"Even books from Guiltina are here..." Erza said in admiration. "This is going to be a huge help."
Kagura gave the endless shelves a quick glance and frowned slightly.
"But with this many books, finding what we need won't be easy, will it?"
Minerva led everyone over to a Lacrima-powered device.
"Don't worry. Just enter the book or subject you're searching for into this Lacrima, and it will locate it for you."
"Let me try..."
Natsu immediately reached for it.
"Natsu, find a book about fish," Happy said from beside him, already drooling.
A book suddenly lit up on the third tier of shelves on the first floor, then flew straight toward Natsu.
"Oh!"
Natsu caught it and held it up excitedly.
"Hey, it's Lucy's book! I haven't read it, though!"
Lucy looked both surprised and embarrassed.
"They even have my book here..."
It was an adventure novel Lucy had written with a protagonist loosely based on herself. The book had sold reasonably well, and she had even won a newcomer award for it.
"Fish! Fish! Fish!" Happy continued chanting.
Carla glared at him.
"You're being loud. This is a library, so keep your voice down."
"At times like this, searching by keywords works better."
Minerva entered fish into the Lacrima.
An entire wall of books began glowing.
Because the keyword was far too broad, however, none of them flew out.
Minerva continued her demonstration.
"When the search range is this wide, it becomes difficult to narrow anything down. It's better to use several keywords together, like 'fish,' 'delicious,' and 'cooking methods.'"
Not long afterward, Natsu made such a mess of the library that Minerva personally dragged him down to the basement.
Despite the library's enormous collection, there were surprisingly few books concerning dragons.
Ultear, Mira, and Lucy repeatedly tried different searches.
"Let's try 'dragon,' 'Dragon God,' 'Guiltina,' 'Gold Dragon God,' and 'Fire Dragon God.'"
Unfortunately, there were still no books matching what they were looking for.
Since the total number of dragon-related books was relatively small, Ultear quickly made a decision.
"Take down every book related to dragons. We'll go through them ourselves."
Raizel, Ultear, Kagura, Mira, and Lucy each put on a pair of Gale-Force Reading Glasses and began rapidly examining the stacks of dragon-related books laid out before them.
"Anything connected to the Five Dragon Gods goes on one side. Everything else goes on the other. Let's begin."
"Here's one about Belserion, but this looks like..." Raizel flipped through several pages. "Maybe thirty percent history and seventy percent fiction."
He placed it in the irrelevant pile.
"I found one documenting Atlas Flame, the Hellfire Dragon who became the Eternal Flame," Lucy said. "This one seems much more reliable."
Unfortunately, it still had nothing to do with the Five Dragon Gods, so she placed it in the same pile.
After going through every book, they soon reached the obvious conclusion.
There was nothing.
The Six Dragon Gods were not mentioned anywhere in the collection.
Ultear rubbed between her eyebrows.
"Four hundred years ago, the Six Dragon Gods probably weren't nearly as famous as they are now. After that, they rarely appeared before humans, so it isn't particularly strange that no books were written about them."
"I expected this might happen."
Raizel nodded.
"We didn't find what we came for, but thanks anyway."
Sting waved it off.
"No problem. If you ever need to look something up again, you're welcome to come back anytime."
The claim that the Grand Library was strictly closed to outsiders had mostly been an excuse to challenge Fairy Tail to those games in the first place.
...
After leaving Sabertooth and returning to their guild, Raizel and the others found three new visitors waiting for them.
Jellal, Meredy, and Sorano.
The three had arrived shortly before Raizel's group, intending to inform them about something they had discovered.
Sorano, of course, was currently more interested in catching up with Yukino.
Once everyone sat down, Jellal went straight to the point.
"I was previously investigating information concerning the White Mage."
He placed a photograph of Faris in the center of the table.
"My investigation eventually led me to Fairy Tail. You already resolved the situation involving her, correct?"
Raizel glanced at the photograph and nodded.
"That's right. She was trying to save her homeland, Elentear. The problem was resolved, and she returned home afterward."
Jellal continued,
"Do you remember what she told you at the time?"
Ultear closed her eyes and searched her memory.
"The leader of Rebellious, the cult devoted to White Magic, had disappeared. Faris took advantage of that opportunity to infiltrate Rebellious, used Whiteout on its members, and eventually took over as their leader."
Sorano raised one finger.
"Exactly! Rebellious."
She crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair with her arms folded, looking extremely pleased with herself.
"The original founder of Rebellious—the White Mage said to be the counterpart of the Black Mage Zeref—has finally been located."
Raizel watched her clearly enjoying the suspense before asking bluntly,
"Forgive me for asking, but is this White Mage actually that impressive?"
Unlike the various Black Magic cults that constantly caused trouble, or the countless criminals who worshiped Zeref, Rebellious had kept an extremely low profile.
They had never exactly made a habit of running around Whiteout-ing entire countries.
"Hmph! I finally managed to gather some useful intelligence, and that's your reaction?"
Sorano puffed out her cheeks and turned away.
"I'm done. I'm not telling you anymore!"
The investigation into the White Magic cult had become Sorano's responsibility after she joined the Magic Council.
"Come on, Nee-san," Yukino said from behind her, gently rubbing her back. "You know Raizel-nii didn't mean it like that."
Jellal added,
"I don't know how powerful this person actually is, but I believe she may be connected to your secret mission."
Sorano's eyes lit up again as she raised one finger.
"She is currently on the continent of Guiltina, with the alchemist guild known as Gold Owl."
"!!!"
Erza, Ultear, Mira, and Kagura immediately straightened in their seats and exchanged looks.
Jellal continued,
"If I remember correctly, you're carrying out some sort of Hundred Years Quest in Guiltina, aren't you?"
Mira nodded.
"Yes. Because of the confidentiality agreement, we can't tell you too much about it."
She paused.
"But we've also heard a few things about Gold Owl recently."
They still had no idea why Sai and God Serena had tried to take the Dogramag Cores.
Mira and Ultear had both remained bothered by that, especially Mira, who kept regretting that she had not simply captured Sai while she had the chance.
Sorano finally delivered the most important part.
"The founder of Rebellious, the White Mage Athena, is currently with Gold Owl."
This time, even Raizel could no longer remain relaxed.
He leaned forward slightly and asked Jellal to confirm the name.
Athena.
The exact same name as the weapon created by Elefseria's late pupil to destroy the Five Dragon Gods.
The same name, on the same continent.
Erza's brows drew together.
"She has the same name as the weapon?"
Sorano rested her chin on one hand.
"That's because she is the weapon."
"Athena is both the White Mage and a weapon—an artificial doll created through alchemy."
"A living doll."