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Noah coughed lightly, leaned back in his chair, and extended a hand to August, saying, "This contestant, please begin your performance and tell your story."
Contestant my ass, is this some kind of variety show!
And Irene, we're on the same side, aren't we? Is that expectant look on your face about a colleague's past serious?
August, who never spoke ill of people behind their backs, for some reason felt a surge of desire to complain, his face shifting between green and red with emotion.
Noah being able to expose his deepest secret meant that Noah had a way to read minds or memories. August understood that even if he didn't speak, Noah would speak for him.
The white-haired kid's eyes indicated at least nine ways to make him speak respectfully.
Things had come to this point. August stopped pretending.
Some things had been bottled up for too long and were too tiring. He didn't care if it was good or bad. He decided to unburden his heart and reveal his secret...
In X697, Makarov had just turned one year old, and it was also the time Mavis's body returned to the Guild.
The members of Fairy Tail, suppressing their grief, buried Mavis on Tenrou Island, where the original four members first met, designating it as the Guild's sacred ground.
However, no one would know that Mavis's tombstone was empty beneath.
Precht, the then Second Guild Master, secretly moved Mavis's body because he discovered that although Mavis was dead, her body still showed faint signs of life.
Carrying the hope that his dear friend might still have a chance, Precht carefully examined Mavis's entire body, but the final result shocked him greatly.
The signs of life in Mavis's body were concentrated in her abdomen.
It was a new life. If not delivered in time, it would surely be stillborn, and Precht fortunately discovered it in time.
With complex emotions, Precht, relying on his strong learning ability, quickly learned how to deliver a baby from a guide book, and thus, a baby was born.
It was his dear friend's posthumous child.
Precht initially wanted to raise the child, but the child's innate chaotic magic, which belonged neither to light nor darkness, made him uneasy.
Because in the history of magic, those with chaotic magic were all world destroyers who brought turmoil and unrest to the world, and no matter the education, the outcome was always the same.
Precht considered stifling the child in the cradle but ultimately couldn't bring himself to harm his dear friend's child.
On one side was his dear friend's child, on the other was the stability of the world.
Finally, Precht chose to escape. After wandering and muttering to himself in an alley for a long time, he abandoned Mavis's child, leaving it to fend for itself.
However, Precht didn't know that the child's innate chaotic magic had given it sufficient intelligence from birth.
He learned of his origins from Precht's mutterings and understood why he was abandoned, so he never resented Precht for bringing him into this world.
The child survived tenaciously and spent a lonely and bitter childhood alone. Thinking that his magic might bring destruction to the world, he never thought of learning magic.
Until one day, the child accidentally met his father, though the father who took him in did not know his true identity.
Because that day happened to be August 1st, the five-year-old child finally got his own name—August.
From then on, August's life had a goal: he would assist his father in completing his plan.
And the first step to becoming his father's aid was to possess power.
Thus, a formidable Mage who mastered almost all magic in the world—the "Wizard King"—was born.
He helped his father manage the country, expand its territory, and became a "Calamity" to suppress all dissent.
Until the entire Western Continent was incorporated into Alvarez's territory, August had already become his father, Alvarez Emperor Spriggan, and also Black Wizard Zeref's most capable assistant.
However, at this time, August gave up on acknowledging his father because he detected a terrible curse on his father—the "Curse of Contradiction."
A vicious curse that, the more one "loved," the more it would take away all life around them.
Having spent many years together, August knew his father's inner kindness and understood the pain he felt when the curse activated and took away surrounding life.
Even as powerful as August, he couldn't find a way to break the curse, nor could he survive the curse's outburst. Unwilling to be acknowledged and then have his father cry over his corpse, August chose to continue hiding his true identity.
Although he couldn't acknowledge him, being able to always accompany his father was already a tremendous satisfaction for August.
But the longing for family love always lingered in August's heart.
His father couldn't be acknowledged, and his mother had long since passed away, so August nurtured some juniors, caring for them as if they were his children. But even now, only Brandish genuinely regarded him as family.
To seek and not find—this was August's story.
When August finished recounting his past, the room remained silent. This unfair and messed-up fate was truly disappointing.
Among those present, even Erza, who had the most tragic childhood, seemed to have had it better compared to August, as the village where she ate communal meals in her childhood had treated her quite well.
Makarov stroked his bald spot, a troubled expression on his face as he looked at the few strands of hair he had pulled down.
It was one thing that his Guild's founder was a student of the Black Wizard, but for the First Guild Master and the Black Wizard to be in love—what kind of situation was that?
Now it truly felt like Noah's earlier joke: Fairy Tail was the purest Dark Guild in the world... truly down on their luck.
Noah, unaware of Makarov's thoughts, said to everyone, "Although we, Fairy Tail, don't stir up trouble and aren't afraid of trouble, regarding August's background, everyone must keep it a secret."
Don't stir up trouble?
Do you even believe that yourself?
Questioning gazes from Guild companions × 6.
Noah shrugged indifferently. After all, he was indeed the most law-abiding one in the Guild. As for the others... how could causing trouble be confused with actual trouble?
"Speaking of which, I've met Zeref once. We're somewhat friends." Noah looked at August. "If you can arrange a meeting with him, I might have a way to suppress that 'Contradiction' curse."
"Really?!"
August was ecstatic.
If anyone else had said that, August would a hundred percent not believe it, but this was Noah, who had punched him to the brink of death and made him see his life flash before his eyes. If he said he had a way, it might really work.
Noah nodded. The "Magnetic Field Sky Lock" developed from Magnetic Field Power could seal a person's abilities, turning the locked individual into an ordinary person without extraordinary power.
Noah had already verified this on Desert King.
He imagined it would also be effective against the curse within Zeref.
However, Noah still had one question to confirm: if Zeref didn't agree to him placing the Magnetic Field Sky Lock on him, to prevent the curse that erupted due to "love" from exploding everywhere, he would have to resort to force.
"August, how does Zeref's combat ability compare to yours?"
"Father's magic is not beneath mine."
"I'm asking who is better at fighting?"
"Well, Father is more skilled in magic research..."
"OK, I understand. Let's eat first."