15 Chapter 15

Magic Council, Era.

The councilmen were having a meeting with the "thought projection" of the King of Fiore, who has requested them for aid.

"I see. So Stella stole something precious from your country and you wanted to ask us for help in retrieving it right?" Asked Gran Doma.

The projection of the King of Fiore, Toma E. Fiore, nodded in response, "Yes, your excellency. That item is very precious to our kingdom and we must get it back."

Gran Doma nodded, "…We will discuss the issue and send you a response in awhile, your majesty."

"Thank you in advance, your excellency." With that, Toma's projection quickly vanished.

The entire hall was engulfed in silence, until one councilmen broke it by saying; "Isn't this a perfect opportunity to destabilize Stella?"

The other councilmen nodded. Stella has become a thorn on their side after its rapid industrialization around a decade ago. It rose from being the poorest country in Ishgar to being one of the richest and most influential that it started to threaten the rule of the council.

"Them being the only exporter of Stellarium which is used to create magical items makes them very dangerous." Said one of the councilmen.

"I have heard rumors that they wanted to only start selling Stellarium in their local currency. That would threaten the dominance of Jewel, the world's currency." Added another.

"It can't be allowed." Angrily said the other, "Jewel has been the world's most dominant currency and was used by almost all nations in the world, it would impact the "world's economy" if it was destabilize."

Of course, they all know they were just saying some made up stuff, but no one bothered denying anybody.

The currency known as "Jewel" is one of the main reason why the council holds such a dominant presence in the world.

Almost all countries owe the council debts that can only he repaid through the council's own currency, the Jewel.

If another currency would emerge that could threaten the Jewel, it would severely weaken the influence of the council.

They cannot allow that.

The world must only use Jewel.

"So I guess we should send the King of Fiore some help then?" Said a councilman.

It wasn't the first time they interfere with a country's internal affairs. Desierto, the nation who has the highest magicrite reserves, was one such example.

Twenty years ago they wanted to give up Jewel and only trade using their local currency, so the Magic Council quickly made up some lies that Desierto was building some dangerous weapons of mass destruction and their king being a dark mage who worships the black mage Zeref.

After receiving great support from the populace, the council sent their Rune Knights and even some Saints to "liberate" the people of Desierto from the tyranny of their evil king.

Now, even though Desierto was still one of the richest country perhaps in the world, their government was full of corruption, the country was dealing rebellion after rebellion, and it became a hub for terrorists.

But the council didn't care, as long as Desierto continue to trade magicrites using Jewels, the council would even lend a hand from time to time.

"Who should we send? Are we going to send the Rune Knights again?" Asked a councilman.

"That's impossible." Denied the other, "The underworld has been in turmoil due to the fall of two members of the Balam Alliance and the Rune Knights has been spread thin all over Ishgar to try and minimize the casualties, prevent it if possible."

"The underworld really has become a pain." Said a councilman, "Maybe we should mobilize the guilds and start hunting them down."

"Let's wait for now." Grand Doma finally spoke after a long silence, "First, we need to figure out who to send to Stella to 'help' King Toma."

"What about Dragneel?" Suggested a councilman, "A saint is not so easy to move. We cannot just order them at will. But Guild Masters are different. They're our dogs. And Dragneel even defeated Jellal and Brain, it proves that he is a Saint level or at least a Saint Candidate level at the very least."

"That's …but if we try and order him we need to waive his guild's debt, that was the promise we made to him."

"I still don't understand why you agreed Chairman, I think we can just force him."

Grand Doma sighed, "It would be easy if Fairy Tail doesn't have any allies. Lamia Scale, Quatro Cerberus, Blue Pegasus …if we force that dragon slayer into doing what we want those three could join forces and null the order."

As explained before if you have every bit of reading comprehension; the council could order ALL guild master into doing a job, but there are EXCEPTIONS to this, such as if three guild masters were to vouch for another guild master, they could null the order from the council.

Natsu has threatened them that if the council did not waive off Fairy Tail's debt every time they wanted to send him on jobs, he would use his connections to null their order.

In the end, the council was forced to agree. Waiving some debts just to have a Saint level mage at their beck and call is too good of a opportunity to pass up.

"But indeed." Gran Doma nodded, "Natsu Dragneel is indeed the most suitable for this job. Very well, send a message, we request an audience,"

...…

...

…

"You haven't even been a guild master for a week and now you're planning on leaving?" Said Laki, as she organizes all paperworks that was piled up like a mountain on the master's desk.

Natsu was packing his things and preparing for his journey to Stella. According to Atlas Flame, a very strong Essence Flame was located there.

And according to the scroll given by Mito, it is the Three Thousand Burning Flame, ranked 8th of the essence flame rankings.

It's ranked lower than Laki's Life Spirit Flame, but its abilities was something Natsu coveted if he even want to at least be a match to someone like Acnologia.

The flame provides the users an "Undying Body", because this Three Thousand Burning Flame was able to allow the person possessing it to have a life force that was unusually tenacious.

One would be like the most repulsive 'Demon Cockroach Beast' among the Magical Beast, being able to swiftly recover from one's injury regardless of what kind of intense attack one suffered.

The recovery of one's fighting strength would also swiftly rise.

Moreover, it was best if one completely killed a person with an 'Undying Body' while they were engaged in a fight. Otherwise, as long as the other party still had a breath remaining, they would once again fully recover as if they haven't even suffered any injury or feel exhaustion.

Of course, this did not mean that one would really become an undying person if one possessed the Three Thousand Burning Flame.

At times, one might suffer some overly serious injuries that the Three Thousand Burning Flame had difficulty healing. Examples of this include one's heart, head, etc.

Should these fatal points suffer a mortal wound, even the Three Thousand Burning Flame would have difficulty healing them.

"Sorry, I need to head to Stella quick." Natsu said as he zipped his backpack, "Please take care of the guild while I'm away. I'll be back shortly, I promise."

"Hmm." Laki merely hummed, not taking her eyes off the papers, "Well, have a safe trip master."

"Urgh. Still not used to that title." Natsu cringed.

"You should." Laki raised her head to stare at him, "You are a master now, and your members needs to show you respect. If there are new members joining us, and they heard the other members just call you without your title, your reputation and authority will be greatly damaged."

"I know that already," Natsu sighed, "I'm just saying I'm still not used to it. It's kind of hard to, considering I wasn't even an S-class before this."

"Understandable." Laki nodded, before her movements stopped as she noticed a letter, "This is …a letter from the council?"

She was surprised seeing the Magic Council emblem on the front of the letter.

"Huh? Let me see." Natsu came to Laki's side and observed the letter, "…It's addressed to me. What does those old fools want now?"

Laki handed him the letter, "Here, read it. I'll be outside."

With that, Laki left the master's office to give Natsu a little privacy. Whatever is written in that letter, she knew it wasn't something someone like her should know or even get involve.

Natsu gave a grateful nod and opened the letter, and a projection of a bipedal frog creature appeared from it.

["Greetings, Master Natsu Dragneel. I, the messenger, am sensing you this message that the council would like to meet you in the king of Fiore's palace for a meeting. They have something important to discuss with you."] the frog bowed, ["I have delivered the message. The council is expecting your presence, farewell."]

With that, the message ended, and Natsu couldn't help but groan in annoyance.

"Great. Just great."

By the way, he was being sarcastic.