Someone Is Infiltrating Magnolia

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

April, x788.

{"Every day, all the kids, especially Naruto, have been complaining to me about the D-Rank missions they've been taking."} Alfonzo, on a video call with Elicia, said with an amused smile on his face.

"Well, I can imagine just how boring that would be, though." Elicia replied with a wry smile on her face. "I mean, do you remember when we were taking D-Rank quests? At least we were allowed to leave the town. Most of the time, we even hunted magic beasts. But what they're doing is painting walls, pulling weeds, and catching cats."

Hearing the last part, "catching cats," Alfonzo could not help but make a strange face. A strange face that Amar'e, who was sitting on Elicia's lap, immediately started laughing at while reaching for the lPhone.

Seeing the smile on Amar'e's face, Alfonzo proceeded to make all sorts of funny faces at the lPhone's camera, making Amar'e laugh even more happily. Elicia smiled happily, as well. Meanwhile, Alfonzo continued thinking about the cat he watched Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke chase down under Kakashi's supervision.

{"*Sigh* Don't underestimate that lost cat mission, Lici."} Alfonzo said in a solemn tone. {"When we were D-Class wizards, I doubt either of us could have done any better than Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke."}

Hearing that, Elicia put on a strange expression, as well. Unfortunately, Amar'e missed it because he was so focused on the lPhone screen. A moment later, Elicia exhaled a sigh just like Alfonzo had done before. Then, she smiled wryly as she remembered the effort Team 7, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, had to put into catching the cat in the anime.

"Anyway, it's about time to give Mar'e a bath." Elicia said with a smile. "But we'll talk to you tomorrow, okay, Fonzie."

{"*Sigh* Okay."} Alfonzo said in a dejected tone. {"I can't wait until this job is over. Then I can help give Little Man baths, too."}

Hearing that, Elicia smiled brightly as she reached forward to pick up her lPhone.

"Don't worry, it won't last too much longer. Elicia replied. Then, she looked down at Amar'e while holding the lPhone in front of his face as she continued in a sing-song tone. "Okay, Mar'e, say bye to Daddy~."

In response, Amar'e reached his little arms forward and tried grabbing Alfonzo's hair through the screen. However, he started frowning when he couldn't. Meanwhile, Alfonzo and Elicia could not help but smile at how cute their son was.

{"Alright, Little Man."} Alfonzo said with a fond smile on his face. {"I'll see you---"}

*Beep!* *Beep!* *Beep!*

Before Alfonzo could finish saying his goodbyes, Amar'e tapped the end call button. As a result, Alfonzo disappeared from the screen. And when he did, Amar'e froze for a moment. Then, the frown he was wearing began to transform. Not long later, his eyes started watering. And finally, he started crying at the top of his lungs, greatly surprising Elicia.

"Don't worry, Mar'e." Elicia said in a soothing tone while hugging and rocking Amar'e gently. "Daddy will be back. He'll talk to you later."

Despite Elicia's soothing tone and actions, Amar'e took quite a while to calm down. And his crying was so loud that it drew the attention of Erza, Mirajane, Lucy, and Shizuka, who quickly approached Elicia's room to see what was wrong. Cana, Ultear, Marin, and Sun, on the other hand, were currently out of the house on quests.

*bang!*

"Amar'e! What's wrong?" Shizuka, after flinging Elicia's bedroom door open, asked loudly as she rushed into the room.

Shortly after Shizuka ran into the room, she arrived in front of Elicia and pulled Amar'e from her arms before hugging him to her bosom. Meanwhile, Elicia could only look on while smiling awkwardly.

"Lici, is everything okay?" Lucy, the next to arrive, asked in a concerned tone. "I could hear Amar'e crying from all the way down the hall."

A moment after Lucy, both Erza and Mirajane also arrived. However, they did not speak, waiting for Elicia's explanation.

"Everything is fine." Elicia replied with a smile. "Amar'e just got upset because he accidentally hung up on Fonzie."

Hearing that, the other ladies sighed in relief. Then, Shizuka, who was holding Amar'e to her chest, looked down at Amar'e with a smile.

"You just missed your daddy, huh?" Shizuka asked Amar'e who had stopped crying.

Unfortunately, Amar'e seemed completely uninterested in what Shizuka had to say, as he had stopped crying by now and was happily slapped his little hands on her breasts and laughed at how they deformed in shape before returning to normal.

"*Sigh* I'm just glad nothing is wrong." Erza said in a relieved tone. "I was quite scared after hearing him cry."

"That's why Alfonzo should just have a baby with me, too." Mirajane grumbled. "If he did, the kids could play together. Then, they wouldn't cry like that."

Hearing that, everyone in the room, other than Amar'e, stared at Mirajane with strange expressions. A moment later, Elicia shook her head. Then, she turned her attention back to Shizuka and Amar'e.

"Anyway, it's time for Mar'e's bath." Elicia said with a smile as she held her arms out to take Amar'e from Shizuka.

"Oh, then I'll come with you." Shizuka replied with a smile as she started bouncing Amar'e in her arms. "I can help you give him a bath."

In response, Elicia dropped her arms. Then, she shrugged as if she did not mind.

"Alright, then come with me." Elicia replied as she turned towards the bathroom in her bedroom.

Before Elicia could take more than a few steps, however, she was stopped.

"I wanna come, too." Mirajane said as she stepped forward. "It will be good practice for when I have a baby, too."

In the end, the four ladies and Amar'e went down to the underground bath together. Along the way, Maria joined them to make sure they had everything they needed to bathe Amar'e while enjoying their time in the bath, as well.

The next day, Elicia woke up at an uncharacteristically early time. However, ever since she got pregnant with Amar'e her sleep habits had changed. And now, she had even become an early riser. Though, that was only when she had something to do.

"*Sigh* I kinda hate taking quests now." Elicia said as she looked at Amar'e sleeping in his crib. "Every time I have to leave Mar'e, it feels like my heart breaks. But I chose this life. And I really enjoy being a wizard. So, I'll just have to learn how to juggle the two."

With that, Elicia got out of bed. Then, she went into her closet to pick out the battle attire she planned to wear on her quest to subjugate an S-Class magic beast. On top of that, she packed a few days' worth of clothes as it would take her about ten hours to drive to the quest location. And she was certain that she would not want to drive back after driving that far and fighting a magical beast.

As soon as she was done packing, Elicia saw Grayfia standing at her bedroom door.

"Good morning, Madam Elicia. I've come to watch over the Young Master." Grayfia said while bowing her head politely. "And to wish you luck on your quest, as well."

Smiling at Grayfia's polite greeting, Elicia picked up her bag. Then, she made her way over to Amar'e's crib and watched him sleep for a few moments, seemingly struggling to tear her eyes away from him.

Eventually winning the struggle against herself, Elicia sighed. Then, she smiled once again before leaning down and kissing Amar'e on the forehead.

"Mommy will be back soon, Mar'e." Elicia said quietly, making sure to not wake Amar'e. "Be a good boy for Grayfia and the other girls, okay?"

With that, Elicia stood up and spun on her heels before heading for the door to her bedroom. At the same time, seeing Elicia walking towards her, Grayfia stepped aside, making room for Elicia to leave.

"I pray for your safe return, Madam Elicia." Grayfia said, bowing politely once again.

In response, Elicia stopped next to Grayfia.

"I'm sure we've told you this more than once, Grayfia." Elicia said while shaking her head. "But you really don't have to be so formal. And you don't have to make sure the other girls are so formal, either."

"I'm afraid I cannot acquiesce." Grayfia replied with her usual stoic expression on her face. "That would simply be unbefitting of a maid."

Shaking her head at the expected answer, Elicia turned to leave again. However, Grayfia's following words made her stop and smile brightly.

"However, should the opportunity present itself when I'm off duty, I would enjoy having a cup of tea and speaking of this season's collection.' Grayfia said without changing her tone.

"Great." Elicia replied. "Then, it's a date. Just let me know when your next day off is."

In response, Grayfia only bowed her head once again. Meanwhile, Elicia skipped away from her bedroom happily. A few minutes later, she arrived in the kitchen, where Erza, Mirajane, Lucy, and Shizuka were eating breakfast.

"Good morning, everyone." Elicia said in a cheerful manner. "What are you all planning to do today?"

"Good morning, Elicia." Erza replied with a smile. "It looks like you're ready to go on your quest."

"Yup." Elicia replied with a somewhat forced smile. "I'll try to make it quick so that I can come back to Mar'e. So, what will you guys be doing?"

"I'm gonna go spend time with Lisanna." Mirajane said with a smile. "Apparently, Natsu is going on a quest today. So, I'll keep her company."

As she spoke about Natsu taking a quest, Mirajane glanced at Erza and Lucy, members of Team Natsu. However, there were no negative feelings in her gaze.

"Indeed." Erza added. "We'll be going on a quest with the rest of Team Natsu." Erza added. "I believe Juvia will be accompanying us, too."

"I don't know why we haven't just added her to the team yet." Lucy said while shaking her head. "I mean, she practically comes on all our quests with us. So, why do we just keep saying she's only accompanying Team Natsu.'

"If I had to guess, it's because Juvia only acknowledges Gray as her teammate, right?" Elicia said while tapping her chin with her left index finger.

"That is correct." Erza replied with a nod. "Perhaps we should have Gray talk to her about officially joining."

Shrugging her shoulders, Elicia accepted a bag containing a packed breakfast and lunch from Maria, as she turned to Shizuka, who seemed to be eating while still half asleep.

"What about you, Shizuka?" Elicia asked in a curious tone. "You have a shift at the guild's infirmary today, right?"

"Nuh uh." Shizuka replied while shaking her head lazily. "Today is my day off. So, I'm gonna go back to sleep."

"Then, does that mean you stayed up late last night because you didn't have to go to work today?" Lucy asked curiously.

"Uh huh." Shizuka replied sleepily. "I stayed up listening to Maria sing in the studio. She's really good, you know."

Maria, who was standing to the side to serve the ladies, could not help but blush after being praised like that. However, she did not say anything.

"Yeah, she really is." Elicia added. "I remember the first time we walked in on her recording with Miyuki working the controls. It really was good, you know?"

With that, the ladies continued to chat about Maria's singing, which embarrassed her even further. However, the time for Elicia to leave eventually arrived. So, after giving all her sisters a hug, she took the elevator down to the underground parking garage. Then, she hopped in her Huracán and opened the garage door.

Shortly afterwards, Elicia was driving through the streets of Magnolia towards one of its gates while thinking about the magic beast she was supposed to hunt.

"But seriously, what's up with Lupinus?" Elicia asked as she approached the eastern gate. "first a lycan, then an Inferno Bear, and now a Manticore. Does that town have something that attracts strong magical---"

Just before reaching the gate, Elicia spread her [Magic Power Detection], a practice everyone who could use it had adopted whenever they left Magnolia. And just as she did, she felt a magic power signature she did not recognize.

Had that been it, it would not have been enough to make her stop talking to herself mid-sentence. What made her stop was the fact that the magic power signature was on par with Brandish's in power. And it was about to enter the town. On top of that, it was entering from the same gate Elicia was leaving from.

Naturally, Elicia kept the magic power signature in her perception. And when it entered the town, she could also feel Irene start to move, as well. Brandish, on the other hand, was probably uninterested as she did not even move from within her apartment.

"Well, I guess I should see what's going on with this newcomer." Elicia said as she drove towards the magic power signature. "And if Irene is moving, it's probably someone from Alvarez. The only question is... who?"

A few minutes later, Elicia was approaching the gate. However, instead of driving through it, she turned the wheel and pulled the emergency break, causing the magic vehicle to drift to a stop not far from the carriage rental shop near the gate. Then, once the Huracán came to a stop, she rolled down the passenger side window with a smile while appearing to stare at the wall next to the magic vehicle.