Chapter 369: Ur's Arrival
"Is this the Nirvit tribe you gathered historical data on before? I see many of their patterns and customs are exactly the same as what was written in the book," Lucy whispered to Noah, standing close beside him.
As an avid reader, she had naturally read the historical data on the Nirvit tribe that Noah had published in collaboration with her family's company.
"Yes, your guess is spot on. It's them," Noah nodded.
"How amazing. I never thought I'd actually get to see the culture of a tribe written about in a book with my own eyes," Lucy couldn't help but say with deep feeling.
"Later on, you can take advantage of going on missions to travel to more places. You'll be able to see more things and understand more people and events," Noah told Lucy.
"Where do you want to go? We can go with you," Natsu said, having overheard them from the side.
"Aye!" Happy agreed loudly as well.
"Thank you, guys!" Lucy thanked them with a bright smile.
Natsu lowered his head and went back to devouring the roast meat in his hands.
At that moment, the people of the Nirvit tribe joined hands and began to sing and dance around the bonfires.
Everyone received invitations. Natsu was the first to charge in, and the others also happily stepped forward to join the festivities. They danced for a very long time before gradually breaking off in twos and threes, sitting down to rest, chat, or continue eating the delicious food.
"I told my mother about the situation here. She will be coming here tomorrow to regroup with us," Ultear said as she walked up beside Noah.
"Aunt Ur is coming too? That makes sense. Brain is an absolute sworn enemy of hers; there's no way she wouldn't come after hearing the news." Noah wasn't the least bit surprised by Ultear's words.
Over the years, it wasn't just Noah, Ultear, and Sorano who had been constantly searching for that bastard Brain—Ur had also been relentlessly gathering intel on his whereabouts. Since this man was the reason she and her daughter had been separated for so long, she naturally had no intention of letting him off. But Brain was exceptionally good at hiding and had never been found, so Ur had never had the chance for revenge.
Now, hearing that the person they were going to deal with this time might be Brain, she naturally had to hurry over and confirm it for herself.
"Then tomorrow we'll regroup with Aunt Ur first before heading to the meeting point."
"Mm."
After finishing her conversation with Noah, Ultear returned to her spot to continue chatting with Sorano and the others. Noah, meanwhile, walked over and sat down beside Roubaul to keep him company.
When it was time for bed, the Nirvit tribe members led them to the guest rooms in the village. Nobody asked to keep playing; they needed to rest up and prepare for tomorrow's battle.
Noah didn't follow them to the guest rooms. Instead, he went to Roubaul's room to chat with him. Noah had a lot he wanted to say to the elder, covering a wide array of topics from daily life to magic. Roubaul listened to him with a gentle smile, offering his own responses from time to time.
The sun leaped over the distant horizon, and as the soft morning light streamed in through the window, Noah suddenly realized they had unknowingly chatted the entire night away.
"Alright, it is time for you to go handle your business," Roubaul told Noah.
"Okay. I'll leave a Thought Projection here," Noah nodded, and a Thought Projection stepped out from his body.
"Your mastery over Thought Projection magic has already surpassed my own," Roubaul sighed in admiration.
"Not at all, I still have much to learn," Noah shook his head and said.
Roubaul chuckled. He loved Noah's modest attitude. Neither arrogant nor conceited, and always eager to learn with an open mind—only this kind of person could constantly explore and make continuous progress on the path of magic.
"Alright, hurry along now," Roubaul waved his hand at him.
Noah nodded and took his leave.
Ultear and the others were waking up one after another. During breakfast, Ur also arrived. After everyone finished eating, Mirajane stayed behind to look after Wendy and the others, while the rest of the group bid farewell to the villagers and left.
At the village entrance, Noah stopped Ur. "Aunt Ur, please come with me for a moment. We still have some things to take care of."
He then turned to Ultear and the rest, saying, "You guys head to the meeting point first. Once we're done with our business, we'll come find you and deal with the Oración Seis."
"Perfect! With Noah and Ur gone, we can take this chance to beat all of the Oración Seis ourselves!" Natsu cheered excitedly upon hearing that Noah was leaving.
"What do you guys need to do?" Ultear asked.
"I can't say for now, but it's going to take a bit of time. It'll probably take the better part of the day. You guys head to the gathering point first, and we'll come find you when we're finished," Noah waved a hand dismissively.
"Alright then, go handle your business first." Erza nodded and led the group away.
"Is there something you need me for that you asked me to stay behind?" Ur asked Noah, watching Ultear and the others disappear into the distance.
"Nope," Noah shook his head.
"Huh? Didn't you just say there was something we needed to do? You even said it would take quite a bit of time," Ur asked, completely bewildered.
"I just lied to them."
Ur looked at Noah in confusion, waiting for his explanation.
"It's very simple. Given my combat record, there's a chance the enemy will go into hiding if they see me show up. Aunt Ur, you've also been active as a working mage these past few years; the enemy will know you haven't abandoned the path of magic either. The enemy knows that your strength, after several years of training, is definitely not weak. So if the two of us showed up together, it's highly likely the enemy wouldn't show themselves at all. In that case, it's better if we don't show up right away, making them think we aren't here," Noah explained to Ur.
Ur nodded, feeling that Noah's reasoning was very sound.
"Now, let me set up a few magic spells to conceal our tracks first." After speaking, waves of magical light flashed from Noah's hands, casting layer after layer of magic over the two of them.
These spells not only masked their scent, sound, and appearance but also isolated the interference of internal and external magic power. This prevented the magic power inside from affecting the outside, while also stopping any external magic from acting upon them.
By the time he was done setting up, the two of them had completely vanished from the spot. Fortunately, a special spell had been cast on both of their eyes, allowing them to still see each other.
"Let's follow Ultear and the others."
Ur nodded, and the two of them trailed far behind Ultear's group.
It didn't take much time for Ultear's group to pass through a forest and arrive in front of a villa.
"This is the gathering location." After Erza confirmed it was the right address, everyone pushed the doors open and walked inside.
There were no lights on inside; only some sunlight streaming in through the windows allowed everyone to see the interior layout clearly. On the left and right sides were statues of galloping horses, and the surrounding decorations were mostly heart-shaped and colored pink. On the ground, a red carpet extended from the entrance all the way up to the staircase leading to the second floor.
"What a tasteless place," Lucy commented, her rich-girl sensibilities offended by the villa's decor.
"This is the villa of Master Bob from Blue Pegasus," Ultear told the group.
"Him, huh... He's, he's pretty hard to deal with..." Gray said with an awkward expression.
Everyone had interacted with Master Bob before, and none of them knew quite what to say about his... unique image. They could only look at each other in silence.
"Well, don't say that. Even if he looks like that, he is still an incredibly powerful mage," Erza said helplessly.
"Is that so?" Lucy's mouth twitched. She really couldn't connect Master Bob's image with immense strength.
"Master Bob? His strength is indeed formidable, but as for his image... it's hard to describe." Ur's voice rang out inside Noah's head. Noah had established a Telepathy link between the two of them, allowing them to converse directly in their minds.
"Haha..." Noah didn't know what to say either. Master Bob's image was certainly a challenge to a person's mental endurance.
"Are the others not here yet?" Sorano looked around and noticed she didn't see any members from the other guilds.
"No, the scent of other people is already here," Natsu spoke up.
"Everyone from Fairy Tail, we've been waiting for you for a long time!"
Amidst a flurry of snapping fingers, a spotlight suddenly shone into the center of the first-floor hall, revealing three figures striking poses under the light.
"We are the Tri-men selected by Blue Pegasus!"
"Hibiki of the White Night," a handsome young man with brownish-blonde hair announced.
"Eve of the Holy Night," a cute, blonde-haired young man announced.
"Ren of the Empty Night," a handsome young man with black hair and tanned skin announced.
"Blue Pegasus' Tri-men? S-so handsome! And that guy called Hibiki... isn't he Hibiki Lates, the one who's always ranking near the top of the 'Boyfriend I Want the Most' list in Sorcerer Weekly?" Lucy said, her face flushing red.
Hearing Lucy's words, Hibiki flashed a smile and gave her a wink.
"Crap! I forgot to put on my clothes!"
Lucy snapped her head around to look at the boys from her own guild, only to see Gray frantically searching around for his clothes in a complete panic, wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts.
Beside her, Ultear had already covered her face with her hand, completely unable to bear looking at him.
Natsu was in slightly better shape, but he was staring curiously at the handsome Blue Pegasus mages as they posed.
"Thank goodness," Lucy couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"As beautiful as the rumors say."
"A pleasure to meet you, Titania, Angel, and the Ice Princess."
"Come... right this way."
The three men from Blue Pegasus had already gathered around Ultear, Erza, and Sorano, beginning to entertain them with overwhelming enthusiasm.
Pulling a sofa out of nowhere, they offered it to the three girls to sit down on, and then placed a table in front of them with chilled bottles of wine.
"Please use these hot towels."
"Are you hungry?"
"We have some cookies here, would you like one?"
"No, thank you," Ultear declined, feeling a bit exasperated. Erza and Sorano also shook their heads in refusal.
"What kind of assault is this?!" Lucy couldn't help but yell out.
~~~
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