Chapter 546 - 546: Searching for the First Master's Child? What's Your Plan?

Noah released his grip on the throttle lever, allowing the massive airship to glide on its forward momentum.

His feet gently adjusted the rudder pedals, correcting the ship's trajectory based on the holographic map floating in front of him.

Once the ship was perfectly aligned with its destination, the velocity had naturally dropped back below the speed of sound.

Noah gripped the throttle again and pushed it forward, re-engaging the overdrive sequence. The Fairy instantly shattered the sound barrier, aggressively climbing back to Mach 10.

Because they were moving at such an absurd velocity, the vast distance between their oceanic testing ground and the Fiore Kingdom vanished in a matter of minutes.

When the ship was roughly three hundred kilometers from the coastline, Noah completely disengaged the thrusters, letting the Fairy coast.

Given their immense kinetic momentum, gradually decelerating over a few hundred kilometers was the safest and smoothest way to approach their destination without causing structural stress or throwing the crew across the lounge.

"Oh, look! We're already back over Hargeon Port!" Lucy noted, checking the digital map projected in the center of the room.

"I can't see anything!" Natsu complained, his face practically plastered against the observation window. All he could see was an endless expanse of blinding white clouds.

"That's because we're currently fifteen kilometers above the ground, you idiot. Of course you can't see the city," Gray sighed, shaking his head.

"WHAT?! We're that high up?!" Natsu gasped in genuine shock.

"Are you completely blind? The altitude readout is literally right there in the middle of the room!" Gray pointed at the holographic display, which clearly showed their altitude hovering around 15,000 meters.

"WOAH!" Natsu stared at the numbers, deeply impressed. He hadn't realized they had climbed that high into the stratosphere during the overdrive sequence.

"Approaching Magnolia," Noah announced, keeping his hands steady on the controls. The airship was rapidly bleeding off speed as they neared the city.

Hearing they were almost home, the guild members rushed back to the windows, staring down at the thick cloud layer below them.

"We are currently directly above Magnolia. Initiating descent," Noah called out.

He tapped the console. The Fairy momentarily hovered in the sky before smoothly plunging downward, diving directly into the dense, puffy clouds.

For a few moments, the windows were completely whited out by the thick moisture. But soon, the ship broke through the bottom of the cloud layer, and the sprawling city of Magnolia came into clear view.

"There's the guildhall!" Natsu cheered, pointing enthusiastically at the familiar, massive building in the distance.

The airship was currently hovering directly over the city's main entrance gates, slowly descending toward the guild.

"From up here, our guildhall looks so tiny. The entire city does," Mavis noted in awe, staring down at the miniature buildings and ant-sized people below.

"It really does," Yukino agreed softly from beside her.

The guild members were completely mesmerized. Very few of them had ever seen their hometown from a bird's-eye view. Many members scrambled to grab their cameras, frantically snapping photos of the incredible aerial perspective.

Once the ship descended to roughly two hundred meters above the city, Noah leveled it out and began slowly cruising toward the guildhall.

Naturally, the sudden appearance of a colossal, gleaming white flying fortress directly above Magnolia caught the attention of the entire city.

At first, the townsfolk were terrified. While they had seen pictures of magical airships in weekly magazines, they had never expected to see a massive warship hovering directly over their homes. Given its sheer, overwhelming size, fear was the natural response.

Panic rippled through the streets as people pointed at the sky, wondering why a warship had invaded their city.

But then, as the ship slowly rotated, the massive, vibrant Fairy Tail crests painted on the hull came into clear view.

The collective panic instantly evaporated, replaced by profound realization and exasperated amusement.

Oh. It's just Fairy Tail, the citizens realized.

Having lived in Magnolia for years, the townsfolk were intimately familiar with the guild's eccentricities. If Fairy Tail was involved, literally anything was possible. If they wanted to build a massive flying fortress, they would. Now, the citizens were just incredibly curious about when and how the guild had managed to build such an incredible machine.

The Fairy smoothly cruised over the city, flying directly toward the Fairy Tail compound.

Noah expertly maneuvered the massive vessel, bringing it to a gentle, perfectly silent hover directly over the wide, open riverbank behind the main guildhall and the library.

He tapped a rune, and the ship slowly descended until it rested firmly on the ground. A heavy mechanical hiss echoed across the bank as the massive boarding ramp extended, lowering until it touched the grass right behind the library.

"WE'RE BACK!" Natsu roared, instantly sprinting down the ramp and leaping onto the grass, punching the air in triumph.

The rest of the guild quickly followed, their faces flushed with lingering excitement. The adrenaline rush of breaking the sound barrier and flying into the stratosphere hadn't worn off yet. As they walked toward the guildhall, they were still animatedly discussing the sheer thrill of the flight.

"Are you planning to leave the ship parked right here?" Makarov asked, stepping off the ramp and turning to look at the massive vessel.

"Yeah, this is the perfect spot," Noah nodded. "Since the new Lacrima engine has a functionally infinite power reserve, I'm going to leave the primary defensive shields fully active at all times.

"The ship's access arrays are magically tethered to our guild marks. Unless you possess an authentic Fairy Tail crest, it is physically impossible to board the ship or breach the shields. Furthermore, I've linked the ship's internal security mainframe directly to the guildhall's surveillance network. If anyone boards the ship, the system will instantly log their entry and notify the front desk."

"Excellent. That sounds perfect," Makarov nodded in satisfaction.

Having a mobile fortress parked right in their backyard expanded their operational capabilities massively. And since they didn't have to worry about fuel or magic consumption, leaving the shields up 24/7 guaranteed the ship would never be sabotaged or stolen.

"I never thought I'd see the day I could actually ride a high-speed vehicle without destroying it," Gildarts laughed, stepping down the ramp and stretching his back.

Due to the chaotic, destructive nature of his Crash Magic, Gildarts hadn't ridden a train or a carriage in decades. Every time he spaced out, he accidentally shattered the vehicle into a thousand pieces.

If he accidentally destroyed a train, he just landed on the tracks. No big deal. But if he accidentally destroyed an airship cruising at 15,000 meters... he would be plummeting to a very messy death. If Noah hadn't personally engineered the ship and assured him it was essentially indestructible, Gildarts never would have stepped foot on it.

"As long as you don't actively try to destroy the hull with a full-power attack, the passive defensive enchantments will easily absorb your subconscious magical leaks," Noah smiled.

Having the continent's clumsiest walking disaster in the guild meant Noah had to be incredibly thorough with his defensive engineering. Fortunately, the new Lacrima engine was powerful enough to sustain heavy, localized shielding to counteract Gildarts's passive Crash Magic.

"That's great," Gildarts grinned. Having access to a supersonic airship would save him months of walking during his decade-long quests.

Once the entire guild had disembarked, Noah stood at the bottom of the ramp. He raised his hand, tracing a few sigils in the air.

HUMMM.

A massive, shimmering golden dome instantly deployed, completely enclosing the Fairy.

"You can control the ship's systems remotely?" Sorano asked, watching the shields activate.

"Yep. But it requires top-tier administrative privileges. Currently, only Grandpa, the First Master, and I can bypass the manual controls," Noah explained.

"Gotcha," Sorano nodded, satisfied with the answer. She turned to Ultear, Erza, and the other girls. "Alright, girls! Let's go shopping! We need to buy furniture and decorations for our private rooms!"

She turned back to Noah. "Are you coming with us? Or do you want us to pick up some stuff for your room?"

"Go ahead and buy whatever you think looks good for my room. I have some maintenance work to take care of," Noah shook his head.

Sorano nodded; she had fully expected that answer. She grabbed Ultear's arm, and a massive, enthusiastic swarm of girls marched off toward Magnolia's commercial district, ready to spend a fortune on interior decorating.

Noah returned to the guildhall, chatted briefly with the excited members still raving about the flight, and then slipped away into the subterranean levels.

He didn't go to the deepest vault where Mavis had been kept. Instead, he headed to the primary power grid that sustained the guildhall's localized defense matrix.

Having successfully engineered the revolutionary Lacrima engine for the Fairy, Noah was ready to upgrade the guildhall's aging power grid.

It didn't take him long. Within three days, he had completely overhauled the guildhall's primary power source, replacing it with the highly efficient, cascading Lacrima matrix he had invented.

Once the guildhall was finished, he traveled to the mountains and applied the exact same upgrade to the guild's massive, multi-environment training facility.

With the power grid upgrades complete, Noah reviewed his mental checklist. The massive, immediate projects—reviving Mavis, securing her curse, building the airship, and upgrading the guild's infrastructure—were all successfully finished. The remaining items on his list were long-term goals.

It was time to initiate the next major phase of their plans.

Noah tracked down Makarov and Mavis in the guildhall.

"Grandpa, First Master," Noah greeted them. "I'm planning to organize a massive, guild-wide vacation. And while we're out sightseeing, we're going to search for the First Master's child."

"Search for her child? How exactly are you planning to do that? And how does a guild-wide vacation factor into it?" Makarov asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mavis, however, instantly looked up, her eyes wide with hope and excitement. She desperately wanted to find her son.

She hadn't brought it up recently because she knew Noah had been exhausted, working non-stop to upgrade the guild's power grids. Now that he was initiating the search himself, she was thrilled.

"Well, we just finished building a massive, luxurious, supersonic flying fortress. And since the girls have spent the last few days completely furnishing their private rooms, the ship is fully move-in ready," Noah smiled.

"The vast majority of our guild members have never left the Fiore Kingdom. I think it's time we take the Fairy on a grand tour across the continent of Ishgar.

"While everyone is enjoying the sights and exploring new countries, we can run the bloodline-tracking spell directly from the airship's command deck. Cruising over the continent gives us the perfect mobile platform to cast the spell and sweep massive territories efficiently."

~~~

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