— — — — — —
Back in the Fairy Tail world, it was daytime. Everything looked calm and peaceful.
"I'm back. Haven't been to the guild in a while. Might as well drop by."
Kazuma looked at the familiar buildings around him. For the people here, only a few days had passed. For him, it had been months. After being gone that long, he actually missed this place a little.
He walked down the street and soon reached the Fairy Tail guild. Before he even opened the door, something felt off.
"Something's wrong. Why don't I hear the usual yelling?"
He lifted his leg and kicked the door open.
The next second, he was greeted by a room full of grim faces. The bang of the fallen door set everyone off, and they looked ready to kill someone.
"…What's with those expressions?" Kazuma asked. "Why do you all look like you're about to murder someone? I've only been gone a few days. What happened?"
Judging by their faces, something serious had clearly gone down.
When they realized it was Kazuma, everyone let out a breath of relief.
"Something did happen. Big trouble," Mirajane said quickly. "Erza was kidnapped. Happy was taken too. Natsu almost got killed, and Gray was injured."
She dumped everything on him in one breath, then looked at him anxiously.
"We don't know what to do anymore. You're back at the perfect time. Go bring Erza back."
'Erza was kidnapped… Tower of Heaven, huh,' Kazuma said, walking over to the bar and sitting down.
"Wait. Why were they attacked in the first place? Don't tell me it happened on our own turf."
As far as he remembered, in the original events Erza and the others were attacked during a trip to an amusement park, with the tickets coming from Leo.
But now Leo was busy being surrounded by his girlfriends. He shouldn't have had time for that.
"Leo originally booked a seaside trip to appease his girlfriends," Mira explained. "After he smoothed things over, he didn't need the tickets anymore. Not wanting to waste them, he gave them to Natsu and the others."
"And then Natsu and them…"
She was halfway through when Kazuma cut her off.
"Hold on. You just said Leo managed to calm his girlfriends down? It's only been a few days!"
"If I remember right, that guy has more than one girlfriend. How did he pull that off while juggling all of them?"
Kazuma was suddenly way more interested in this than the kidnapping.
"Did he choose one? Or what?"
"Neither," Mira said calmly. "He convinced all of them, and they agreed to take turns. One day per person."
"…Damn it," Kazuma muttered. "How did that idiot manage that? He's not even more handsome than me."
"..."
"Kazuma, that's not the important part!" Mira snapped.
"Yeah." A small fire salamander on the table suddenly spoke in Natsu's voice. "What matters is that Erza was taken! We have to rescue her, but the old man won't let me go. Hurry and convince him!"
"Is that Natsu?" Kazuma asked, staring at the creature trapped under a transparent cup.
"Yeah," Mira said with a sigh. "That idiot rushed off trying to rescue Erza on his own, so the master turned him into a lizard."
"Erza definitely needs rescuing," Kazuma said. "But no need to panic."
"Honestly, I'm more worried about Happy."
"He got taken too, right? What if they turn him into cat stew or something?"
"Happy!!!" Natsu shouted from inside the cup. "Let me out! I have to save Happy!"
He slammed himself against the cup, but in his current state it was useless. His body had turned into a lizard, his magic was sealed, and he didn't have the strength to break free.
"Kazuma, stop messing with Natsu," Mira said. "What are we supposed to do now?"
"Nothing," Kazuma replied casually. "You know Erza's strength better than I do."
"The fact that Natsu and the others made it back alive already tells us the enemy isn't that strong. Even if it was an ambush, if Erza didn't want to be captured, there's no way they could've pulled it off."
"She's an S-Class mage of Fairy Tail. If she were that fragile, she would've died on a mission long ago."
He picked up a cup, then noticed Mirajane wasn't pouring him a drink at all. With a sigh, he went to pour one himself.
"That's because I was taken hostage," Lucy suddenly spoke up. "They threatened me, so Erza couldn't fight back."
"Come on," Kazuma said, unimpressed. "Lucy, you don't understand how valuable an S-Class mage is."
"With the people there, I could've killed them all before they even realized what was happening."
"Take Mystogan as the simplest example. When he doesn't want to be seen, everyone in the guild falls asleep."
"Even Natsu and the others aren't exceptions. That's what an S-Class mage is. Anyone too weak gets wiped out instantly."
He poured himself some juice, took a couple of sips, then realized there were no kids around.
…He could've just poured alcohol.
"Mira…" Lucy said uncertainly, turning to her.
"Kazuma is right," Mirajane nodded.
Based on her own strength back then, she knew she would never have been captured under those circumstances.
Erza, her former rival, wouldn't have been defeated that easily either. If she was taken away, then maybe it really was because Erza chose to go along with it.
"Gray…" Lucy turned to him next.
Gray stayed silent. He agreed with Mirajane. With Erza's strength and combat experience, a simple sneak attack shouldn't have worked. On top of that, those people clearly knew Erza. This might really have been Erza's own decision.
"So… we're just not going to do anything?" Lucy asked, looking around.
Everyone else understood Erza better than she did, and Lucy had heard the attackers talking about former companions and betrayal. That might have been why Erza went with them.
Still, Lucy couldn't just ignore it.
From her perspective, Erza had been taken because she was trying to save her.
"Of course we're doing something," Kazuma said. "But there's an order to it. Step by step. Handle the root before the branches."
"I've already sent my shadow soldiers to look for Erza. And yeah, they've found her. She's in the middle of wrecking the place."
While he was talking, Kazuma had already dispatched his shadow soldiers. Ever since his magic power increased, they could reach much farther than before. There was no longer any real limit on how many he could send out either. Thousands, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands were possible.
After all, regenerating one-tenth of his energy every second was no joke.
"…What?"
Everyone in the guild stared at him in disbelief.
They were still panicking, and he had already handled it?
That efficiency was absurd.
.
.
.