Of course, Irene and Selene's strength could still grow.
However, the speed of that growth could only be described as extremely slow.
Compared to other people's rapid progress, the two of them were practically moving like snails.
In recent years, probably around X777, the concentration of Ethernano in the air had clearly risen. Irene had noticed this long ago, especially after X784, when the concentration of Ethernano in the air rose even further.
Because of that, the new generation of Mages was clearly growing much faster than the old generation.
Selene, on the other hand, did not feel much about it.
After all, Elentear's Magic Power concentration was far higher than Earth Land's. Over there, Magic Power was practically about to turn into liquid.
Thinking of Elentear, Selene frowned slightly.
'Elentear... Am I forgetting something?'
...
The Alvarez Empire was already beginning to stir.
"War Princess" Dimaria Yesta, "The Judge" Wahl, Neinhart, and "God of Death" Bloodman, under the command of Governor Invel, traveled light and fast, seizing nearly ten small islands along the border between the eastern and western continents with lightning speed.
Among them was Galakle Island.
In truth, no real war broke out, because those islands barely had any Ishgar garrisons to begin with.
They had merely changed from neutral islands into islands under the Alvarez Empire.
Raizel did not know the exact situation on the islands, but according to the reports, those islands had already been controlled by the Alvarez Empire, and their flags had been planted there.
Raizel glanced at the battle report Jellal had sent and helplessly shook his head.
'It seems August still can't interfere with Zeref's decisions... Though that's normal. It's an order from Emperor Zeref, after all. Who would dare disobey?'
This time, the Magic Council had not anticipated it.
Their spies could only reach into the military. They truly had no way to reach the middle and upper ranks of the empire.
Dimaria, Wahl, and the others had each boarded one of the fastest magical cruisers.
Each cruiser carried only a small number of core troops, allowing them to seize the islands with thunderous speed.
And on the map, these small islands were extremely close to the Kingdom of Fiore, the kingdom on Ishgar's western border.
The direction of the spearhead was very clearly pointed at the Kingdom of Fiore.
Regarding this, the Ten Wizard Saints and councilors had already reached a consensus.
"If the Alvarez Empire intends to start a war, then we fight!"
The Magic Council of Ishgar might be useless at many things, but when it came to continental war, even former Chairman Crawford Seam, who had once betrayed the Council, had never shown cowardice.
In that regard, he truly deserved some praise.
Not to mention that the current Magic Council had been reorganized mainly around the Four Gods of Ishgar.
The Council did not passively prepare for war just because the enemy was powerful.
They had long since notified the kingdoms along Ishgar's border to organize their armies and prepare for battle, while the Mage guilds were also standing ready.
However, Raizel noticed one problem.
God Serena, the strongest of the Four Gods, still had not attended the meeting.
Or rather, he had never attended from the very beginning.
At present, as an honorary councilor, Raizel would go join the fun whenever the Council held meetings of any real importance, whether large or small.
But he had never once seen Serena.
Raizel guessed that perhaps the remaining three Gods were all weaker than Serena, so even if they wanted to say something to him, they lacked the strength to do so.
Watching Serena miss the meeting again, Raizel felt that the moment the Alvarez Empire made another move, or took an even larger action, this traitor would immediately cross over to their side.
Although he had gone over in pursuit of something like becoming the strongest, or being number one, a turncoat was still a turncoat.
There was no washing that clean.
Raizel viewed many things with indifference, but there was one thing he loathed deeply—betrayal.
Although those islands had been seized, since there were no Ishgar garrisons stationed there and no battles or casualties had occurred, all of it remained within Raizel's acceptable range.
At most, this could only be called a wartime state.
The real war had not yet begun.
Then came another very ordinary matter.
Mira once again posted the Grand Magic Games notice on the bulletin board.
Macao commented, "The Grand Magic Games again? The king really is persistent!"
Wakaba added, "And rich!"
"Just look at that prize money! He really doesn't treat money like money!"
Kurnugi, who had become unbearably poor because he ate too much, instantly had his eyes taken over by the sight of money.
"Money!!! I'm going!"
Lucy truly admired the king and sighed from the bottom of her heart.
"Even like this, the king still wants to hold the Grand Magic Games this year?"
Raizel chuckled and shook his head.
"It's a wartime state, after all. Since the fighting hasn't actually started yet, all we can say is that Toma has a big heart."
Raizel then turned to Makarov.
"Are we participating this year too?"
Makarov answered without hesitation.
"We are! First place is 30 million Jewels! When the time comes, just have Kurnugi lead a team."
Raizel rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Kurnugi, Gajeel, Elfman, and Lily should basically guarantee a high ranking, right?"
Makarov even suspected that Raizel had already thought of the roster beforehand.
He glanced at him with his hands behind his back and nodded.
"That lineup is quite good. They all happen to be in the guild right now too. I'll go notify them quickly."
Jura had already left Lamia Scale.
There was no issue with being one of the Ten Wizard Saints, but he was also serving as a councilor, and councilors could not join guilds.
Among the current Ten Wizard Saints, the only ones who had not become councilors were Ur and Makarov.
With Kurnugi participating, as long as the event was not something special like a quiz contest, victory was basically guaranteed.
Even if Jura truly participated, he would not pose any real threat to Kurnugi.
Because Kurnugi...had grown up.
He had gone from a little boy into a young man around sixteen to eighteen years old.
To put it plainly, he was no longer cute and had switched to the idol route.
Over the past year, Kurnugi's human form had visibly grown taller, from one and a half meters to now being about the same height as Gray.
Raizel had not seen him return to dragon form, but his dragon form had probably grown quite a bit as well.
Kurnugi had actually kept his agreement with Raizel very well and had stubbornly refused to transform into a dragon.
Now that Kurnugi had grown taller, he chased Wendy around every day wanting to compare heights.
After all, Wendy had been two centimeters taller than him back then.
Whenever Wendy could not avoid him, she would run to Irene and Selene's castle, and Kurnugi would have no way to deal with it.
Wendy could go in without issue, but if he went in, he would get beaten.
What kind of logic was that?!
It was not Selene or Irene personally attacking him.
Rather, Heine and Juliet would take action against uninvited guests.
It was worth mentioning that Heine and Juliet had also been enchanted with the Dragon Slayer attribute. Wendy had done it, and Irene had used them to let her practice.
With a wave of her hand, Selene made a pile of weapons appear in the courtyard.
"I have many weapons here. Why don't you enchant all of them?"
Irene shook her head irritably.
"It's useless. Unless my strength rises to another level, Heine and Juliet's power will stop here."
Selene sighed.
"What a pity..."
With Selene and Irene's current strength, how difficult would it be for them to rise another level?
Irene gave a soft laugh.
"There is no need to feel pity. You made the correct decision."
"You?"
"No. Them."
Irene's gaze turned toward the forest to the east.
That was where Raizel, Erza, and the others were currently training.
Following Irene's gaze, Selene nodded thoughtfully.
She was becoming more and more eager for the day they sealed the Five Dragon Gods.
Erza, Mira, and the others, who had developed their Second Origins and obtained armor and weapons enchanted with the Dragon Slayer attribute, were already worthy of Selene's serious attention.