A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

The young man named Fogg glanced at Crowley, who was clearly unconvinced: "Don't be so sure of yourself! That man inherited the magic of the Esisnew family!"

Although she was not young, Klaue, who had not read many books, remained silent. She knew that mages who had inherited the magic of exorcising demons could harm them, but her personality did not allow her to lose in a verbal exchange.

"You said it yourself, Walter was so easily killed because of that magic. This group of guys doesn't have the magical inheritance of the Eisnew clan! They're just a bunch of humans I can slaughter!"

"I bet you'll suffer for your arrogance sooner or later! Then you can come to my arms and cry your heart out!"

"You bastard, do you need a beating?!"

"Enough! Do you even respect me anymore?!"

Seeing that the three of them didn't take him seriously at all, the burly uncle Ace released his aura directly. The terrifying aura made the three of them unable to breathe and dared not say a word.

After stopping their argument, Ace immediately assigned tasks, "In short, to prevent them from interfering with the Master's resurrection plan, the three of you will each lead your wolf packs to deal with these scum!"

"Yes."

After the three left, Ace turned back and entered the secret passage in the cave, eventually arriving at a secret room after many twists and turns.

Inside the spacious, enclosed chamber stands a colossal ice sculpture of a demon, tens of meters tall.

"The time is almost up. Soon I will have your power, former ruler of the seas!"

If Kira or Gray were here, they would immediately recognize that the ice magic sealing the demon was the ultimate, self-sacrificing technique passed down through the Uru lineage—Absolute Freeze!

Chapter 60 Kira's Snow Mountain Adventure

call out!

A white figure flashed across the snow; it was Kira, engrossed in skiing.

Another sloped landslide, the sled leaving obvious scratches on the snow. Kira's movements were not smooth or silky, but they were safe.

Kira had never seen snow in his previous life, so he always longed for a heavy snowfall, with snowflakes filling the sky, the world covered in white, a silver-clad scene. In the 20 years since he transmigrated, he has seen it a few times, but he never gets tired of it.

Snowball fights and snowman building have always been must-do competitions for Fairy Tail guilds every winter. Originally, there was also an ice sculpture competition, but because Gray always cheated, no one wanted to compete with him, so it was canceled and replaced by skiing and ice skating competitions.

Because magic is prohibited in the competition, Erza, the athletic star, almost always comes in first place every year, while the others compete for the remaining spots.

Kira's magic is strong, but his physical abilities and agility are not particularly outstanding; they are just average. Therefore, his performance in these areas has never been ideal.

But one can fail for a time, but not forever. In order to defeat those guys in the guild, Kira often practiced alone in secret. After a long period of intense competition, he was just waiting to take revenge at the end of this year.

Taking advantage of this trip to the snow mountain, I'll find a good opportunity to review.

"Those bastards will never expect me to be secretly practicing here. Hmph, I'll make them pay for this year's competition!"

The snowstorm had stopped, and the cool wind of Zonya was particularly refreshing. The sweat left from exercising dried quickly, and this exhilarating game made Kira feel completely satisfied, forgetting all about what he was supposed to do.

"This place is wonderful! It would be great to build a villa here, or... a castle would be better, more grand." Taking advantage of a break to rest, Kira completely let loose and began to fantasize. "Anyway, this place is so big, and nobody cares, so no one would notice if there were multiple castles. But I need to choose a good location. Where should I build it?"

Kira flew higher and higher into the sky, eventually stopping at an altitude of about a thousand meters. All he could see was snow, with no landmarks to refer to, and he had no idea where he was in Zonya.

Suddenly, a swaying shadow appeared in his line of sight. Kira turned his head and was surprised to find that it was a pack of snow wolves.

"Strange, how come there are packs of snow wolves in a place like this? What do they eat?"

It wasn't because Kira was delicious; he was certain that seeing signs of life in a place like this would raise the same question in everyone.

With this question in mind, Kira flew over and followed the pack of snow wolves closely in the sky: "Could this be the monster Natsu was asked to take on his mission? It doesn't look that strong. Is it really worth issuing an S-rank mission for a pack of wolves of this level? And in such a desolate place like Zonia, it's too strange!"

Thinking about it this way, Kira felt that there was something wrong with this mission, and driven by curiosity, he couldn't help but want to find out.

As for why Kira is so nosy? Well, he comes from an adventurer's party, so isn't it normal for him to have a strong thirst for knowledge?

There were about thirty snow wolves in the pack. Their fur was snow-white, with only a little gray on their paws. Upon closer inspection, Kira discovered that the pack consisted entirely of robust adult snow wolves, each as big as Elfman lying on the ground. It was simply unbelievable.

It's important to understand that any group will definitely include men, women, young and old. Even if the vulnerable groups are relatively few, they are not completely absent. Moreover, wolves are not animals that would abandon their companions.

The snow wolves were large and walked at a moderate pace, with synchronized steps. Strangely, they did not have a alpha wolf; instead, several walked side by side, as if they were soldiers following orders.

"It looks like someone is controlling this pack of wolves. Who could it be?"

While pondering, Kira made a new discovery: the pack of wolves seemed to have just been in a battle, with several of them still bearing small wounds. If Kira hadn't taken out his binoculars, he would have almost missed them at such a distance.

Who did they fight? This is clearly another point of contention.

Soon, the wolves entered a cave in groups of three. The cave was about two meters wide and three meters high, and the entrance was blocked by piles of snow.

The cave is located at the foot of the snow-capped mountain, its top hidden by a protruding mountainside. It is extremely well hidden in this vast expanse of white snow, and if it weren't for the wolf pack leading the way, probably no one would have found it.

One minute after the entire wolf pack had entered the cave, Kira descended from the sky and stood at the cave entrance.

“This doesn’t look like it was formed naturally,” Kira said, gently stroking the rock supporting the snow. “The texture seems to be the result of magic.”

The scene inside the cave further confirmed Kira's conjecture. A deep passage had been carved out, and there were lampstands on the rock walls around the passage specifically for placing torches.

Perhaps because the rock walls blocked out the wind and snow, the temperature inside the cave was significantly higher than outside. As a result, although there were no torches on the lampstand, there was no snow, only a thick layer of dust, indicating that it had not been used for a long time.

Kira had a sudden thought: a group of people had lived in seclusion in this icy land, building this place to protect or worship something. Later, for some reason, they died or moved away, and then these wolves and their masters took over their place.

Yes, that's a reasonable guess.

After walking along the passage for about ten minutes, the view gradually opened up.

At the end of the passage was a large open space, roughly the size of a Fairy Tail guild. The walls of this open space no longer bore any trace of the lampstands, as firelight was no longer needed here. Instead, there were glowing magic crystals.

Above the cave ceiling, outside light refracts in an unknown way through thousands of tiny holes, and after being reflected by the ice crystals, it shines onto the magic crystal.

Having been in business for several years, Kira naturally had a keen eye and immediately recognized the function of these magic crystals: during the day, the light inside the cave relied on the ice crystals to refract sunlight from the outside world, while storing some of the energy in the magic crystals; at night, or when the light was insufficient, the magic crystals embedded in the stone walls would automatically glow.

Even in cases of occasional energy deficiency, countless mirror-like crystals can compensate for this deficiency.

While such an idea is not surprising, it would be a huge undertaking to actually carry it out. It would require not only precise and accurate calculations, but also the hands-on ability to implement the project. In addition, a considerable amount of money would be needed to complete this project. The magic crystals on the walls alone could consume the fiscal revenue of the Kingdom of Fiore for one or two years.

Kira was dazzled by the stunning scenery: "How much is this worth? This must have been built by a wealthy but unknown person!"

"This place is destined for me!"

"I've struck it rich!"

Kira ran around excitedly, circling the clearing once, seemingly forgetting that he had come in with the wolf pack.

"So, where did the wolf pack go?" Kira's gaze fell on the several passageways opposite the clearing.

Besides the passage he came in through, there are three other paths. The wolves must have entered one of them, but Kira couldn't tell which one they had entered.

"I wish Natsu were here; his nose is much more sensitive."

After thinking for a moment, Kira decided to try his luck and walked towards the middle of the road.

Chapter 61 The Demon Who Claims to Be a Princess

While Kira was exploring the caves, the other two teams also began their own missions.

"Where should we even begin?" Gray asked Erza, who was walking ahead of him.

Erza didn't even turn her head: "Forget about Kira's talk of the Celestial Maiden, let's go find Natsu and Lucy first!"

His tone was firm and left no room for refusal.

"I knew you'd do this." Gray scratched his head helplessly. "Your real purpose wasn't to join the discussion, but to take Natsu and Lucy back in Kira's airship, right?"

"That's right, any objections?"

Erza turned around, her fierce gaze sending a chill down Gray's spine: "No...no!! If you're going to deal with Natsu, please make sure I'm included!"

"Hmm... alright, just this once!" Erza nodded. "But you two should get along well the rest of the time!"

Gray gave an awkward smile, cold sweat beading on his face: "Yes...yes..."

The two walked forward again, one in front of the other.

……

"Honestly, we agreed to act together before we came out, but he ran off as soon as he got off the airship. Kira always does such a reckless thing!"

On the snow, Cana, Loki, and Elfman were also strolling around casually. Unlike Erza, they had no intention of forcibly taking Natsu and the other two back.

The reason I came along this time was not only on a whim, but also because I thought it would be a free trip. Otherwise, wouldn't it have been better to stay in the guild, drink, and chat with the girls?

"I thought he would want to hold a ski competition here. He lost badly last year. Knowing his personality, he would definitely get revenge. Maybe he ran away just now to practice secretly."

“Haha, you really know him well,” Kana laughed, taking a swig of her drink to warm herself up. “This does seem like something he would do.”

Elfman laughed too: "Kira's personality has always been easy to guess. A real man should be that simple and straightforward!"

"That's right, they're clearly worried about Natsu and Lucy, but they still have to find an excuse."

If Kira knew that they thought of him this way, he would be both surprised and relieved. Surprised that they were really wrong, because he really wasn't worried about Natsu; relieved that it seemed his long-term care for the guild members hadn't been in vain, and that in their hearts he was indeed a good older brother who cared for his younger siblings.

……

Meanwhile, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy are heading to the snowy mountains to hunt demon wolves at the request of Uncle Poole, the tavern owner.

“I said, are there really wolves in this place? We’ve been walking for so long and haven’t encountered any.”

Harpy flew down and said, "I didn't see it from the sky either."

“But if the tavern owner says it’s there, then it must be, right?” Natsu replied to Lucy. “Besides, I also smelled a scent that wasn’t human on that girl just now.”

"What?!" Lucy stared at Natsu in horror. "Not human?!"

"It must be the wolf pack the tavern owner mentioned, and there's also the smell of blood."

Lucy thought for a moment: "But that girl named Winter doesn't seem to have any wounds, so could she have gone to hunt wolves? That's amazing!"

“This is…” Natsu suddenly sniffed the air, “the same scent as that girl.”

After sniffing the air for a long time, I finally decided on a direction and ran towards it.

Lucy's cheeks flushed: "Seriously, can this guy stop talking like a pervert?"

"Is Lucy jealous?" Happy began to speak in its best form, with its rolled tongue.

"No way!" Lucy grabbed Happy and ruffled his hair in her arms. "You stinky cat, you only learn bad things and never good ones!"

"Wait for me, Natsu!"

He jogged up to Natsu and found him standing silently at the edge of the snow cliff.