Makarov felt a pang of sadness.
He had just heard from the younger members that many people in the guild had been forced to leave, unable to secure enough requests to even feed themselves.
Though they could not be blamed, the weight of that reality pressed heavily on his heart.
Leaving Laxus aside for the moment, there had been nine teams and eighteen participants in the S-Class Exam, along with three examiners, one chief examiner, and the chief examiner's assistant, twenty-three people in total. Even discounting the undercover spy among them, that still left twenty-two.
Every candidate chosen to compete in the S-Class Exam had been among the guild's most promising elites, and even their chosen partners were highly capable mages. Even if one disregarded the combat strength of Happy and Carla, that still amounted to twenty members.
For a guild of only about a hundred, to suddenly lose twenty of its strongest, including the master himself, was nothing short of devastating.
The last several years had been turbulent, with countless resources poured into searching for the missing. If not for the prize money won back then, and the help received from allies, Makarov doubted the guild would have survived at all.
He couldn't begin to imagine the hardships his children had endured over those six long years.
After Max spoke these heavy words, he suddenly smiled. "But that's all in the past now! You've come back, and with everyone together again, the guild will surely rise once more!"
"That's right!" Warren added brightly. "As long as the Guild Master is here, Fairy Tail will once again be the strongest guild in all of Fiore!"
Alzack, Bisca, Jet, and Droy all nodded and smiled in agreement.
"Of course," Makarov said with a small chuckle. "That is my duty as Guild Master." Yet inwardly, he realized his retirement plans might have to be postponed once again.
Then a thought struck him. "Wait… who was acting Guild Master during the years we were gone?"
He suddenly wondered if perhaps now would be the right time to finally step down.
"Well—" Max began hesitantly.
But before he could continue, Alzack, whose sharp eyes caught things before anyone else's, called out, "Look! Hargeon is ahead!"
Everyone rushed to the rail to look.
And then, as their gazes fixed on the port city, disbelief filled their faces.
"Is this… really Hargeon?"
The Hargeon they remembered had been a bustling port town, its docks filled with cargo ships and fishing boats, large and small alike, all of them built of wood and powered by sails or oars.
But now, most of the vessels docked at the port were constructed of gleaming metal. Sails had almost entirely disappeared.
Even more astonishing, several airships hovered in the skies, landing and departing as though it were commonplace.
And in the very heart of the city floated a small, castle-like structure suspended in the air.
For a moment, everyone wondered if they had somehow crossed into Edolas again, or if they were truly still in Earth Land.
Seeing their dumbstruck expressions, Max spread his hands. "Didn't I tell you? Fiore has changed a lot in six years."
This was too much. Could such a transformation really happen in so short a time?
Only Natsu seemed unconcerned. He staggered forward, leaning over the rail with a green face. "Ughhh… finally… finally, we're here… I thought I was gonna die…"
"A-Ah!" Wendy gasped, suddenly realizing. "I-I'm sorry, Natsu! I completely forgot to cast Troia on you!"
Natsu looked like he had just taken a fatal blow, his head and arms drooping limply. He had even forgotten that, now that the exam was long over, he could have just asked Wendy, or Rhodes, for help.
Natsu was practically in tears over his own stupidity.
Meanwhile, people on the shore and aboard nearby ships had also noticed the two vessels rapidly approaching the pier. At first glance, most thought it was simply odd.
"Are there still ships like that old-fashioned sailboat around these days?"
"Well, ships like that have a long lifespan. It's like carriages, they're not gone completely yet."
"That's true, but isn't the vessel in front actually an airship? That's a rare combination."
"Maybe it's a rescue? Looks like that airship found a distressed old sailboat at sea."
"Still, the style of that airship seems a bit dated."
Someone sneered, "Ha! Says the guy who can't even afford the cheapest airship, but dares to call someone else's ship outdated."
The man shot back angrily, "Who says I can't afford one? I just don't need it!"
"Quit arguing. Look at the symbols, those two ships bear the same mark. Wait, isn't that sailboat the same one that left the harbor this morning?"
"Hold on… are there guilds wealthy enough to own both an airship and a sailboat? Which guild's emblem is that, anyway? It looks familiar…"
As the ships drew closer, onlookers spotted the distinctive emblem of the Ten Wizard Saints emblazoned on Makarov's robes.
"That old man… that's Guild Master Makarov!"
"Then the others must be..."
"Fairy Tail!"
"The missing Fairy Tail mages have returned!"
"Seriously? That guild with such a mixed reputation?"
"Yeah, the one everyone said was outdated and on the brink of bankruptcy."
Onboard, Gajeel and Wendy, whose sharp ears picked up the chatter from shore, already knew what people were saying. Wendy, looking worried, relayed a few lines to the others.
"Who just called us outdated?!" Gajeel snarled, his fists clenching. For a moment, he looked ready to leap off the ship and pick a fight.
Natsu had overheard too, but still dizzy from his motion sickness, he couldn't even summon a flame.
Alzack tried to calm everyone down. "There's no need to get worked up. What matters is that everyone's back now. Things will get better."
Makarov chuckled warmly, easing the tension, while Gildarts cracked a few jokes to lighten the mood.
At the docks, the sailboat was secured while Bisca entrusted it to the harbor staff. Then the Fairy Warship lifted from the water, its tail flame igniting as it shot skyward, speeding towards Magnolia.
Thanks to Wendy's Troia spell, Natsu finally found relief from his sickness. Immediately, he began bouncing around, pestering the guildmates who had come to fetch them.
"Droy, what happened to you? Your build feels just like Reedus!"
"Didn't I already tell you?" Droy sighed helplessly. "Back when I thought I'd never see Levy again, I drowned my sorrows in food."
"So that's it, huh?" Natsu said, as if hearing the story for the very first time. He kept asking questions everyone else had already gone through.
But no one grew impatient, it was a reunion after all, and their joy outweighed everything else.
"Speaking of which, what about Nab? Still not working?"
"Same as ever." Max shrugged. "And Macao, ah, you'll see for yourself soon. But do you remember his son, Romeo? You're going to be surprised when you get back!"
As Natsu kept firing off questions, Rhodes and the others gazed quietly at the world below.
The towns they passed had clearly changed, their skylines dotted with airships. But here and there, small villages seemed untouched, stubbornly holding onto the past.
High above, it was difficult to see the details, but the difference between old and new was undeniable.
And so, while Fairy Tail's ship soared toward Magnolia, a piece of explosive news spread like wildfire from Hargeon:
Six years ago, Fairy Tail's core members, believed by the entire world to have been missing have returned.
Major newspapers rushed to print special editions. Guilds across Fiore and beyond erupted in debate. Even the Magic Council hastily added an emergency item to its session agenda.
Could the number-one guild in Fiore of six years past be reborn now that its greatest strength had returned?