A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

"How dare you treat my comrade like this! I will not let you get away with this!!!"

Gray: "..."

That guy who values ​​women over friends... Oh well, I still need him to save me now, I'll settle the score with him when we get back!

Pity, surprise, and excitement—the three people's expressions, combined with their current predicament, instantly made Kira, the guild's most intelligent member, understand what had happened, which only made him more astonished.

"Seriously? All three of you combined can't beat one of them?"

The three remained silent, and the atmosphere became somewhat awkward.

Well, it seems it's true.

“Uh… actually… Urutiasan arrived later.”

"That's even more embarrassing! Seeing you two set a bad example and then fall for it yourself is simply... a disgrace to our reputation!"

Kira's lips twitched; it was truly hard to believe.

If it were just Gray and Wendy being killed on their first meeting, that would be one thing, after all, it's an old tradition in Fairy Tail. But Ultear... with her intelligence and abilities, Kira never expected that someone like her would end up like Gray. Is joining the main characters destined to lead to this fate? Precht would be moved to tears by this situation!

"Tell me quietly, have you not been cultivating properly this past year, and have you been busy with beauty and hair care instead?"

Upon hearing Kira's half-joking, half-mocking words, Ultear's expression froze for a moment, then she gave him a resentful look.

Ah, this woman...

Kira sneered inwardly: How dare she glare at me like that when she needs something from me? Truly lawless! If this continues, will I have to massage her back and legs, serve her tea and water in the future? Looks like I'll have to constantly remind her that she still owes me money!

"By the way, where are your enemies? Are they those 'Four Horsemen'?"

After using purification magic to restore the group to their original state, Kira looked around but didn't find anyone nearby, which piqued his curiosity.

"That's right! Did you encounter it too?"

Kira nodded and said, "Yeah, a mechanical soldier who could transform into my appearance and use my magic. But he wasn't very strong; I took him out in no time."

"That person called herself a 'modifier,' and was a little girl with eight mechanical arms on her back."

The three didn't believe Kira's claim that he was "not that strong," after all, they had already experienced the modder's methods firsthand, which were practically bug-level. If magic couldn't overwhelm him, they would basically have to suffer the same fate as themselves.

As members of the 'Four Horsemen,' the other three mechanical soldiers must also possess formidable abilities. The very fact that they can 'copy themselves into enemies and use the same magic' is already incredibly difficult to deal with. Only Kira, whose strength far surpasses theirs, could utter such a statement...

"A little girl? Tsk tsk tsk... The person who created her was truly a wicked bastard!"

Upon hearing this, Ultear immediately looked at Kira suspiciously, as if he were a heinous scoundrel: "I don't know what you mean, but I feel like there's something more to your words..."

“Kira, these 'Four Horsemen'…”

"They should be Val's men. Although I didn't have any information on them before, the probability is as high as 90%!"

Gray nodded and said, "That's what I think too! Besides, since they attacked me, Wendy, and even Ultear, they must have known our whereabouts and purpose all along, and wanted to wipe us out in one fell swoop, otherwise they wouldn't have acted so quickly!"

"Hmm... so what?"

"So, Erza, Natsu, Lucy, and the others are also in danger right now! We have to hurry and support them!!" Gray was puzzled. Kira was usually very smart, so how could he not understand what he was saying?

"..."

Haha, you think everyone is like you?

Kira was speechless for a moment, but given his emotional intelligence, he certainly wouldn't say that outright. So he patted Gray on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry! Those are Erza and Natsu! Don't you have faith in them?!"

Is this a matter of confidence?

Gray was taken aback: I can understand talking about Erza, but talking about Natsu is a bit much! His strength is... a little weaker than mine. How could he possibly handle someone I can't beat?

"Cough cough... Of course I believe them!!"

Kira smiled inwardly: But!

Sure enough, Gray followed up with a "but" the next second.

"However, the opponent looks like a little girl. If she launches a sneak attack like she did with me and Wendy, Natsu, with his brain, could easily fall for it!"

These two truly are sworn enemies; they never miss an opportunity to put each other down...

"Isn't Lucy with Natsu?"

"Lucy...Lucy is relatively weak after all, and she lacks experience and is kind-hearted. If she is approached by the other party pretending to be pitiful, she could be turned into a mechanical toy in an instant."

Good grief, this guy is even going so far as to say he's kind-hearted in an attempt to save face...

"Hmm...that makes sense! Erza is strong and experienced, and she can handle crises calmly, so she should be able to deal with the 'Four Horsemen', right?"

"What are you thinking? That's Erza!! She can definitely handle her! But she's just one person, while there are three of them!"

Kira was speechless now, and his gaze toward Gray was filled with nothing but admiration.

In fact, Gray's concerns were not unfounded; he simply misused the combat power data for each person.

What a pitiful man!

Why are you looking at me like that?

"No... I just feel that your strength has exceeded my expectations!"

Chapter 555 Wendy, don't you dare follow Gray's example! Otherwise, later...

On the streets of the mechanical town, two men and two women were walking straight in a certain direction.

They are the dashing Kira, the stunning Ultear, the petite and adorable Wendy, and Gray who is shirtless.

"I bet that with Natsu's careless nature, he'll definitely fall for it!"

Gray proudly puffed out his muscular physique with its eight-pack abs and confidently said to the three people around him, "Trust me, no one knows him better than me. My intuition will never be wrong!"

She makes no attempt to hide her mutual respect and admiration for Natsu.

This behavior... is really perverted! Is it because he thinks everyone here is a machine race, so he's letting loose? No... Gray shouldn't be that kind of person. He doesn't need to choose the time or place to let loose.

Despite having spent so many years together, Kira still found Kira's behavior quite problematic.

Not only Kira, but Ultear, who was traveling with him, also looked at this guy who was nominally half a junior brother with very complicated expressions.

Is this habit of taking off clothes so often really something my mother taught me? I shouldn't do that!

"I have a feeling that Gressan really wants to see Nazsan mechanized..."

"Wendy, you just don't understand!"

Kira held up a finger, like a teacher instructing a student, and said, "This is what they call 'the person who has been rained on wants to take away someone else's umbrella.' Because Gray was mechanized and dressed in women's clothing, and he even recorded me, he wants Natsu to be like that too."

"See, isn't he cunning?"

"!!"

Wendy's face was shocked. She flicked her pigtails and turned to look at Gray. Her eyes changed instantly, as if to say, "I never expected you to be like this, Gray-san. I really misjudged you before."

Kira exposed his thoughts, and Gray's face instantly turned red. He immediately stammered, "No...no way! You're talking complete nonsense!"

"And besides, if we're talking about being truly insidious, you're the one who secretly recorded me and then threatened me—you're the real insidious one! How can there be such a vile person like you in this world?!"

Wendy wasn't surprised by Kira's behavior; in fact, she took it for granted. From her first day in the guild, she had heard about Kira's character and reputation within the guild.

She had heard of things like "secretly recording the miserable state of the opponent after the first encounter with Laxus's warhead" a long time ago.

'It's not surprising that Kirasan, with his background, would record footage of Mecha Gresen in women's clothing...'

Wendy's current thinking is a typical example of "as long as the initial expectations are low enough, every subsequent action will be a surprise," while Kira's behavior is "as long as I have no morals, I cannot be morally blackmailed."

Throughout the journey, Kira continued to instill his ideas in Wendy: "Wendy, don't be like him! If you grow up to be a woman with such a treacherous heart, you'll never be able to get married!"

"Huh?! Getting married... getting married is too early for me..."

Every time this topic comes up, Wendy's face turns bright red, which Kira finds very puzzling: she's clearly a precocious girl (concerned about her breast development, etc.), so why is she so sensitive to this kind of topic?

You know, even a typical thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl wouldn't blush like a steam train when talking about this kind of topic...

Did she think deeply about something when she heard words like 'marriage,' 'getting married,' and 'pregnancy'? Is she really that precocious?

No! This absolutely won't do!

Girls this age should be studying magic, playing freely in the ocean of knowledge, and striving to contribute to Fairy Tail or the Kingdom of Fiore in the future, or to pass on the torch of magic for its continued existence. Why should they be thinking about such irrelevant things?

It seems I need to get my 'five-year compulsory magic teaching' on the agenda as soon as possible!

Seeing that Wendy was about to faint from the rush of blood to her head, Ultear couldn't stand it any longer and rolled her eyes at Kira, her gaze full of resentment: "I said! Can you please stop saying things like that to Wendy all the time!"

Flying nearby, Charlene, who was always ignored by Kira, chimed in, "Exactly!! She's just a child!"

Please! Did I just say anything profound? I was just telling her not to follow Gray's example!

Kira looked confused, while Gray secretly chuckled.

The two men's attitudes further displeased Ultear. She frowned, glared at them, and quickly shifted the blame from Kira to Gray.

"Laugh? What's so funny?! Every day, your clothes mysteriously disappear. You didn't learn Ice Shape magic, you learned Quick Clothes Removal magic, did you?!"

Because of the early death of Ul's mother and master, Ultear felt it was necessary for her, as the senior sister, to set a good example for her junior brother's lifestyle, so that in the future, when people thought of the magic of the Ul lineage, or mentioned Ul, their first impression would be 'not wearing clothes'.

"If others knew that Uru's disciple was such a pervert who would take off her clothes all the time, what would they think of her?!"

After a year of adjustment, Ultear has completely let go of Uru's past and can now speak calmly with people when discussing those related to her.

"..."

What can I say? Should I tell you that this kind of undressing gesture is something Uru taught?

Gray was absolutely certain that if he dared to tell the truth, Ultear would definitely kill him! The key point was, he wouldn't be able to fight back!

So Gray, unusually serious and earnest, replied to Ultear: "I understand! I'll be more careful next time..."

Good heavens! Gray actually apologized for taking off his clothes?! Even I, a veteran of ten years in the guild, have rarely seen this happen!

Shouldn't he be yelling things like "A real man is honest and straightforward" and then brazenly pulling down his pants and underwear as well?!

Kira was shocked.

"However, Kira is right, you must never follow Gray's example!"

Suddenly, Ultear changed the subject, mimicking Wendy's immature thoughts, and began to speak, "Of course, don't learn from Kira! They're all a bunch of crazy idiots!"

Charlotte wholeheartedly agreed and nodded rapidly from behind, only to be caught off guard by Kira's glance and awkwardly hide behind Wendy.