'Well, there goes even the option of pretending to defect. She saw right through it.'
Kabe sighed inwardly, though he had never really expected his excuse to fool Irene and the other higher-ups for long.
His original goal had only been to hitch a ride on the Empire's momentum and save himself some trouble.
After calmly taking a seat to her left, Kabe raised a hand and began without hesitation.
"Irene Belserion, these past years, your Dragonization has tormented you quite badly, has it not?
It seems that even the founder of Black Magic, that genius Zeref, is not truly all-powerful."
The moment those words fell, the atmosphere in the room instantly changed.
Brandish, who knew nothing of the deeper truth, only realized one thing. After Kabe said that, the magic power around Lady Irene suddenly became violently active.
It was like a volcano on the verge of eruption, scorching, explosive, and wildly unstable.
Compared to that magic, Brandish felt as if she were nothing more than a tiny pebble at the foot of a mountain, weak, insignificant, and utterly without any sense of security.
And it was not just her. Even Kabe clearly felt the overwhelming aura that burst forth from Irene.
Even Gildarts and the Master were nowhere near comparable to this pressure.
Thinking about how a woman with such terrifying presence would one day "die" in such an absurdly careless way, Kabe could only say that the original plot really had been nonsense.
At that moment, Irene finally spoke.
"Who exactly are you? And why do you know these things?"
"I naturally have my own sources of information."
Of course, Kabe had no intention of telling her the truth. Instead, he deliberately put on an air of mystery.
"The reason I am telling you all this is partly because of another woman who has countless ties to you."
'A woman... connected to me?'
For a moment, Irene could not think of who he was referring to.
And Kabe gave her very little time to dwell on it.
"I have one piece of good news and one piece of bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
Irene lifted her eyes and gave Kabe a glance, then quite deliberately went against his setup.
"The bad news first..."
Kabe was momentarily choked by that answer, but he ignored her choice and continued at his own pace anyway.
"Ahem. So, you want the good news first. The good news is that I know a way for Dragon Slayers to avoid Dragonization."
Hearing him completely ignore her preferred order, Irene was just about to sneer at him when she suddenly froze.
Before she could even open her mouth to ask the method, Kabe helplessly spread his hands.
"But the bad news is that this method should only work for Dragon Slayers who have not yet fully undergone Dragonization.
And on top of that, it requires the cooperation and assistance of a dragon with the same attribute as the Dragon Slayer."
Irene: "…Brat, are you playing with me?"
Irene was genuinely starting to get angry.
If this little bastard knew so much about her, then he should also know that her companion, the Sage Dragon Belserion, had died four hundred years ago.
Even if Belserion were still alive, by Kabe's own explanation, someone like her, who had already completely turned into a dragon, had no way of becoming human again.
If that was the case, then why had he told her any of this in the first place?
Did he even understand how painful it was to glimpse hope, to see a sliver of light, only to be thrown back into darkness an instant later?
Irene bit down hard on her lower lip, then raised a hand and summoned her staff, slamming it heavily against the floor.
At this point, the magic power around her had grown so dense it was nearly visible to the naked eye.
The only reason she had not attacked Kabe yet was because she wanted to know whether he had more to say.
If he did not, then she would absolutely send this self-righteous brat to hell using the cruelest method she could devise.
Seeing that she looked ready to get serious, Kabe quickly waved both hands downward.
"Now, now, look at you. At your age, several hundred yea..."
Whoosh.
The staff shot past Kabe's cheek like a spear.
Turning his head, he looked at the staff embedded halfway into the wall and very decisively skipped over the topic of age.
"What I mean is, do not get worked up yet. Hear me out first."
Irene raised her hand in a loose grasp, and the staff instantly flew back into her palm.
"Speak. Do not waste time on useless nonsense."
'Tch. As expected, no matter the era, bringing up a woman's age is forbidden territory.'
Kabe muttered inwardly, then began explaining Natsu's situation.
"In my guild, there is a Dragon Slayer named Natsu.
Inside his body sleeps a fire dragon called Igneel.
That dragon is Natsu's foster father. The reason he is sleeping inside him is to help his child create antibodies against Dragonization.
You are the Mother of Dragon Slayers, a peerless genius mage whose brilliance would stand out across the entire history of the world.
If you can uncover the essence of those antibodies, then perhaps it could offer some help with your own Dragonization."
When Kabe finished speaking, Irene was struck by both shock and joy, but almost immediately after, she fell into deep thought.
"A dragon can help a Dragon Slayer produce antibodies? Just what kind of principle is that based on?
And Igneel... that name sounds vaguely familiar."
'I want to know. I need to understand the principle behind it!
This brat is right. As long as I have a direction, with my ability, I may not be unable to derive and create a magic of my own to resist Dragonization.
This may be the key to returning to human form. I must thoroughly study that Dragon Slayer called Natsu!'
In that instant, Irene's eyes lit up so brightly that they were almost frightening as she stared fixedly at Kabe.
Across from her, Kabe lifted his chin proudly, looking utterly composed and self-assured.