In the short corridor leading to Porlyusica's room, Tike's thoughts ran wild like a runaway horse.
After returning to Earthland, hadn't he met a few too many girls along the way?
According to the manga he had read in the Kingdom of Machinery, could this situation be the unfolding of a "harem manga"?
But leaving aside Lucia and Blake for now, Tike didn't smell that kind of scent from Erza and the others towards him.
Even he himself only had ordinary good feelings for them, similar to Uncle Chill, not comparable to his feelings for Mom Ur, Big Sis Ultear, and Alice.
Furthermore—
(Whether human or dragon, anyone who produces that kind of scent towards me should be arrested.)
Tike shook his head, throwing those messy thoughts out of his mind. He looked at the closed door in front of him and swallowed.
"The door's unlocked, come in."
Before Tike could knock, a voice came from inside.
(The soundproofing of this door is too poor. No wonder Mom Ur and Uncle Chill specifically went somewhere else to discuss things. Wouldn't discussing anything here mean no secrets could be kept?)
Tike's thoughts strayed again, starting to think wildly.
He was really too nervous.
"I probably won't need an injection, right?"
"Don't be afraid. I'll sing for you then to relieve the tension."
Alice soothed Tike's emotions.
She knew he hated injections the most.
When he was in the Magic Development Bureau, for various experiments and research, he had been given countless injections, enough for a lifetime.
Seemingly seeing Tike delaying entering, the door creaked open from the inside.
A special scent rushed out, drilling into Tike's nasal cavity. He looked up at the pink-haired old woman standing at the door, his heart full of doubts.
(Not a scent of this world; instead, it's more like the scent only people from Edolas would have. And there's an inexplicable sense of familiarity... why?)
"Are you the Grandma Porlyusica... Mom Ur mentioned?" Tike asked tentatively.
"Come in." Porlyusica didn't answer Tike's question. She just glanced at him lightly, with a hint of impatience. "Don't stand at the door wasting time."
The room was filled with a mixture of various herbs and potions. Tike wrinkled his nose but still obediently followed Porlyusica's instructions, carrying Alice into the room.
Porlyusica gestured for Tike to sit on a chair. First, she carefully observed his complexion, eyes, and tongue. Then she listened to his heartbeat with a stethoscope, followed by gesturing over him with various weird instruments.
The entire examination process lasted about half an hour. Porlyusica remained silent throughout, her expression frighteningly serious.
"Done. There's nothing wrong with you; you're very healthy." Porlyusica straightened up, rubbed her glabella, and said in a cold tone, "Get out quickly. I don't welcome humans here. Don't bother me."
"But I'm not human." Tike blinked, looking at Porlyusica with an innocent face. "So, it's okay for me to stay here, right?"
Porlyusica froze for a moment, then frowned and said unkindly, "I don't care if you're human or not! Just get out quickly! I hate humans, and I hate brats like you!"
(Liar. You clearly don't hate me, you even... quite like me?)
Tike captured the true emotions hidden under Porlyusica's cold exterior. He didn't obey Porlyusica's order to leave but looked straight into her eyes.
"Grandma Porlyusica, are you from Edolas?"
Hearing Tike's question, a trace of surprise flashed in Porlyusica's eyes, but she quickly recovered her calm.
"How did you know? Who told you?"
Only a few of her contemporaries in the guild and the previous master knew about this. Ur, as a junior, didn't seem like someone who would inquire about such things, so it was unlikely Tike learned it from her.
Tike scratched his head and answered honestly, "I've been to that world and stayed there for a while. Your scent is very similar to the people there."
Porlyusica nodded slightly, not dwelling on the scent Tike mentioned.
"That's right, I am indeed from Edolas. Decades ago, I came to this world through an 'Anima'."
Saying this, she paused, seemingly lost in memory, her gaze becoming somewhat erratic.
"When you were in Edolas, did you hear of a person named Faust?"
Hearing this name, Tike's heart trembled slightly.
Faust, wasn't that the name of his father who had been dead for hundreds of years?
(No, she's referring to the him of Edolas.)
Thinking of this, Tike answered truthfully, "No, I didn't hear of any human by that name there."
A trace of disappointment flashed in Porlyusica's eyes, and she continued to ask, "Then do you know Grandine?"
Tike was even more surprised.
Although he knew she should be referring to a person from Edolas, he couldn't help but speak up:
"Grandine? That's the name my mother gave me. But I don't use that name anymore."
This time it was Porlyusica's turn to be surprised.
Her eyes widened, filled with disbelief, as if she had heard something incredible.
"What did you say? Grandine... is that your name?"
"It hasn't been for a long time," Tike emphasized in a low voice, then asked with full doubt, "Grandma Porlyusica, why do you know this name?"
Porlyusica just remained silent, looking at Tike with complex eyes. Suddenly, she reached out, pushed Tike out of the room, and slammed the door shut with a bang, isolating Tike outside.
(A bit of a heavy scent...)
Standing outside the door, Tike smelled the heavy and sad aura emanating from Porlyusica, making him feel an inexplicable depression.
(Also, her scent feels a little familiar, as if I've smelled it somewhere before...)
"Tike, dinner should be here!"
Alice's reminder brought Tike back to reality. He temporarily put down the doubts in his heart and turned to walk towards his room.
He wanted to see if the food in such a luxurious hotel was actually delicious!
Inside the room, Porlyusica leaned against the door, recalling those long-buried past events.
Grandine was the son of her elder brother, Faust.
Decades ago, before she had a fierce argument with Faust due to ideological differences and ultimately chose to come to Earthland alone through an "Anima," the five-year-old Grandine had been very clingy to her, always liking to follow behind her.
And Grandine's appearance was identical to Tike's.
This was the main reason why Porlyusica cared so much, even going so far as to break her secluded life of many years to come to Hargeon personally.
Even knowing he wasn't the same person as the little guy in her memory, she still wanted to see this child with her own eyes.
Of course, besides Grandine, there was another important reason why Porlyusica came here.
Her companion from the same period, one of the members of the previous generation of Fairy Tail, Rob, had been missing for a long time in order to investigate the movements of the black magic cult.
To make matters worse, before disappearing, Rob had already contracted Magic Deficiency Syndrome, which made Porlyusica even more worried about his safety.
So, she wanted to try her luck and see if she could find clues about Rob during this operation to rescue the people captured by the Tower of Heaven.