Chapter 86: City Without Sound

~Tatsumi POV~

Ok, I know that we transported here but where exactly are the people in this town exactly?

Because everything here is a ghost town and the shadows moving around are certainly something strange with the shadows moving around and no sound here. But most of all where are the people here?

Glancing around I used [Observation Haki] and Hinata used her [Byakugan] to find anyone and the results were… weird to say the least.

Just by observing the shadow, I can feel the shape of their aura is the shadow as they moved getting curious I asked Hinata as she looked at them, "Say Hinata what can you see other than the shadow in front of us with your [Byakugan]?"

Taking a look towards her she looked shocked as she began to explain to me what she sees in front of her, "No… These shadows were originally people. At first, I thought these were off but to see actual people become shadows is a new one especially there three orbs or cores inside the person?"

Cores?

Oh!

I think she's referring to the mage's origins those that are used to gather magic into them from the air surrounding them to use magic.

Every Mage has a container of Ethernano inside their body that determines the limits of their Magic Power. In the case that it becomes empty, Ethernano will come from the atmosphere and enter the Mage's body and, after a while, their Magic Power shall return to normal and part of a Mage's Magic container that contains a large amount of dormant power: the Second Origin.

That was when we see the shadows begin to try to communicate with us using words as it was still sunny as one of the shadows talked to us, "Goodness! To expect some help from outsiders would you please listen to our plea would you?"

We nodded absentmindedly but I was more concerned with the broken cores all around the floor as they used to belong to something but that was when the shadow gave us the details about their situation as we listened.

Once a city filled with Mages, the city has now become a ghost city due to the experiments of resident Dark Mage Daphne.

Daphne, who was trying to create artificial Dragons, decides to set her creations loose on the city, wanting to gather data for future research.

The citizens can protect themselves by employing the spell, Hidden. However, Daphne uses her Magic to make them unable to dispel it, causing them to stay hidden for many years.

The disappearance of the citizens subsequently lead to the city being called the "City Without Sound".

During those years, a Fairy Tail Mage and Dragon Slayer Natsu Dragneel stumbles into the city, looking for his foster parent, Igneel. The citizens manage to communicate with Natsu via shadows and tell him about their predicament. Natsu promises to help them by defeating Daphne, the one who controls Dragons.

As they are still waiting for years for him to undo the curse to them as I now remember where we are now. It's pretty easy to forget filler episodes like these once and a while but damn it will take them years to return to normal.

Hinata frowns at this as I asked curiously about the their situation as this seems familar to me somehow so I asked curiously to him and the cores on the floor to him, "Say mister shadow fellow what exactly are these cores here? Were they destroyed when this Daphne bitch came to attack?"

The shadow didn't seem to mind my foul words as he began to explain to me that was her experiment using for her Lizardman or Dragonman when they attacked but managed to defend themselves using their specialized magic in this area [Hidden].

Hinata getting intrigued by the magic they used she asked kindly expressing a bow to the shadow to them as I go ahead gathering the cores, "Excuse me sir but what exactly is this [Hidden] magic you use to avoid getting hurt and remain hidden? I apologize if this is being sensitive to your situation."

The shadow nodded his shadow head and tipped his top hat shadow to her as he began to explain to us their magic in a happy tone, "Why no problem at all young lady at least your respectful than your friend here. [Hidden] is a Concealment Magic spell. The castor brings their hands together, with the right one clenched in a fist and the left one facing it, rendering them invisible and impervious to attacks; however, other spells may still affect the user, as when our resident Dark Mage Daphne used her Magic to trap us here. Sigh…"

The shadow man sighs at this as I began to gather up the shattered cores of whatever they were to them as I asked curiously to them about how they got to this state, "I see… so the problem with your situation is Daphne pretty much screwed you guys over but what's her story that made you attack her home city?"

At this, the shadow man began to explain Daphne's origins to her city as an experiment but I get the summarized version enough though.

At some point in her childhood, Daphne saw a Dragon soaring through the sky. After she saw the Dragon, she attempted to tell her fellow villagers about it, but none of them believed her. After this event, she became obsessed with Dragons and started her project focused on creating artificial Dragons.

When a batch of her artificial Dragons hatched, she then decided to set her creations loose on the city to want to gather data for future research. The townspeople were able to protect themselves by employing the spell, Hidden.

However, Daphne used her Magic to make them unable to dispel it, causing them to stay hidden for many years. The disappearance of the citizens subsequently leads to the city being called the "City Without Sound".

Interesting…

In the anime, it wasn't explained much how Daphne saw the dragon went but if it was years it might have been on the run or have been hiding somewhere for safety. However, these are merely speculations at the moment nothing concrete.

But that isn't our problem here, but I see a golden opportunity here for us.

If what the shadow man has said was true then this place is a haven for us for the reason because this place is populated with mages and if we managed to gather their trust and gratitude in helping them out, we get the benefits we need.

That means we have money to use in this world currency, knowledge of this world, their magic, maps, and specific location I'll admit it's out of date but might be useful for us traveling to Magnolia to find the Phantom Lord guild and beat it up.

The odds here are really good but finding a single Dark Mage in a world like this would be hard but not impossible…

Clearing my throat, a bit I asked the shadow citizen a question to him in a curious voice getting his attention, "In that case, sir do you or other people in this town have a tracking spell to use? As you can see I and Hinata here aren't wizards but independent mercenaries currently as we were forcibly teleported a long distance away from home. If we help you get Daphne as well as dispel your curse will you assist us in any way that you can?"

The shadow citizen nod his head at this agreeing as he began to speak to us as Hinata looked confused at the situation but understood the gist of what I was going here, "Yes! Yes, will gladly help any way we can get rid of this spell Daphne has placed on us. But even if we have a tracking spell the object needs to be perfectly fine for it to work."

Smirking at this I used the [Overhaul] quirk to quickly fix the shattered core as it reappears good as new again surprising the shadow citizen as he calmly responds to this, "That! Yes, this will do nicely young man! Just wait a moment till I bring the one that can use the tracking spell on the [Lacrima] just wait a moment."

*Swoosh*

With that, he took off as I see the core is called a [Lacrima] huh?

Should've guessed that much it was a [Lacrima] but I didn't want to assume, and these things are just lying around these parts?

Lacrima is Magic crystalline substances found in both Earth Land and Edolas. Lacrima can be powered up with different spells and used for different purposes.

Figured this was one of those things. That was when Hinata asked me in a curious voice towards my direction getting what I have planned, "Tatsumi-san this is a very wise choice of action. By helping the citizens here, we will be able to get the necessities needed in this… Earthland… to help us correct."

I smiled in her direction followed with a nod but then I asked Hinata curiously enough why she didn't find them out sooner, "Yup. By the way how come you didn't know the shadows following or looking at us?"

Blinking at this Hinata sighs at me as she explains to me with frustration in her voice as she spoke to me, "Sigh… that is somewhat difficult to answer. At first, I didn't detect anything here with my abilities but when I used my [Byakugan] to see the shadows closely I finally found out who they were thanks to dispelling the illusion they had. It's just this weird buzzy interference in the air was bothering me. I'm used to seeing chakra, but this stuff is buzzy and weird to me if that's the way to describe it?"

Weird and buzzy in the air?

Is she talking about the Ethernano in the air?

Ethernano dwells inside all living organisms and throughout the atmosphere?

I mean that's the only conclusion that I can come up with since she is used to seeing chakra with her eyes but Ethernano isn't chakra but magic itself. But she is still managing to figure out how to use it in a magic world.

But it does mean some of our abilities won't work here as originally planned because different energies are interfering with each other because of their different rules or logic?

Sigh…

Shaking my head at this situation we have no time to worry as the shadow citizen returns with another as he began to explain to us carrying a compass, Jewel, and a map, "Sorry for the wait you two. I had to bring our friend here along with a Lacrima compass to help search for Daphne. And since you said you two are new, we brought the map of Fiore to help although it may be outdated as well as some jewels to help."

We both nodded at this as the shadow mage used a tracking spell showing green light then to the compass as it pointed a red-light arrow to our next destination as he spoke hopefully towards the both of us, "Thank you for taking your time to help us in our time of need. When you return, we promise to repay you please help us return to normal."

Nodding at this I and Hinata promised the people here to return them to normal as we both began to set off finding out where Daphne went according to the compass.

Along the way, I managed to collect those shattered [Lacrima] fragments and returned them to normal never know when these things will be very useful.