After a full day of hard work and the help of the old clay master, Darwin and Chris finally completed their "Family of Five Clay Figures."
In addition to this, Darwin made an extra figure of Erza, planning to give it to her as a "Congratulations on completing your first job" gift once she returned.
Originally, he had wanted to prepare a more exquisite gift.
But there was no helping it; after buying gifts for Weston, Mavis, and Zera, the money he had saved was nearly gone.
The old clay master ultimately refused to take any money from the siblings for making the figures. He even generously gifted them two more—one of Darwin and one of Chris—both of which were incredibly lifelike.
The siblings expressed their gratitude to the old master and left the small clay shop with the fruits of their day's labor.
However, despite the unexpected joy of the old master not charging them, Darwin's savings were now at zero. His original plan to buy a Magic Phone had to be temporarily shelved until he could complete more jobs and save up enough money again.
"Sigh..."
"I wonder if Zeref will think I forgot about adding him as a friend?"
"If he thinks I broke my word and gets so sad that he turns into a complete villain, wouldn't I be burdened with heavy sin?"
Amidst these worries, Darwin finally reached the day Weston and Mavis returned home.
That evening, the family of five reunited. When the siblings presented their gifts, their three parents were moved to tears, exclaiming with great emotion that "having these children was truly worth it."
However, when Weston heard that one of the reasons Darwin chose a fountain pen was so that he could "reduce fatigue while working, increase efficiency, and extend working hours," his gaze suddenly became quite complicated.
That night, under the pretexts of "deepening father-son affection" and "training Darwin's work ability," Weston had Darwin help him organize documents in the study until late at night.
At midnight.
Zera, Mavis, and Chris were already in their respective rooms, drifting into sweet dreams.
Weston carried Darwin, who had fallen asleep on the study sofa, back to his room and carefully tucked him in before turning to leave.
He did not return to the study to continue working, nor did he go to the rooms of his two wives. Instead, he went out into the street, headed west, left Magnolia, and entered the western forest.
After walking for a short while, a burst of melodious music suddenly echoed from ahead.
Weston seemed to have expected this; his face showed no emotion as he moved toward the sound.
Snap—
His footsteps finally stopped in a clearing.
Not far away, a slightly lonely figure bathed in moonlight lay flat in the center of the grass, eyes tightly shut as if he had already fallen asleep while enjoying the music, his breathing steady and long.
A Magic Phone was placed beside him; the melodious music was coming from it.
This person was Zeref!
Suddenly, the track ended.
Zeref slowly opened his eyes and sighed. "The Magic Phone is truly a wonderful invention."
"During this time, whenever my emotions were turbulent, this music always managed to calm me down."
"Thank you very much, Weston!"
"You're welcome!"
Weston sat cross-legged on the grass, his tone neutral. "If you really want to thank me, I would prefer if you took that phone back to the Western Continent right now and continued playing your strategy games!"
"I'm sorry, that's impossible, because my journey is not yet over."
Zeref sat up from the ground and picked up the phone. "If my guess is correct, you must have left a 'back door' in this device, haven't you?"
Weston: "..."
"I haven't been to town, yet you knew I was here and specifically sought me out. The only possibility is that you observed my existence through the phone!"
"I suspect you set up special magic in every phone, allowing you to access the user's information or even their usage logs."
"So, the moment the user of this phone changed from Darwin to me, you knew of my presence."
"...Or perhaps, you discovered me as early as the night I first met Darwin. But at the time, you were 'wary of damaging the vase to catch the rat'—uncertain if I would harm Darwin—so you didn't act rashly."
"After that night, you observed that I stayed near Magnolia. Worried that my approach toward Darwin was for some ulterior motive, you deliberately left town and even let Darwin go out to work, all to create an opportunity for me to act against him."
"But you didn't expect that I had no intention of harming him at all."
"Until tonight, you finally couldn't hold back anymore and came here to confirm my purpose for staying..."
Zeref laid out his theories at a leisurely pace.
His tone was not without a hint of disregard and arrogance.
Like a high-standing god mocking an ant that was terrified the god might step on it.
Clap, clap, clap—
Weston clapped his hands, stifling a laugh while applauding. "What an interesting theory!"
Zeref was stunned. "...Was I wrong?"
Weston shook his head. "Not entirely. At least you were right about 'leaving a back door,' 'mastering usage logs,' and 'obtaining user information'!"
"However, I didn't deliberately leave Darwin to give you a chance to act. I would never joke with the safety of my family."
"I left Magnolia because I was certain you wouldn't harm Darwin."
"But I suppose that's something you—someone who no longer dares to 'love'—would find hard to understand."
Zeref indeed could not understand it!
So, he simply stated his true reason for not acting.
"Darwin is indeed a very good child. Though I only interacted with him for one night, he always reminds me of someone."
Weston blinked. "Who? Don't tell me it's Natsu? They shouldn't have anything in common."
"No, Darwin has a kind heart just like Natsu! Even someone like me, he was willing to treat as a friend..."
Zeref's voice stopped abruptly, and his face changed drastically.
Something was wrong!
Something was very, very wrong!
Zeref looked up at Weston in total shock.
"How... do you know about Natsu's existence, and how do you know my relationship with him?"
"Furthermore, tonight should be our first formal meeting. Why is your tone as if you've known me for a long time and know so much about my affairs?"
"Is your Super Archive truly as omniscient as the rumors say?"
Weston had already thought of a perfect excuse.
"It was information left behind by Igneel and the Heartfilia family!"