On the Train.
Four people and one cat had boarded when they set out, and now, on the return trip, they had an old man with them.
"By the way, what exactly happens at these routine meetings, Master?" Knight asked curiously.
Hearing this, Lucy perked up, equally curious.
Makarov, who had been dozing off, answered in a sleepy mumble, "The Guild Presidents' Alliance mostly handles matters decided by the Council, coordinates the opinions of the local guilds, and manages the wizards of the major guilds..."
Lucy blinked in surprise. "So, the guilds work together sometimes?"
"Of course. There are instances when several guilds team up to take down dark guilds," Makarov said, opening his eyes a bit.
"The dark guilds are like stars in the magic world," he added, "whereas the regular guilds are a minority."
Lucy's eyes widened in shock. So, there were many dark guilds like Iron Forest?
Knight grinned. "Sounds a bit formal, Master. Wasn't it more like everyone just gathered to eat, drink, and chat?"
Makarov flushed, his pride wounded. He raised a finger in defense. "Ahem... sometimes maintaining relationships is part of the job too!"
Got it. Eating and drinking on public funds, right?
Knight chuckled to himself.
Is that the real truth? Lucy thought, feeling like some of her rose-tinted perceptions of the magic world had shattered.
Just then, a message notification popped up.
It was from the [Food Sharing] chat group.
Knight: [@Everyone, how's everything going? Did you handle Eligore?]
Lucy smiled at the message. Erza was clearly still concerned. She quickly replied:
Lucy: [It's all sorted, Erza.]
Lucy: [Here's what happened…]
She began typing out the story of their recent battle, fingers flying across the screen.
Knight sat beside her, glancing briefly at the chat before dismissing it.
Suddenly, he paused.
"Huh?" His brow furrowed slightly as he felt a shift in the flow of his magic. Something had broken through, unlocking a key node and enhancing his power in one go.
[Host: Knight]
[Age: 20]
[Race: Human]
[Magic: ★★☆]
[Special Abilities: Internet, Vibration, Photography, Six Eyes, Air Dance]
Sure enough, his magic power had leveled up! It had only been a week since he'd last increased his strength to two stars. At this rate, if he continued improving, he'd hit four stars within the month—matching Erza's level.
"Maybe even sooner," he mused. After all, he'd distributed over 7,000 magic rings recently. If all of them were activated, thousands would pay him daily "Internet fees."
Knight logged into the magic network and checked the post he'd made the night before. The thread had blown up, with over 300 replies and more than 1,000 views.
One reply in particular caught his eye:
Witch of Pain: [Thought body? You need strong magic power to learn it. If you're serious, add me and I can teach you.]
Really? Knight's curiosity piqued. Who was this person?
He pondered the idea of developing a new feature for the magic network—one where users' appearances were logged when they registered, so he could confirm their identities. Or maybe a surveillance function to spy on users…
But for now, it didn't matter.
Witch of Pain, huh? What a gloomy name. He was less interested in learning "thought body" magic and more intrigued by this mysterious user.
Still, the thought body technique... if worst came to worst, he could ask Makarov. Surely the old man knew it—after all, if Phantom Lord's master did, why wouldn't Makarov?
Knight added the Witch of Pain as a friend and sent a message.
Sigma Man: [Do you really know soul magic like thought body?]
The response was immediate.
Witch of Pain: [I'm Ultear, by the way.]
Witch of Pain: [You might not know me, but I've heard plenty about you recently, Knight.]
Knight's eyes narrowed. So it's her… no wonder she used such a name.
It wasn't surprising she knew his alias. His identity as "Sigma Man" wasn't exactly a secret. Anyone could find out with a little digging.
Sigma Man: [Ah, Miss Councilor Ultear. A pleasure to meet you.]
Witch of Pain: [The pleasure is mine. You did well with Lullaby last night—our Council appreciates it.]
Witch of Pain: [But unfortunately, the prisoners were freed, and Lullaby was stolen.]
Knight's brow shot up. Freed? Stolen? It hadn't even been two hours since the forced detention team had left them. Who could've broken in that quickly?
Wait… could it have been her?
What's her goal? Lullaby?
Sigma Man: [Who did it?]
Witch of Pain: [We don't know yet. But this is confidential info, so don't leak it, okay? I'll be in trouble if it gets out.]
Knight squinted. His internal alarms were going off. Why tell him this if it was supposed to be secret? Was she trying to forge a closer bond by sharing something sensitive?
Sigma Man: [Don't worry, Miss Ultear. I can keep a secret.]
Witch of Pain: [Good, good. Pinky promise!]
Witch of Pain: [As for the thought body, come to the Council headquarters when you have time, and I'll teach you.]
Knight smirked as he typed his response.
Sigma Man: [Really? But I'm quite busy lately, improving the magic network.]
Only a fool would walk into the Council headquarters voluntarily. That would be like a lamb heading straight into a lion's den.
Meanwhile, in the Council's headquarters, a large emerald-green magic circle spread across a dark room, where ten judges stood in a circle.
"The Iron Forest prisoners were ambushed!"
"How disgraceful! Who did it?"
"We're not sure yet. We'll have to wait until we rescue them to ask."
"And Lullaby was stolen again! How does this keep happening?"
"We need to take responsibility! Someone has to answer for this."
Ultear stood a little apart from the group, chatting casually with Knight on the magic network.
Witch of Pain: [Knight, you're really a busy guy. But if you want to learn the thought body, your sister here is only offering you one chance.]
Sigma Man: [Maybe you should come to our guild and teach me instead.]
Ultear rolled her eyes at his cheeky response.
Witch of Pain: [Ha! Your sister's got a full plate, being a Councilor and all.]
Sigma Man: [Alright, then I won't keep you. Go handle your responsibilities.]
Ultear stared at the screen, fuming with frustration.
What an infuriating boy!
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