"Droopy-eyes! You look like you're doing pretty well; you're not all limp like you were back at the guild!"
Natsu, who was in the middle of a feasting frenzy, spoke with a mouth full of food: "Squint-eyes, you looking for a beating?"
"Oh? It's not certain who's going to be doing the beating!" Gray instantly stripped off his clothes and lunged toward Natsu's side to bicker.
Neither used magic; they just scuffled like that.
After ten years, they were used to it. If they didn't have a fight upon meeting, their whole bodies felt out of sorts.
Once they had fought enough, the two lay on the ground together, neither willing to move.
"Lucy's perverted bull doesn't have the ability to hunt this many magical beasts and animals. How long have you been nearby?"
Taurus was a Zodiac Celestial Spirit, and his strength was undoubtedly great, but because he was limited by Lucy's magic power, he couldn't display his full potential. With her current abilities, taking down this many animals and beasts was clearly unrealistic.
"I just arrived too. I don't know what happened, but I get the feeling it's nothing good!" Gray answered softly.
"Grumble!" The sound of an empty stomach rang out, and Natsu immediately flipped over, grabbing the roasted food and feasting recklessly again.
"Not thinking about that much. Filling my stomach is what matters!"
After three full hours of a feeding frenzy, Natsu finally felt his body recover a little.
Gray, standing aside, was left completely speechless by that gluttonous display. Natsu's appetite had always been far beyond a normal person's, but it had never reached this level before. He couldn't understand where all that food was going.
"This is too abnormal. When we get back, I definitely have to ask Grandma Porlyusica to give Natsu a check-up."
"Sniff, sniff!" Natsu's nose twitched forcefully as a strange scent entered his nasal cavity.
"Where's Happy?" Gray asked with a hint of confusion.
"Crap!" Natsu cried out. Flames erupted from beneath his feet, and he launched himself like a cannonball.
He hadn't flown far before he saw Happy tied to a rack, eyes full of tears, waiting to be roasted.
Anger shot straight to Natsu's head, and his cheeks puffed out. Scales instantly covered his hands and feet.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
A violent torrent of fire surged down. Aside from Happy, who was not touched by the flames, everything within a one-kilometer radius was engulfed in fire.
Those few small fry from the Eisenwald guild didn't even have a chance to scream before they were turned to ash.
Gray, who had followed, watched the scene as cold sweat slid down his cheeks.
"No way! A casual Roar reached this kind of scale?"
"Natsu is even more dangerous now."
"I can't produce a Roar of this magnitude."
"Damn it! I need to work harder. I clearly can't tank a Roar like that from Natsu."
"Natsu!!" The moment his ropes were untied, Happy dove into Natsu's arms and wept loudly.
"Sorry! I overlooked you." Holding Happy tightly, Natsu spoke softly.
"I'm never leaving you again!" Happy wailed.
Looking at the people who had just been turned to ash by his fire, Natsu's expression suddenly turned cold.
"Eisenwald... I didn't plan on bothering with them, but since they dared to target Happy, they can wait to be burned to the ground!"
As for why so many magical beasts and animals had died, Natsu understood.
Lullaby!
The demon created by Zeref.
It was currently a flute; as long as the flute was played, any animal that heard the sound would die. Eisenwald was experimenting to see if the flute truly had that power.
Gray searched around for a bit and picked up Lucy, who had been knocked unconscious on the ground.
"Natsu! You didn't even know your 'closest person' was knocked out on the floor?"
Happy and Natsu stared at each other and cried out simultaneously: "Ah!! We forgot Lucy again."
Lucy, having been woken up by Gray, gnashed her teeth as she looked at the person and cat who showed zero remorse.
"You! You two detestable guys forgot me again! This matter..."
Natsu said solemnly: "Lucy! Something very important is happening!"
After waiting so long, she didn't get a single word of apology, but instead, this obvious attempt to distract her with some nonsense.
Lucy exploded instantly: "You forgot me last time, and you forgot me again this time."
"Natsu!!!"
"What happened to 'closest person'?"
"What happened to 'team partners'?"
Natsu's expression remained unchanged as he said deeply: "Lullaby! A demon created by Zeref!"
"Eh?" Lucy silenced herself in a second, her dissatisfaction having been vented just now.
"Natsu! You know about this?" Gray asked hurriedly.
Seeing Lucy quiet down, Natsu and Happy exchanged a glance. Happy quietly gave Natsu a thumb's up.
If Natsu hadn't brought this up to shift Lucy's attention, the two of them really wouldn't have known how to face her. After all, forgetting Lucy wasn't a first-time occurrence.
"I accidentally heard the Master mention Zeref's demons. The current situation is exactly the same as when Lullaby appears."
"Eisenwald is experimenting with Lullaby's effects. They might make a move soon; we have to be careful."
He just made up an excuse to fool them. It was one thing if Eisenwald didn't seek trouble with him, but their members actually put Happy on a roasting rack.
The price they would pay wouldn't just be those few small fry!!