The young man was none other than Geno.
The paths on Mount Hakobe twisted and tangled in every direction. The place where Geno had found the Icefang Snow Wolf was already quite far from the route he had originally taken up the mountain. If he wanted to get down quickly, he needed to take a shortcut.
And as it happened, Geno knew that there was a shortcut here that led down the mountain faster, which was why he had come to this area.
Before coming to Mount Hakobe, Geno had already looked into this mountain a little. Although his understanding was not complete, he still roughly knew some of the routes crisscrossing the slopes.
Geno did not fear any monster on Mount Hakobe. He simply did not want to wander aimlessly because he did not know the way.
"This should be it, the shortcut down the mountain."
Walking forward, Geno swept his gaze casually over the surroundings.
"Eh? That is..."
His eyes quickly landed on the man resting on a huge rock, the man we know as Macao.
"This man looks really familiar."
Even though they were still separated by several hundred meters, which was far enough that Macao could not yet make out Geno clearly, Geno could already see Macao's face without any difficulty.
"No way it's such a coincidence, right? I mean, after watching the Fairy Tail anime, of course I know Macao came to Mount Hakobe and took down more than ten Vulcans."
"I didn't expect that the time I came here to search for an Ice Magic Lacrima would be the exact same period."
Geno had realized long ago that he had transmigrated into the world of the Fairy Tail anime, but he had not been particularly sure if the current moment lined up exactly with the start of the plot.
He had not watched Fairy Tail only once, but it had been a long time since he last saw it. Many details from the anime had already faded from his memory.
That said, when it came to the faces of the main characters, and the key events, his memory was still clear. For example, in episode two, Macao was possessed by a Vulcan on Mount Hakobe and turned into a lecherous monkey. Then Natsu and Lucy arrived on the mountain, defeated him, and finally brought Macao safely back to the guild in human form.
That much Geno remembered perfectly. But if you asked him exactly what year in the Kingdom of Fiore the anime began, those kinds of fine details were not something he could recall.
"Judging by his tattered clothes and how much magic power he has burned through, he must have gone through quite a few battles already."
"But he hasn't reached the point of being possessed by a Vulcan yet."
Seeing a familiar character from Fairy Tail, Geno actually felt quite happy. After all, he had already been in this world for a good while, yet this was the first time he had seen a mage from the Fairy Tail guild that he recognized.
Macao had never left a particularly deep impression on him, but he was a character who appeared multiple times in the anime. He did not belong to the truly powerful fighters of the guild, yet his presence was very distinctive. The mages of the Fairy Tail guild were all a pretty interesting bunch.
"Should I give him a reminder... hmm."
Even though Geno wanted to warn Macao about what was going to happen to him, he had no idea how to explain it. More importantly, he did not want to get too deeply involved in the events of the original story.
Above all, he feared that interfering with people's fates would trigger a chain of butterfly effects that he could not predict. It was true that his very existence in this world likely meant many things had already begun to change, but still, Geno did not want to meddle too much with the main plot of the anime.
Besides, even if Macao followed the original storyline and got possessed by a Vulcan and turned into a lecherous monkey, Natsu and Lucy would still come to Mount Hakobe to find him. In the end, they would bring him back safely to the guild.
There was no need for Geno to worry about that.
Most importantly, Geno knew Macao had a son, Romeo. Macao had come all the way to Mount Hakobe to hunt Vulcans because he wanted to stand up for his son, so that Romeo would not be looked down on. Geno did not want to ruin the resolve of a father who was fighting for his child's sake.
"Seeing him is enough. There's no need for us to have any real interaction."
Geno planned to simply walk quietly past the place where Macao was resting. After all, even if he knew Macao, Macao had no idea who he was. To Macao, they were strangers. Just passing each other in silence was the most fitting outcome.
Even so, Geno still felt something in his heart ignite, as if a spark had caught. Images of the anime's passionate battles flashed through his mind, along with those warm and noisy scenes of the Fairy Tail guild.
Lost in those memories, Geno unconsciously raised his right hand and extended his index finger.
"Because we're the Fairy Tail guild."
He whispered one of the lines from the anime under his breath, then stopped lingering any longer and continued walking toward where Macao was.
The direction he was heading in was exactly where Macao had been staring earlier with reluctance and frustration. Between two towering walls of ice and stone, a narrow, jagged ravine path cut through the mountain.
That path led toward the central region of Vulcan territory. Of course, Geno did not know anything about "safe zones" for Vulcans or the "central domain of the Vulcan Queen." All he knew was that if he took this route, he could get down the mountain quickly.
As for a so-called mid-ranked monster like the Vulcan Queen, Geno did not care in the slightest. He had already dispatched a high-ranked monster like the Icefang Snow Wolf on Mount Hakobe without any effort. A mid-ranked one was hardly worth mentioning.
As for the low-ranked Vulcans, there might be a lot of them gathered there, but together they probably only added up to the power of one Vulcan Queen at most, which made them even less worth his concern.
"Macao, the man who later became Fairy Tail's acting guild master during those seven years when the main force vanished on Tenrou Island..."
By this point, Geno was already quite close to the rock where Macao was resting.
Now, Macao could see Geno's face clearly too.
"What a handsome young man. Looks pretty energetic, and about the same age as Natsu and Gray."
Looking down at Geno walking along the icy path, Macao studied him with the gaze of a seasoned father.
"For someone this young to reach this place already, that's not bad at all. He probably just hasn't run into any powerful monsters yet. Otherwise there's no way his clothes would be that clean."
The roads on Mount Hakobe were a complicated maze, and Macao had no idea which routes Geno had taken, nor how many mid-ranked monsters lay defeated behind him on the snow.
If he knew that someone this young had actually taken down the high-ranked Icefang Snow Wolf on this very mountain, he would probably be shocked out of his mind.
Because of how convoluted the paths were, Macao assumed that the road Geno had walked so far only passed areas with small groups of minor monsters. From what he could see, Geno should not have gone anywhere dangerous or fought anything serious, which was why his clothes were still spotless.
That was not the only factor, though. While Macao's own strength was nothing remarkable, he at least understood one thing: Natsu and Gray might be young, but their abilities were not to be underestimated. You could not judge a mage based on age alone.
From what he could sense, Geno only had a faint amount of magic power, the level of an ordinary mage at best. Of course, there were mages who could hide their magic power, but as far as Macao could tell, Geno was not suppressing anything. That weak magic aura seemed to be his original level.
"Ah, this kid is lucky. If he just keeps going along the path I took earlier, he'll get down the mountain safely."
At this spot, there were three directions one could take. One was the road Macao had used to come here while searching for Vulcans. Another continued further up the mountain, but if the young man was heading down, he definitely would not choose that.
As for the ravine path leading into the heart of Vulcan territory, the one Macao did not even dare consider, he thought it was impossible the boy would choose it.
"This shortcut is pretty well hidden. It's wedged right between these two giant ice walls that almost touch."
If you did not look carefully, it was difficult to notice the path between them. It was not that the ravine itself was especially narrow, but that the ground was lower, and the two walls of ice leaned so close at the top that an outsider might think it was just one massive icy barrier cutting off the two sides completely.
"Tap tap tap... tap tap tap..."
The ground here was particularly hard. Geno's boots echoed crisply against the stone as he walked.
"Have you gone on ahead already, kid?"
Macao had originally stopped paying attention to Geno, assuming the young man had followed his route down the mountain.
For some reason, though, he suddenly turned to look at Geno again, expecting to see him heading away along the safe path.
Instead, Macao froze.
"What, that kid is going over there? What is he doing?"
The moment he saw Geno's direction, Macao, who had just been resting, jumped to his feet in alarm.
"Thud thud... thud thud..."
He leaped forward in quick bounds, rushing toward Geno. Fortunately, Geno was not walking very fast, so Macao managed to get ahead of him and land in front of the young man.
"Hey, hey, kid, what do you think you're doing? You must have gone the wrong way. The road down the mountain is over there. This is definitely not the path you take to go back down."