The next morning, a white-haired couple slept soundly on the huge bed, which seemed spacious enough for people to move around freely.
At exactly 5 a.m., the man named Shun woke up.
He glanced down and saw Sorano still sleeping on his chest. Memories of the previous night came back to him.
After carrying Sorano to the bed, he had quickly shut the door.
'I guess I'm not completely shameless after all.'
While gently playing with Sorano's hair, Shun mentally planned his day.
'Hmm, pay a visit to the king of this country, return to Earthland, then finally kidnap some children in the One Piece world… That should be enough for today. Time to get up.'
Shun tried to sit up, but he met unexpected resistance.
"Huh? Sorano, are you awake? I need to get up and cook breakfast," he said, gently shaking her.
But Sorano was only pretending to be asleep. She hugged his arm even tighter.
"…"
"Uhm, I really gotta cook."
"No~ I'm fine without food this morning," Sorano replied in a coy voice.
"All right then, let's stay like this for a while." Shun settled back down and pulled the covers over them again.
"Thanks~" Sorano answered with a blissful smile.
"By the way, Sorano, how many keys do you have?"
"Keys? Oh, you mean celestial keys… About ten, I think. Four golden zodiac keys, and the rest are silver." Sorano finally opened her eyes fully and answered.
"Huh? You have golden keys now?" Shun sounded a little surprised.
"Yes. When the guild got attacked by Phantom Lord, I was away on a quest. That's where I met this dumb green-haired girl…" Sorano began recounting her mission.
'So she was actually on a real mission instead of one of Jose's fake ones,' Shun realized.
"So what happened to that girl?"
"She had four keys, but one of them didn't seem to work. It was Leo, the Lion. She picked a fight with me. Even after using Scorpio and Aries, she couldn't win. Then she recklessly tried to summon two spirits at once with her pathetic amount of magic power. I could see she was about to self-destruct, so I knocked her out and took her golden keys as payment for saving her life." Sorano summed up the story.
"…"
'Her villainess side showed a little… but overall she's changed a lot. In the original story she killed that Karen girl, but this time she saved her. I guess my influence helped.' Shun smiled to himself and patted Sorano's head.
"That was really kind of you."
"Yes… but she might complain to the Magic Council," Sorano said, her voice softening.
"Don't worry about that. I have the most connections in Fiore," Shun replied casually, bragging a bit about how easily he could bribe or blackmail the council members.
"So why did you ask all of a sudden?"
"Ah, I was just interested in celestial magic. Can you teach me?"
"Of course!"
Still in their honeymoon phase, Sorano answered eagerly and began explaining.
Apparently there had to be a contract between the user and the spirit to use celestial magic. The strength of the celestial spirits depended on the summoner's magic power. So even a silver key user could defeat a golden key user if their magic was stronger, just like how Sorano had overwhelmed Karen.
While she taught him about celestial spirit magic, Sorano started getting a bit touchy. Before long the two ended up in another round of "fighting" that lasted until noon.
When they finally left the room, the house was already empty.
They ate a light breakfast, then headed out toward the Fairy Tail guild.
Creaak—
"You two finally came out of that room, huh? But we don't have time for that. Let's get out of here quickly." Edo-Lucy and Levy looked panicked about something.
"Huh? Did something happen?" Shun asked.
When he asked, the girls around them couldn't help but avoid eye contact.
"The royal army is getting closer. Erza Knightwalker is leading them!" Edo-Levy explained.
"Erza? And why would the royal army be chasing you guys?" Sorano asked, clearly confused.
"We weren't trying to hide it, but… we're actually a dark guild."
"…"
The Earthland squad didn't know what to say. With the sole exception of Shun, of course.
"Hmm, I thought our guild was pretty wild since we destroy cities and landscapes on missions all the time… but you guys are even more unhinged."
"…"
"No wonder Lucy and Levy always acted like local bullies." Shun nodded repeatedly, as if everything finally made sense.
"Well… those two were always like that even before we became a dark guild…" Edo-Mira explained with an awkward smile.
"Now isn't the time for that! Let's get out of here!" Levy said. She started pressing a bunch of strange magic tools, and the entire guild building began to move.
"All right, you guys handle that. It's about time we returned to our world." Shun turned to the prince of Edolas.
"Mystogan, lead us to the royal palace. We'll give the king of this place our judgment for stealing from our world, then head back to Fairy Tail."
Before anyone could respond, Shun added,
"This is an order from the guild master."
"Okay." Mystogan looked like he wanted to say something, but now clearly wasn't the right moment.
Seeing the Earthland squad leave their guild, the members who had only spent a day with them couldn't help feeling a little sad.
"Don't make faces like that. If you want, you can visit our guild next time. I'll probably come back in a week or two anyway," Shun said with a small smile.
"My magic lets me teleport freely to any place I've been before."
When he added that, their expressions brightened.
"Then it's a promise!"
"Treat us to barbecue again!"
"Okay."
"Lisanna…"
"Mira-nee…"
Lots of different people were saying their goodbyes.
"Juvia, be strong."
"Yes."
The two Juvias had become best friends.
Except for Natsu, who was probably off driving his car somewhere, everyone else was present.
Seeing all the tearful faces, Shun decided to give them a small gift.
He pulled out several bags stamped with the SHFC name and logo, emergency food he had stored in his storage ring using his own recipes.
"I didn't cook these myself, but they're my recipes. Try them." Shun handed the responsibility to Mira and finally parted with the Edolas Fairy Tail.
"…"
"We only spent half a day with them, but it feels a bit lonely…" Cana muttered.
"Mm." Lisanna nodded quietly.
"Well, there's no point feeling sad when we can visit anytime. Just give me a call and pay a small price, I'll bring you here."
"Huh? Price?" Cana asked suspiciously.
"It could be anything, as long as it shows your feelings," Shun said with a shrug.
"Oh? Someone decently strong is coming."
As soon as Shun spoke, a woman with red hair and a fierce expression appeared, riding a flying blue beast.
"Where are the fairies?"
"That is…? Erza?!" Mira reacted the fastest.
"Mira, go fight her." Shun gave the order.
Mira looked surprised but soon nodded excitedly.
To his surprise, Mira was a bit stronger than Erza in every aspect of fighting: instinct, fighting sense, magic control, everything. They were like Zoro and Sanji. While they might seem equal as rivals, Zoro was always stronger.
Sure enough, after about half an hour of fighting, Erza Knightwalker was defeated.
"Captain!!"
When Erza fell, a group of soldiers in similar uniforms appeared.
"Tie her up, then let's get going," Shun said, ignoring the soldiers.
"Stop right there! Who are you people?!"
The Earthland squad completely ignored them.
"…"
"Mira-nee, aren't you a bit too excited…?" Lisanna commented awkwardly as she watched Mira tie up Erza and carry her over the shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Hehe~" was all Mira said, grinning widely.
POP—! POP—!
"Aghh—!"
"What's happening?!"
"R-Run—!!"
Meanwhile the poor soldiers were being erased from existence, or at least that's how it looked to anyone who didn't understand Shun's magic.
An hour later the squad arrived in front of the kingdom that ruled the entire Edolas world. Apart from the Exceeds, they were the highest authority here.
"Hey, Mystogan," Shun suddenly called.
"?"
When Mystogan turned, Shun continued,
"I think for the crime of theft, the king of this country deserves the death penalty. What do you think?" The casual question surprised the small squad so much that even the sleeping Erza woke up.
"I… don't know."
Mystogan's answer surprised them again.
"I see."
With that the small talk ended.
"Who are you people?!"
"Don't resist and get arrested!!"
"Turn around, face away from me! Put your hands behind your back!"
"…"
When they approached the royal palace inside the paw bubble, a bunch of outrageous demands were shouted at them.
"Bring your king here. Tell him the representative from Earthland, the world you've been stealing from, is here to settle the score."
Shun's words were blunt and direct, but the surrounding soldiers didn't like them.
"Don't speak nonsense—"
"Who do you think—"
POP—! POP—!
Anyone who spoke rudely disappeared.
"…"
"It's a frightening sight as always…" Cana muttered, watching people vanish one after another.
"Hmph, they deserved it." Juvia and Sorano fully believed in Shun's judgment.
The royal palace, once full of soldiers, was now down to the last dozen or so.
"Bring him here," Shun told the final soldier, who stayed not out of courage but pure fear.
"Y-Yes!!"
The poor soldier ran off in panic.
Surprisingly he didn't flee for his life. He actually brought King Faust to Shun's location.
"Who are you people and what do you want?" King Faust demanded.
"You probably heard from the soldier. I won't bother with introductions again."
King Faust was clearly frustrated and furious. Then he noticed a familiar face among the attackers.
"Jellal! So it's you who brought them?!"
"His Highness is back?!"
Some muscular cat and a few others started making noise in the background.
"…"
"No, I forced him to lead the way," Shun interrupted.
"Anyway, enough about that. It's time to pass judgment on the thief who has been stealing from us for years."
"That's because our world is running out of magic…"
"Do you think that justifies your actions? Every thief steals because they need something."
Shun and King Faust began to argue.
Meanwhile the rest of the Earthland squad watched quietly.
"…"
"Is it just me, or does King Faust's voice sound familiar?" Mira asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Now that you mention it, there's no rule that parallel versions of people have to be exactly the same…"
"Could it be… the reason Shun was so enthusiastic about punishing the thief was because he knew?!" The squad felt chills.
"I heard the third guild master and Shun had a beef going on, but this is…" Even Mystogan was speechless.
"His pettiness crosses dimensions!!"
"All right, all right. If you had foolishly tried to fight me, I was planning to 'accidentally' injure you while barely leaving you alive. But since you at least had the brains not to do that, your punishment is reduced to excommunication! The destination is Earthland, the very place you love stealing from. The next king will be Jellal!"
"…"
"Wait—"
"No."
POP—!
Just like that, the fate of the kingdom that ruled all of Edolas was decided.
"Is there anyone who opposes my decision?" Shun asked.
When he looked around, he saw many people with unique appearances: a muscular cat, an old man with weird hair, one okama guy, a girl who resembled a bunny, and finally a normal-looking guy.
"You there, old man with weird hair. Seems like you have a problem?" Shun picked out the one giving him a bad stare.
"!"
"N-No, this is just how my face looks normally…" the old man named Byro answered with an awkward smile.
"I see." Shun nodded, then turned to Mystogan.
"Take care of things here. We're going back." He looked at the others.
"Let her go. It's time to return," Shun told Mira, who was still carrying the tied-up Erza.
'I had plans for her, but never mind, not today.'
"Yes." Mira agreed without issue.
POP—! POP—! POP—!
Before Mystogan could start any drama about not being worthy to be king or whatever, Shun decided to leave.
10 Days left until Shun and 'Rayleigh's' book launch party.