"Dad and Mom?" Hapi couldn't believe what he heard.
Since birth, Hapi had never seen his father and mother because he was sent to Aslan as an egg.
Which means his parents should not have seen him either, and his name was given by Natsu, so neither party should know each other.
In response, Gemini, who transformed into the white cat Raki, provided the answer—recognized at first sight.
After turning into the blue cat Mar, they gave the same answer again.
Perhaps there is some special method of identification, but anyway, Gemini never lies.
So it was awkward for Rhode.
"I'm sorry!"
Rhode swiftly untied Raki and Mar, stepped aside, and allowed the family of three to reunite.
The two little blue cats sobbed and hugged each other, while the white cat tried to act tough a bit longer, saying mother and son were pathetic, but eventually, he couldn't resist hugging his wife and child.
Lucy, possibly emotional, gently wiped her own tears: "It's so nice, unexpectedly meeting Hapi's parents all at once. Why do they live in such a remote place?"
"Bili~ Bili~ We know why!"
Lucy asked, "Why?"
"We can't tell~"
"Because they're not enemies~"
"We must protect friends' privacy~"
"So ask them yourself, goodbye~"
Gemini and Minnie, speaking one after the other, refused to answer Lucy's question and directly returned to the Star Spirit Realm.
Lucy shouted indignantly, "Hey! You usually don't protect my privacy!"
"Ah haha, being brought here isn't entirely a bad thing." Natsu was happy Hapi could find his parents.
Lisana nodded as she had hatched Hapi's egg, she too was delighted: "Hmm, but should the credit go to my brother-in-law? Or should it be considered his blunder?"
"A blessing in disguise, perhaps..." Rhode never expected that tying them up would lead to finding his own people.
Hapi seemed to have cried enough and began introducing his friends.
Mar greeted each one, especially chatting a bit with Natsu, Hapi said he was his best friend, but strictly speaking, could even be considered a foster father.
Mar gently stroked Hapi's head, and for the past six years, she had wanted to do that every day: "Making friends with humans, huh~"
"Aye!" Hapi noticed his mother's different tone, "Is there something wrong?"
"Because in Extalia, the Transcenders all consider themselves gods, angels, or something else. And see humans as lowly, foolish creatures." Mar lightly shook her head, "But we don't get along with them, so we live here."
"Huh!" Raki still spoke in a surprising manner, "Young people nowadays don't know even this? Ridiculous!"
Hapi might not be used to his dad's speaking style, meekly agreeing: "Aye..."
"Huh! You're a hundred years too early for that catchphrase!"
"Aye..."
"Don't mind them, Raki's always spoken like this, without malice." Mar smiled at the others; this kind of father-son interaction was something she had wanted to see for six years. "Oh, pardon us for letting you stand here, how about..."
Speaking of which, Mar suddenly felt a bit troubled, as her home could only accommodate Carla apart from guests.
Rhode quickly said, "No need to bother, we came here to rescue our companions, and there's still urgent matters to attend to."
He pointed to the flying ship parked nearby: "We may need to occupy some space near your home. Does anyone come here normally?"
"No, never." Mar shook her head, "Compared to the bustling cities inside, this place is more like the backwoods."
"That's great, let Hapi stay here and chat with you, we need to start the operation immediately." Rhode saw the moon emerging, disregarding further courtesy, "Lucy!"
"Yes!"
"We'll join too!"
The group gathered by the flying ship, leaving Hapi to explain the situation to his parents.
Actually, Hapi wanted to help but felt reluctant to leave his freshly reunited parents, so he stayed to chat and would join when needed.
His care for friends made Raki and Mar very happy.
...
"Open, Lyra Constellation's Gate! Lira!"
Silver light shone from the key, and a cute girl holding a harp appeared before everyone.
She gently plucked the strings and then spoke to Lucy: "Honestly, Lucy, you hardly ever call on me."
Lucy replied helplessly, "Because of our contract, I can only call you three days a month..."
"Oh right, today isn't a summoning day, so goodbye!" Lira calculated the time and turned to leave.
Lucy hurriedly jumped forward to hug her waist, pleading, "Don't go! This time is very, very important! Please, just work overtime!"
The Star Spirit Mage who claimed to strictly abide by contracts was now acting cute and pouting, crying and begging for a minor contract adjustment for her companions.
Lira finally agreed to stay and listen: "Eh~~~ since Lucy's saying that..."
"Thank you, Lira!" Lucy beamed with a bright smile.
"Then, what's it about?"
"It's the Moon's Drop! Please teach us about the Moon's Drop!" Lucy briefly explained the situation with the Magic Crystal.
Lira nodded, but immediately said: "But last time those people took three years to undo Dailola's seal with the Moon's Drop. Will there be enough time here?"
Lucy showed a worried expression: "I forgot! Mr. Rhode, what should we do?!"
Such a silly girl... Rhode sighed:
"I told you, the magic that Leon and they want to undo is Gray's master's 'Absolute Ice Purity', a life-risking magic.
"With Ultear's powerful magic power and weight of life, undoing the seal is naturally more difficult. And what we need to undo this time is just regular magic, moreover...
"Have you noticed, in Edolas, there are nine suns during the day and nine moons at night, the speed of gathering Moon Magic Power is much faster. Look over there!"
Everyone turned their heads and saw indeed two moons hanging in the sky, and the third one was already starting to show.
"Really!"
"Amazing!"
Lucy, Wendy, Lira, and Carla all exclaimed in wonder.
"With this, everybody can really be saved soon!" Natsu exclaimed excitedly, "Well done, Rhode!"
"Didn't any of you look out of the window last night?" Rhode only now realized he was the only one who noticed the number of suns and moons.
The others felt a bit embarrassed, on reflection, they'd seen it before but hadn't considered its significance.
After all, they hadn't thought they would help them.
"With this, it might really work." Lira also nodded affirmatively, "I'll teach you right away!"