"On my way back to the city after my last job, I stopped by a bar in Onibas that caters to mages. There was a group of guys there who caught my attention."
Erza began explaining the situation she encountered at the bar: a few hot-tempered mages talking about trying to break the seal on something called Lullaby. But from what she overheard, they were running into some kind of difficulty.
"Lullaby? Is that some kind of sleeping spell?"
Lucy guessed upon hearing the name.
Erza shook her head. "Not sure. But if it's sealed, it's probably a pretty dangerous magic."
Happy tilted his head. "We've got plenty of jobs involving breaking seals at Fairy Tail. Could've just been something like that."
In Fairy Tail, sealing and unsealing magic wasn't unusual work, so it wasn't surprising if other guilds took on similar requests.
Just then, the train arrived at the station. The group gathered their things and disembarked.
Erza continued, "Yeah, that's what I thought at first too. So I didn't pay much attention. But then I heard the name Erigor, and everything changed."
At this, her expression turned serious. "Erigor the Reaper, ace of the Eisenwald dark guild."
"The… The Reaper?!"
Lucy was startled. That name sounded terrifying.
Erza elaborated, "He got that nickname because he specializes in assassination jobs. Normally, the Magic Council strictly forbids mages from taking assassination requests, but Eisenwald ignored that. They started chasing profit over ethics. Six years ago, Eisenwald was expelled from the official mage guild alliance. They've been categorized as a dark guild ever since."
"A… dark guild?!!"
Lucy broke into a cold sweat.
She had just learned yesterday what dark guilds were—rogue mages who didn't follow any rules. But assassinations? That was a whole new level of scary.
Happy added, "Lucy, you're leaking all kinds of juice!!"
"That's sweat!!"
"Wait a second—expelled? So they didn't get punished?!"
Lucy suddenly remembered that Erza had said "expelled," not "imprisoned."
"They did. The old guild master was arrested, and the guild itself was ordered to disband. But like most dark guilds, they ignored the order and kept operating underground."
"I was too careless back then. If I'd noticed Erigor's name earlier, I could've wiped out the whole lot of them in one go."
"Those guys are after Lullaby magic. Whatever they're planning, it's bound to be something despicable. I can't let it go. That's why we're going to storm Eisenwald."
Erza finally revealed the reason she had invited Kaien on this mission.
"Storm… Eisenwald?!!"
Lucy was stunned. She knew that putting Kaien and Erza together meant something big was going down—but wiping out an entire dark guild?!
"I-I think I'll head back…"
She turned to leave. She was just a rookie. Getting involved in something this dangerous was a horrible idea.
Happy reminded her, "The train's already gone."
"So it's to destroy a dark guild, huh? I thought it was something serious."
Kaien said casually.
He'd been with Fairy Tail for over half a year now. He'd run into dark guilds a few times—though usually, they minded their own business. Sometimes, the dumber ones came picking fights, but those never ended well for them.
Lucy couldn't help but shout, "Isn't destroying a dark guild already serious?!"
Suddenly—
Fwoooosh—!!
A burst of blazing fire erupted beside them.
"Destroying a dark guild?! That sounds awesome! I'm fired up now!!"
Natsu had finally recovered from his motion sickness and was now fully energized after hearing the plan.
He looked at Erza eagerly. "Erza! Do you know where Eisenwald is?"
He could barely hold back. Taking on a dark guild? He didn't need a reason.
"We'll find out by asking around here."
They made their way to the same mage bar Erza had visited earlier. In any city, mage bars were always the best source of intel.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for them to learn the location of Eisenwald's hideout—it was in the next town over, Karuki Town.
With that info, Erza borrowed a magic-powered vehicle and the group sped off toward Eisenwald's base.
"So that's the dark guild Eisenwald? It looks scary…"
Lucy shivered as she gazed at the building. The thought of taking on an entire dark guild was terrifying.
She was already regretting this. Why hadn't she just stayed at the guild and minded her own business? Why did she have to get so curious? Too late for regrets now…
BOOM—!!
Natsu's flaming fist smashed into Eisenwald's front gate, which exploded into pieces with a loud crash.
Wreathed in fire, he shouted fiercely, "Eisenwald scum!! Get your asses out here!!!"
"…"
But instead of an angry horde charging out to fight—nothing happened.
The guild was dead silent. Not a soul in sight.
"Where is everyone?!"
"Hey! I said come out!! What are you, scared?!"
Natsu shouted again, but no one responded.
Happy flew a circle around the building but found no signs of life. The entire place was deserted.
"Empty? Did the guild get abandoned? Or maybe they all went on a picnic?"
Lucy said this with a strangely serious look on her face.
"…"
Everyone stared at her, speechless. Where did that even come from?
Happy deadpanned, "Lucy sure says some weird stuff sometimes."
Then Lucy clapped her hands. "Hey, if they're all gone, then there's no need to fight! That's great! We can head back!"
She was still young—no way she wanted to risk her life in a fight. If they could avoid battle, that was the best outcome.
But Kaien shattered her hope with a single sentence.
"No. They left recently—about an hour and twenty-three minutes ago. They all left together. At least fifty people."
Lucy's eyes widened. "H-How can you tell?"
Kaien pointed at the table and floor. "Judging by the number of utensils and the rate at which the food scraps are deteriorating, it's easy to estimate."
Having absorbed so many characters, what helped Kaien the most wasn't just their combat skills—but also their practical experience and knowledge. It made his work far easier.
Erza's face turned stern. "Just an hour ago? Then we still have time. Let's go—after them!"