"It began on July 7, X777..."
King Toma slowly began speaking about the past, and about the mission the Fiore royal family had passed down from generation to generation.
"July 7, X777."
The moment that date appeared, Marco's expression instantly turned serious.
Because this was not the first time he had heard it.
There were two special points in time that Marco knew of.
One was X784.
The other was the precise date of July 7, X777.
X784 was special because of what they had learned from their future guildmates.
As for July 7, X777, Marco had learned of its significance through the companions around him.
The "fathers" and "mother" of the three Dragon Slayers—Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy—had all disappeared on July 7, X777.
Lucy's mother had also suffered an incident around that time, after which her body rapidly deteriorated and she died.
And the matter of Lucy's mother had always been connected to the Fiore royal family.
There had long been a problem between the Fiore royal family and Layla Heartfilia. Marco had known that for some time.
Now that King Toma had personally mentioned this date, and so precisely at that, Marco naturally became extremely serious.
"Sometime around then, Layla Heartfilia came to find me. She wanted to open the Eclipse Gate, and I followed the ancestral command passed down through my family. I cooperated with her and allowed her to open the Eclipse Gate. That day was July 7, X777. I saw the ancestor of the Heartfilia family, a mage from four or five hundred years ago."
King Toma spoke solemnly about what he had experienced.
At the time, even he had been deeply shocked.
He had never expected that the mission passed down through his family for generations had existed so that one mage could cross time and arrive in the present from four or five hundred years in the past.
"The Eclipse Gate..."
Hearing that name, Marco couldn't help clicking his tongue.
This was another one of Zeref's creations, a device specifically designed for time travel.
"To think it still exists, and that it's in the hands of the Fiore royal family."
Marco found it unbelievable.
The most unbelievable part was that the royal family had never thought of using this time machine themselves.
Although the conditions required to use the Eclipse Gate were extremely strict, requiring the golden keys of the Zodiac to open it, if the Fiore royal family had truly committed to finding them, then across four or five centuries, success would not necessarily have been impossible.
"Our family's mission has always been to guard the Eclipse Gate until it was opened by someone from the Heartfilia family."
King Toma stood straight, looking rather proud.
In his generation, the mission passed down from his ancestors had finally been completed.
Because of that, he had not passed the mission on to Hisui.
"Tell me about that Heartfilia ancestor."
Marco interrupted King Toma's self-satisfied explanation and asked about the other key figure.
The Heartfilia ancestor.
A mage who had come to the modern era from four or five hundred years ago.
"Her name was Anna Heartfilia. She came to oppose the Black Dragon. And together with her came five beams of light. She said those were prepared to fight the Black Dragon. They were five children."
The moment King Toma finished speaking, this time Marco became the one who was shocked.
Wait.
Was that right?
Those five beams of light were five children?
Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy already made three.
Who were the other two?
Were they Dragon Slayers as well?
Marco immediately thought of Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy, and he was fairly certain for good reason.
First was the timing.
July 7, X777 matched perfectly.
Second, those "five beams of light" were something Anna Heartfilia had prepared to fight the Black Dragon.
Thinking along those lines, they had to be connected to dragons.
The sudden appearance of First Generation Dragon Slayers personally taught by dragons clearly could not have come from nowhere.
They could only have come from four or five hundred years ago.
"This is really unbelievable."
Marco couldn't help clicking his tongue.
He had not expected Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy to be "ancient people."
The absurd part was that the three kids themselves did not remember any of this.
Perhaps they had simply been too young at the time, or perhaps some method had been used to block those memories.
Thinking about it now, there had actually been some signs.
For example, when Marco had taught Natsu cultural lessons, that boy had displayed something unusual.
He had recognized some ancient writing.
"Where is Anna now?"
After the shock passed, Marco did not dwell on it further.
The origins of Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy would not change anything.
No matter where they came from, they were still members of Fairy Tail.
More than that, everyone's goal was actually the same: to oppose the Black Dragon.
In a sense, Natsu, Wendy, and Gajeel had finally entered the main quest they had been sent to this era to complete.
"Miss Anna... said she was going to search for the children who had been scattered. The reason they were separated was because something went slightly wrong when the Eclipse Gate opened."
King Toma scratched his head.
He did not know where Anna Heartfilia had gone either.
"..."
Marco frowned.
He did not remember Anna Heartfilia ever appearing before.
Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy were all Dragon Slayers, and all three were in Fairy Tail.
That was not exactly a secret.
That mage from the past should have heard of them.
Logically speaking, she should have come to Fairy Tail to look for them.
"Forget it. What about the Eclipse Gate?"
Since Marco could not figure out why Anna had not appeared, he instead asked about the Eclipse Gate.
That thing was a major hidden danger.
Anything involving time travel was both extremely important and extremely dangerous.
Just like the Arc of Time he had sealed away.
"The... the Eclipse Gate..."
When this subject came up, King Toma became visibly guilty, like someone who had done something wrong.
This was also the reason he had been unwilling to speak earlier.
He had failed to keep his promise to his friend.
"I was supposed to destroy it, but... I couldn't bear to."
Under Marco's gaze, King Toma spoke with a defeated expression.
After their respective missions had been completed, Layla had asked King Toma to destroy the Eclipse Gate.
But King Toma had not done it.
There was no helping it.
He loved magic far too much!
And besides, guarding the Eclipse Gate had been the ancestral duty passed down through the Fiore royal family for generations. He could not bring himself to destroy it.
He wanted to preserve the Eclipse Gate.
"Do you understand how dangerous that thing is?"
Marco was speechless.
Layla, Lucy's mother, had been right.
The Eclipse Gate should have been destroyed.
If someone with ulterior motives used that thing, the consequences would be unimaginable.
At this point, the cause of Layla's death finally had an answer.
She had died because she opened the Eclipse Gate.
It must have been connected to the accident that occurred when the Gate opened.
Layla died because of that accident, and Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy were scattered to different places instead of emerging together with Anna Heartfilia.
"This really is... complicated enough..." Marco sighed.
Once something involved time travel, it always became like this.
---------
Read 50 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator