A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

"Agreed! If Gerald marries the princess, the royal family will definitely pardon his past crimes, and then we won't have to be hunted down by the council anymore!"

"What did you say?! You want me and the princess to...?!"

"Thinking about it this way, it seems like he's the only one who's suitable!"

Gerald was sweating profusely: "Hey! You guys... are you kidding me?!"

"Oh~ the kingdom's princess and a former dark mage? That sounds quite interesting!"

"There's no other way; for the sake of the organization, we have to sacrifice Gerald!"

"Sora?! Ultear?! You guys too...?!"

The group knew a little about Jellal and Erza's relationship, and they were happy to watch the show. They spread their hands and laughed, "Sorry, Jellal. We'd love to help you, but with our looks, the princess definitely wouldn't be interested! Don't worry, as long as there's love, nothing is a problem!"

As their arguments became increasingly outrageous, Gerald could no longer remain seated. He stood up and shouted, "I refuse! Why do I have to do that kind of thing?!"

Kira waved his hand helplessly: "I know you're anxious, but don't rush, sit down and let's talk! For the sake of the organization, this is the only way, the simplest method I can think of..."

"Then go by yourself!"

"I'm the boss, how can I personally handle this? You all agree, right?"

“Actually, I think… uh…” Eric wanted to retaliate, but when he saw Kira’s fierce gaze, he swallowed back what he was about to say and quickly changed his words, “You’re right, what kind of boss would personally take action? Gerald should be the one to do it!”

Kira nodded in satisfaction: "Alright, Gerald. Since everyone agrees, this mission is definitely yours. Stop acting like a child and throw a tantrum. It's settled then!"

"Who's acting like a child?!"

Unfortunately, Kira ignored Gerald's dissatisfaction and said to himself, "If you think a whirlwind marriage is too rushed, we can take our time dating. We can wait, right?"

The others nodded vigorously: "Of course, of course!"

"Don't worry, Eric will help you on the date. With his voice magic, you'll know exactly what the other person is thinking. Plus, with your handsome face and your own strength, whether she's a princess or a sow, she'll all cling to you like an octopus!"

"Hey! Isn't that a bit too much?!" Sora's voice came, but no one paid any attention to her.

Gerald remained silent, not even glancing at Kira, his attitude clear: I'm not doing it!

"Don't blame the boss for sacrificing you, there's really no other way!" Kira looked worried and sighed helplessly. "Unless we can leave a great favor for the royal family, we'll have no choice but to take the pillow route."

"But what are the chances of such a coincidence?"

Chapter 374 Kidnapping the Princess

That's just how coincidental things are in this world!

Just as Kira finished speaking, a gasp suddenly came from the "Winter Hot Spring Inn".

"Help!!!"

It was the voice of a young woman, loud and desperate. Her voice must have been screaming for help, as she had seen something terrible or was facing a life-or-death crisis. The cries for help echoed throughout the hot spring inn, interrupting everyone's conversation.

Kira even thought he had wandered into the wrong movie set for a moment, suspecting that this was a chapter titled "The Winter Hot Spring Inn Murder Case".

But that's clearly not the case!

"Huh? It sounds like someone is calling for help..."

“I heard it too.”

"Shall we go take a look?"

"When did you all become so chivalrous and protective of women?"

Before the group could even make a sarcastic remark, the noisy footsteps grew louder and closer.

Eric, with his keenest ears, was the first to notice the commotion outside: "It seems like a few mages are kidnapping a little girl, and they're coming this way!"

Three seconds later, a girl with long emerald-green hair and wearing a bathrobe rushed into the men's bath.

Everyone exclaimed in surprise, "Huh?!"

Upon seeing the scene in the bathroom, the girl's face flushed red. Before she could react, a tremendous force burst through the door from behind her. Ignoring her embarrassment, she jumped into the water with a splash.

At the same time, three figures walked in through the gaping hole in the bath: a muscular older man, a tanned young man, and a two-meter-tall fat man.

The fat man looked around, clearly searching for the girl who had just entered, but when he couldn't see her, he looked puzzled, scratched his head, and muttered to himself, "Strange, where is she? I clearly saw her go in here just now..."

The burly man glanced down at the still rippling water and coldly ordered, "Go check in the water!"

The fat man clearly didn't understand what he meant and simply asked, "Huh? But this is the men's bathroom, she shouldn't be in here, right?"

Kira and the others exchanged glances, the same thought flashing through their minds: Looks like this guy's an idiot...

"Shut up! Do as I say!!"

"Oh!"

After responding, the fat man took two steps forward. His several hundred-pound body shook the entire hotel as he walked, and Kira could clearly feel the hot spring water pulsating under the vibration.

But the fat man stopped before entering the water because he encountered an obstacle: "Kid, get out of my way!"

The person blocking the fat man's way was Gerald, who was in a bad mood at the moment. Actually, he had been sitting in the water without moving, but the fat man was obviously too lazy to go around him, so he walked straight over and wanted to get into the water from there, which made Gerald angry.

I shouldn't have come to the hot springs today!

"Go away!"

From his tone, Kira knew that Gerald was already somewhat angry.

"What did you say?!" The fat man was furious upon hearing this, and raised his right foot to stomp on Gerald's blue head.

But Gerald wasn't about to be outdone. With a splash, he vanished from the water, reappearing beside the fat man with only a towel wrapped around his lower body. He then punched the fat man in the waist, sending him flying.

"Damn it! You brat... Let's attack together!"

The burly man shouted angrily, and the three of them attacked Gerald together. Gerald was not afraid at all. He didn't even need to use magic. He relied solely on physical skills to beat his opponents so badly that they were completely disoriented. The speed and ruthlessness of his movements surprised Kira, who was watching from the sidelines.

"What's wrong with this guy today? Why is he so angry?"

Eric glanced at Kira: "What's wrong... You can act like nothing happened so calmly, no wonder you're a boss!"

"What's wrong over there?" Ultear's voice came through the voice chat channel.

Kira enthusiastically explained, "Three burly men chased a girl into the men's bathhouse, and a shirtless man stepped forward and fought them all without being at a disadvantage! Want to see it?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end before a reply came: "No need."

Three guys who appeared out of nowhere were also mages, but their strength was no match for Jellal, who was in a bad mood, and they were knocked to the ground in less than a minute.

While they were fighting, the girl from before had quietly floated ashore from the other side, originally planning to escape by circling around, but she didn't expect the battle to end so quickly.

She stood frozen in the doorway, soaking wet, watching in a daze as the three pursuers fell to the ground one after another. Only when Gerald approached did she react, bowing shyly in gratitude: "Thank you for your help!"

“No…you’re welcome!” Gerald turned his head away. “Who are they? Why are they chasing you?”

The girl explained, "They are assassins sent by the Mercenary Guild. Someone is after my family's property, so they sent them to kidnap me..."

Three minutes later, the hotel staff left with the girl and three mercenaries, and the group resumed their meeting.

“That girl is lying!” Dark Night was the first to speak. He keenly sensed that the girl’s words were evasive and that she seemed to be hiding something.

Sawyer continued, "The guild crests on those three people belong to a well-known dark guild. I've dealt with them before, often taking on kidnapping and extortion missions."

Gerald nodded and said, "So the kidnapping is probably real. At least it's not some rich girl running away from the conglomerate, nor is it a farce staged for us. It's normal for the girl to be wary of us in this situation."

"She is King Fiore's only daughter, the future heir to the kingdom, and the heroine we discussed earlier, Princess Emerald!"

Kira's words startled the others, whose expressions then became puzzled: "It's her? Didn't Geralt just..."

The group turned to look at Gerald, who was clutching his head, his face full of regret: "Stop talking!! Kira, you knew her identity all along, but you deliberately didn't say it?"

Gerald is now filled with regret, deep regret!

Kira denied it, shrugging and saying, "You came up too fast, the guys couldn't stop you! Besides, she's such an important person, who knew you didn't recognize her? I thought you were rushing to be a hero after what we said before..."

"She's a member of the royal family, it's normal not to recognize her, right?"

"Who said that? Eric knows him, right?"

“I know him!” Eric nodded, but he didn’t completely agree with Kira. “I just heard it with magic; I didn’t know him before! So only Kira knew from the beginning!”

Having failed to share the blame, Kira immediately changed the subject: "Anyway, Gerald helped that Emerald Princess when she was in danger, which earned him some goodwill, making it much easier to date her in the future!"

Gerald indeed forgot to investigate Kira's wickedness: "Wait!! Since 'we' saved her, shouldn't we be considered to have done her a favor? Can't we use that as grounds to ask for her to be released from the wanted list?"

“It wasn’t us! It was you!” Kira corrected Geralt. “You were the only one who acted, so you’re probably the only one who gets the immunity, but you wouldn’t abandon your comrades, would you?”

Gerald almost spat out the words "What's it to me?": "You just made me use my body, and now you know I'm your comrade?"

"Although I've heard that this princess isn't very bright, judging from her appearance, she probably came here to soak in the hot springs. She came out to relax and got kidnapped, then happened to be rescued by you, a wanted criminal, and then you took advantage of her kindness to ask her to lift your arrest warrant... All of this sounds like it was deliberately arranged!"

Gerald felt a surge of anger, almost to the point of internal injury.

Seeing his frustrated expression, Eric said awkwardly, "I really want to agree with you, but that look on your face is really irritating, Kira!"

"Call me boss! Let's get down to business. Kidnapping a princess is no small matter. Even the most ruthless dark guild in the magic world wouldn't dare to make a move without sufficient backing."

Kira stopped teasing Geralt and turned to Eric, asking, "Besides the identity of that Emerald Princess, did you hear about the three kidnappers' purpose?"

This isn't some railway conglomerate's daughter; she's a genuine princess of the kingdom, the heir to the throne! To make a move would be to oppose the entire kingdom, a war between nations! How dare a mere dark guild?

"No! They're just on a mission."

Eric shook his head. His magic could hear thoughts, but it couldn't explore memories. Unless he verbally guided them to the answer to the question, he couldn't hear it!

"If you care so much, why don't you just go and see for yourself?"

Kira comfortably soaked himself in the hot spring again: "Do you know the difference between a boss and a lackey?"

"The other side has been doing this for a long time!"

Chapter 375 What kind of people like to pontificate at the dinner table?

The "other side" that Kira mentioned naturally refers to Ultear and her two companions.

When Princess Emerald and the others left, Kira instructed the three of them to follow them quietly, firstly to confirm their identities, and secondly to ascertain their purpose.

For the same reason, although this Emerald Princess is not very intelligent, she may well be someone who uses "honey traps" or "self-inflicted injury schemes." Kira had previously told Geralt that the other party might suspect that he was trying to get close to her. Conversely, Kira naturally also suspected that the other party might be trying to get close to her.