"Go to... a desert..."
Mercphobia froze, completely caught off guard by Marco's suggestion.
"What? Would you die if you went there?"
Marco frowned and asked.
He had thought of how to deal with Mercphobia.
Since this guy's influence over water elements was so huge, he might as well send him to the desert to plant trees.
Honestly, Juvia would also be quite suitable for that kind of work, but Juvia had done nothing wrong, so of course he could not just throw her into a desert.
Even if the job would benefit the world, it was not exactly a pleasant life for the person involved. It would be too lonely, almost like exile.
Mercphobia, on the other hand, was a perfect fit.
Letting him go to the desert to plant trees, control desertification, and create new oases was absolutely a job suited to his skillset.
He carried sins on his back, so doing something good for humans and the world would also count as atonement.
"..."
Mercphobia was still stunned.
Marco's words had made his thoughts jam for a moment.
He was a Water Dragon God.
Did it make sense for him to move to the desert? For hundreds of years, he had always lived in water.
But after thinking about it again, Mercphobia realized Marco's idea might actually work.
It was not like he would die without water.
Since living near water would inevitably affect others, then maybe moving somewhere without water really was the right answer.
"No, wait. Why didn't you think of such a simple solution yourself?"
Seeing Mercphobia's enlightened expression, Marco found it completely ridiculous.
The Water Dragon God's reaction made it look like Marco had just given him some unmatched divine strategy.
Anyone with half a brain should have been able to think of this, right?
"There are no deserts on the northern continent of Guiltina. Even if there are any, they aren't within my territory. I have very few choices here on Guiltina, which is why I have stayed in Ermina all this time."
Mercphobia shook his head helplessly.
It was not that he had never thought of it. It was that he simply had nowhere to go.
The northern continent of Guiltina was only so big, much smaller than Ishgar.
The whole continent had been divided among the Dragon Gods, and aside from them, there were also other dragons.
By the time he came to his senses, the territories had basically already been set.
His territory was all along the coast.
"Then go to Ishgar. Ishgar is huge, and it has plenty of deserts. There's more than enough space for you to find somewhere to live."
Marco nodded.
Once Mercphobia explained it that way, it made more sense.
If his territory was only along the coast, then of course he had no way to move somewhere far from the sea.
"Besides, if the problem of dragons causing chaos isn't solved, leaving won't help. Other dragons don't care about humans the way I do. Although Ermina has been affected by me, my presence has indeed protected them from being ruled by other dragons."
Mercphobia also reacted.
His earlier behavior had made him look a little like an idiot, but in truth, he had many difficulties. It was not as simple as saying everything would be solved if he just left.
The northern continent of Guiltina had many problems, and those problems were complicated.
They could not be explained in just a few words.
"It's not complicated. The problem is you dragons. As long as all the dragons doing evil are dealt with, you can leave."
Marco summed it up.
In the end, it was still because evil dragons were running wild.
Without those evil dragons, Guiltina might not instantly become peaceful, but it would definitely be better than being ruled by them.
"All right. Then I'll help you defeat those evil dragons!"
Mercphobia made his decision very quickly.
At this moment, he was just like the dragon elders who had fought side by side with humans hundreds of years ago.
Back then, their enemies had been evil dragons. Now, their enemies were still evil dragons.
"It's just..."
Mercphobia glanced at Marco.
He could not help thinking of some bad memories, memories related to the Black Dragon.
Dragon Slayers who had once been allies had eventually turned against them, going from eliminating evil dragons to eliminating all dragons.
"Don't worry. I'm not Acnologia. I'm not that extreme. In fact, other than you, I also know five other dragons, and I get along with them pretty well. I'm on the coexistence side."
Marco smiled and comforted Mercphobia, whose thoughts were clearly racing.
This guy's reaction was too real. It looked like he had truly been traumatized by the Black Dragon Acnologia.
In fact, everything Mercphobia had said earlier—about having nowhere to go, about his territory only being by the sea, and about the northern continent of Guiltina only being so big—was basically stating one fact.
He did not dare return to Ishgar at all.
Going back to Ishgar had never even been one of his options.
And yet people said these Dragon Gods were comparable to the Black Dragon Acnologia?
Did Mercphobia himself even believe that?
"There are still dragons on Ishgar?!"
The moment Marco said this, Mercphobia's expression changed in shock, as if he had just heard something incredible.
"That's right. Do you know the Fire Dragon King Igneel?"
Marco nodded and said the old Fire Dragon King's name.
The reason he only mentioned Igneel was naturally because Igneel was famous.
He was the only Dragon King among the five dragon.
"Igneel?! Didn't he die?!"
Sure enough, Mercphobia had heard of Igneel.
And he had indeed believed that the Fire Dragon King had died in battle.
But in truth, Igneel had faked his death, pulled off a clever trick, and traveled directly to the present four or five hundred years later.
"He didn't die. The Sky Dragon Grandeeney, the Iron Dragon Metalicana, the White Dragon Weisslogia, and the Shadow Dragon Skiadrum are all alive too."
Marco then listed the names of several other dragons.
The shock on Mercphobia's face never faded.
These names were all famous among dragons four or five hundred years ago.
They had stayed on Ishgar and fought the Black Dragon Acnologia, supposedly dying heroic deaths.
Back then, the Black Dragon Acnologia had hunted dragons relentlessly, killing every dragon he saw.
No dragon dared face the Black Dragon head-on. Most of them could only run and hide somewhere.
Only a very small number of dragons dared fight Acnologia, and the result had been exactly what everyone expected.
"By the way, what's going on with that Fire Dragon God Ignia? That name... Is he related to the Fire Dragon King Igneel? Do you know anything?" Marco asked.
He had been curious about this for a while now.
Since Mercphobia knew about the Fire Dragon King Igneel, maybe he also knew the relationship between the two.
"That bastard Ignia is Igneel's son."
Sure enough, the moment Mercphobia opened his mouth, he gave the answer.
He really did know the relationship between those two dragons.
However, when he mentioned Ignia, Mercphobia sounded a little like he was gritting his teeth.
"You really should have brought Igneel here with you and let him see what his son has become. Igneel was on the coexistence side, the peace side, but Ignia has done plenty of terrible things on Guiltina. He comes back to bother me whenever he feels like it."
Mercphobia directly started talking badly about the Fire Dragon God Ignia.
Well, it could not really be called talking badly.
The two of them truly stood on different sides now. They were completely hostile to each other.
"That guy loves fighting. He is obsessed with restoring dragon rule over the world. But the times have changed. That is nothing more than a fool's dream..."
Mercphobia's opinion of the Fire Dragon God Ignia was terrible.
He thought Ignia was like a child who had never grown up, spending all day dreaming about reviving the dragon race.
The main problem was that the direction of that revival was awful.
Ignia wanted to return directly to the era when dragons ruled the world.
"Tch. Then he really knows how to dream. If he wants to do that, he has to kill the Black Dragon Acnologia first. Don't tell me his idea of ruling the world only includes the northern continent of Guiltina?"
Marco could not help commenting.
These Five Dragon Gods were honestly kind of funny.
What were they doing on the northern continent of Guiltina?
Running a private server?
A nostalgia server?
"At least his short-term goal is definitely to unify the northern continent of Guiltina first."
Mercphobia smiled helplessly.
As for the Black Dragon Acnologia, that was a topic they all silently avoided.