Carla said, "I haven't heard of such a thing."
Wendy shook her head, "I'm not sure either."
Could it be that the Balram Alliance's retaliation has already arrived? And they've dispatched a sizable force all at once.
The two locals were clueless, so everyone decided to go and have a look.
A large group of people dressed in white robes, holding magic staffs, stood at the village entrance.
The emblem on their chests revealed their identity, and Natsu and Gray's expressions turned as if the sky was falling the moment they saw them.
"The people from the Council!!!"
"Why are they here?"
The two troublemakers were now nervously holding their heads, looking left and right for a place to hide.
Lucy was also flustered by their demeanor, as if she had really committed a crime.
Someone whom Rhode recognized stepped forward and introduced himself, "I am Lahar, the Captain of the Fourth Strong Detention Team of the Freshman Council."
The restructuring of the Council mainly affected the higher levels, while there were few changes to the nomenclature and personnel composition of these grassroots units.
"Freshman Council?"
"Has it already started operation?"
"I think Mr. Yajima mentioned it before."
"Now that you mention it, Rhode and Mira seemed to have reminded us too."
The crowd was abuzz with discussion, a bit surprised, but also aware that it was only a matter of time.
"To uphold law and justice, we have been reborn. From now on, no evil will be tolerated."
To represent the position of the Freshman Council, or perhaps to explain its principles, Lahar's opening statement was somewhat forceful.
His eyes scanned the crowd, the most familiar face being Rhode, but the highest status clearly belonged to Jura.
So Lahar chose to speak with Jura, his tone softer than before, "Mr. Jura, we are here to arrest the Oracion Seis and all members of their affiliated guilds. Please hand them over to us."
Although they were meant to be handed over to the Council, his forceful attitude still left a bitter taste.
Jura, likely familiar with the Council's style, did not want to complicate matters at this juncture. He furrowed his brows slightly and nodded,
"That's possible, but we were dispatched by the Local Guild Alliance to execute the mission to defeat the Oracion Seis. Therefore, I must first contact the Local Guild Alliance and seek their approval before transferring them to you."
"That's understandable, but this leads to my second point." Lahar adjusted his glasses, feeling some pressure but, driven by law and justice, continued,
"The Local Guild Alliance initiated a coalition against the Oracion Seis without the Council's permission, which strictly speaking is an illegal act, but..."
"What did you just say?"
"That's outrageous..."
"What do you think our efforts amounted to?"
The crowd was stunned by his words, while Natsu's temper was close to boiling over.
If Natsu were to be arrested for destroying buildings or burning forests, he'd most likely flee rather than resist.
But anyone who fought hard only to be labeled illegally would naturally be displeased.
"The guild presidents detected the Oracion Seis's dangerous intentions and promptly decided to form a coalition. At that time, it was unclear if the Council was operational."
Jura calmly stated the facts and expressed his opinion, "If that's deemed 'illegal,' then I must disagree."
Others chimed in to support Jura's point, condemning the Council's arbitrary actions.
The Strong Detention Team members gripped their magic staffs, looking tense, as the mages glared at them as if ready to act at any moment.
Since Rhode wasn't part of the coalition, he refrained from opining, but based on prior acquaintance, he asked, "Lahar, are you serious about this?"
"Please be patient and hear me out." Lahar, visibly sweating, faced a troublesome mission and explained,
"Strictly following legal procedures, it indeed stands so, but since the guild presidents of Fiore Kingdom were unaware of the Council's restoration, the Council only hopes that they can provide reasonable explanations."
This implied that formality was required, as the operation resumed, things should be handled by the book, perhaps giving everyone a way to back down?
Jura roughly understood what Lahar meant but felt their stance was too high-handed, and such matters shouldn't be discussed with him; it should have been coordinated with the guild presidents before deploying the forces.
Presently showing such a confrontational stance and then contacting them with a Communication Magic Crystal—what does that even mean?
He paused, unable to comprehend the Council's logic.
Rhode sensed something off but couldn't pinpoint it for now; the timing was peculiar. He chose to test the waters:
"Ha~ you certainly arrived at the right time, just when we defeated the formidable enemy and resolved all issues. Why couldn't you be a day earlier?"
Lahar's expression soured, and his subordinates looked indignant.
"Nonsense! We set off as early as yesterday..." An officer barely started speaking before Lahar stopped him with a raised hand.
In actuality, they had indeed mobilized the day before.
Their original plan was to lay down Techniques in the Wys Tree Forest to trap the Oracion Seis and capture them all.
But they hadn't anticipated the speed of the Guild Alliance's actions nor how easily the Oracion Seis managed to activate Nirvana.
That massive city with its six long legs traversed mountains with ease, while their forces struggled through the forest, incapable of catching up.
By the time they reached the area near where Nirvana stopped, Natsu had almost extinguished the fire.
To be fair, the actual commencement of the Freshman Council's operations and the Local Guild Alliance's decision to deploy the coalition were murky in terms of sequence.
Their original plan was to annihilate the Oracion Seis in one go to establish a firm image of the Freshman Council's resolve and capability to eradicate evil.
But the Guild Alliance's actions disrupted everything.
Per headquarter instructions, Lahar was supposed to control the coalition last night and adopt a firm stance to extract the captives.
This approach, albeit less effective, could still yield good results with strategic communication.
The principle of "three fires when a new official takes office" described precisely this scenario.
However, Lahar did not agree as he had seen two Giant Dragons flying across the night sky one after another.
He doubted his forces could stand against dragons, even with pre-arranged techniques.
While the Council could stand firm in its attitude when needed, dragons—creatures supposedly extinct—were beyond his team's capability to handle.
Plus, a dragon might not even reason with him.
He wasn't afraid to die, but didn't want a meaningless death.
Lahar swiftly reported the on-site situation, which sparked heated debate among the current evaluators.
By this morning, the final negotiation scheme had been determined.
—Above all, he was instructed to maintain the Freshman Council's dignity as much as possible.
Now, judging by Jura, Rhode, and the others' attitudes, if he kept silent, it might lead to unnecessary troubles.
Moreover, the issue with the Giant Dragons required investigation; though they appeared to aid in Nirvana's destruction, being immensely powerful creatures, their intentions must be clarified.
Whether they acted on a whim, sided with justice, or—most dangerously—just wished to attack humans needed to be understood.
Efforts were necessary to ascertain these two dragons' attitudes toward humans, the existence of others like them, and their whereabouts and inclinations.
If necessary, preparations for 'Dragon Slayer' measures were needed, such as deploying the Magical Elf Power once more.