Royal palace hall—
The moment Raizel and the others stepped into the hall, the gazes of Governor Invel, Minister Yajeel, Desert King Ajeel, and War Princess Dimaria all turned toward them.
'They're this young?'
That was Minister Yajeel's first thought.
For a moment, he felt somewhat disappointed. He had originally assumed Raizel's group would be representatives from Ishgar's Magic Council coming to negotiate.
At the very least, he had expected them to send a few steady, experienced people.
Yet the ones who appeared before him all looked young.
There were even children among them!
Yajeel was not optimistic about the result of these negotiations.
He himself was not particularly fond of war. His greatest headache right now was his extremely battle-hungry grandson, Ajeel.
'Ice Mages...'
Invel first looked toward Ultear, then toward Gray, and only then did his gaze land on Raizel, who stood at the front.
Seeing so many women, Dimaria silently licked her lips and looked at Ultear, Erza, and the others in a provocative manner.
The battle-hungry Ajeel glanced back and forth between Gajeel, Kurnugi, and Laxus, whose expressions were equally unfriendly.
'Natsu...'
That was the only thought left in Zeref's mind, which had originally been filled with many things.
"Why does this guy keep staring at me?!"
Natsu frowned, looking extremely confused as he glared at Zeref.
Following the simple principle of "if you stare at me, I'll stare back," Natsu glared right back at him.
"Maybe he's taken a liking to you, Salamander?" Gajeel spread his hands, baring his teeth in a strange grin.
"How insolent!"
Invel's eyes narrowed sharply like a hawk's, locking onto Gajeel for his disrespectful words.
"It's fine. Stand down, Invel."
Zeref waved his hand expressionlessly.
After Raizel's group entered the hall, the Desert King and the War Princess had already released their Magic Power and pressure, attempting to suppress them.
But they soon discovered that it seemed to have no effect.
Among this group, some were looking around the hall, some were studying them, and some were chatting.
"Lord Kurnugi doesn't like that guy's eyes."
Kurnugi was talking about Ajeel, whose gaze was extremely arrogant.
"What a coincidence. Me neither."
Gajeel glared back fiercely.
"Add me in too."
Laxus folded his arms and shrugged.
Dimaria first looked at the katana and sword at Kagura's waist, then at Erza in armor, Ultear with something like a bracer on her right hand, and Mira, who looked harmless as she smiled with narrowed eyes.
And then... there was Raizel, who was calmly meeting Zeref's gaze.
Raizel looked at Zeref and nodded slightly.
"Long time no see, Zeref."
'Calling His Majesty by name...'
Yajeel and Invel's expressions both changed at once.
Zeref looked thoughtful. After a long silence, he raised his head.
"Long? Compared to the years I have lived, a little over a year passes in the blink of an eye."
Raizel neither confirmed nor denied it. He merely gave a soft laugh.
"It was quite long for me."
Zeref's tone contained neither joy nor sorrow, giving off an aura that kept others at a distance.
"All right. What have you come here to do?"
"Peace talks."
Hearing that answer, Ajeel, Dimaria, and Invel each showed different expressions.
Ajeel and Dimaria were both disdainful, though in slightly different ways.
Of course, Raizel did not care in the slightest about the opinions of Spriggan 12 members who were not one of the two pillars.
"Peace talks?"
Zeref's tone was full of mockery.
Raizel showed an expression that said he had expected this.
His eyes remained fixed on Zeref.
"If necessary, we can also adopt military measures in order to achieve the goal of peace talks. Of course, non-peaceful methods will be the final choice made only when there is no other option."
Zeref studied Raizel, his words clearly carrying the intent to probe.
"From the sound of it, you are confident you can defeat the Spriggan 12 and defeat the Alvarez Empire?"
Raizel calmly accepted Zeref's scrutiny.
"Of course. Also, I need to correct you on one point. The Spriggan 12—can you even gather all of them?"
Zeref's brows furrowed together.
He stared fixedly at Raizel, his tone faintly carrying disbelief.
"Irene Belserion... You took her away?"
"That's right. She will not interfere in any battle between Ishgar and the Alvarez Empire."
The moment Raizel finished speaking, Invel, Ajeel, and Dimaria could no longer keep their expressions steady.
Kurnugi gave a sneer.
"Tch, that's enough to scare you? And you call yourselves the Spriggan 12? Go home, wash up, and sleep."
Looking into Raizel's eyes, Zeref was certain that Raizel was not lying.
He could basically confirm it now.
Raizel had helped Irene resolve the side effects brought about by the power of dragons.
That was the only possibility.
"Also, Kurnugi, give them a demonstration."
Raizel snapped his fingers.
"Kihi! Lord Kurnugi has been looking forward to this for ages!"
Gajeel stomped his foot in anger.
"I said, you bastard, stop copying me!"
Lily immediately transformed and locked Gajeel in place.
"Gajeel, mind the occasion."
Kurnugi stuck out his tongue and made a face at Gajeel, taunting him.
"Bleh, bleh, bleh. I'm copying you. I'm copying you!"
Raizel slapped the back of Kurnugi's head.
"How long are you planning to fool around?"
"I know already!"
Kurnugi's entire body flashed with golden light.
His body continuously grew larger. His arms and legs began thickening, and sharp claws emerged.
Compared to when Raizel had first met him, Kurnugi's size had grown tremendously.
Now fully mature, his body was even larger than that of the Iron Dragon Metalicana.
Of course, he still could not compare to Igneel or Acnologia.
Even merely crouching there, the sword-horn on his head almost touched the dome of the hall. As the emperor's hall, the palace ceiling was more than ten meters high.
One could imagine just how massive Kurnugi's body was.
The blades on his back, limbs, and tail gleamed coldly.
Kurnugi roared loudly at Zeref.
"ROAAAAARRRRRRRRR!"
The fully grown Sword Saint Dragon Kurnugi had appeared!
Laxus and the others had long known that Kurnugi was a dragon, but this was their first time actually seeing it.
"SOOOOOOOO COOL!!!"
Natsu slipped into the wrong line again.
His eyes sparkled as he reached out and touched Kurnugi's scales.
Only then did Natsu discover that a layer of white fur was growing in the gaps between Kurnugi's scales.
Raizel was also a little surprised.
Kurnugi had changed quite a lot over the past year. The short little dragon from back then now carried a full sense of pressure.
Raizel had originally only wanted to let them know Fairy Tail had a dragon, then bring up Selene afterward.
Speaking of which, only after looking at Kurnugi did Raizel belatedly realize something.
He still had not seen Selene return to her dragon form even now.
He had no idea what she looked like.
Ajeel, Dimaria, and Invel's expressions changed instantly, but they were all loyal enough to stand in front of Zeref.
Kurnugi lowered his head and leaned down.
He opened his mouth in a grin, his sharp teeth flashing with a cold light.
"Are you trying to stop Lord Kurnugi?"
"All of you, stand down. You are not his opponents."
Kurnugi could basically be considered fully grown now.
Among the Spriggan 12, perhaps only the upper-ranked shields could deal with him.
"All right, change back."
As soon as Raizel spoke, Kurnugi replied,
"Oh okay."
His body gradually shrank.
In the end, he returned to the form of a youth around Natsu's height, wearing a loose white robe with wide sleeves and two swords hanging from his waist.
Natsu showered Kurnugi with praise.
"COOL! That was so cool, Kurnugi!"
That's right.
Natsu, who had not read many books, only knew how to say "cool."
And this was already the result of Raizel, Ultear, Erza, and the others taking turns teaching him.
"Kihi! Lord Kurnugi is amazing, right?"
Kurnugi placed his hands on his waist and raised his head high, looking exactly like someone showing off.
Zeref lowered his head in confusion and murmured.
"Where did that dragon come from? The dragons of Ishgar and the western continent should have gone extinct long ago."
Raizel answered Zeref's doubt.
"The northern continent, Guiltina."
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