A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Two minutes later, under the suspicious gazes of the three, Kira skillfully donned his invisibility cloak and flew out of the window.

Tonight, with the moon dark, the wind high, and the clouds heavy, it's the perfect time to spy on the enemy.

The invisibility cloak not only conceals the figure, but also the magic and aura. Not to mention ordinary soldiers, even mages would not be able to detect it if they did not have sufficient perception.

The Bo family's palace was much larger than the Fei family's, but the number of guards was only about half, and the frequency of their replacement was much lower. With the combined effects of the cloak and flight magic, Kira easily bypassed the guards and arrived deep inside the palace.

Where should he begin? Since the goal was to uncover important information, he should naturally start with places like bedrooms, offices, and basements. With that in mind, Kira flew deeper into the palace to investigate.

Kira knew little about the King of Bosk, and most of what he knew came from the short King Thomas. He was said to be a middle-aged man with some magic, a restless and ambitious fellow who had been trying to expand his territory for decades. If his kingdom hadn't been so weak, it wouldn't have remained peaceful for so many years.

Although Kira was unfamiliar with the palace, he still managed to find the king's office quietly, accurately, and quickly using his "hypnotic pocket watch."

The first thing that catches the eye is a huge national map and a continental map of the same size. The two maps are placed together, along with a set of cool armor, a rapier, a magic wand, and a shield, which takes up an entire wall.

Then Kira saw a set of dark red European-style aristocratic reception table and chairs, scattered documents on the desk, old but neatly arranged books on the bookshelf, a few oil paintings, and a few potted plants.

"It doesn't look special... Could it not be here?" Kira carefully examined everything in the room.

The map hints at the king's ambition; the armor, sword, and shield represent his emphasis on military power; the magic wand… wait! This magic wand looks familiar, like one I sold before? The documents are all about handling government affairs, Kira can only understand a little, and the words reveal a ruthless style; the books…

"Oh? This is a magic book? This king is quite diligent and eager to learn!"

Just as Kira was about to take a closer look, a strange, yet somewhat familiar, mechanical voice rang out.

"Warning! Intrusion detected!!"

Kira: ? ? ! !

Chapter 379 There is only one truth

"Warning! Intrusion detected!!"

The alarm was loud and echoed continuously, carrying far and wide. Kira's face was filled with shock, and he even forgot to leave immediately.

What's going on? I've been exposed? How is that possible?! And that alarm sound... it's a machine?! What kind of reconnaissance machine could ignore my invisibility cloak?!

The machine's sound was familiar; Kira felt he must have heard it somewhere before! Where?...

Suddenly, accompanied by the background of "a silver line passing through the black screen," Kira realized: "So that's how it is! I understand now! This makes all the odds make sense! The culprit is the person who said those words back then! Hmm... but there's no evidence..."

Bang! ! !

"Who goes there?!"

Several armed soldiers stormed into the empty room, shouting as they entered. When they could no longer see the intruders, some of them dispersed to search the room, but the room's furnishings were completely exposed. Apart from a space under the desk where a female secretary could be placed, there was nowhere for anyone to hide.

With the invisibility cloak still on top, Kira was invisible to so many eyes. He used magic to float above the desk, his feet not touching the ground, avoiding any possible collisions, and leaving not even a shadow.

Soldier A asked in confusion, "There's no one here... Could it be that the alarm system is malfunctioning?"

The soldier beside him said with disdain, "I told you magic is more useful! I don't know what His Majesty the King was thinking? Why did he have to buy some magical technology! This machine isn't human, how could it possibly detect intruders?"

Soldier A quickly covered his mouth and whispered, "Stop talking!! We just need to follow orders and do our jobs! Introducing magical technology is His Majesty the King's order. Even the ministers who tried to stop him were killed. Are you out of your mind?!"

"Waaah... I understand..." Soldier B broke free from his companion's large hand, glanced at the person next to him with lingering fear, and pretended that nothing had happened.

The captain, oblivious to what was happening, walked to the desk with a puzzled expression, fiddled with a metal machine, and the alarm immediately stopped. He then turned and ordered, "Strange, this is the first time this machine has malfunctioned. Let's report this later! We'll continue patrolling!"

After the patrol team left, Kira slowly landed and commented, "He's obviously an incompetent and irresponsible patrolman! I bet he got his captain's position through connections."

Approaching the alarm more closely for a closer look, he finally spotted a clue in the familiar material and couldn't help but reveal the same smug smile Conan wore when solving a case: "Now all the evidence is there. What a cruel truth!"

……

"And then, you just came back like that?"

"Yes! Because those casual words have already solved the mystery for me!"

Kira returned to the diplomatic quarters late at night. Although he wanted to continue searching the palace, he had no choice but to give up due to the alarm that ignored the invisibility cloak.

"It's solved?" Jura was taken aback, then realized what he meant. "Lord Kira, do you mean the reason the Bosque Kingdom is suddenly acting so aggressively is because of those so-called 'machines'?"

Kira nodded vigorously: "That's right!"

Without a doubt, those machines came from the Dragon Slayer Research Institute and were sold by Silver! Kira had only ever seen those special materials and forging techniques at the research institute.

Silver had told Kira that they would sell the magical weapons they created to other countries in order to obtain research funding and prestige. After witnessing their power, Kira even said he wanted to join them.

But after Silver helped Kira make the Dragon Slayer Crystal, the topic was dropped, and there has been no further news since. Kira thought that the other party had temporarily shelved it, but he didn't expect that it had been going on for a long time.

The magical weapons developed by Silver are bound to be powerful! No wonder the Kingdom of Boske dares to challenge Fiore!

Kira naturally wouldn't reveal the whole truth, but only explained to Princess Emerald that "the change in the other party's attitude was due to a magical weapon of unknown origin."

At this point, the "exploration of the reasons" in this mission is considered partially completed. Now, all I need to do is focus on my guard duties and wait for the team to return.

……

In the forest outside a small town in the Kingdom of Fiore, in a large, imposing house that looked fierce and menacing, a battle between two sides with vastly different numbers and equally vastly different combat strengths had just ended.

This is the stronghold of a notorious dark guild in the magical world, but from now on, this dark guild will be completely wiped out, because all the members of this guild have been knocked to the ground and are unable to move.

The last person still awake was the guild leader, a burly-looking middle-aged man. After being punched and slammed against the wall, he slid weakly to the ground, his eyes bloodshot, his teeth clenched, as he angrily watched his enemies take away all the guild's savings.

These guys are way too strong! I'm a guild leader, and I've had a glorious past in the magic world, yet I'm completely powerless against them. These guys are going too far! They just took away the wealth I've accumulated over half my life without any hesitation. Are they bandits?!

"Who are you people? Why are you attacking me?!"

Several people, completely covered by large cloaks, answered in muffled voices: "Us? We are 'Raven's Tail'! The strongest dark guild in the magical world! As for the reason for our attack... our guild aims to become the king of the dark world, and trash like you, who don't even have the strength to be our subordinate guild, have no reason to continue existing!!!"

"The raven's tail...you wretched creatures! I'll remember you!!"

The scene shifts to a large truck slowly driving through the mountains, carrying five men and three women. The cargo hold contains dozens of bags of treasure looted from various dark guilds, bobbing up and down with the truck's movements.

These people were naturally purging Jellal and his group from the Dark Guild. Since parting ways with Kira last time, they had started a new life: eliminating the dark forces in the magical world while taking away their ill-gotten gains to use for good deeds in the future. It was truly a heroic act that they were proud of!

"Are we really sure this is okay? It feels a little different from the original plan," Sora muttered as she asked. "Speaking of which, why are we using the name 'Raven's Tail'?"

To this, Gerald, the leader, gave a simple answer: "The original plan was difficult to implement, but this way it's much more convenient!"

Ultear, the second-in-command, also said, "Jeral is right! Since the ultimate goal of this phase is to amass wealth, supporting puppets is completely unnecessary!"

Eric toyed with his snake friend, Chuberios, and then analyzed, "Using this method of framing them can both bolster 'Raven's Tail's' reputation and draw hatred towards them, making it easier to deal with them later. However, before we can even make a move, someone else might do it for us!"

Melty asked hesitantly, "But what about Kira...?"

Ultear scoffed, "Kira? That guy is... cough cough... he even dawdles over getting paid. You don't have to listen to everything he says from now on!"

"Oh...oh..." Melty nodded as if she understood, silently taking notes in her mind.

The others exchanged knowing smiles, a sense of pleasure rising within them as they felt the children being led astray.

Half a day later, the group arrived at the stronghold of their next target guild, but what they saw greatly surprised them.

The buildings were dilapidated, the houses collapsed, and the entire stronghold was in ruins. Judging from the signs of damage, it must have been attacked recently. The guild's mages were either dead or injured, and their lives hung by a thread.

Most importantly, a dark aura that was very familiar to several people still lingered at the scene!

Chapter 380 The Reemergence of Doubts

Who attacked them?

What is this residual dark magic?

Just as the group was lost in thought, An Ye suddenly spoke up: "Speaking of which, there's something that's been bothering me."

The group turned to look at him, waiting for him to continue.

"When we wiped out those dark guilds before, several members of those guilds said that they had recently come into contact with a group of mages of unknown origin. These mages all possessed immense power. Their common characteristics were extremely dark magic, bizarre words and actions, a mad attitude, and an inhuman appearance!"

This description immediately reminded Gerald and Ultear of their recent encounter on Tenrou Island. They exchanged a glance, knowing that the other was thinking the same thing.

"Sounds like a demon? Could it be a remnant of the 'Gates of the Underworld'?"

Ultear thought further: "I remember Kira saying that one of the demons in the 'Nine Demon Gates,' Franmars, who could use the 'Soul Absorption' spell, was not captured. Could it be that it was Franmars who gathered the new demon forces?"

If the other party is truly a demon from 'Tether's Gate', then it is a power related to Zeref, so it's not surprising that there are remnants of such dark magic.

The group had secretly discussed this behind Kira's back. Besides eliminating the darkness and gaining their own freedom, one of their goals was to deal with Zeref, who had brought misfortune to their lives.

That's great, we've finally found something that's very likely related to Zeref.

"Huh? There are still people alive?"

Eric noticed the lingering scent in the ruins and went straight over to pull the person out.

"Hey! Wake up!" He slapped the other man several times, waking him from his unconscious state, and then pressed, "What happened here? Who attacked you?"

After a series of questions, the group finally understood what had happened: like the guilds mentioned by Dark Night, this guild had also encountered mysterious mages who had come to their door. Those mages not only destroyed their territory, but also forced them to fight each other, with the losers dying and the winners being transformed into creatures like themselves.

If they lost, they would die; if they won, they would be transformed into this "neither human nor beast nor demon" form. The members of the Dark Guild would definitely not agree to this, so they resisted. But this is the result: they were beaten so badly that they had no chance to fight back, and several of the stronger members were taken away.

"Transformation? What do they look like?"

"Lizard people, hedgehog people, catfish people, leopard people, fish people, and some other strange forms, there are many!"

His words reminded Ultear of something, and she said, "I remember Kira telling me that the 'Tarren Gate' has something that can turn humans into demons. Although the Nether Beast was destroyed by Fairy Tail on Tenrou Island, it's hard to say that there aren't other similar methods."

Gerald nodded solemnly: "One last question, where did they go?"

"East...east!"

The group was taken aback: East? That seems to be the direction of the Kingdom of Bossk! Could it be that the enemy has fled to a neighboring country?

……

The Magic Tournament of Bosque was not outstanding, mainly because their magic guilds and mages were not strong. To say they were comparable to Blue Pegasus would be an overstatement, let alone Fairy Tail.

Even so, the conference lasted for five days, which was quite impressive.

Compared to the Kingdom of Fiore, such a small country could not invite members of the council, so the important guests at the event, apart from the Emerald Princess, were only the reporter, the king, the king's brother, and several presidents of magic guilds.

Such a status is actually quite significant, but Kira still feels that it might be a case of someone pretending to be someone else.

After observing for several days, Kira discovered that King Bosk was indeed as the short king had said: ambitious, arrogant, ruthless, and highly focused on magical military matters.

The king's younger brother, however, was quite the opposite. He was the finance minister of the Kingdom of Bosk. He was gentle, kind, and approachable, and was very friendly to Princess Emerald and her entourage, appearing harmless. He was said to be highly respected within the kingdom, and since the current king had no children, many believed he would eventually inherit the throne.

"I just felt that this Chancellor of the Exchequer wasn't a good person!"