"Reparo."
With a casual flick of his wand, Rowan restored the guild hall to perfect condition. Cracked floors smoothed out. Broken tables snapped back together. The mess left behind by the earlier brawl vanished as if it had never existed.
"Your magic's getting better and better," Mirajane said from behind the bar, polishing a glass with a smile.
She remembered when Rowan first joined. Back then, fixing the hall took him a dozen spells and visible effort. Now he just sat at the counter and fixed everything in one motion.
"The chairman teaches well," Rowan replied, lifting a beer mug almost as tall as his current body and taking a drink. "By the way, where is he today?"
Mirajane answered easily, "He's attending the regular council meeting."
"That explains it," Rowan said with a hint of regret. "I wanted to ask him about light magic. Looks like I'll have to wait a few days."
The meetings he meant were gatherings of guild masters across the kingdom. Fiore's leadership was split between the royal family, which governed ordinary citizens, and the Magic Council, which oversaw the magical world. Policies decided at the top filtered down through the council to the guild masters, who then worked out how to enforce them.
Those meetings never ended quickly.
Rowan finished his drink and was about to head for the basement library when the guild doors suddenly burst open.
"Bad news!" Loki shouted, his face tense. "E-Erza… she's back!"
The hall went silent.
Every mage froze. Even Natsu and Gray, who usually feared nothing, stiffened. Only Mirajane kept smiling, and Lucy blinked in confusion, clearly missing the significance.
"The Fairy Queen," Rowan murmured with interest. "An S-Class mage."
He stopped walking.
Aside from Makarov, Rowan hadn't met a single S-Class mage since joining the guild. This was a rare chance.
He returned to the bar. "She's that scary?"
Mirajane shook her head gently. "Not really. Erza's kind. She just takes things seriously and cares a lot about everyone."
"But Natsu told me she can kick two mountains apart," Lucy said, leaning in.
Mirajane laughed, covering her mouth. "That's an exaggeration. Natsu challenged her once and got beaten half to death. His descriptions tend to grow afterward."
Lucy's eyes widened. "Even Natsu?"
Macau joined in from nearby. "Gray once walked around naked and ran into her. Got beaten half to death too."
"And Loki tried flirting with her when he joined," Cana added cheerfully. "Same result."
Rowan watched the door with growing curiosity.
"I heard she uses requip magic," he said.
Natsu, Gray, and Loki were widely recognized as the strongest mages below S-Class, yet none of them could stand up to her. Requip magic, on its own, wasn't especially rare or overwhelming. Rowan had encountered similar magic even before joining Fairy Tail.
Mirajane nodded. "Knight Requip. Weapons and armor. But even without her armor, Erza is on a completely different level. She passed the S-Class exam at fifteen."
Then she smiled at Rowan. "Magic itself isn't strong or weak. It's the mage who makes it so. Find the magic that suits you, and with effort, you can become powerful too."
Lucy and the others looked encouraged.
Rowan didn't entirely agree.
A powerful mage using basic magic could defeat a weaker mage with a stronger spell, sure. But when two powerful mages clashed, superior magic mattered. Dragon Slayer magic versus ordinary elemental magic wasn't even a contest.
Still, Mirajane meant well.
Rowan's ambition ran deeper. With access to multiple worlds, limiting himself to one path would be foolish. Lost magic. Ancient magic. Celestial magic. If it existed, he intended to learn it.
Footsteps thundered outside.
Heavy. Deliberate. Each step made the floor vibrate.
The guild collectively swallowed.
Then she appeared.
A woman with long crimson hair stepped through the doorway. She wore silver armor, a blue skirt, and black boots. In one hand, she casually carried an enormous horn.
Rowan estimated its weight at nearly two tons.
Holding it like that was the same as lifting a military vehicle with one arm.
The Fairy Queen had arrived.