The Deliora incident had come to an end.
Under Hope's guidance, Lucy and Natsu returned to the mountain peak and successfully erased the modified Drops of Moonlight Magic Circle.
From now on, the purple moonlight that scrambled memories would never appear on this island again, and the memories of those demon villagers should have been restored at the same time.
After a short rest, everyone began to head back to the demon village, though Hope once again walked at the very back of the group.
No one noticed that for a fleeting moment, Hope's right arm transformed into a hideous demonic limb, only to return to its original state in the next instant.
Feeling the surge of power from that brief moment, the corners of Hope's mouth couldn't help but curl into a slight smile.
While the others were resting earlier, he had quietly used "Take Over" magic to easily claim the "Deliolas Soul" without anyone noticing.
Deliora possessed a powerful constitution and the "Demon Curse: Unyielding Body," which granted immense self-recovery capabilities. It was because of this curse that Deliora eventually earned the title of "The Immortal."
Now, this power belonged to him.
Hope was excited. Just by briefly taking over a portion of the "Deliolas Soul's" power, the fatigue caused by overloading his magic power had significantly lessened.
What Hope didn't know, however, was that when he took over the demon soul, a cold power had also quietly and actively seeped in.
When the group returned to the demon village, they found the men in black robes there as well. They had proactively confessed everything to the demon villagers, and the kind-hearted villagers did not blame them.
This scene of humans and demons living in harmony surprisingly didn't feel out of place at all.
Perhaps it was because the ancestors of the demon villagers were human.
Erza shared the information she had gathered from the Temple of the Moon with the village chief, and the villagers finally understood why they had never been able to approach the temple.
Fortunately, Hope had moved the priest's remains and buried them in a site with excellent feng shui not far from the temple, allowing the demon villagers to pay their respects to their ancestors' savior in the future.
The "Curse of Karna Island" was broken.
The request mission was successfully completed.
The village chief immediately fulfilled the promised reward, handing over 7 million Jewels and the "gold celestial spirit key: Sagittarius" to Natsu.
Having completed an S-Class mission for the first time in his life, Natsu was overjoyed, spinning around in circles with Happy.
The 7 million Jewel reward was split equally among Hope, Erza, Natsu, Lucy, and Gray, with each receiving 1.4 million Jewels.
For Lucy, who had run away from home, 1.4 million Jewels was a fortune, enough to cover several months of rent. Naturally, the Gold Key of Sagittarius also went to her.
The Gold Keys correspond to the Zodiac Spirits; each one is unique in the world and would be difficult to buy on the market even for an exorbitant price.
Despite being only 17, Lucy now held four Gold Keys: Aquarius, Cancer, Taurus, and Sagittarius. One could say her future looked very promising.
Hope remembered that in the original plot, Lucy seemed to continuously acquire gold celestial spirit keys. This was likely the luck of being the female lead.
At the village chief's warm invitation, everyone enjoyed a simple yet heartfelt celebration banquet.
During the banquet, there was more good news: the people whom the Memory-scrambled villagers thought they had "killed" as demons had all returned. Among them was the boatman who had brought Natsu's team to Karna Island, who was also the village chief's son.
This made everyone even happier, so much so that the banquet lasted until late at night.
The next day, on the shores of Karna Island.
"Lyon, are you sure you won't join our guild?"
Gray extended the invitation to Lyon once again, and Lyon refused once more. Fairy Tail was indeed great, but it wasn't the place he desired.
Lyon now only wanted to lead the victims of Deliora back to their homes; only then would he pursue his own path.
Amidst the laughter and cheers of the villagers, the Fairy Tail group bid farewell to Karna Island on Erza's boat.
The morning sun rose from the horizon, casting golden rays over Karna Island and bringing new Hope to the once-cursed land.
Gray looked back at the receding island and whispered, "Goodbye, Ur."
...By the time they returned to Magnolia via the magic train from Harujion, it was already afternoon.
The familiar clamor of the Fairy Tail guild could be heard from a street away.
"We're back!"
Natsu kicked open the front doors and rushed inside impatiently.
Hope used his hand to stop the guild doors from vibrating after the heavy impact. Ever since coming to Fairy Tail, he had witnessed far too much furniture being destroyed by these "god-like" individuals.
Only these two doors, kicked open violently every single day, had held out until now.
It made Hope want to take the doors off their hinges sometimes just to study them.
Natsu strode to the center of the hall, holding up the request form signed by the client, and shouted with great bravado, "Listen up, everyone! We've completed an S-Class mission!"
The guild went silent for a split second, followed by an even louder explosion of noise.
"What? An S-Class mission?"
"That kid Natsu? No way!"
"Oh, Erza was there too. Then it's not surprising..."
"..."
Hearing his comrades' comments, Natsu jumped onto a table in dissatisfaction and yelled, "Hey! What kind of reaction is that? This mission was completed by me, Lucy, Happy, Hope, and Gray together! Erza didn't even lift a finger the whole time, okay?"
Gray crossed his arms and snorted, "Show-off flame-brain. You're acting like you did all the work."
"What did you say, ice-bastard!?"
Seeing that the two were about to start brawling again, Erza shot them a look. Natsu and Gray instantly froze and stood obediently.
Mirajane walked over with a smile. "Welcome back, everyone. It seems the mission went smoothly."
Erza nodded and then asked, "Mira, is the Master in?"
"Oh, the Master is on the third floor dealing with complaint letters."
Erza turned to look at Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Happy. "The four of you, come with me to see the Master."
Lucy's face was full of guilt. After all, she, Natsu, and Happy had taken an S-Class mission without permission, and according to guild rules, they could be expelled.
Watching them climb the stairs, Hope sat down at the counter and curiously asked Mirajane, "Will Natsu and the others really be expelled from the guild?"
Mirajane replied with a beaming smile, "Why do you think the Master later sent Erza to find them?"
"Wasn't it because Gray failed to bring them back..."
Hope paused, suddenly understanding. "I see. With Erza, an S-Class Mage, involved in this S-Class mission, the matter can be downplayed."
Mirajane sat next to Hope, propping her face up with her hand on the counter. With a mischievous grin, she said, "Granny Polyushka sent a message this morning saying that if a certain someone doesn't deliver the moonlight flowers by this afternoon..."
Hope was startled. He finally remembered Polyushka's request. Quickly grabbing his luggage bag, he rushed toward the East Forest outside the city in a frantic hurry.
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