The magic airship flew smoothly toward Galakle Island.
Irene stood alone at the bow of the ship, leaning on her antler-shaped staff. Standing there, she looked almost like a painting.
She was not thinking about how to get along with Erza.
It was just that she could no longer remember how long it had been since she last rode a vehicle.
This famous Dragon Queen possessed genuine joy, the kind that made people admire her, stop for her, and look back at her.
But she also carried a bone-deep sorrow, the kind that made people sigh, pity her, and feel their hearts ache.
The airship did not stop at Galakle Island.
Only Raizel and Erza went down for a while to find the uncle who sold Starlight and retrieve the fifty servings they had pre-ordered.
Erza originally wanted to take one piece to Irene, but she stood there holding the cake for a while, hesitating as she remembered that Irene's sense of taste had not fully recovered yet.
"Why not go and try?" Raizel noticed Erza's hesitation.
"Forget it. There's no rush."
Erza saw that Irene had no intention of turning to look at Starlight at all, and in the end, she chose to give up.
"Want some?"
Raizel brought a serving of Starlight to Irene's side.
"Your daughter Erza bought it," Raizel added immediately afterward.
"There is no need to add the prefix."
Irene glanced at Starlight, but still accepted it.
She scooped up a small spoonful and brought it into her mouth.
A faint trace of sweetness occupied her taste buds.
One bite.
A pause.
A stillness.
Then surprise!
Irene scooped up another spoonful of ice cream, this time mixed with a little mango and other fruits.
She put it into her mouth, chewed a few times, swallowed, and somewhat uncharacteristically smacked her lips once.
Raizel could not help raising an eyebrow.
'She won't kill me because I saw that, right?'
Fortunately, Irene did not care at all that Raizel had witnessed it.
"It's quite good. But for me right now, it is too mild. I can only taste a little."
Irene was telling the truth.
Her sense of taste had not fully recovered yet.
At present, if she wanted to taste food properly, it needed to be much stronger in flavor than normal.
Meanwhile, Starlight was a fresh and elegant type of dessert among sweets.
It was not actually very sweet.
But even though her taste had not fully recovered, Starlight was still a dessert worth praising.
Raizel felt that Irene's life was truly rather tragic.
Four hundred years ago, she had been the Dragon Queen, but food back then could not be made particularly delicious.
There were not enough resources to make proper desserts and sweets either. For the dishes of that era, having a little oil and salt was already decent.
Spices were not something one could really expect.
And when she finally changed from dragon back into human form, she had lost her sense of taste.
Four hundred years had passed.
Desserts and delicacies now came in countless varieties, yet they had nothing to do with her.
When Irene scooped up her third spoonful, Ultear, Selene, and the others were also paying attention to Irene while eating their own desserts.
Of course Irene knew they were watching her, but she did not care.
Compared to Erza and Lucy, her eating manners were simply excellent, all right?
This was how Erza and Lucy ate Starlight.
"You have to hold it respectfully! You have to show it respect!"
Erza and Lucy wore serious expressions and spoke to Selene with righteous conviction.
"???"
Selene's expression looked like an old man staring at a phone on the subway.
"Can someone tell me how I'm supposed to eat it while holding it respectfully?"
Selene turned toward Ultear and Mira as though she had discovered a whole new continent.
"Do I bite it in one mouthful?"
Mira smiled with narrowed eyes and replied, "When they're eating sweets, you can just ignore what they say."
"???"
Selene's face filled with confusion again.
'This is far too hard to communicate with! Sure enough, I still have much to learn!'
"I forgot to tell the uncle that if he ever plans to do business in Ishgar, he should come to Magnolia!"
Erza, who had been enjoying the dessert, suddenly slapped her thigh hard, her face full of regret.
Irene frowned slightly.
For some reason, she felt that Erza had... grown in a strange direction?
Of course, she had no right to say anything about that.
Raizel rested his hand on the railing and casually gazed into the distance.
"She's always like this when sweets are involved, but I don't think there's anything bad about it."
"Interested in joining our guild?"
Raizel waved the back of his hand slightly, showing off the guild mark.
Irene rejected him decisively without hesitation.
"Forget joining the guild. If I join, what am I supposed to do if Fairy Tail and the Alvarez Empire truly fight?"
Raizel asked calmly in return, "If they truly fight, what will you do?"
Irene answered without changing expression, "Keep my promise. Help neither side."
Then her expression turned slightly teasing as she looked at Raizel.
"Besides, who was it that so confidently said he would stop the war from happening? This was only said not long ago."
Raizel awkwardly pretended to cough twice.
"A hypothetical. Just a hypothetical."
Raizel did not particularly mind that Irene did not want to join the guild.
He had only asked because she seemed to be in a good mood. Whether or not she had the guild mark would not change her identity.
...
After more than three days of flying, the airship landed in an open space in the East Forest and was once again stored inside Ultear's magic space.
According to Selene, one night, Irene and Erza had once chatted alone on the deck.
However, the specific contents were unknown, because when Selene tried to eavesdrop, Irene blocked her with Magic.
Even now, Irene and Erza's way of interacting had not changed much.
They still communicated very little.
It could even be said that there was basically no communication at all.
Irene and Selene left first, while Raizel, Ultear, and the others planned to return to the guild and report.
Magnolia this year was somewhat quiet.
The main reason was that Natsu and Gray, the two noisiest ones, were both absent.
After returning to the guild, everyone received another new piece of news.
Gajeel, who was also very noisy, had temporarily left as well.
According to him, he had gone to search for metal that could strengthen his body.
Raizel told Makarov and Ur that Irene was Erza's mother.
Of course, he omitted some of the smaller details.
"The other one of the two pillars is Erza's mother?!!"
Makarov performed a full jump from his chair in the meeting room, leaping three feet high.
There were not many people here, only those who had gone along, plus Makarov and Ur.
"And you brought her back too?!"
Makarov's voice instantly rose by another octave, his jaw nearly refusing to close.
"That's right. We brought her back as well! She'll temporarily live in Magnolia after this. She'll probably live together with Selene."
The reason Selene and Irene had left first was to find a suitable place for them to live in Magnolia.
Ur lightly tapped her index finger against the table.
"According to what you said, among the three people the Alvarez Empire needs to pay the most attention to, she is one of them. Now this can be considered one hidden danger resolved."
Makarov also recovered from his shock.
His head drooped, and he said somewhat dejectedly, "I feel a little ashamed. Logically speaking, these should be things for us older folks to bear, yet it is always you youngsters who end up doing them..."
Raizel irritably knocked on the table.
"What are you feeling ashamed for? This is something I wanted to do. You know me very well. If I don't want to do something, no one can push me into it."
"Besides, that doesn't suit your character. You should just relax and drink with Macao and the others while bragging."
Raizel's next words instantly broke through Makarov's defenses.
"This old man was not bragging! Those were all my glorious years!"
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