Fairy Tail: Starting with Fairy Queen Erza

As the mayor spoke, he began to cry. Watching the town he had built up over many years suddenly destroyed, couldn't he at least be allowed to have a little outburst?!

Fortunately, everyone is still alive!

As long as the person is alive, everything is negotiable...

"In any case, thank you very much for helping us defeat Deliora!"

"Without you, let alone saving the town..."

"I'm afraid everyone in our town will perish in the fire!"

The mayor was a reasonable man, so after he realized that this was not an illusion or a dream, he led the townspeople to Ian, who had just reduced Deliora to ashes, and bowed to Ian in gratitude.

"It's no trouble at all, it's just a small favor."

Upon hearing this, Ian smiled and shook his head.

"I heard from Yin that you're a guild archmage, right?!"

"I, this old geezer, still understand the rules of a mage..."

“We should have done something to express our gratitude…”

"But as you can see, we really have nothing left to give you right now. All our possessions were destroyed last night in Deliora's invasion! Next year, we'll sell all the game we hunt in the mountains..."

The mayor paused abruptly, as if he had remembered something. He looked at the lake in the distance, which had replaced the snow-capped mountains, cleared his throat, and continued, "In the future, when all the fish in our fishpond have grown up, we will definitely make up for all the money you owe us today."

"There's no need for such trouble!"

"It's all I should do..."

Upon hearing this, Ian scratched the back of his head and chuckled softly.

He already felt bad for accidentally razing the town to the ground, so how could he possibly accept payment from these honest townspeople?!

If he had traveled a few tens of minutes earlier, he might have been able to intercept Deliora outside the town, which is truly a pity.

"May I ask your name?"

"So that we may have a chance to repay you..."

However, the mayor insisted that the town could be rebuilt after it was destroyed, but a person's life is only once, and once someone dies, they can never come back.

"My name is Yi..."

Upon hearing this, Ian had originally intended to simply state his full name...

But when he saw the endless wasteland before him, he cleared his throat and temporarily changed his name: "I am none other than Gildarts, the mage of Fairy Tail Guild!"

"Kildarts?"

"Could it be that you are Gildarts, the so-called strongest mage in the western part of the continent of Ishgar?!"

Gildarts's name was quite well-known; even in this unremarkable town, people had heard of him, and they all stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

"Exactly..."

Ian nodded slightly.

"But I've heard that Gildarts is an alcoholic, a bastard, a pervert, a sleazy old man. No matter how you look at him, he doesn't seem like it at all."

The townsman looked Ian up and down, as if he didn't believe him.

“Hey! Uncle Gildarts, you really have a big reputation out there! The whole world knows you're a bastard, I guess I'm doing you a favor by doing this…” Ian’s eye twitched slightly, and he went against his conscience to explain for Gildarts, “Actually, those are all rumors, I… am a good person!”

"I see……"

The honest townspeople believed Ian's 'lie'.

Although Gildarts is indeed as rumored—a bastard, a scumbag, and an alcoholic who runs away as soon as he's done with it…

Next.

After Ian assumed Gildarts's name and accepted the townspeople's gratitude, he went to find Silver's family.

Just now, Silver used the communication magic Ian had cast earlier to contact Ian again, saying she had something important to tell him...

After Ian arrived at the place Silver had mentioned.

Then he saw Silver holding his wife Meihua, who had already woken up, and Gray with his head down. The family of three stood under the tree, seemingly having been waiting for Ian for a long time.

"Grey, hurry up and go!"

After seeing Ian, Silver gently patted Gray on the back to encourage him.

Before Ian could even ask, Gray walked over, knelt down, and loudly proclaimed, "Senior Gildarts! I want to learn magic..."

"no……"

"What's with this feeling right now, Coach? I really want to play basketball!"

Ian's mouth was half open, but he swallowed back the question he was about to ask, and mentally he was ranting.

"why?"

Gray looked up, a look of confusion in his eyes.

"Because you can't learn it..."

Ian was helpless; his specialty, celestial magic, was not suitable for Gray.

"Yes, really?"

A hint of disappointment flashed in Gray's eyes. He lowered his head, lost in thought.

"Even though you can't learn my magic..."

"However, if you truly want to learn magic from the bottom of your heart, I do have someone I can recommend to you."

"She's a good teacher, and she possesses the most suitable magic in the world for you..."

Ian helped Gray up from the ground and laughed.

"really?"

"I genuinely want to learn magic!"

"I never want to encounter a situation again where someone I cherish is attacked by bad people, and I am powerless to help..."

Gray seemed to have never imagined that there would be a turning point in his learning of magic...

So he looked up at Ian, his big eyes full of anticipation.

"Of course, why would I lie to you?!" Upon hearing this, Ian first gently ruffled Gray's head, then ruffled Gray's messy hair...

Ian then stopped what he was doing, turned around, looked at the person behind him, and smiled, "As for the person I was talking about, the one who can teach you magic, it is... her!"

"she?!"

Gray was a little confused, and he followed Ian's gaze...

Not far away, a woman with neat short black hair was walking towards the group.

The woman was quite peculiar; even in the cold winter, she wore only a thin coat, which was left open to reveal her slightly sexy underwear. Her jeans accentuated her curvaceous hips, making it impossible to look away...

As they got closer, they discovered that the woman's features were also well-proportioned and beautiful, and she exuded a heroic spirit that a young girl lacked, giving her a dashing and spirited appearance. Beside this woman was a young man with naturally gray hair.

"Hey! Don't just take on apprentices for random people!"

After the woman arrived, she first glared at Ian, then looked at the stunned young Gray and exclaimed in surprise, "You know what, this child really does have a talent for shaping magic! In that case, I'll reluctantly take him in."

"Grey, why aren't you going to become my apprentice?"

Upon hearing this, Ian nudged Gray beside him and laughed.

"She? Is she very strong?"

To Ian's surprise, Gray actually started to nitpick. He turned to Ian and asked him a question.

"Idiot! Of course she's stronger..."

"If you think that Uru, whose strength rivals that of the Ten Great Archmages and who wouldn't be an exaggeration to call himself the number one ice mage on the continent of Ishgard, isn't strong enough..."

"Then you'll have no choice but to become an apprentice to those old monsters who have lived for over a hundred years, are rarely seen on the continent, and are known as 'Heavenly Kings'!"

"In that case, even I can't help you, you picky brat."

Ian pressed Gray's head down and lectured him.

"It hurts, it hurts so much! Ugh..."

Gray covered his head, tears welling in his eyes. As he spoke, he strode towards Uru, bowed his head, and said, "Excuse me, may I take you as my apprentice?!"

"I'll accept you as my 'ungrateful' disciple!"

Upon hearing this, Uru first gave a kind smile, then forcefully swung his loving iron fist down on Gray's head.

Well, Uru was still quite angry about Gray's initial questioning of her strength and his resistance to becoming her disciple.

"it hurts!"

The tears that had been welling up in Grena's eyes finally spilled over.

"If he's cried, he's my good apprentice."

Uru smiled and looked up at Ian, his face showing a kind smile. "So, shouldn't we talk about what's between you and me now? Is there anything you'd like to explain to me?"

"An explanation? Me?"

Ian was somewhat confused; he didn't feel he had anything he needed to explain to Uru.

"Mr. Gildarts, please tell me, why do you look somewhat different from the lecherous old man I remember?!"

"You've recently learned time magic and are getting younger and younger, right?"

Uru looked at Ian with a smile and asked.

"Oh, right, it was mentioned in the side story that Gildarts and Uru knew each other..."

"After all, there are only so many powerful mages on the continent of Ishgar, so it's not a big deal for them to know each other; it's a very normal situation."

Ian was helpless; he hadn't expected Uru to come and question his identity.

"The magic I felt last night was truly terrifying! I could feel it even from dozens of miles away... so I rushed over overnight."

"As soon as I arrived, I heard the townspeople saying that the great hero Gildarts defeated Deliora and saved all the townspeople!"

"I was planning to greet Gildarts, since we're acquaintances. But I never expected to run into an imposter. So, tell me now, who are you?! And why are you impersonating Gildarts?"