A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

"What's wrong with them? Listen, aren't they having a lot of fun?"

The boy, holding a small flame in his hand, chased after the others, shouting, "Take my Buddha's Wrath Lotus!"

A girl in red holding cards blocked his way. Kira recognized her as the girl who aspired to be like Cana: "Stop, you evil dark mage! The glory of my Hope clan will end your evil!"

Kira: "..."

"Isn't that girl an orphan? And who is this Hope family...?"

“Oh, she said it was taken from your surname Hopeletter, so from now on it will be Hope.”

Kira was speechless for a moment.

"They've picked it up so quickly! They're all kids with a lot of potential!" Kira exclaimed. "They're much smarter than you, and their future achievements might far surpass yours!"

Kana smiled easily: "Isn't that great? They are the hope for the future! And..."

"Ok?"

"You're still a long way from surpassing me!"

Chapter 140 Harvest Festival Battle

The Harvest Festival is Magnolia's annual celebration and Fairy Tail's most exciting and festive parade of the year.

The entire city was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and the citizens changed into almost identical outfits to prepare for the day of revelry.

In recent years, under Kira's promotion, Magnolia has developed rapidly, becoming a magical city in the Kingdom of Fiore that is almost comparable to the royal capital. As a result, more and more people come to visit during this time.

As Magnolia's only and the kingdom's number one magic guild, Fairy Tail usually participates in parades, performs magic shows, and even holds beauty pageants every year, but this year is different!

A few months ago…

"You mean to hold a guild competition?"

Inside a villa, the short mayor looked at Kira strangely. "Haven't you always held beauty pageants? Magnolia has been developing very well in recent years, and I was originally planning to use this as a gimmick to attract a wave of tourists. Why the sudden change?"

After deciding to determine the strongest mage of Fairy Tail at the Harvest Festival, Kira approached the mayor and discussed his plans for the year.

“It’s the same beauty pageant every year, how boring!” Kira sipped his tea and glanced at the short mayor across from him. “Even a pervert would get bored watching the same old beauty pageant.”

Mayor: How could it be boring? It's fantastic!

"A magic guild should hold magic competitions to make it interesting. Believe me, in the near future, competitions between mages will definitely become a nationwide sensation. When that happens, we, the first ones to host them, will surely become famous!"

"Moreover, holding a magic competition can also promote Fairy Tail and Magnolia. If we change it to a beauty pageant next year, it will not only whet people's appetites, but its popularity may also increase!"

The mayor quickly approved the plan, since Kira had never made a mistake in his decisions.

"So now, mayor, please promote this to the outside world. We can try to attract more tourists to come and watch. It will definitely be very lively!"

……

Two days ago, Fairy Tail guild.

Kira stood on the second floor, holding a megaphone and shouting to his companions below, "That's it, everyone! The mayor has agreed, and this year's Harvest Festival will be kicked off by Fairy Tail with a spectacular magic competition!!"

"Yay!!"

"sharp!!"

"I'm fired up!!"

Cheers resounded throughout the entire guild!

Kira handed the megaphone to Makarov beside him, his face showing a mixture of joy and worry.

He was happy that he was really looking forward to the event and that he had the mayor's support; he was worried that the kids would destroy Magnolia, which would be a huge loss.

Fortunately, Kira told him that the match would be held at a fixed venue, which eased the worry on Maklov's face a little.

"Ahem... Now, I, this old man, will announce the rules of the competition!"

Led by Kira, Erza, and Laxus, everyone quieted down and looked at Makolov.

"Everyone in the guild must participate in this event, except for myself, Gildarts who is not here, and Harpy. No one can refuse!"

Some people turned their gaze to Mistergang in the corner. As usual, he remained silent and concealed himself completely. Clearly, he was also going to participate in this event.

Natsu shouted, "Why can't Happy join? He's one of our teammates too!"

"Then, for this competition, the judges will be the mayor, myself..." Maklov said, raising his hand, "Dispel, Happy, and a reporter from the Magic Newspaper, a total of five people!"

"Yo!"

"Hey!"

Dispel and Happy appeared next to Makarov. The former is considered half a member of Fairy Tail, while the latter did not participate because he lacked the fighting ability.

"Oh, right, Happy will also be the mascot for Fairy Tail's first Magic Tournament!"

Happy, beaming with pride, put his paws on his hips and proudly declared, "That's it! I'm going to be a star from now on!"

"In this competition, you may only use your own magic, and you may not use other magical items."

Everyone turned their attention to Kira again; this line was clearly aimed at him.

Surprisingly, Kira seemed to have known this all along. He nodded and said, "This is what I requested, for the sake of balance in the competition. Apart from the holder-type mages who can use their original equipment, no one, including myself, can use special magical items this time."

"Finally," Makarov's voice once again drew everyone's attention, "the winner of this tournament will receive a prize of 100 million J, and the 'Fairy Tail's Strongest' trophy!!!"

"Ohhhhh!!!!"

"I must get my hands on it!!!"

"What do you mean by 'strongest'? The Chairman and Gildarts aren't even involved..."

Although everyone knew that this honor was largely undeserved, they didn't care because having it allowed them to legitimately show off in front of others.

Laxus was determined to get it, Erza was very interested, and Natsu, Gajeel, Gray and others also made bold statements saying that they must get it. As for Kira, he was already thinking about how to spend the 100 million J prize money, where to put the pure gold trophy, and how to insert various advertisements into the competition.

Unlike others, he's currently busy planning with the mayor on advertising campaigns, merchandise, and future endorsements.

……

Now, at the Magnolia Arena.

A few years ago, at Kira's suggestion, the mayor designated a large area of ​​land in the city as a venue for various events and competitions. Now, after several months of preparation for this competition, the renovation was finally completed before the harvest festival.

The entire arena is similar to the venue of the Grand Magic Games in the original timeline, but it is smaller. However, this size is sufficient to accommodate the residents who come to watch the competition, as well as tourists who come from the surrounding area.

The place was bustling with noise and cheers.

On the judging panel, in the center sat the president, Maklov; the mayor of Magnolia; the host of the competition, Dispel; on either side were invited journalists and the mascot, Happy.

The reason for having Dispel as the host was mainly out of consideration for the president's advanced age and lack of energy; as for the other two, the reporter was a special guest and an outsider, so it was not appropriate; as for the mayor... who would dare to let the mayor be the host?

So in the end, this task could only fall to Dispel, of course, also to take advantage of his handsome image and to facilitate product placement.

Behind them was a huge screen, divided into several sections, showing images of the competition venue being filmed from different directions and transmitted through the magic crystal.

Amid the audience's enthusiasm, Dispel, Maklov, the mayor, and reporters explained the schedule of the First Magnolia Magic Tournament to the audience, word by word.

The schedule is divided into the following parts:

Preliminary Round [Escape the Maze]:

The maze has five levels, four entrances, and one exit. It is full of traps and mechanisms. Only the first 30 members who escape the maze are qualified to enter the preliminary round.

If the final number of participants is less than 30, then the person closest to the maze exit will be used as a replacement.

Aside from the trap rules, you cannot attack other mages;

The maze cannot be destroyed;

PS: Although the maze is made of special materials and cannot be easily destroyed, mages should still be careful with their strength.

Preliminary Round [Territory Attack and Defense]:

The 30 participants who make it to the preliminary round will be divided into six teams of five, and will engage in a territory attack and defense battle on the same terrain.

Each team defends its own territory and attacks its own target, meaning three one-on-one battles are conducted simultaneously, and conquering other teams' territories is invalid;

The match ends when one of the opposing teams captures the territory of the other team, and the players then enter the arena.

经过评委讨论评出每队中魔导士的贡献，各自获得10/8/6/4/2分，三个获胜的队伍每人加2分，再按照比赛时长，各自加/减2/1/0分；

Semifinals [Opponent Match]:

After the preliminary rounds, the top 16 players were matched up based on their scores to determine the top eight.

Then came the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, with each match taking one day, for a total of six days. The seventh day was the harvest festival.

Confetti was flying, cheers were constant, and the crowd was deafening. Dispel stood up with the microphone in hand.

"The first Magnolia Magic Tournament officially begins!!!"

Chapter 141 Preliminary Rounds

The Fairy Tail characters appeared one by one, and each familiar figure elicited screams from the audience.

"That's the Fairy Queen Erza, she's so beautiful!!"

"Mira-chan, I love you!!"

"Kira-sama is so handsome!"

"Go for it!!"

"..."

"Tch! Why would I do something like this?!" Laxus grumbled. "It's like children playing house!"

"If you're unhappy, you don't have to come. Then you can just watch the title of 'Strongest' fall into our hands." Kira said to Laxus while waving to the audience with a smile. "If you want to become the strongest and inherit the guild, you have to make everyone acknowledge you. That's not something you can do just by being strong."

Erza stepped forward and said, "This tournament concerns the future of the entire Fairy Tail. Even Mystogan is here for it, so how can you be absent?"

Mystogan remained silent. He really didn't want to come, but he couldn't resist the guild leader's pleading, saying that this competition was very important and related to the future development of the guild, blah blah blah... In addition, Kira and Dispel persuaded him in various ways, so he had no choice but to come.

Natsu looked excited and rubbed his hands together, saying, "I'm going to stay until the very end!"