Chapter 13
Caracole Island was a tourist resort that did not belong to any country in the world. It was an independent territory, so the island could be considered a neutral land where no conflicts ever occur.
Most countries are neutral, so it's really quiet and safe here. In fact, the island is such a separate country, like Switzerland, only small and does not have such economic power. This place is more like a simple village on the island, but with a wonderful tourist service. This is what the island attracts visitors to.
It was a small, wonderful tropical paradise. Just like from the booklet in the travel agency. Everything here was real.
The word "Caracole" is translated from Spanish as a snail shell, and I must say this name is perfect, because the island just has the shape of this very shell. Due to the fact that I was flying through the air, I was able to perfectly see the entire island and I must say I was impressed.
Azure sea, snow-white beach, interesting shape of the island, jungle, waterfalls and high mountain. What else do you need for a tropical paradise.
Finding a good landing spot, slightly away from the main cluster of buildings, I landed and canceled spells. All spells.
Since I'm no longer in the Alvarez Empire where any magician must serve in the army and I was not allowed to shine with my Magic Power or Magic itself, I could now relax.
Various Mages from all over the world often come to the island to rest. Mostly of course from the countries of Ishgar, as it is relatively close. Of course, I'll still stand out for people in the know, because I'm a really strong Mage, but it's much better than in the Empire. And I no longer need to hide, because I have nothing to show.
Having created new clothes out of sand, just right for the beach, and putting them on, I went to the hotel. He was just close. I immediately went to the most expensive and luxurious hotel on the island, as I have enough money. It turned out that in the best hotel on the island, you need to rent not rooms, but separate beach houses.
In fact, by paying you get a small cottage with everything you need for a comfortable stay and a small private beach area. This is quite convenient, because you get your own territory, which is monitored by hotel workers and you don't even need to clean anything. They also bring food. Wonderful.
I was quite satisfied with this option, so I immediately rented a good house. Not the largest, since I don't need it, but, as the hotel administrator assured, with the best beach and view. Well, it turned out to be true. My cottage was on the other side of the island and was far enough from the neighbors for complete privacy.
Of course, this was far from a cheap pleasure, 50,000 a day. If it was my hard earned money, I would have been choked to pay 700,000 for the two weeks I wasted right away for some beach house, but since I got the money easily, I parted with it easily.
After saying goodbye to the worker who escorted me to my house, I lounged on a hammock, satisfied with my housing and the whole situation in general.
Finally, I was able to escape from a hostile country, and even with almost no trouble. At least, the whole Empire does not hunt for me after my adventures and potential enemies know nothing about me. And messed up in the end.
To be honest, from what I saw during my trip, I really liked Alvarez. This is a picturesque, beautiful and safe state, despite militarism, with good infrastructure. I wouldn't mind living in a place like this, but they wouldn't leave me alone. It would be nice if they were just forced to serve in the army. Of course, I could have a good career growth and in the future I could even become a Spriggan, which would give many advantages and perks.
But in order to achieve this, one would have to hunch back, like Papa Carlo. Compared to working as a mercenary in the Guild in Fiore, where you can earn a lot of money on missions, especially if you become an S-Rank Wizard, working in the army is much more stressful. And there will be no such freedom of action. Military, there is a military. Discipline and all.
In addition, I know why Zeref founded Alvarez in general and I know the future fate of the country. Zeref wants to start a real war, and war is always bad. I don't want to be in the forefront of all this shit. Zeref does not care about the whole country from the high bell tower. The whole Empire for him is just a tool that will help him get the Fairy Heart and after that, he will leave the country to its fate to deal with the consequences of all the shit that he has done.
And I really don't want to be in the middle of all this confusion. Moreover, objectively this is the side of the villains, and the villains always lose. At least in these anime worlds.
So my decision to go to Fiore and join Fairy Tail still stands. The next two years will be safe there and I will be able to put down roots and get a stronger foundation in this world, otherwise for now, I am absolutely nobody. I have no special desire to climb into the hell of the canon, I would rather stay on this island forever, but after the situation with Larcade, I was convinced that no one would let me live in peace. There are at least more or less expected events and enemies.
'Okay, enough philosophizing, it's time to fully enjoy this tropical paradise.' - I thought as I headed towards the beach for a little swim in the sea.
***
*Two weeks later*
Well, I had a wonderful rest. All I did was swim, sunbathe, gobble up goodies and flirt with beautiful tourists and hotel workers.
Yes, you can congratulate me, I'm not a virgin anymore. After Larcade's unexpected death, there's no need to be afraid to 'eat the forbidden fruit' anymore, so I had a blast. Of course it was just an affair, nothing serious. But ugh, women in this world are certainly gorgeous. Compared to them, the models from my past world are just gray mice.
All the last days, I constantly walked around the island and met quite a few Mages. Even a few from Fairy Tail, of course, they were secondary characters, but still. Of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't meet another Spriggan again. This time it would be Neinhart. I didn't want to meet him at all.
His Magic, Historia of the Dead, allows him to see into other people's hearts and then recreate an exact copy of the deceased person that has somehow remained in the memory of the target, be it love, an enemy, a relative, or just a respected person. A truly intimidating ability.
Given my defective memory, it's not hard to guess who would appear before me if Neinhart used his Magic on me. It's good that Neinhart had no reason for this and we only crossed paths a couple of times in a restaurant and that's it. We didn't even talk.
Well, thank God, because I don't want to see Larcade's face again. Apparently, Neinhart was just passing through Caracole Island when he returned to Vistarion.
From the last thing that happened during this time, these are some strange things that began to happen to my body. I noticed this even in Vistarion, but all my feelings were noticeably intensified. I began to see better, and hearing and smell became sharper. After that, while already on the island, I noticed that my body also became stronger. Not much, but if before I was as strong as five grown men, now my body contains the physical characteristics of seven grown men.
Well, besides all this, my reserve has increased by almost 10%. In just two weeks, with no action on my part. Considering that it all started after the duel with Larcade, it's not difficult to guess that this is the reason. I have one idea of what is happening to me, but I think that I will be able to verify whether my theory is true when I examine Larcade's body, and I will only do this when I find a safe and isolated place.
Nothing bad happens to me, on the contrary, everything is only good for me. So for now, I should forget about it and not worry. Today was the day my beach cottage rental ended, so I decided to leave the island and move on to Fiore.
To be honest, I would have stayed another month or more, but I knew that if I didn't leave now, I would be stuck here for a long time until something bad happened that forced me to leave. Better not to wait.
After saying goodbye to the lovely ladies at the hotel reception, I went outside, put on the headphones, to which I am now very attached, and openly created wings, rising into the air. Finally, I don't have to hide like a rat.
After creating a anti-wind shield, navigation and acceleration spells, I flew to Hargeon. Since my Container is finally fine and now I have even more Magic Power, than before, I planned to get to Fiore today.
Unfortunately, reality again did not agree with my plans. After a couple of hours of flight, a real storm began. The wind was so strong that I was constantly blown to the side. It was also raining so hard you couldn't see anything. I decided that it was worth going back and not taking risks, otherwise you never know. No one here will save me if I fall into the sea.
But before teleporting to Caracole Island, I sank to the bottom of the sea to mark my Magic. I flew almost 1000 kilometers already and did not want to do the same way again.
My teleportation only worked to places I had already been to, but in the middle of the sea the scenery is too monotonous and I won't be able to return to the same place where I left off. So I have no choice but to label. And besides the big stone at the bottom, there is nowhere to do it. The apple method won't work again, because who knows how far it will be carried in a stormy sea.
After putting a mark, I returned to the resort and checked into another, simpler hotel for one night.