Layla had an agreement with Zoldeo when she entrusted him with the Capricorn Key: if her daughter later became a Celestial Spirit Mage, the Celestial Spirit Key should be given to Lucy.
Zoldeo, completely dominated by the darkness within him, broke his promise.
But Caprico was a man of his word. The first thing he did after waking from his coma was to form a contract with his old friend's daughter.
With the Capricorn Key in hand, Lucy now held ten of the twelve gold celestial spirit keys, with only the whereabouts of 'pisces' and 'libra' still unknown.
One could say her future was promising.
However, Lucy couldn't be happy at all.
Because from Zoldeo's Memory, which Hope had extracted, she learned another thing: Grammi was raising a lovely daughter alone, a child roughly the same age as her.
In other words, Lucy wasn't the only child who lost her mother that day seven years ago.
But Lucy at least still had a father.
However, Grammi's daughter, Brandish, had no other relatives... Finally, Lucy made up her mind to go to the Western Continent to find her.
The Western Continent was Zeref's territory, and Zeref had explicitly told Hope that he and Layla were friends.
With this connection, Lucy felt that asking the people of the Alvarez Empire to help find Brandish's whereabouts shouldn't be a problem.
As for Zoldeo, because he violated the taboo of 'Human Subordination,' he should have died from the magic backlash after separating from Caprico.
However, due to Hope's intervention, Zoldeo barely clung to life.
Now, it was time for this scumbag to pay the price.
In the despair and fear of the magic backlash, Zoldeo completely disappeared... The bright moon hung high, and stars filled the sky.
The night on Tenrou Island became cool.
Erza, wearing a thin white dress, sat alone on a large rock, staring blankly at the starry sky above. Moonlight spilled freely over her striking red hair, giving her a faint, cool aura.
Hope had told her everything about Irene.
Erza was different from the other orphans in the guild; Natsu and others had parents to some extent and experienced the love of family, so they were only half-orphans.
But in her Memory, there was no image of a father.
It wasn't until she joined Fairy Tail that she finally had a 'family' and understood what 'familial affection' felt like.
But ultimately, guild members were essentially comrades. Although their interactions and behaviors were almost identical to family, there was still a difference from 'relatives' connected by blood.
This subtle difference would have been fine if she hadn't noticed it.
But when Erza realized this from Belserion's words and Zeref's revelations, she suddenly felt very sad.
She thought she had moved past many things and wouldn't be easily swayed by unfamiliar familial affection, but now she couldn't help but feel sorrow.
It turned out her mother loved her very much.
It turned out she endured such pain... A handkerchief suddenly appeared in her line of sight. Looking at Hope's silently extended hand, Erza subconsciously asked, "You, a grown man, carry a handkerchief when you go out?"
Hope's mouth twitched. He came to comfort Erza, but she started with such a remark.
"I made the handkerchief using 'Magnetic Field Power.' If you don't like it, I can change the style. How about a tissue?"
Hope transformed the handkerchief into a tissue right in front of Erza.
After cultivating Magnetic Field Power to 100,000 Pcs, one could initially achieve molecular-level particle manipulation, consuming power to transform simple inanimate objects into other simple objects.
Moreover, as the power level increased, more microscopic and precise particle manipulation would be unlocked, such as altering biological DNA, casually transforming air into complex structures, and even creating true life.
Erza took the tissue woven by Magnetic Field Power. The soft touch from her fingertips, such a powerful ability, yet it was being used to make tissues... "Sometimes I feel."
She gazed at the starry sky and whispered, "You're like an envoy sent by heaven to help us; you can do anything."
Hope sat beside her, the cool chill from the stone surface seeping through his clothes. "An envoy of God? That's not a good description."
In the Magnetic Field World, a divine envoy Hope knew was tragically crushed into a ball by a certain limping madman.
Under the moonlight, Erza's profile was edged with silver. She remained silent for a long time, so long that Hope thought she wouldn't respond, when suddenly he felt a weight on his shoulder.
Erza had leaned her head against him.
The movement was light, with tentative caution. Hope's body stiffened for a moment, then relaxed, adjusting his posture to make her more comfortable.
Erza softly spoke, "Hope."
"I'm here."
"It's really great to have met you."
Hope paused, then smiled, reaching out with his index finger to gently hook a strand of her loose red hair beside her cheek and tuck it behind her ear.
He knew Erza never needed lengthy consolations, but rather someone who could catch her true self when she was willing to shed her inner armor.
Just as Hope's hand was naughtily hooking Erza's waist, and Erza silently assented, a Voice suddenly came from the campsite not far away.
"Erza, we're packed!"
"We can go."
Cana and Mirajane walked over, each carrying a basket. The baskets contained their clean clothes and bath towels, as well as milk and wine.
"Oh dear, it seems we've come at the wrong time."
Seeing the two hugging, Cana was unfazed and deliberately teased them with a sour tone.
"No, we've come at just the right time." Mirajane gave a mysterious smile, wrapped an arm around Cana, and then pulled Erza from Hope's side into her own embrace.
This scene left Hope utterly bewildered.
What the heck was going on? In such a classic scene, shouldn't he, the male protagonist, be the center of attention? How did Mirajane end up with an arm around each of them?
And what she said, those were my lines... Seeing Hope's bewildered and slightly wronged expression, Mirajane's smile grew even brighter. She winked slyly at him, "The three of us are having a super — awesome Tenrou Island hot spring party, but guess who wasn't invited?"
Hope hesitated before replying, "It wouldn't be me, would it?"
Cana snapped her fingers, "Bingo! You got it right, but there's no prize~"
Looking at his heartbroken expression, Erza said with a mischievous smile, "However, the three of us girls are soaking in the hot spring, and we're afraid of perverts peeking, so we need a loyal dog to help keep an eye out."
Hope was stunned.
This red-haired brute actually wants me to be their watchdog!
How humiliating!
Unexpectedly, the next second Erza continued, "We've prepared a few super sexy swimsuits."
Cana shook her head, "What swimsuit? It's clearly just two scraps of cloth hanging on a string. What's the difference from not wearing anything?"
"Yeah, Erza's clothes have so little fabric..." Mirajane looked at Hope with interest, "It's really troublesome. Soaking in a hot spring means being open and honest, but where can we find a dog to prevent outsiders from suddenly barging in?"
Hope: "Woof woof woof!"
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