Four people sat in the Council’s prison cell, staring at each other in silence.
Drake sighed. "Natsu, I can understand, but Lucy, why did you get involved in his shenanigans?"
Today’s trial had been interrupted mid-way due to a disruption.
Natsu, with Lucy in tow, had barged into the courtroom. Natsu wore a black wig, disguised as Drake. Lucy donned a suit of armor and a crimson wig, but she looked nothing like Erza.
They clearly underestimated the intelligence of the Council members on the judgment bench; did they really think such a flimsy disguise would work?!
The result was that all four were promptly thrown into a prison cell.
Lucy said with a mournful expression, "I was forcibly dragged here by Natsu; I’m a victim too!"
Natsu said loudly, "Lucy, what are you talking about! Didn’t you also want to help Drake and Erza?"
Lucy’s head was about to explode; she bared her fangs and roared, "I didn’t want to help this way!"
Drake could only say helplessly, "I’m truly very sorry; my brother’s foolishness has gotten everyone into trouble!"
Natsu immediately jumped up. "Drake, what are you saying? Where was I stupid?"
Drake glanced at him sideways. "This trial was just a formality to maintain order; we would have been able to go home today. Thanks to you two, we’re stuck here!"
"Huh?!" Natsu tilted his head, looking rather unintelligent.
Understanding that he’d messed up, Natsu hung his head. "Um... sorry!"
Although Natsu’s disruption had caused some unforeseen complications, the four of them were released the next day.
The group returned safely to Fairy Tail, and the newly freed Natsu immediately started causing a ruckus in the guild hall.
He was so boisterous that everyone complained about why they hadn’t kept him locked up for a longer period.
Elfman’s words suddenly reminded Natsu; he immediately turned towards Drake and shouted, "Drake, we haven’t finished our fight yet! Let’s continue from where we left off!"
Drake didn’t speak, simply bringing a cup to his lips. The cup contained no ordinary drink; it was liquid fire, flowing like a liquid.
This was Fairy Tail’s special fire drink, essentially a magically converted, special flame. Previously, only Natsu would order it; Drake’s addition to Fairy Tail had added another regular customer.
Without answering, Natsu charged forward.
"Here I come! Bring it on!"
Drake set down his cup, shaking his head. "Natsu, you’ve been acting recklessly; haven’t you reflected on your actions at all?"
As he mentioned reflection, Drake had already turned around, landing a punch squarely on Natsu’s stomach, sending him flying.
"Instant KO?!" Lucy exclaimed in shock.
"Aye! Instant KO," Happy shook his head.
Drake suddenly felt his vision blur; he shook his head to regain his clarity.
Looking up, Drake saw Natsu, who had just managed to stand up, collapse again.
Drake always had great confidence in his control over his strength; that punch should only have hurt Natsu. Given Natsu’s constitution, it was simply impossible for him to be unable to even stand.
Drake took a closer look; Natsu was on the ground, a large bubble forming on his nose; he was clearly asleep! Latest content published on novel✦fire.net
Natsu was often scatterbrained, but falling asleep instantly was a skill of a certain dog-headed admiral; Natsu didn’t seem to have that problem!
With a loud thud, Drake was surprised to see Lucy, sitting at a nearby table, abruptly slam her head onto the table, and the others also collapsed in a heap.
Drake immediately realized something was amiss; a magical fluctuation was present, as if someone had used a large-scale spell.
But strangely, Drake didn’t sense any human magic; the fluctuation originated from natural magic.
Magic Knights in the Clover Kingdom, aided by their grimoires, possessed a more refined perception of magic. They could identify the caster by the different properties of the magic.
Fairy Tail mages lacked this ability; they could only distinguish magic users through more distinctly noticeable magical characteristics.
However, the former method had one drawback: it couldn’t detect people with extremely weak or no magical power whatsoever.
This was also the reason why Asta could repeatedly succeed with sneak attacks. Similarly, Drake hadn’t detected anyone using sleep magic; he only confirmed someone’s presence through his ki.
Drake turned his head to Makarov, the only one who remained awake. "Master, it’s not an enemy, right?"
Makarov, sitting cross-legged on the bar, looked at Drake and laughed. "Hahaha! You resisted the sleep magic? That’s amazing, kid! Don’t worry, it’s not an enemy! They just don’t want to be seen!"
Drake nodded; he knew exactly who had arrived.
After Mirajane lost the ability to use magic, Erza was Fairy Tail’s strongest female mage; this was undisputed.
But the identity of the strongest mage overall was a matter of much debate.
Drake knew that Gildarts was undoubtedly the strongest, but even within Fairy Tail, few had ever witnessed Gildarts unleash his full power.
In the eyes of others, several S-class mages were eligible to compete for the title of strongest. Natsu and Gray were still too inexperienced.
The person who had arrived was one of them, the S-class mage Mystogan.
His true identity was the prince of the parallel world Edolas, and a counterpart to Gerard.
Because humans in the parallel world Edolas lacked magical power and could only use magic tools to channel magic, Drake hadn’t been able to sense any typical mage’s magical power.
Soon, Drake saw this strongest contender of Fairy Tail. He was wrapped up like a mummy; even if everyone had been awake, they wouldn’t have been able to see what he looked like.
In addition to the staves he was holding and the ones on his back, he carried a total of five magic staves of various shapes and sizes.
He walked into the guild hall, surprised to see that someone else besides Master Makarov had remained awake.
However, he didn’t make any attempt to greet anyone; after glancing at Drake, he went to the request board, took down a request slip, and then approached Makarov.
After showing Makarov the request slip, Mystogan said, "I’ll be going now!"
Makarov didn’t pay it any mind, simply saying, "Don’t forget to undo the sleep magic."
As Mystogan’s figure disappeared, everyone else woke up one after another.
Many people had sensed something before they fell asleep; upon waking, they weren’t panicked, instead beginning to discuss the mysterious Mystogan.
Gray also started to explain Mystogan to a bewildered Lucy, taking the opportunity to introduce who some of the strongest members of Fairy Tail were.
And when discussing Mystogan, his true appearance naturally became a topic of conversation. Just as Gray mentioned that no one had ever seen Mystogan’s face except for the Master, a voice came from above.
"Humph, I know, though."
It was a young man wearing a fur coat with the Fairy Tail mark. He was smoking a cigar and had headphones on.
A scar ran from his forehead, across his eye, and down to his cheek, giving him a particularly fierce look.
Gray said, somewhat unconvinced, "And here he is, another of the guild’s strongest contenders!"
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