Earth Land, Ishgar, Stella, Open Roads.
October 8, x791.
Nearly three weeks have passed since Alfonzo was cleared for duty. Since then, not much has happened. The only thing of note was Alfonzo forming a team to take on the Phantom Troupe Subjugation quest he decided to take.
Currently, there were three magic vehicles racing through Stella, each filled with members of Fairy Tail. And their destination was Altair, the capital of Stella.
The three magic vehicles, Alfonzo's Escalade, Ur's Z3, and Evergreen's Huracán, carried a total of ten Fairy Tail wizards, Alfonzo, Elicia, Bickslow, Evergreen, Cana, Levy, Ur, Ultear, Elfman, and Sun, all of whom were at S-Class.
On top of that, there was another S-Class wizard traveling to Altair on their own.
"*Sigh* We had to drive for three days." Elicia said in an exhausted tone from the passenger seat of the Escalade. "It would have been so much better if we could just fly in the Blackbird."
"That would have alerted the Phantom Troupe, though." Sun replied from the middle of the back seat while tilting her head cutely. "Then, we might have missed them all together, ya see?"
"I know that." Elicia whined as she leaned her head against the window. "Still, spending so much time in the car is boring.'
"Aww! You poor baby." Cana said from the seat behind Elicia with a wide smile spread across her face. She then reached towards the front seat with the bottle of wine in her hand and continued. "Here, have a sip of this. It will help you relax."
"Stop it, Cana." Levy said while rolling her eyes. "Don't try to corrupt anyone else into becoming a drunkard."
"Like Lici isn't the biggest source of corruption already." Alfonzo, sitting behind the wheel, muttered quietly. "I mean, if it weren't for her, I would have never walked down the ever-expanding harem path."
"Oh, don't act like you don't love it, Fonzie." Elicia, with a sly grin on her face, said while reaching out to poke Alfonzo's cheek. "I mean, you have some of the most beautiful women in the world by your side. What is there to complain about?"
"That's not the point." Alfonzo said, continuing to mutter. He then turned his head quickly and tried to bite Elicia's finger before continuing after he missed. "All I'm saying is I didn't choose the harem life. The harem life chose me. More importantly than that, you led it to me and made the introductions."
While Sun smiled at the back and forth between Alfonzo and Elicia and Cana rolled her eyes, took a swig from her bottle of wine, and smiled as well, Levy lowered her head in contemplation.
"Hmm... I guess I should keep Gajee from being alone with Lici." Levy muttered loud enough for everyone in the car to hear. "If I don't, she might put some weird ideas in Gajee's head. I don't need him ending up like Alfonzo or Laxus, wanting more than one wife."
"Although it might not be about having more than one wife, Lici will definitely put some weird thoughts in Gajeel's head if they get too much time to talk to each other." Cana said while pointing her bottle at the back of Elicia's head.
"Hey! I resent that remark!" Elicia protested loudly.
"You mean resemble that remark." Alfonzo said with a snicker. "If we're unlucky, you might end up instilling your ability to raise flags into some unlucky soul."
"I don't always raise flags." Elicia said with a fierce pout on her face while crossing her arms and turning to look out the window.
That response caused Alfonzo, Cana, and Levy to laugh out loud. Meanwhile, Sun turned to look out the back windshield just to make sure that the other two cars were keeping up.
"By the way, I kinda feel bad for Bickslow." Sun said as she turned back around. "It must be uncomfortable sitting in the backseat of Ur's car for so long."
"At least her car has a back seat." Cana pointed out. "If he wanted to ride with Evergreen, it would have been even worse."
"Yeah, Ever's car is really small on the inside." Elicia added, snapping out of her funk. "It's already a struggle for Elfman to fit in there. Just imagine if they had to lap up for this trip."
Immediately, everyone in the car shivered at the thought of Bickslow sitting on Elfman's lap in the passenger seat of Evergreen's Huracán. Then, they shivered even harder at the opposite.
"Yeah, let's never speak of that again.' Alfonzo said sternly as he focused on the road.
"Agreed!" Elicia, Cana, Levy, and Sun chorused in unison.
The next few seconds passed in silence, each of the magic vehicle's occupants trying to scrub the image brought along with Elicia's reckless statement. Then, after shaking his head, Alfonzo was the first to break the silence.
"Alright, we're getting close to Altair." Alfonzo said, his tone taking on a solemn tone. "I'm gonna start the [Telepathic Link]."
"Why aren't we doing this with the lPhones?" Sun asked curiously. "Wouldn't that be easier."
"Because Fonzie is paranoid." Cana replied while rolling her eyes. "Like there's any chance that someone could overhear our conversations."
"Um... Actually..." Levy said softly. "Theoretically, it's possible. If someone near the [Archive Magic] core were to tap into it, they could possibly listen to every conversation being held via lPhone."
"Wait! Seriously?" Cana asked as her head snapped in Levy's direction.
Levy only nodded her head in response. Cana then turned to look at Alfonzo with a disbelieving expression.
"Oh, now you wanna believe it?" Alfonzo asked sarcastically. "It's not like I didn't explain the exact same thing to you before we left Magnolia, right?"
Cana only turned her head away in response. Meanwhile, Alfonzo, despite having been serious about the question only a moment ago, decided to ham it up.
"*Sniff* *Sniff* Lici, Sun, *Sniff* *Sniff* Cana doesn't trust me anymore." Alfonzo said, his voice sounding more heartbroken than Jet and Droy when Levy accepted Gajeel's proposal. "What did I do? Did I mess up and lose my second wife's trust somewhere along the line?"
"You know, that would have been a lot more convincing if you didn't throw in that bit about your second wife." Levy muttered.
"Hush, you." Alfonzo shot back.
Meanwhile, Elicia and Sun could not help giggling at Alfonzo's little act. Cana, on the other hand, only glared at Alfonzo with a slightly embarrassed blush on her face.
Then again, it was not her fault she did not believe Alfonzo about someone hacking into the lPhone network. In the almost twenty years since she met him, not once has any of Alfonzo's finished magic items ever had an issue, at least not one so big. So, she thought he was just being overly paranoid about this.
"Alright, that's enough picking on Cana." Elicia said, though she stopped to giggle once again when she saw Sun patting Cana's head in consolation through the rear view mirror. "We've got a quest to complete. We don't have time to joke around like this."
Hearing her best friend come to her rescue, Cana nodded her head vigorously. However, as Elicia continued, she could only look at her with betrayal.
"We'll have plenty of time to pick on Cana after the quest is over." Elicia added before nodding to herself in satisfaction.
Even Levy struggled to hold in her own laughter after seeing the expression on Cana's face. And when Cana noticed that, she snorted in annoyance before bringing her bottle to her lips, tipping her head back, and chugging the remaining contents in one go.
Meanwhile, Alfonzo started the [Telepathic Link] via his [Archive Magic], connecting the occupants of the three magic vehicles smoothly and seamlessly.
{"Damn... No matter how many times I've experienced it, this still feels weird."} Ur muttered from her spot behind the wheel of her Z3.
{"Stop complaining, Mom."} Ultear said. {"It's not so bad. It's not like he has access to your thoughts."}
{"Can we just get to the point?"} Evergreen asked, slightly annoyed that her conversation with Elfman was interrupted.
{"Yeah, and how much longer are we gonna be on the road?"} Bickslow asked, sounding slightly uncomfortable. {"This backseat is way too small. On top of that, I haven't been able to see my babies in a while."}
{"We'll be there soon."} Alfonzo replied while sending a map of Altair and its surroundings to everyone connected to the [Telepathic Link].
At the same time, progress bars appeared over Elicia's, Bickslow's, Evergreen's, Cana's, Levy's, Ur's, Ultear's, Elfman's, and Sun's heads. Only a couple seconds later, the progress bars vanished, and the maps imprinted themselves into the nine wizards' minds.
{"Like I said, we'll be arriving at Altair shortly."} Alfonzo said, reiterating his point. {"Before we arrive, we'll split up, though. Marked on the maps are the routes you'll be taking to get to your lodgings. Once you check in, Levy will make her way to Ur's and Tear's location while Bickslow goes to find Evergreen and Elfman."}
{Got it."} Bickslow confirmed.
{"Understood."} Levy said simultaneously.
{"Once everyone is in position, we'll keep surveillance on the entire city with [Magic Power Detection]. Pay close attention to S-Class magic power signatures other than ours. Meanwhile, I'll make my way to meet the client and Lici will be on standby in case any of you find anything. When you do, she'll follow up using her [Camouflage Magic] to verify if the one you all found was our target."}
{"And if it is, I'll try to use them to find the rest of the Spiders."} Elicia said, her tone much more serious than usual.
{"You better not try to move alone, though."} Ur said sternly. {"From the reports, although these guys aren't the most powerful S-Class wizards in Ishgar, they work well together, are completely ruthless, and have some strange tricks that make them hard to deal with."}
{"How does anyone know what kind of tricks they have, though?"} Sun asked curiously. {"The dossiers say that no one has lived after facing them."}
{"There's nothing to worry about if we're strong enough!"} Elfman roared over the [Link]. {"Real men overwhelm petty tricks with real strength."}
{"Damn... It feels like it's been forever since the last time I heard him say that."} Alfonzo muttered.
{"Then consider yourself lucky."} Evergreen grumbled. {"I've heard it more than enough times for three lifetimes."}
{"You knew he was like that when you picked him."} Ur said uncaringly. {"You don't get to complain now."}
{"Anyway, the information about the Phantom Troupe's methods were probably leaked by the Troupe itself."} Ultear said, deciding to bring the conversation back on track. {"If you notice, there is no substantial information about them. The only thing we know is that they work well together and have a few tricks. As for them being S-Class, if they weren't at least that strong, they would have been caught a long time ago."}
{"*Sigh* I guess I won't be drinking for a while."} Cana said in a forlorn tone. {"But the alcohol will be all the sweeter when I can drink again."}
{"I would tell you to never change, Cana."} Ur said in a tired tone. {"But if you could cut back on the drinking, that would be great."}
{"I will whenever I get pregnant."} Cana replied nonchalantly. {"Until then, don't harsh my vibe, please."}
{"Anyway, we've gone over the plan again."} Alfonzo said, cutting off the conversation before things could spiral into the usual Fairy Tail brand of chaos. {"I'm cutting the link. We should arrive at Altair within half an hour. Until then, get as much rest as you can. We've got thirteen, potentially, S-Class targets to deal with. So, we'll need the energy."}
After receiving acknowledgement from the other nine, Alfonzo did just as he said and cut the [Telepathic Link]. Then, the rest of the journey continued, Ur and Evergreen splitting off along the way to enter the city from different directions before heading to the hotels that would act as their lodgings.
Then, once everyone checked into their hotels, Bickslow and Levy left to rendezvous with Ur and Ultear and Evergreen and Elfman, respectively, before the [Magic Power Detection] nets were set up from the three locations. As for Alfonzo and Elicia, they both left their hotel, as well, with Alfonzo heading to the client's, Kurapika's, location, while Elicia scouted the city in the guise of shopping for exotic fabrics and threads.