The guild hall.
Since everyone had gone to participate in the Winter Games, and even Makarov, the guild master, had gone to be a judge, there was hardly anyone in the hall.
Hope sat down at a table at random and looked at Princess Emerald, who sat opposite him. She sat elegantly in her chair, hands clasped in front of her, the very picture of royal decorum.
Princess Emerald was the King's only daughter.
If nothing unexpected happened, she would be the future Queen of this country.
As for the middle-aged man who looked like a guard, he was actually the commander of the Kingdom of Fiore's Cherry Blossom Knights, primarily responsible for the Princess's safety.
Logically, Hope would never have crossed paths with such figures in his life, but now they had come looking for him, making their motives highly suspicious.
Or rather, the trouble they brought with them.
Seeing Hope remain silent, Princess Emerald took the initiative to apologize for the earlier confrontation. "I apologize, Mr. Hope. Arcadius was just worried about me."
Hope waved his hand. "I'm a man used to my freedom. What business does the Princess have with a minor figure like me?"
Emerald smiled. "If someone who could escape unscathed from the Black Wizard is a minor figure, then what does that make a mere Princess like me?"
Most Mages from Grimoire Heart had been imprisoned by the Council. With the Council's methods, it was impossible not to extract the purpose of their attack on Tenrou Island.
The information that the Black Wizard had appeared on Tenrou Island was no longer a secret, though because the Council had suppressed the news, only a very few people knew.
Hope was surprised. He hadn't expected the underage Princess Emerald to know about this. However, considering she was the sole heir to this country, it made sense that she could communicate with the Council through royal channels.
He looked at Princess Emerald. "Let's skip the beating around the bush. Please state your intentions directly, Your Highness."
Hearing this, Princess Emerald got straight to the point. "Mr. Hope, I heard you've been nominated as a new member of the Ten Wizard Saints. I wonder if you'd be interested in serving as the Magic Advisor for our Kingdom of Fiore?"
Hope made a face that said "You've got to be kidding me."
Shouldn't this kind of thing be discussed with a veteran of the Ten Wizard Saints like Makarov? Besides, he was the Master of Fairy Tail, making him far more suitable than a youngster like Hope.
As expected of a Princess; she had quite a few schemes for her young age.
Hope tapped his fingers on the table, a smirk tugging at his lips. "I have no desire to work for anyone, so forget the Magic Advisor role. However, I am interested in that door deep within your palace."
"How do you know?!" Emerald's expression changed. She was still a child after all, unable to maintain her composure when faced with an unexpected situation beyond her understanding.
Hope smiled slightly. "I also know that you, Princess Emerald, want to prove you're worthy of being the heir to the throne, even though your father has always thought highly of you."
"So, you've set your sights on the 'Eclipse Plan' that the King abandoned."
"Silence!"
This time it was Arcadius who spoke. The knight commander drew his sword and pointed it straight at Hope. "Why do you know about the Eclipse Plan?!"
To think there was actually a regular person in this world stupid enough to point a sword at a powerful Mage. One couldn't tell if he was commendably loyal or just brainless.
Hope chuckled and tapped his forehead. "You told me yourselves, of course~ Didn't you look into my background before coming to find me?"
"I can read minds, you know."
Arcadius's expression soured. He knew about the development of the 'Telepathy·Mind Reading' magic, but he hadn't expected Hope to actually dare use Mind Reading on Princess Emerald.
This was simply showing too little respect for him, the commander guarding the Princess.
Emerald regained her composure from the shock. "Mr. Hope, since you've learned about the Eclipse Plan from me, would you be willing to join us?"
Because she was female, even though Emerald was designated by the King as his successor, she still faced a lot of doubt, bearing pressure that shouldn't exist at her age.
To prove she had the ability to be a good ruler, Emerald decided to do something monumental—eliminate the Black Wizard.
Which was the "Eclipse Plan."
The Eclipse Plan was originally a concept of the King's.
Deep beneath the Fiore Palace, there was a massive iron door of unknown material and unique Shaping. The most baffling part was that this door had twelve keyholes.
The King later discovered that this door was actually a piece of Dark Magic created by Zeref called the 'Eclipse Gate,' which possessed the miraculous power to travel through time and space.
If the 'Eclipse Gate' were used to lead an army back 400 years to eliminate that great scourge before the Black Wizard had grown powerful... but the King also knew he was being too idealistic. The variables of time travel were too great for him to bear, so he had only written a draft of the plan without taking any substantive action.
But Emerald had accidentally seen this manuscript and was struck by its brilliance. Thus, during her Chuunibyou phase, she actually succumbed to it.
As long as they went back to the past and eliminated Zeref, malevolent forces and Dark Magic like "Tartaros," "Grimoire Heart," the "Dark Magic Cult," and the "Tower of Paradise" would all cease to exist.
Even if the Kingdom of Fiore no longer existed from then on, and even if she, the Princess, never existed.
But... who says only those standing in the light are heroes?
Being an unknown, nameless hero would be perfectly fine.
The Chuunibyou-afflicted Emerald finally managed to convince her father, the King, to launch the "Eclipse Plan." Her first task was to recruit powerful Mages to participate.
And the Mage Guild "Fairy Tail," which had defeated the Balam Alliance and allegedly escaped the Black Wizard's hands unscathed, naturally became the primary target.
However, convincing Makarov was too difficult, and he might even oppose the Eclipse Plan. So, Emerald turned her sights toward poaching the much younger Hope.
As for how the subsequent plan would unfold, she had no clue for the time being. After all, the "Eclipse Plan" had just been launched, and they hadn't even fully researched the 'Eclipse Gate' yet.
This was Princess Emerald's ambition—a loophole-ridden Eclipse Plan.
Hope didn't even know how to begin criticizing it.
One could only say that a girl in her Chuunibyou phase was just as bad as a boy in his... In the end, Hope rejected Princess Emerald. He couldn't exactly tell her that the four founders of Fairy Tail were actually direct disciples of the Black Wizard.
However, Hope was somewhat interested in that 'Eclipse Gate.' If he wasn't mistaken, that should be the magic that sent Natsu and the others to this era 400 years ago.
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