A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

(The following is an interview experience and impressions published in the newspaper, exposed by a mage from a dark guild.)

The Witch's Sin: Introduce yourself.

Interviewee: My name is... I stayed here because of... and now I hope to have a chance to atone for my sins and leave the Dark Guild.

(Here, you should explain why you got involved with the dark guild based on your own experience. A word of advice from someone who's been there: the more emotional the better. You can cut or rearrange the order as needed, but remember! DO NOT LOVE ...

Sin of the Witch: Our guild needs to accept commissions from the royal family. Not to mention dark guilds, there are many differences compared to regular guilds. In general, there are many restrictions. The work content, time and pay are not fixed. You may have to work overtime for several months in a row, and there may not even be any salary during that time. Can you accept this?

Interviewee: Of course! I've long been prepared to atone for my sins; freedom is no longer something I can even dream of!

(Now I realize I was completely out of my mind to say yes. Hahaha...)

Sin of the Witch: Is that so? It's good that you're aware of this! But our guild's first pursuit is freedom! You don't seem to fit our guild culture quite well!

Interviewee: Well… actually, I also yearn for freedom! I have a dream: to become the freest person on the sea… no, I mean, in the magical world!

(This is a huge trap!! Don't fall into it!! I almost got eliminated! These guys obey the royal family, but their primary pursuit is freedom, can you believe it? I still can't believe it!)

The Witch's Sin: So, are you even capable at your job?

Interviewee: The magic/weapon I use is... I've done many quests before, including...

(Magic is about quality, not quantity; talking a lot is useless! Weapons are subjective; don't exaggerate, they'll let you experience it firsthand! Also, don't be afraid of how dark the quests are, but they must be big! You need to prove your strength!! Think about it, everyone else is "building the Tower of Paradise," "destroying the Council," and "activating Nirvana," and you say you're just collecting protection money, do you think they'll want you?)

The Witch's Sin: Let's give it a try...

Thud! Thump!

The Witch's Sin: Your abilities are insufficient, go back!

(Who would have thought that even the kids are so strong! People often say, "The pinker the hair, the fiercer the fight," I used to think that was true, but now I know it's true!)

In summary: Throughout the entire process, I felt like a child performing for a group of adults. Please remember these points:

Be honest, because the other person will know if you lie.

You need to have sharp eyes and quick reflexes; pay attention to holes in the ground, water on doors, and chair legs, as changes can happen in an instant.

Don't underestimate anyone. When you're asked to choose someone to compete against, don't pick that child. She might hurt you badly because you look down on her.

Don't bring up topics related to angels and demons. If asked, just say you don't know, you don't understand, and you've never encountered them. Then, just blindly praise angels.

Showing more about your yearning for and commitment to "love" (not romantic love! but familial love, friendship, and universal love!) might earn you extra points.

In short, after saying all this, it boils down to two points: first, you need to have the right mindset; second, you need to have strong abilities.

These kinds of magic guilds are all like that; it's very difficult. Everyone should carefully consider their own situation before joining. However, I haven't seen anyone pass the interview to join Witch's Sin yet, so maybe they don't even intend to recruit.

(This concludes the article published in the newspaper.)

Chapter 393 The Story That Has Been Passed Down, The Black Magic in the Book

Inside the guild, Kira sat in his seat, holding a newspaper and laughing uncontrollably.

"Pfft, hahaha... I'm dying of laughter!!" He didn't know who this unlucky guy who went for the Witch's Sin interview was, but that didn't stop him from gloating. "How can there be such an interesting person?"

He laughed for a while, then his laughter stopped. After a moment of silence, he sighed, "Sigh... Just like me back then!"

"I don't recall ever making things difficult for you when you first joined the guild!"

A familiar, elderly voice sounded from behind, startling Kira so much that he jumped: "Guild Master, please don't mind me! I was referring to my past experiences in the Adventurers' Guild!"

Makarov asked in confusion, "That must have happened before you were ten years old, right? How can you remember it so clearly?"

"...Children from poor families mature early, so it's normal for them to remember more, right?"

“That’s true… wait a minute!” Makarov nodded in agreement, then jumped up and tapped Kira on the head. “That’s not what I wanted to say! I’m asking you, weren’t you the one who orchestrated the Sin of the Witch?”

"Right?"

"I'm not saying it's bad, but for something this important, shouldn't you at least discuss it with me first?"

Faced with the old man's reprimand, Kira could only nod repeatedly in agreement: "Yes, yes, yes... Weren't we just too late this time? Next time, I'll definitely report it in advance!"

"You want a next time?! Do you know that because of this, I got a real dressing down from the council?!"

"Tch! The Council is nothing..."

"Um?!"

Noticing Makarov's unfriendly gaze, Kira swallowed the rest of his sentence and changed his words: "Uh, I mean, those guys in the council just love to make a mountain out of a molehill, taking the opportunity to show off, always talking about face and status. Honestly, they're just a bunch of incompetent old men, not Shanks..."

Makarov didn't know what connection Kira had with the redhead, but that didn't stop him from hearing the disdain in Kira's words. He sighed deeply, "Ah... how did I raise such rebellious children..."

"Huh? What are you talking about, Chairman? Haven't you always ignored what the council says?"

"Nonsense! I am the most law-abiding citizen! Otherwise, how could I be the president of the 'Fiore First Magic Guild'?"

"President, this kind of talk only works on unsuspecting people. Don't fool yourself too."

After their conversation, Kira understood Makarov's implication: We are now truly the number one guild, so we need to be more careful in the future.

In order for the old man to be able to retire in peace, Kira could only obediently promise him that he would try his best not to go too far in the future.

After watching Makarov leave, Kira took out a book from his pocket and began to read it carefully.

If Jura or the Emerald Princess were here, they would recognize this as the culprit that nearly caused chaos in the Kingdom of Bosk—the dark magic book that transformed and controlled humans into orcs.

After obtaining the book, Kira read it several times and ultimately came to three conclusions:

Firstly, the dark magic used by the finance minister of the Boske Kingdom to transform and control orcs was only the first chapter of this magic book!

Presumably limited by his knowledge and talent, that minister simply couldn't understand or use the more powerful dark magic that followed, so he could only bury himself in building the orc army.

But even this was enough for him to gain the power to control a country, which shows how terrifying this book is.

The second point was already established: it wasn't written by Jelf.

Zeref's dark magic almost entirely involves creating demons, but the dark magic in this book involves exchanging reason for power, which is quite different from the other two.

Therefore, Kira named it the "Book of Wisdom".

Last but not least, it may have existed even longer than Zeref's time.

The reason for this conclusion is that the black magic recorded in this book reminded Kira of a fairy tale that has been circulating in Ishgar for who knows how long.

A fairy tale as ancient as the "Black and White Fairy".

The story takes place in a once-prosperous magical kingdom, ruled by a king named Midas.

One day, Midas was corrupted by dark magic for some unknown reason and turned into a demon with donkey ears. His barber discovered this and spread the news.

Midas was enraged and brutally murdered everyone who knew the news.

After that, his reason, which was already under the influence of dark magic, gradually collapsed, and his personality began to become cruel, until he completely accepted the dark magic and became a demon.

Finally, Midas's throne was overthrown by the counts of the country.

When Kira received the "Book of Wisdom," the fairy tale immediately came to mind, and at the same time, an immature thought popped into his head: if the finance minister of the Kingdom of Bosk had used transformation magic on his king brother, would their kingdom's fate have been the same as in the story?

Every fairy tale has its own meaning: "The Black and White Fairy" appears to be a celebration of love, but behind it lies a struggle between gods and demons; "The King with Donkey Ears" appears to be a lesson about not talking too much, but are there other stories behind it?

Kira was extremely interested in this, and just like when he investigated the story of the 'Black and White Fairies', he looked up many similar stories and legends, and sure enough, he found a clue!

This is another legend, a legend about the Black Forest.

Legend has it that in Ishgar there is a forest infected by dark magic, known as the Black Forest. All creatures that enter the Black Forest are corrupted by the dark magic, turning into monsters and gradually losing their sanity.

This situation persisted until the emergence of the "Hope Clan," whose mages could not only purify the dark magic on monsters but also control monsters corrupted by dark magic.

Later, the Hope family purified the dark magic, freeing the corrupted Black Forest and monsters, restoring them to their original state.

Until this incident, Kira always thought that the story was meant to explain to the world the wonder of magic, the evil of black magic, and to promote justice and light.

But now, he has a vague feeling that the truth behind the story may be more than that.

"Dark magic, monsters, manipulation—how familiar these terms are! Wasn't that the Chancellor of the Exchequer using this book to perform demonic magic and gain the ability to control orcs?"

Kira flipped through the "Book of Wisdom" in his hands again and again. It had a total of seven chapters, each of which recorded a kind of magic. There was no progression or prerequisite relationship between them, but the magical knowledge contained in them was very ancient, obscure and complex.

The magic recorded in the first chapter is the kind that modifies the human soul and body, allowing them to acquire the power of other living beings—this is the kind of magic that the Chancellor of the Exchequer used.

After careful study, Kira discovered that the magic of "acquiring the power of other creatures" was very similar to receiving magic. The difference was that receiving magic allowed the mage to receive the magical beast themselves, while this magic allowed someone else to receive the magical beast, thus controlling that person.

The magic recorded in Chapter Two is the modification of living beings, granting them immense power.

It's similar to the magic recorded in the first chapter, but it's more difficult to use because its targets are magical beasts, animals, plants, and even soulless objects. They don't have the same level of intelligence as humans and can't receive it—this situation is closer to enchantment magic.

If the legendary Black Forest was indeed created by the Hope Clan, then they likely used the black magic described in Chapter Two of this book.

The magic recorded in Chapter Three involves the manipulation of living beings, and these beings were not modified by the magic in Chapters One and Two.

This was also a spell that greatly surprised Kira, because he saw several familiar shadows in it: Sherry's puppet show, Zudir's human subservience, Huayuan's birth at the hour of the 11 o'clock, Future Rogue's dragon manipulation magic, as well as Sera's command spells and Keith's necromancy!

Chapter 394 Someone is getting married

The third chapter of the "Book of Wisdom" records dark magic, encompassing almost all manipulation magic.

Kira became increasingly surprised as he looked, because those spells and incantations, whether using a medium to manipulate the body, communicating with the manipulated object, directly controlling the limbs of a specific creature, or issuing a command to the target, all had different underlying principles!

But this magic book groups it into a chapter. Could it be the prototype or summary of these spells?

With this question in mind, Kira continued to flip through the spellbook.

Chapter Four is another form of dark magic similar to Chapter Three, involving the manipulation of inanimate objects. These inanimate objects include various substances from nature, such as elements like water, fire, wind, thunder, and earth, as well as various metals.

There are even more similarities to this kind of magic. In addition to all elemental magic, there is Erza's manipulation of weapons and armor, Jellal's celestial magic, Bruno's gravity manipulation, and even Usagi's manipulation of fire.

As for the contents of Chapters 5, 6, and 7, Kira couldn't understand them well because the language was too ancient and obscure. Even after consulting various documents, he had no clue and had to give up.

"If we have the chance to meet Eileen, Jelf, or Faron, we might be able to find out what's written on it."

The reason I mention these three is because they are arguably the three people with the highest level of magical research in the Fairy Tail world.

Irene was once a princess of a kingdom and the Mother of Dragons, a high-ranking mage with extraordinary magical knowledge; Zeref, needless to say, was a scholar from a young age and had studied magic for four hundred years. Although he couldn't defeat Acnologia in strength, his knowledge far surpassed hers; the last one, the Magic Dragon, was able to improve and learn Dragon Slayer Magic, and it was a Dragon Slayer Magic that was set to know all the information, making its foundation unfathomable.

Compared to these three, Black Dragon, Hades, and even the former Speaker who possessed the ancient documents all pale in comparison.

"Kira, what are you looking at?" A familiar voice rang in my ears; it was Happy.