A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

"Idiot! How could such a powerful mage be captured so easily? He must have been pretending to be captured to save us!"

"So we're saved?! That's wonderful!"

The sounds of conversation among the prisoners and guards soldiers filled the air, making Jura and Emerald blush with embarrassment: "Anyway, it's good that everyone is alright!"

"Lord Jura, what was that tremor just now...?"

"It's Kirasan's magic!"

Princess Emerald was completely bewildered: Didn't he say his magic was very quiet?

Jura saw it clearly: Hah... You actually believe such a thing?

With a thud, a large hand ripped away the rubble from the ruins, revealing the scene beneath:

Dozens of orcs were neatly stacked into a human protective tower. Although they were thick-skinned and tough, they were all injured in their internal organs due to the pressure of gravity and the boulder, as well as the fall from the sky. Some were even seriously injured and unconscious. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, however, stood calmly in the middle, holding the magic book. He was completely unharmed and not even covered in dust.

It was clear that in that critical moment, he had manipulated his subordinates to shield him from the falling boulder.

"Sacrificing subordinates without hesitation? That's really in line with the character of a chapter boss!" Kira slowly descended from the sky, looking at the Finance Minister on the ground and complaining, "How did someone like you manage to reach this position?"

"So it was you!" The Finance Minister showed little surprise upon seeing Kira appear here. "I knew you'd come sooner or later since they hadn't caught you, but I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly!"

After saying that, he laughed contemptuously, "You just said to sacrifice your subordinates? Aren't these guys used for this kind of thing? They're just orcs, you can have as many subordinates as you want! What's more, they're beasts that have lost their minds, they're not even 'human' anymore! They're defective products anyway, you can do whatever you want with them, right?"

Kira interrupted him impatiently, looking at him as if he were a dead man: "Hey... what are you talking about, 'defective products'? They'll turn into mindless beasts, and that's all your fault!"

"Yes! That's why I gave them the most dignified way to die!" The Chancellor of the Exchequer was even more smug. "Saving my life is already the most glorious way for them to die! Those few that I sent out to attack you yesterday really died without any value—no, that's not right, at least they tested your strength! Otherwise, I wouldn't have sent out such an attack today!"

Kira gasped, "You're truly a heinous criminal! Using such dark magic with such impunity, and you even planned to murder your brother and seize the country?"

"Oh? It seems you've heard quite a bit!" The Chancellor of the Exchequer was clearly surprised. "You must have heard it all, right? That guy isn't a good person either; he was involved in these plans of mine!"

"Hmph... In the end, he seized his throne this way! I generously gave him the throne back then, but that bastard now wants to replace my orc army with those machines!!"

"How can I tolerate this?!"

What?! What is he saying?! I feel like I just heard something incredible!

Kira was taken aback for a moment, then adopted a gossipy expression: Things seem to be developing in an interesting direction?

Chapter 388 Orc or Demon

The Chancellor of the Exchequer spoke more and more, growing increasingly angry. Gradually, his words lost some of their murderous intent and lust for power, and instead contained seven parts of anger at being betrayed and disappointment at losing his brother.

At that moment, Kira's mind composed an eight-hundred-word melodramatic essay combining themes of magic, family, and political intrigue.

They were the two brothers with the worst magical talent in the royal family. They were bullied and looked down upon. Their parents disliked them, their siblings isolated them, and even the servants and guards made fun of them. It was as if the whole world harbored endless malice towards them—except for each other.

Amidst the laughter, they defiantly shouted phrases like "Never underestimate a young man's potential" and "The roc soars ninety thousand li," vowing to ascend the throne and make those who had bullied them pay dearly.

One day, in their secret base—a valley—the two brothers found an evil book of black magic. Following the magical rituals described within, they captured a group of humans for live experiments, transforming them into their first orc. Gazing at their collaborative masterpiece, the brothers' eyes gleamed with fanaticism and confidence; they knew their chance for revenge had arrived.

Soon, they captured many innocent ordinary people for conversion experiments, thus obtaining a group of powerful orcs who would only obey orders to attack. They then used these orcs to target mages, obtaining even more powerful orcs.

After that, the number of orcs who only obeyed orders snowballed, and they called it the orc legion. The brothers' secret base naturally became their training ground for orcs.

With the power of the orc army, the two brothers defeated the other royal family members and their mage followers.

On the day of victory, the younger brother relinquished the throne he had always coveted to his elder brother, who had cared for him. The elder brother, in turn, entrusted his beloved younger brother with powerful dark magic. The two brothers successfully seized the throne and divided the world, and the story should have ended there.

Unfortunately, good times don't last. Power and strength are a kind of poison, and its strongest effect is corruption.

The elder brother, who inherited the throne, wanted to gain more territory and rights for his kingdom, so he launched a series of wars against foreign powers; while the younger brother, who became the Minister of Finance, began to study the mysteries of black magic and discovered the existence of "intelligent orcs," and began to expand his orc army on a large scale.

The two brothers became so engrossed in it that they couldn't extricate themselves, and then the second effect of power and strength came: suspicion.

The younger brother's reputation grew, and his orc army grew stronger. In addition, his repeated financial setbacks in foreign wars seriously affected his own position and goals. Therefore, the elder brother, who was the king, decided to get rid of his younger brother. The first step was to introduce magical weapons to counterbalance him.

The elder brother's suspicions grew stronger, his tests became more frequent, his attitude worsened, and he even betrayed the elite army that had always followed him. So the younger brother concealed the matter of the "wise orcs" and finally decided to seize the throne and reclaim the rights that his elder brother had given away.

"Wow!!! This is absolutely amazing!!!" Kira exclaimed, his eyes shining with excitement. "What a pathetic, pitiful, and despicable pair of brothers!!!"

The Chancellor of the Exchequer was dumbfounded, staring blankly at Kira: "You...you weren't just imagining something, were you?"

Kira gestured with his hands: "Listen, don't worry! I've seen some brothers... and fellow disciples who parted ways because of something, but in the end they could shake hands and make peace. I think you can too!"

"...As expected, you were just making things up in your head!"

"Of course, since it's a reconciliation between brothers, it can be done anywhere. What do you think of the council's prison? I don't think there's anywhere you can experience the coldness of human nature more thoroughly than there!"

Kira, lost in his own thoughts, said, “I believe you will be able to recall the cold floor you felt when you were young, and the even colder human heart! Then, through this coldness, you will recall the last remaining family affection, and you will find that your own embrace is too small to hold only one person, and the other person’s embrace is too small to hold only one of you!”

"...Although I don't know what you just made up in your head, it sounds very different from my experience!"

"I know your experience is indeed tragic, but that's how magic is, and dark magic is even worse. Without a sufficiently strong mind and body, one cannot resist the temptations of darkness..."

"That's enough! That's enough!! Are you never going to stop? What are you even talking about?!"

"So before you go to the council's prison, there's one more very important thing! Hand over the black magic book you have!"

The Chancellor of the Exchequer suddenly realized: "Hahaha!!! After all that talk, you were after the 'Book of Demons' in my possession?"

Kira shrugged with a cold laugh: "Heh heh heh... If that's what you want to think, then there's nothing I can do. Yes, that's right, just consider it as me... Wait! What did you say? The Book of Demons? You call this the Book of Demons?"

"Oh dear?! Can't you see?" This time it was the Chancellor of the Exchequer who was surprised. "Look at those who have been transformed! They are neither human nor beast, and their bodies are filled with a dark aura. They are exactly like demons!"

"This makes me absolutely certain that they have been transformed into demons! This book is the Book of Demons! And there can only be one person who could create this book! He is the most powerful, greatest, and most evil dark mage in history, Zeref!!!"

The Chancellor of the Exchequer looked incredibly enthusiastic, but Kira only thought he looked like a clown.

"Pfft—! Hahaha!!! This must be the worst Zerg has ever been mocked!!!"

The laughter was so loud that everyone present could hear it clearly.

"Enough! What's so funny?!"

The middle-aged man, though not young, shouted angrily, but did not interrupt Kira's mockery. Being mocked was nothing to him, but what angered and puzzled him was that the laughter was full of sarcasm, pity, disdain, and compassion, as if he were a foolish and ignorant child making a mistake that made it impossible for anyone not to laugh.

It wasn't just this man who was puzzled; others were also confused: they felt that Kira's words were reasonable and flawless, so why would Kira laugh at him? Was it a distraction tactic?

Kira was torn: What should he do? He had two choices: one was to tell him that it wasn't a demonic aura at all, and had nothing to do with Zeref, and then laugh at him loudly; the other was to say nothing, slowly enjoy watching him go further and further down the wrong path, and then laugh at him madly.

"It's such a difficult choice!"

"Then there's no need to choose!!" The Chancellor of the Exchequer, having finally reached his limit, waved his hand and ordered, "Attack! Seize him! I'm going to turn him into a demon too, so he'll obey my orders for the rest of his life!"

Upon hearing this, all the orcs, like machines that had been started, charged towards Kira with their fists, claws, and all other weapons at their disposal. Obeying their master's orders was absolute, so they didn't even care about Jura, the Emerald Princess, and the group of prisoners who were clearly visible in the stone house before them.

This time, having witnessed Kira's strength, the Emerald Princess did not blurt out "I want to fight too" again. Instead, she stood obediently in place, quietly waiting for the battle to end under the watchful eyes of Jura and the guards.

"Come on, come on!! I'm in a good mood today, so I'll show you country bumpkins some magic you've never seen before!"

Facing a massive, overwhelming orc army, Kira advanced instead of retreating, pressing his right hand into the ground like a claw and letting out a roar, "Rock Dragon Mimicry!"

Suddenly, a deafening roar seemed to resound between heaven and earth. Under the watchful eyes of hundreds and thousands of people, countless stones rapidly rose into the air, converging in the sky to form a colossal rock dragon.

Chapter 389 Robots Join the Battle

On the battlefield, scattered stones came together to form a complete giant dragon.

The enormous creature above had a body made of rock, wings made of rock, feet made of rock, as well as eyes, nose, mouth, fangs, and claws... It was all rock, inside and out, from top to bottom!

But its attack went far beyond the reach of the rocks!

With a gentle flap of its wings, the giant rock dragon unleashed a violent gust of wind, instantly whipping up sand and stones, filling the air with dust. All the orcs were thrown about by the force of the wind, some flying into the air with nowhere to brace themselves, others falling flat on their backs and unable to rise again, and still others being violently pushed back, unable to advance.

With another flap of its wings, more boulders rained down, sending the orcs flying dozens of meters. The orcs that were knocked away then crashed into another group of orcs, creating a snowball effect with each collision.

The falling boulders came from the body of the rock dragon, and each time it launched one, stones would rise from the ground to fill the gap, much like a swimming pool that was being filled and drained at the same time, or a mage who was replenishing his magic power while casting spells, as if the energy for attack was inexhaustible.

"Is that a dragon? It's huge!!"

"Can that guy summon dragons to fight?"

Everyone present was shocked. Even Princess Emerald forgot the danger and turned to ask, "Jurasan, I heard that Jirasan's guild fought against Acnologia before. Was it such a powerful being?"

Although her exact combat strength was unknown, it didn't stop Jura from praising Acnologia: "No! Acnologia is much stronger than this. The difference between the two is like the difference between a plush toy and Zeref!"

The vivid metaphors gave Jade a clearer understanding of the power of magic.

What Jura didn't know was that when he was "bashing" Fairy Tail, he was indirectly praising Fairy Tail and Kira's strength.

"Charge, Rock Dragon!"

Kira manipulated the rock dragon's joints as if it were a toy machine, using techniques similar to those of several Dragon Slayer mages, such as Iron Fist, Claw, Staff Sword, Crushing Fist, Wave Wind, and Wing Attack, causing the earth to shake and rocks and beasts to fly everywhere.

The rock dragon roared, soared, and wreaked havoc on the battlefield. Despite the orcs charging forward wave after wave, not a single orc could withstand its onslaught, let alone get close to Kira.

"Damn it... what a useless bunch of underlings! It seems that Zeref's demons are nothing special after all!" the Finance Minister cursed in exasperation.

Kira shook his head as he listened. He hadn't expected that the other party still believed it to be Zeref's magic! But it was no wonder, given that Zeref's dark magic was the most prevalent, most effective, and most widely spread in the world.

Seeing that his "demon army" could not defeat Kira in the short term, the Chancellor of the Exchequer turned his attention to controlling them to attack Jura, but the situation was not optimistic either.

Kira was in the mood to play slowly, but Jura had no time. He not only had to protect the Emerald Princess, but also a group of ordinary people who were unable to fight. Therefore, he did not hold back. Under a series of thick rock and iron pillars and the rubble of the castle, the orc army had no resistance at all and was directly smashed away by the powerful stones.

This town is the main base of the orcs. After decades of development, the number of orcs inside is at least five thousand, if not tens of thousands, but they still cannot conquer it after a long siege by Kira and Jura.

"There are only two of them, why can't they take it down after so long?!"

The Chancellor of the Exchequer watched the battlefield from afar, hiding behind the orcs. The more he watched, the more anxious he became. He himself was not very strong; he only had his current status and power because he could control these transformed beings. But now, his army was completely ineffective against the enemy, and if things continued like this, defeat was inevitable.

"Looks like we'll have no choice but to use that thing!"

Before long, Kira discovered that the enemy's lineup had gained a lot of other things—machine soldiers!

Kira was taken aback, but quickly realized what was happening and immediately became extremely alert: "Those were the machine soldiers who ambushed Jura? That means they have weapons that seal magic?"

We absolutely cannot let ourselves be tricked, or we'll ruin our reputation!

"Hurricane Tornado!!"

Suddenly, Kira let out a loud shout, and his magical power surged outward. Instantly, a terrifying gale swept through, destroying the earth and splitting rocks, as if a typhoon had swept across. Whether it was the mountain of rubble underfoot or the giant rock dragon tens of meters high in the air, they were all easily torn apart by the wind blades like bubbles.

Even the massive rock dragon, weighing tens of thousands of pounds, was powerless against them, let alone the robots. They had barely entered the battlefield, not even having time to draw their weapons, when they were swept away by the gale whipped up by Kira. Driven by Kira's magic, the sharp wind blades left scars on the robots' bodies as easily as cutting through tofu.

"Huh? What's going on? This robot doesn't seem very strong..." Seeing this, Kira was extremely puzzled. According to his calculations, these machines shouldn't have such weak defenses. He couldn't help but ask, "Did you not pay enough, so they only sold you a defective product?"

The Chancellor of the Exchequer was also stunned. He hadn't expected this at all, and muttered to himself in shock, "How...how could this happen?! It never did this before!!"