"I wonder how the children are doing."
"To think that as their parent, I was not there when they were hurt."
"I really have failed them."
The Principality of Veronica, a small mountain nation north of Fiore.
This was already the fourth day since Makarov had followed the Magic Council's forces into this country.
As one of the Ten Wizard Saints, he naturally did not need to comb through the mountains like the ordinary soldiers searching for Brain's whereabouts.
The person in charge of the Council's operation, perhaps out of some twisted kindness, had arranged for him to stay in a small village near the mission area.
But precisely because he had nothing to do, Makarov only found himself worrying more and more about the children far away in Magnolia.
Creak...
The badly weathered wooden door, corroded with age, was pushed open with a harsh groan.
This was an extremely remote little village after all.
Even the house assigned to a Wizard Saint could do no more than barely block the wind and rain.
Makarov did not care about the quality of the lodging.
He simply turned his head toward the door.
Gray entered first, his face gloomy, striding into the room with obvious frustration.
Sorano and Lyon followed behind him.
In front of his guild master, Gray showed no restraint at all.
He dropped onto the stool beside Makarov's little round table with a heavy thump.
"No news."
"The Council people have practically searched every mountain around here and still did not find Brain."
"If the villagers nearby could not prove that strangers bought supplies from them about a month ago, the Council would already be accusing Sorano of feeding them false information and dragging her off for questioning."
The moment he heard that, anger immediately surfaced on Makarov's old face.
"Let them try."
"As long as I am here, no one is going to bully one of my guild's children."
As he spoke, he looked at Sorano, who still carried a trace of restraint around him, and comforted her.
"Do not be afraid."
"You already told us everything you know."
"I will handle whatever comes next for you."
Sorano nodded gratefully.
In these past few days together, she had deeply felt the master's care for her.
It was also because of Makarov's fierce protectiveness, the way he had kept the Council from making things difficult for her, that Sorano had truly started to love Fairy Tail as a family.
Lyon was not from Fairy Tail, but he had long heard of Makarov's reputation.
Spending these days with him only made his respect for the old man grow.
He sat naturally beside Gray and slammed his fist heavily against the table.
"It is all because of those idiots in the Council."
"They leaked the whole thing early and even printed it in the papers."
"If I were Brain, seeing the outside world suddenly paying that much attention to me, I would have packed my things and run too."
At that, all four people in the room grew angry.
The Council really was useless at getting things done and outstanding at ruining them.
Before the operation had even properly started, they had already made such a huge public spectacle that they scared the target off.
And that was not even the worst part.
Because Brain had been described as some unspeakably evil great criminal, more and more people in the magical world were calling for the Council to arrest him as soon as possible.
That public pressure, in turn, came crashing back onto the Council itself.
Council Chairman Crawford, who had assumed everything was under control when in reality they had made no progress at all, had become increasingly agitated.
More than once, he had ordered them to hurry up and find Brain, to prove to the public that both the Council and its chairman were competent.
The fool clearly never stopped to think that if not for his own vanity, his need to build up his own public image, none of these problems would have happened in the first place.
"Hmph."
"I think Crawford's days in that chairman's seat are numbered."
"Public opinion has already exploded outside."
"Everyone is questioning his ability now."
"They cannot understand how the Council's pile of wastes managed to let a villain like Brain scheme right under their noses, rising step by step until he became the head of the Council's Bureau of Magic Development."
Makarov slapped today's newspaper down on the table and gave his judgment.
None of the three felt even the slightest bit of sympathy for Crawford.
On the contrary, all of them looked openly pleased and rather delighted by his misfortune.
"That bastard should have been thrown out long ago."
Gray said it flatly, and both Lyon and Sorano nodded in agreement.
Makarov himself was even more frustrated.
Just thinking about how his guild was back home clashing with Phantom Lord while he was stuck out here in the mountains chasing a criminal they were never going to find made his blood boil.
If he had not been worried about dragging the children into the fallout, he would have already stormed into Council headquarters and slapped Crawford across the face a few times himself.
When it came to Juvia's injury and Fairy Tail going to war with Phantom Lord, Makarov glanced at Gray and Sorano and suddenly realized that he still had not told them about it.
"Better not tell them."
"They cannot get back right now anyway, and all it would do is make them worry for nothing."
Just as Makarov made up his mind to keep the news hidden, the magic crystal ball inside the pack at the head of his bed suddenly lit up.
"Master Makarov."
"Master Makarov."
"Incoming communication from Fairy Tail."
A woman's mechanical voice rang out.
Before the other three had even figured out what was happening, Makarov flashed across the room in one step and snatched up the crystal ball, which was about the size of a normal person's head, from his travel bag.
He poured magic into it.
Very quickly, Kabe's handsome face appeared inside the crystal sphere.