"Ahem, there is indeed some resemblance. Unfortunately... she has passed away, which is why I was stunned. But upon closer look, they're not actually that similar—just the hair color is somewhat alike."
Marco stood awkwardly to the side, but Loke wasn't ready to give up.
With a sorrowful expression, he slowly began to explain.
Loke was naturally quite handsome, with excellent looks, demeanor, and posture.
The way he told his story with a hint of melancholy gave off strong "tragic prince" vibes—it was almost too much!
The sight made Marco's skin crawl.
He opened his mouth to speak but forcibly held back, not wanting to ruin Loke's act.
"That really is a shame..."
However, Bisca remained unmoved by the "tragic prince's" nonsense.
She awkwardly replied before falling silent.
Meanwhile, Alzack's gaze toward Loke grew increasingly slyre, practically burning with intensity, making Loke feel the temperature around him rise.
Loke felt utterly wronged—he genuinely hadn't meant anything by it!
He had wanted to build a good relationship with his future neighbors, and being disliked over something like this was completely baffling.
'What exactly is the relationship between this Alzack and Bisca right now?'
Loke looked suspicious.
At the very least, the two didn't seem like a couple at all.
Alzack was too shy, barely daring to look at Bisca.
Both of them, however, had a strong Western Continent flair in their clothing style.
What was it called again? Cowboy style? He had seen quite a bit of it in the Fiore Kingdom as well.
This wasn't surprising.
The peninsula where the Fiore Kingdom was located faced the Western Continent across the sea, and many immigrants from there had landed here.
Due to the Fiore Kingdom's inefficient local governance and the indifference of the nobility, the kingdom's officials had essentially taken no action regarding "immigrants"—neither preventing nor welcoming them, nor managing them in any organized way.
However, the general populace imposed many restrictions on Western Continent immigrants.
Most of these immigrants had come to the Ishgar continent seeking survival after finding life unbearable in the Western Continent.
They typically had little capital and were unfamiliar with the land, making it hard to gain the locals' trust or find reliable work.
As a result, many immigrants eventually turned to "crime," worsening their reputation and making them targets of public scorn.
The more immigrants who resorted to "crime," the harder it became for later arrivals to gain the locals' trust and secure decent jobs.
Without work, they had no means of livelihood, forcing them to take desperate measures.
Thus, a "vicious cycle" was born, making survival increasingly difficult for Western Continent immigrants in the Fiore Kingdom.
When Marco first encountered Bisca and Alzack, neither was up to any good—stealing and causing trouble.
After giving them a stern lesson, Marco brought them back to Fairy Tail.
Along with the two came several other Western Continent immigrants who had crossed the sea together.
Many had already scattered along the way, but those who remained were fortunate enough to meet the kind-hearted Marco, allowing them to settle in Magnolia.
The mortality rate among "immigrants" was extremely high.
After all, the sea voyage alone took over ten days—and that was assuming smooth sailing without encountering any difficulties or external disruptions.
The two continents were completely isolated, with virtually no communication between them.
For the immigrants, even if they managed to set foot on the Ishgar continent, they were stepping into the unknown.
Without any understanding of the land, it was only natural that many struggled to find decent work upon arrival.
Marco had asked Hibiki and Alzack why they had chosen to "immigrate," and their answers were strikingly similar—they simply "couldn't survive" and had no choice but to leave their homeland.
Most immigrants shared the same reason.
From this perspective, although the western continent of Alakitasia differed from Ishgar, which was divided into multiple nations, having been unified under the Alvarez Empire, it still faced the same unavoidable problems.
In fact, due to its vast territory and the difficulty of information flow, the empire's methods of governance were even more heavy-handed.
The survival struggles of the common people in the Alvarez Empire were no less severe—if not worse—than those in the nations of Ishgar.
It was no surprise that such immigrants existed.
The ruling classes on both sides were equally inhumane.
It wasn't hard to imagine—no one would risk a perilous ten-day journey across the sea to an unfamiliar continent unless they truly had no other choice.
Hibiki and Alzack were at least somewhat capable.
One wielded the magic of "Bullet," while the other used "Requip: The Gunner"—both were sharpshooters of considerable skill.
The magic "Requip: The Gunner" was a firearm-based requip magic, allowing the user to rapidly switch between guns mid-battle, specializing in quick-draw techniques.
They could swap to any gun they desired.
Meanwhile, "Bullet" magic enabled the user to instantly load firearms with magical bullets, unleashing attacks with specific attributes based on the bullet type.
It was a perfect match for "Requip: The Gunner."
With guns as their weapons, dealing with ordinary people or even average Mages was no challenge for them—they could handle such opponents with ease.
Though both were penniless, carrying barely any equipment, and thus unable to fully utilize their magic's potential, finding work in a Wizard Guild on the western continent shouldn't have been difficult.
Yet they still couldn't survive there and fled to Ishgar—naturally, there were other reasons behind this.
For instance, they refused to become mere "magic foot soldiers" under the Alvarez Empire's command.
Unlike Ishgar, where Wizard Guilds operated independently, the Alvarez Empire, having unified the western continent, had absorbed all its guilds into its ranks.
Six or seven years ago, when the empire launched an attack on Ishgar, the scale of mobilization was staggering.
Had it not been for the Magic Council's ultimate deterrent successfully intimidating the Alvarez Empire, that war would have erupted into a full-scale conflict, altering the world's entire political landscape.
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