Chapter 55: Happy and Natsu!
After Brian's complete demise...
A rare expression of relief flickered across Ian's face.
To Ian, it wasn't until Brian, with all his heinous deeds, was thoroughly destroyed that he could consider the simulation task for Gray's timeline truly complete.
Ian wasn't a saint who could watch Brian exploit the Council's judicial system—practically eliminating the death penalty—as a way to evade punishment. If the Council wouldn't deliver justice, he had no qualms about doing so himself.
"Now, there are no regrets left in Gray's timeline."
Ian murmured, stretching comfortably.
Meanwhile...
Natsu, who had repeatedly failed in his battles against Erza, Laxus, and others, stood before a massive tree.
"Damn it!"
"That bastard Gray, annoying Erza…"
"And that irritating Laxus, not to mention Mirajane who laughs at me."
"And no matter how hard I try, I can't beat Ultear!"
"One day, I'll take all of you down!"
Natsu had drawn portraits of Erza, Gray, and the others, tied them to the thick tree trunk, and vented his frustration by furiously punching their faces, releasing the fire burning inside his heart.
Despite hitting the tree, Natsu felt as if he were actually hitting Gray and the others.
"Disappear!"
He punched the tree with dragon-slaying magic, burning a hole straight through its meter-wide trunk.
With a loud crash…
A massive egg over fifty centimeters in diameter, patterned with blue markings, fell from the branches, landing squarely on Natsu's head.
"Damn, that hurts!"
Holding his head in pain, Natsu complained loudly, "Who's ambushing me? I swear, when I find you, you're going to pay!"
He vowed to give the culprit a taste of his wrath.
"Wait, this is…"
Once Natsu got a good look at what hit him, his eyes lit up with excitement. "No mistake, this is a dragon egg! I actually found a dragon egg? I have to take this back to the guild."
With that, he hoisted the massive egg onto his shoulder and dashed off toward the Fairy Tail Guild.
At Fairy Tail Guild…
"Boom!"
Natsu kicked open the guild doors, holding the huge egg, and shouted, "Everyone, come look! I found a dragon egg!"
"A dragon egg?!"
Natsu's words erupted like a bomb in the guild hall.
Gray, Lyon, the ice wizards who never got along with Natsu…
And even Mirajane, Erza, Laxus, and Ultear—the powerful S-Class wizard candidates that Natsu viewed as his ultimate rivals but could never defeat.
Even the veterans of the guild, like Wakaba and Macao, turned their eyes to Natsu.
Even Ur, one of the "Ten Wizard Saints," was drawn over by the egg in Natsu's hands.
Without a doubt…
At that moment, Natsu was the undeniable center of attention in the Fairy Tail Guild.
"A dragon egg?"
Ultear looked at the massive egg in Natsu's arms with a trace of doubt.
Even after training under the one of the four gods of Ishgar, Warrod, for four years, reading numerous magical texts, she had never seen a dragon egg.
After thinking for a moment, Ultear turned to her mother, "Mother, is what Natsu's holding really a dragon egg? I've never heard of it, not even in books."
"To be honest, I'm not quite sure either," Ur replied with a slight shake of her head.
Even she had never seen a real dragon.
Dragons had nearly gone extinct on the continent of Ishgar…
Calling them mythical creatures was not an exaggeration.
"You've got to be kidding…"
"This world doesn't even have dragons anymore; how could there be a dragon egg?"
Mirajane folded her arms, speaking dismissively.
"No!"
"Dragons definitely exist in this world; there's no doubt about that."
"But whether that egg Natsu's holding is actually a dragon egg is uncertain."
Erza interrupted Mirajane, confirming the existence of dragons on behalf of Natsu.
However, she wasn't certain if the blue-and-white egg Natsu was holding belonged to a dragon.
"This IS a dragon egg!" Natsu insisted, determined that the egg in his hands belonged to a dragon.
"Anyway, once this egg hatches, everything will be clear, won't it?" Laxus yawned, finding the argument pointless. What the egg belonged to would be revealed once it hatched.
"Yes, once it hatches, you will see it's a dragon egg," Natsu replied confidently.
He swore that he would hatch a flying dragon.
A few days later…
Ian finally completed modifying the Magic Development Device, which he had been working on in the Bureau of Magic Power Development.
"It's done."
Ian wiped the sweat from his forehead…
Using Brian's memories, he had fully transformed the magic development device.
With this device, any wizard who hadn't reached the level of the "Ten Wizard Saints" could develop their potential.
Of course, this didn't mean that every wizard who used it could reach the level of a Saint Wizard.
The development device was just an auxiliary tool, after all.
How far a wizard could go on their magical path depended not on these external tools but on their own inner drive.
That was something Master Makarov had taught him, and Ian would never forget it.
As for the device, it would simply help wizards in need, reducing the time needed to train their bodies and accumulate magic power, nothing more.
"Time to head back to the guild."
Ian realized that he hadn't shown his face in the guild for a long time since he started upgrading the device for Laxus and the other S-Class members…
Now that the device was complete, it was time to return.
"Who took my dragon egg?"
"Has anyone seen my dragon egg?"
"Damn it…"
As Ian approached the guild's entrance, he heard a commotion from inside.
Natsu, looking frantic and on the verge of tears, was running around the hall, asking everyone he came across—Laxus, Erza, Mirajane, and Ultear—if they'd seen his dragon egg.
"Who would take your dragon egg?"
"Huh? I have no interest in that thing."
"Natsu, did you eat the egg yourself?"
"A few days ago, wasn't that big egg still in your hands?"
But everyone Natsu asked responded with a variation of "no," leaving Natsu heartbroken.
"Dragon egg?"
"Ah, could it be Happy?"
Hearing the words "dragon egg," Ian felt a jolt.
In just a few seconds, he realized that the dragon egg Natsu and the others were talking about was likely Happy's egg from the world of Edolas.
This thought calmed him down. After listening to their conversation, he confirmed that his hunch was correct, then breathed a sigh of relief.
"Looks like it's Happy, after all," Ian mused.
Ian waited for the right moment to enter.
When Elfman rushed past Ian, carrying the blue-patterned egg into the guild, Ian finally relaxed completely.
"What's going on?"
"What's happening here?"
Ian strolled casually into the guild hall, pretending he didn't know anything.
"Father, Natsu found a dragon egg," Erza informed him.
"A dragon egg?" Ian asked, feigning curiosity as he looked at Natsu.
"Yes! Ian, look, I found a dragon egg!" Natsu lifted the blue-patterned egg for all to see, exclaiming with excitement.
"Though I'm not sure what creature is inside, you're amazing, Natsu," Ian encouraged him softly.
"Heh." Natsu blushed a little at Ian's praise.
Just then…
The dragon egg in Natsu's hands cracked.
A tiny blue cat with angelic wings emerged from the egg, fluttering softly before landing on Natsu's head.
"Ah! The dragon has hatched!" Natsu exclaimed excitedly.
"Aye!"
The little blue cat, sensing Natsu's excitement, echoed his sentiment.
"Hahaha…"
"I've decided, I'll name him Happy!"
"Happy, the child of a dragon!"
Natsu hugged the blue cat, shouting with joy.
Ian's gaze softened, feeling warmth at the sight.
This was exactly what he had been striving to protect all along.
"Natsu, that doesn't seem to be a dragon…" Gray observed, looking skeptically at Happy.
"I don't care! Happy is the child of a dragon!"
Natsu, as stubborn as ever, insisted Happy was a dragon.
"Gray, your clothes!"
Cana looked at Grey, who had somehow stripped down to just his underwear, and said helplessly.
"Oh no! When did this happen?" Gray glanced at his barely clothed body, flustered.
Grey, really now, how can you just strip anywhere?" Ur, as Grey's teacher, couldn't help but scold him for randomly stripping.
"No! Please put your clothes back on too, Ur"
Cana looked at Ur, who was also stripped down to her underwear, and couldn't help but remind her.
"Huh?"
"This is bad..."
"How did I become like Grey?"
Ur looked down at her impressive snow-white figure, saying in panic.
"Woah~"
At the same time, the guild's perverts forcibly shifted their gaze from Happy to Ur.
"Heh, this is a great moment for a guild family portrait."
"I'll just draw Happy as a dragon."
Reedus wiped a trace of red from beneath his nose and captured the moment in his sketch.
"Old man, your paper is filled with Ur! You jerk…"
Lyon, watching Reedus's sketching frenzy, fumed.
"Sorry, wrong sketch."
"This is what I should have drawn…"
Reedus ripped up the detailed portraits of Ur with some regret, then made a hasty sketch of Fairy Tail's family moment, drawing Happy as a blue dragon.
"How heartwarming" Ian murmured, a small smile forming.
"By the way, the magic development device is fully upgraded."
"Is anyone interested in testing it out?"
To keep the warm scene going, Ian made his offer.
"Ugh…"
At Ian's words, the guild hall fell silent.
Everyone's faces turned pale as they looked at Ian with dread.
"No, please! Spare us!"
"I have work to do!"
"Yes, yes, I'm running late for work."
"Wakaba, weren't we going to read together?"
"Right, Macao, let's go now…"
"Lyon, how about a friendly ice-skating session?"
"Sure, Gray, sounds good."
With a series of loud clattering, everyone who had gathered around Natsu's "dragon egg" fled the guild like their lives depended on it.
"Haha…"
Watching the lively guild scene, Ian chuckled lightly.
This was what Fairy Tail was all about.
"Laxus, come with me," Ian said, pulling Laxus along as he came back from work.
"Huh? Why me?" Laxus asked, bewildered.
---
Bonus Chap for 200 Power Stones!
You can read up to 25 chapters ahead on patreon.com/DogLeading