Chapter 679 - 679: A Temporary Return

Raizel was not a professional chef, after all.

Most of what he knew how to make were ordinary home-cooked dishes, though at the very least they were perfectly edible.

His Kung Pao chicken leaned toward the sweeter side, and the judges immediately recognized that he was an amateur.

Since Raizel was also one of the festival's invited guests, they did not give him a particularly harsh critique.

Instead, they offered a few pointers, including the advice that if he was going to make a sweet version of the dish, he should commit to it instead of hesitating over the sugar because he was afraid of making it too sweet.

Unsurprisingly, Raizel was eliminated in the very first round without receiving a single vote.

Mira, on the other hand, had already defeated her first opponent.

For the opening round, she prepared curry rice.

The golden curry was served with a rich, spicy sauce that earned enthusiastic praise from all five judges, allowing Mira to advance with a crushing five-to-zero victory.

After a brief intermission, she faced her next opponent, with the winner securing a place among the final ten.

This time, Mira prepared prawns in a dry white wine and lemon sauce.

She first sautéed scallions, ginger, and garlic until fragrant, then poured in dry white wine and brought it to a boil.

Half a lemon's worth of juice followed, along with salt and sugar for seasoning, before she added the prawns.

Once the liquid returned to a boil, she turned off the heat and finished the dish with herbs and fresh lemon slices.

It was a simple preparation that Mira had developed by combining techniques from different cuisines, but the pairing of dry white wine and lemon brought out the natural sweetness of the prawns exceptionally well.

A faint wine aroma came first, followed by the refreshing brightness of lemon, and only then did the full flavor of the seafood emerge.

The same method could just as easily be used for fish or shellfish, and with Mira's sense for seasoning, the finished dish was even better.

Roughly half an hour later, Mira successfully secured a place in the top ten and received the honorary title awarded to the finalists.

There was no additional ranking among those ten chefs, so the food festival officially came to an end.

Mira had walked away with honors in both beverages and cooking, and in the process she had accumulated a sizable number of new admirers throughout Ordore.

Combined with Selene, Irene, and the rest of their already conspicuous group, they had become almost impossible to ignore wherever they went.

Later, while everyone was gathered in a restaurant, Raizel looked toward Selene.

"So how did you two end up here too?"

Raizel's group had at least been officially invited by Guiltina's Magic Council, so they had a perfectly legitimate excuse.

Selene answered without the slightest change in expression.

"We heard about the festival and came to experience it."

Irene immediately added, "In plain language, she heard there was something entertaining happening and rushed over."

Irene had far too many complaints about Selene's chronic inability to stay focused.

When they had supposedly been searching for Athena, Selene spent most of her time heading toward crowded places under the excuse that busy areas were better for gathering information.

Irene could not remember her actually asking anyone a single useful question about Athena.

Now they were supposedly searching for Ignia.

The moment Selene heard about a food festival, she abandoned everything and came running faster than anyone else.

...

Half a month passed quietly.

The year was drawing toward its end, yet neither Raizel's group nor Irene and Selene had uncovered any sign of Ignia's mysterious plan.

Around that time, Ur and Makarov contacted them through communication Lacrima to ask whether they intended to return for Christmas Eve.

Raizel made the decision immediately.

They were going home.

With Spatial Magic and teleportation available, returning to Guiltina afterward would barely take any time at all.

There was little point in endlessly searching an entire continent for Ignia when he had clearly chosen to disappear.

At this stage, they might as well wait for him to reveal himself.

...

"WE'RE BACK!!!"

Natsu and Happy charged through Fairy Tail's doors once again.

With the end of the year approaching, the guild was especially lively.

Gildarts, Laxus, Gray, Cana, and many others were currently staying in Magnolia rather than being away on jobs.

"OOOH! Natsu! Welcome back!"

Macao, Wakaba, and Kurnugi were drinking near the entrance and raised their mugs in greeting.

"Welcome home~"

Kinana and Lisanna, both carrying trays, smiled and nodded as Raizel, Ultear, and the others entered together.

The moment Natsu spotted Gildarts, his eyes lit up.

"GILDARTS! FIGHT ME!!!"

He immediately launched himself across the guild hall.

Gildarts continued drinking with one hand and casually brought the other down on Natsu's head.

Natsu was driven straight into the stone floor and immediately lost consciousness.

"Don't destroy the guild, Gildarts!" Erza shouted with her hands on her hips.

"Hahaha, sorry, sorry."

Selene and Irene had actually returned before Raizel's group, bringing Misaki, Kiria, Enny, and Luso with them.

They were not at Fairy Tail at the moment, however. All six had gone back to the castle.

"So, how did the job go?"

Makarov sat at the bar with flushed cheeks, swaying slightly as he looked toward Raizel through half-lidded eyes.

He had clearly been drinking quite a bit.

Raizel shrugged.

"I'd say we're four-fifths finished. There's only one step left, but we have absolutely no lead on it and can't find any trace of the final target."

During the past several weeks, Raizel had taken Ultear and the others through one volcanic region after another, searching both dormant and active volcanoes for any sign of Ignia.

They had even visited the City of the Fire God described by the Signario Sisters.

Ignia had indeed lived there once.

But only once.

According to Wendy and Natsu, whatever scent remained was extremely old and had faded to almost nothing.

Ur nodded in understanding.

"Four-fifths is already impressive. This is the Hundred Years Quest, after all."

Meanwhile, Cana, Levy, and Bisca had gathered around Lucy and Erza, asking for stories about everything that had happened during the mission.

"One of our opponents had this alchemy called Bond Alchemy," Erza explained. "Mira and I were switched because of something called Rival Bond, but I had no idea how to use Take Over Magic..."

Her expression became slightly awkward as she reached that part.

Mira merely smiled with narrowed eyes.

"I didn't really know how to use Requip—The Knight either. Fortunately, Erza was already wearing the Heaven's Wheel Armor when we were switched, so I at least had something to start with."

Cana raised an eyebrow.

"Bond Alchemy? That actually sounds pretty interesting."

"What else happened? What else?" Levy eagerly asked Lucy.

Lucy immediately launched into her own story.

"I got swapped with Brandish! Then I made myself enormous and flattened the enemy with one punch!"

She very shamelessly omitted the parts where she had fallen over immediately after becoming gigantic and had been too afraid of heights to stand back up.

"Lucy also turned into me!" Happy added proudly, planting his paws on his hips while his tail swished behind him. "She used my amazing speed to beat the bad guys!"

"But I heard it happened because you were the wea—"

Carla stopped herself just in time.

Happy had only been told the heavily edited version that Wendy and Lucy had carefully prepared for him.

Lucy had repeatedly insisted that the truth could never reach Happy's ears, or he would torment her about it for the rest of her life.

Panther Lily glanced toward Carla.

"The wea-what?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all!"

Carla shook her head frantically.

Elsewhere, Natsu had already recovered and was now bragging to Gildarts about their progress on the Hundred Years Quest.

He repeatedly slapped Gildarts on the shoulder, making it nearly impossible for the man to drink in peace.

"Hahaha! Gildarts, what happened to all that stuff you said about how terrifying the Hundred Years Quest was?"

"We're almost done! There's only one Dragon God left!"

Each slap made Gildarts's teeth knock against the rim of his mug.

He sighed helplessly.

'That was just something I said to scare you! Can you let me drink in peace?!'

"Which one is left?" Gildarts asked, finally showing some interest.

"Ignia. You know anything about where he is?"

Gildarts shook his head without hesitation.

"Him? No. When I attempted the Hundred Years Quest, I couldn't find any trace of him either. I even visited his City of the Fire God."

Natsu stared at him.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US THAT EARLIER?!"

"Do your own damn quest, idiot!"