"Natsu, you guys... did a good job."
Erza's words stunned Natsu and Lucy, who was about to plead for mercy. She smiled and continued, "Since that Duke wasn't a good person, if you beat him up, you beat him up. As long as no innocent people were harmed."
"Leave the follow-up issues to the Master to handle."
Hope, watching this scene from the side, finally understood why Makarov had lost so much hair, and couldn't help but observe three seconds of silence for the old man.
A protective patriarch stuck with such a group of bratty kids, and yet he hadn't lost all his hair from worry; it seemed Makarov's stress wasn't high enough... Just as Hope's thoughts were drifting away, Happy suddenly remembered something because of the recent recap and looked at Lucy with a smug expression.
"Lucy, I've got a great treasure for you, aye."
Lucy looked at Happy suspiciously. What could this fish-loving blue cat consider a treasure besides fish?
Then, amidst Lucy's confused expression, Happy pulled out a gold celestial spirit key engraved with the pattern of Virgo.
The moment she saw Happy take out the golden key, Lucy's eyes went wide. When she was fighting the Duke, he had used this Celestial Spirit Key to summon the Virgo Celestial Spirit to fight her.
"Why is this key in your hands?!"
Happy scratched his head. "After you and Natsu defeated that shorty Duke, that maid Celestial Spirit gave the key to me and told me to give it to you, aye."
The Celestial Spirit's own will... Hope watched as Lucy excitedly formed a contract with the Virgo Celestial Spirit on the spot, and couldn't help but marvel at the "female lead's" luck.
The unique Twelve Zodiac Gates Celestial Spirit Keys of this world—she had obtained the Sagittarius and Virgo keys not long after joining the guild, and the Virgo Celestial Spirit had even come to her on its own.
Combined with the three golden keys Lucy already held—Aquarius, Cancer, and Taurus—the seventeen-year-old now had contracts with nearly half of the Golden Celestial Spirits.
Surely, Lucy's future strength would be limitless.
The group entered Magnolia chatting and laughing, but as they passed through the town gates, Hope noticed that there were twice as many guards as usual today.
This only happened during festivals or when dangerous individuals were on the loose in the city.
He asked Erza and Natsu; there were no festivals worth celebrating in Magnolia recently. As for a state of emergency... who in this city could be more dangerous than the Mages of Fairy Tail?
Curious, Hope turned back and approached a guard, asking, "Hey there, has something happened lately?"
The guard didn't want to bother at first, but after spotting the guild emblem on Hope's arm, he immediately spoke up, "You're a Fairy Tail Mage? Hurry back and see for yourself; something happened to your guild."
Upon hearing the guard's words, the group, who had been in high spirits, grew tense and sprinted toward the guild located on the main street.
However, the closer they got to the guild, the heavier their hearts became, for they saw that the guild had been impaled by several massive iron pillars.
"They actually attacked Fairy Tail!"
"Bastard! Who the hell was it?!"
Arriving outside the guild, Natsu could barely suppress his explosive temper. He had been with Fairy Tail for seven years and had long since considered it his home.
Erza had joined the guild a year earlier than Natsu. Seeing the place where she grew up destroyed like this, even the usually calm Erza found it hard to keep her anger in check.
Lucy and Happy were also shocked by the startling scene before them.
Only Hope's expression remained unchanged. After seeing this scene, he suspected it was the work of Phantom Lord.
Sol, the Specter Mage who had ordered Hope's original body to infiltrate Fairy Tail, had clearly expressed Phantom Lord's ambition to eliminate the "Fairies" in his last letter.
Hope had been puzzled at the time; the Magic Council forbade armed conflicts between legal guilds, so how did Phantom Lord dare to even think of it?
But looking at it now, they not only dared to think it, they had put it into action.
"Let's go inside."
Hope pushed open the half-closed door, and what met his eyes was a hall where even the floor had been pierced by the massive iron pillars.
Currently, only Mirajane and Elfman, who was helping her move things, were in the hall. Seeing Hope and the others return, the worry on Mirajane's face instantly vanished.
"Welcome back, everyone. Did the mission go well?"
"If you want to rest, you'll have to go to the underground storehouse for now..."
Seeing Mirajane's forced smile, Erza interrupted her and asked directly, "Who did this?"
"Who else could it be but Phantom Lord?" Elfman answered, his face full of irritation.
Hope's heart tightened. It really was them.
The group went to the guild's underground storehouse, which was now being used as a temporary hall. Fortunately, the storehouse was no smaller than the hall, and with the magical lights connected, it actually looked quite decent.
However, almost all the members were frowning, and the atmosphere was very heavy.
Upon seeing the group come down, the lifeless temporary hall immediately became lively.
"Natsu... you guys are finally back."
"We haven't been able to sleep soundly these past few days, fearing those Phantom bastards would launch another sneak attack."
"Exactly! Why does Phantom get to break the rules?!"
"We have to fight back!"
"Erza, lead us in a charge!"
"..."
For once, Erza didn't scold the rowdy crowd. She was also very angry, but retaliating against Phantom Lord wasn't her decision to make.
Hope and Erza found Makarov drinking alone in frustration.
The old man had looked worried, seemingly fretting over the cost of repairing the guild, but upon seeing the two sitting across from him, he immediately put on a smile.
"You're back. The thank-you letter from Professor Buker of the History Guild arrived yesterday. You did a great job on this mission; you didn't bring shame to Fairy Tail."
But neither Erza nor Hope were in the mood to listen to Makarov's praise.
Hope asked directly, "Master, Phantom blatantly attacked us, a fellow legal guild. How does the Council plan to deal with them?"
Makarov's face darkened. "The Council says there's no evidence that Mages from Phantom Lord destroyed our guild, so..."
Hope's expression became solemn.
Phantom Lord's Mages had always acted arrogantly.
Even he knew that Phantom had a lawless Iron Dragon Slayer Mage; how could the Council that monitors Mage Guilds not know?
Such blatant favoritism—they weren't even trying to hide it anymore.
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