The three siblings cried in a heap, and only after did Mira and Elfman ask about Lisana's experiences.
Rhode only felt reassured when Mira calmed down, so he went over to the war chariot.
At this moment, the two Natsus were competing with each other, one wanting to talk in the car, the other adamant about dragging the other out. Neither would back down.
The two Lucys were also having a conversation, one disdaining the other's noisiness, the other disparaging the other's rudeness.
Gajeel lifted Li Li off the car, laying him flat on the ground, and sat down to talk to him, seemingly discussing something about taking down the Fire Dragon's cat.
"Lucy."
"What?" *2
A call was made, and they both turned back.
Rhode nudged aside the Lucy he was familiar with, and under her displeased gaze, he said to Edolas' 'Lucy', "Thank you all."
'Lucy' waved her hand dismissively, "Well, we just accepted your request. Originally, Natsu and I were just going to the Royal Capital to gather information, who knew your companions were causing such a ruckus."
"By the way... I didn't expect Mira and Elfman from your side to be this strong."
"Very strong?"
"Yes, like you, they casually took down an entire army and even defeated two captains... Didn't you know?"
"No..." Rhode knew they were strong, but he didn't know they could use magic here.
He hadn't had a chance to ask in detail earlier, thinking they encountered danger in the city and were picked up by the car.
He planned to ask them later.
"In any case, we owe you our thanks," said Rhode. "Here's the deal: we have an airship parked over there, stolen yesterday.
"It's just out of fuel. If you need it, feel free to take things apart or take the whole thing."
"So it was you!" 'Lucy' clearly had heard of the magic crystal heist yesterday: "So that means the Erza and Gray over there are your Erza and Gray?"
"Yeah."
"Even Erza is your ally... Just how strong is your guild?"
As she said this, a thought flashed through 'Lucy's' mind. If anyone could change this world and stop the guild from being persecuted, it would be these people here.
If she could just ask for their help...
But changing the fate of her own guild was something she felt they should do themselves.
'Lucy' was decisive; after figuring it out, she immediately bid Rhode farewell, turned around, and slammed the car door shut: "Natsu, we're leaving!"
"Huh?"
'Natsu' was caught off guard by 'Lucy', and he hadn't expected to be yanked off by Natsu, who was competing with him.
"Ah!" 'Natsu' screamed, and the once defiant person was now cowering with hands over his face, "Sorry... I didn't mean to compete with you!"
"Huh?" Natsu was dumbfounded. He had thought that, other than not getting carsick, this world's Natsu wasn't different from himself.
"So annoying!" 'Lucy' climbed into the driver's seat and yanked 'Natsu' into the car, "Let's hurry back to the guild!"
"Leave it to me! FIRE!!!"
Once in the car, 'Natsu' seemed like a different person, skillfully igniting the engine.
"Lisana, the Aslan version of me, and everyone else, goodbye~~"
'Lucy's' carefree voice floated in the breeze.
Lisana lifted her head from her sister's embrace and waved to them.
Lucy ran two steps after the car: "Wait, I still have so much to ask!"
Natsu also ran a few steps, shouting, "I haven't asked how to handle transportation tools!"
Gray walked next to Natsu, teasingly mimicking 'Natsu's' tone, "Sorry, I didn't mean to compete with you~ Hahaha! You're cuter this way, Natsu!"
"What did you say?!" Natsu bumped his forehead against Gray's, "I haven't told you this yet, in this world, you wear ten layers in the summer and follow Jubia around all day, right?"
"You already said that was the other 'Gray'! That's not me!"
"Isn't that 'Natsu' the same?!"
"Aye~" Hapi chimed in, "The Gray over here said he's best friends with Natsu."
Natsu and Gray shouted in unison, "That's absolutely impossible!"
"Aye~ I thought so too."
Mar smiled, "The kid seems to have joined a lively guild."
Raki, still strict, said, "Heh! That kid's still got a lot to learn!"
"Mm, mm!" Erza nodded vigorously, "Natsu and Gray are good friends no matter which world they're in."
Lucy couldn't help but softly remark, "They're only good friends when you're watching."
Wendy laughed as she watched everyone bickering, "I suddenly feel a lot more at ease again."
Carla said, "It got noisier again."
"Alright, let's get down to business. How did you get to the Royal Capital?" Rhode clapped his hands, though he did quite want to chat more with Mira, but more pressing matters awaited.
"Let Gajeel explain." Mira was both happy and troubled, wanting to hug Lisana a bit longer, and Rhode too.
And Rhode's current hairstyle was hilarious; she wanted to laugh at him for a while. The others' hairstyles too, she wanted Lidas to sketch them.
With everyone's eyes on him, Gajeel had to stop bonding with the new stray cat temporarily.
He briefly recounted the incidents involving Mystogan and the intel collection, as well as the breaking of the magic crystal.
"Wait, so just breaking the magic crystal is enough for recovery?" Rhode was baffled—if it were that easy, why did he go through all that trouble for the Moon's Drop?
"No, it has to be broken with Dragon Slayer Magic..." Gajeel pointed at Erza and Gray, puzzled, "If you didn't know, how were they restored?"
"It's complicated..." Rhode looked up at the sky, "But knowing now is useless, Natsu and Wendy can't use magic either."
Natsu jumped out to ask, "Yeah! We're all Dragon Slayer Mages, why can only you use magic?!"
"Just take some medicine." Gajeel pulled out a bottle, "Mystogan gave it to me."
Mira also took out a bottle and shook it, saying she and Elfman had taken it when Gajeel gave it to her in the Royal Capital.
Natsu squinted at Rhode, "After all your analysis, turns out just taking medicine works."
"My analysis wasn't wrong. Lisana was here long enough to naturally regain magic," Rhode said. "I guess the medicine speeds up that process."
If you compared their inability to use magic to motion sickness, then that kind of medicine is like travel sickness medication.
Everyone took a pill, and after ingestion, they immediately regained their ability to use magic normally.
Wendy used her restored powers to heal Mira's injuries straight away.
She smiled, "In the end, Miss Lucy was the only one to regain magic on her own."
"Ah!" Lucy suddenly recalled, "Now that you mention it, Mystogan did give me something... "
Swoosh!
Rhode's gaze sliced through the air like a knife, startling Lucy.
Lucy's eyes darted around, hands at a loss for what to do, "That... Um..."
"Luuu-cy~~~" Rhode extended his words, with a faint smile on his face, "Why didn't you mention something so important earlier?"
Lucy bowed deeply, "Sorry! I forgot!"