"So that's how it is. I just saw Zeref on Tenrou Island a few days ago. It seems he has already returned to his empire," Raizel murmured.
Hearing that August had abruptly returned to the Western Continent, it appeared Zeref must have also suddenly gone back across the ocean to resume his role as Emperor Spriggan.
"You met Zeref?!" Mavis's cheerful expression suddenly vanished, replaced by shock.
Noticing the drastic shift in Mavis's expression, Raizel shook his head reassuringly.
"Don't worry, First Master. We actually had a pretty good, civil conversation."
Since her tragic 'death' over a century ago, Mavis had never seen Zeref again.
But she knew that Zeref, exactly like her, carried the deadly curse of Ankhseram.
"Are you alright?!" Mavis asked nervously, floating closer and looking at Raizel, even anxiously circling him twice to check for dark magic.
"Am I not standing perfectly fine right in front of you?" Raizel smiled, shrugging his shoulders.
"You're right." Mavis let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Her deep concern for her guild members had made her irrational, she was terribly afraid that Raizel might have been accidentally affected by Zeref's Death Predation wave and met with some grim mishap.
"What did you two talk about?" Mavis blinked, her curiosity returning.
"Just about the Curse of Ankhseram, trying to brainstorm a way to resolve it. But there's no safe solution yet," Raizel admitted.
Raizel still planned to tell Mavis the full truth only after he could resolve the curse.
That way, if he ultimately failed to find a cure, Mavis wouldn't be crushed by disappointment, since she never had any expectations of being cured to begin with.
"Of course. If it were that easy to solve, would it still be considered a god's curse?" Mavis sighed, placing her hands on her hips, wearing an expression that said 'as expected.'
Mavis didn't hold much hope for a cure.
After all, it was a literal god's curse, and no matter how magically strong they were, they were still only mortals fighting against a deity's punishment.
"By the way, speaking of changes... why has the guild hall changed so much?!" Mavis asked, floating up to look at the new architecture.
"If I hadn't followed you and seen the Fairy Tail flag hanging at the entrance, I really wouldn't have believed this was my guild!" Mavis looked at the massive building, which was several times larger and had a completely different, modern style, and tilted her head curiously.
"That's a very long story. Let's head inside where it's warm, and I'll explain it to you slowly," Raizel offered, opening the door.
"Okay!" Mavis nodded excitedly, her little head bobbing.
"Good morning, Raizel," Mira greeted with a warm smile, not stopping her chores.
As Raizel expected, Mira was indeed the earliest to arrive at the guild.
At the moment, she was diligently wiping down the clean beer glasses behind the bar.
"Mira!" Mavis popped her little blonde head out from behind Raizel's legs.
"First Master! Welcome back!" Mira was momentarily stunned, then quickly put down her glass and hurried out from behind the mahogany bar.
"Yes, I'm back from my grand adventure!" Mavis cheered.
After exchanging pleasantries and hugs, Mira took Mavis on a grand tour of the newly built guild hall.
"This is the new billiards room, the game room, the lacrima screening room... and out back here is the outdoor swimming pool."
"Yay! We can host pool parties in the summer!" Mavis's eyes sparkled with excitement, clearly thrilled by the luxury upgrades.
"Mira just told me everything! The original, historic guild hall was damaged during the guild war with Phantom Lord, right?" Mavis asked Raizel later, looking a bit sad.
Mavis had been entirely unaware of the Phantom Lord incident.
This past year, Mavis and August had traveled farther and farther away from Fiore, gradually heading toward the desolate, snowy northern regions of the continent.
News took a long time to reach those remote villages, and they had been wandering around enjoying the sights without paying much attention to politics or newspapers.
Raizel nodded. "Yes, after that battle, the old hall was severely damaged. But we won, and now Phantom Lord has been officially disbanded by the Council."
"First Master!" Makarov stood at the entrance to the hall, visibly emotional, tears streaming down his wrinkled face.
"I'm so sorry, First Master! I failed to protect the original guild you built!"
Makarov immediately performed a dramatic crying slide, kneeling all the way from the front entrance directly to the bar counter.
'Wow, who polished the floor this morning? It's so smooth... Even a professional soccer goal celebration isn't this slick,' Raizel thought, stunned watching Makarov's smooth slide.
Despite his advanced age and recent injuries, his physical movements were still so agile, executed cleanly and smoothly.
"No, no, please get up, Makarov!" Mavis panicked, waving her hands. "I think it's fine! I really, really like the current guild design! And I heard from Mira that it was damaged in a cowardly attack at night while you were away. It wasn't your fault!"
The original wooden guild hall indeed held many of Mavis's precious, century-old memories, but Mavis had always valued the living people inside the building over the physical objects themselves.
After composing himself and wiping his nose, Makarov reported to Mavis about the major events of the past two years in detail.
"So much has happened in these two years... especially this year," Mavis murmured, absorbing the heavy information.
"By the way, First Master, there's one more thing..." Makarov trailed off, closing his eyes and sighing heavily, unable to speak the name.
"Never mind, Gramps. I'll explain it," Raizel interjected, noticing Makarov's pained expression.
Makarov wasn't being overly dramatic, Raizel knew the old man simply didn't want to revisit the heartbreaking betrayal of his mentor.
"Gramps mentioned earlier that the dark guild Grimoire Heart attacked Tenrou Island, right?" Raizel asked Mavis.
"The master of Grimoire Heart... is the guild's Second Master, Precht Gaebolg."
Mavis was visibly taken aback, her eyes widening.
"Are you sure?!"
Makarov nodded solemnly. "Of course I am sure, Mavis. He personally handed the master position down to me. I will never forget his face or his magic."
Mavis showed no immediate sadness but instead furrowed her brow in deep thought, murmuring.
"Why...?"
Raizel shared his thoughts. "I think one reason is his obsessive practice of dark magic—he strayed far from the path of light in his desperate pursuit of greater power. Another distinct possibility is that he did it all for you, First Master."
"Me?" Mavis pointed a small finger at herself, blinking her eyes with a puzzled, innocent expression.
"After leaving the guild decades ago, he kept searching for Zeref. And Zeref spent his entire life researching dark magic to resurrect the dead," Raizel explained gently.
Mavis nodded in slow understanding but didn't respond, her ghostly form shimmering.
"What about him now...?" Mavis asked quietly.
Since the Fairy Tail members were standing here unharmed, it meant Grimoire Heart had decisively failed their invasion.
"He's not dead. I sent him to find another founding member, Warrod Sequen," Raizel answered.
However, Raizel wasn't sure if Precht had actually arrived at Warrod's home yet.
Warrod Sequen's forest residence wasn't too far from Magnolia—about two thousand kilometers.
Precht should be able to get there fairly quickly once his vast magical power recovered from the beating Natsu gave him.
Grimoire Heart, though, had already been disbanded.
This massive news spread rapidly among both regular and Dark Guilds.
Since Precht was left as a lone, defeated commander without his Seven Kin, disbanding was the only logical step for his survival.
"Thank you, Raizel," Mavis expressed her sincere gratitude, bowing her head.
She knew that since Raizel and the others had the power to defeat Precht, they could have easily killed him on the ship too.
But they ultimately chose mercy.
Raizel shook his head, not intending to take the credit for the old man's mercy.
"It wasn't me. Gramps let him go. I only suggested where he could retire."
"In the end, it was Precht who guided me in my youth... Without him teaching me, I would never be who I am today..." Makarov whispered, staring at his mug.
In truth, Makarov had spent far more time with Precht than Mavis ever had.
Precht was a strict, but caring mentor to Makarov.
Mavis felt deeply saddened by Precht's tragic descent into darkness, yet not entirely heartbroken.
She somewhat believed in the second possibility Raizel had mentioned—that Precht had sought out Zeref's dark power purely for her sake, to wake her from the crystal.
Every member of Fairy Tail had the right to hate and blame Precht for the war.
But she could not.