chapter 10 : Beginning of the manga

(time skip)

 Three years passed and Gray was 18 now (age at the start of the manga), he was one of the strongest, handsomest but also richest men in all of Fiore.

 He had created a store of utilitarian enchanted items like storage rings or bracelets, dream crystals capable of giving anyone the ability to dream whatever they wanted and they were lucid dreams.

 From the beginning, when he opened his store, he made a lot of noise because of his reputation and that was one of the reasons why he insisted on having his S rank license.

 The first item of his sales was the dream crystal which was a real success in all magnolia in just a few weeks.

 However, he didn't stop at selling his crystals but he had placed in them a system of glyphs ensuring that the effects of the crystal only lasted for a week and anyone who wanted to continue to have their paradise during each nights of the week, month or year had to pay a sum of 1500 jewels per week.

 1500 jewels seemed very affordable but that's where it was vicious and clever, 1500 jewels multiplied by 1000 users for example gave 1,500,000 jewels per week to Gray and there were not only 1000 people in Magnolia but dozens of thousands and the majority had a dream crystal.

 The unit price was low because an apartment like Lucy's was worth 70,000 jewels per month.

 It had been three years since he started his business and his crystals were present in the major cities where he had offices. Crocus, Akalifa, Cedar, Denish, Foss, Marguerite etc, all these large cities of the kingdom were produced and Gray had become a multi-billionaire very quickly.

 Of course, he created jobs and the employees in his offices were extremely well paid but subject to a seal of loyalty that he placed on them.

 He had shown them how to recharge the crystals and with his memory magic, he placed a seal on them to scramble the process from their own minds.

 Basically, they reflexively knew how to recharge the crystals but couldn't even explain how they did it. These were a solution to avoid the leak of information because he wanted an absolute monopoly on this business and likewise, if someone gifted with mental magic wanted to search their minds, this information will always be scrambled.

 With all this mountain of money, Gray, who himself was an orphan, opened several orphanages in the towns and villages of the kingdom where the children lacked nothing.

 The arrival of the bracelets and storage rings was like a nuclear bombe.

Like the dream crystals, they could be used by mages or people without magic, he had thought of everyone and it was its main strength.

 These items were extremely useful but as usual, Gray had thought of everything and only non-magical items would be stocked for a subscription of 1500 jewels per week because he knew that not only good people would have use of its products.

 It had become the archenemy of banks because people could now store their own money with them.

 Several noble or rich families wanted to establish ties with him but he had no desire, he was even contacted desperately on several occasions by a certain Jude Heartfilia, Lucy's father who wanted to introduce him to his daughter but he never responded.

 Gray had not stopped his training in which he had further progressed, he had kept his hair a little longer and his magical power was even stronger than before.

 38 tons was the pressure his body could handle now and it had been an ordeal to get to this point with an even larger magical core that could now fill 48 times faster than normal thanks to the seal in his back.

 His ice magic was in no way inferior to Alvarez's Invel Spriggan and his physical strength was just monstrous.

 As an S rank, Gray continued the guild's missions and had completed several quests of his rank including an 80 year quest in another kingdom.

 Over the past three years, the guild had gone through its share of sad events such as Lisanna's death.

 A tragedy that brought a lot of sadness to everyone's hearts but especially to Elfman and Mirajane whose attitudes had literally changed (like in the manga).

 Natsu and Gray were seriously hit by Lisana's death. To Gray, she was a little sister so his devastation was no small one. He was greatly tempted to turn to the dark arts because of his pain.

 Likewise, happy events were celebrated like Natsu who rose to Rank S because he trained regularly thanks to his rivalry with Gray.

The renovation of the guild building by Gray, the arrival of new members.

 A catastrophic event had put Gray into an extremely dark rage and that was the disappearance of his master's Ice Shell.

 He didn't know who, but someone had somehow moved Deliora's prison and he did everything he could to find out who had done that to make him taste a fate worse than death.

 Right now, he was sitting on the second floor of the guild, the one reserved for S-rank mages, and he was consulting documents there for his research.

 The guild thanks to his financial support was much larger. The ground floor was dedicated to rank B mages including the new ones , staff and weakest mages , the first floor belonged to rank A mages and the second floor was that of rank S.

 Although each rank had its own floor, they all met most often on the ground floor to party or for bar fights which was a form of representation of the good humor of the members of the guild.

 "Gray ?! I didn't know you were here…" Mirajane came to sit next to him with a cup of tea.

 Gray: Hi Mirajane, I just arrived.

 Mirajane: You could go through the front door instead of just appearing like that, for many people in the guild you are like a legend because you are so rare to see.

 Gray: It suits me that way. You, you're well ?!

 Mirajane: A lot of work at the guild but everything is going well.

 Gray: Mira, you know very well what I'm talking about...

 Mirajane: It's okay...I avoid talking about it or...thinking about it...I avoid fighting to put others in danger, it's better that way.

 Gray: I love the girl you have become but you need to understand that what happened is not your fault.

 "I...I better go and take care of the others..." She said getting up to leave but Gray held her hand and they looked into each other's eyes as Mirajane started to blush.

 Gray: I know how it feels, you can believe me, that's why I decided to become stronger and take matters into my own hands so as not to lose anyone again.

 I loved Lisanna very much, just like Levy I considered her my own little sister and I mourned her. Until now it still hurts me but not as much as seeing the girl I love withdraw into herself mentally.

 Mirajane: (blushed) The girl that...you...love...?!!!

 Gray: I also know that you've felt the same way for a long time, but you live so half-heartedly that you do what you can to make it happen. I know it's your way of managing your pain and a way to try to move forward, but I prefer to warn you, it's a dead end. You will miss good moments and opportunities.

 Mirajane: It's just...I can't...

 Gray: I understand and it's because I really love you that I'm going to be frank. One day you may have regrets and all I want is to see you happy, fully. Whether you're with me or not doesn't matter because I care about you. I couldn't leave things like that anymore, we've been looking at each other like that for almost two years but no one has done anything between us.

 Mirajane: You should forget about it and move on, I don't want these feelings. Things are better this way.

 Gray: Is this what you really want?

 Mirajane: I'm sorry.

 Gray: You don't have to be, we do what seems best for our well-being. Now that I know what you want and things are clear, I can move on.

 Mirajane left there with watery eyes and Gray took a deep breath before starting to read his documents again. After a quarter of an hour, he ended up finding information that piqued his attention.

 The news mentioned the island of Galuna, he put away the documents and went down floor by floor under the gaze of the others and responded to greetings.

 Mirajane looked at him a little but he ignored her, if she wanted to continue on this path then he wasn't going to insist, he had to move forward and especially right now.

 She was a year older but that didn't matter.

 He came across Makarov and asked for news about Natsu and Erza, apparently, Erza was on a quest and Natsu went to complete an S quest with a new member of the guild, Lucy for two days now.

 He wasted no time and teleported directly above the harbor before summoning an enchanted spear from his storage, he landed on it as the spear floated in the void.

 "I'm coming Ur...wait for me..." he said before rushing towards his spear with a speed faster than sound.