"The personality of Natsu after resurrection is as troublesome as before; he doesn't like learning letters, doesn't like learning magic, and won't listen to his brother.
Thus, for a certain plan, Zeref entrusted Natsu to be raised by the Fire Dragon King, Igneru.
Igneru is a friend of Zeref, and he's willing to teach Natsu Dragon Slayer Magic.
Natsu likes him very much.
...
Meanwhile, Gajeel, Wendy, Stinger, and Rogue were also each raised by four other dragons.
They often played with Natsu.
Natsu and Gajeel were always quarreling and fighting, Stinger and Rogue regarded them as role models, while Wendy would cry and try to stop the fights.
...
Besides the dragons teaching them Dragon Slayer Magic, a human was responsible for educating them with knowledge.
That person's name was Anna Heartfilia."
This was the content Rhode read in the Book of END a few days ago.
Of course, it's just a summary.
There are many details, and if one is willing to explore, Rhode can even find records of Natsu and Gajeel fighting when they were children.
But such scattered information isn't of high value.
What interested him most was that among the seven Dragon Slayer Mages he knew, five of them actually grew up together.
This seemed suspicious.
Because Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy completely had no memory of each other.
However, Natsu once mentioned that when he first met Wendy, he felt an odd sense of familiarity, as if he had met her before.
So, had they been affected by some kind of Memory Magic?
Additionally, Anna Heartfilia seems to be the name of Lucy's ancestor.
It was she who left a magic book about the Eclipse Gate, leaving the descendants of the Heartfilia family with the mission to open the Eclipse Gate.
Until Lucy's mother Reela completed this mission fourteen years ago.
According to the King and Gemini, who had transformed into the King, they recalled that from the Eclipse Gate came Anna and five 'meteors'.
Rhode calculated that fourteen years ago was exactly X777.
Natsu and the others said their dragons vanished on July 7, X777.
The timing coincided with the day Reela opened the Eclipse Gate.
In other words, 'the dragons disappeared' might be just an event from Natsu and the others' perspective.
The truth might very well be that they traversed the Eclipse Gate with Anna and arrived in the present, four hundred years later!
They are actually grandpas and grandmas!
Of course, all of this is based on the foundation that everything written in the Book of END is true.
To prevent himself from being influenced by the demon power in the book, Rhode took many precautions, including not fully trusting the text in the book.
Yet, up to this point, much of what he had read in the book could be corroborated with other known information.
He was increasingly inclined to believe that what was written in the book was true.
Natsu is Zeref's younger brother, Igneru is a friend of Zeref, and Lucy's ancestor was once Natsu's teacher.
——Rhode vaguely remembered Hapi once betrayed 'information' to Mira: Natsu mentioned he liked the scent on Lucy; it made him feel very at ease.
It's possible this also has something to do with Anna.
Known clues knitted together can be quite compelling, signaling that the credibility of the Book of END is increasing.
The possibility of Natsu being a demon is also growing.
To uncover the truth, Rhode once again opened the Book of END tonight.
"… The peaceful days lasted quite a long time.
But one day, Natsu suddenly forgot about Zeref, forgot about Anna, forgot about those four friends, and found himself alone in a forest in the Fiore Kingdom.
He only remembered that yesterday he was still with Igneru.
When he woke up, Igneru was already gone.
He didn't know that he had already crossed four hundred years of time, arriving in X777.
…"
"'Opening strike?' "
Rhode widened his eyes, Natsu actually really crossed over 400 years of time and indeed lost his memory!
The content in the book fully matched his conjecture, meaning…
"I should check if there's any illusion technique or mind reading technique in this book that generates content based on my inner thoughts?"
With a bold questioning and cautious verification approach, Rhode still dared not immediately believe in this book of unknown origin and touched by demonic aura.
He quietly added another item that needed doubting in his notebook, then continued reading.
"… Natsu thought it was just an ordinary morning, and Igneru simply had some business outside.
But the surrounding environment and scent were distinctly different from when he went to sleep last night.
He anxiously waited in place all day, scavenging for food in the forest with an empty stomach, and then began searching for signs of Igneru.
But Igneru had completely disappeared.
Natsu frantically searched for his foster father, the only relative in his memory.
However, he still didn't know, the Fire Dragon King Igneru he was searching for was actually hidden inside his body using the Soul Dragon Technique, creating special antibodies for him.
These antibodies could help him resist the greatest side effect of Dragon Slayer Magic, preventing him from turning into a dragon."
"So… is this like 'looking for a donkey while riding a donkey'?"
Rhode immediately thought of this inappropriate analogy.
So, Grandeeney and Medalikana were also hidden in Wendy and Gajeel's bodies for similar reasons?
As for why they wouldn't reveal themselves, Rhode guessed it might be that the Soul Dragon Technique cannot be interrupted, or the timing wasn't right.
Just like during the Great Demon Fighting Martial Arts, Gemini refused to disclose more details.
——As Anna said, 'everything has its order.' "
"By unexpectedly learning these things now, would I be disrupting the 'order' they want?"
Rhode pondered, it's unlikely that him acquiring the Book of END was anticipated by them.
Even Carla's hereditary Foreknowledge Magic isn't that accurate.
And that 'antibody,' does it only deal with the greatest side effect, ignoring minor issues like motion sickness?"
"On that day, he arrived in Magnolia and found the local renowned Mages' Guild—Fairy Tail.
President Makarov took in this homeless child… "
The subsequent section uses a huge amount of space to describe Natsu's experiences after joining the guild.
Including how he met Erza on what day, met Kana on which day, and when he had his first fight with Gray, and other trivial matters.
Natsu gradually accustomed himself to life in the guild, embarking on his adventures, training, and continuing his quest for Igneru.
The year after Natsu joined the guild, 778, Mirajane, Elfman, and Lisana joined the guild.
The process of Natsu becoming friends with Lisana is also described in detail…
Rhode even read about how the slightly more mature Lisana told Natsu she wanted to be a bride, making Natsu's face flush as red as a ripe tomato.
"Feels like I've witnessed the entirety of Natsu's childhood."
Rhode, with a complex mood, watched the scattered text return to the pages, closing the Book of END.
What he read today included a lot that Mira had previously told him, and there were parts he could verify with Mira and Lisana.
Now, he increasingly believes the content in the book is genuine.
Moreover, he's curious about how far this book actually writes.
A book from four hundred years ago, why does it record events from just over a decade ago?
If he continues reading, would he read about his own appearance?
"Should I… read another page?"