Magma Dragon King Chapter 59 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Magma Dragon King! The Quests continue and things at Fairy Tail continue as normal for a while. But as time passes, other things change. Relationships grow closer and deeper; love is in the cooling autumn air. However, the Fairy Tail Guild seems to be getting busier. There’s a growing buzz in the air as most of the members try to go on as many solo Quests as possible.

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 59 – Growing Love and Job Frenzy

Lucy and Levy had decided to go on a Quest together that was right up both of their alleys. What was described as a fairly simple ‘search and recover’ Quest to find a lost stash of centuries-old books and scrolls that were rumored to be within the long abandoned town of Sylvatica. It was an old settlement that had been lost in a war centuries ago, but the stories of the group of scholarly mages that had lived there had persisted throughout the ages. Including their vast collection of magical tomes and scrolls that supposedly detailed various Magics considered ‘Lost’ in the modern era.

“You’d think the entire place would’ve been searched by now though.” Lucy said to Levy after having read over the Quest paper again.

Levy ducked under a low-hanging branch and then looked over her shoulder at Lucy. “A lot of mages probably can’t even get to the ruins, given the natural magic that flows through this forest that confuses the senses.”

It was true, the forest that had grown up and consumed the ruins of Sylvatica was naturally magical and seemed to have turned that magic into a disorientating field where people could wander the forest for hours while thinking that they were walking in a straight line. Even things like compasses didn’t work in the forest, making traditional exploration impossible.

But Lucy had a solution for that, which was another reason that she and Levy had teamed up for this Quest.

“Are we still heading northwest, Pyxis?” Lucy smiled at her Silver Key Spirit: Pyxis, the Compass.

Pyxis was a large bird-like Celestial Spirit with red and white feathers, large eyes with small pupils, and a black compass atop its head. It was also a little goofy as it excitedly pointed the way for Lucy and Levy as it walked along through the magical forest with them.

“PY!” Pyxis crowed and pointed both of its wings to the front, but slightly to the right, indicating the exact direction of northwest. No magic could prevent Pyxis from correctly discerning any requested direction, such was the Celestial Spirit’s power.

Levy smiled thankfully at the Celestial Spirit. “Thank you, Pyxis. We we’re getting off-course again.” She changed direction slightly to where Pyxis had pointed as the three of them continued on their way.

“Py!” Pyxis hopped up and down happily at the praise, the simple Spirit just enjoyed being helpful.

The trip took the three of them deeper and deeper into the forest, making them cross over small rivers and even climb a steep cliff. None of which was a problem with Levy’s Solid Script Magic creating a ‘bridge’ and even ‘stairs’ to easily handle the natural obstacles. It was well into the afternoon when Pyxis emerged from the forest, having taken the lead as his sense of direction couldn’t be fooled, with Levy and Lucy right behind him.

“Ugh…” Lucy lightly rubbed her temples. “I see what you meant about most people not being able to find this place. The disorientation only gets worse the deeper you go into the forest.”

“Yeah, it does.” Levy rested her hands on her knees as the last of the natural magic slowly stopped messing with her sense of direction and balance. The strength of the effect had grown so strong that it had nearly made both young women queasy.

Pyxis pointed across the open grassy area that separated the edge of the forest from the place that Lucy had needed it to navigate to. “Py! Py!”

Lucy and Levy both looked at the ruins of the old town, seeing stone walls and rubble everywhere. Some buildings were still sort of standing…having at least parts of their roofs remaining and only showing the wear and tear of the passage of time. The rubble of the town, however, showed the damage of fire and weapons of various types. Enough of the old town remained to still be searched, but what had once been a settlement housing close to three-thousand people was now reduced to only enough standing buildings to house maybe a hundred people total. If the damage and degradation wasn’t taken into account, of course.

“Thank you, Pyxis.” Lucy smiled and patted the bird-like Spirit’s head affectionately. “You can go home and relax. I’ll call you again when we need to head back through the forest.”

“Py!” Pyxis gave its best ‘salute’ with its wings before vanishing in golden sparkles back to the Celestial Spirit World.

Levy smiled at Lucy as she started to walk towards the ruins of Sylvatica. “Ready to start searching, Lucy?”

“Right behind you, Levy!” Lucy laughed as they walked through the high grass and overgrown brush surrounding the ruins and even growing throughout the old dilapidated buildings.

The two searched the still standing buildings for hours, looking for any trace of the supposed collection of knowledge left behind. But when nothing was found, magical or otherwise, both young women decided to set up a simple camp behind one of the still standing buildings and use it as shelter for the night.

“Well, I can see why no one has ever found this lost collection of knowledge now.” Levy said as she ate some simple soup that they’d brought with them. “We’ve searched all the buildings, but even with magic, we haven’t found anything at all.”

Lucy swallowed her mouthful of soup as she contemplated their lack of progress. “Hmm…” She looked up towards the stars above, the moon hanging in the sky looked particularly nice tonight. “Is it possible the things we’re looking for were destroyed back then?” She briefly motioned towards the ruins around them with her spoon.

Levy nodded a little, also looking around the ruined old town. “It’s possible, of course. But I hope it’s not.” She had a fond smile on her face as she thought about the collection of old knowledge that they were here to find. “I’d love to have a chance to save that lost knowledge.” Levy looked at Lucy with a giggle. “I wouldn’t mind reading some of it either.”

“Same here.” Lucy laughed as the two finished off their simple dinner as the campfire continued to provide warmth and light. “So…” She got a teasing little grin on her lips. “You and Gajeel seem to be getting pretty close…”

“Wh-What?” Levy’s cheeks went pink at Lucy’s words. “I-I-I…” She shook her head side to side, sending her semi-short blue hair swaying around. “There’s nothing wrong with what we’re doing.” Levy said, her resolve and her feelings coming out strongly as she looked at Lucy.

Lucy smiled at Levy. “I never said that.” Levy’s cheeks went from pink to red as she saw her friend’s smile widen. “Good dragon taming, Levy~”

“Lucy!” Levy cried out, steam practically rising from the top of her head. “No…” She covered her red cheeks with her hands.

“I’m just teasing, Levy.” Lucy apologized with a smile. “You two are pretty cute together.”

Levy pouted at Lucy for a moment before accepting her compliment. “Thank you. Gajeel is surprisingly warm and affectionate…after you get through the iron wall he puts around himself.” A soft smile crossed her lips as she thought about her deepening relationship with Gajeel.

Lucy couldn’t help but smile at the look on Levy’s face. She saw it often from Erza, Mira, Lisanna, Cana, and Juvia when they looked at Natsu, or her, and each other, of course. ‘And when I look in the mirror.’ Lucy thought to herself as she recalled her reflection whenever Natsu or one of her dragon sisters was reflected in the glass with her.

“Hey… Lucy?” Levy asked softly, breaking Lucy from her thoughts. “Can you tell me… What’s it like to become a Dragon Slayer?”

“Well…” Lucy thought about how to word her answer, and if Levy was looking for specific information. “The Dragon Soul Ritual takes some time, but it’s really nice since you get to spend hours and hours each day snuggled up with the one you love as they share Dragon Magic with you. It’s a deep and…primal, is the best word that I can describe it with, experience. You feel like you see…or experience, the most ancient form of magic…” She trailed off as her cheeks turned a little pink as she recalled the feeling of the ritual completing.

Levy tilted her head slightly as Lucy trailed off. “Lucy?”

Lucy blinked and shook her head once. “It…feels really good when the ritual is complete.” She admitted, her warm brown eyes filled with remembered pleasure that made Levy squeak cutely.

“I…I see…” Levy said as she gently wrapped her arms around herself. “I don’t know if Gajeel and I are close enough for that yet… But I wanted to know what it was like from you, since we’re friends.” She gave Lucy a thankful smile.

“If you two get to that point, then you won’t regret going through the Dragon Soul Ritual.” Lucy assured Levy with a soft smile for one of her closest friends. “Being a Dragon Slayer is empowering…well…except for the motion sickness.” She sighed heavily, even just recalling the nausea she got on vehicles now made her grimace.

Levy couldn’t hold in her giggles at Lucy’s expression. “I’m not looking forward to that, if I become a Dragon Slayer.”

The two settled down after a shared bout of laughter and began to discuss where they’d search for the stash of knowledge starting tomorrow morning. When the night started to get late, the fire was put out and Lucy invited Levy to share her bedroll. Without hesitation, Levy slipped inside and the two friends relaxed and enjoyed each other’s warmth as they drifted off to sleep inside the old stone building.

-Boundary Forest ~ Same Time-

CLANG

“Guh!” Panther Lily hit the ground again, just as he’d done an uncountable number of times over the last few hours as he and Gajeel fought.

But this time, the Exceed warrior knew he wasn’t going to be able to get back up.

“Gehee!” Gajeel smirked as he morphed his hands into horseshoe-shaped implements with sharp ends. With a few quick movements, Gajeel had pinned Lily’s neck, arms, waist, and legs to the ground with the curved iron. “I win! Now you have to be my cat!”

Panther Lily struggled against the bonds, even as his entire body wanted to quit. He was exhausted, everything hurt, and had it not been for Gajeel using mostly blunt weapons, he’d probably have collapsed from blood loss hours ago. But as it stood, he only had a few cuts that had wept some blood before stopping. “You held back…”

Gajeel smirked down at Panther Lily. “I didn’t want to kill you. I just want you to be my cat.” Seeing Lily relax, Gajeel’s smirk became a small smile. “You’re strong. Way stronger than Wendy or Salamander’s cats! I want to show them that my cat is the best!”

“What’re their names?” Panther Lily felt he had to ask at this point. “Your friends’ Exceeds.”

“Happy and Carla.” Gajeel answered with a shrug, not seeing it as that important.

Panther Lily looked thoughtful for a moment, as if he was running the names through his memory. “Did your friends happen to hatch the eggs of those two Exceed?”

Gajeel tilted his head to the side, wondering why Lily was so curious. “Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard.” He had Levy to thank for that bit of knowledge. “Why?”

“I’d like to bring them to Extalia, if I could.” Panther Lily said, looking up at the night sky through the new gap in the trees that their hours long fight had made. “All of Extalia owes them an apology…”

“Find by me.” Gajeel flexed his magic and the iron bonds pinning Lily to the ground fell apart into iron sand. “You can try and convince them to come with you once we get back to Fairy Tail.”

Panther Lily shrank back down to his smaller form with a long sigh. “I have to tell the others in Extalia where I’m going first. I can’t just disappear. I have responsibilities…and a duty as a protector of Extalia.”

Gajeel grumbled under his breath a little at that. “Sure, sure… I have to find these magical crystals for the Quest I took anyway.” He said as he pulled the rolled-up Quest paper from his pocket and looked it over again. “You know where these are?” He flipped the paper around to show the smaller Lily.

“Hmm…” Panther Lily read over the Quest paper and looked at the pictures of the various crystals. “Indeed. Most of these can be found around Extalia’s perimeter. I’ll guide you there, but I must insist that you do nothing to provoke my people. Things have only just settled down in the last couple of years since we were…rather forcibly…settled in this land.”

“Sure.” Gajeel agreed easily, knowing that most of these Exceed probably wouldn’t be able to hurt him, even if they tried. “How long will it take to get to this Extalia place?”

Panther Lily pointed towards a specific direction. “A day or so of walking.”

Gajeel looked at where Lily was pointing and then back at the Exceed. “And by flying?”

“You can fly?” Panther Lily looked skeptical.

“No. But you can.” Gajeel said with a smirk.

Panther Lily sighed, but there was a smirk similar to Gajeel’s on his face. “True. But if you want me to fly you there, we should make camp for the night so that I can rest.”

“Deal.” Gajeel agreed and the two began to make a simple camp and had a fire started in short order as Gajeel got prepared food from his backpack. Pulling out a fairly large piece of iron that was literally the word ‘iron’ with a heart-shape through the ‘o’ instead of a circle, the Iron Dragon Slayer grinned and opened his mouth, his sharp fangs crunching through the metal that Levy had made for him with her Solid Script magic.

“Ow…” Panther Lily held his jaw in phantom pain as he watched Gajeel happily munch on solid iron.

-Fiore Central Grasslands ~ Morning-

Happy snored from atop a lone tree among the grasslands. He was a safe distance away from the rock outcropping covered in trees that Erza and Mira had made yesterday when their instincts had gotten riled up after the battle with the drake. The sunlight hitting his face made the Exceed roll over, using his green pack as a pillow. “Nyaaaa~ Carla…the fish is good…” He mumbled out, dreaming about his crush feeding him fish.

Rmmmble

A section of the earth and stone wall lowered back into the ground, leaving an entry/exit point in the large outcropping.

“Mmmm~” Lisanna strolled out before raising her arms over her head and stretching her body in bliss, smiling as the morning sunlight touched her skin. “That was amazing…” She said with a light moan.

Mira came out next with a yawn, also stretching her arms above her head. “It was great.” She grinned at her little sister. “You certainly look like you just got thoroughly fucked.” She teased, lightly motioning to her little sister’s disheveled hair and wrinkled clothes.

Lisanna looked Mira up and down. “Look who’s talking.” She grinned since Mira’s long white hair was messy and wild, and there were visible love bites along her neck and collarbone. Not that Lisanna didn’t have more than a few love bites of her own.

“I know~” Mira smirked, proudly showing off the marks she’d gotten from Erza and Natsu during their instinct-driven sexual marathon.

Erza and Natsu left the outcropping with satisfied looks on their faces a moment later. Natsu had more love bites on his neck and collarbone than any of his Mates. All three of them had been encouraged by their dragon instincts to ‘mark their claim’ on Natsu again.

“We could all use a shower and a change of clothes.” Erza mentioned as she ran her fingers through her long, scarlet hair. Her own neck was peppered with love bites; the largest one having been made by Mira when the two had gotten especially frisky with each other. “Mmmnn~” She stretched as well, feeling her body’s relaxed muscles tighten and then loosen again with a pleasant little tingle. “Where’s Happy?”

Natsu yawned a bit, even his stamina was put to the test when he had to satisfy multiple of his Mates all at once. ‘Dragon instincts really intensify things.’ He thought to himself with a little grin as he breathed in deeply to find Happy’s scent.

“Over there.” Lisanna and Natsu said at the same time, both pointing to the lone tree almost a hundred meters away from the outcropping that they’d made yesterday.

Like every other tree on the outcropping, as well as the grass around the area, the tree that Happy was sleeping in had noticeably gotten taller and wider, and flowers had bloomed in the autumn, FAR out of season, because of Mira’s Dragon Slayer magic. The grass below their feet was no longer ‘below’ as it now reached almost up to their knees from accelerated growth.

“Someone lost control of themselves.” Erza teased with a little smirk on her lips as she looked at Mira.

“And?” Mira shot Erza a challenging look.

Erza leaned in with a little growl. “I’ll have to remember to use my tongue like that for next time~”

Mira growled back, her body lightly shivering in remembered ecstasy. “You better.”

The two shared a quick, soft kiss while Lisanna and Natsu moved over to wake up Happy.

“Happy… Happy…” Lisanna cooed to Happy softly.

“Mmm?” Happy let out a little groan as he slowly opened his eyes. “Are you guys finally done?” He asked as he rubbed his eyes, cleaning them of sleep.

Lisanna blushed adorably at Happy’s words. It wasn’t like she’d PLANNED on getting so riled up that she practically jumped Natsu, dragging Erza and Mira into it as well. “Y-Yeah…” She looked away and lightly coughed into her fist.

Natsu picked Happy up from the tree and set him on his shoulder. “Sorry we kept you waiting, buddy.”

Happy waved it off, briefly motioning to the half a dozen fish skeletons lying on the tall grass. “I had plenty of fish, so I was fine.” He briefly looked Natsu over and his whiskers and fur seemed to twitch a little. “You’re stronger again.” He looked at Lisanna for a moment before nodding again. “You too, Lisanna.”

Lisanna giggled as she raised her arms and flexed her biceps playfully. “You think so?” The light flex of her magical power did, however, hint at the growth of her reserves from a successful dragon(kin) hunt.

“Uh huh.” Happy nodded, briefly looking over Mira and Erza as they joined the three of them. “All of you are a bit stronger now.”

“That’s to be expected, right?” Mira shrugged at Happy’s words, even if they did make her happy.

A very interesting trait of Dragon Slayer magic was the increase in power that a Dragon Slayer could gain after successfully slaying a dragon (or dragonkin) and being covered in the fresh blood of the creature. That empowerment could be further increased by consuming the meat of the same creature as there was significant magical power in the blood, flesh, and even the bones of dragons and dragonkin alike. While the hunts of dangerous dragonkin that the Dragon Slayers of Fairy Tail had done over the years as Quests had led to an increase in power, because dragonkin were far weaker than actual dragons, the overall increase in their power was dwarfed by the power they gained from training and practice in that same time. But instinct always drove them to ‘bathe’ in the blood of a successful kill when possible, and they rarely left a kill behind to rot, instead butchering the meat to eat and fill their bellies, along with the further boost to their overall magical power.

“Did you collect the skull, Erza?” Natsu asked with a smile. They’d need proof that they completed the Quest, after all. Each of them had eaten their fill of drake meat (cooked by his and Lisanna’s flames) over the course of the last several hours, so their bellies were full as well.

Erza nodded once. “I’ve stored it away, along with the remaining meat and carcass.” Erza held up a card, one of Cana’s magic cards, and showed the picture on it to be of the skull and carcass of the slain drake. It was able to be used to ‘take in’ once and then to ‘let out’ once without Cana being their to cast the magic herself. It had been a ‘just in case’ measure since they were going out on a Quest to potentially hunt a drake. The forethought had paid off this time around, and now the Dragon’s Den would get meat to add to their larder, and would be able to sell the drake’s bones, hide, and scales for extra money on top of the reward for the Quest itself.

“Ready to go, Happy?” Mira asked with a grin.

“Aye!” Happy leapt off Natsu’s shoulder and his Aera wings appeared as he flapped them once to make distance before he glowed golden and grew to a massive size. “All aboard!”

Lisanna looked over at the tree-covered rock outcropping that they were leaving behind. “Should we remove that?”

Natsu waved it off. “Nah, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“The nomads of the grasslands can use it as a location marker from now on.” Mira agreed with Natsu as she leaned into his side with a smile.

“If they don’t want it there, then any Earth Mage can remove it easily enough.” Erza said with a nod as Happy gained altitude. “It’s better than leaving the giant crater behind.”

Happy’s giant Aera wings glowed slightly. “Aye, sir!” He laughed before zooming away through the sky, heading back towards the client’s residence to complete the Quest.

-Sylvatica ~ Same Time-

Lucy and Levy had been searching for any clues of the collection of knowledge that was said to reside in the long abandoned village. Going over the mostly destroyed buildings hadn’t yielded anything though, and now they were running out of places to look.

“Maybe we’re missing something?” Lucy suggested as she and Levy kept looking through the rubble of an ancient, collapsed building.

“I’m thinking the same thing.” Levy admitted as she tried to find any hint of magic hiding something or a hidden panel, floorboard, or some other thing that would reveal a hidden location. “But where would scholarly mages hide their archives if they were worried their town was going to be dragged into a war?”

The two left the mostly destroyed building and looked out over the overgrown rubble that was the rest of the ancient village. It would be like moving a mountain to try and move everything and search for any hidden areas buried underneath.

“Wait! I have an idea!” Lucy exclaimed as a thought came to her. She took out one of her Golden Keys and held it up. “Open! Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!” The Golden Key glowed brightly before the pink-haired Celestial Spirit in a maid outfit appeared, her black shoes lightly tapping on the ground as she landed and then turned to Lucy with a proper curtsy.

“Princess, how may I assist you?” Virgo asks with a small little smile.

Levy’s eyes lit up in understanding. “Right! Virgo can check underground for us!”

Lucy gave Levy a thumbs up. “Can you help us out, Virgo? We’re looking for any hidden rooms or space underground in this ancient town.” She motioned towards the destroyed Sylvatica.

“Of course,” Virgo says as she gives Lucy a short bow. “I shall return shortly, Princess.” In a brief cloud of dirt and dust, a hole in the ground is the only sign that Virgo had been there.

“That’s fast…” Levy blinked at how quickly Virgo had disappeared with her Earth Magic.

Lucy giggled as she gave Levy a grin. “I summoned her with a bit of extra power this time!”

It was only about half an hour later when Virgo nearly shot up out of the previous hole and then daintily landed upon the ground again. She gave Lucy a curtsy before standing up straight. “Princess, I’ve found a small room below the foundation of what seems to have been a rather large building at one time. Looking into it, the room appears to be a library or archive of some type.”

Levy beamed, her eyes sparkling as she nearly hugged Virgo. “That’s it! That’s what we’re looking for!”

“You’re the best, Virgo!” Lucy DID hug her Celestial Spirit friend with a bright smile.

“Is it time for punishment?” Virgo asked, her blue eyes sparkling slightly as she looked at Lucy.

Lucy and Levy both looked at Virgo in confusion.

“Why would I punish you for doing a good job?” Lucy asks softly, wanting to understand Virgo’s request.

Virgo shifted her hips side to side and her shackled wrists moved upwards as she clasped her hands together in the classic ‘begging’ pose. “I enjoy some punishment as a reward, Princess.”

“Oh…” Levy’s realization made her cheeks turn pink.

Lucy also blushed slightly at Virgo’s request now. “Um… Well…” She wasn’t’ really into ‘that’ kind of thing, herself. But if it was what Virgo wanted, she could try something small, maybe. “H-How about this?” She raised her hand and extended her fingers, while keeping her index finger tucked in with her thumb.

Wap

Virgo’s blue eyes widened at the stinging pain on her forehead from where Lucy had just given her a hard flick. The light stinging sensation sent a little thrill through the Celestial Spirit’s body and she let out a soft little gasp of happiness. “Thank you, Princess!” Virgo beamed at Lucy before vanishing in golden motes of light.

Levy coughed into her hand after a moment. “She’s…uh…into ‘that’ kind of stuff, huh?”

“I…guess so?” Lucy said after a few seconds to process what she’d just done to reward Virgo.

The two friends look at each other before silently agreeing not to discuss this further. Lucy climbed down into the hole first, using her Celestial Dragon Slayer magic to create light for her and Levy to see by as they make their way through the long tunnel towards the hidden underground room that Virgo found. It took several minutes before they found the end of the tunnel and as they emerged into the room, it was indeed a small archive, filled with books, scrolls, and a large desk with an old wooden chair behind it.

“We found it!” Levy cheered, hugging Lucy tightly.

“We did! We did!” Lucy returned the hug, both of them hopping up and down in excitement.

In no time, the two book lovers were carefully going through the tomes and scrolls, being exceedingly gentle with the ancient materials, even though they appeared to be in decent condition from being safely locked away for centuries. The topics in the archive ranged from local news and history, the history of Sylvatica Town itself, medicine, trade, and there was a large section devoted solely to magic.

“Ow!” Lucy let out a short hiss at the sudden shock she’d gotten when she tried to take a book off the shelf of magical knowledge. “There’s something here.”

A faint glow of magic became visible and Levy perked up as she saw script floating across the air.

“Protection Magic?” Levy leaned in and tried to read the magical script that was protecting the large shelves of magical books and scrolls. “Let’s see…” She started to read, briefly stumbling over a few of the characters before figuring them out through context clues of the ones that she did know. “Wow…to think this still works after so long.” She pulled out a magic pen and started writing script into the air. “But this is so old that it’s obsolete. Script Magic: Dispel.” Levy’s glowing script touched the faint glow of the old magic and both quickly vanished. “No problem!” She smiled at Lucy.

Lucy smiled back at Levy. “That was so fast. Great job, Levy!”

Levy giggled as she and Lucy both started browsing through the shelves of various scrolls and books. Each wondering what this old collection would have in it since it was centuries old.

“There’s a book about Celestial Spirit Magic!” Lucy looked at the old tome in shock before carefully opening it and beginning to read the slightly faded, handwritten words. “Copper Keys, Silver Keys, Golden Keys, and even Black Keys.” Lucy mumbled to herself as the book seemed to be a categorization of all the Celestial Spirit Keys that the old scholar mages had known about. “Ophiuchus… The Snake Charmer.” She breathed out as she saw the rough sketch of the Black Key, knowing just how dangerous such a Celestial Spirit was.

Levy was reading through a scroll that she had carefully unrolled and aside from some of the linguistic drift over the last few centuries, she was able to understand everything on the scroll. “Dragons?” She mumbled to herself as she continued to read. The scroll detailed not only various types of Dragons, but also where they could be found around the peninsula that was now Fiore. “This scroll has to be over four-hundred years old then…” Levy said softly as she looked over the rough sketch of the peninsula and the noted spots, comparing them to certain marks next to specific types of Dragons. “Poison Dragons used to live close to where Magnolia is now?” Levy hadn’t ever heard that in her reading into Magnolia’s history, though the town certainly wasn’t four-hundred years old, either. The map also wasn’t exactly to scale…so the distance could be closer to the midway point between Magnolia Town and Oak Town.

It was well past lunchtime when Lucy and Levy’s stomachs could no longer be ignored. The growling and hunger broke the two book lovers from their reading and made both of them laugh sheepishly at having gotten so caught up in going through the old archive. After a quick lunch back on the surface, Lucy and Levy spent a few hours carefully moving the contents of the archive through the tunnel and up to the surface. With everything gathered together, Lucy and Levy packed up everything in thick cloth and tied it securely.

“I took a lot of notes and copied down a bunch of stuff.” Levy was very pleased with herself right now. “I made sure to copy the entire scroll about Dragons down for Gajeel and Natsu. I think they’ll like it.” She said with a bright smile.

“I’m sure they will.” Lucy agreed with a warm laugh. “The Celestial Spirit book I looked through had sketches of a few keys that I’d never seen before. But now I know what the Black Key of the Snake Charmer looks like, and what Libra’s Key looks like, so if I ever come across them, I should be able to tell if they’re real or fakes.”

Levy and Lucy looked towards the forest and both let out small groans at having to go through the disorientation again. With nothing to do for it, Lucy and Levy prepared to make the trek as easy as they could make it.

“Script Magic: Lighten.” Levy wrote the words on the two large packs and made them weigh significantly less than they actually did. Lucy smiled as she lifted the once heavy pack as if it was no more than a half-filled backpack.

“Open! Gate of the Compass! Pyxis!” Lucy held out the Silver Key and the red bird-like Spirit appeared with a cheer.

“Py!” Pyxis crowed happily at seeing Lucy again.

Lucy smiled at Pyxis and patted his head affectionately. “Hey, Pyxis, did you have time to rest?”

Pyxis nodded and hopped in place. “Py!”

“We need to go southeast to get back through the forest and to town, can you show us the way?” Lucy requested politely.

“Py!” Pyxis nodded and the large black compass atop his head spun quickly before coming to a stop, locking onto the direction of southeast.

Levy and Lucy followed right behind the Celestial Spirit as they entered the forest. From experience, the disorientation would take a few minutes to start, and it would be mild at first, before getting worse the longer they were inside. With Pyxis leading though, they never had to worry about wandering lost within the disorientating woods.

Once they turned in the contents of the archive, they’d collect their reward and then head back home to Fairy Tail.

Neither young woman knew that they’d be held up with interviews about the discovery for both the local paper, the national paper, and even Sorcerer Weekly, and wouldn’t make it home until the next afternoon.

-Fairy Tail ~ Two Days Later-

There was an argument with the guild hall today.

Not an altogether uncommon thing for Fairy Tail; but the topic of the argument was certainly new.

“My cat is WAY better than yours, Salamander!” Gajeel declared as he introduced Panther Lily to everyone.

“No he’s not! He’s just different!” Natsu declared, pointing at the black Exceed before raising his fist towards Gajeel. “You take that back!”

Gajeel took a step forward. “Why don’t you make me?!”

Natsu stepped up immediately. “Maybe I will!”

The three Exceed, however, were making proper introductions.

“I’m Happy!” Happy greeted Panther Lily with a smile. “Want a fish?”

Panther Lily grinned at Happy, already able to tell that he was the laidback type. “I’m Panther Lily, a warrior and protector of Extalia.” He introduced himself with a short bow. “And, yes, I’ll take a fish. I hear the fish of the lake here are quite good.”

“Carla.” Carla introduced herself, looking at Panther Lily warily. The way her white fur was slightly raised showed her agitation at where Panther Lily claimed to be from.

“You have nothing to fear from me, Miss Carla.” Panther Lily said, noticing the younger Exceed’s discomfort. “Though I would like to take you both to Extalia sometime, so that you can meet our people…and receive their apologies.” He took the fish that Happy handed to him, seeing that the blue Exceed didn’t seem to know what he was talking about, while Carla clearly did.

Carla barely gave Panther Lily a nod before she retreated to the table where Wendy was sitting.

“Is something wrong with Carla?” Happy asked, looking at Panther Lily with a serious expression that the black Exceed wouldn’t have expected to see on the friendly blue Exceed’s face even a moment ago.

“I believe that she knows why neither of you were born in Extalia. It’s a bad decision that was made many years ago.” Panther Lily said with a heavy sigh.

Happy looked thoughtful for a moment before pulling out a fish for himself and motioning for Panther Lily to fly with him up to the rafters. “Let’s talk over fish.”

Panther Lily flew after Happy without complaint, knowing that Happy would most likely not be thrilled with the decision Extalia had made years ago once he learned of it.

The argument between Gajeel and Natsu was broken up by Levy and Lucy bringing out the notes that Levy had copied from the old scroll they’d discovered on their Quest. Levy had gently put her hand on Gajeel’s arm and guided him towards the table with everyone else. The Iron Dragon Slayer not resisting in the slightest, as he sat next to Levy.

All of the Dragon Sisters had little grins on their lips at seeing just how much of a positive influence Levy was being for Gajeel. Juvia was especially happy about it, as Gajeel was technically a friend from back in their Phantom Lord days.

“Why are so many people rushing to get jobs?” Wendy asked the Fairy Tail members that were easily ignoring the hustle and bustle of the guild hall.

“I was wondering about that too.” Lucy said as she watched Gray run into the guild, turn in his completed Quest, and then immediately rush over to the board to grab another one.

Juvia tilted her head, seeing that even Jet and Droy, who were on the same team, fighting over a Quest. “Juvia was confused as well. It seems like everyone is doing Quests solo.”

“Team Shadow Gear is temporarily disbanded!” Droy declared as he managed to wrestle the Quest paper away from Jet.

“My thoughts exactly!” Jet declared, snatching the Quest out of Droy’s hand and trying to rush over to one of the barmaids to have it stamped.

“Get out of my way!”

“I want this Quest!”

“This Quest for me, please!”

“I was here first!”

“Who cares?!”

“I’ll take this job! This one!”

Over a dozen members were crowding around the bar trying to get their Quest papers stamped, only to bolt towards the exit as soon as they did.

“It’s all right.” Mira waved the commotion off as normal. “This happens every year around this time.”

“I need another job!” Gray’s voice rose above the din, only for everyone crowding around the bar to go quiet as an intense chill filled the entire guild hall.

Ur, frosted mist swirling around her, walked over towards the Request Board where Gray and the other Mages were. “Gray. You just got back. Take a break.”

Gray gaped at Ur, feeling her magic power filling the guild hall. “M-Master… Your magic power.”

“Yep.” Ur grinned at Gray, lightly taking the Quest paper from his suddenly limp grip. “I’m finally recovered.” Everyone that had been crowding around the bar quickly shuffled away, most of them holding themselves tightly and rubbing their arms up and down from the cold.

“That’s great!” Gray declared brightly, his smile bigger than anyone had ever seen it before. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Ur looked at Gray like he’d asked an obvious question. “I would’ve, but you’ve been in Magnolia for all of an hour or so for the last two days.” The deadpan tone made Gray flinch slightly. “Now, let’s see…” She looked at the Quest that Gray had picked out. “Right then.” She put the Quest onto the bar top. “I’ll take this one.”

“Of course.” The barmaid handling the Quests today smiled thankfully at Ur and stamped the request.

“M-Master?!” Gray gaped at Ur taking the Quest that he’d been about to go on.

Ur turned to Makarov, who was sitting halfway down the bar with a mud in one hand and his wooden staff in the other. “Master.”

Makarov turned to smile at Ur. “Yes, Ur?”

“Don’t let Gray take any Quests until tomorrow, please.”

“Sure thing.” Makarov chuckled, his eyes giving Ur a swift once over. The woman wore a navy blue, midriff-bearing tank top with a white jacket over it, the hood of the jacket lined with fur. Her pants were a simple beige in color and somewhat thin for the cooling autumn weather, but cold didn’t seem to matter much to the powerful Ice Mage. Her feet were in black leather boots to finish off her outfit. Makarov’s eyes, however, followed the woman’s curves, from her child-bearing hips, to her trim waist, her rather large breasts that stretched out her tank top, and then to her confident face. “Gray, you’re grounded until tomorrow.”

“Master!” Gray exclaimed, but at the looks that both Makarov and Ur gave him, he gave in with a sigh.

“I’ll should be back by tomorrow afternoon.” Ur smiled at Gray, since she was still staying with him.

Gray nodded to Ur. “Have a safe trip, Master.”

Ur laughed and ruffled Gray’s hair, making him grumble that he ‘Wasn’t a child anymore’, before she headed out of the guild hall with a backwards wave to everyone.

It was a moment after that the chill in the air vanished as warmth returned.

“Miss Ur is incredible.” Wendy said, not having known the other woman was such a powerful mage.

“I guess that’s why Gray was fairly strong when he first joined Fairy Tail.” Cana hummed thoughtfully, recalling the day that Gray had entered the guild hall for the first time. “But back to these notes that Levy took.” She playfully teased Levy, making the bookworm blush a little.

“I’ll make sure to save the Sorcerer Weekly that the interview is in.” Lisanna said with a bright smile, referring to the magazine that would have Lucy and Levy’s interview about their discovery in it.

Lucy smiled, even if she was a little embarrassed at the sudden attention. “Thank you, Lisanna.” It wasn’t a bad thing to have made a newsworthy discovery, after all.

“Yo, Macao!” Wakaba said as he sat next to Macao at the table next to the gathered Dragon Slayers and Levy.

“What’s up?” Macao asked his old buddy curiously, putting his newspaper down.

Wakaba puffed on his cigarette once before blowing out the smoke. “It’s that time of year again, huh?” He grinned at his friend.

Macao grinned and nodded once. “Sort of brings back memories.”

“Now when we were young…” Wakaba chuckled.

“We really set the place on fire!” Macao finished with a chuckle.

Lucy blinked at the conversation. “They’re talking like they’re Master Makarov’s age. Aren’t they only in their mid-thirties?”

“It’s like some people are all…fidgety? But others are acting just like they always do.” Juvia mentioned of the state of the guild as the members that had been briefly run-off by Ur had quickly started swarming the bar again.

The crass talk about the ‘nice butts’ and ‘sexy legs’ of the young ladies in the Guild between Macao and Wakaba made Lucy and Juvia quickly ignore the men.

“It’s just that time of year.” Cana said with a little grin. “Everyone tries to stand out during the lead up to the announcement.”

Erza nodded in agreement. “Yes, the month or so leading up to the trials always begins like this.”

Lucy, Juvia, and Wendy all looked at the other women. “Trials?”

“The S-Class promotion trials.” Levy explained for the three newer girls who didn’t know. “Fairy Tail holds them once a year, and only the Master chooses who competes…and how many can pass.”

“S-Class, huh?” Lucy considered her own rank and knew she still had a ways to go before reaching A-Class, which she was sure was the base requirement for being considered.

Mira looked up from the notes details the Dragons that used to be found in Fiore. “There are some years that no one is promoted. And the Council gets a little agitated if too many Mages are promoted to S-Class in any one Guild.”

“I can’t find any Magma Dragons on this map.” Natsu said, clearly having zoned out on most of the conversation.

Gajeel lightly tapped a spot in the mountains on the border between Fiore and Bosco with a smirk. “Too bad for you, Salamander. Looks like Iron Dragons used to live around here though!”

“Gajeel…be nice.” Levy said, looking into Gajeel’s red eyes with her soft brown gaze.

Gajeel turned away from Natsu with a grunt.

“Wpsh…” Natsu made a whip cracking sound with a laugh.

Gajeel growled at Natsu for the joke. “Shut it, Salamander.”

“No fighting.” Lisanna butted in between the two before an argument (or worse) could break out. “Let’s read up on these notes that Levy took the time and effort to make for us.” She smiled warmly at Natsu and Gajeel.

Levy smiled at Lisanna. “Right! Look here, it says that Poison Dragons used to live north of Magnolia and south of Oak Town.” She pointed to a spot on the map that she’d copied.

Wendy looked thoughtfully at the spot, recalling the fake Poison Dragon Slayer from the Oracion Seis. “Huh, I wonder if that’s where…” She trailed off, her thoughts briefly considering if the spot on the map could’ve been where the Poison Dragon Lacrima she’d destroyed had come from.

“Mira!” Elfman rushed over, two different Quests papers in his hand. “I need a job for a man!” He showed Mira the two Quests. “Which one should I take? One of them has to make me seem more manly so that Makarov will notice how hard I’ve worked this past year!”

Mira looked at both of the Quests that her little brother had picked out. “Hmm, the pirate subjugation Quest from Cedar Town seems promising. If their knights are having trouble with pirates to the point they’ve put out a Quest with this kind of reward, then completing it will definitely prove that you can handle a difficult Quest solo.”

“Thanks, Mira!” Elfman smiled brightly at his older sister and pulled her into a quick hug. “I’ll be back in a couple of days!” He turned and hugged Lisanna, making his little sister giggle and hug him back.

“Be safe, Elfman!” Lisanna told her brother.

“I will!” Elfman declared as he ran towards the bar to get his Quest stamped.

Mira laughed warmly at seeing her little brother so fired up to become S-Class. “Not going to try and stand out more, Lisanna?” She asked her sister curiously.

Lisanna shrugged. “I don’t mind. I might take a few solo Quests throughout the month. It never hurts to try and get nominated for the trials.”

“You can totally become S-Class, Lisanna!” Natsu encouraged his Mate with a bright smile filled with his belief in her.

The agreement of everyone at the table (barring Gajeel who didn’t say anything) made Lisanna smile as she felt warm from how much her family and friends believed in her.

“You’re gonna get me all fired up.” Lisanna giggled brightly from all of the encouragement.

With a bit over a month before the announcement, there was still plenty of time for improving one’s chances of getting nominated.

-End Chapter-

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Lucy and Levy succeed in their Quest!

Finding a collection of old knowledge thought lost for centuries not only fills their pockets, but gets them both some notoriety too! Nice!

Gajeel defeats Panther Lily and gets his cat! Kek!

But Panther Lily would like to take Carla and Happy to Extalia someday, so that the Exceeds that basically abandoned their eggs can beg for their forgiveness. But it doesn’t seem like Carla is ready of that yet.

Dragon instincts can be REALLY intense! Natsu, Lisanna, Erza, and Mira had themselves a marathon of naughty times after getting so riled up by their fight with the drake. They also grow a little stronger from it, because they’re Dragon Slayers.

Almost makes you wonder how big of a power boost they’d get if they had to slay an actual dragon, huh?

The S-Class Promotion Trials are approaching, and even with a bit over a month before the announcement of the participants, most of the Fairy Tail members are going into a frenzy of work to try and stand out!

But there’s a ‘new competitor’ now! Ur’s magical power has finally recovered! A mere flex of her power chills the entire guild hall! She tells Gray to take a break and then takes the Quest that he was going to do! Hah! Then she had Makarov agree to ‘ground’ Gray until the next day!

Doesn’t hurt that she’s beautiful as hell and Makarov’s a bit of a pervert!

What happens in the lead up to the S-Class Trials?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!