Ankh stood there in stunned surprise, staring at the small blue-haired girl.
Seeing that the tall man in front of her hadn't moved after greeting her, Wendy began nervously twisting the hem of her green dress.
She looked down at her shoes, intimidated.
"U-Um..."
Snapping out of his daze, Ankh noticed Wendy's discomfort.
He quickly softened his expression and explained, "Sorry, you look just like someone I know."
Then, noticing the blue Cait Shelter guild mark on Wendy's shoulder, he casually started a conversation.
"Are you a Mage from Cait Shelter?"
Wendy nodded but remained silent.
It was clear her cat, Carla, had warned her not to talk to strangers.
'Oh no, awkward silence,' Ankh thought.
Ankh actually held considerable fondness for this future guild member he'd never met before in this timeline.
It might sound a bit creepy, but that was only because most girls in the guild had been mentored by Ankh at some point, so he had a special affection for healing growth-type cute creatures!
'Well... that thought sounds even creepier... never mind.'
Many images flashed through Ankh's mind.
Under normal circumstances, Wendy shouldn't be appearing here right now.
She was supposed to be safe in Cait Shelter until the Oración Seis arc.
He had inquired years earlier that there were two routes from Cait Shelter guild to Magnolia.
One was by land, traversing dangerous forests and crossing mountains. The other was by sea, taking a large ship from Hargeon Port.
But neither of these travel methods seemed suitable for a young, timid girl like Wendy to undertake alone.
What reason could be important enough for Wendy to come all the way to Magnolia?
Ankh's eyes lit up as he connected the dots.
He asked softly, crouching down to her eye level, "Did you come here because you heard about the Dragon sighting in Magnolia?"
Wendy abruptly lifted her head as her eyes widened.
Upon meeting Ankh's gaze, she lowered it again, blushing as she nodded.
"Y-Yes..."
Strangely enough, just a few days ago, Wendy had been staying obediently at Cait Shelter thousands of miles away.
At a certain moment during the "Three Dragons' Duel," something within her seemed to be disturbed, filling her heart with sudden worry and unease.
These inexplicable emotions felt strange to Wendy.
Unable to understand their origin yet unable to let them go, she began investigating the direction that stirred her heart.
While approaching Magnolia, Wendy heard a rumor.
"On the eve of the Magic Parade, Fairy Tail had somehow summoned three real giant dragons!"
Hearing the vivid descriptions from passersby, Wendy immediately became excited.
For First-Generation Dragon Slayer Mages, dragons were like their parents.
After the dragons disappeared in X777, they had been searching for traces of them ever since.
Grandeeney was everything to her.
Thus, despite Carla and the Guild Master's attempts to stop her, Wendy made her way to Magnolia.
Having always lived deep in the mountains, Wendy was instantly captivated by the dazzling array of goods in the big city.
Being an avid reader with limited access to books in her small guild, she decided to visit a bookstore to purchase more reading materials while she looked for clues.
That's when she encountered Ankh.
"I'm a Mage from Fairy Tail, my name's Ankh," he introduced himself, showing his mark. "You must be a Dragon Slayer Mage too, right?"
Wendy nodded and couldn't help but ask softly, "I'm Wendy Marvell. Ankh-san... is it true that dragons really appeared here?"
"They were dragons," Ankh replied honestly. "But they were Dragon Slayer Mages transformed into dragons."
Ankh stated confidentially.
Wendy's watery eyes trembled slightly as she gasped quietly.
"Dragon Slayer Mages transformed into dragons? How is that possible?"
"Through certain methods," Ankh chose his words carefully before saying:
"Wendy, would you like to visit our guild? The two guys in our guild are also searching for the dragons that raised them, and they might have found some clues about why the dragons left."
"They have clues! Really, Ankh-san?" Wendy's emotions immediately surged with excitement.
"Of course. So would you like to come to our guild first to meet them?"
Ankh smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, though they can be reckless idiots, they're good people at heart."
Without hesitation, Wendy nodded repeatedly, saying, "I'd love to go! Thank you, Ankh-san!"
'As expected,' Ankh thought, 'children were so easy to persuade.'
Wait, this wasn't really persuasion—Ankh genuinely intended to help Natsu and the others find the dragons' whereabouts.
Originally, Ankh only planned to "borrow" some life samples from Natsu and Gajeel to fill his database to confirm this, but with Wendy joining them, he could handle everything together!
Thus, Ankh, who had successfully "lured" the young girl, brought Wendy along and immediately headed for the guild, completely forgetting about Lucy's gossip and his own book shopping.
Just as they reached the entrance of Fairy Tail.
"COOL!!"
Ankh heard noisy commotion inside.
"Fairy Queen!! Amazing, it's the real one! Cool! Super cool!!"
Wendy was startled by the sudden high-pitched exclamation.
She hid behind Ankh slightly.
Looking at the blond man with a camera around his neck and a stray hair standing up, she asked curiously.
"Who is this energetic gentleman?"
Ankh naturally recognized this guy and introduced him with a smile, "That's Jason, a reporter from Sorcerer Weekly. He's always been enthusiastic about interviewing our guild and is considered a friend of the guild. Though he is very loud."
"Wow~ That's amazing! Is he from that Sorcerer Weekly that publishes so many fashion items?"
Wendy's eyes sparkled with excitement.
Ankh nodded inwardly, thinking this magazine's influence among girls really was remarkable.
Even Wendy knew it.
'Wait, it's probably popular among guys too, mainly for checking out those sexy models...'
Under Jason's frantic request to take casual photos, all of Erza's careful formal outfit preparations ultimately went to waste as he wanted "action shots."
Click! Click! Click!
Jason frantically snapped pictures of Erza eating cake.
Wendy exclaimed, "Miss Erza is truly beautiful! I've only ever seen her in magazines before. She looks so strong!"
Lucy had returned to the guild at some point, changed into a cute dress.
Seeing Jason appear, her aura turned somewhat gloomy as she stared at the reporter.
She muttered incomprehensible words.
"My destined one... it probably isn't him, right... he looks annoying..."
But soon enough, Lucy regained her energy.
She rushed near Jason, preparing to deploy her hundred-battles-hundred-losses seduction technique.
"Oh, Mr. Reporter~ Look over here!" Lucy posed.
As expected, Lucy's seduction technique always gets ignored when facing humans, almost like a conceptual skill—even though she has quite a nice figure~
Jason proceeded to ignore her completely.
He interviewed Gray, Cana, Elfman, the wheelchair warriors Natsu and Gajeel, and even asked Happy a couple of questions like "Why is your fur blue?"
Oh, poor newcomer Lucy remained completely ignored in the background!
"COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!"
A shout louder than all previous Cool exclamations, nearly cracking from intensity, erupted as Jason scrambled over to Ankh with frantic enthusiasm.
"Ankh-sama!! It's really you! COOL!"
His words came so fast they included tongue rolls:
"Ankh-sama!! How do you view your current status in the fashion world? Are you really dating the Demon Mirajane? Is it true? What are your thoughts about the Four Heavenly Kings of Ishgar ranked above you among the Ten Wizard Saints? Do you plan to advance further in the fashion industry? How do you see the guild's future? What are your thoughts about that newbie named Ruby?"
Even while being ignored, Lucy instinctively launched a chain of complaints from the corner.
"Isn't calling him 'Sama' a bit excessive?! You're asking too many questions—please take a breath! And my name is Lucy, not Ruby! And why are you asking Ankh about my problems instead of asking me directly!"
Hmm...Another day of unlucky Lucy getting bullied!
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