Southern Guiltina, Baleria region—
Raizel's group had not come this way last time.
The farther southwest they traveled, the more strange creatures they encountered, the kind they had never seen before in Ishgar.
There were flying fish with feathered wings soaring through the sky, enormous mushrooms, and all kinds of giant fungi.
"What kind of creature is this?"
"A walking jellyfish?"
When the group stopped to rest and have lunch, Natsu crouched on the ground with Happy, studying a strange creature with a jellyfish-like head, eyes, limbs, and arms longer than its legs. Natsu casually picked one up to inspect it.
The jellyfish creatures had suddenly crawled out of the forest and were swaggering right past Raizel's group.
Erza planted one hand on her hip and scolded him.
"Natsu, don't touch unfamiliar creatures with your bare hands. What if it's poisonous?"
Natsu completely ignored her and muttered,
"Can we eat it...?"
"Actually, they're kind of cute," Lucy said, crouching down and happily cupping one in both hands.
"Yeah!" Wendy could not help agreeing.
Even Raizel had to admit that the weird little things were oddly cute.
Just as Ultear was about to say something, the tiny jellyfish suddenly lunged as if trying to crawl into Natsu and Lucy's mouths. Kagura, who had been alert from the start, reacted instantly and cut them down with her sword.
Unknown things might look cute, but they still had to be guarded against.
That was a lesson Kagura had learned from countless jobs. She had once encountered a pig that looked adorable on the outside, only for it to turn out to be a terrifying magical beast that ate people.
Erza immediately warned everyone.
"Stay alert! These things seem to be trying to get inside our bodies."
Ultear made a quick guess.
"They may be some kind of parasite that lives inside other creatures. Drive them away!"
"Sky Dragon's Roar!"
Wendy directly blew them into the sky, sending them flying far into the distance.
Erza looked serious as she said,
"There are many unknown creatures on this continent. We need to be careful, especially you, Natsu..."
Unfortunately, Natsu had already been distracted by something else.
This time, it was a small pig with antlers.
"I wasn't finished..."
Erza clenched her fist hard, but in the end, she endured it. Lunch came first, and Mira's voice quickly drew her attention.
Mira cupped one hand beside her lips and waved with the other.
"Food's ready. Come back, Erza, Natsu, Happy."
While they were eating, Lucy suddenly asked,
"Speaking of which, don't any of you care about the reward the Law Dragon mentioned?"
She copied the Law Dragon's tone and gestures in an exaggerated way.
"One thing you desire, chosen from all things in the world. No matter what it is, I can grant it to you!"
Mira did not quite understand what Lucy was getting at.
"You mean?"
Lucy rested her chin on one hand and thought for a moment.
"'Anything' is way too vague, right? For example, if I wanted..."
"Is there something you want, Lucy? Oooooh i know!"
Happy looked as if he had figured it out. He smacked his right fist into his left paw and said excitedly, "I know! Free rent for life!"
Lucy snapped back in annoyance, "At that point, I might as well ask for a whole house! Wait, no! I already have a house!"
Ultear, Erza, and the others paid no attention to Lucy and Happy's little comedy act.
"It's true that a reward like 'anything' is absurdly vague. You could even call it empty and unrealistic."
"But if the request itself cannot be completed, then no matter what kind of reward is promised, it's nothing more than a flower in a mirror or the moon reflected in water."
Carla nodded in agreement.
"That's true. Still, I suppose only a reward like that is worthy of the 100 Years Quest."
Raizel did not know what the reward was either, nor did he know what the Law Dragon was planning. But he did not dwell on it too much.
After all, he was not taking this job for the reward.
...
The outskirts of Ermina—
The outskirts of Ermina sat a little higher than the urban area.
The whole city looked more like a basin, which seemed somewhat unreasonable for city planning.
Of course, Raizel knew absolutely nothing about city planning. It just felt strange at first glance.
Still, since Ermina was a port city by the sea, perhaps drainage was not something they needed to worry about. From here, they could even see the coastline and the ships coming and going.
Natsu, naturally, did not care about any of that. He shaded his eyes from the sun and looked into the distance.
"Look! I can see it already! That must be Ermina up ahead!"
After entering Ermina, everyone quickly noticed a second problem.
The city was dirty.
Moss and green algae grew across the outer walls of the houses, and there was plenty of trash on the streets.
Ultear frowned tightly and pointed at a windmill.
"Look at that! Even the windmill has moss on it. That's too strange!"
Wendy guessed,
"Maybe it's because this is an old town?"
Lucy shook her head.
"But moss growing on a windmill is still really unusual, right?"
Happy, meanwhile, looked full of expectation.
"If it's a port city, there must be lots of fish dishes!"
Carla sighed helplessly.
"I'm not interested."
Raizel walked at the front.
"Food can wait. Let's find an inn first."
"So more travelers have come here."
A man with long light-blue hair sat cross-legged on a rooftop.
The ends of his hair curled slightly, and a pair of bull-like horns grew from his head.
His right eye had a tattoo similar to Jellal's, though his was blue, while the other eye was hidden behind his hair. Wearing a black coat, he quietly watched Raizel's group chatting below.
"Lord Water God, they're Mages from the southern continent."
A woman in a tight black skirt and glasses answered him. She was the Water Dragon God's attendant, Karameel.
To the people of the northern continent, anyone from the eastern or western continent was from the southern continent.
There was not much difference.
After asking for directions, the group arrived at an inn with an extremely straightforward name: HOTEL JOURNEY.
At the front desk, there was no one in sight.
Only a lively fish flopping around.
"A fish?"
Erza, Wendy, and Lucy looked at the fish on the front desk in confusion.
"It's a fish!!!"
Happy's instincts woke up. His little paws spun so fast they looked like wheels of fire and wind.
"Please calm down..." Carla said helplessly.
"Is there no receptionist?" Mira, Ultear, and the others looked around, but there really was no one there. Only that fish.
"So this is one of those help-yourself welcome drinks?"
Natsu grabbed the fish by the tail and started drooling.
"You're so mean, Natsu! Give it to me! Let me eat it!"
Happy flew onto the front desk and hopped around, trying to snatch the fish from Natsu's hand.
"NO WAY!"
The fish suddenly spoke.
Then it transformed into a man in a suit uniform.
Natsu was still holding onto his foot, so the man's head slammed directly into the floor.
"Eh?!!!"
"Nani?!"
"It was actually a person!"
Everyone's expressions were hard to describe. They were all surprised, at least.
Happy, meanwhile, burst into tears over the loss of a fish!
Even though the man was currently stuck upside down, he remained extremely professional.
"Welcome! Welcome to HOTEL JOURNEY!"
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