Shane had been curious about this for quite a while.
Given their personalities, the two of them should not have caused a public falling-out in the guild.
"Mm… it actually has something to do with why I came to find you tonight."
Ultear's fingertips were still lightly tracing across his palm.
She liked seeing Shane with that slightly tense, inquisitive expression.
Still, though part of her wanted to keep chatting like this a little longer, since he had brought up serious business himself, she followed the topic.
"What connection?" Shane's thoughts turned, and he guessed a bit of it. "Don't tell me it was to deal with the Council?"
"You guessed correctly." Ultear lifted her eyelids slightly, her gaze flowing.
"Although the reason sounds a little unpresentable, my current position is still that of a Magic Council member."
"At least on the surface, I can't appear too close to Erza, a Wizard Saint from Fairy Tail who's been in the spotlight."
Using that little act, she had indeed more or less dispelled some people's wariness toward Fairy Tail inside the Council.
"So that's it…" Shane understood at once, then asked, "But what does that have to do with you rushing over tonight?"
"During the four years you were asleep, Hades certainly wasn't idle. They have continued searching madly in the shadows for all kinds of so-called 'keys,' trying to awaken and release the true Zeref."
"Don't tell me…" Shane frowned.
"Mm." Ultear nodded. "Jellal and I have been secretly investigating and sabotaging their movements these past few years."
"The latest intelligence says they plan to encircle an entire city and use the lives of everyone inside to forge a new key."
"Hades has gone completely insane." Shane let out a cold laugh.
"He really doesn't understand the black wizard he's been thinking about day and night at all…"
The lonely figure surfaced in his mind.
Although he hadn't had much contact with Zeref, Shane knew that Zeref carried the curse of contradiction: the more he loved life, the more life he would take.
Someone who loved life that deeply, if faced with such a malicious city-wide sacrifice, would not awaken to anything. He would only feel endless disgust.
"Mm. A meaningless act of stupidity. So, it has to be stopped," Ultear said softly in agreement.
Hearing that, Shane turned his head and looked at the woman beside him in surprise.
"You really have become a lot more honest now."
"If this were the old you, even if you wanted to do something good, you would've twisted your brain into knots coming up with a bunch of awkward excuses."
Faced with that teasing, Ultear merely moved her gaze away blandly.
"I simply feel physically and mentally delighted when I imagine Hades' carefully arranged plans being destroyed by my own hands, and the look of rage and frustration on his face."
"…"
Shane silently swallowed back the praise he had been about to give.
This woman's personality really was still as nasty and twisted as ever.
Still, while grumbling inwardly, Shane also felt a trace of doubt.
"Speaking of which… do you hate Hades that much?"
He remembered that back when she was still in Grimoire Heart, Ultear had never exactly respected the old man, but she had never shown this bone-deep hostility toward him either.
After all, Hades had taught her the Lost Magic, Arc of Time.
At the question, Ultear's gaze flickered almost imperceptibly.
Of course, she couldn't honestly admit that the reason she was so obsessively settling accounts was because she had blamed Hades entirely for Shane being forced to sleep.
If she said that out loud, this man, who was so good at climbing up any pole handed to him, would definitely get carried away.
For someone as deeply insecure as her, exposing an emotional weakness like that was the same as giving away her initiative.
So she replied in a perfectly reasonable, flat tone, "You know me. I've always been someone who holds grudges."
"Have you?" Shane wasn't fooled. "Since when were you that kind of person?"
Ultear's personality was something he had personally watched crawl out of the darkness little by little and improve.
Although she occasionally still had a few twisted, malicious little hobbies, she definitely wasn't the kind of person who would obsess to the end for no reason.
Seeing that he still wanted to dig deeper, Ultear's heart jumped. She simply reached out with both hands, forcibly turned his head straight, and made him look directly at her.
"In any case, because of the sabotage I carried out several times before, Grimoire Heart is now paying very close attention to my movements."
She quickly changed the subject.
Sure enough, Shane's attention was pulled away. He muttered a little childishly, "I thought you came here specially to see me. I was even happy for a moment."
"That is naturally an important reason too," Ultear answered without the slightest hesitation.
"…"
Shane had never been good at dealing with this woman's direct shots.
He avoided her calm gaze and coughed dryly.
"Perfect timing, then. I also have plenty to settle with Hades. When are we leaving? Now, or tomorrow morning?"
"No need to rush."
Looking at his awkward expression, Ultear smiled faintly and drew her hands back. Her fingertips naturally smoothed the wrinkles on his collar as she teased him.
"The informant still hasn't sent word on which city it is. Besides, from what I saw outside today, you worked quite 'hard.' Since you've only just come back, rest properly first."
Hearing that, Shane instinctively checked over his own body.
He had spent the whole day rushing around Edolas, dragonized, and repeatedly released Arondight.
When his nerves had been tense earlier, he hadn't felt it much. Now that he had settled down in the warm living room, fatigue began surging up from the cracks between his bones like a tide.
He yawned, nodded in deep agreement, and stood up with his hands braced on his knees.
In this state, he didn't even feel like soaking in the hot spring out back.
"Then I'll go back to my room and sleep first."
Ultear also stood up and followed closely behind him.
The wooden floor gave off faint, dull sounds.
Shane dragged his feet to the bedroom door. Just as he grabbed the handle, he realized the footsteps behind him hadn't stopped. He turned back helplessly.
"I'm going to sleep. What else is it?"
Ultear crossed her arms and leaned against the corridor wall, looking at him expressionlessly.
"I don't have anywhere to rest."
"Erza has always kept your room clean. The bedding is new too."
Shane pointed back, speechless. "To keep that room for you, she even built Kagura a little attic. You didn't know?"
"Tch…"
An extremely soft click of the tongue sounded in the quiet hallway.
Shane blinked and looked at the still cold-faced woman, deciding to treat it as an auditory hallucination born of exhaustion.
He yawned again, slipped into his room, and with a backward movement blocked the woman who was trying to follow him in.
Click.
The door shut tight. The corridor's wall lamp stretched Ultear's shadow long.
"That Erza… at times like this, she's far too considerate."
Ultear stood outside the door, lightly tapping her elbow with her fingertips, a rare irritation rising in her heart.
Although she had acted completely calm about Mira's little move in the living room, there was no denying that it had reminded her of something.
She had to admit that although Shane was full of flaws, lazy, and infuriating—
he really did possess a charm that attracted outstanding women before they even realized it.
As someone used to keeping everything within her control, even in romance, she could not allow such a sense of crisis to exist.
Therefore, if she wanted to sit firmly on the high seat of this romantic game, she needed a method that settled things once and for all.
Ultear lowered her eyes, her thick lashes casting faint shadows under them.
According to her research, the male psyche was actually extremely simple.
No matter what kind of personality they showed on the surface, they tended to show exceptional tolerance and a lasting attachment toward the person who took their "first time."
She had originally calculated that with Shane's troublesome personality, as long as she pushed things along and acted slightly more forcefully tonight, their progress would completely pull far ahead.
She had calculated everything—
except that before the plan could even be implemented, she had been preemptively sniped by Erza, who wasn't even present.