Everyone looked at the map Levy was pointing to.
Mount Hakobe weren't far from Magnolia; in fact, they were quite close—much closer than Hargeon.
Many Forest Vulcans lived there, and these Forest Vulcans fed on Giant Strawberries.
It seemed the Forest Vulcans found in the eastern forest had originally migrated from there.
Raizel hadn't been to these mountains before, but he knew of the town next to them.
It was Duke Everlue's territory, the same place where Natsu and Lucy went for their first job.
Levy flipped to the relevant page in the materials she had researched and placed it on the table.
The page included a picture of a Golden Strawberry.
"According to this book, there's a place in Mount Hakobe that produces abundant Giant Strawberries. Underneath the Giant Strawberries, in their shadow, grows a rare variant. The Golden Strawberry. It needs the shade of the giant ones to thrive and develop its unique sweetness."
"I'll go. Ultear, Cana, come with me." Raizel looked at the picture and quickly made a decision, glancing at Ultear and Cana in turn.
"Me?" Cana pointed at herself with her index finger, surprised to be called upon.
"Yes, I need your magic. I want to try something." Raizel indeed had some ideas that required Cana and Ultear's assistance.
"Alright." Cana was momentarily puzzled by what Raizel meant by 'trying something,' but she didn't plan to refuse.
"Then I'll continue researching the cake ingredients." Levy nodded, not minding that Raizel was taking away those who could help her with the research.
"We'll go prepare the items for making the cake first." Mira left first, taking Kagura and Lisanna with her.
Raizel brought Ultear and Cana outside the Guild and set up a Teleportation Magic Circle, preparing to teleport directly to Mount Hakobe.
"Stand steady, Cana." Raizel remembered that this was probably the first time he was using Teleportation Magic in front of Cana and reminded her.
Ultear didn't say anything, simply linking arms with Cana.
...
Somewhere in the Mount Hakobe—
In the blink of an eye, the warm air of the town was replaced by the crisp, cold breeze of the mountains. Snow-capped peaks loomed in the distance.
"Whoa..." Cana stumbled, clutching her stomach. "That was... fast."
She looked around in astonishment. "We're really here? Just like that? Isn't this too easy?"
"It's efficient," Raizel smiled. "Actually, there's Teleportation Magic available in the guild's archive. If you want, you could learn it."
Raizel had seen the guild's version.
It was inferior to the Instant Transmission that August had taught him—more like a short-range "Blink" or "Flash Step"—but it was still useful.
"It consumes a lot of Magic Power though," Raizel added. "But you have the reserves for it. You are Gildarts' daughter, after all."
"Pass," Cana shook her head firmly. "I'd rather focus on my Card Magic. I don't have the brainpower to memorize complex spatial coordinates."
She wasn't being lazy; she just knew her strengths. She preferred versatility over specialized movement.
"Suit yourself," Raizel shrugged. "The library is always open for you."
"Can we focus?" Ultear interrupted, crossing her arms.
She shot Raizel an annoyed look. "The strawberries, Raizel. Focus on the strawberries. My stomach is growling."
"Right. Prioritize the damn cake." Raizel closed his eyes and began scanning the entire mountain range using Archieve Magic.
Raizel soon located it—a vast hilly area within the Mount Hakobe.
From an aerial view, it would appear as a magnificent tapestry of green and red.
Additionally, Raizel discovered numerous Forest Vulcans currently enjoying their meal, sitting on the ground and happily munching on Giant Strawberries.
"Let's go, I found it." Raizel pointed toward the hilly area.
For short-distance teleportation, there was no need to construct a magic circle.
The three of them instantly appeared behind the Forest Vulcans.
"We're here."
Even without Raizel's reminder, Ultear and Cana could see it—an endless field of Giant Strawberries stretching before their eyes, along with the Forest Vulcans eating strawberries right in front of them.
Cana and Ultear subdued the group of Forest Vulcans using force, but didn't exterminate them, merely sealing their movement temporarily.
Cana threw various cards around as if they cost no Magic Power—first burning them with fire, then dousing them with water, and even scalding them with hot water, and followed by freezing them with ice.
Had the Forest Vulcans not been so resilient, they would have been finished right then and there.
"Alright, what was this experiment you mentioned?" Cana hadn't forgotten what Raizel said earlier and eagerly asked the question.
Raizel raised a finger and explained methodically: "First, let's find the Golden Strawberries. Then Ultear can use Arc of Time to see if she can cultivate Golden Strawberries from their seeds. If it works, we can grow them ourselves in the future!"
"What about me? How does this involve me?" Cana quite agreed with Raizel's idea, but this had nothing to do with her!
"Your task is to seal suitable planting soil in your cards and bring it back."
With such a vast area here, taking some soil won't make a difference.
"Great idea!" Cana snapped her fingers excitedly.
The three of them had the Forest Vulcans help with the search and quickly find about a dozen Golden Strawberries.
Additionally, the trio picked some Giant Strawberries since they tasted quite good too.
Ultear buried the Golden Strawberry seeds in the soil and activated her Arc of Time, while Cana used her cards to produce some water.
The strawberry seeds went through germination, leaf growth, flowering, and finally fruiting.
Raizel tasted two strawberries for comparison and quickly reached a conclusion.
"The original Golden Strawberries taste better. Perhaps naturally grown ones are more delicious, or maybe it's due to lack of fertilizer and sunlight. We can try growing them ourselves later."
After some thought, Ultear commented it.
"It seems they can actually grow without the shade of Giant Strawberries. It's just coincidental that these Golden Strawberries happened to grow among the Giant Strawberries."
Because she had simply planted them in a random patch of empty soil earlier.
"Cana, use your sealing magic to bring back some soil."
Seeing this, Raizel urged Cana to get to work immediately.
Cana promptly used her cards to seal some soil.
"Ultear, did you throw away the flower pots from when you bought flowers earlier?" Raizel didn't know much about growing strawberries, but felt that mixing soils might affect strawberry quality, so it would be best to use only the local soil.
"No, they're still in the storage room of the girls' dormitory." Ultear and the others had bought some flowers later, and the girls' dorm storage had nothing else but plenty of flower pots.
"We can use those pots for planting later, maybe try growing them in my yard first." Raizel's old flower pots hadn't been thrown away either, still piled up in the storage room.
"Alright, you can continue eating your strawberries now," Raizel said, looking at the group of trembling Forest Vulcans.
After speaking, he left with Ultear and Cana.
The Forest Vulcans breathed a sigh of relief—the feeling of being thoroughly beaten up earlier hadn't been pleasant at all!