the wizards of Blue Pegasus, who had made some friendships with the visiting Fairy Tail wizards, were gathered outside the Blue Pegasus guild hall to say their goodbyes.
"Men~!" Ichiya shouted excitedly as he stood in front of the group of Blue Pegasus wizards. "I don't know when we will see each other next, but we'll definitely be at the Grand Magic Games. And with the power we shall cultivate with the new training chambers, we'll take the title of strongest guild in Fiore away from Fairy Tail."
Excitedly, the wizards of Blue Pegasus cheered at their ace's declaration. Meanwhile, Alfonzo, Erza, Mirajane, and Sun only looked at them with challenging smiles.
"Well, I hope you can at least give us a challenge." Alfonzo said provocatively. "It's lonely at the top, after all."
While most of the Blue Pegasus wizards looked at Alfonzo defiantly, the seven who were most likely to be chosen as members of the team, looked at him challengingly.
"At least you'll have a chance for the first couple of years." Alfonzo said in a tone that suggested he was carrying a heavy burden. "I'll be too busy to participate in the first two or three Grand Magic Games, after all. But after that, the Games will belong to Fairy Tail from then on."
"Oh, it will be Fairy Tail's from the start." Mirajane said confidently. "It just won't be as close after you join, Alfonzo."
"Hahahaha!" Alfonzo laughed uproariously after hearing Mirajane's comment. Then, after seeing Erza and Sun nodding along, he laughed even harder. "I guess that's true. The rest of our guys are stupid strong, too."
"That's right, we're strong!" Sun said while flexing her arms.
"Indeed.' Erza added. "Fairy Tail will not lose."
"You shouldn't talk like that." Sorano said with a smile. "I'd hate it if you had to eat those words, you know."
"Actually, I think I'd like to see the faces they put on when they have to do exactly that." Karen added while wearing her usual expression.
With that, the members of the two guilds continued to banter. Meanwhile, Jenny looked at Alfonzo with a pout.
"You didn't make anything for me." Jenny said in an aggrieved tone with upturned eyes.
In response, Alfonzo could only smile wryly. Between working on the training chambers, working with Hibiki for their project, and Mirajane doing her best to keep him too exhausted to do anything else, Alfonzo did not have the time or the energy to create anything for Jenny. On top of that, she was trying to use her charms to get him to do it for free, something that would never happen.
In fact, Mirajane would not have even been so pushy if Jenny had offered to pay a reasonable amount for one of Alfonzo's creations. However, she had no intention of letting the young upstart seduce her man into doing anything for free.
"Well, I'll send you a catalog of what I can make for you in the next few weeks." Alfonzo said with a smile.
Hearing that, Jenny's expression brightened up at once. Alfonzo's next words, however, caused her to begin pouting again.
"And once you have the money, I'll be happy to make whatever you want." Alfonzo continued with a smile.
In response, Jenny stomped her foot cutely as she looked away wither pout becoming even more pronounced.
"See, I told you." Sorano said as she pulled Jenny into a hug with one arm. "Alfonzo doesn't play with his money matters. And he never does any work for free, either."
"Hmph!" Jenny snorted, her pride in her appearance taking a bit of damage.
'I'll just have to join his harem.' Jenny thought to herself. 'I bet he doesn't make them pay for stuff. But I don't know how that will work… I mean long distance relationships are hard from what I hear. Then again, I wouldn't know. I've never even been in a regular relationship.'
Seeing the minute changes and the blush creeping up on Jenny's face, Erza, Mirajane, and Sun knew exactly what was going through the girl's head. Then, they all looked at Alfonzo quizzically. None of them could understand how he could attract so many women without even trying.
In response to the stares he was receiving, Alfonzo only smiled in return. He knew what his three fiancées were thinking, and he had no answer to their question, either.
On a side note, one of the things Alfonzo did manage to do while he was not working was create rings for his other girlfriends that were not officially engaged to him. In other words, he created engagement rings for Ultear, Mirajane, Marin, and Lucy. And since Mirajane was there when he completed the rings, he asked her to marry him.
Naturally, Mirajane accepted the proposal. Then, the two of them had a night of passion without Erza and Sun joining in.
"Anyway, I think it's about time we get going." Alfonzo said, deciding that it was time to leave. "At the very latest, we'll see you again at the Grand Magic Games."
"We'll be looking forward to it." Ichiya said while posing in the manliest way he could.
"Oh, and Hibiki." Alfonzo said before turning towards the Escalade. "I'll bring you one of the devices once I've finished working out all the kinks. Then, I'll head to Era to present it in front of the Magic Council."
"Are you sure you don't need me to come with you?" Hibiki asked.
"That would defeat the purpose." Alfonzo replied with a smile. "You have to be in Fiore for the best result."
Naturally, no one knew what Alfonzo and Hibiki were talking about. Even though it had been two months since Alfonzo first made his proposal to Hibiki, neither of them had told anyone what it was that they were planning. So, they could only look on in confusion and curiosity.
"I suppose you're correct." Hibiki replied with a nod. Then, he smiled as he continued. "I'm looking forward to how many waves this new device will rase on Ishgar."
Smiling in response, Alfonzo waved at the Blue Pegasus wizards before turning around and opening the driver's side door of the Escalade. Meanwhile, Erza, Mirajane, and Sun also said their goodbyes. And just as they were getting in the Escalade, as well, Alfonzo shuddered violently.
Looking around for what caused the uncomfortable sensation, Alfonzo eventually saw a pair of black eyes set in a bald head staring at him from a second-floor window while he could see a pair of lips, covered in red lipstick, moving. And when he read those moving lips, Alfonzo looked away hurriedly. Then, once the ladies all had their seat belts on, he pulled off quickly.
At the same time, the wizards of Blue Pegasus made their way back into the guild hall. They were eager to use the training chambers, after all. Meanwhile, Bob, while watching the Escalade move into the distance from a second-floor window muttered the same thing, over and over, to himself.
"Just you wait, Alfonzo Marcus, I will have you and Elicia join my guild one day." Bob said with obsession in his tone.
Luckily, Bob had no intention of doing anything illegal to draw Alfonzo and Elicia over to his guild. Instead, he had a different plan. One involving Jenny.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
"It's been two months." Irene, sitting in her hotel room and sipping a glass of wine, said to herself while lounging in a reclining chair. "Yet, despite the time that has passed, we've yet to find out where the target went."
Several hours have passed since Alfonzo, Erza, Mirajane, and Sun left Blue Pegasus' guild hall. And Irene was at her wits end trying to figure out where they went. On top of that, neither she nor Brandish had made any progress finding out how Alfonzo's power spiked in his duel with God Serena.
"*Sigh* I guess they are far too on guard against us." Irene said while swirling her wine glass. "Perhaps changing the barrier when we first arrived was a bad idea. They must have a way to detect changes to it. That's the only reason they would be so on guard against us."
While continuing to think about where things went wrong with this assignment, Irene's [Magic Power Detection] picked up four familiar magic power signatures entering its range.
"Oh, they're back." Irene said with a small smile. "I wonder if he intends to cook as a way of celebrating his return. Maybe I should conveniently show up at his house around dinner time."
After thinking that aloud, Irene's smile widened. She had already realized that she was more interested in having Alfonzo as a personal chef than following Zeref's orders at this point. And the two months she was separated from Alfonzo's cooking had only solidified that notion. Unfortunately, she had no plausible way of getting Alfonzo to follow her back to Alakitasia without using force.
"Hmm… Then again, just kidnapping him wouldn't be so bad, would it?" Irene muttered to herself as she brought her glass to her lips once again. "Maybe I'll even bring a few of his girls with us. That way, he would be less likely to complain."
As she thought about Alfonzo's girls, the image of a young woman with hair the same color as her own popped up in Irene's head. Naturally, that was Erza.
"*Sigh* And perhaps I could even make up for the time I lost with her." Irene muttered while her expression showed a bout of melancholy. Then, she placed her free hand on her abdomen as she continued. "I did carry her for almost four hundred years, after all."
For the first time in a long time, Irene contemplated her past. And for the first time ever, she felt regret at abandoning her daughter, Erza Scarlet, twenty-one years ago. Though, she also knew that because of her mental state at the time, it was the best possible decision. Otherwise, she would not have a daughter at the moment.
"*Sigh* Damn these human-like emotions." Irene muttered before finishing the wine in her glass. "I thought I lost them all those years ago when I first turned into a dragon. To think, after seeing my own child, they would begin to resurface."
Little did Irene know, the fact that she was able to taste Alfonzo's cooking was also aiding in returning her humanity.
A few moments later, while Irene was contemplating her changes, the door to the hotel room was opened from the outside. And through the open door, Brandish entered the room.
"Irene, they're coming back." Brandish reported.
"I know, I felt their approach a while ago." Irene said as she poured another glass of wine, no signs of her internal struggles in her expression. "And since they are back, we can continue our mission."
Nodding in response, Brandish closed the door behind her. Then, she entered her bedroom to change clothes. A few moments later, now wearing a comfortable set of pajamas that she commissioned from Elicia, Brandish returned to the living room before flopping down on the couch with a new book that Marin had recommended to her.
Seeing the title of the book, The Fall of a Princess, and seeing the picture printed on its cover, a young blond woman with long hair and wearing a euphoric expression, Irene could not help but shake her head.
After the first time Irene showed herself reading Saint Slippery's Academy for Girls, Irene teased Brandish about it relentlessly. However, it would appear that she had taken her teasing a bit too far, as Brandish no long flinches when she reads her erotic novels in front of her.
Irene was only half right, however, as spending all that time around Marin, who was the source of corruption when it comes to erotic novels, Brandish had slowly lost her shame when it comes to being seen reading such material.
"Anyway, Marin and Lucy also confirmed that our target would be back today." Brandish said while opening her book to the page she had stopped on. "And they invited us to have dinner with them tonight."
"Will Alfonzo be cooking?" Irene asked nonchalantly.
"Probably." Brandish replied. "Apparently, all the girls who did not go with him on his trip said they were missing his cooking. So, the chances of him cooking for them is pretty high."
"I see." Irene replied after taking another sip of her whine. "Then, I guess we'll go, too."
Irene smiled brightly as she said that. Though, Brandish did not see such an uncharacteristic smile due to the fact that she was focused on the pages of her book.