"That fast?"
"Exactly."
Mira nodded with a slightly proud smile.
Raizel and Ur were still struggling over what to make.
Ur at least had a general direction, since she could lean into northern-style flavors.
Magnolia was located in the south, and its tastes were very different from the northern region's, so every time northern dishes appeared, they felt fresh and interesting.
"Raizel! Mira! Erza!"
Natsu and Lucy's voices stopped the group just as they were about to go shopping.
Natsu and Happy could not explain things properly at all, so Lucy had to do it while panting for breath.
"Don't buy too much. Mom brought a lot of ingredients when she came, and Mr. August, Brandish, and the others seem to have brought plenty of ingredients from the western continent too."
"They came here with ingredients? That's something."
"Not only that, Mom also brought several chefs from home. She said she didn't want you all to work too hard."
Lucy proudly gave a thumbs-up.
"The food those chefs make is really good too!"
"Lucy, that means the chefs are good, not you..."
"Stop nitpicking, stupid cat!"
Lucy immediately bonked Happy on the head.
Then she continued, "Mr. August also brought a huge sheep-type magical beast that's unique to the western continent. He said he wants to roast it for everyone."
"That sheep was this tall and this big!"
Happy kept waving his little arms around, trying very hard to demonstrate.
Given the limits of his tiny reach, it was probably far bigger than what he could show.
He even stood on tiptoe with an incredibly serious expression!
"So, how tall and how big is it exactly?"
Raizel wisely chose to ask Lucy.
Lucy's mouth twitched.
"That sheep is taller than me even when it's lying on the ground. It's huge, basically. It took up a big chunk of the open-air café."
Erza's eyes lit up, and she snapped her fingers.
"In that case, why don't we have everyone who hasn't arrived yet prepare one ingredient? That way, we don't have to suffer from choice overload!"
"Ingredient blind boxes? I like it."
Ultear and Mira exchanged a look.
"That actually sounds pretty fun."
As night deepened, Magnolia lit up with decorations and lanterns.
The destination for everyone from the Fiore royal family, the Magic Council, and the various Mage guilds was Magnolia's current landmark, the Fairy Tail guild tavern.
When Jellal walked into the guild with Meredy, the noise hit them like a market square.
"This is really... lively..." Meredy murmured.
She had never seen anything quite like this.
A huge stove had appeared out of nowhere on one side of the open-air café. The heat coming from it was intense, and the smell of roasting meat filled the air.
Of course, even on a day this happy, Lyon, Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, and Kurnugi had not forgotten their original purpose in life and were firmly committed to arguing.
A crowd had gathered around them, arms over one another's shoulders as they jeered and watched the show.
Somehow, the very questionable additions of Juvia and Sherry had mixed into the group as well.
"Sorry for troubling all of you."
Makarov gave an awkward laugh and scratched the back of his head as he looked at the entire line of chefs.
Irene had temporarily forged a whole row of cooking stoves with Enchantment for Yajima and the chefs Layla had brought.
"There's no need to say that between us, Makky. Besides, cooking is my hobby."
Yajima answered while stir-frying over roaring flames.
Toma narrowed his eyes and smiled.
"If anything, we're the ones imposing."
He even found time to glance over at Hisui, who was chatting with Lucy and Yukino.
Raizel was completely focused on his own dish.
Besides, Makarov's words obviously had nothing to do with him, so he did not join the conversation.
Makarov took a sip of wine and sighed.
"I never imagined Magnolia could gather this many people... I really didn't."
Precht looked at the people scattered around in pairs and groups, then chuckled.
"It's because Raizel invited them."
Mavis sat on the bar counter, swinging her little feet as she smiled with narrowed eyes and nodded.
"Raizel, huh."
The First, Second, and Third Masters sat together at the bar, watching how Fairy Tail had changed over the years, each of them filled with emotion.
Only now did Makarov belatedly realize something.
"Now that I think about it, he really does have quite a lot of influence."
Magnolia's previous Harvest Festivals had never looked like this.
They had invited other guilds before, but this was the first time so many people had gathered here at once.
Precht glanced at Raizel, who was still cooking with complete focus and no awareness of the conversation at all.
"What? Thinking of making him the fourth master?"
Makarov shook his head helplessly.
"I'd like to, but he doesn't want it. That brat said he's afraid he'll go bald like me! These old bones of mine can still hold on for a while, so I'll decide when the time comes."
"Nonsense! We didn't go bald!"
Mavis and Precht slapped the table and shouted in perfect unison.
Makarov snapped back angrily,
"You two weren't masters long enough! Try managing this bunch and see if you don't lose your hair!"
In truth, Makarov already had two candidates in mind.
He was just still hesitating over whether to pass the position to Mira or Laxus.
Makarov had taken over Fairy Tail in X736, when he was forty years old.
This year marked his fiftieth year as guild master. In Fairy Tail's hundred-year history, he alone had occupied half of it.
With so many people gathered, there was one especially convenient option for feeding everyone: open-air hot pot.
Ur was currently frying the hot pot base, throwing in all kinds of chili peppers with brutal confidence.
There were as many as five Ice Mages here, so nobody had to worry about eating hot pot outdoors in October and getting too hot.
Perhaps because everyone was in such a good mood, the October breeze felt rather refreshing.
Ultear, Erza, and the others were greeting guests while helping decorate the open-air plaza and the guild.
Lyon and Ultear used Ice-Make around the plaza, creating ice sculptures as decorations.
As for Erza...
She stood there like a supervisor, giving orders!
"Over there! Set up a few more stovetops and barbecue grills!"
Elfman, Natsu, Gray, and Kurnugi, the unfortunate laborers who had been dragged over, grunted as they carried everything into place.
...
Cooking area—
"What are you doing?"
Selene stepped out of a spatial passage and curiously watched Raizel's movements.
"Marinating. It'll taste better after the flavor soaks in." Raizel answered casually.
Selene folded one arm across her chest and lightly tapped her delicate chin with the other hand.
"If you want something to eat, there are ready-made desserts and ice cream over there. This side will take quite a while."
"No, I'm more interested in this."
Selene stared at the meat steaks marinating in the container.
She was a carnivore, after all.
...
Big-shot area—
This was a specially arranged sofa lounge.
The people currently sitting here were Zeref, Mavis, Irene, August, Precht, and Warrod.
Without at least a hundred years under your belt, you would feel embarrassed sitting here.
As for Invel, he stood behind Zeref with his hands behind his back. Even though Zeref had told him to sit with them, Invel insisted on standing.
For some reason, he felt that if he sat down, he would suddenly age another seventy or eighty years.
Precht and August had already spoken.
August did not blame Precht for abandoning him back then. On the contrary, he was deeply grateful for all the effort Precht had put into reviving Mavis.
Zeref looked at the noisy guild and sighed.
"I never thought there would come a day when I could sit in a place with this many people."
His reflection did not last long before the topic shifted to Raizel, all because Warrod had commented on how surprising it was that so many people could gather together like this.
Precht nodded in agreement.
"To be able to invite so many different forces and bring them under one roof truly is no simple thing."
Irene looked toward Raizel, who was still concentrating on his cooking not far away, and spoke in a calm tone.
"Sometimes, the charm of a leader does not lie only in strength."
August's kind face filled with a warm smile.
"In a certain sense, he is no less than any of us here. In fact, one could even say he has surpassed us. He simply does not care about those things."