Rhodes and Mira strolled for a while, passing by the hotel where Sabertooth was staying, and decided to walk around there too.
It was quite quiet, indicating a rather somber atmosphere.
There were some not-too-intense magical fluctuations in the courtyard, likely from ordinary training and practice.
A full day of searching yielding nothing left Rhodes a bit disappointed, so he had to return to reunite with his companions.
By then, most people had already returned, and even the food and drinks were set out.
Mavis sat on the table, leisurely swinging her legs as she told Asuka stories.
Makarov was drinking with a dark expression.
As for the reason for his dark face, Rhodes guessed it must be related to the row of people standing in punishment with their heads bowed by the wall.
The combination of Gray, Juvia, Wendy, Carla, Natsu, Happy, and Lily, seeing Natsu and Gray among them made Rhodes's heart skip a beat.
But how did Elfman and Evergreen get mixed in there too?
Mira, however, seemed to be in a good mood, smiling as she asked, "Master, what happened?"
"You're back." Makarov sighed, then gritted his teeth. "These idiots, destroyed nearly a third of the facilities at Tequila Park!"
"Oh my, that's quite something," Mira said calmly, expressing surprise.
Makarov asked suspiciously, "Why do you sound happy?"
Mira chuckled, "How could I be? Though it is quite interesting."
"Heh heh." Rhodes chuckled inwardly.
He could tell Mira was happy, partly because she found such incidents commonplace, and partly because she was probably thinking, 'My foolish younger brother finally knows to take his girlfriend to Tequila Park.'
However, to only destroy a third, Natsu must have been off his game. Was it because Erza and Lucy weren't there?
Makarov complained, "They performed so well in the Grand Magic Games, and immediately after, they caused such a mess!"
Natsu only heard the first half, grinning foolishly. "Ahaha, old man, you think we performed well too, right?"
Makarov threw his cup at Natsu's head, fuming. "That's not the point! You better reflect properly!"
Seeing Makarov's irritation, Mavis felt sympathetic and, inspired by the moment, began telling Asuka a story about someone in the old guild who owed money, didn't pay it back, and then got beaten up.
Rhodes inquired about the practical matters. "Have the damages been paid?"
"Yes," Makarov nodded. "This time, Lyon and Sherria from Lamia Scale were involved, and it seems Ichiya's team from Blue Pegasus was also present. Everyone shared the losses."
"That eases the financial burden a bit, but to drag them into it too..." Rhodes's first reaction was that his guild was toxic, infecting even reliable people.
However, upon closer thought, Ichiya was the type to approach beautiful women to sniff their scent, and Lyon would definitely cause trouble when he encountered Juvia and Gray. None of them were particularly well-behaved.
With that, the cause of the incident seemed pretty clear.
Only Elfman and Evergreen being there was an unexpected bonus.
Mira could no longer hold back and went straight to interrogate her brother.
"Although the compensation can be split, the letters of apology still need to be written in a few days," Makarov felt a headache just thinking about it.
Normally, a few days later would be the guild's celebration of their Grand Magic Games victory.
Imagine during the banquet, the Council suddenly sends a message of accountability, how much of a buzzkill would that be!
Unless he didn't have to write it himself, hmm? How about… Makarov looked at Rhodes.
Rhodes, startled, immediately suggested, "How about we ignore everything that happens next? That way, all the destruction can be attributed to the dragon horde, and the Council won't notice a small matter at a water park."
"No, it hasn't reached that point yet." Cold sweat trickled down Makarov's forehead. This child's methods of public opinion control were too ruthless.
Rhodes, worried he might bring up his resignation again, quickly said, "Let's get back to business. Any special news today?"
Makarov said, "Hmm, Crime Sorcière, disguised as patrol soldiers, entered the underground palace to investigate and saw that golden gate. However, fearing Eclipse's magic-absorbing properties, they did nothing."
"Zeref's aura was indeed clinging to that gate, so it must be related to him."
"The First Master told us that if using that gate could go back in time to kill Zeref, Zeref would have done it himself or sent someone to do it long ago, so the Eclipse Plan is impossible to succeed."
Mavis revealed that Zeref had a strong self-destructive tendency for a considerable period in the past, but he never succeeded.
The royal family's Eclipse Plan was complete nonsense.
As for Eclipse 2, Crime Sorcière indicated that a massive amount of magic power was indeed gathered at the gate. If released all at once, it might actually cause harm to dragons.
But to say it could annihilate ten thousand of them was still hard to imagine.
Therefore, it could be definitively concluded that the mysterious future person was lying.
The part about Eclipse 2, and the part about destroying Rhodes, already showed his stance, he hoped the royal family would successfully open the Eclipse Gate, and didn't want this matter to be disrupted by Rhodes, a person who "didn't exist in the past."
For this purpose, he must have gathered a considerable amount of information about Rhodes, and then fabricated a seemingly plausible lie in the king's eyes to interfere with the royal family's judgment.
His companions would not be affected by this, because they knew Rhodes well enough and trusted him enough.
But in the eyes of outsiders, information about Rhodes was always fragmented and mysterious.
Many of his summoned beasts looked terrifying and evil at first glance.
Moreover, no one had ever heard of any magic that could summon dragons.
The "limited true information" previously used to mislead enemies, and later the "yes, I can really summon dragons" used to shock enemies, now became a weapon for the mysterious future person, causing Rhodes a little trouble in a strange way.
But Rhodes did not regret his past actions, because he could not be completely honest with everyone.
Makarov continued, "I verified through the guild's intelligence channels and asked a few old friends. There have been no nationwide disturbances recently, nor any noteworthy magical beasts appearing."
"Not only that, but during this time, there has been no news of dragons or dragon-like magical beasts appearing anywhere on the entire continent of Ishgar."
Dragons have always attracted attention. Let alone ten thousand, even one would be enough to cause a sensation.
If they truly appeared, it would be impossible for there to be no news at all, unless they destroyed everything wherever they went, leaving no survivors.
Even so, wouldn't anomalies always be detected near the destroyed areas?
Yet there was no news whatsoever.
Rhodes asked worriedly, "Did you directly ask them about dragons?"
"Yes," Makarov, understanding Rhodes's concern, explained, "In the past, to help Natsu search for Igneel, I used to inquire about dragons everywhere. Now that there are so many Dragon Slayers in the guild, inquiring again won't arouse suspicion."
Rhodes nodded, pondering for a moment. "The calmer it is now, the more suspicious the Eclipse Gate appears."
He was now mentally prepared that if he couldn't find that future person, he would violently destroy the Eclipse Gate before the critical moment arrived.
At the same time, he would also eliminate all the dragon skeletons in the underground palace.
These were currently the two most likely points to cause a dragon calamity.
...
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