18 Chapter 5 Part 4

- Makarov -

The number of thoughts going on through his mind when he gathered with some of his guild members on Tenroujima island were innumerable.

These thoughts had started when Warrod had contacted him about the topic.

The true history of Fairy Tail.

The teacher of the Founders.

The truth of Black Wizard Zeref.

The information had shaken him completely.

To think that his own father was taught magic by the infamous Black Wizard Zeref who was in a relationship with the first master Mavis. The latter fact was even more surprising than the fact that Zeref, a figure from four hundred years ago, was still alive at this point.

But then he came to know about the truth of the history of Zeref and Makarov couldn't help but feel pity for the guy.

His thoughts had to wait however as he sensed people coming out from the forest. At the forefront of the group was a black haired guy who looked in his early twenties.

Warrod took the lead and greeted the man and then Makarov understood who this person was. Zeref.

The man's eyes however were looking past him, behind him to be precise.

He looked back to see the target of the man's gaze and found it to be Natsu. But the surprises didn't end just there. The Black Wizard's eyes teared up as he looked at the young Dragonslayer, shocking even Warrod.

"Natsu." His whisper was heard through the silence of the island.

"Hah! Do I know you mister?" The boy asked, confused.

The man collected himself and smiled. "I… yes. Let me introduce myself. My name is… Zeref Dragneel. I am… your elder brother."

….

….

The shocked look on his face was shared by everyone in the place, even Warrod.

No one had known the full name of the Black Wizard till then.

"Brother?" Natsu was puzzled but the man didn't look offended or angry in the slightest.

He sat down on the ground and looked towards the sky in the distance and the rest followed his gaze but couldn't sense anything. Some wondered what he was looking for but those questions were answered as soon as they spotted a giant red dragon approaching the island at a very high speed.

Makarov got in a defensive position. Gildarts behind him doing the same.

"She's a friend."

Natsu stood frozen at the sight of the dragon.

The said dragon landed on the beach and several people got down from its back, one in chains who looked surprisingly similar.

"That's…" Makarov exclaimed.

"Back down Makarov. He…Precht or rather Hades is the Guild Master of Grimoire Heart, one of the three biggest Dark Guilds in Ishgar. He's responsible for many crimes." Warrod spoke, making Makarov freeze on the spot and look at the man in shock.

The second Master was… how?

The dragon turned into a scarlet haired woman and Natsu ran towards her.

"Hey. Do you know Igneel? Do you know where Igneel is?"

The woman took a look at him and then at Zeref and asked, "Is this your brother?" to which he nodded. She then returned her gaze to Natsu. "Ask your brother. He left you with Igneel."

"Do you know where Igneel is? You left me with Igneel?" Natsu threw the questions at Zeref without a moment's delay but the man in question was looking towards the forest.

They followed his gaze and sure enough, someone came out of the forest. A girl with a white dress and long blonde hair walked on the forest ground, barefoot. She looked like a fairy from legends but Makarov had seen her before.

"H-how?"

"Mavis." Zeref whispered.

"Zeref. Warrod, Precht…"

This reunion however was not pleasant for everyone. The second master Precht seemed to have reached his limit and burst.

"WHY? Why do you do this? I have searched for you all this time. To search for the source of magic, the one true magic, dedicated my entire life to finding you and now… you come out of nowhere and treat me like a criminal… you, the one known as the Black Wizard, you who created the entire race of demons… I see. Is it because of him?" He pointed towards another elderly man with a long white beard, confusing everyone in the place. "Did you think I wouldn't recognise your power? I wouldn't forget your power. You were a freak of nature from the very moment you were born. Who would have thought that you would go up and meet Zeref and who would have thought that Black Wizard Zeref would be so emotional to come and take revenge for his own son?"

….

….

"What did you say?"

Somehow, the tone of Zeref's voice didn't reassure Makarov that this meeting would be a peaceful one anymore.

- Mavis -

She had thought that at her age and with her life experiences, there would be very few things in life which could shock her. She was right to think that, even the news of Zeref finding a cure for the 'Curse of Contradiction' was just happy news for her, not a massive surprise. She had known the man better than anyone else. He was her husband after all and thus she trusted him and his talents more than anyone. She knew that he would one day find a cure for the curse. She was just thankful that he hadn't fallen into madness before he did so.

But… never in her life had she imagined this to be the reason for her surprise.

She was a mother.

Her child…

Was this the punishment for taking away young Makarov's mother, Rita's life with her curse? She was separated from her child as well.

Pain, Sorrow, Anger, she couldn't even understand which emotion she was feeling at the moment or at whom the feelings were aimed at, Precht, the god who cursed them, Precht, or even this world. Perhaps the only thought that was keeping her from breaking down at this point was the fact that Zeref must be having it much harder at this point. To stay by his own child's side but not recognise him. The guilt must be killing him. Especially Zeref. For someone like him who had loved and wanted nothing more than a family… this was probably worse than all the centuries he had suffered under the 'Curse of Contradiction'.

Not to mention what her child had been through… to remain and act like a servant to his own father just to avoid the 'Curse of Contradiction' and stay by his side.

"W-what is your name?" She stuttered as she faced him hesitantly. The others had given the three of them some room alone and she was grateful for their consideration.

"I… my name is August. His Maj…" He paused looking at the pained look on Zeref's face and changed his words. "Father named me after the month he spent with you."

"August… hmm, a good name, a very great name." Words were failing her and she looked at Zeref for support but August interrupted before Zeref could say anything.

"Wouldn't you come with us, Mother. We have found a way to remove the curse. We… we could live together." He kneeled.

"I…" Her words finally failed her as tears came to her eyes and she could barely nod. She looked at Zeref and he came by her side as the two of them embraced August as tears fell from each of their eyes. "I would love to go with you two."

She didn't pay any attention to what happened or what was discussed. Something about Dragon Slayers, Acnologia and Eclipse. All she did was sit with August and tried to make up for the time they had lost together.

As for Precht, he was taken away for interrogation by the lady who could turn into a dragon. The reason he was attacked was because he had been taking her daughter as a hostage and making them work for something and despite their previous friendship, she didn't have it in her to spare any kindness for him at this point.

– Silas –

I collected the people who wanted to go to the Spirit's Dwelling to get a blessing from the Spirits.

The group consisted of me as the leader, Lavinia, Orihime, Brandish,Tanya and Ikki.

Kisuke took care of Orihime's school and Brandish wanted to join Lavinia so we had to adjust somewhat.

And here we are, standing in the middle of Tempest with over half a dozen star wolves to set off on the journey for the Dwelling of the Spirits.

"I will leave the restaurant to you. If anything happens, you can send a message through Yuri or Naberal to Ainz and he will help." I told Shuna as I kissed her forehead.

"Yes. I will do my best." She nodded with a blush.

Seriously, she is too cute.

Shuna is in charge of the Kijin in my world as well as maintaining contact with this world in my absence. Tanya was mainly in charge of the business but Yuri and Naberal are quite smart and have picked up on the required knowledge to maintain the company meanwhile.

The journey was pretty uneventful. We did meet several monsters along the way and I let Ikki fight to test himself out and he did pretty well. He could fight C Ranked monsters easily and if he used his Itto Shura technique, he could even harm B Ranked monsters which was a serious improvement in strength considering he would have been crushed by a C+ Ranked ones easily before this.

The surprising one was Brandish. I didn't know that the girl had it in her. At thirteen years of age, she could manhandle a C Ranked monster with her newly learned magic, Command T and she would only get better with time.

She also had something called Celestial Spirit Magic but that thing needed keys and stuff which I don't know about. This was one of the reasons she wanted to meet the spirits of other worlds and see if she could make a contract with them. Apparently, her mother was a user of this magic and she wanted to see if she could learn it as well. We agreed.

The monsters were not a problem for Lavinia or me. Orihime on the other hand who recently had her Device Awakened was still trying to find her way.

Her Device took the form of two hairpins which turned into six sprites/ They could attack and defend and best of all, heal stuff. Like seriously, her healing was insane. That said, something was off about her healing powers. It was just….something different. I was not exactly an expert at magic and decided to wait for Rimuru or Ainz to get a second review on what exactly was off about her Device.

That said, her device wasn't dangerous for her or us. This much, even I could understand with my Sage ability. It's just that, even with the Sage, if I tried to truly understand her healing ability, it would have taken me years. Maybe the Great Sage could find it faster or Ainz might have encountered something similar during his Gaming Days.

It's just that, despite her powers, the girl wasn't exactly a fighter. She hesitated to hurt anything. I guess it's just her kind nature holding her back. Not that it was a bad thing. Even just a healer was a massive boon for our makeshift party.

The one who was the most comfortable during this time was Tanya.

She… well, it was almost as if she was having a vacation.

She fought off most of the enemies quite easily. Even a B Ranked one was driven away by her when she used her aerial advantage and slowly sniped it from the sky.

We camped at nights and travelled during the days for the whole week.

We reached our destination by the end of a week as Rimuru had predicted and found their group already waiting.

Five children, around ten or so years old, were waiting with Rimuru, Saitama and Ranga at the entrance of a cave for us.

"Silas, over here. Did you guys have any difficulties along the way?" Rimuru waved at us from a distance as the children looked at us, curiously.

"Not really. The monsters on the way were pretty weak. The only decent one was a dragon of some kind but Lavi took care of it. I saved the body in case you could get any abilities from it." I brought out the body from the space ring Ainz had given me and Rimuru just absorbed the entire dragon quite easily.

"Earth Dragon. They have good defensive ability. This will help. Thanks Sil."

"No problem. So, are they your students? They are really cute."

"Don't call me cute!" said the orange haired kid, while both girls blushed. The black haired one glanced at Rimuru before quickly looking back, blushing slightly more. Heh, something to tease him with.

The funniest part was the tallest of the boys sneaking looks at Tanya.

Oh, this trip was going to be even better than I thought.