Chapter 546 - 546: Sonya

Gray, whose nerves were still on edge after the surprise attack, also noticed someone hiding in the distant bushes.

He moved instantly.

"Eek—!"

A startled girl's scream rang through the forest.

A moment later, Gray returned carrying a chestnut-haired girl dressed in pale yellow by the back of her clothes.

Erza studied her outfit and frowned.

"You're from Stella?"

The girl timidly nodded.

"My name is Sonya…"

She lifted her head and quickly looked over everyone present.

Her gaze lingered on Dragon Cry in Ankh's hand for several seconds before she suddenly bowed deeply.

"I'm sorry!"

"Animus-sama has done terrible things to your country!"

Sonya forced herself to speak loudly despite her obvious fear.

No one responded.

Gray folded his arms.

"Who's Animus?"

Sonya lowered her head again.

"His Majesty, the King of Stella."

"The king…"

Erza looked at the frightened girl more carefully.

"Then are you one of his close attendants? Or perhaps his consort?"

Sonya fidgeted with the hem of her clothes and refused to answer.

After a moment, she raised her head again and looked directly at Ankh.

"I can help you infiltrate Altair again tomorrow."

Her voice gained a little more courage.

"I can help you rescue your companions."

Gray gave a humorless laugh.

"And why exactly should we believe this isn't a trap?"

"It isn't!"

Sonya blurted out.

The sudden force of her own voice seemed to frighten her, because she immediately shrank back again.

"I just… wanted to ask something in return."

She hesitated.

"Afterward, could you please let Animus-sama borrow Dragon Cry?"

Gray stared at her.

"…What?"

He was already furious after Natsu and Happy had been abducted.

Now his voice became openly dangerous.

"You've got some nerve asking us that."

Erza's expression wasn't much friendlier.

"Animus sheltered Zash, cooperated with the Black Magic Cult, and intended to use Dragon Cry for something that could endanger countless people."

"Why would we cooperate with him?"

Then her eyes sharpened.

"And another thing."

"How did you find us here?"

Sonya twisted the edge of her clothing between her fingers.

"I can feel Dragon Cry's sadness…"

"That's how I followed it."

Erza and Gray's expressions hardened immediately.

"Then you're connected to them after all."

They reached the same conclusion at once.

Both stood and took Sonya by the arms, apparently ready to remove her from the camp entirely.

Sonya panicked.

"Please, wait!"

"Animus-sama didn't ask Zash to bring back Dragon Cry because he wanted to do something terrible!"

"He was trying to save Stella!"

Erza and Gray stopped.

Both looked at her.

Seeing that she finally had their attention, Sonya hurriedly explained.

"You all know about Stellarium, right? Stella's most important natural resource?"

Silence.

Sonya awkwardly waited.

Ankh didn't even look at her.

Lucy was still emotionally shaken by Brandish's accusation.

Erza and Gray were too irritated over Natsu and Happy's capture to care much about a geography lesson.

Only Wendy and Carla were actually listening attentively.

Sonya forced herself onward.

"Stellarium isn't just something we mine."

"It forms the foundation beneath almost the entire Kingdom of Stella."

"For more than a thousand years, it has continuously absorbed Magic Power from starlight."

Her expression grew increasingly distressed.

"Just imagine how much power has accumulated inside it after all that time…"

She looked toward Dragon Cry.

"That's why Animus-sama needs the staff."

"If that enormous amount of Stellarium ever becomes unstable and releases all its stored Magic Power at once…"

Her voice trembled.

"The explosion would destroy the entire Kingdom of Stella."

Everyone's expressions shifted slightly.

"So please!"

Sonya suddenly raised her voice.

"Animus-sama needs Dragon Cry because it can absorb the Magic Power stored inside the Stellarium!"

"If we can use it just once, we can prevent the disaster and protect everyone living here!"

She bowed as deeply as she could.

Tears began falling from her face.

"I'm begging you!"

"Please, just once!"

"Let us use Dragon Cry to save our country!"

Erza and Gray fell silent.

Neither immediately knew how to respond.

Wendy looked at the desperate girl with obvious sympathy.

Carla, however, continued staring at Sonya suspiciously.

She was just about to warn Wendy not to let pity cloud her judgment when an indifferent voice cut through the silence.

"So?"

Everyone froze.

Even Sonya's tears seemed to stop for a second.

They all turned toward Ankh.

He was still sitting on the tree stump, his expression completely emotionless.

"What does any of that have to do with me?"

Sonya stared at him.

"If Stella is facing destruction, go ask the Magic Council for help."

Ankh's voice remained cold.

"Why are you coming to us?"

Sonya bit her lip hard.

She fought desperately to hold back her tears, but she still couldn't bring herself to raise her head.

"Or are you telling me that when Stella discovered it was facing an existential crisis…"

Ankh continued,

"your first thought wasn't to ask the Magic Council for help."

"It was to go into Fiore and start killing people?"

Sonya trembled.

Ankh's eyes sharpened.

Then his voice suddenly rose.

"You helped Zash search for Dragon Cry in Fiore, didn't you?!"

Sonya said nothing.

She didn't need to.

Her silence answered the question.

Ankh gave a cold laugh.

"That's incredible."

"To save the people of Stella, you crossed into Fiore, interfered with our internal affairs, broke a convicted criminal out of prison, worked with a monster who had already committed countless atrocities…"

His expression grew colder with every word.

"…then massacred an entire White Tiger unit and stole one of Fiore's national treasures."

Ankh stood.

He slowly walked over until he was directly in front of Sonya, then leaned down to meet her tear-filled eyes.

"You knew what Zash was like, didn't you?"

His tone was almost conversational now, which somehow made it harsher.

"You knew what he had done."

"You knew about the girls imprisoned in his dungeon."

Sonya's face went pale.

"You saw them, didn't you?"

Her eyes filled with shame.

She bit her lip so hard that blood nearly appeared.

Ankh straightened.

"So the lives of Stella's people are worth that much to you?"

His voice held nothing but contempt.

"And everyone outside Stella is disposable?"

Sonya couldn't answer.

Ankh walked past her.

"Fine."

"If that's how your country chose to treat everyone else, then I'll return the courtesy."

He looked back once.

"Stella can solve its own problem."

"Or die with it."

Then he picked up his belongings.

"We're leaving."

Erza and Gray looked at Sonya one last time.

Both sighed, but neither objected.

Wendy also glanced back with sympathy.

Even so, she followed without hesitation.

Whatever tragedy Stella was facing, the people responsible for this plan had made their choice the moment they decided innocent Fioreans were acceptable sacrifices.

The group left Sonya behind and followed Ankh through the forest.

Erza watched him quietly for a while.

Eventually, she reached over and took his hand.

Ankh looked at her.

Then he smiled.

"Relax."

"I'm not actually furious at that girl."

Erza raised an eyebrow.

Ankh sighed.

"She's just painfully naive."

Kind-hearted, sheltered, short-sighted, and convinced that good intentions excused terrible decisions.

Worse, she had enough influence to actually affect events.

That combination was exactly what turned misguided compassion into hypocrisy.

Ankh's gaze shifted toward an exposed vein of Stellarium running through the nearby mountainside.

"And she apparently never bothered verifying what she was told."

His eyes narrowed.

"This amount of Magic Power would have trouble even blowing apart the surface layer of the mountain."

"Destroy the entire kingdom?"

He scoffed.

"Not even close."

Erza looked genuinely surprised.

"Animus lied to her?"

"Who knows."

Ankh looked toward the distant lights of Altair.

"At the moment, I don't care."

His expression sharpened.

"We have a troublesome idiot to rescue first."

---------

Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.

patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator