A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

It's too late to say all this now! Besides, with this kind of competition mechanism, even if you take precautions in advance, it's useless! If you really encounter it, you can only fight, right?

The group silently complained to themselves.

Larcade, the only one who hadn't yet fought against Fairy Tail, smiled faintly and said nervously and excitedly, "Don't worry, Father! I'll definitely defeat that person tomorrow and show you!!"

"Hmm... Well, you'd better do your best!" Zeref smiled dismissively, looking at him like he was looking at a stupid son with an IQ of only 5.

Was I daydreaming when I was writing this kid's brain? Oh well, the kid's already registered, so I guess I'll just have to make do with raising him...

Augustus stood quietly to the side, overhearing the conversation between his father and his adopted brother, secretly chuckling to himself: My foolish little brother~ If you want to prove yourself to your father, 'defeating Kira' is the least likely way to succeed, because compared to that guy, you are far too weak!

Timaria and Brandish noticed Auguste's cold smile, exchanged a glance, blinked rapidly, and entered a silent communication mode.

"Did you see that? Old Master Auguste is sneering again! How amusing~"

"Hmm...he seems quite pleased with himself. What is the old man thinking?"

"Who knows? But it always seems to be related to Larcade..."

……

As the final duel between the two blades came to a close, the crystal screen in the venue changed; the data on it began to change, updating to the data from the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games.

First place: Fairy Tail, 85 points, 6 people remaining.

(Kira Hoplette: 30 points)

Laxus Dole: 25 points

Erza Scarlett: 10/10

Mirajane Strauss: 10 points

Naz Doragneru: 5 points

Kana Arupelona: 5 points

Second place: The Witch's Sin, 45 points, 3 people remaining.

(Sawyer: 20 points)

Urutya Mirkovic: 15 points

Richard: 10 points)

Third place: The Emperor's Shield, 35 points, 4 players remaining.

(Timalia: 15 points)

Inber: 10 points

Agil: 5 points

Larkad: 5 points

Fourth place: Dragon's Heart, 30 points, 3 players remaining.

(McCarra: 10 points)

Siduo: 10 points

Kolai: 10 points

Fifth place: Boa Hancock Scale, 20 points, 3 players remaining.

(Yuka: 10 points)

Jura Rekis: 5 points

Toby: 5 points

Sixth place: Raven's Tail, 20 points, 2 people remaining.

(Breya: 10 points)

Narubudinku: 10 points

7th place: Four-headed hound, 10 points, 1 person remaining.

(Pakas: 10 points)

8th Place: Blue Pegasus, 0 points, 0 people remaining.

Remaining total score: 245

Total number of people remaining: 22

……

"Oh oh oh!!!"

"Everyone retained?! Fairy Tail's performance is truly dazzling!"

"How interesting~ There are people who are clearly very strong but have low scores, and there are people who have high scores but are not very good at it..."

"The 'Azure Pegasus' team has been eliminated... What a pity! They were all such handsome men and beautiful women..."

"No... there seems to be one exception, right?"

"It's been four days already, and we still don't know what everyone's score is for! It shouldn't be used for ranking, right?"

"Indeed, if we're going to rank them, it would be better to base it on the remaining number of people."

As the president entered the hall, the audience erupted in noise.

Today's matches have all ended, but the audience did not leave as they had in the previous days. Instead, they stayed because, according to the announcements from the previous days, the host would announce the rules for the final day of the competition at this time.

"Ahem... Ladies and gentlemen, I am your temporary host, Mysterious Pumpkin Sauce!"

"Now I will announce the rules for the final day of this Grand Magic Games..."

Chapter 709 changed the rules, 11 vs 11

"Throughout this Grand Magic Games, the guild rankings were based on the total scores of the mages. We can already see the rankings of the Fiore Kingdom's magic guilds from the crystal screen in the venue."

"But as the competition has progressed to this point, there have been instances of 'no one having enough people to participate' and 'a certain guild being completely eliminated,' so the next round of the competition can no longer continue with the previous 'competition' and 'duel' modes."

"After discussion among the competition organizers and the three of us judges, we have unanimously decided to make slight changes to the competition format for the remainder of the year!"

Is the competition format going to be changed?

Isn't this all too sudden?

Kira was taken aback at first, but quickly understood why: the mysterious pumpkin sauce's words implied that the current guild rankings were the final rankings. His own guild, Fairy Tail, didn't care, since they were number one anyway, but how could the other guilds accept that?

Putting everything else aside, the fact that the scores are completely disproportionate to the strength is simply unacceptable. So far in this competition, luck has had a huge impact on the rankings.

The mages were already dissatisfied, and the audience was even less likely to accept it.

You should know that popular mages are like big stars in this world. They have a lot of fans and support groups. Although their behavior is not as crazy as in the three-dimensional world, if you underestimate their power, you will suffer a lot. Even the kingdom's government cannot withstand this kind of public opinion!

After all, this isn't a three-dimensional world where all power is in the hands of the royal family.

In a world where magic exists, mages hold a transcendent position to a kingdom, much like cultivators in a fantasy world hold a position of supreme power over an ordinary human dynasty.

Although mages usually do not disobey the kingdom's orders due to traditional thinking, and the council is watching over them, the royal family dares not gamble!

After all, the neighboring Western Continent is a typical example of a country founded on magic.

This led to the fact that even the mysterious Pumpkin Sauce, whose true identity was King Fiore's Old Toma, dared not make the final decision to end the competition.

Therefore, the only option is to modify the rules, extend the competition, and continue to deliver a convincing result!

"First, regarding the competition schedule, we have tentatively decided to extend the original competition plan by two days, meaning the competition will continue until July 7th. Starting from tomorrow, there are still three days left."

The audience was silent for a moment, then began to whisper among themselves.

"Want to extend the match? We'd love to see them fight, but the tickets are expensive! Are you going to pay for it?"

"Exactly! We would never do something like that..."

Pumpkin Sauce's voice came again: "Of course, since the 6th and 7th are extra days due to a last-minute change in the competition format, the organizers have decided not to charge admission fees!"

"We agree!!"

"Magicians fighting is so exciting!! I can never get enough of watching it!!"

"Let's just keep playing until the 10th!!"

The audience, who were initially hesitant and dissatisfied, became instantly excited after hearing how generous the organizers were, wishing they would change the rules a bit more and play for two more days.

After all, who can resist watching free magical battles?

Seeing the audience's dissatisfaction turn back into praise and cheers, Pumpkin Sauce finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Here are the competition rules for the next few days!"

"The competition that follows will be different from the past four days. It will no longer be conducted in the form of 'guilds'. Instead, the remaining 22 people will be mixed into teams from different guilds and then participate in elimination rounds in different formats!"

Mysterious Pumpkin Sauce's words caused a huge uproar throughout the venue, like a stone thrown into a pond.

"What?! Not through a guild?!"

"But isn't the whole point of this tournament to determine the best magic guild in Fiore? What would it look like if the competition wasn't based on guilds?!"

"If the team is so mixed up, how will they be ranked later..."

"This is absolutely a mess! It's like a decision made on a whim. Are all the competition organizers this careless?!"

Tens of thousands of spectators were discussing the upcoming changes to the competition, with many even resorting to direct criticism to vent their dissatisfaction and resentment over the elimination of their favorite mages.

Once the murmurs subsided slightly, Pumpkin Sauce picked up the microphone and continued explaining the rules for tomorrow's competition: "Tomorrow's match will divide the existing 22 mages into two teams for an 11 vs. 11 duel!!"

"11 against 11... are they playing soccer?"

Upon hearing the somewhat familiar numbers, Kira couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark, but he quickly remembered that this world didn't seem to have a sport like football.

"The two players with the highest individual scores will be the team captains. The two captains will select 10 of the remaining 20 players in order of their individual scores from lowest to highest to form their own teams. The team captains will then assign players to these teams, resulting in three one-on-one battles and four two-on-two battles."

Currently, the two players with the highest individual scores are Kira with 30 points and Laxus with 25 points. This means that they will become the captains leading their respective teams in tomorrow's game.

Upon hearing this, members of various magic guilds turned their gazes toward Fairy Tail, while members of Fairy Tail turned their gazes toward Kira and Laxus.

"If it's the two of them, it wouldn't be unacceptable for them to be the team leader?"

"Are those two facing off again? With outside help this time, Laxus might be able to win this time..."