After spending two days in Ironforge Ridge, Dolan finished repairing Erza's equipment, and then Noah and his two companions boarded the train back to Magnolia.
Gajeel did not return with them. He planned to train at Iron Furnace Ridge for a month first, and then bring Noah's explosive gloves with him when he came back.
Noah was naturally happy to be able to go out less often, so he said some encouraging words to Gajeel and then left.
"As expected of the latest model of the magic train, it's really stable."
On the magical train, Noah looked around at the brand-new carriage.
Since the Blackbird Consortium was captured, the Heartfilia Consortium, now revitalized, not only repurchased the railway that had been forced to be mortgaged, but also had the funds to develop new magical trains.
On their return journey, Noah and his two companions were fortunate enough to board the newly commissioned magical train, the "Starlight."
Noah suspected that the name of the train was personally chosen by Jude, after all, "Hetphilia" had an inseparable connection with "starlight".
Compared to the original magic train, the Starlight has a more powerful engine and better stability, but its energy consumption is the same.
The scenery outside the window was uninteresting. Noah and Mira chatted idly, but Erza noticed several menacing-looking men in the same carriage.
One of them, a bald man with a scar on his face who looked arrogant, was angrily berating the train conductor: "No smoking on the train? What kind of bullshit new rule is this?"
"If you dare to stop me again, I don't smoke, but I'll beat you up!"
The train conductor knew he was no match for the bald man and his gang; he couldn't fight city hall. He could only nervously apologize, "I'm...I'm sorry..."
"Is'sorry' all?"
The bald man's persistent arguing was so bad that even his companion couldn't stand it anymore. A man with a bun hairstyle advised, "Baldy, why are you getting so worked up over an ordinary person?"
"Kageyama, are you teaching me how to do things?"
The bald man had long disliked Kageyama. "Don't think that just because you can break the seal of 'Lalabai' and are favored by Lord Eligoll, you can boss me around."
"Idiot!! Keep your voice down!!"
Kageyama and his companions all turned cold, making the bald man realize he had said something he shouldn't have, and he could only shut his mouth in frustration.
Little did he know, the bald man's loud mouth had been heard clearly by the other three people.
The Guild Girls were responsible for subscribing to newspapers and weekly magazines, so Mira was fairly well-informed about the magical world and quickly remembered where she had heard the name Erigor before.
Eligoll, the current guild master and ace of the dark magic guild "Iron Forest," codenamed "Death"!
Originally, "Iron Forest" was one of the orthodox guilds, but because they could not resist the temptation of money, they secretly accepted assassination commissions that were prohibited by the council.
Five years ago, when their misdeeds were exposed, the then-guild leader of "Iron Forest" was arrested and imprisoned, and the guild was ordered to disband by the council.
However, the "Iron Forest," which had already ventured into the darkness for money, was a thoroughly dark guild. They would never obey the Council's orders and instead carried out assassination missions with impunity.
Erigor is a mage renowned for his assassination missions. Because no target can escape his scythe, he has never failed and has earned the title of "Grim Reaper".
After hearing the information provided by Mira, Erza immediately added in a low voice: "As far as I know, 'Iron Forest' is now one of the affiliated guilds under the 'Oración Seis'."
"Perhaps we can… Noah, stop daydreaming."
Erza nudged the person next to her.
Noah shrugged, indicating that he wasn't daydreaming; he had simply heard some interesting news. He said dismissively, "Iron Forest and Elrigor are nothing but a rabble."
"The 'Lalabai' that the bald guy mentioned is the real danger. It has taken more lives than 100 Eligolls have assassinated."
Erza and Mira had never heard of the name "Lalabai," but Noah had seen it in a book.
LalaBai was originally a flute-shaped magical artifact that released offensive magic through sound, but its power was only average.
But later, "Lalabai" fell into the hands of a dark mage, who erased the magic on the flute and transformed it into a terrifying [curse-killing] spell that could curse and kill any creature that heard the flute.
The black mage did something unknown, but he actually brought "Lalabai" to life, and the "Cursed Demon Lalabai" that wreaked havoc on the world was born, leaving corpses strewn everywhere it went.
Until more than two hundred years ago, a [Destroyer of Evil] mage sacrificed his life to seal "Lalabai", leaving it only in the shape of a flute.
Erza gets serious when the legendary dark mage is involved.
According to the bald man, obtaining "Lalabai" from the "Iron Forest" is a done deal, but they haven't yet broken the seal on the magic flute.
The man named Kageyama is the key figure in breaking the seal.
Now is the best time to take action.
However, Noah patted Erza's hand as she prepared to draw her sword, saying, "There must be more than one person in this world who can break the seal of 'Ralabai,' so why not just destroy 'Ralabai's' magic flute?"
"So Erza, don't rush, play around with them."
...
White Claw Town Station.
After getting off the train, the group from Iron Forest hurriedly left the platform, completely unaware that a man and two women had also gotten off the train and were leisurely keeping a certain distance from them.
Outside a luxurious mansion, Noah and his companions stopped in their tracks, having witnessed the group from the Iron Forest enter the mansion.
"Wow, they're quite wealthy; they can actually afford such a big house."
Despite Noah's teasing, Erza was debating whether to infiltrate or charge in head-on.
Mira inquired with the surrounding residents and learned that the mansion belonged to a sleazy rich man named "Abal," who was said to have an unusual aesthetic sense.
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