"Ahh… in the end, I'm even hungrier than before…" Lucy said, rubbing her flat stomach.
"How did this happen? Aren't Feather Fish supposed to be a legendary delicacy? Why do they taste so awful?" Happy hovered in the air, looking utterly disappointed.
"Maybe we cooked them the wrong way. Perhaps Feather Fish aren't meant to be grilled—maybe they'd taste better stewed or pan-fried," Ultear suggested.
"Stop talking. The more you say, the hungrier I get," Erza cut off her imagination.
"Look! Isn't that a village up ahead?!" Happy, flying higher than the rest, spotted it from afar.
"It really is!" Lucy looked into the distance and confirmed it, her eyes lighting up.
A smile spread across Gray's face. "That's great. If there's a village, then there must be—"
"FOOD!!"
Natsu shouted excitedly and sprinted toward the village without looking back. Ultear, Erza, Lucy, Arlen, Gray, Makarov, and Happy quickly followed, all wearing relieved smiles. Finally, no more starving.
"Wait… don't you think it's a little too quiet here?" Arlen said as soon as he stepped into the village, sensing something off.
"It is pretty quiet. Maybe everyone's taking a nap? Hey! Anyone here?!" Natsu shouted.
"Strange… there's really no one here. Doesn't look like they're all drunk either," Makarov said.
"Only Fairy Tail would have everyone drunk in the middle of the day," Lucy deadpanned.
"Well, you're not wrong," Makarov said proudly, completely unashamed.
"Whatever, let's just find a house and ask someone."
After saying that, Natsu ran toward the center of the village. Gray followed closely behind, determined not to let him get ahead.
"Excuse me, is anyone home? Sorry to intrude—we're mages from Fairy Tail."
Arlen casually chose a decent-looking house and knocked on the door. There was no response—nor any sound from inside.
He exchanged a glance with Ultear. She gently pushed the door, and it opened easily.
The two stepped inside, looked around, and their gaze soon landed on a table filled with fragrant bread and steaming cream mushroom soup.
"This is strange. From the tableware and food, it's clear someone was eating not long ago… but they just disappeared without a trace," Ultear said, frowning.
Arlen fell silent for a moment. "Let's check a few more houses."
Over the next dozen minutes, Arlen and Ultear inspected four or five more homes. The result was the same each time—meals left mid-eaten, as if the residents had vanished into thin air.
If the villagers had all left before Arlen's group arrived, there should've been signs. The village wasn't large, the houses were neatly arranged, and there were no hiding places. A mass departure would have left traces—but everything here was too clean. Unnaturally clean.
While Arlen was deep in thought, Ultear's voice came from a nearby storage room. He turned and walked over. The moment he stepped inside, he saw numerous magical weapons—and black guild banners.
"Let's regroup with the master," Arlen said decisively.
The two exchanged a glance, closed the storage door, and quickly headed back to find Makarov and the others.
Meanwhile, after getting no response from knocking, Natsu and Gray had also pushed open a door and entered another house.
Natsu's eyes lit up at the sight of bread on the table. He picked one up, sniffed it, and grinned even wider.
"Heh, still edible! Nice—I'm digging in!"
"Wait. Don't touch the food."
Just as Natsu opened his mouth wide to bite down, Erza stopped him.
"Huh? But I'm starving…" Natsu said, clutching his empty stomach.
"There's something very wrong here. Don't eat anything yet. We should investigate first," Erza said seriously.
"Wait—where are Arlen and Ultear? And where did the master go?" Lucy looked around, noticing the three were missing.
"Arlen was the first to notice something was off about this village. He's probably investigating," Erza said.
She knew him well—he never acted without preparation. If he sensed danger, he would always proceed with caution.
Just then—
Grrrrrrr—!
A thunderous rumble came from Erza's stomach, instantly plunging the scene into awkward silence.
"I say we just fill our stomachs first and investigate later," Natsu suggested, still unwilling to give up.
"Absolutely not. We don't touch a single thing belonging to the villagers. Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Happy—you four search the surrounding area for mushrooms. I'll go find the master, Arlen, and Ultear. We'll investigate the entire village," Erza ordered decisively.
"Yeah, yeah, got it… Let's go, Happy," Natsu sighed, reluctantly putting the bread back and heading out. Gray followed behind him.
Lucy, however, couldn't help but complain, "Why mushrooms specifically…?"
"Erza, so you're here. Where's the master?" Ultear asked, looking around.
"I sent Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Happy to look for mushrooms. As for the master, I don't know where he went. How did your investigation go?" Erza briefly explained and asked in return.
"Lord Arlen and I found quite a bit. Let's find the master first, then we'll explain everything together," Ultear said.
After searching for a while, the three finally found Makarov inside a house.
He was cracking a blue egg into a bowl, and in front of him was a bubbling, fragrant hot pot.
"Master… what are you doing?" Erza asked, arms crossed, her presence intimidating.
Makarov awkwardly set down the sauce he had just mixed. "Don't misunderstand—I'm just testing whether the food is safe."
"Master, Lord Arlen and I discovered something about this village," Ultear said seriously. "From our investigation, it appears this village was built by members of a dark guild. We found a large number of magical weapons and black guild banners in the storage."
Makarov and Erza's expressions gradually turned serious.
After a brief discussion, the four decided to thoroughly investigate the entire village once more.
Sure enough, they discovered something—
At the stone-paved ground centered around the village square, there were neatly arranged, crisscrossing seams etched into the surface