"On my way back from my last job, I stopped by a Mage bar in Onibus, and there was a group of guys who really caught my attention."
Erza began to recount what she had encountered in the bar: there were four rather short-tempered Mages who seemed to be trying to unseal a magic called Lullaby, but they appeared to have met with obstacles.
"Lullaby? Is it some kind of sleeping magic?"
Lucy couldn't help but guess when she heard the name.
Erza shook her head and said, "I don't know, but since it's sealed, I think it must be very powerful magic."
Happy said, "I have no idea what they're talking about; maybe it's just their job."
There were many jobs like unsealing magic in the Fairy Tail Guild, so it was quite normal for people from other guilds to take on such tasks.
At this moment, the train had arrived at the station, and several people packed their luggage and got off the train.
Erza continued, "That's right, I thought so too at first, so I didn't pay it any mind, until I remembered the name Erigor, then I didn't think so anymore."
At this point, the expression on Erza's face became serious: "The ace of the Dark Guild Iron Forest, Erigor the Death God."
"Death… Death God?!"
Lucy was startled; someone actually had that title.
Erza explained, "He got that name because all the requests he accepted were assassination jobs. The Council strictly forbade Mage Guilds from accepting assassination requests, but Iron Forest disregarded the Council's regulations and chose to prioritize money. So, six years ago, Iron Forest was expelled from the Mage Guild Alliance and is now classified as a Dark Guild."
"A Dark Guild?!!"
Lucy broke out in a cold sweat from fright.
She had only heard about Dark Guilds yesterday, and it was said they were a lawless bunch. She never expected them to even do assassination missions; only now did she realize how dangerous Dark Guilds were.
Happy said, "Lucy, you're sweating a lot!!"
"That's sweat!!"
"Wait a minute!! Expelled, didn't they receive any punishment?!"
Lucy suddenly remembered Erza mentioning expulsion, not imprisonment.
"Yes, the Iron Forest Guild Master at the time was arrested, and the Guild was ordered to disband. However, most Dark Guilds continued to operate despite the dissolution order."
"I was too careless then. If I had paid attention to the name Erigor at that time, I could have sacrificed all of them!"
"Those guys want the Lullaby magic, they must be planning some despicable scheme. I can't just sit by and watch, so we're going to break into Iron Forest."
Erza stated the main reason for inviting Qi Yan to come along this time.
"Break into Iron Forest?!!"
Lucy was somewhat dumbfounded. She knew that when two powerful Mages like Qi Yan and Erza got together, they would definitely do something extraordinary, but she never expected it to be to eliminate an entire Dark Guild.
"I think I'll just go back…"
Lucy turned to walk back. As a small rookie, it was better for her not to get involved in such dangerous matters.
Happy reminded her, "The train is leaving."
"Oh, so it's to eliminate a Dark Guild! I thought it was something major."
Qi Yan had also been in the Fairy Tail Guild for more than half a year, and he had naturally encountered some Dark Guild members. Most of the time, they kept to themselves, but there were also some clueless guys who saw Qi Yan was from a legitimate guild and actively sought trouble, and the result was naturally bad luck for those guys.
Lucy couldn't help but retort, "Isn't eliminating a Dark Guild a major event?!"
Suddenly!
Whoosh——!!
A scorching flame rose beside him.
"Eliminating a Dark Guild?! That sounds very interesting! I'm all fired up!"
After getting off the train, Natsu was initially still dizzy, but now he was fully revived. He was very excited to hear about eliminating a Dark Guild.
Natsu looked at Erza and asked, "Erza, do you know where Iron Forest is?"
He was a bit impatient now; there was no reason to deal with those Dark Guild rats.
"We'll find out if we investigate in this place."
The group quickly arrived at the Mage bar where Erza had stayed before. In any city, Mage bars were definitely the most informed places.
Soon, the group easily found out the location of the Iron Forest Guild's base, which was in Kuluji Town, the next stop after Onibus.
Knowing the location made things easier. Erza borrowed a magic four-wheeled vehicle and drove the group quickly to the Iron Forest Guild.
"Is this the Dark Guild Iron Forest? It looks a bit scary!"
Lucy shivered involuntarily as she looked at the guild building in front of her. The thought of potentially confronting an entire Dark Guild soon made her even more afraid.
She regretted it deeply now. Wouldn't it have been better for her to just go to work diligently? Why was she so curious and followed along? Now it was too late to regret.
Boom——!!
Flames wrapped around Natsu's fist, and he punched the main gate of the Iron Forest Guild, which exploded with a roar.
Natsu, engulfed in flames, roared aggressively, "You bastards of Iron Forest!! All of you, get out here!!!"
"…"
The imagined scene of the Iron Forest members erupting in anger and rushing out to fight did not occur.
At this moment, the Iron Forest Guild was empty, silent, and devoid of a single person.
"Where are the people?!"
"Hey! Where are the people?! Hurry up and get out here!!"
Natsu shouted loudly, but no one replied.
Happy spread his wings and flew a circle around the guild, finding no one. The entire guild was empty.
"No one? Is this guild abandoned? Could it be that they all went on a picnic?"
As Lucy said this, her face showed an expression of serious contemplation.
"…"
The others were speechless at Lucy's sudden train of thought.
Happy retorted, "Lucy sometimes says the most inexplicable things."
Lucy, realizing her mistake, clapped her hands and said happily, "It looks like they're all gone. I don't know when they left, so does that mean we don't have to fight? That's great, we can go back."
She was still young, and she didn't want to lose her life here. Not having to fight was the best outcome for her.
However, Qi Yan's single sentence shattered her beautiful dream.
"No, they left not long ago, about an hour and twenty-three minutes ago, and they left together, and there should be quite a few of them, at least fifty people."
Lucy's eyes widened, "Qi Yan, how do you know?"
Qi Yan pointed to the food scraps on the table and floor: "It's easy to tell based on the number of utensils and the speed at which the food spoils."
After receiving so many characters, the most useful things to him, besides the characters' own abilities, were the experiences they possessed. This greatly helped Qi Yan when doing missions.
Erza's face was serious as she said, "An hour ago? That's not too long ago. Let's go, we'll chase them immediately!"
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