Early that morning, at the harbor of the coastal city Hargeon.
A hybrid-powered sailboat docked by the shore drew a crowd of onlookers. Magic crystals with rotating arrays were embedded on both sides of the hull.
Sunlight fell on the unfurled white sails, making the Fairy Tail guild emblem and the Heartfilia Konzern logo shine brilliantly.
After learning that his precious daughter would soon be heading to Tenrou Island for Fairy Tail's S-Class Mage Trial, Jude had generously offered to cover all the expenses for the event, throwing in this luxury sailboat that looked incredibly expensive.
Makarov had said, "You don't have to be so polite," but he had moved very quickly, sailing the boat to the harbor early in the morning.
"It's quite a blessing to have a wealthy boss's support," Makarov said, dressed in a floral shirt, comfortably sipping his black tea from the ship's observation deck as he waited for the participants.
The first to arrive at the harbor were Mest and Wendy. Both had come lightly equipped, carrying only essential supplies.
After greeting the master, the two boarded the ship's deck one after another.
"Carla, look! The boat Lucy-nee's father sponsored is so big!" Wendy's big eyes were filled with wonder, and she looked around excitedly.
"Hey now, isn't our guild's magical weapon, the Nirvana, much bigger than this?" Carla said, her paws crossed, looking experienced and mature.
Mest was Mystogan's disciple. For that reason alone, Wendy couldn't refuse him. She wanted to help him as much as she could.
Despite her strong misgivings, Carla ultimately couldn't talk Wendy out of it. She had no choice but to come along.
Fortunately, the master had approved her request to come aboard. Her role was to use the mobility of high-altitude flight to record the entire trial process as an observer.
In contrast to Wendy's liveliness, Mest found a shady spot and sat down, his flickering eyes revealing a hint of disgust.
"It's just an ordinary trial, yet they're using a hybrid-powered ship. This damned Fairy Tail is definitely plotting something sinister," he thought to himself.
To better infiltrate the Magic Council, this Fairy Tail member had wiped his own memory and worked hard for the Council.
After the Grimoire Heart subjugation, he had come to believe that Fairy Tail was a far too dangerous guild. So, he had used memory magic to implant his own existence into the memories of guild members, posing as Mystogan's disciple to infiltrate Fairy Tail, hoping to find evidence of their misdeeds on Tenrou Island.
His goal was a promotion and wealth.
He had chosen Wendy as his partner simply because she looked innocent and easy to fool, unlikely to notice anything strange.
In short, this guy was a fool.
Case in point: just now, seeing more participants arriving at the harbor, he had started acting dumb, chewing on the deck to taste its flavor.
How exhausting. I've told you it's not necessary to go that far.
In the distance, Makarov, who knew the full truth, put down his teacup and looked toward the second group to arrive.
Freed and Bickslow.
After a week apart, Freed hadn't changed much, only his internal magic power feeling slightly more substantial. But Bickslow now had an additional cube puppet floating behind him, its central pattern resembling a Cursed Doll.
The Cursed Doll of the Seven Kin's Kain was much like the magic flute Lullaby—a type of forbidden black magic. After he was killed by the Black Dragon, the doll's effects had disappeared.
However, Bickslow had still secretly asked the all-powerful Dark Magician to create a puppet prop with no side effects, at the cost of reduced functionality.
During the time before the S-Class Trial, he had fully adapted to the battle mode of his new puppet.
"Thunder God Tribe has a pretty good chance of standing out in the trial..." Makarov thought to himself, watching Freed wander around the ship as soon as he came aboard.
He didn't stop Freed from secretly carving his Letter Magic arrays. It wasn't against the rules for the trial process.
Before long, Elfman, clad in his Sacred Beast heavy armor, and Evergreen, in a sexy green dress, also arrived.
Elfman excitedly shouted, "A man!" while Evergreen, with a look of disgust, complained about him. Their rhythm was oddly in sync.
Close behind, three more teams arrived in succession: Juvia and Lisanna, Levy and Gajeel, and Gray and Loke.
The quiet deck began to grow noisy. Sensing that everyone had grown to some extent, Makarov suddenly felt he should take back his earlier assessment of Freed and Bickslow. Before seeing the results, it was hard to guess which team would succeed in advancing!
"Oh my, I thought we were going to be the last ones. Is someone even later than us?" Cana, wearing a bikini, boarded the ship, her excited gaze sweeping across the scene. "What are Natsu and Lucy doing?"
Her luggage was even simpler—just the large barrel of alcohol on her shoulder.
"Hey, Lily! What are you doing here?!" Gajeel's eyes instantly locked onto the black cat sitting on the barrel. His nail-studded face was full of disbelief.
"Ms. Cana was kind enough to invite me. I couldn't find a reason to refuse. So, sorry, Gajeel..." Lily jumped down from the barrel and looked at Gajeel seriously. "From now on, we're rivals!"
"Keheh. Sounds interesting. Even if you're my cat, I won't go easy on you if we meet~" Gajeel said eagerly. He raised his hand and patted the little head of Levy in front of him. "I'm going to help this little pipsqueak become an S-Class!"
Levy: ...?
You're the pipsqueak. Your whole family are pipsqueaks!
"Cana's partner is Lily? If there's a race event, won't they be unbeatable?"
"That's not necessarily true. Didn't Natsu partner with Happy ages ago?"
"Lily is nothing like Happy. Don't forget, that guy's swordsmanship is good enough to hold his own against that monster Erza!"
"Dammit! A man doesn't lose to any of you!"
The other participants were also shocked. A sense of urgency immediately set in.
Just then, a blue speck of light appeared in the sky above the city. Happy descended from the sky, clutching Natsu, landing precisely on the ship.
Then...
With a loud CRASH, wood chips flew everywhere. The deck was smashed, leaving a large hole.
Everyone was at a loss for words. Makarov, his heart aching, cursed loudly, "Natsu! You idiot! Couldn't you have chosen a more normal way to appear?!"
Climbing out of the hole, Natsu acted as if he hadn't heard. He raised his arms with enthusiastic enthusiasm. "Ahaha! S-Class mage, here I—bleargh—come!"
Before he could finish his planned victory speech, the violently rocking ship, caused by the impact, made him start dry heaving.
"T-the trial hasn't even started, and you're already trying to take out your strongest enemy? D-damn you, idiot Fire Dragon... bleargh~" Gajeel started vomiting too.
"Um... I think you're overthinking it," Levy said, scratching her head with an awkward smile.
Natsu was throwing up too.
The two vomiting companions tremblingly reached out their arms to Wendy, begging for motion sickness relief magic. But Wendy politely refused, saying she couldn't help a competitor.
How sad.
"Come to think of it, that guy Lucy is way too slow. She's not still in bed, is she?" Gray said, puzzled.
At some point, this guy had already entered the completely naked state that Juvia found so obsessed.
"Maybe something delayed her?" her good friend Levy said with concern.
"Aye~ I think she definitely forgot today's the trial. What a worryingly careless girl," Happy said, raising his paw with a serious expression.
"Uh..." Levy was momentarily speechless.
Though under normal circumstances, that possibility was unlikely, somehow, when it came to Lucy-chan, it strangely felt completely natural?
"Here she comes."
The sharp-eyed Cana was the first to notice Lucy running toward the ship from the harbor street. Then her pupils suddenly contracted. "Hey, wait. Who's that next to her?"
Following her shocked gaze, beside Lucy, a red-and-yellow hemmed priestess uniform fluttered with the girl's running motion. A winged yellow plush duck was beside her.
"Éclair?!" xN
***
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