This time, Raizel could be said to have made three visits to the lord's manor.
Selene had come even more times than him.
Irene was still sitting as boldly as ever with one leg crossed over the other, showing off her long legs and black high-heeled over-the-knee boots.
The tea set placed on the table, the documents about Erza and the others, the faintly swaying tip of her foot, and the slight curve at the corner of her mouth...
All of it seemed to prove that she was in a good mood.
Selene could not wait to sit down and ask curiously, "Well? Have you thought it through? Are you coming to Magnolia with me?"
Seeing Selene speak first, Raizel did not mind. Instead, he familiarly began pouring tea for Ultear, Erza, and the others again.
Irene also seemed to find Raizel's actions perfectly ordinary.
Watching Raizel calmly pour tea on his own, Lucy and Wendy suddenly had the strange feeling that Irene and Raizel had known each other for a very long time.
But these two had clearly only met a few days ago!
Over the past few days, Selene had tried several times to sneak over and ask Irene, but Raizel had stopped her.
After all, if they had agreed on three days, then it would be three days. Acting too impatiently might only backfire.
"With you?"
Selene nodded hard, speaking in a girlish tone that did not match her age at all.
"Yes, yes!"
Irene really wanted to say, Please act normal.
Selene, as if she had not noticed Irene's strange gaze, continued excitedly, "I'm very rich! We can buy a bigger villa to live in."
"If you don't want to live in a villa..."
Selene had already discussed everything with Lucy beforehand.
She had even welcomed Lucy to live with them and said she would not charge her rent.
Of course, the very self-aware Lucy chose to continue living in her own apartment.
Lucy herself was one thing, but Natsu also liked barging randomly into the place where she lived.
If the returning Natsu and Happy provoked these two, Lucy would not even have anywhere to collect their bodies!
"I agree."
Irene's words cut off everything Selene was about to say next.
For a moment, the only sound left in the reception room was Raizel calmly pouring tea for himself.
Irene looked at Selene's shocked expression and gave a soft laugh.
"What? Are you surprised? Then shall I not go?"
"I want you to go! I want you to go!"
Naturally, Selene was not bursting with some strange romantic passion and falling in love with Irene for some bizarre reason.
It was simply because, first, she could talk with Irene, and second, Irene could help her complete her plan to eliminate the Five Dragon Gods.
If she lived with Irene and got closer to her... could Irene still refuse her later?
Was her heart made of iron?
Did she have no heart?
Though Selene did not know that some people's hearts were colder than someone who had spent ten years killing fish at a supermarket.
'The advantage is mine!'
Selene revealed an eerie smile.
Of course, Raizel understood what Selene was thinking.
He even supported it.
Selene, who did not understand the meaning behind rejections and could not read between the lines, was absolutely the best candidate to melt this block of ice called Irene.
Moreover, the two of them actually had common ground.
Don't misunderstand.
It had little to do with the fact that both of them had children.
As parents, both of them were undoubtedly losers.
Rather, one had once been the contractor of the Sage Dragon Belserion, one of the leaders of the human-dragon coexistence faction, while the other wanted to become human and communicate with humans as equals.
Their existence was special to one another.
Both sides could find something in the other that resembled themselves.
This was also one of the reasons Irene treated Selene with such tolerance. If someone else had casually grabbed Irene's hand, she would have been furious long ago.
And Selene was not truly acting overly familiar.
Although Raizel often told her she still had much to learn, she could sense Irene's goodwill toward her.
Likewise, the reason she was willing to join Fairy Tail was because she had felt that Raizel, Ultear, and the others were truly communicating with her as equals.
They were even... friends.
And that wish was something Selene had long looked forward to.
...
Clearly, Irene had already prepared to leave with them.
She also brought Heine and Juliet along.
Some trivial matters could always be left to those two.
In this regard, Irene was much smarter than Selene, who had simply abandoned the Moonlit Beauty Gods and gone off on her own.
Although the Moonlit Beauty Gods were from Elentear, so even if Selene brought them along, they probably would not be of much use.
Irene and Erza did not walk particularly close to each other.
They looked like familiar strangers.
The closest distance between them was still separated by Raizel and Selene standing in the middle.
However, Raizel did not mind.
Irene was not someone who could accept things or change so quickly. The fact that she was acting like this already counted as fairly good.
It also meant she was keeping her promise to Raizel and treating Erza decently.
Erza could accept it as well.
In truth, she did not ask for much.
As long as she did not have to fight Irene, that was enough.
She did not want to cross blades with her own mother, even though she had said that any enemy standing in Fairy Tail's way would be her enemy.
When Irene saw the magic airship, the corner of her mouth twitched unconsciously.
Naturally, Irene also had the common side effect of Dragon Slayers—motion sickness.
So she was against boarding the guild airship!
Raizel pointed at the airship with his thumb.
"This airship has undergone several modifications specifically to deal with Dragon Slayers getting motion sick. It's very stable."
To address motion sickness, this airship had been modified and adjusted multiple times.
It had various shock-absorbing and noise-reducing improvements, as well as balance enchantments.
Now, even Natsu and Laxus could ride it without any problem.
In truth, the most important point was simple.
As long as it did not shake, Dragon Slayers would not get very sick.
The rest was a matter of overcoming it mentally.
Wendy added from the side, "That's right. Ever since I awakened Dragon Force, I get motion sick when I ride ordinary vehicles. Only this airship doesn't make me sick."
Although Irene had not interacted much with Wendy, she was quite fond of her.
Perhaps it was because Wendy could also be considered an Enchantress.
On the way to the airship, Irene had even reminded Wendy about the danger of Dragon Slayers undergoing dragonification.
Wendy explained that Grandeeney had once stayed inside her body and helped her resolve that hidden danger.
Hearing that made Irene's hand tighten around her antler-shaped staff.
She could not help thinking of herself back when dragonification had only just begun.
Of course, even if she had known that method back then, it would have been useless.
The reason was simple.
The technology at the time did not support it.
Raizel also explained from the side,
"This problem has already been solved now. These days, most Dragon Slayers implant Dragon Slayer Lacrima inside their bodies, which completely avoids dragonification."
"But there is also a problem. Dragon Slayer Lacrima has an upper limit. A Mage implanted with Dragon Slayer Lacrima has no way to surpass the dragon the Lacrima came from. You should understand that four hundred years ago, setting aside the fact that there was no technology to manufacture Dragon Slayer Lacrima, something like an upper limit was unacceptable."
Raizel had only recently learned about this issue of upper limits from the Law Dragon Elefseria.
In other words, if Laxus wanted to make further progress in Dragon Slayer Magic in the future, he would need to remove the Lightning Dragon Slayer Lacrima from his body.
It could even be said that the Dragon Slayer Lacrima was limiting Laxus.
Of course, at present, Laxus was still quite far from reaching Elexion's level.