A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Unconsciously, Brandish's image reappeared in Lucy's mind. Recalling her cold eyes, inexplicable hostility, and indistinct words, her face became even more sorrowful.

'No, that's not right! She's about my age, but I've never seen her before. She couldn't possibly know Mom! If I'm not mistaken, she should be related to Aquarius. But Mom gave me Aquarius's key herself, and her previous contractor should have been Mom…'

'Damn it! If I could summon Aquarius right now, I could get everything sorted out...'

Lucy found it increasingly strange, and her agitated appearance was very much like that of the blond-haired man who had been killed by his aggrieved party.

Chapter 497 A spell destined to fail before it even was cast

Inside the room, after Timalia left, Brantish finally lifted his head from the ice cream.

Strange, even though I finally got to eat the starry ice cream I'd been craving and ate so many potato chips, why do I still feel so empty?

Her gaze fell on the Aquarius key on the table, and she was lost in memories from many years ago.

The key to Aquarius is his mother, the thing that Grame cherishes most, which comes from the former mistress of the house, Leila Heartfilia, as his mother once spoke of her.

Out of respect for his wife, the mother would take out the Aquarius key every day to wipe, wash, and air it out, making sure it was free of any dust; and Aquarius was her master... her only playmate.

That period was the happiest time of her life. With her mother and Aquarius, the three of them lived a very happy life.

In X777, when she was ten years old, her mother suddenly received a letter from her former master, Leila. After that, she hurriedly took the Aquarius Key and set off. Some time later, news of her mother's death came from the Kingdom of Fiore, and the Aquarius Key returned to Leila's hands.

From that moment on, she was convinced that Leila was the murderer of her mother.

Then, because of her magical talent, she was taught by Auguste, and with his help, her magic advanced by leaps and bounds until she became one of the Twelve Shields.

Brandish suddenly opened his eyes, got up and walked towards the cell.

She needs to have a serious talk with Leila's daughter.

……

"Let me... vomit... out..."

Natsu perfectly embodied what a prisoner should look like at this moment. Although he did this mainly because of seasickness, his incessant wails were indeed very fitting for the occasion.

Gray's head was throbbing from Natsu's noise, so he could only gently advise Natsu to shut up: "No matter how much you shout, they won't let us go. I think you should save your energy..."

His calm tone made it almost seem as if he wasn't locked up in a cell, but rather sitting outside, legs crossed, drinking juice.

No, none of the soldiers guarding the cage complained like he did.

"No! If I don't do it this way, I'm going to throw up..."

Natsu rejected Gray's offer. At that moment, he was not in the mood to say that Gray was 'unreasonable' or 'heartless towards his comrades' because his physical condition did not allow it.

"Then just spit it out!"

"vomit!!"

"I didn't tell you to spit in my direction!! Hey! Hold it in! Hold it in!"

Gray's expression changed drastically, and he tried to shrink back as much as possible, but there was a wall behind him, leaving him nowhere to retreat. He could only step on Natsu's face with his foot and force his mouth to the side—where Erza was facing.

"vomit!!!……"

Amidst the loud vomiting, sour gastric juices and a bunch of unidentified, pixelated material sprayed directly onto Erza's newly changed clothes, even soiling some of her cherished long red hair.

My hair!!!

Erza flew into a rage: "You two are still playing around at a time like this?!"

"Huh!? Playing?! I didn't... Wait, don't do it yet..."

"Get serious!!"

Bang!Bang!

"Finally, it's quiet!"

Erza sat back down with satisfaction, looking at Natsu, who had been knocked unconscious by handcuffs, and Gray, who had a large bump on his head and was half-dead.

She was very careful with her actions. Natsu was the one who made noise, and Natsu was the one who vomited on herself, so Natsu bears the main responsibility and receives a heavier punishment; Gray bears secondary responsibility and receives a lighter punishment.

"Next time, my punishment won't be light!"

Light? Please look at the bloodstains on the handcuffs before you say that! Gray is practically fainting!

Despite knowing that Erza had always been ruthless in her attacks, Happy was still shocked, his mind racing with countless complaints.

Unfortunately, Kira wasn't there, and Lucy was daydreaming too, so there was no one to join him in his吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for complaining/criticizing).

Erza grumbled in dissatisfaction, "Honestly... my clothes are dirty again after I just changed! Now I can't change anymore..."

The clothes she's wearing now were given to her by Brandish out of kindness when she was locked in the cage, out of concern that the girls had no clothes to wear. She certainly won't be getting another one anytime soon.

Although she felt uncomfortable, Erza was incredibly strong-willed. A second later, she adapted to the situation: "Never mind, let's consider the current situation first."

The magic of the Spriggan 12 is indeed formidable. Even with prior intelligence, Laxus and I couldn't defeat them. Even after our first encounter, we'd likely still be unable to handle them again. We're currently at sea, Lucy's key has been taken, resulting in the loss of four combatants, and we're all handcuffed with magic-sealing handcuffs…

"This is absolutely desperate!" Erza sighed helplessly.

But crisis can also be an opportunity!

Um? ?

"Are you alright now, Lucy?"

"Yes! I'm sorry to have worried you."

Lucy seemed to cheer up, a confident smile returning to her face. "As long as we're all together, nothing will happen. We're mages from Fairy Tail, after all!!"

It's unclear whether Kira cast a spell on these words, but every member of Fairy Tail felt a surge of inexplicable confidence rise from their heart after saying them, allowing them to regain their spirits in dire situations.

Sure enough, Erza felt relieved upon hearing this, her face lit up with joy, and she praised, "Well said, Lucy!! I meant that 'crisis is also an opportunity'."

"Hehe... that was actually Kira who said that~"

"Kira? It's rare to see him say something so serious..."

Laxus is currently severely dehydrated, so Erza has no choice but to choose the tallest among the short ones and discuss the next steps with Lucy, who is still relatively sharp-minded.

What do you think we should do now?

Lucy pondered for a moment and said, "At least we can't fight at sea! Laxus, Natsu, and Wendy are all unable to fight right now, which greatly weakens our forces. If a real battle breaks out, it will be disadvantageous for us."

Erza nodded: "You're right! Fighting on land is extremely difficult, let alone at sea. Besides, we don't yet have a way to deal with those two spells! What if we run away?"

"If we try to escape... a warship like that must have escape boats. If we can seize one when they're not looking, we might be able to get away. But my key pouch is still in their hands, and I have to get it back!"

"Their target is the Alvarez Empire, and they're taking the shortest route. That's also our target. If we want to avoid them, we'll have to take a detour, but that will take too long, and our supplies might not last!"

The two exchanged a glance and sighed softly: it seems there's no way to escape now.

"In fact, we haven't officially started a war with the Alvarez Empire yet, so in principle, we can't be considered enemies, and there's still room for negotiation!"

"Hmm...that makes sense!!"

"Since these two have taken us back, there are only two possibilities: they want to extract information from us through torture or threaten us as hostages."

"Oh!! I see!!"

“If the Alvarez Empire really goes to war, it will be a major event involving two countries. We are just a magic guild in the kingdom, so I don’t think they will make things too difficult for us.”

Lucy's assumption about the 'Fairy Heart' is understandable, given that she was unaware of it.

"Uh... well..." Erza looked a little embarrassed. "Regarding this, I think we shouldn't be too hasty in our judgment..."

"In short, I think the best way is to wait until the ship docks, find an opportunity to steal back the key, and then run away, go into hiding, and reunite with the chairman and the others. Otherwise, once we are imprisoned in the Alvarez Empire's prison, we will be completely at a disadvantage!"

"Um……"

Erza was starting to regret bringing up the topic; the two of them had analyzed it for a long time, but almost nothing was useful...

"We also need to think about how to solve the problem of the Demon-Sealing Handcuffs."

"Handcuffs... I do have a solution!"

Lucy smiled confidently, then leaned close to Erza's ear and whispered a few words.

Her method was simple: she would lure away the guard in front of the cage by saying she had eaten too much ice cream and needed to go to the toilet; then, she would seduce him by saying she was handcuffed and it was inconvenient for her to take off her pants, and then sneak up on him and knock him unconscious when he wasn't paying attention. Finally, she could steal the key and release everyone.

Upon hearing this idea, Erza was immediately awestruck, feeling as if Lucy had given her a sudden enlightenment: "Oh my god!! That does sound like a great idea!!"

"But is it even possible to succeed?"

"Don't worry, we'll definitely succeed!!"

Harpy, who had overheard the entire process, silently sweated, thinking to himself: Where does your confidence come from...?

Having made up her mind, Lucy squeezed her chest to show as much as possible, then swayed her hips to the door and said in a soft, delicate voice, "Guard brother~ my stomach hurts so much, could you take me to the toilet 'alone'?"

As she spoke, two pitiful tears welled up in her eyes, hanging precariously from her eyelashes. She believed that few men could withstand such treatment.

Unexpectedly, the guard did not respond to her request. Instead, he stood straight in place, not daring to move.

Suddenly, Lucy felt a cold gaze from her side.

She turned her head stiffly and met Brandish's eyes directly.

The air froze instantly.

Chapter 498 Aquaria: You are all mine...

Was it the person who stole my keys?!

Brandish's unexpected appearance startled Lucy: When did she arrive? Did she see what I looked like just now? Did she hear my plan?

Damn it! My perfect plan has been ruined!!

Happy sighed, thinking to himself, 'Lucy's seduction technique has failed again...'

"Release her, I want to interrogate her alone!"

The unexpected words startled the men in the cage: interrogating Lucy alone? What did this woman want? Wait! Was she going to do something strange to Lucy? No, no… she's a woman!! They'd been too influenced by Kira!

"Huh?! But... Lady Timaria said they are infiltrators from other countries and cannot be released easily..."

Upon hearing this, the magic soldiers, dressed in standard armor, panicked and looked at each other, unsure whether they should obey the order.