Magnolia Town.
A small, unremarkable town located in the far corners of Fiore, a permanently neutral magic kingdom.
Originally, this town was supposed to stay unremarkable...
That is, until a mage guild was established here, making it infamous throughout the magical world.
Though, to be fair, it was a reputation built on a rather notorious name.
The year is X778, and the sky is clear and cloudless.
In front of this infamous mage guild, a petite visitor with striking crimson hair arrived.
The visitor was dressed in a sleek knight's outfit, adding a touch of heroic aura to the beauty she inherited from her mother.
"So, this is the Fairy Tail Guild?" she murmured as she looked up.
Before her stood an ancient-looking clock tower with the words "FAIRY TAIL" inscribed on its signboard. The building had clearly aged, with walls patched and mended in several places, and the steps leading up to the guild entrance were covered in moss.
The only thing that seemed new was the main door, as if it had been replaced often.
Curious, the girl's heart raced with excitement and anticipation. She gently pushed open the door before her.
What greeted her eyes next?!
"Hey, Wakaba…"
"Did you hear? The tavern next door just hired a new bunny girl."
"You wouldn't believe her looks, those legs, that body! Man, she's perfect! If you don't go check her out, you're gonna regret it…"
"Macao, you're still going to the tavern? Aren't you worried about your wife finding out?"
"Can you talk about stuff like that?"
"Come on, if you're too scared to go, just say so. Don't ruin the fun for me. Guess I misjudged you, Wakaba."
"Hell no, count me in on that!"
"Hahaha, best buddies for life!"
First, there were these two sleazy guys…
No, if they're in their thirties already, it might be more accurate to call them "MADAO" (an acronym for "Middle-Aged Men Absolutely of No Use").
These two moral degenerates were huddled together, exchanging inappropriate banter, their laughter echoing through the guild.
Glug glug glug…
"Hic~"
"Gray, your clothes…"
Beside the two sleazy men sat a young woman with long, wavy brown hair, her face flushed red from drinking. She was holding a large barrel of alcohol. Clearly, she had had her fill, despite the legal drinking age being 15 in this country and strictly enforced.
The person she was addressing was a handsome young man with short black hair, a cold, stoic expression… and absolutely no clothes on, save for a pair of underwear. He was someone who embodied the very definition of a pervert.
"Oh no, since when?"
After the reminder from the drunken girl beside him, the boy immediately looked down, his pupils shrinking in shock upon realizing his clothes had vanished. "Did anyone see where my clothes went?!"
"Gray! Are you looking for your clothes?"
Standing in front of this perverted young man, Gray, was a rambunctious youth with short, spiky pink hair and a scarf made of dragon scales around his neck.
"Natsu, give me back my clothes."
Gray called out the name of the pink-haired boy—Natsu.
At the same time, Gray's face filled with panic as he stared at his clothes in Natsu's hands.
"Heh, pervert Gray, if you want your clothes, come and beat me!"
"I'm fired up…"
With those words, flames erupted from Natsu's fists.
In an instant, Gray's clothes caught fire and were reduced to ash.
"That was a new outfit…"
"Natsu! You jerk! You owe me new clothes!!"
Gray was enraged as his hard-earned savings went up in flames, quite literally. As the fury built up inside him, veins bulged visibly on his forehead. He glared at Natsu, shouting, "Alright! Come at me! I'll teach you a lesson!"
"Ice-Make: Ice Floor!"
With that, Gray summoned a chilling frost that spread over the floor, instantly covering it in a thin layer of ice.
"Hahaha! You idiot, Gray, you've used that move so many times! I've already come up with a counter. This time, I'll beat you for sure!"
Laughing loudly, Natsu leapt into the air, flames coiling around his fists as he charged at Gray.
"Bring it on!"
"Ice-Make: Ice Hammer!"
Gray wasn't about to back down. He formed an enormous ice hammer and swung it toward Natsu, who was descending from the sky.
Boom!
A loud crash echoed through the guild as the ice met Natsu's flames, creating a thick mist of steam.
"Hey, you two! Knock it off already!"
Their actions had finally disturbed the other guild members. One irritated mage stood up from his seat and yelled at them in frustration.
But before he could finish his sentence, the handle of Gray's broken ice hammer flew toward him…
Thud!
With a dull thud, the man was knocked unconscious, collapsing to the ground.
"Ans?! Ans, are you alright?!"
One of the guild members drinking with Ans rushed over, but in his drunken state, he didn't notice the ice-covered floor. His foot slipped, sending him crashing into another table.
Crash…
In an instant, that table, along with the drinks on it, was overturned.
"Damn it! You wanna fight?!"
The people at the nearby table weren't about to take that lying down. A magic circle appeared in the air as they prepared to fight back.
"You think I'm scared of you?!"
The guild member who had slipped steadied himself and summoned his own magic circle, ready for battle.
Meanwhile, across the room, the bartender, balancing a tray of drinks, slipped on the ice as well. The drinks flew out of his hands, landing squarely on the heads of several nearby guild members, soaking them with booze.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
One by one, people began slipping on the ice-covered floor.
"Alright! You wanna go?!"
"Who's afraid of who?!"
As more mages stood up from the floor, anger simmered throughout the guild…
Before long, everyone began picking up the nearest objects—tables, chairs, cats, dogs, even nearby mages—and throwing them at each other.
In the blink of an eye, the entire guild descended into chaos. Magic circles glowed in the dim space as angry faces lit up the room, turning it into what looked like a scene of utter madness.
Bang!
The girl standing outside the guild door quietly closed it, having witnessed everything inside. She took a deep breath and thought to herself, "Maybe I opened the door the wrong way. This is nothing like what I heard."
After a moment of mental preparation, she smiled and opened the door again.
Yep, nothing had changed inside…
The sleazy guys were still being sleazy, the perverts were still being perverts, and the brawls were still raging.
"I must have come to the wrong place…"
"Maybe this is just a guild with the same name?"
"Maybe there's more than one 'Fairy Tail' in this country?!"
"Perhaps I should go back and ask Mother…"
"This definitely isn't the place where I'll find the person I'm looking for…"
The girl was ready to give up and leave, convinced she had found the wrong Fairy Tail. She began to back away but suddenly bumped into someone.
Without thinking, she quickly turned around and apologized, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"It's alright. Are you okay?"
A warm, gentle voice answered her.
"I'm fine…"
The girl looked up and saw a tall, handsome man with short black hair, sharp eyebrows, and bright, starry eyes. He wore a black undershirt with a form-fitting coat over it, highlighting his well-toned physique. He appeared to be around 26 or 27 years old.
"I've found him. Father…"
The girl's eyes lit up, realizing she was in the right place after all.
"What did you say?" The man looked confused as he stared at her.
"Hello, my name is Erza. I'm a mage…"
"My goal is to join the renowned Fairy Tail Guild. Please take care of me from now on!"
The crimson-haired girl, with her hair tied into a ponytail, bowed in greeting.
"Erza?"
The young man, named Ian, felt his heart skip a beat.
This man, Ian, was a transmigrator. He had been in this world for three years…
When Ian first discovered he had been transported into the world of Fairy Tail, a popular shounen manga, he wasn't panicked at all.
Because Ian knew very well…
No matter how hard he tried, he could never defeat the final boss of the manga—Acnologia, the Dragon Slayer who had become a dragon himself. Acnologia, the being who single-handedly destroyed the dragons 400 years ago, had also wiped out the dragon-slaying heroes of that era.
In a magical world where the final boss was immune to magic, how could anyone even hope to win?
It was better to leave that problem to the protagonist!
All Ian wanted was to live a peaceful life in the Fairy Tail Guild…
Of course, when necessary, he could shout out the guild's motto: "We are Fairy Tail wizards!" with passion.
As for Ian's current strength? He was incredibly powerful!
In fact, in the entire Fairy Tail Guild, he ranked just below the guild's strongest member, Gildarts,
and the guild master, Makarov.
Ian's immense power came purely from his own training!
Well, maybe it also had something to do with him being a transmigrator. His mental energy was far beyond that of ordinary people, making him a true magical prodigy.
According to Master Makarov, Ian's magical talent was on par with that of Precht, the legendary second master of Fairy Tail.