"Phew—" Once Jehfrit and the others were far enough away, Mest let out a deep sigh.
Being around that guy was truly stressful.
Though the outside world didn't know it, Mest had seen plenty of reports at the Magic Council. He knew Jehfrit was an extremely dangerous individual.
Strength, intelligence, magic… If he were to turn evil, he could become a disaster for the entire world!
The Roya Organization paled in comparison!
"Creating demons, huh…" Mest muttered. "Jehfrit, I hope you don't betray the light…"
This was one of the main reasons he'd come here.
The higher-ups in the Magic Council had gathered some covert evidence but were too afraid to publicly investigate. So they sent Mest.
He had two objectives—
First, to investigate Fairy Tail's situation, mainly their actual strength—the S-Class Mage exam would be a perfect opportunity to observe.
Second, to investigate Jehfrit's situation and decide what measures to take. In fact, this second objective was the primary mission, while the first was just a cover story for when Mest inevitably exposed his identity.
Jehfrit's impressive battle record could be overlooked.
But once he started researching demons, everyone grew terrified that another Zeref might rise again. They needed to confirm Jehfrit's intentions, stance, and research progress.
If there was even a chance… the Magic Council wouldn't hesitate to destroy this talent—nip the demon in the bud!
Mest took a deep breath and turned to leave.
"So that's how it is…"
Suddenly, Jehfrit appeared beside where Mest had just stood, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
It had to be said, Mest's concerns were justified.
Unfortunately, Deception Magic was notoriously hard to detect.
*Tap*
Emily, who had been swinging Wendy's hand as they walked, suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong, Emily?" Wendy asked, puzzled.
"Wait for Master," Emily said with a smile.
"Wait for Jehfrit? But he's not—" Before Wendy could finish, she saw Jehfrit vanish from beside Emily.
Wendy: "…What's going on with these two?!"
Jehfrit reappeared behind them, and Emily grabbed his hand without saying anything.
Only Carla, who was usually perceptive and cautious, looked serious. She'd been wary ever since Mest approached Wendy earlier.
Mainly because she was suspicious of any man getting close to Wendy.
Carla demanded, "There's something off about Mest, right?!"
"Wait, what's going on with this memory?!" Carla exclaimed in shock.
"Wait, where are we?!"
Carla had just snapped out of those "real memories" and found herself standing on a grassy field. The only other person there was Jehfrit.
"This is the Mirror World," Jehfrit chuckled. "Don't worry about Mest, Carla."
"Jehfrit, you know full well he's a spy using dangerous memory-altering magic, yet you're ignoring him?! And he's approaching Wendy with strange intentions!"
Carla was furious.
The moment she broke free from Mest's spell, she regained her memories and immediately deduced that Mest had ill intentions.
Moreover, Wendy wasn't particularly strong, yet Mest was pretending to be Mystogan's disciple to get close to her. How could Carla not suspect foul play?!
"Relax, he's after me," Jehfrit said calmly.
"Then pair up with him! I don't want Wendy in danger," Carla shot back.
"…" Jehfrit raised his hands helplessly. "I swear, I'll use magic to monitor him the whole time. Nothing will happen to Wendy, okay?"
"He can't even touch Wendy—not a finger!" Carla insisted.
"…" Jehfrit nodded. "Fine, I'll warn him later."
"Hmph." Carla finally relaxed. Though Jehfrit was unreliable at times, he was dependable when it counted.
"By the way… if you're so worried about Wendy, why don't you protect her yourself?" Jehfrit teased.
"I don't have that kind of strength…" Carla's expression darkened. She wanted to grow stronger so she wouldn't always have to watch Wendy fight from afar, worrying helplessly.
*Whoosh* Jehfrit flicked a card toward her.
Carla quickly caught it. "What's this?"
"Shared Magic—Improved Version," Jehfrit explained. "After seeing Speed and Laxus's combat style, I got inspired and combined synchronization magic, shared magic, and Warframe Formation techniques."
"If you can accept having a special Warframe state, you can use it."
"It allows you and Wendy to share abilities, letting you fight side by side," Jehfrit continued.
The shared magic he and Miko used was complete synchronization, but most people couldn't handle that level—not even Carla and Wendy.
A lower-tier alternative was synchronization magic, like what Speed and Laxus used.
However, Wendy couldn't provide Carla with powerful magic, and Carla couldn't offer Wendy strong skills either.
Laxus could transfer magical power to Speed, granting him flight capabilities that boosted speed and combat performance.
But Wendy and Carla clearly couldn't achieve that level of synergy.
So while researching ways to create Warframes and demons, Jehfrit had developed this magic—originally intended for Emily. He'd already secretly experimented on Miralit, guiding her evolution toward an "elf-like" form, similar to Tiffania. So far, the results weren't dramatic; Miralit was just getting smarter.
Once Carla mastered this magic, she could share Wendy's magic. Her body could transform into a catgirl form, granting her access to Sky Dragon Slayer Magic—but considering Wendy was still growing and not very strong, Carla would primarily rely on a "power bank."
The power bank worked like this: during peacetime, Wendy would charge magical energy into the card, and during battles, Carla could draw from it.
The small amount of Wendy's magic Carla used in real-time was to synchronize their magical states, aiming for above-average coordination—and potentially perfect synergy once they trained enough.
Of course, achieving that would require effort from both of them.
After listening to Jehfrit's detailed explanation…
Carla was thrilled but quickly suppressed her emotions. "Such a generous gift—I can't accept it lightly…"
She thought for a moment. "How about this? Next time we have our girls' tea party, I'll tell you which romance magazines we study."
"…" Jehfrit deadpanned, "I'm not interested in that kind of intel. If you really want to thank me… umm, next time you see Happy, call him 'Happy-kun' a couple of times—if the timing feels right."
"…" Carla's face instantly flushed red.
With a wave of his hand, Jehfrit transported them out of the Mirror World.
Wendy looked at Carla and Jehfrit, confused. "What's going on?"
"Jehfrit gave me a magic spell," Carla said. "Now I can fight alongside you."
"That's wonderful, Carla!" Wendy exclaimed happily. Turning to Jehfrit, she expressed her gratitude, "Thank you so much, Jehfrit-san, but we don't have anything to repay you with…"
"Carla has already repaid me enough," Jehfrit interrupted with a smile.
"Is that so?" Wendy calmed herself and said, "In any case, I'm very grateful."
"It's nothing. We're all family," Jehfrit laughed. "No need to be so formal."
"Suspicious…" Emily eyed Carla, whose expression was unnatural, and her face was slightly red. She telepathically whispered, "Master didn't secretly kiss Carla, did he?! Turns out Master's a cat-lover?!"
*Smack* Jehfrit slapped Emily's head.
"Ow!" Emily puffed up her cheeks angrily and stomped on Jehfrit's foot.
---
The next afternoon…
"Jehfrit!"
Evergreen burst through the guild doors, stormed up to the counter, and grabbed Jehfrit by the collar, nearly lifting him off the ground.
"What are you doing, Evergreen?" Jehfrit looked utterly bewildered.
The noisy guild fell silent, and everyone turned to look.
"Where's Elfman?!" Evergreen demanded.
"How should I know?" Jehfrit replied.
"You're the one giving him bad advice! I waited all day yesterday, and this morning I went to his house, but he wasn't there!" Evergreen exclaimed.
After waiting anxiously all day yesterday, moving from anger to confusion, Evergreen couldn't hold back any longer and went to look for Elfman this morning—but he was nowhere to be found. Worry was rapidly rising within her.
She knew Elfman was strong enough to avoid danger, and logically, he was probably agonizing over how to reconcile with her. He wouldn't take on any jobs, and perhaps he was preparing a surprise for her.
But how could a girl in love suppress her feelings? How could she not worry about a boyfriend who'd been missing for a whole day?!
"Well…" Jehfrit shrugged helplessly. "Elfman's a grown man. It's only been a day—he might just have something to do. You're acting like a kid's gone missing."
"About Elfman…" Cana interjected. "He said he was going into the forest. Hasn't he returned yet?"
She then explained, "Y'know, Ikuto and I saw him outside town yesterday. He said he was heading into the forest, so I assumed he went home."
She added worriedly, "Nothing bad happened, right?"
"Jehfrit!!!"
At this, Evergreen glared daggers at Jehfrit, looking ready to tear him apart.
At this point, Erza spoke up, her tone serious. "Jehfrit, your pranks have gone too far."
"That's right," Lucy nodded.
"Jehfrit, what nonsense did you tell Elfman? He wouldn't just disappear on his own," Cana added.
"Uh…" Jehfrit hastily raised his hands. "I honestly don't know where he went."
He explained, "The plan I gave Elfman was simple: Apologize to Evergreen first. If she didn't accept it, prepare a gift. As for what the gift was, he had to figure that out himself—I don't know Evergreen's preferences."
"I only said that much. How should I know where he ran off to?"
"Maybe he went to another city to buy Evergreen a gift."
"Oh yeah…" Jehfrit pushed Evergreen's hand away, ran to grab a magazine, flipped it open, and showed her a page. "He kept saying he wanted to see you wear this, but it's a new product. Our remote little town doesn't carry it yet. Maybe he went to Phelix Town to buy it."
On the page…
Was a pair of designer-level black stockings.
"…" Evergreen's face flushed red.
But Cana immediately countered, "Impossible. If that were true, he'd go to the station, not the forest."
*Swoosh* Erza abruptly stood up. "Let's go find him!"
"No time to waste!" Mirajane also grew serious.
Everyone decided to search for Elfman.
"Jehfrit, are you sure you're not involved in this?" Erza asked sternly as they hurried along.
"I swear I don't know anything! I only told him to prepare a gift and play a bit hard to get, making Evergreen realize she should care more about Elfman's feelings," Jehfrit explained. "As for why he went to the forest to look for a gift, I honestly don't know."
"Let's hope that's true," Erza said.
At this moment, Mirajane and Lisanna approached him, one on each side, pinching the flesh on his waist simultaneously.
"Ouch—"
Jehfrit shuddered.
"Out with it, Jehfrit-nii," Lisanna said. "Even if there's a one percent chance this was Elfman-nii's idea, I won't believe it!"
"Don't make things too big, Jehfrit," Mirajane smiled sweetly.
"…" Under their combined pressure, Jehfrit surrendered. "Alright, alright. Do you know about 'Green Crystal Bugs'?"
"They're a rare type of magical creature, like fireflies, but can be kept as pets long-term. They're highly prized by wealthy ladies and noblewomen, and they're very expensive because they're hard to catch—outside their habitat, they're guarded by powerful magical beasts. On job listings, they're worth at least 500,000 J, and the market price is no less than 800,000 J," Lisanna explained.
"Yes, they're quite the luxury item," Jehfrit elaborated. "Not long ago, I read in the newspaper that a caravan passing through a neighboring town had its captured Green Crystal Bugs stolen by dark mages. Most were taken, but a few escaped. If those escaped bugs were looking for a new habitat, the only place nearby would be deep in the forest between the two towns."
"So Elfman-nii went to find Green Crystal Bugs," Lisanna concluded.
"Evergreen calls herself a fairy and loves fairy-related things. When Green Crystal Bugs fly, they leave trails of photon afterimages, like fairies flitting through the air," Jehfrit said. "Elfman thought it'd be the perfect gift."
"But…" Lisanna frowned. "Aren't Green Crystal Bugs protected by magical beasts?"
Jehfrit explained, "Green Crystal Bugs aren't ordinary insects—they're intelligent magical creatures. Though their bodies aren't strong, they can control powerful magical beasts to guard them."
"Can Elfman-nii handle it?" Lisanna asked, concerned.
"Don't underestimate Elfman," Jehfrit said. "Besides, there are only a few scattered Green Crystal Bugs left. What powerful beasts could they possibly control? Plus, there aren't many strong magical beasts in the forest. If there were, Natsu and the others would've beaten them up for training by now."