A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Having turned over a new leaf, he now has zero tolerance for all evil forces. Therefore, he naturally wouldn't miss the opportunity to investigate this organization, which seemed "suspicious" from the inside out.

As for Ultear, although she had a conversation with Gray, Lyon and others about "Ultear" during "Nirvana", her inner conflict has not been completely resolved and she has not completely broken free from the "heart of the devil". The reason she followed Kira here is also for other reasons.

She had completely given up on returning to Hades to report on the "attack on Demisor Academy".

Five people came out, one died, three were captured, and she was the only one left unharmed. Who would believe there was nothing fishy about it? Should she honestly say she didn't participate in the war?

If she does that, she'll probably get a beating from Hades in the next second!

To prevent Hades from pursuing her "desertion" and "disappearance," she had to bring back something of value! But she couldn't possibly offer skincare products as Kira suggested, could she? That was an unthinkable way to die!

Just then, Kira suddenly said he was going to raid the Dragon Slayer Research Institute. Ultear had a sudden thought: This is a ready-made scapegoat!

As long as I get my hands on the Dragon Slayer Crystal, I can atone for my sins, right?

On one hand, there are mages taught by magic books; on the other hand, there are magic crystals that are rare, unique, and can quickly train a second-generation Dragon Slayer mage. No matter how you look at it, the latter is more valuable!

After all, the books of lost magic are still at the guild headquarters, in Hades' hands. If a mage is lost, he can teach and train another. Anyway, with the "Heart of the Devil," Hades has no shortage of time. He can teach the same spell to several people.

But Dragon Slayer Crystals aren't so easy to obtain! Not to mention, a simple implantation process can quickly turn someone into a Dragon Slayer Mage!

Although the previous operation backfired, failing to seize magic from the academy and losing four main members, the guild didn't seem to have suffered too much loss even though Ultear only obtained a Dragon Slayer Crystal.

Dragon Slayer Magic, like Arc of the Great Tree, Subordination of Humanity, and Godslayer of Flame, is also one of the lost magics. Not to mention, it can also add some new items to the 'Heart of the Demon's' collection!

……

It was a long and tedious passage, and the deeper Kira went, the more amazed he became by the structure of the castle.

"How big is this castle?! I've been walking in one direction the whole time, but it's already way beyond the area it occupies!"

Then, he remembered the strange things that had happened along the way and suddenly realized what was going on.

"So that's how it is! The forest we saw earlier was built on top of this castle! That explains the unusual terrain and the incredibly tall trees—it was all man-made!"

Through drugs or technology, the trees are made to grow to an unnatural height, while the soil layer is thickened to cover the underground space. The only exit from this space is the mechanical villa.

Having figured this out, Kira became even more curious about the place.

Is such a large-scale operation really necessary just for researching a Dragon Slayer Crystal? Or does this "Dragon Slayer Research Institute" hold some kind of secret?

……

As Kira continued deeper into the area, those walking through the other four passages gradually came to understand the strangeness of the place, but at the same time, they were also drawn to the changing scenery around them.

In the first passage, An Ye, Sawyer, and Sora walked along, one in front and two behind, each on high alert.

The ground was littered with bones, the origin of which was unknown, but each bone was thicker and longer than a human arm, with signs of being gnawed on. Countless bone fragments and debris lay scattered on the ground, and it seemed as if countless wronged souls were groaning in his ears along the way.

"This place is terrifying... Don't walk so fast!"

Sora's voice trembled as she spoke, and she shivered as she clutched her half-exposed chest. She cursed Kira inwardly once more; if he hadn't taken the Celestial Key, she wouldn't feel so insecure!

Sawyer kicked aside the massive bone blocking his way and said, "This place is really strange! Is it some kind of monster graveyard? But it doesn't seem to be the same kind of monster..."

……

Compared to the two of them, Dark Night, who was walking ahead, was not flustered at all. He continued to walk forward on his own, his sleepy eyes still drooping, as if he had just woken up, without a trace of tension on his face.

Seeing his expression, Sawyer thought to himself, 'This guy doesn't seem nervous at all...'

In the rightmost passage, a similar scene appeared, except instead of bones scattered everywhere, there were monster corpses.

But these dead monsters were far more terrifying than the bone path on the left.

Countless large and small monsters in the shape of tigers, wolves, and rats, their bodies covered in patches of blue, purple, and black, rotting flesh infested with maggots and viruses, filling the air with a stench.

This scene made Richard, who had just embraced "love," feel nauseous: "Ugh... what is this?"

Even Eric, who could ingest toxins, could hardly look at the scene before him. After just one glance, he immediately covered his and his venomous concubine's mouths and noses: "It's like a petri dish for viruses!"

"Who are these people living here?!"

He had initially assumed this was a research institute producing Dragon Slayer Crystals, and that even if the people here were crazy, they should be researchers on the technological side. Besides, wasn't the castle they entered from full of mechanical style? He never expected to discover that they were researchers on the biological side!

Richard, unable to bear the surrounding smell any longer, took a moment to catch his breath and shouted, "Eric, aren't you supposed to be able to ingest toxins? Hurry up and eat them!"

However, his suggestion was met with an angry rebuke from Eric: "Don't be ridiculous! This stuff can't be considered a toxin! Even if it is, I wouldn't eat something that looks disgusting!"

He only eats the venom of his beloved pet's snakes! No one can persuade him otherwise!

The venomous snake Chuberios hissed, seemingly also cheering on its master.

Chapter 249 There's no more stock here.

It seems that from the moment she was born, Urudia was inextricably linked to ice, or rather, to those who used ice.

As it is now, the second road on the left is bitterly cold.

Few people know that she can use not only Lost Magic and Arc of Time, but also Ice Shape.

As Ultear's daughter, she naturally inherited her magical talent. Although she rarely uses it, Ultear's skill in this area is not much worse than Gray's or Leon's.

Ultear also has a cold-resistant constitution, and the ice in front of her did not make her feel cold. However, what puzzled her was that, after sensing the ice along the way, she felt that the magic contained in the ice was very familiar.

"what is going on?"

Urudia was puzzled, her brow furrowed as she pondered, "Why do I feel a sense of familiarity with this ice? It's as if... it originates from something within me..."

……

The second path on the right led Gerald to the side, where he tried to sense the darkness ahead. There were no stark white bones, no foul-smelling monster corpses, and no bone-chilling ice. Instead, the entire passage was empty, and he could see nothing at all.

Are the other passageways the same?

Looking at the metal passageway in front of him, Gerald pondered for a moment, "They deliberately separated us. I thought someone would be lying in ambush here. Was I wrong?"

Just then, a dazzling light flashed!

Gerald looked up abruptly and realized that he had unknowingly reached the end of the passage!

"What's going on? I clearly remember it being endless... Right! Kira said the entire castle was made of that metal, which could be controlled at will! Since the owner of this place can freely control the castle, then naturally he can make me reach the end at any time..."

Having figured this out, Gerald looked at the metal door in front of him: "In this situation, are you not planning to waste time and instead have a proper talk face to face?"

He stepped forward and pushed open the door...

……

"So you are the owner of this castle?"

When Kira pushed open the door, the blond youth was fiddling with his "little gadget" in the room. On the wall in front of him hung four large screens, which were showing the scenes from the other four passages, including those of Ultear, Gerald, Eric, and Dark Night.

"Kira Hoplight, nice to meet you, I'm Silver!"

The blond youth stood up and greeted Kira with a bright, sunny smile. After Kira looked him over carefully, he noticed that the blond youth's eyes resembled Natsu's, his mannerisms were like Gray's, and his hairstyle was like Laxus's. He practically had "I'm a good guy" and "My youth was also a shonen manga" written all over his face.

Kira felt like he'd wandered onto the wrong set: "You...you wouldn't happen to be the owner of this research institute, would you?"

Silver gave Kira a strange look: "Of course!"

Kira: "..."

Silver gestured for Kira to sit down, saying, "To be precise, I'm just one of them. Including me, there are five researchers here. I'm in charge of the mechanical research, and I designed this castle. What do you think? Pretty good, right?"

Kira sat down opposite him, nodded sincerely, and said, "Indeed, amazing! It's a godsend for otaku! I'm even a little envious!"

Actually, Kira was quite envious, but he felt there wasn't much difference between the two. Right now, what he cared about most was…

“I learned from Brian that the owner of this place is an old man, isn’t he?”

“Brian…” The other person lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then looked up at Kira again and said, “You are the leader of the Oración Seis, right? He did come here once a few years ago. At that time, the old director was in charge of this place. Not long after, the director died. Since then, I and a few companions have been in charge of this place.”

"I see!" Kira realized. "So this really is the 'Dragon Slayer Research Institute,' and you're researching and selling Dragon Slayer Crystals?"

Silver nodded, then shook his head, and said, "I used to! But I don't anymore!"

Kira pressed, "Why?"

"Because of a shortage of supplies! You may not know, but the so-called Dragon Slayer Crystal is made from the heart of a dragon. But in this era, dragons are almost extinct!"

Silver's answer was succinct and to the point: "A very real and simple reason."

"In fact, this place has been declining since the time of the old director. The research costs were too high, the success rate was too low, and all the Dragon Slayer Crystals that were successfully produced were sold. The 'Poison Dragon Slayer Crystal' that Brian bought back then was one of the last few."

"Are there none left here?" Although he had expected it, Kira was still somewhat unwilling and asked, "I can buy... I mean, buy at a high price."

Kira was truly disappointed!

Before he arrived, he had always believed that these mysterious and suspicious mages who had never appeared must be mad scientists who were conducting clandestine transactions in the black market and carrying out various human experiments in their dark laboratories. In that case, he could act without any guilt to "act on behalf of heaven".

But the scene before him—the sunny young man, the brightly lit and uniquely styled villa, and the machines, metal, and magical props everywhere—was quite different from what he had imagined.

'Looks like this isn't the shady processing plant I imagined. I originally thought there would be a lot of stock here, and I was planning to just rob it...'

Dixi Zu remained unfazed: "There really aren't any left here!"

Kira astutely caught a certain word: "You said... 'here'? Is there somewhere else?"

Silver paused for a moment, then nodded and said, "That's true! No matter how you look at it, 'making a dragon's heart into a dragon-slaying magic crystal' doesn't sound like something that can be accomplished in a few years or decades."

"I don't even know how long this organization researching 'Dragon Slayer Crystals' has existed. All I know is that this is just one branch of the research institute, and all this research institute has been able to contact are the other branches."

"But because this base had run out of stock a long time ago, and the remaining machines were all scrapped, we lost contact with other branches after the previous director passed away."

"In other words, we haven't been in contact with the organization for a full seven years. They might have thought no one was here and abandoned the base long ago. It's impossible for you to find any clues here!"

Those few words blocked all of Kira's thoughts.

Are we going to go home empty-handed this time?

Kira turned his attention to the screen. While he was chatting with the other side, several teammates had already emerged from the tunnel and were facing the guardians at the end of their respective tunnels.

"These are the five researchers you mentioned? They're all quite young... Wait, isn't this gray cat a Transcendent?"

Silver seemed unsurprised by Kira's use of the term "Beyond." He looked up at the screen, and Kira noticed that his gaze had become much more affectionate: "That's right! Its name is Nicol, and it's the youngest one here. It's six years old this year. When I found it, it hadn't even hatched from its egg yet."

Six years ago... just like Harpy and the others, we were among the group that came from Edolas to escape.

"Can cats become researchers? I'm not being racist, but a cat's brain capacity... um... our guild's cat is still complaining about wanting to eat fish every day!"

“Haha…” Silver couldn’t help but chuckle. “Nicole is similar. He grew up in a research institute and learned things that were far more advanced than what people outside the institute learned. Naturally, he became smarter from being influenced by what he saw and heard.”

"However, if we're talking about being greedy, he's the same way. He's always thinking about eating bones, and even I can't do anything about it."