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Even at this point, Yuri still felt that everything he was encountering was just a prank his companions were playing on him to vent Rita's anger.
Since it was a joke from his companions, there was no need to panic.
"Uncle, I have a few questions I want to ask you."
The middle-aged uncle patted his chest and said boldly, "Ask away. I know this whole area very well!"
"Do you know how to get to Magnolia?"
"Magnolia? Never heard of that name. Is it the name of a town?"
"It's a town in the south… forget it then. Do you know Fairy Tail?"
"…Never heard of that either."
Yuri was instantly dumbfounded. "You're kidding me, right?!"
"Not knowing about Magnolia is understandable. After all, this place might be in the northern part of the kingdom or some remote area. But being in the Kingdom of Fiore, you actually don't even know about Fairy Tail, the guild that stopped the royal war?"
The middle-aged uncle looked at Yuri strangely. "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"This isn't the Kingdom of Fiore. This is the Kingdom of Edolas!"
Edolas?
A place he had never heard of!
Could it be another country on the continent?
Yuri's heart skipped a beat. "Uncle, is this still Ishgar? You've at least heard of the Magic Council, right?"
"What Ishgar, what Magic Council? Never heard of them!"
"!!"
"Uncle, don't joke around with me…"
The middle-aged uncle frowned. "You young people are really strange. Why would I joke with you for no reason?"
"If you don't believe me, you can ask those guys on the ground!"
Yuri fell silent for a few seconds, then really turned and walked toward the thugs lying on the ground.
After questioning them, the weight on his heart sank even further, because their answers were exactly the same as the middle-aged uncle's.
At this point, Yuri finally had to admit that his current predicament was not normal.
"If it were just one person, it could still be a lie. But so many people lying together, and all the information matches, the possibility of lying is very small."
"Besides, even if everyone wanted to vent Rita's anger, there was no need to go this far."
"Could it be that after I fainted at the marketplace, I was transferred to this place?"
"But who did it? How did they do it? And what was the purpose of doing this?"
Yuri couldn't figure it out.
In the guild, he had never been the one responsible for thinking things through.
Fortunately, the thing he was best at was "not thinking about things he couldn't figure out."
"If someone really made a move on me, Weston and the others would definitely notice something abnormal and then find me."
"Since that's the case, what I should do now is live properly in this place!"
So what if he couldn't use magic?
Three years ago, didn't he also not know magic?
He could just treat it as temporarily returning to being a treasure hunter. That was fine too!
However, being in such an unfamiliar place, even if Weston and the others arrived here, they might not necessarily be able to find him.
He had to think of a way…
"Ah, I've got it!"
"Sure enough, the thing everyone is most familiar with is still Fairy Tail!"
"Then I'll build a Fairy Tail here too. That way, when everyone arrives, they'll be able to find me immediately!!"
"Wahaha… I really am a genius!!"
Looking at Yuri standing with his hands on his hips and laughing toward the sky, the group of street thugs looked at each other and whispered among themselves.
"This guy isn't an idiot, is he?"
"I think it's very possible!"
"Boss, what should we do now?"
"Pretend to be dead first. We'll talk after they leave!"
On the other side, seeing Yuri like this, the middle-aged uncle thought he had been overstimulated and had gone mad, and he immediately felt pity.
"Young man, are you alright?"
Gurgle—
A loud stomach growl interrupted Yuri's laughter.
Only then did he remember that he hadn't eaten anything from the afternoon until now.
"Uncle, do you have anything to eat?"
"…Come with me."
As night fell, under the middle-aged man's guidance, Yuri arrived at the West District of Sika town.
The "West District" was on the western side of Sika town. It did not refer to a single street, but to an area formed by several intersecting streets, occupying roughly a quarter of Sika town's total area.
However, this district had long since been abandoned.
"This was the original Sika town. Later, due to reasons like town aging and beast invasions, the mayor moved the economic center to the east and built a new district there. The original district was abandoned."
"Now, the people living here are those who can't afford houses in the , as well as unemployed thugs like the ones you just ran into."
After some simple conversation, Yuri learned the middle-aged uncle's name, Mard.
"With the establishment of the new district, Sika town's commercial area also moved to the east. So people living here have to go to the new district no matter what they want to buy. It's very inconvenient."
"Oh oh…"
Yuri listened with half understanding. "Uncle, why are you telling me this?"
Hearing this, Mard immediately got angry.
"Didn't you just say you wanted to settle down here temporarily?"
"There are many empty houses in the West District. You can pick any one to live in, but daily necessities have to be bought in the commercial district!"
"It's night now and the shops in the commercial district are all closed. Tonight you'll stay at my place for now. Tomorrow morning, I'll take you to the commercial district."
Yuri suddenly understood and gave Mard a bright smile.
"So that's how it is!"
"Then thank you very much, uncle!"
Before long, the two arrived in front of an old house.
Although the house was old and dilapidated, it covered a large area and was a two-story building. It looked just like a wealthy person's villa.
"Uncle, this is your house?"
"It looks pretty big. Doesn't seem like a place poor people could afford!"
Yuri couldn't help but exclaim.
Mard explained, "This house used to belong to a rich person. But after Sika town's economic shift, the owner bought a new house in the east, so this place was naturally abandoned."
As he spoke, he pushed open the door, and a trace of gentle light shone out from inside.
"I'm back!"
As Mard stepped into the house, two voices came from inside.
"Dear, you're back?"
"Dad, welcome home!"
From the way they addressed him, the people inside should be Uncle Mard's wife and son, right?
Yuri followed behind Mard and walked in.
Warm, gentle candlelight greeted him.
In his view, the warm scene of a family of three at the entrance made Yuri pause slightly, his thoughts drifting.
In the future, would he and Rita be able to live like this too?
"Oh right, let me introduce you."
Mard turned to look at Yuri. "This is a friend I just met today, Yuri."
"Yuri, this is my wife Kyoka, and my son Zeref!"
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