A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Ultear, already familiar with Kira's personality, ignored their conversation. She gazed thoughtfully at a large tree beside her, stroking it as she softly remarked, "However, Eric does have a point! No matter how nutrient-rich the forest, trees will always vary in height. It's almost impossible for all the trees to be the same height as they appear to the naked eye!"

She is a user of the Arc of Time, and her perception of time far surpasses that of ordinary people.

Gerald nodded silently and said, "That's true! And ever since I entered here, I've had a feeling that I'm being watched!"

Kira whirled around and said, "You haven't been doing too many bad things, have you? So you're starting to become paranoid?"

"..."

Gerald pretended not to hear Kira's complaint and shook his head, replying, "Probably not!"

Before he could say a word, Kira suddenly punched a large tree next to him.

boom!

The force of the punch exploded, blasting the tree through two holes the size of a head, one in front and one behind. Smoke and dust billowed, wood chips flew everywhere, and bark scattered in all directions.

At the same time, something flew out of the tree, drawing a bright parabola in the air.

pat!

The object crashed heavily to the ground, making only a few sharp, piercing buzzes before falling completely silent.

Kira waved his right hand again, and an invisible gravitational field was immediately released, sucking the objects on the ground into his hand.

Everyone was initially startled by Kira's sudden move, but what happened next made them even more puzzled. Knowing that something was wrong, they all crowded around to look at the object that Kira had taken from the tree.

"What...is this?!"

In Kira's hand lay a metal ball the size of a fist!

"what is this?"

"It looks like a mechanical creation..."

"There's definitely something strange about this place!"

"Kira, how did you find out?"

The group chatted amongst themselves, expressing their doubts, but none of that mattered. What mattered was that the way they looked at Kira had changed.

One second they thought Kira was a crazy lunatic, but the next they discovered that their new boss was actually quite capable!

After all, no one else here had discovered what was hidden in the tree except for him.

Kira secretly rejoiced at his public display of skill, but his face remained calm: "Stay calm! This is just basic stuff! Your boss is much more capable than I am!"

He then looked at the white metal ball in his hand. Its material was unknown, but it was hard and its function was unknown.

After thinking for two seconds, Kira turned to Gerald and said, "The feeling of being watched that you just mentioned must have come from this."

"There's about one of these metal spheres for every ten trees here, and they can perfectly integrate with the trees they're attached to, moving freely inside without damaging them. I've never seen such a unique metal material before!"

Upon hearing this, Gerald understood: "It seems that the people hiding here buried these metal balls in the trees to monitor the intruders' movements."

Urudia laughed and said, "So, our arrival has been discovered?"

"If nothing unexpected happens, yes!"

"Then what should we do?" Sora looked at Kira and asked, "Now that the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light, should we still take action?"

Kira looked at her questioningly: "Take action? Take what action?"

"..."

"We're just an ordinary adventure team!"

Kira lied without batting an eye, "I came here because I heard this place is dangerous and mysterious, and even the council doesn't dare to go deep into it. So I took the risk and brought the Image Crystal to record it."

As he spoke, he pulled out a magic crystal and hung it around his neck, looking every bit the adventurer. Kira was very familiar with this process; he had done it before joining Fairy Tail.

"As the captain of an adventure party, it's normal for me to know some magic, right?"

The group was taken aback, but Ultear quickly realized: "I am the vice-captain of the adventurer's party."

Gerald calmly replied, "I am the squad's strategist."

Now everyone understood. What mattered wasn't the adventure team itself, but their current position within it, which would determine their future position in the new organization!

The key point is that they can still make their own decisions now; once this opportunity is gone, it won't come again!

Thinking this, the group turned their gazes to Ultear, thinking to themselves: 'Good heavens, they joined together, and this woman immediately wants to be the future vice president? Why doesn't she just become the president's wife?'

The group's minds raced, and they quickly decided to assign themselves positions such as "Chief of Intelligence," "Image Spokesperson," or "Head of Finance."

"Then I'll do it..."

However, how could anyone allow them to take shortcuts?

Noticing the unusual expressions on their faces, Kira interrupted them directly: "You're all just ordinary members of the squad! Whether you can be promoted to senior members depends on your performance in this operation!"

Trying to take advantage of this opportunity to rise to power won't be so easy!

Everyone felt a pang of regret: "Damn it! We were still a step too late..."

They all decided that once they got back, they would read through the "masterpiece" that Kira had mentioned yesterday, to gain a deeper understanding of the new boss's ideas.

Kira would be very happy if he knew Eric's thoughts, especially after Eric reads his book, "I Want to Hear Your Voice."

Just then, Kira noticed that the temperature of the metal ball in his hand was rising rapidly, and at the same time, a very ominous sense of crisis welled up in his heart.

? ? ! !

Kira reacted immediately, turned around, and, to everyone's astonishment, threw the metal ball forcefully into the distance.

Whoosh—smack!

With a soft thud, the metal ball landed, rolled several times on the ground, and a few seconds later...

boom!!!

The metal sphere exploded violently, creating a gust of wind that sent grass, hair, and cloaks flying everywhere.

After the explosion, the air currents gradually subsided. Kira looked up and saw only a patch of scorched earth about a meter in diameter. Apart from that, there wasn't even a shard of metal the size of a fingernail.

Kira let out a sigh of relief: "That's great. I was originally planning to study this metal sphere, but now what's the point of studying it?"

"What's going on? Even if we're under their surveillance right now, how can they possibly control these metal spheres remotely?"

Gerald shook his head and said, "It shouldn't be! I guess it's just a timer function on the metal ball. Once it leaves the tree for a certain period of time, it will turn into a bomb."

At this moment, Kira laughed again, "To be able to create such a magical item, it seems the other side has a very good blacksmithing master!"

Before this, he had never met a prop master who could compare to himself. This kind of talent was definitely worth recruiting to work for him!

Now that the trail has gone cold, Kira has no choice but to lead the group onward.

This time, his target was water. Perhaps a person hiding in the shadows can go without food, but they can't go without water, can they?

Kira released his senses, and his magic spread outwards. Every blade of grass and every tree within a radius of several hundred meters immediately appeared in his mind. Countless faint clusters of magic appeared within his perception range. He knew that they were metal spheres buried in the trees.

Based on the information currently available, these metal spheres serve two purposes: one is to monitor the intruders' actions; the other is to interfere with the use of magic, which explains why Eric heard distorted sounds.

However, this interference is not strong; it's more like an additional function. As long as there is enough magic power and the magic is stable enough, this interference can be ignored.

This situation is as unexpected as Kira creating a magic pen and discovering that it can write novels on its own.

Half an hour later, a lake appeared before everyone's eyes.

Magical vehicles are not very useful in this kind of place, so they all walked. The others were fine, but Sora was already complaining that her legs were sore.

"I mean, are all Celestial Spirit Mages this physically weak?"

"Stop nagging! I'm a girl!"

"So what? Urutia is too!"

"Hmph! She..."

"I think you should look back before you say anything next."

Sora turned around and found Ultear staring at her with an unfriendly expression: "What's wrong with me?"

"N-nothing...you're amazing!"

Since some members of the team were unable to walk and they had just arrived at this place, Kira, thinking, "Since we're already here, we can't leave empty-handed even if we can't find the research institute, so let's just treat it as a trip," waved his hand and announced that they should rest on the spot.

If it weren't for the blazing sun, Kira would have even wanted them to set up a tent, build a fire, and camp right there.

Of course, the idea of ​​"boys pitching tents and girls cooking" is out of the question. Ultear is one thing, but Sora's cooking is worse than the takeout from the Celestial Spirit World.

What's more, she doesn't have the key anymore!

Chapter 245 If the robot signal is poor, use a three-way handshake to establish communication.

While everyone rested, Gerald walked up to Kira and asked, "Did you find anything?"

At this moment, Kira was sitting by the lake with his eyes closed, seemingly dozing off, but in reality, he was exploring the bottom of the lake.

Upon hearing Gerald's question, he withdrew his magical perception from the bottom of the lake, shook his head, and replied, "No! Magic can't reach the bottom. It's like something is blocking my perception. Could the research institute be built at the bottom of the lake? That shouldn't be the case..."

After a moment of silence, Gerald suddenly asked, "Kira, why did you bring me along?"

"Huh? What?"

Kira paused for a moment before realizing that Gerald was asking why he had taken him away from the White Forest.

"What reason could there be? Shouldn't you be punished for what you did in the past?!"

This time it was Jellal's turn to be stunned. "I thought that because of Erza, you would want to send me to the Council's prison..."

"Ah, I did think about that, but then I realized there's no point in sending you to a place like that. The chairman said it's our duty to guide those who have fallen into darkness back to the right path. Since you have a repentant heart, we can't just let you sit in jail for the rest of your life. Otherwise, how will you atone for your sins?"

Gerald didn't know Makarov's original words. When he heard Kira say this, he thought that "we" in Kira's words referred to Fairy Tail, so he nodded silently.

Seeing the other person lost in thought, Kira stood up again and said, "Anyway, after you've earned... ah, no, I mean after you've paid for your sins under my command, whether you go to the Council of Judges or whatever, it's up to you. You've been in darkness for 7 years, so use those 7 years to make amends!"

These words made Geralt feel even more in agreement with Kira.

Kira's words were exactly what Gerald had thought. Gerald now felt that Kira was his soulmate, and he no longer cared about the many times Kira had tricked him in the past.

Just as Gerald was about to formally thank Kira for giving him the opportunity to atone for his past sins, a rustling commotion suddenly arose around him.

The group immediately became alert: "What's wrong?!"