Earth Land, Ishgar, Stella, Altair.
October 9, x791.
Like the members of the Phantom Troupe, all the members of Fairy Tail present in Altair also began to move after the telepathic conference call.
The first one to move out was Elicia. However, unlike the others, she was not sent to find the members of the Phantom Troupe. Instead, Alfonzo had her go to Zash Caine's mansion to find proof that he was involved in the Phantom Troupe's genocidal actions against the Curta Clan.
Meanwhile, Cana, Ultear, and Sun formed one group to find members of the Phantom Troupe on the east side of the city. And because they were not as well-versed in stealth as Machi, they would not have an issue doing so.
At the same time, Bickslow, Evergreen, and Elfman were doing the same on the west side of the city. And like Cana's group, no one anticipated their group having any trouble finding members of the Phantom Troupe in the area they were in charge of.
Next were Gildarts, Levy, and Ur. Instead of staying in the city, they would be searching the area outside of the city. According to Alfonzo just before the plan was finalized, he could sense a group of fairly powerful magic power signatures heading to a remote location outside of the city. So, Gildarts and the other two were tasked with seeing what they were up to.
That left Alfonzo to act alone. And like Gildarts, Ur, and Levy, his target was outside of the city. In fact, it was the cave the Phantom Troupe was using as their secondary hideout. Unfortunately, thanks to her stealth, Alfonzo was unable to find Machi since the magic power he injected into her needles had dispersed after so long. Taking out the one with the best stealth would make the whole operation easier, in his opinion, at least.
"Alright, this is the noble district." Elicia said as she stood atop the wall separating the noble district from the rest of the city. "Caine is a minister. So, he should have a manor closer to the castle than the others, right?"
["Makes sense to me."] Scylla replied. ['Still, just how many ministers are there in Stella? This might take a while."]
"Well, as long as we can find it today, things should be alright." Elicia replied as she leapt off the wall, shot out a line of thread, and swung towards a wall surrounding a villa. "We don't need to catch him today, after all. Still, getting inside of his mansion and taking a look around would be a good idea."
["Agreed."] Scylla replied. ["If we can find the reason why he defected from Fiore, that would look even better when we drag him back."]
"Wouldn't it, though?" Elicia said with a giggle. "It certainly would make Princess Hisui happy. Did you hear the way she squealed when Fonzie called her last night?"
["Yeah, she was a lot happier than a princess would be to hear from any other merchant or wizard."] Scylla said with a giggle of her own. ["Do you think you're gonna have a royal sister sometime in the future?"]
"Who knows." Elicia replied with a shrug as she pulled herself to another noble home's wall. "Would that even be allowed?"
["Good question."] Scylla replied. ["Hold on, look over there. Those guys don't look like nobles, do they?"]
In response to Scylla's question, Elicia swung to the roof of a noble's mansion. Then, she looked in the direction Scylla was directing her to. And when she did, she saw a three-person group walking towards one of the large mansions in the noble's district. Yet, just as Scylla said, they did not look like the nobles Elicia had seen. Nor did they look like the guards that usually protected those nobles.
"Not just nobles." Elicia muttered as she tried to look even closer. "I'm not even sure they're humans. I mean, look at the way they move. It's too perfect. Plus, that level of magic power... It's so high."
["At the same time, look at the way it moves around their bodies."] Scylla added.
And just as Scylla pointed out, the magic power flowing through the three people walking on the street did not seem natural. To Elicia, instead of a magic power container, it seemed more like a power supply.
"Yeah, there's definitely something wrong with them." Elicia muttered as she watched the unnatural-looking group of three make their way down the street. "If we had more time, I'd really wanna see just what's going on with them. But for now, I have more important things to do."
With one final look at the three unnatural beings, Elicia, still under her [Camouflage magic's] effects, leapt from the rooftop she was perched on and continued her search for Zash Caine's residence. However, despite the fact that she had abandoned looking into those three, she continued to come across them during her search.
Finally, when Elicia reached a large villa whose gate contained a sign that read "Caine," she was even more surprised to see not only the three unnatural beings she had been running into all over the noble district, but two more of the same kind of beings standing outside the gate, acting as guards.
"Well, look at that." Elicia said as she crouched on a nearby rooftop. "It looks like I can look into both Caine and those weird things at the same time."
["This may be even more dangerous than we thought, Elicia."] Scylla said in a warning tone. ["You can't just jump into this without a plan. Those things, though not as strong as the top-tier members of Fairy Tail, are pretty strong. And there's no guarantee that those five are the only ones."]
"I know, I know." Elicia said while waving off Scylla's concern. "I'm not an amateur, you know. I've done more infiltration quests than I can remember since I learned [Camouflage Magic]."
Reaching that point, Elicia smiled mischievously as she prepared to jump down into Zash Caine's courtyard.
"In fact, I've been doing this longer than you were even a glint in Fonzie's eye." Elicia said with a giggle as she leapt off the roof. Then, while soaring through the air, Elicia could not help continuing to giggle as she carried on. "Hehehe… I've always wanted to say something like that. The better line would have been something like, 'I've been doing this since you were still in nappies.' But you were never an infant. So, that won't work."
Scylla's groans from Elicia's inner world only made Elicia giggle even harder.
["Anyway, you're deep in enemy territory, now."] Scylla said while trying to purge such a dumb joke from her mind. ["It would be better if you stayed quiet and just got the job done. We don't want your mouth to make things harder than they need to be."]
At that moment, both Elicia and Scylla would have sworn they heard Alfonzo chuckling at Scylla's choice of words. But they both decided to ignore it while rolling their eyes simultaneously.
From that moment on, Elicia's playful nature took a backseat to her wizard nature as she circled to the villa to find a good entry point. Yet, no matter how long she looked, Elicia could not find a point of entree in the mansion's exterior that would not necessitate her using her own magic to break in.
"Yeah, there's definitely something suspicious going on in there." Elicia whispered to herself while using her threads to stick to the exterior wall just above the mansion's front door. "Otherwise, there's no reason to have such high security."
["well, he is the Minister of State."] Scylla pointed out. ["so, there, kinda, is a reason for such tight security."]
"Small details." Elicia said quietly.
"["I wouldn't call that small."] Scylla replied in an exasperated tone.
~That's what she said.~
"But seriously, why aren't those things going inside? Don't they have to report, or something?" Elicia continued while ignoring both Scylla and Alfonzo's disembodied voice she was hearing for the second time.
["Who knows."] Scylla replied with a shrug. ["Still, you need to find a way inside."]
"Yeah, I know." Elicia replied with a nod. "Well then, looks like I'll have to do this the hard--- Huh?"
As Elicia spoke, she was slowly spreading her threads towards the front door's keyhole. However, before the threads came in contact with the lock's mechanisms, she noticed that all five of the unnatural beings, the two acting as guards, and the three standing in the mansion's yard, began to move towards the back of the mansion at the same time.
"Hmm… What are those things up to?" Elicia asked rhetorically as she retracted her threads. "I smell a conspiracy."
["Right~."] Scylla drawled. ["Stop talking. Just go follow them."]
Nodding in response, Elicia quickly made her way around to the back of the mansion, following the five unnatural beings. When she arrived, she was just in time to see two of the unnatural beings placing their hands on a spot on the ground at the corner of the mansion. Yet, when she saw what happened next, Elicia could not help widening her eyes.
"Seriously?" Elicia whispered. "I couldn't even sense that."
The thing that surprised Elicia so much was the fact that, after circulating a bit of their magic power, the two unnatural beings touching the ground revealed a hidden door, one that clearly led underground.
["You can gawk at it later."] Scylla barked, pulling Elicia back to her senses. ["For now, you need to get inside before they close it back up."]
"Right."] Elicia said with a vigorous nod.
Elicia then leapt off the mansion's wall, landing silently as a cat. Then, she quickly made her way to the newly revealed door just in time for the two unnatural beings to open it. And just as the door swung open, Elicia, with her hands covered in her sticky threads, crawled down into the passage way and stuck to the ceiling without the notice of the unnatural beings.
Meanwhile, the other three unnatural beings walked down into the passage, climbing down the stairway. Then, when the other three were inside, the two who opened the door also entered, closing the door behind them. However, as soon as the door was secured, Elicia, who was crawling along the passageway's ceiling, frowned.
'I can't sense the outside anymore.' Elicia thought to herself while turning her head back towards the passage's entrance.
["So~, what was that about not making things harder with what you say?"] Scylla asked in a bland tone.
'It's just a coincidence.' Elicia shot back. 'Anyway, let's see what's going on in there. I get some real evil mastermind vibes from this place.'
["Agreed."] Scylla replied as Elicia started moving through the underground passage.
At the same time, the other members of Fairy ?Tail who were still inside the city, namely Evergreen, Bickslow, Cana, Ultear, Elfman, and Sun, all turned their head sin the direction of the noble district after they could no longer feel Elicia's magic power signature through their [Magic Power Detection].
'Hmm…?' Machi, who was leaping from rooftop to rooftop to try and find information about the explosion last night, noticed Cana's group when they stopped and looked toward the noble district in unison. 'Why would they all look in the same direction at the same time? On top of that, I think I recognize them. They're all members of Fairy Tail. But why would they be in Stella? They're supposed to be in Magnolia.'
After having that thought, Machi remembered the quest that was put out not too long ago that requested the complete elimination of the Phantom Troupe. When she did, her gaze on the three Fairy Tail wizards within her line of sight hardened as threads began to extend from her fingertips.
'I see.' Machi thought to herself as her killing intent spiked for a moment. 'So, they're the ones who took that quest. Well then, I'll just get rid of them.'
However, before she attacked, Machi forcefully stopped herself as she remembered the feeling that someone had been following her the day before. On top of that, she remembered the directive Chrollo had given the group about not being seen and drawing attention to the Phantom Troupe.
'No, they can wait.' Machi said as she settled down. 'For now, I need to head back... The leader will want to know about this. Such powerful wizards could put the whole deal at stake.'
With that, Machi turned and headed back towards the Phantom Troupe's secondary hideout.
Meanwhile, as Machi left the area, Cana, Ultear, and Sun all turned to look at the rooftop where Machi had been watching them from.
"Well, that was a pretty intense spike of killing intent." Ultear said with a smile spreading slowly across her face. "Honestly, I thought they would attack us right here."
"Me, too, ya see?" Sun said as she loosened the grip on her shirasaya's hilt. "But she just ran away."
"Well, that makes sense, doesn't it?" Cana asked casually. "I mean, if all the Spiders were as impulsive as the guy who fought dad last night, they would have never lasted as long as they have. Nor would they have gained such infamy."
Ultear and Sun could not help but nod in agreement. A moment later, the three turned their gazes back in the direction of the noble district.
"Still, do you think Lici is okay?" Sun asked, a hint of worry in her tone.
"Don't worry about Lici." Cana said while waving away Sun's concern. "Other than Fonzie, she's the strongest one of us on this quest. She'll be just fine."
"Are you saying Lici is stronger than your dad, Cana?" Ultear asked curiously.
Like Cana, Ultear was not worried about Elicia's well-being, either. Having seen what she was capable of for over a decade, she knew there was no reason to worry.
Sun knew what Elicia was capable of, as well. However, she had a softer nature than either Cana or Ultear. So, she simply could not help but worry.
"Yeah." Cana replied with a nod. "Although she's not nearly as destructive as Dad, Lici would never lose to him. Because he would never be able to hit her."
Once again, Ultear and Sun nodded in agreement.
"Anyway, I just sensed three fairly powerful, unfamiliar, magic power signatures." Cana said as she turned away from the noble district. "I'd bet a hundred barrels of booze that they're members of the Phantom Troupe."
"Yeah, I'm not taking that bet." Ultear said in a deadpan tone. "Betting against you when you put booze on the line is a sure-fire way to lose money."
Cana only giggled in response before she led Ultear and Sun towards the three powerful magic power signatures.