Internet Magic in Fairy Tail

The game’s realism was indistinguishable from reality.

Princess Hisui stared blankly at the ruins of the royal palace. It was clear that an intense battle had taken place here.

“Is this a game or reality?”

She couldn’t tell the difference.

Considering past games like [Magic Arena] and [Celestial Pokémon], this was probably a game…

But if it was a game, how was it supposed to be played?

With no guidance provided, Princess Hisui felt a bit lost. She wandered to a plaza, where she finally saw a large gathering of players. Each player had a name displayed above their head.

She recognized several familiar faces—they were mages from Fairy Tail.

“Laxus! Cool~~”

A player named “Reporter Jason” called out excitedly, greeting Laxus.

“What are you all doing here?” Hisui asked, approaching the Fairy Tail members.

With his arms crossed, Laxus replied coolly, “Waiting for the team to gather.”

“Gathering for what?”

“Dragon Hunting!” Laxus grinned.

“Cool~~ Where’s the dragon?”

Jason twisted and squirmed with excitement, his face turning red.

Laxus frowned in disgust. “Don’t get too close. You’re grossing me out. Aren’t you the reporter from Sorcerer Weekly?”

“That’s right, I’m Jason!”

Jason nodded enthusiastically—like a chicken pecking at the ground—about to ask if he could join the hunt, when Princess Hisui approached with a polite smile:

“Hello, Fairy Tail members. I didn’t expect to meet you in a game.”

Seeing her face, Jason’s eyes widened in shock. “Y-You’re Princess Hisui! Cool~~”

“Hello, Jason-san,” Hisui greeted him courteously, holding up a finger to her lips. “Shh, not so loud.”

Jason quickly covered his mouth.

With over a thousand players gathered in the plaza, if news of the princess’s presence spread, it would definitely cause chaos.

“Why is everyone gathered here?” Hisui asked curiously.

“Not sure. When I logged in, there were already a lot of people here,” Jason replied, looking confused. “Laxus, is there something going on?”

“See for yourself,” Laxus said, pointing to a bulletin board nearby.

A crowd of players surrounded the board, discussing its contents.

“What’s that?”

“A brief guide for players on how to play the game,” Laxus explained.

While waiting for his team, he decided to elaborate:

“There’s a character panel, magic skills, a map, an inventory, and so on. It’s a game where you hunt dragons, collect materials, craft equipment, and then challenge even stronger dragons.

“Of course, I don’t recommend going alone. It’s better to form a team. There’s no limit to how many people can join a dungeon, but the loot is fixed.

“So, you’ll also need to consider how to distribute the loot. Having too many players isn’t necessarily a good thing.”

Laxus was well aware this was a parallel world, but he couldn’t tell the players outright. After all, discovering the truth was part of the game’s fun, and he didn’t want to spoil it.

According to Nate, the reason there were 10,000 dragons in the first place was because Princess Hisui had opened the Eclipse Gate.

Remembering this, Laxus glanced at Hisui with a peculiar expression.@@novelbin@@

“Team up to hunt dragons…”

Hisui opened the Royal Capital Region Channel, an in-game chat group consisting of all players in the capital. The channel was lively, filled with players looking for teammates:

[Hello everyone, I’m a Sky Dragon Slayer Mage. Anyone want to team up?]

[Join our team! We already have three people!]

[I’m a Sky Dragon Slayer too.]

[Sorry, we only need one Sky Slayer per team.]

Messages poured in like a waterfall, and Hisui quickly realized how rare Sky Dragon Slayers were: as long as someone was a Sky Slayer, they were immediately recruited. There was no need to worry about finding a team. By contrast, Fire Dragon Slayers seemed to be the most common.

Fortunately, when creating her character, Hisui had chosen to be a Sky Dragon Slayer.

“Laxus, can I join your team?” Hisui asked after some thought. “I’m curious about how you hunt dragons. Oh, and I’m a Sky Dragon Slayer Mage.”

“Sure,” Laxus agreed. His Raijinshū team had an empty slot anyway.

Their team now consisted of:

Laxus (Captain)

The three members of the Raijinshū

Princess Hisui

Jason quickly chimed in, “Can I join too? I’m a Fire Dragon Slayer!”

At that moment, Laxus received a private message from one of his team members:

Freed: [“Laxus, there are too many people in the plaza. Let’s meet at the south gate instead.”]

Turning to the group, Laxus said, “Follow me. The rest of the team is already waiting at the south gate.”

With Hisui and Jason in tow, the group quickly made their way to the south gate, where the Fairy Tail team had gathered.

“Gramps?”

Laxus froze when he spotted Master Makarov among the crowd. The old man smiled warmly.

“Nate asked me to personally lead the dragon hunt. Let’s go—this is Fairy Tail’s dragon-hunting campaign!”

“How worried is Nate about us?” Laxus thought, exasperated. Even the old man, a member of the Ten Wizard Saints, had been brought into this.

…

Magnolia, suburban villa.

It had been over an hour since the release of the new game version.

At the dining table, Erza sliced the freshly baked cake and handed pieces to everyone.

“Nate, what are you looking at?”

“The Guild Master is leading a team to hunt the Coal Dragon. Do you think they’ll succeed this time?”

Nate smiled, gesturing toward the screen. On the display, Makarov and his team had already arrived at the open-pit coal mine.

The four women, eating their cake, gathered around Nate.

“The Coal Dragon has been weakened, so they should win this time, right?” Erza asked.

“Not necessarily,” Lucy said. “The Coal Dragon’s difficulty is still five stars, and the weakening wasn’t too drastic.”

Nate chuckled. “How about a bet?”

“Sure, what’s the wager?” Levy adjusted her glasses. “I bet they won’t succeed.”

“Let’s bet on who has to wash the dishes afterward,” Nate suggested.

In the end, Nate and Erza bet on success, while Lucy, Future Lucy, and Levy were on the side of failure.

“No cheating, Sensei!” Levy said suspiciously. “From now on, you’re not allowed to leave our sight.”

“Who do you think you’re doubting?” Nate thought to himself, amused. “Even under your watchful eyes, you wouldn’t catch me cheating if I wanted to!”

“Alright, let’s just watch quietly now.”

[BOSS: Coal Dragon Brunfield]

[Difficulty: ★★★★★]

The Fairy Tail team, along with Princess Hisui and Reporter Jason, all looked up at the massive black sphere. Above it, two lines of bold, three-dimensional text were displayed.

Gajeel smirked. “Last time I fought it, it was only three-and-a-half stars. Now it’s five. Metalicana, don’t you dare step in this time.”

Beside Gajeel, an unfamiliar middle-aged man shook his head. “Honestly, do you think you can win? I have my doubts.”

Elsewhere, a middle-aged woman who looked strikingly similar to Porlyusica spoke softly:

“Wendy, I know this dragon. Among dragonkind, it’s not the strongest. You still haven’t managed to defeat it?”

Above her head, her name was displayed as “Grandeeney.”