16 Chapter 16

AN: This chap wasn't edited. I'm too tired and I want to sleep. Expect more errors in this chap than normal.

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Fiore, Crocus - The Flower Blooming Capital and the Royal Capital of the Kingdom of Fiore.

"So this is Crocus huh." Natsu stared at the wide and bustling streets in front of him. "As expected, this place is far more developed than a town like Magnolia."

He surveyed the surroundings, it truly deserved to be known as Flower Blooming Capital. There are almost limitless amount of flowers adorning the streets, with flowerbeds being placed everywhere, and garlands of flowers appearing as one of the city's most prominent and popular souvenirs.

The buildings, possessing bright facades and towers with extremely pointed tiled roof jutting upwards, are lined up the stone street's sides, some of which are pretty basic, while other, more elaborated ones consist of very large, circular mosaics made of wide, flat stones, which bear floral and natural motifs in their center; chess-like pattern are also used, flanking simpler, stone sections of the streets.

After a little observation, Natsu decided to ask for directions.

The people were nice, they answered his questions politely while smiling. Being very attentive to him, even.

After a little bit of inquiring, Natsu headed towards the palace.

He was actually very curious as to why the meeting will have to take place here in Crocus and not just the Magic Council Fiore Branch.

At the same time, he was feeling annoyed. The council really decided to just call him when he was about to leave to Stella, and now he has postpone his trip once again.

'…This is all for the sake of repaying our debt, get it together Natsu!'

After some time, Natsu finally arrived in front of the royal palace, Mercurius.

Mercurius is an extremely large and tall building, appearing as one of the most visible elements in the valley where Crocus is located, and towering over all of the city's other buildings.

The place consist a number of different, yet uniform buildings fused together, with some sections protruding outwards and assuming particular forms, and the walls being mainly adorned by orders of large, rectangular windows lined up and flanked by protruding pillars.

Its main entrance seems to be a mildly small door topped by a very high decorative arc, which gets pointed near its top, and has its central part adorned by a large, round flower window.

Mercurius is also surrounded by a lush garden, which, much like the rest of the city, is adorned by a large amount of flowers, possessing flowerbeds and, in addition, artistically arranged plants and small, tidy hedges, which have square, hollow spaces on their edges, housing ornately decorated streetlamps, with wavy poles ending in large orbs, with circular objects surrounding them, seemingly floating.

Just as Natsu was thinking of how to go inside the palace without being stopped by the guards, he noticed a group of knights walking towards him while following a hunched old man.

They stopped just a few meters from him with the old man taking a step forward, "Are you perhaps Master Dragneel of Fairy Tail?"

Natsu nodded, "I am. I came here by the order of the council."

The old man nodded, "I am Darton, the minister of defense of the kingdom." He then motioned to the palace, "Please, follow me. The king and the council awaits you."

"Thank you." Natsu nodded as he followed the old man along with the knights.

He didn't ask this, but he was actually curious as to why, or how the king is involved in this meeting. But he didn't bother voicing out his curiosity and merely observed the surroundings.

Mercurius was beautiful. No wonder it's the number one tourist spot of Fiore.

Mercurius' outer area which is its garden is actually open to public, but the knights observing the place made it nigh impossible for any offense to happen, such as littering and the like.

They are very strict.

"We're here." Darton said as he turned towards Natsu, "The council and his majesty is waiting for you behind this door."

Natsu stared at the wooden double doors with twi knights holding the handle. After a signal from Darton, the knights opened the doors, revealing a wide and spacious hall with a long rectangular table on the center.

Natsu stepped in, and he immediately noticed that there are several people seated on the chairs in front of the table, they are the councilmen.

They're just here as a "thought projection" though.

But what really caught Natsu's attention was the short middle aged man seated on a throne, wearing a crown. There is also a girl, around 13 or 14 years of age, with green hair and onyx eyes wearing a white dress with a golden tiara.

This girl has a "scent" oddly similar to Lucy. But not similar as in they are related, but more of a they have something in common.

Natsu guesses that she's a Crlestial Spirit Mage like Lucy.

"Natsu Dragneel," the man, whom Natsu thinks is the king due to the throne and the crown, greeted him, "I am Toma E. Fiore, the king of this nation. Thank you for answering the call of the council."

'Because I have no choice.'

"Please, take a seat."

Natsu did not wait for him to finish his words and quickly sat down. He leaned back on his chair and crossed his arms.

"So? Why'd you call me for, oh respected councilmen?" Natsu suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at the word 'respectable', but held it in.

Toma was the one to answer, "Truthfully, the council have decided that you are the most suitable aid in this assignment."

"Assignment?" Natsu slightly tilted his head to the side.

"Yes," Toma nodded, "Stella, the only exporter and source of Stellarium have stolen something very important to us, and we asked the help of the council to retrieve it. And they decided to send you."

"…Well, I'll be glad to help." Natsu grinned. Well, he's going to Stella anyway. With this job, he can waive off some of the Guild's debt while also getting what he wanted, the Essence Flame.

Toma nodded at him thankfully, "Of course, I will not send you there without help. Two of our best knights will be accompanying you. I will introduce you to them later."

At this time, the projection of Gran Doma suddenly moved, "Master Dragneel, we ask that you don't hold back and make sure that the item they have stolen from Fiore will be returned in one piece."

"That item is very dangerous and could potentially put the whole kingdom of Fiore in danger, we must retrieve it. Don't worry about the damages, since you executed the mission due to our orders, we will shoulder the payment and it won't add on Fairy Tail's debt."

Natsu frowned, tapping his shoes on the floor several times. 'These guys looks so desperate to send me to Stell, what the hell? Does Stella have something that could threaten me? …no, there is also another possibility.'

The council wanted Stella gone. That's why they chose him, a man destructive in nature and told him to go all out and not worry about collateral damage.

"I see." Natsu nodded, "I actually have a few questions."

"Speak."

"It's about—"

Well, no mater. He's heading straight to Stella anyways even without the council's approval.

So he might as well take this chance to pay off some of their debt to the council.

...…

...

…

Stella, Royal Capital Altair.

In an underground base, a tall and slender man with golden hair and wears a gold armor (with a matching crown) underneath a large, gold-trimmed, white shoulder cape that in and of itself features exaggerated, pointed shoulders.

He is Animus, the king of Stella.

And this time, he was observing the dark purple flames on top of an altar in front of him and couldn't help but revealing a smile.

"Hahaha!" He laughed, staring at the flames in greed and eagerness, "Three Thousand Burning Flame, I can't believe this thing has been hidden under my country all these times. If I managed to integrate this with myself, I will surely be able to fully recover due to its 'Undying Body' obtained by its users."

Animus couldn't help but laughed like crazy while staring at the flame in excitement.

He reached out his hand and tried to touch it, only for him to feel like his arm was about to be turned to ashes and retracted it.

He clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Those fire dragons have it easy …I need to use the power of the staff to have enough means to safely integrate the flame to myself."

He clenched his fist, "Just you wait, once I get my hands on Three Thousand Burning Flame and get my body back, I will surely kill Acnologia and usher a new age of dragons!"

Scales started appearing from Animus' skin, but it quickly retracted back when he calmed down.

"I will surely avenge them!"