17 Chapter 17

After that little meeting with the council and the king, Natsu was brought to another room by the princess, Hisui E. Fiore, the girl who stood besides the king earlier.

The palace was large, and it took Natsu and Hisui quite some time before they reached their destination.

"Here we are," Hisui motioned at the door in front, "The people who will be accompanying you in this mission are inside here."

Natsu nodded as he opened the door and went in, with Hisui following behind him.

Upon going in, Natsu immediately noticed four people. Two old women and two young girls sitting on a round table.

The moment these four saw Hisui, they immediately kneeled and lowered their heads.

"Greetings, Princess."

Hisui gave a nod, "Rise." And the four did, before Hisui motioned at Natsu, "He is Master Natsu Dragneel, the guild master of Fairy Tail and the one the council sent to assist us. You will be accompanying him in his mission."

"Understood, your highness."

"Good, now introduce yourselves." Said Hisui.

The four nodded, and the old woman looking to be in her sixties and wearing a black kimono bowed at Natsu, "Greetings, Natsu Dragneel-sama. I am Kaori, a kunoichi from Yamato continent and now works as a knight serving under the royal family."

She then patted the shoulders of the young girl looking to be around 13 years of age, with long black hair, and wears a blue kimono, standing beside her.

"This is my disciple, Kamika. I have taught her my magic and she's very talented with it. I hope for her to succeed me as a Garou Knight so that I may retire and spend time with my family."

"Greetings, master Dragneel." The girl, Kamika, bowed at him.

Then, the other older woman also introduced herself, "It is a pleasure to meet the famed Salamander of Fairy Tail. I am Wanda, coming from a Knight family that has earned a noble title of a Baron. I have been part of the Garou Knights for twenty years."

She then put her hand on the shoulder of the young pink haired girl in white dress, "And this girl is my disciple, Cosmos, whom I have taught my magic. I have high hopes that she will inherit my mantle so that I can retire."

Hisui smiled at Natsu, "Wanda and Kaori are part of our kingdom's most elite unit, known as Garou Knights. There are only five members, but do not underestimate them. Each of them possessed strength no weaker than a S-class mage."

Natsu whistled in amazement. The kingdom was far stronger than he thought. Five S-class mages along with an army of knights numbering around a hundred thousand with all possessing magic weapons.

Any guild would be trampled under their foot if they so desired. And Natsu doesn't know if the kingdom was still hiding some of their forces.

No wonder despite being so weak, no mages actually dared to go against the knights of the kingdom.

Such a fearsome strength.

If a kingdom like Fiore is already so strong, then Natsu wondered how powerful the Magic Council really are for having an absolute dominance over the magic world.

"I'm Natsu Dragneel, the fourth master of Fairy Tail." Natsu grinned, "I hope we can get along, brats, grannies."

Natsu then stared the girls and couldn't help but ask, "Not to be rude, but are you two bringing them? Isn't this like, super important mission?"

"Indeed," Kaori nodded, "We want them to be exposed in these types of missions early. But do not worry, they will not get in the way and will just stay in Fiore's Foreign Embassy in Stella."

Stella and Fiore are economic allies. Because for Stella to export their goods, they can only do so through the Fiore Straight, connecting the Eastern Seas and the Ether River south of Stella.

After all, Stella was surrounded by a not so favorable countries. North and East of Stella, is the kingdom of Iceberg, a land of snow and ice full of barbaric tribes that would attack any merchants to steal their goods or even capture them and sell them as slaves to Bosco. Those people would do anything just to have food to fill their stomach due to the country's harsh climate.

And West of Stella is the Kingdom of Bosco, literally the most corrupt and crime infested country in the world.

Slave trading, human trafficking, drugs and arms selling, any crimes you can think of is happening en masse in that country. Not to mention it is also one of the few countries who possessed Jupiter Cannon, which is capable of wiping out cities when fired.

If Stella tried to pass through, they would just be sending their goods for free.

So their only trade route is the south, which is the Ether River that will lead to Eastern Seas. But to do so, you have to pass through the Fiore Straight, which is controlled by Fiore.

So Stella and Fiore signed an economic alliance. And an embassy was built for foreign ministers in both countries.

"I see," Natsu nodded, "When do we leave?"

"As early as possible," answered Hisui.

"I'm ready to leave now," said Natsu. He then turned towards the others. "How about you all?"

"We are ready to leave as well." Said Kaori.

"We have already prepared the ship," said Wanda, "We will be going to Stella through the Ether River. It's troublesome to pass through Bosco."

"Okay," Natsu nodded. "Shall we go then?"

"Very well." The two Garou Knights nodded.

It was then that Hisui tapped Natsu on the shoulder. Curious, the pink haired dragon slayer raised a brow and stared at her.

The princess smiled at him, "My father, the king, said that if you managed to bring back the staff that was stole from us, he will pay off all your guild's debt."

Natsu's eyes widened at that, "Really?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Hm," Hisui nodded, "In fact, my father even prepared to give you a plot of land here in the royal capital for you to transfer your guild here."

That …was shocking. No guild has ever managed to gain a foothold in a country's royal capital due to how monarchies absolutely forbid it, unless the guild itself is subservient to the monarchy.

Because there was a case in the Principality of Midi where a guild was allowed to move to their capital and almost took over the country. Ever since then, no monarchies allowed a guild's presence in the capital.

Now, Natsu was getting curious about that staff.

What was it?

"That's a bold statement," Natsu smiled, "Does your father not know the consequences of his words?"

"Oh, he does." Hisui smiled, "I am sure the nobles are going crazy over this. But that's for us to handle, master Dragneel only need to care about retrieving the staff."

"I will take you up on that offer then."

By moving their guild to the capital they will have more jobs and opportunities, not to mention better payments.

Natsu would be a fool to pass that up.

Of course, he wouldn't just abandon their guild hall in Magnolia. He can turn it into a branch guild. Phantom Lord has a lot of branches all over the kingdom back then, why can't Fairy Tail?

"Before we leave," Natsu stared at Hisui, his eyes stern and serious, "Just what the heck is that staff? You are willing to offend nobles just to offer my guild a place in the capital."

Hisui stared at him and sighed, "Kaori and Wanda were supposed to inform you later, but since you ask then I shall answer you."

Natsu listened carefully.

"A couple of months back, our people discovered quite a large amount of gold reserve in the mountains west of the capital and we decided to mine it."

Hisui observed Natsu, and noticing a lack of reaction, decided to continue, "All is well at first, but as we went deeper, we discovered a …"

"What?" Natsu raised a brow.

"A dragon graveyard."

"…A what!?" Natsu exclaimed in shock. "Dragon graveyard!?"

Hisui nodded, "Yes. There are remains, corpses of dragons buried underneath. There are hundreds, no probably thousands of dragon corpses were there."

Natsu shook. Could Igneel be …?

No. Don't think like that. The princess said that it was under the mountain, which should mean that those corpses were already buried there for a long time.

Igneel disappeared around ten years ago, he shouldn't be buried on a mountain. If it was a cave, then there is a chance. But not a mountain.

"It was there that we discovered the staff, Dragon Cry as we called it." Said Hisui, snapping Natsu back from his train of thought, "after a little research, we discovered that the staff was actually empowered by the emotions of the deceased dragons buried in the graveyard. According to our researchers, all of the power inside the staff is said to be the equivalent of ten to dozens of Etherion blasts, thus having the power to destroy an entire nation if released."

"…" Natsu was stunned silent.

"We sealed it, deeming it to be too dangerous." Sighed Hisui, "but it seems like Stella managed to get ahold of the information of the staff and stole it."

She stared at Natsu, "That's why, we must take it back, and seal it once again. Father is willing to offer any price for it, even if he offend the nobles."

Natsu took a deep breath, calming himself, "If …If it was so dangerous, then why not just destroy it?"

Hisui shook her head, "Too risky. If we tried destroying it and succeeded, then all those energy inside could go off and blow up the entire kingdom. Sealing it is the only option. That's why, no matter what happens, please you must bring it back."

Natsu wanted to say to just surrender it to the council, but then he realize just how idiotic that sounds. The council absolutely just use it to further increase their authority, handing such a weapon to them is dangerous.

At least if it was sealed here in Fiore, Natsu can have someone observe that it won't be used by anyone. After all, the king did offer Natsu a property to move his guild in the capital.

So the safest should still be here, sealed and untouched.

So he swore.

"I will definitely take that staff back."

Hisui smiled in relief hearing that response.