Chapter 372: Magic and the Wet Skin

Finn thought he could finally take it easy for a moment, but the second Lahar and Doranbolt—whose real name was Mest—walked into his office, he knew an exhausting headache was about to begin. Naturally, the source of their panic was none other than the Magic Council’s most wanted fugitive: Jellal Fernandes.

Like Finn, Jellal had once manipulated his way to the absolute top of the Magic Council. But Jellal had used his political authority to try and resurrect the legendary Dark Mage, Zeref—a catastrophic plan that ultimately failed thanks to Fairy Tail.

Personally, Finn couldn’t care less about Jellal right now. To him, the blue-haired fugitive was practically harmless. Jellal was just a guilt-ridden vigilante trying to atone for his sins by forming an independent guild to hunt down actual Dark Guilds. Let the dog hunt the rats, Finn figured.

The rest of the world, however, didn’t share his pragmatic view. With the Grand Magic Games approaching, Lahar and Mest were terrified that Jellal would make a public appearance. The fugitive had been spotted within the Fiore Kingdom, prompting the two Council dogs to come begging for Finn’s supreme authority to handle the situation. Finn, highly annoyed, couldn’t help but bluntly call them useless to their faces.

"Calm down," Lahar hissed, throwing an arm out to stop Mest, who looked ready to snap at the insult.

Finn simply ignored the seething spy. Instead, his dark eyes calmly scanned Mest while his internal Manager rapidly analyzed, dissected, and perfectly replicated the man’s magical signatures.

Teleportation Magic and Memory Magic.

Those were Mest’s two defining spells. The Teleportation Magic was straightforward, allowing the user to blink from one location to another. It was undeniably useful, though Mest’s biological limits restricted the distance he could travel.

The Memory Magic, however, was the truly troublesome variable. The ability to alter, erase, or fabricate the memories of others was a terrifying tool. Fortunately, the fundamental laws of Earth Land still applied: magic was just magic. If a caster’s raw Magic Power was significantly lower than their target’s, overriding their mind was virtually impossible.

Given Mest’s painfully mediocre talent, Finn knew the spy couldn’t even dream of affecting his mind.

"Do you know something?" Finn asked, leaning back in his lavish leather chair and steepling his fingers. "I have worked myself to the bone for the past seven years without taking a single, uninterrupted vacation. And now, you suddenly march into my office to tell me a highly dangerous criminal is hiding somewhere in this massive kingdom, and you want me to handle it for you?"

"...Yes, Sir."

"Do I look like a man with a lot of free time to you?"

"...." Lahar and Mest remained silent.

"Do I look like a man who wants to personally scour the entire continent to catch a ghost you completely lost track of?"

"...."

"Furthermore," Finn’s voice dropped into a freezing, suffocatingly dark tone. "Do I look like a man who takes orders from you?"

Finn kept talking, his words dripping with absolute condescension. His eyes were cold and predatory, like an owl watching a pair of trembling field mice. To his credit, Mest managed to keep his volatile emotions in check, biting his tongue before he said something suicidal.

"But I will give credit where it’s due. You two did a decent job detecting his trail," Finn admitted smoothly. He already knew exactly where Jellal was, but he had zero intention of arresting him; the vigilante was still highly useful as a free pawn on the board.

"I will authorize the deployment of my Rune Knights to assist your search. Try to catch him. Or, at the very least, do not cause a massive, embarrassing public scene before the Grand Magic Games are over." Finn leaned forward, his glare pinning them to the floor. "Can I entrust you two with that simple task?"

"Yes, Sir!" they answered in unison, their posture stiff.

"The responsibility of this mess falls entirely on your shoulders. Get out of my sight."

Dismissed like insignificant servants, Mest and Lahar quickly left the office. The moment the heavy mahogany doors clicked shut, Mest exhaled a shaky breath.

"...Did he just dump the entire responsibility of this disaster onto us?" Mest asked, utterly speechless.

"Yes..." Lahar sighed heavily, adjusting his glasses. He shot Mest a deeply irritated look. "I thought you were going to use that passionate hatred of yours to stand up to him? Why did you completely cower when we got inside?"

"Well..." Mest looked away, a deeply awkward expression crossing his face.

If Mest was being brutally honest with himself, the only reason he had managed to infiltrate the elite Rune Knights was through cowardice, trickery, and aggressively kissing up to the higher-ups. His actual combat abilities were thoroughly mediocre. Aside from running away with Teleportation, what use was he in a direct fight?

Finn Hoen, on the other hand, was an absolute titan. Even if Finn had zero magic, his political cunning alone was terrifying. Without Finn’s iron grip, the entire Fiore Branch would collapse into pure chaos.

"I only brought you in there so you could help me stop him from dumping the entire workload on us," Lahar complained.

"...Is that the only reason you brought me? To use me as a meat shield?!" Mest balked.

"..." Lahar looked away, slightly embarrassed. "Let’s just go. We have a mountain of work to do. At the very least, with his official authorization, we can stay at his premium Council hotels for free and exploit his luxury facilities."

"Well... I guess that’s something," Mest sighed, shifting his mindset.

Working under a corrupt tyrant like Finn was immensely stressful, but the perks were undeniably premium. Finn’s subordinates were absurdly wealthy and enjoyed lavish accommodations. Instead of camping in the dirty wilderness during a manhunt, they were given five-star suites and unlimited stipends.

Back in his office, Finn had already completely forgotten about the two men. His absolute focus was directed far away, projected through the golden eyes of a falcon circling high above a pristine, secluded beach.

It was the exact beach where Lucy and the rest of the Fairy Tail crew had set up their "training camp"—which, currently, looked a lot more like a tropical holiday.

"Lucy Heartfilia..."

Finn watched the blonde mage from his bird’s-eye view. He quickly spotted Natsu, Erza, Gray, Wendy, and Levy mingling on the white sand. There were others, but they were practically irrelevant to the plot, so he didn’t bother focusing on them.

As he observed them, the Manager silently recorded, analyzed, and synthesized every shred of magic they displayed, rapidly expanding his omnipotent arsenal. Raw magical capacity and physical prowess were the true keys to ultimate power, but having a massive utility belt of unique spells made adapting to any situation effortless.

However, Finn’s predatory focus quickly shifted away from their magic.

As the falcon’s enhanced vision zoomed in, Finn’s eyes locked onto Lucy’s bouncing, scarcely contained breasts. Watching the heavy, hypnotic sway of her massive, spilling cleavage as she ran across the wet sand in a tiny bikini, he completely understood why the universe seemed to revolve around her. She was an absolute visual masterpiece.

But Erza isn’t bad either...

Finn shifted his gaze to the redhead. Erza Scarlet was in a league of her own. Her mature, voluptuous curves glistened with sweat and seawater under the hot sun. Her thick, athletic thighs and plush, commanding chest were a deeply arousing sight.

Finn took a slow, heavy breath, leaning back in his chair as a familiar, throbbing heat rapidly pooled in his groin. Staring at their wet, half-naked bodies was doing terrible things to his self-control.

He desperately hoped Bisca would swallow her pride and come to his bed tonight. If she didn’t show up to help share the burden of his ravenous, enhanced stamina, the desperately obedient Flare might actually die from sheer, lewd exhaustion.

Pushing his dark desires aside for a moment, Finn commanded his falcon to scan the perimeter of the beach. Deep in the nearby cliffs, he spotted exactly what he was looking for: a small, cloaked group silently observing Fairy Tail from the shadows.

Crime Sorciere.

Finn shook his head with a dark, knowing smirk. He severed the connection to the bird, perfectly content to sit back in his throne and wait for the exact right moment to step in and violently reap all the sweet, ripe fruits he had been cultivating.