Natsu let out a roar, nearly causing the council team to be pounded into mush by the giants and then burned to ashes by the hellfire.
Thankfully, Erza was quick to pound Natsu's head, and thankfully, Lahar explained swiftly.
"In short, we're not here to target Fairy Tail, nor do we have any malicious intent. We just want to understand some of the circumstances regarding Mr. Atlas Frey...
"Of course, if you are unwilling to communicate with us, we absolutely won't force you, and we won't come to bother you again in the future."
Atlas Frey stared at Lahar and his team for quite a while.
Lahar's forehead was sweating; it was unclear whether it was due to heat or nerves.
"I have nothing to say to humans."
Primarily, there was nothing to say to unfamiliar humans, especially since these people didn't seem to have a good relationship with Igneru's child.
After thinking for a while, Atlas Frey still left a sentence: "Go back and tell the person who sent you that I will uphold our agreement."
"I understand." Lahar didn't say much more and directly led the team away.
Natsu started to be criticized in turns by everyone; the guild's image had improved a lot recently, yet he was still so shocked upon seeing the council that he almost caused a big disaster.
After everyone had eaten their 'brunch', they started talking about yesterday's topic again.
Natsu asked, "Uncle, what exactly is END? Even Igneru couldn't destroy it?"
Atlas Frey said, "I don't know the details either. I've heard it's the most fierce and strongest demon from Jellal's book."
"Yet another thing from Jellal's book," Lucy felt the intelligence she had was somewhat confusing.
The magic mastered by the second generation came from Jellal's book, and the demon Deliora is also a demon from Jellal's book.
What exactly is Jellal's book? Is it a book written with many black magic spells, or is it a book that can summon demons?
"So you're saying END is Igneru's enemy?" Natsu pondered for a while, then suddenly clapped his hands, "I've decided, I want to find END first, then defeat him, and surprise Igneru when I meet him!"
Gray asked again, "Could you tell me who exactly is the Ice Demon Slayer Mage?"
Atlas Frey shook his head, "I only know he's a cold guy with magic power that's quite strong."
Now he kind of wants to find that person; the 'future's' residual soul got frozen by that person once, the 'past's' physical self should at least return the favor with a breath of dragon flame.
But since it seems to be a human and the other party didn't attack him, doing so wouldn't be quite appropriate.
Atlas Frey still hopes to keep his word.
The giants helped Gray by adding some details:
He was a short-haired man, with a scar over his left eye, and the emblem on his shoulder looked like two crossing keys, with 'ABSOLUTE ZERO' written on his chest.
Gray frowned; he should have never seen someone with such features, but that strange sense of familiarity, what is it?
Kana contemplated, "Is the emblem with two crossing keys from some guild's emblem?"
Erza said, "Gate of the Underworld?"
She quickly drew the emblem of the Gate of the Underworld on the ground for the giants to see, "Is this the symbol?"
The giants unanimously shook their heads.
Erza puzzled, "Not even that?"
"Um, Erza," Lucy said cautiously, "Could I borrow your sword for a moment?"
"Hmm? Okay." Erza nodded.
Lucy redrew the Gate of the Underworld emblem.
The giants immediately nodded, "Yes, that's it!"
Erza: "..."
Lucy drew the exact same symbol as I did!
Erza was baffled, even suspecting the giants hated her.
"It really is the Gate of the Underworld," Kana suddenly realized, "Speaking of which, isn't the Eye of the Dream Demon part of the Gate of the Underworld's guild?"
Everyone nodded, which explained why someone from the Eye of the Dream Demon was guarding here.
The Ice Demon Slayer Mage is from the Gate of the Underworld, and since he could use such level of ice magic and command the guild under his name, he must be a high-ranking official.
But, a dark guild like Gate of the Underworld, since they had already frozen the village, why would they need someone to guard here?
If it's to prevent the giants from being rescued, just smashing the ice sculptures would kill them.
If it's purely a misunderstanding, following the dark guild's style, they would either continuously commit wrongdoing or just ignore it; certainly couldn't have specifically arranged a guard, waiting for someone to save them, right?
Could it be that person is a misguided good guy but doesn't want people to find out he's out of sync?
After discussing for a while, they couldn't come to any conclusion, so they just recorded it, preparing to report it to Rhode... and the president.
Seeing it was getting late, Team A declined the giants' persuasion to stay, deciding to return to complete their task.
Natsu asked about Atlas Frey's plan, whose answer was that he intended to stay here for a while and might go elsewhere afterwards.
They parted ways.
...
They had arrived with Vorod's magic, taking them over 2000 kilometers in one breath; returning, they now had to rely on themselves.
They asked Freyja about the location of nearby towns, planning to go rent a suitable means of transportation.
Atlas Frey didn't mind giving them a lift, but his body temperature was unbearable for anyone but Natsu.
Originally thinking the return journey would be uneventful, little did they expect to encounter the council's team, who had left a step earlier, halfway through.
Lahar wasn't there; only eight people were left.
However, it was an acquaintance surrounded by these people.
Erza said, "Isn't that, Sabertooth's Stinger and Rogue?"
Hapi said, "And Rekete and Floros!"
Stinger and Rogue seemed severely injured and unconscious, while the council members were giving them emergency treatment.
Rekete and Floros were somewhat happy to see familiar faces:
"It's Fairy Tail!"
"Floros agrees."
They approached, two guards exchanged glances, not stopping them from getting closer.
Erza squatted down, softly asking, "Why are you here, what happened?"
Once that topic surfaced, tears started to swell in the little cats' eyes.
"We came to find the young lady," Rekete said, "A few days ago Mr. Rhode sent the young lady's information, and we've been investigating."
"The day before yesterday, we found the general location of the Eye of the Dream Demon, and Stinger and Rogue came here personally, only to... only to be gravely injured by a strange woman."
Kana asked in surprise, "One person injured both of them severely? Who did it?"
Stinger and Rogue may not be on par with Natsu and Gajeel, but they are not weak.
Especially since they understand Combined Magic, regular mages couldn't possibly stand a chance against them, let alone taking them on together.
Whoever could injure them like that must be a formidable character.
Rekete said fearfully, "She said her name is Kuanghua."