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CHAPTER START---
"Witness me!" A man yells as he leaps from the airship above Lamia Scale's guildhall. Performing an absurd number of flips, he descends the two hundred feet with absolute ease, appearing as a spinning blue of white and orange before landing gracefully near Oberon and Jura in the courtyard.
He lands and holds a deep bow, patiently awaiting his applause, which never arrives.
"Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki the third, Head Coordinator of the Blue Pegasus Wizard Guild…" After a few more seconds of silence, he lifts his head, looking around to see everyone ignoring him, staring up at the airship above.
He stands to his full height, which is the same as the 10-year-old Oberon Alkwan, dusting off his all-white tuxedo and adjusting his voluminous orange hair.
"Well, our new Magic Airship truly is captivating. I'm not surprised it outshines me on first appearance. We call her the Magic Airship, Chrisina. Master Bob bought it from Guiltina's Magic Council a few weeks ago, this is her maiden voyage."
"That's so cool!" Oberon unconsciously floats off the ground.
"Thank you. Blue Pegasus must have exquisite items, after all, we are the hostess guild."
"How do I ge—" Oberon's words die in his throat as he turns to Ichiya, expecting the usual tall and handsome style of Blue Pegasus's suave members, but instead sees a strange-looking man that's barely an inch taller than himself.
"Starstruck, I'm sure," Ichiya takes out a poster of his own face from his jacket pocket and hands it to Oberon, who notices its already signed.
"Yeah," Oberon places it into a Storage Card, not deeming it valuable enough for his Requip Magic. "The Christina looks awesome."
"Well, I did design the modifications myself. Besides, it arrived at such a perfect time, considering our target."
"Target?" Jura asks, not joining the conversation while many people around still stare in awe at the airship, taking pictures and chattering about it.
"We can discuss that in greater detail aboard the airship. For now, we need to get going," Ichiya then turns to Oberon. "You should never release that much Magic Energy in a place such as this, Sir Oberon—"
"Just Oberon is fine."
"Well then, Oberon. That much Magic Energy can saturate the air and be dangerous for civilians. You'd ruin a tourism town such as this, not to mention putting people in danger."
"I made sure not to release that much again, but I won't make a habit of it."
'He was releasing that much Magic Energy?' Jura wonders as his eyes drift over to Ichiya. 'And this one noticed before anyone else. His senses are incredible. But I'd expect as much from Master Bob's right-hand man.'
"Now I have one last thing to convey," Ichiya turns to the crowd of people now paying attention to the three Wizards, focusing on Master Ooba. "Master Bob had some choice words for you. But all I shall say is this. He is very annoyed that Wizard Saint Aven sent Jura to you. He could have accepted Master Goldmine or Makarov, but not you."
Ooba grumbles under her breath before speaking. "Tell Bob all his dresses make him look fat, and that stubble on his chin and bald head don't fool anyone!"
Ichiya's eyes twitch, but he maintains the composure of a distinguished gentleman. "He gave me a reply for that exact comment, but you are a lady… an ancient one, but a lady no less. So I shall refrain."
Jura sighs. "I'm sure my mentor had his reasons."
Ichiya turns to look at the man who is only a year older than himself, gaze falling on his shiny bald head. He then takes out a comb and adjusts his own voluminous orange hair. "Yes, I don't think you'd fit the Blue Pegasus standard…"
Jura grits his teeth, swallowing his response before taking a deep breath. "May we board the airship and get this assignment done now?"
"One moment," Oberon says before looking to the Lamia Scale building rooftop, and over it leap two young women, each holding a small wooden box and presenting it to him.
"Sir Oberon, these were the only interesting items. Documents that may be of use," Virgo says, and Aries merely nods along.
Oberon places both boxes into a Storage Card before retrieving the keys and dispelling both Celestial Spirits, thinking nothing of it. But all the Wizards watching grew more concerned at the sight.
'A Celestial Spirit Wizard who not only can use two golden keys at once, but has enough Magic to win that contest with Jura while maintaining them…scary.'
Moments later, Oberon uses Gravity Magic to float himself, Jura, and Ichiya above and onto the airship's deck.
There, he sees a dozen eye-catching young men and women lined up, saluting Ichiya before he dismisses them with a wave of his hand. They rush off back to their stations as he leads them into the ship.
Oberon studies everything carefully, including the large Lacrima at the front of the ship's deck, which allows it to fly. Aside from that, and the legs, along with the lack of sails. It would appear fairly similar to a blue and gold ocean-faring vessel…with a large pegasus head at the front and wing decals on either side.
While walking through the hallways, Ichiya summons a screen and keyboard construct beside him, tapping a few keys to show a map before tilting the screen for Jura and Oberon to see while they walk behind him.
Jura is surprised, but Oberon recognizes the Archive Magic and focuses on the map displayed. "We're going to central Fiore?"
"Yes, and it should take us just over a day to get there. How is your Super Archive?"
"Depends, what do you have in mind?" Oberon asks as they follow Ichiya into the control room.
He gestures to all the people at the control panels while walking to the wheel in the middle of the room. "I keep us all connected with regular Archive Magic, but your Super Archive would be much more efficient."
"Sorry, I'm not good at that."
"I see. Well, that's unfortunate. But maybe it's for the best since they're most familiar with my communication style." He sends some information to the crew, then waves his hand to update them on everything else. "Alright, set the course and alert us if anything changes."
"Yes, Sir Ichiya!" they all respond simultaneously.
Ichiya then turns to Jura and Oberon, who are taking in every detail of the control room. "If anything happens to us while on the airship, you should either get to the deck, or, if you think you can help, come here. This room has some powerful Communication Lacrimas to keep us in touch with the guild. My people are trained and know what to do, so trust their instructions."
Jura and Oberon nod, understanding that this isn't their domain.
"Good, now we have some important things to discuss."
After handing off his travel bag, Jura joins Oberon and Ichiya at a table on the main deck. Both men are standing at the table looking down at a map of Fiore, while a large binder rests nearby.
Jura arrives at the table and picks up the binder, reading the cover. "Sky Wolf Wizard Guild. So this is the target. That explains the route. Their base is supposedly somewhere in those absurd mountains."
"Not supposedly," Ichiya taps a marked spot on the map. "We now know exactly where it is. The perfect place for a guild of Wizards who all possess either flight abilities and Magics, or Magic Items."
"Those inner mountains have no path beside climbing the sheer cliff sides," Jura says before giving his full attention to the binder. Within are the names and known Magics of their top members. "And they have so many members. Without this airship, a full attack would be virtually impossible."
Ichiya nods, staring down at the map. "Too bad this didn't happen a few months from now. I recently finished a modified design for The Chiristina. Making her capable of dropping bombs, that would surely help. Until then, she's only a transport vessel…she was originally meant to be a party vessel, actually."
"Getting us there is more than enough," Oberon says. "We're Wizards, we are the firepower."
"What is this about?" Jura places the binder on the table, pointing at a mostly blank page with a picture of a strange object on it.
Ichiya shrugs. "Our sources say it's the last of a few items they were smuggling west. We already reported it to the Magic Council and West Fiore Wizards Guild Alliance, but for now, we have to focus on this one."
Oberon uses Gravity Magic to slide to book to his end of the table, studying the picture. He sees an orb in the picture, with one yellow and red eye staring up at the Kamera. The orb itself has a layer of runes around it in an ancient language.
A language very few could read. However, one of the few who could read it, is Makarov Dreyar, and by extension, his star pupil.
"It's a monster sealing barrier," Oberon says.
"A what?" Ichiya asks.
"I thought only Wizard Saint Ines Fry had that kind of Magic," Jura says.
"No. This is different. It's a lot older and far more unstable. That means whoever sealed this did it maybe two hundred years ago, could be more."
"And it maintained?"
"The seal is special, it absorbs Ethernano from the atmosphere to maintain itself. Some people think Zeref made it, because nobody else is that good at using Magic. But, something doesn't really make sense to me about it…" He takes a more careful look at the picture. "Yeah, the runes, part of them that I can see, translate into 'Failure X7-93'. What does that mean?"
Jura and Ichiya share a confused look before they both shrug.
Ichiya uses Archive Magic to make a report of this update. "I should go relay this to Master Bob. Perhaps the council has more information for us."
As Ichiya leaves, Jura restarts his study of the Sky Wolf Guild, and Oberon hovers over to look at the map.
"Master Ooba mentioned that Master Makarov was a scholar," Jura says. "It seems that you are much the same."
"I heard your order collects and protects knowledge and history."
"Yes, we do, even if some fight to prevent that."
Oberon rolls his eyes. "Anyway, any cool books in the monastery? And how would I get to read them? Library card?"
CHAPTER END---
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pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
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