After the banquet, Raizel went alone to the roof of the Crocus Cathedral.
In the middle of the party, he had received a telepathic message from Jellal inviting him to meet up.
Raizel hadn't expected Jellal to come to Crocus at a time like this.
After all, the city was swarming with people.
When Jellal's voice echoed in his mind, he had frozen in surprise.
And since he was already a terrible dancer, he ended up stepping right on Mira's foot.
"Long time no see." Jellal pulled down his hood and nodded.
"Hello," Meredy greeted shyly, her gaze cautious and her tone carrying a hint of nerves.
"Hello, Meredy." Raizel offered her a kind smile.
Sensing his goodwill, Meredy's tense posture relaxed.
A faint seriousness settled over Jellal's face. "I'm sorry for pulling you away from the celebration. There are some things I need to ask you about."
"It's fine. Go ahead."
"It's about this city. Near Crocus, I sensed magical power belonging to Zeref." Jellal observed Raizel's expression closely.
"I know about that," Raizel replied smoothly.
"The Kingdom of Fiore guards an ancient relic called the Eclipse Gate. It was built by Zeref centuries ago." He continued, "The Eclipse Gate absorbs ambient Ethernano on its own. The massive amounts of magical power leaking from the Domus Flau arena have been drawn into it."
"The Eclipse Gate? What does it do? Is it a threat?" Jellal asked quickly.
Raizel shook his head. "It's fine. It's not a big issue. The conditions to actually open it are incredibly strict."
Hearing that the activation conditions were so difficult, Jellal understood there wasn't an immediate threat.
He nodded. "In that case, I won't ask further." He hesitated, glancing at Meredy before asking tentatively, "Other than that… there's one more thing."
At Raizel's nod, Jellal adjusted his breathing to calm his nerves. "Can Meredy and I… move somewhere near Magnolia?"
"Huh?" Raizel blinked, looking at Jellal in surprise.
"Looks like… it won't work?" Jellal's tone carried a trace of disappointment.
"No, no. I'm just surprised. I didn't expect you two to want to settle down in Magnolia." Raizel chuckled helplessly.
"You don't need my permission for this. Magnolia isn't my personal property. But since you asked, I'll give you my answer."
Meredy tensed up, waiting anxiously.
"Go if you want to. Just try to avoid living right in the center of town."
"Yay!" Meredy cheered, her face lighting up.
At her core, she was still just a fourteen-year-old girl. Her joy was plain to see, impossible to hide.
"I'll explain this to Master and the rest of the guild," Raizel added.
It really needed to be cleared up.
Otherwise, if Natsu or Gajeel caught Jellal's scent in their territory, they'd turn Magnolia upside down looking for a fight.
"Your housing situation might be tricky, though. Renting or buying a place requires formal identification."
"I had someone forge some documents. They're convincing enough to pass as real." Although Jellal and Meredy were always on the move, they couldn't sleep in caves forever.
After leaving Tenrou Island, he had paid a black-market contact to create clean identities for them.
"Then you're set. If you need help renting a place, just come find me. You know where I live."
"Alright. Thank you."
"Thank you!" Meredy beamed. "We won't take up any more of your night. Goodbye."
Meredy waved at Raizel, pulling her cloak's hood back up.
Together with Jellal, she leaped down from the cathedral roof, vanishing into the shadows.
…
"What did Jellal want?!" Natsu asked the second Raizel walked back through the door.
Before leaving, Raizel hadn't hidden the meeting from Ultear, Erza, or the others.
Because of that, half the guild was piled into the suite, chatting, joking, and playing cards while eagerly waiting to hear the gossip.
"Nothing much. He and Meredy want to move to Magnolia, so they asked for my opinion."
"That's it?!"
"You're not the mayor. Why ask you?" Natsu and Gray both looked thoroughly disappointed.
"To be honest, I was thinking the exact same thing," Raizel agreed.
"Looks like you told them yes?" Ultear smirked, already expecting this outcome.
"More or less. Since they asked, I told them to go for it. They'll be living in Magnolia under fake identities."
"Grandpa, that should be fine, right?" Raizel looked at Makarov, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, nursing a mug of ale.
Makarov shook his head dismissively. "It's not a big problem. As long as we don't get directly involved, turning a blind eye is fine."
As long as Fairy Tail didn't help Jellal rent a house or openly interact with him in public, they had plausible deniability.
If Jellal and Meredy were ever discovered, the guild could honestly claim ignorance.
Besides, before coming to Crocus, Makarov had attended the regular Guild Master's conference.
He knew the Magic Council's current focus was exclusively on hunting Zeref.
Jellal had long since been pushed down the priority list.
Magnolia was Fairy Tail's territory. It wasn't within the Council's active search grid.
Aside from a few town guards, Magnolia didn't even have a standing military patrol.
Public order relied entirely on the guild.
As long as Jellal didn't start any brawls in the streets, he could hide there indefinitely.
Finally, Raizel gave one last reminder. "It's enough that everyone in this room knows. There's no need to spread this to the rest of the guild back home."
The members present in Crocus were the core foundation of the guild, so they could be trusted.
"No problem!" Macao and Wakaba beat their chests confidently—maybe a little too confidently, leaving Raizel feeling suspicious.
…
Once the gossip dried up, Raizel sat down to play cards with Mavis and Cana.
The moment Natsu thought about heading home, he got fired up.
"We're going back tomorrow, right? But… man, I don't want to ride the train…"
Lucy sighed as she painted her toenails. "That's true. Somehow, it feels like I haven't had enough fun yet."
Erza nodded as she neatly organized her luggage. "We only stayed for a few days, but it feels like we've been here for a lifetime."
Kagura carefully wiped down Archenemy. "Even so, I still prefer Magnolia."
Mira had already started missing her shifts at the bar. "Mm, I really miss working at the guild!"
If she didn't serve a few mugs of beer or help the members sort through request flyers every day, Mira felt like her day had been wasted.