After changing into their formal outfits and finishing their styling, the infiltration group followed the servants' guidance and arrived at the grand ballroom.
To be fair, the ballroom was incredibly well-decorated.
There were even several floating magical stages set up above the crowd.
As soon as Erza entered, she began observing her surroundings with tactical precision.
Erza: [Raizel, Ultear, any suspicious individuals?]
Ultear's magic crystal ball was temporarily serving as a surveillance monitor, while Raizel used Archive Magic to interface with all the recording Lacrima devices floating in the venue.
These Lacrima cameras flew around the ball, serving both to document the event and to try and locate Velveno in the crowd.
Raizel had informed Earl Balsamico about this tactical setup beforehand and had obtained his consent.
Raizel: [Not for now, but I currently have full control over all surveillance devices in the venue.]
Ultear: [Don't worry, we'll report immediately via telepathy if anything unusual happens.]
Carla: [But you all need to act normal and natural. Mingle!]
Lucy and the others could hear what Raizel's group was saying in their minds and nodded slightly to indicate they understood.
Lucy looked around the crowded floor, searching for Natsu. "Where are Natsu and Gray?"
Wendy couldn't find them either and finally used her Dragon Slayer nose, pointing toward the buffet tables.
"Over there."
"Lucy and the girls are here too," Natsu mumbled around a mouthful of shrimp, noticing Lucy's group enter.
Gray pretended to look elsewhere, sipping a drink. "Don't greet them. Act like you don't know them. Just blend in with the rich guests and dance."
As they walked on the plush red carpet, floating stages occasionally flew overhead.
Wendy asked curiously over the telepathy link, [But I really wonder, will Velveno actually appear at a highly guarded event like this?]
Lucy: [Not sure. We can only try to look for suspicious people as much as possible without being rude.]
Soon, Erza was approached by a masked man in a tuxedo, and someone also approached Kagura, but Kagura politely refused and drank punch alone by the wall.
Happy: [Erza was asked to dance by a man!]
Raizel: [Let's all observe a moment of silence for that brave man...]
Erza: [I can hear you!]
Erza's furious roar echoed painfully in their minds.
...
"The world is spinning... spinning too much..." the masked man groaned, his face green.
Erza paid his nausea no mind and continued spinning him like a top on the dance floor.
"Your momentum isn't enough yet! Harder!"
"I think Erza..." Gray trailed off.
"We can just leave her be..." Natsu muttered.
Natsu and Gray, who had walked over upon hearing the commotion, stared at the dizzy man dumbfounded, cold sweat dripping from their foreheads.
"Shall we dance?"
"This time, Lucy was asked to dance by a noble," Gray mentioned after a quick glance from the corner of his eye.
Just as Natsu and Gray were about to check on Lucy's situation, a voice interrupted them.
"If you don't mind, would you dance with me?" A woman in a stunning purple dress asked Gray, holding out a gloved hand.
Happy: [Oh? She seems like a beauty. Juvia's home might be getting stolen!]
Carla: [She's wearing a mask, tomcat, how would you know she's pretty?]
Happy: [But she has a nice figure...]
Raizel: [You're a cat, what do you know about human figures?]
Raizel gave Happy a swift knock on the head.
'I'm saving your life here, Happy. You owe me one when Juvia finds out.'
Meanwhile, Natsu was also approached by a masked girl.
Raizel: [Natsu and Gray are getting entangled. Even though they're dancing with women, we can't rule out the possibility of them being Velveno in disguise. Stay sharp.]
"You're quite handsome," the girl dancing with Gray casually struck up a conversation, leaning close.
Gray indicated that he'd heard plenty of compliments about his looks from Juvia and was long immune to them, simply countering with.
"Since you're here for the Mage Dance, that means you're a mage too, right? What kind of magic do you use?"
"Before inquiring about a lady's magic, shouldn't a gentleman first reveal what magic he uses?" she teased.
"Unfortunately, I have zero interest in being a gentleman."
If it were one of the girls from the guild, Gray might have no problem being polite, but when the other party might not even be female underneath the disguise, there was no way Gray would bother with gentlemanly manners.
"Is that so? Then let me show you my magic," the brown-haired girl smiled sharply.
She gently pushed Gray away, raised her left hand where frosty magical power quickly gathered, then swiftly slapped it on the marble floor.
"Ice-Make: Swan!"
Several beautiful swans made of solid ice flew into the air, and the brown-haired girl lightly leaped onto one of them, hovering above the crowd.
"So you're like me, using Ice-Make Magic too?!" Gray grinned with an excited expression, like meeting a fellow townsman after a long separation.
"Then I'll return the favor! Ice-Make: Flying Daggers!"
No sooner had he spoken than Gray formed his signature hand seals and stood atop the flying ice daggers, soaring toward the ice swans.
The dance attendees paused their steps and gasped, watching the impromptu Ice-Make duel above their heads, with scattered applause breaking out at the beautiful display.
"How about this move? Ice-Make: White Tiger!" The brown-haired woman swiftly conjured a massive ice tiger with one hand.
Gray leaped high just as the ice tiger was about to pounce on him.
"Ice-Make: Prison!" The thick ice prison trapped the white tiger, which could only angrily crash against the frozen bars inside.
Unfazed, the woman immediately used Ice-Make to create a heavy bazooka on her shoulder, firing a massive ice pillar from it.
"I love intense battles like this!"
Gray laughed. "Same here! Ice Cannon!"
One ice pillar shot downward, another shot upward, both colliding mid-air with a deafening crash of shattered ice.
The violent vibrations finally disturbed Erza, who had been fully immersed in spinning her poor dance partner.
Annoyed by the interruption, Erza angrily Requipped into her Clear Heart Clothing and summoned a katana.
"Please forgive my rudeness! Both of you, stop this nonsense and ruining the ball!"
With one massive sword strike between the two combatants, she sent both Gray and the woman flying into the buffet tables.
"Seems like things have gotten messy again, just like usual..." Lucy shook her head helplessly from the sidelines, adjusting her dress.
Just then, the grand clock's bell chimed.
Aceto descended the grand staircase wearing a stunning white gown with two purple lace decorations on the chest, a small red rose in the center, an off-white demarcation at the waist, and a red rose ornament on the side.
"Miss Aceto has appeared!"
"Woo!!"
"So cute!"
Many men in the center of the ball exclaimed in loud admiration.
Though... some of that enthusiastic cheering was probably due to her being the Earl's wealthy daughter.
Getting involved with the Earl's daughter meant not having to work for the next twenty years.
After descending the steps, Aceto stood at the center of the floor, appearing rather dazzling under the crystal chandeliers.
The men around merely watched, intimidated by her status, none making any further moves to ask her to dance.
"Hahaha! It seems Aceto is too beautiful—no one dares to step forward and ask for a dance!" Earl Balsamico laughed proudly from the balcony.
"May I ask if you'd like to dance with me?" Aceto covered her mouth with one hand as she extended the invitation directly to Erza.
Erza, now changed into her fierce performance attire with a single ponytail and side-swept bangs, looked exceptionally spirited and heroic.
"No problem," Erza smiled confidently, taking her hand.
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