A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

"Don't you stay here all the time?"

"That's not OK!"

Seeing that Kurnuki was unmoved, Kira had no choice but to resort to his ultimate weapon: "Well, in that case, I'll have to use that method!"

"That method??"

All eyes turned to Kira, wondering, 'Is he planning to attack directly?'

"You're willing to fight Dispel, aren't you? He and I are basically the same person, so if he beats you, it's the same as me beating you. When you lose to him, I'll just take a picture."

Everyone: ...

At this point, Kira lay down, a look of pure comfort on his face, demonstrating to the others what it meant to be completely relaxed: "Ah—! I can complete the quest while lying down and get 3 million J for free, this is so awesome!"

"What?! You're saying this commission is worth 3 million J?"

The others wanted to say something like, "How can you be so shameless?" or "You're so smart," but Dispel grabbed Kira by the collar, his face full of excitement, and said, "Hey, Kurnuki, why don't we agree to his offer? Then we'll ask them for 2 million J!"

Before Kurnuki could answer, Kira abruptly yanked Dispel's hand away and yelled, "2 million?! You're dreaming!! All the money is mine!!"

Erza's squad was speechless: Has Kira forgotten about us...?

"Hey, I'm helping you persuade him right now!! It's common sense to spend money to hire someone like Long, right? As the middleman, it's normal for me to charge a fee, isn't it?"

"Hey you, you're not even as old as me, why are you so obsessed with money?! Where did you learn this attitude from? It's so improper! Listen to your brother, money is just an external thing, you should be more concerned with swordsmanship!!"

Before they knew it, Kira and Despel had started hurling insults at each other.

"Stop babbling!! You're clearly even more greedy for money than me!!"

"I've said it many times, I'm not like you. I'm not greedy for money, I just enjoy the process of making money!"

"I just enjoy the thrill of spending money, that's why I need so much money!"

"Didn't you make a lot of money in Magnolia back then?! And you didn't even invite me! It makes me so angry..."

"How much time do you think has passed? That little bit of money was all spent long ago!"

Two identical faces, speaking with the same voices and similar tones, exchanging insults with each other like snipers facing off in the middle of a gate, leaving everyone else completely dumbfounded.

"Even though I've asked this many times, I still want to say it: Aren't they really brothers?"

Kurnuki was dumbfounded: Was the guy arguing with me really the same guy I'd been fighting with for days? He seemed like a completely different person. Was his only redeeming quality his swordsmanship?

Thanks to Kira and the others' visit, Dispel and Kurnuki ended their battle for the day ahead of schedule.

"It's unbelievable that you've been fighting like this for seven days! No wonder you've managed to destroy this place like this... By the way, is this really alright? You live here, right?"

Kira had never seen such a chaotic fight taking place in their own territory before, except in Fairy Tail.

"It's alright, this place is quite large, this little bit of damage is nothing. Besides, my territory isn't limited to this mountain range!"

To Kira, Kurnuki's words meant, "My house is quite big, and I have several houses," which was truly enviable—and it really was quite big, an entire... no, maybe several mountain ranges!

After several conversations, Kira also discovered that this Kurnuki had a strange verbal tic, often adding "and, ***" to a sentence, and he didn't know who he learned it from.

I remember that the Vermilion Bird that ate its flesh spoke strangely. Could it be a habit imprinted in its biological factors?

Over the next few days, the group silently watched Kurnuki and Dispel fight.

For a mage, such an attack would be nothing short of a waste of energy, but Dispel was truly different. He seemed to possess a physique and superb swordsmanship that surpassed human limits, with high attack power and long endurance. Each swing of his sword could unleash a slashing wave tens of meters long, shattering the surrounding scattered stones into even finer fragments.

"Is this really swordsmanship that a human could wield?"

Erza was sweating profusely, but she still watched the battle between the man and the dragon with bated breath, her heart pounding with excitement.

"Indeed, that attack power is no joke!"

Hearing Erza's words, Kira picked up a twig about the thickness of a finger from the ground and said, "I reckon that guy could shatter your strongest armor, the Diamond Armor, with just a twig like this."

Beside the two, the others watched the battlefield in silence. Natsu suddenly asked, "Speaking of which, since Dispel doesn't have the power to slay dragons, how come he was able to fight Chnuki to a standstill?"

"Didn't I say before? Ordinary mages can't harm dragons because the magic they use is greatly weakened. But dragon-slaying magic originates from dragons and ignores this weakening. This proves that as long as the attack is strong enough, it's actually possible to break through this weakening!"

"Also, although dragons are powerful and blessed with unique advantages, they are ultimately just creatures! And every power and life form has its own way of being countered, and there is more than one way, so it is impossible for only dragons to defeat dragons!"

"Finally, Dispel's swordsmanship is really strong! He has no magic in his body, so he is not affected by the weakening effect, and his slashes are pure physical attacks. Even if they cannot be completely ignored, the damage is not to be underestimated."

Kira talked on and on, but when he finished, he realized that no one was listening to him at all. Frustrated, he scratched his head and muttered, "Honestly, they ask questions but don't listen. This kind of attitude towards learning is not proper at all!"

On the field, Kurnuki and Dispel collided from time to time, producing a deafening clanging sound.

Each time they clashed, a burst of sword energy erupted from the point of impact, creating swirling winds that rippled outwards, leaving ugly scars on the ground. Then, they sheathed their swords, gathered their strength, and drew them again, repeating this process over and over!

Gray suddenly sighed and asked, "Kira, how long are they going to keep fighting like this?"

"What's wrong? Are you hungry? We haven't even started making lunch yet!"

“That’s not what I meant! I meant we’ve been waiting here for three days now, and including the three days before that, it’s been almost a week since we left the Council of Ministers (MNP), but the commission…”

"Isn't the commission being completed with great effort? Look how hard Dispel is working..."

Chapter 418 Departure

For Kira, making Despel do hard labor while he waits for the final reward is a decision he feels no guilt whatsoever!

The others could understand Kira's thoughts and trusted his decision, but they were still unwilling to give up: "But this is our commission, isn't it? Is it okay for us to just stand here and watch without doing anything?"

Natsu echoed Gray's words, jumping up and down: "Yeah, yeah, I also want to fight a dragon!"

"So you guys are just itching for a fight after not having one for too long, right? Open your eyes wide and look carefully! What's happening over there is a duel between men! It's a dragon-slaying battle that's significant for every swordsman. It's not good for us to interfere, is it?"

"You're right, but it's really frustrating. We have Long by our side, yet we can't fight him."

This method actually worked unexpectedly...

By the time Kurnuki and Dispel finally got tired of fighting, it had been seven days since Kira and the others arrived.

"Those two guys finally stopped fighting... If you count the time, they've been fighting for about half a month, haven't they? Seriously, what I've experienced here during this time can't be simply described as 'encountering a natural disaster'."

The once continuous mountain range has been completely transformed in more than 70% of its area. The peaks, rivers, and forests have all been severely damaged. Furthermore, due to the battle between Kurnuki and Dispel, almost all the birds and beasts in the area have fled. Therefore, the only meat that can be found in this area these days is fish.

It is undoubtedly a sad thing to not be able to find a single substantial food reserve in the wild. If there were no other food available, they probably would have already taken Kurnuki and made a mess of it.

At first, things were fine. With their superb cooking skills and fresh ingredients, the group prepared the fish in all sorts of ways, such as boiling, grilling, frying, and braising. But they gradually got tired of it.

Except for Happy and Charlotte, who are still enjoying their food, everyone else feels nauseous at the sight of fish.

Natsu's face was ashen, and he walked unsteadily, utterly weak. Anyone could see he was malnourished: "I don't want to eat fish for the next month..."

Happy, dangling a grilled fish, tried to dissuade Natsu's idea with his usual cuteness: "Eh? Why? Isn't it nice to eat fish every day?"

"No! I want to eat meat now!"

"Natsu, fish is meat too..."

Just as the two were packing their luggage, Kira's voice came: "What are you doing? Get ready to go back!"

Kurnuki and Dispel, the two swordsmen, were so engrossed in their daily battles that Kira finally seized the opportunity and, while they were resting from exhaustion, quickly snapped a series of photos.

The photo shows Kurnuki, looking disheveled and knocked unconscious (actually sleeping), Kira, looking spirited and radiant but slightly dirty, and the surrounding mountains resembling ruins.

From this particular angle and with Kira's bizarre movements, anyone looking at it would think that the man and the dragon had gone through a great battle, and that Kira had ultimately defeated Knuki.

Such a photo was enough for him to submit to the Council of Ministers (MNP) and receive the reward of 3 million J.

While the others were packing their belongings from the makeshift huts to the airship, Kira asked Kurnuki and Dispel, puzzled, "By the way, why did you guys come along? I've got the photos now, I don't need you anymore, let's get back to fighting!"

Dispel said with dissatisfaction, "Saying it's a bayonet fight is too awful! We're having a swordsmanship exchange!!"

Kira then turned his gaze to the handsome young man with long blond hair, who narrowed his eyes and replied, "I heard from Dispel that you can get a share of the profits from image rights... Although I'm not really interested in money, I always feel that when I'm in human form, I need a sword, so I need money!"

Kira was taken aback by the other person's words and instinctively looked at Dispel, only to see him give him a cunning smile and even wave his hand provocatively.

'That wretched guy!!'

"Also, this mountain range has been destroyed and will probably be uninhabitable for decades, so I want to move to another place."

"Change the location...? Oh! You did say there were many..."

Kurnuki remained calm, but then uttered a surprising statement: "After all these years, I'm tired of staying in Giltina and want to go see Ishgar."

But this decision surprised Kira: "Huh?! You want to go to Ishgar?! Why so suddenly?!"

"It wasn't exactly sudden. Actually, I've always had this idea. I once heard my birth mother say that the dragons of the Northern Continent all migrated from there, apparently to escape Acnologia."

"However, it used to reside in Ishgar, and I wasn't confident I could survive if I encountered it, so I never went. Not to mention me, even those arrogant guys who call themselves 'divine dragons' felt the same way."

Kira understood what was going on, and asked, "So what are your plans after you get there? Having a dragon in the Kingdom of Fiore is a big deal!"

Kira's words were originally just a casual remark, but Kurnuki replied quite seriously: "Don't worry, I'll try my best not to cause any trouble. Although I enjoy swordsmanship, I don't want to be fighting with people every day. I've had enough of that in the past two weeks!"

"Speaking of which, who won your duel?"

Chnuki fell silent, glancing at Dispel, who was chatting and scrambling for snacks with Natsu and the others not far away. Kira interpreted this expression as, "I lost, but I'm not convinced."

"Oh my god?! Could it be...?!"

Before Kira could finish his sentence, Kurnuki ruthlessly interrupted him: "Don't even think about it! He's a long way from beating me!"

'But his swordsmanship is truly impressive, and it's still improving...'

"Hey! Disappointing!"

“These past few days, we’ve been sparring constantly, trying to prove that my swordsmanship is better than his. But because of racial differences, he can’t inflict 100% damage on me, so we’ve been able to compare our swordsmanship by destroying external objects all along.”

Kira suddenly realized, "I see! No wonder you guys destroyed the mountains like that, and fought for so long without getting hurt. It turns out these two were having a demolition speed contest, not a PvP match..."

Kurnuki clearly didn't understand the second half of the sentence, so he chose to ignore it: "After half a month of competition, we've all discovered one thing: we can't prove the superiority of each other's swordsmanship based solely on our own abilities. Therefore..."

"so??"

Just then, Dispel walked over and finished the sentence: "Therefore, we have decided to pass on our swordsmanship to others and let them compete on our behalf!"

"Grant...swordsmanship??" Kira was stunned for a moment before reacting, then exclaimed with delight, "Are you taking me on as an apprentice? Hey, what do you think of me?"

"You can not."

"Completely lacking talent."

"A complete mess."

"Play your magic well."