Raizel had his eye on God Serena's eight Dragon Slayer Lacrima.
He could modify those eight Dragon Slayer Lacrima into weapons for himself.
But not now.
After all, Serena had not betrayed Ishgar yet.
Once he did, that would be the day Raizel dealt with him and extracted all eight Dragon Slayer Lacrima.
'Serena, you'd better live up to expectations. By the time I get back, I hope I hear the news that you betrayed Ishgar and ran off to join the Alvarez Empire!'
Raizel still could not quite get a firm grasp on the guild Diabolos.
The main reason was that the feat of killing the Thunder Dragon King Elexion was honestly a little frightening.
After all, the strength of the Fire Dragon King Igneel had been right there for everyone to see.
However, Raizel was inclined to believe that the Thunder Dragon King was weaker than Igneel.
On top of that, Raizel felt there was a very high chance Elexion had already been gravely injured at the time.
Perhaps he had suffered severe wounds in a battle against another dragon, and Georg Reizen had simply picked up the finishing blow.
Otherwise, if Georg Reizen truly had the strength to kill the Thunder Dragon King at his peak, would he not be slaughtering the Five Dragon Gods left and right?
Of course, Georg Reizen was definitely not weak.
After all, Karulum had said that Georg was the only member of the Dragon Eater guild who could kill a giant dragon alone, and that was something recorded in writing and witnessed by others.
As for the Five Dragon Gods, Raizel was most concerned about Selene, the Moon Dragon God, and Ignia, the Fire Dragon God.
Selene was the only female dragon among them.
As for Ignia, it was because of his name.
Fire Dragon God—Ignia.
That name reeked of some connection to the Fire Dragon King Igneel.
'Igneel's son, perhaps?'
Raizel guessed that Igneel might have had him with a female fire dragon in Guiltina, or perhaps had left him in Guiltina after he was born in order to preserve his bloodline.
That was very normal.
In truth, dragons did not raise their children.
If anything, the strange part was that Igneel had been willing to raise Natsu.
It was even possible that, in Igneel's eyes, Natsu was more important than Ignia.
After all, dragon sons could be had in great numbers, but a demon-human child like Natsu was one of a kind.
And when factoring in the time Igneel spent raising Natsu, plus the time he existed as a soul dragon inside Natsu's body, Igneel might genuinely have spent more time with Natsu than anyone else.
If one also included the four hundred years of time travel, then that was an absolute checkmate.
...
Their opponent was a giant dragon.
Even if there was a high chance that it was still underage or not fully grown, Erza and the others did not dare to be careless.
They spent most of the time meditating and adjusting their condition.
Ultear, meanwhile, kept thinking through possible strategies.
There was no helping it.
She kept feeling that Karulum had not told them the full truth.
Since Diabolos obtained their power by devouring dragon flesh, why had they not made a move when the Sword Saint Dragon appeared there?
Why were they allowing Kurunugi to openly challenge powerful humans all over the place?
Or perhaps things were not as bad as Ultear imagined.
Maybe it really was simply impossible to persuade Georg Reizen to act.
Or maybe Kurnugi was still too young and weak in Diabolos's eyes, so they did not care.
As for Dragon Slayer Lacrima, a Magic Council of that size should certainly be able to obtain some.
Through Dragon Slayer Lacrima, Second Generation Dragon Slayers could be created.
But people's constitutions differed.
Very few Dragon Slayers were actually capable of killing dragons.
Even Irene, the mother of Dragon Slayer Magic, could only fight ordinary dragons when she first transformed into one.
Of course, after four hundred years, combined with the growing abundance of Magic Power in Earth Land, Irene's Magic Power had long since become incomparable to what it had once been.
Sometimes, the gap between people was like an uncrossable chasm.
Both were Second Generation Dragon Slayers, yet Cobra, the Poison Dragon, probably would not last long in Laxus's hands.
...
After several days of rather boring flight, the group finally arrived at the headquarters of Guiltina's Magic Council, MNP.
Karulum brought Raizel's group directly to the reception room.
Perhaps it was because of the pressure from the Five Dragon Gods and Diabolos, or perhaps that was simply the northern continent's local character, but the Council here did not have the lofty, condescending atmosphere that Ishgar's old Magic Council had once given off.
Instead, everyone was quite warm and friendly.
Karulum and the Council staff handed Raizel information on the Sword Saint Dragon Kurunugi's appearance and the abilities he had used before.
Then they told him the direction Kurnugi had gone the last time he left.
Southeast.
The rest would have to be up to Raizel's group to search on their own.
Unlike Ishgar, Guiltina did not have railways stretching everywhere.
It was not because the people here sat around doing nothing, but because building railways was useless.
Various giant dragons would destroy the tracks, and if a train encountered a dragon, there would be nowhere for the passengers to run.
Although dragons had been appearing less and less often in recent years, people had already grown accustomed to other methods of transportation.
Because of that, Guiltina only had a small number of railway lines in the town of Tekka.
Fortunately, there were other means of transport.
There were all kinds of tamed magical beasts, such as carriages drawn by Redflame Horses called Sola.
Raizel chose to rent the most luxurious one.
The main reason was that it was spacious enough.
The inside of the carriage was more than twenty square meters, which was necessary because their group had quite a few people.
It also had another particularly important function.
Shock absorption.
It guaranteed comfort and stability during the ride, so even when they encountered rough stretches of road, it would not feel especially uncomfortable.
This was something Guiltina's conditions had created.
On a continent ravaged by giant dragons, one could easily imagine what the roads were like.
Wendy had the most say in this.
After getting into the carriage, she only felt a little uncomfortable.
At the very least, she no longer felt like throwing up the moment the carriage moved.
Right now, she was sleeping on Ultear's lap, and for a moment, it was hard to tell who should be envied.
Raizel and Mira temporarily handled the driving.
Aside from Wendy, everyone else would take turns later.
Mira looked at the newly bought map and asked Raizel, "Are we going to follow the direction Guiltina's Council gave us?"
According to the Council, Kurunugi had gone southeast.
Raizel and Ultear had already planned the route in advance.
Raizel nodded. "That's all we can do for now. I'll use Super Archive Magic to search along the way."
"Hyah!"
Raizel tugged the reins, and the two Redflame Horses began moving southeast.
Inside the carriage, Ultear gently stroked Wendy's back, doing her best to make the girl feel less uncomfortable.
Ultear, Erza, and the others were also quietly discussing matters.
One topic was how to find the Sword Saint Dragon as quickly as possible so they could complete the request.
The other was that since they had come all the way to Guiltina, they should at least take the chance to see its different culture and scenery.
Guiltina did face the threat of giant dragons, but life had to go on.
In fact, after four hundred years, although the Five Dragon Gods still hung over the continent like the Sword of Damocles, the other dragons had gradually disappeared from public view.
If anything, the sudden appearance of the Sword Saint Dragon Kurunugi was the unusual part.
Ultear's crystal ball glowed as its point of view rose into the sky.
Through the crystal ball, with the carriage as the center, Ultear began detecting the surrounding Magic Power.
...
Before they realized it, the group had already spent two weeks in Guiltina.
During that time, they passed through several towns and spent some time shopping and replenishing supplies.
The rest of the time was spent heading toward remote, sparsely populated areas.
Unexpectedly, however, even with Ultear monitoring through her crystal ball in real time, Raizel searching with Super Archive Magic, and Wendy occasionally sniffing around for the scent of a giant dragon, the group still had not found so much as a dragon's hair.
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator