Arthur was well pleased with the result of Irene’s meeting with her daughter. Irene had been eager enough to stay in Magnolia and visit her daughter, actually reuniting with her - maybe even accompanying her on a job or three - that she had not pressed at all to follow Arthur on his travels across Ishgar to prepare for Acnologia.
Irene was a powerful ally to have if he did run into Acnologia, and Arthur was increasingly less certain that Irene would be reporting back to Zeref about him, but he had business he’d rather she did not know about until it was completed. He was fairly certain he could get away with having extracted a lacrima from the dragon seed that had been inside of her. But just in case, he’d rather ask forgiveness for implanting it into himself than permission to do so. If only because it was going to be an awkward conversation either way and he’d rather delay it. Plus it was information he wanted to keep out of Zeref and August’s hands as long as possible, and unless he actively asked Irene to keep it from them because he considered Zeref a potential enemy. While he felt if he told her not to tell them she’d not, he was trying to present himself as the one who was trying his best to work with Zeref so that if he did end up fighting Zeref, Irene would side with him as the reasonable and non-aggressor party. Actively planning for the future fight against them wouldn’t look good.
Plus just in case he didn’t want it getting back to the Spriggan 12 that he had just had surgery that affected his magical power. He thought he’d given Zeref reason enough to want him alive. The rational and reasonable part of his brain told him that Zeref got nothing from killing him, and stood to gain two of his main goals by working with him. But he knew better than to consider people rational actors, and the part of him which made him sleep with a forcefield active told him that Zeref might want to remove a potential threat no matter how useful it might be.
Arthur awoke after the operation with a - by now familiar - soreness in his chest. He had just had a sixth crystal implanted into the cluster of magical rock which had replaced his heart. It didn’t feel good, even with anesthesia.
But he could feel it integrating into his magical flow. Each time it had done so faster than the time before. But this time was different. While he was always more aware of his ethernano after a surgery like this, since acquiring the cheat power of Fairy Founder he was far more aware of his ethernano flow than ever before, and in far more control over it.
He’d have tested it then and there and seen if he could fully output his magic immediately upon waking from the surgery, except that doing something like turning into a dragon and pushing his magic to its absolute peak would be a major way to alert Acnologia as to his presence. Still he could feel his magical flow clicking into position.
He’d hurt for a while, but he was ultimately good to travel.
The trip to Crocus required Arthur to go in the almost direct opposite direction as the surgery. It would take a few days, he wasn’t planning on traveling particularly quickly while recovering; these things were easier when he had Wendy around. He’d figured out how to use healing magic, well if he used a bit of sky dragon takeover to help out, but while it could lift status ailments from the caster it drew on their stamina and life energy meaning it couldn’t really be used to heal the caster and he hadn’t had the time yet to figure out if he could jailbreak it.
It was something to put on his to do list now that he had figured out Dragon Soul Takeover.
It was a long to-do list.
But before he left town he was going to begin on one thing for it. There was a bounty that required him to eat a compass. He’d ignored it for a long time; there’d been a bounty to ignore the line of them - though he could only see the one - for a year, and then it had slipped his mind for a while.
But it was just about time to start. His right arm shifted, metal scales forming across it as the Iron Dragon’s magic filled him. And he pulled the compass out of the bag and chomped down onto it, tasting the metal in its construction, as his fangs cut through it.
Immediately a new bounty pinged up. Eat a clock.
The clock was a bit harder. He had to find an all metal one. Still he managed it. He acquired a metal clock, and, ignoring the clockmaker’s horrified stare, ate it.
Immediately a new bounty pinged up. Eat a key ring.
This was easier. A key ring was simple enough to buy at a general store, and eating it was equally simple.
Immediately a new bounty pinged up. Eat a barrel.
This would be a bi harder. Still he had the floral demon’s soul, he could eat flowers, how much worse could wood be.
He got 15% of the way through the barrel before throwing up.
He decided to hold off on eating any barrels for a while. At least until he had termite style gut bacteria to digest wood. Maybe he could eat just like a bite or two a day? He could probably use the fiber.
Arthur had barely gotten near the Thunderbolt’s compound, when Erik was approaching him. It’d been a 4 day trip back to Crocus, but he still remembered his way to the Thunderbolt’s ‘camp’ on the outskirts.
“Arthur, what’s this I hear about my snake?” Erik demanded without so much as a hello.
“Don’t listen to my thoughts,” Arthur said in an annoyed tone.
“Sorry, but I could hear them almost a mile away,” Erik said. “Been working on improving my hearing magic. It comes in handy, and you were thinking pretty loudly. And she’s a person now?”
“No, she’s a person who was cursed to be a snake. I thought you might want to give her back her life.”
Erik’s face squirmed a bit at that, and then he sighed. “I’m gonna miss Cubelios, but… you’d not be here thinking this if you weren’t sure. And it’s the right thing to do.”
There were a few heartbeats of silence, before Erik added, “You knew years ago?”
“I couldn’t do anything about it then,” Arthur said.
“Until last year,” Erik started and sighed. “Sorry, I’ll try and stop listening in on your thoughts.”
“I’ve been avoiding the south because of Acnologia,” Arthur said. “It’s only now that I dare risk it.”
Erik nodded. “You did what you had to do before you could let yourself risk dying, and now it’s time to play the big damn hero and fight the dragon king. I can understand.”
Arthur frowned. Erik was still listening in on his thoughts, or had heard that already. He really didn’t know how many of his secrets Erik knew.
“So shall I fix the snake?” Arthur asked, trying to get things back on track.
“Sure, boss,” Erik said with a fake smile. Arthur didn’t need to hear thoughts to know that Erik was conflicted about this; Cubelios was his closest friend and he was risking losing them, even if it was the right thing to do.
Restoring the snake to being human was, with the knowledge Arthur had gained while studying transformation magic of all sorts, actually relatively trivial. Preserving their memories of being a snake required a special potion, but it was doable.
Arthur told himself it’d help Erik and Kinana maintain the bond they’d had when she was a snake.
The snake reverted to a girl almost as if shedding its skin, revealing the naked form of a young girl. In a heartbeat Erik was taking off his coat, and attempting to offer it to her to cover her with it. She pulled half away looking at Erik and then at herself. She didn’t say anything, a look of shock still written across her face.
Erik began to speak and stopped.
“Are you alright?” Arthur asked a moment later, as Erik turned away and walked from the room.
Kinana, the girl who had been Erik’s winged serpent, did not answer immediately. She just looked at Arthur wide eyed and numbed.
In the end Minerva took Kinana away, to help the - currently non-verbal - girl recover. Arthur had no idea how long she’d been a snake. Over a decade, and she didn’t look to be over a decade old. So assuming she hadn’t aged, she’d been a snake for more than a decade.
Arthur wondered if ensuring she kept her memories was a good idea.
“We’ll just have to see,” Erik said, slapping his shoulder. “You gave her that missing decade. The initial shock might hurt, but you thought it’d help.”
Arthur sighed, and swigged his ale.
“You wanted to help us both. I mean you already have my gratitude and friendship, and I doubt her getting to be able to turn into a snake and back is much of a reward to you.”
Arthur froze. “You know?”
Erik nodded. “Have for years. I wished you’d have told me, but I can see why you didn’t. It’s not really important.”
Arthur nodded. “Not like your promotion. I hear you took over from Laxus.”
Erik nodded. “From one of the inmates to the warden,” He said. “If you’d not gone south first you’d have been here in time for my promotion ceremony.”
“Sorry about that,” Arthur said.
Erik shook his head. “It was stuffy and uncomfortable. Having both of my predecessors there would have only made it worse. ‘Sides, Jellal deserved the promotion more than me.”
“He’s still working off his crime, though,” Arthur said.
Erik scowled a bit. “So the council says. Jellal is fine with it; he’d have stayed even if he had been given his pardon.”
“Just like you.”
“Yeah, just like me. I’d have liked Sawyer to still be here as my second, but the council doesn’t want us becoming an entrenched power block.”
“What’s happening with Sawyer?”
“He turned agent of the crown. Same basic job, just easier tasks and less criminals surrounding him.”
“MacBeth still traveling?”
“Last I heard from him at least, he’s not kept in touch the best. Got a postcard from him in Alvarez last year. Sorano is still working as a guild mage, I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you. And Richard is still running his orphanage.”
Arthur nodded. “Going to visit them next. Sawyer too if he’s in town.”
“Nah, he’s been going up and down the border working to stop slavers abducting and smuggling out people.”
Arthur sighed. He’d have liked to catch up with Sawyer. He’d always been more comfortable around him than Erik. Which was a horrible thing to think in Erik’s presence, but the reason it was so bad to think specifically in Erik’s presence was probably the reason it was true. Knowing someone might hear your errant thoughts was unnerving.
“And Sawyer always liked you more, anyway,” Erik said. Arthur simply glared at him from the corner of his eye. “Lighten up, I can hear your thoughts and I still like you. You should take it as a compliment. And we should enjoy our time together, since it sounds like there’s hard times ahead, for both of us if your petition to the king goes well.”
Arthur flushed a bit. He felt some guilt over bringing the Thunderbolts in, but helping bring down Acnologia should be a big credit for all of them. He only really knew Jellal of the active members. Erik was their warden, already well and truly pardoned. Ultear and Meredy he had at least met but he didn’t really know them. He had briefly fought Azuma, and talked to him in prison. And the rest were just names to him. Names he’d only heard second hand.
Still, he liked the idea of giving them the chance to earn their freedom. It was something good he was doing for this world. He hoped.
He and Erik chewed the cud for a while more, simply talking about events that had happened in their lives, and simple things, when Kinana and Minerva entered. The little girl didn’t say a word as she walked up and hugged Erik, who equally wordlessly reached down and patted her head protectively.
Arthur felt rather reassured that they would be fine.
Arthur’s visit to Richard was fairly non-eventful. The former dark mage had become the kindly, father figure who had begun to run an orphanage in the capital. Of course it required funding, and he was not above hitting Arthur up for some, but it was doing well enough for now, giving the children the best lives that he could.
Richard only briefly tried to sell him back the Dorma Anim Mk 2, before returning it to him. Richard no longer needed it, and it might prove essential in fighting Acnologia.
Meeting up with Richard was not the only reason to go there. Kinana needed a place to stay until Erik was ready to take her in properly, or her family had been found, and with Richard was a safe and appropriate place.
By the time they were finished helping her get settled in it was late, and visiting Sorano was put off till the morrow.
Sorano greeted him warmly, pulling him into a tight hug, before taking the effort to (re)introduce him and Minerva to her little sister Yukino. It wasn’t the first time they had met her, but it had been years, and it was the first time that Tabby had met her.
For a time they were merely catching up. They had corresponded via letters, but letters were slow, and there was something different about talking to someone face to face than over scrawled parchment.
Sorano had been living decently well. Since her pardon she had been taking care of her little sister, and avoiding more dangerous jobs as a mage. She was part of a local guild - not in the capital itself, the trip to visit Sorano was a reason she had been the last of the three - but she held back from the bigger paying jobs as a general rule. She didn’t want to risk dying and leaving her little sister alone.
Arthur filled her in on his research, and his time as guild master. It was a pleasant enough way to spend an afternoon. As the afternoon dragged on, things would finally shift towards his reason for coming to Ishgar.
Sorano already knew he had no intention of returning to the south until he felt he was ready for the final preparations for fighting Acnologia.
“So Natsu and the other dragon slayers are ready to fight?” Sorano asked.
Arthur shook his head. “Not quite. I expect it to be another few months. But still they’re close. It won’t be long now, and I wanted to try and get Zeref on my side, and maybe track down Tartaros and deal with them. They won’t be much use against Acnologia. But I don’t feel good leaving them as a threat hanging over the world.”
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Sorano pulled out a small case, and opened it, holding it forward. There were two golden keys inside. Arthur recognized them as Gemini, and Scorpio.
“Take them,” Sorano said.
“I can’t do that,” Arthur answered.
She looked at him, long and hard. “Sure you can,” She said. “I’m not strong enough to deal with the likes of Acnologia. But they might help you there, right.”
“I don’t need them for that,” Arthur said.
“But you get rewards for collecting the gold keys from your patrons, right?”
Arthur looked to the side. “Only if I get all of them which isn’t happening,” He’d have to get Lucy to give hers up and he wasn’t sure he morally could do that. Especially not as points kept getting reduced.
Sorano breathed deeply. “Arthur, they’re a target on my back. People kill Celestial Spirit Mages for their gold keys,” Sorano didn’t need to mention she had killed people for their gold keys in the past, “I want a simple, safe life for me and Yukino. I don’t want to drag her into some Celestial Spirit Mage fight. I will feel safer without them. I’ve only kept them this long since I figured it was better for you to have them than for me to keep them. I haven’t summoned either of them since leaving the Thunderbolts, even my guild thinks I had to hand them over to the throne, and that’s not really fair to the spirits.”
Arthur looked at her. “But you might need them.” He felt fake. He wanted to accept. Wanted to take them and claim the victory. But it felt wrong to just accept them; shameful even.
“I still have the Astra Weapon you gave me, I still have my Silver Keys, and I have a few other little forms of caster magic besides. I’ll be fine.”
“Alright,” Arthur said, his demonstration of reluctance for the sake of reputation complete. “I’ll do my best to put them to good use.” If nothing else with Gemini he ought to be able to regrow his hand… when he no longer felt his prosthetics were necessary.
“I know you will,” Sorano said. “You’ve got too much of a hero complex not to.” She gave him a smile.
“So, Minerva, says you started dating the queen of Edolas,” Sorano pivoted the conversation suddenly. “Why didn’t you tell me about that?”
“Because it was a new development immediately before coming south,” Arthur answered.
“Yeah, yeah, sure. You could have told me about it all day long. I think you were hoping I’d not find out and you and I could reignite things.” Her teasing smile died under Arthur’s scathing look. She flinched back, saying, “You know, responding to that idea that way hurts a girl’s feelings.”
“I am not about to cheat on a dragon god. I have more self-preservation than that, and who knows she might decide to take the Hera route of getting back at me.”
“Hera?”
“Jealous goddess of marriage, always punishing her husband’s lovers in horrible ways.”
“Oh…” Sorano said. “It’s not like I’d have let you anyway. I’ve got a boyfriend. He’s not some super mage or anything, but he is a lot more attentive to a girl’s needs than you ever were.”
“We were never dating.”
“Because you were too lazy to attend to a girl’s needs.”
“I was your parole officer. Ethics matter!”
Sorano laughed. “Thanks, for caring enough to be ethical.”
“Thanks for the keys. I think I got the better part of the deal.”
She elbowed him in the ribs. Or the territory armor separating her from his ribs. “I meant it when I said they were a target. Pisces’s owner was murdered a few months ago and the killer hasn’t been identified yet, but the key was reported to be missing. Honestly even the Silver Keys worry me a little, but I know the likelihood of someone killing over those is vastly less. And it’s not like I have any particularly rare examples there either.”
“If you’re not safe, I could…” Arthur started. He was going to offer protection but there was an obvious problem there.
“You’re planning to go fight the most dangerous beings on the planet one after another. Sorry to say but your protection is probably dangerous.”
“... Get Selene to put you up somewhere in Edolas. I don’t think anyone will kill you for your Silver Keys there.”
“I’ll think about it. But me and Yukino, we have a life here. An actual life.”
“Just… think about it.”
“I will.”
Arthur was granted an audience with the king the day following. He had a decent enough relationship with King Toma Fiore, he had done the kingdom a great service in Edolas, another in defeating Grimoire Heart, and a third in convincing Selene to open semi-regular contact with Fiore via the Anima System, allowing for a trade of information between the two worlds which was beginning to revolutionize magical tool design in Fiore.
He was a friend of the court.
It did not stop the court from being shocked and amazed to hear his plan, and his request. He sought to fight the Dragon King Acnologia, a being who was half-legend, and half-terror. A destructive force which none were certain was a dragon, or anything more than a natural disaster of black magic.
He claimed to be co-opting a 400 year plan. He claimed to hold magic which might give him an essential leg up on the dragon. He claimed that he may be able to reason with the natural disaster which was Acnologia and even get them to yield without conflict. But he asked for the Thunderbolts’ support and for the kingdom to put out a top class job to the guilds of Fiore offering a share of a reward to mages who volunteered to help in the fight.
The lords and knight commanders murmured about this. King Toma for his part clearly believed Arthur’s claims. He knew that Arthur had proven himself not a man of wild fancy, but one of resource, but the authorization of such a large sum would take time, and there would need to be some verification of the other elements of the plan.
And then Arthur broached the subject of Tartaros.
He was wary of doing so. Not because of anything on the part of King Toma or even the bureaucracy and government of Fiore. But because of Zeref. They were Zeref’s creations. He couldn’t imagine that this wouldn’t piss off Zeref to at least some extent. Irene would probably be displeased as well. But Tartaros was working with his former enemies. He needed to ensure they were ended and he had put it off for too long. There were only two things he deeply desired to make certain he survived to do. Well he wanted to survive, to go to other worlds, to not die. The idea of dying terrified him and kept him awake some nights. But he had two things he had promised to do first.
If he couldn’t help Minerva track down her ancestry, as long as she survived she could do that on her own. He had faith that she didn’t need him.
After Selene’s meddling, and his own disruption of the canon flow of the plot, he didn’t have faith that Tartaros would be stopped on its own. Besides, last time Tartaros destroyed Igneel’s plan with their activation of Face. Of the two promises, it was the one he had to keep, not merely wished to.
And taking down a guild was something that one needed a team for. The only Thunderbolt from when he had worked with them before might be Erik, but he trusted Erik’s judgment when he said that Laxus had run a good crew, and that they were as ready as they had been when facing Grimoire Heart, if not more so.
But King Toma told him no. Tartaros was, to the best of their knowledge, in Pergrande Kingdom and having the Thunderbolts act in another kingdom would be a political disaster. If Arthur wanted to track Tartaros down, he would have to do so without government resources.
Arthur accepted this wisdom. If he needed to deal with Tartaros alone then he’d deal with Tartaros alone.
The final request was one to deal with Master Hades and his research. Arthur had read the book that he had been given by King Toma, and now brought it back, hoping to be able to study the Demon Heart research notes to recreate it.
Unfortunately for that he would have to approach the Magic Council which would take him back to Minstrel where he had had his surgery. And somehow he didn’t have the feeling they’d want to let him have access.
Arthur was left to brood after the meeting with the king. How much was the Demon’s Heart worth to him? While it was feasibly useful against Acnologia, he wasn’t certain it would prove in any way critical. But he couldn’t know. He definitely couldn’t recreate it himself before Igneel and the other dragons of old were ready to return. It simply was not possible without Hades’s research.
He did not look forward to trying to recreate Hades’s research from scratch. It would be anything but easy and the constant knowledge that he could have just read the notes and recreated it. That his cheat power granted status as an insanely skilled magical prodigy meant he could duplicate it wasn’t something he doubted. But he had just as much doubt that it’d be massively easier if he were to have the notes to crib off of. Just like he was certain it’d be continuously irksome to know he could be done already just by reading the notes.
It wasn’t like Dragon Takeover where he could take pride that he was producing something new. And useful for the world. Where he could tell himself that its creation made him a good guy, helping the world around him. Sure, maybe he’d use it against Acnologia. Maybe it could be used for the good of mankind. But he wanted it for when he had left this world. He wanted it as it represented power, and he still feared he would need power. As powerful as he was, he had to worry about how much stronger his counterparts who didn’t have to perform bounties for their powers were and would become.
He was a coward at heart and he knew it. It was why he’d needed to use Irene as a test subject to see if he could extract the lacrima for his own use. He wanted the Magic Dragon Slayer Lacrima. That would be a power without equal, and with his takeover magic he had a real chance of obtaining and using it.
Arthur laughed a bit. He’d been a grocery clerk before. A man who’d never had any great ambitions. Who’d done mediocre in school, failed to get into grad school, and failed to get a job in a field he’d actually studied. A failure because he’d never really tried in the first place. Now he was planning to fight a god-like monster to steal its power.
But fear of death was a strong motivator. He missed the… not real, but normal world. Civilization’s decadent luxuries had been… pleasant. He missed television shows, and movies, and the internet. Though truth be told, it might be more truthful to say that it was the lack of distractions which had gotten him…
What?
Power? But power was a means not an end unto itself. He wanted it to live. And fear of living in a world of mad gods without the power to defend himself was not a good thing.
Self-realization? He had had to learn more about himself to master dragon soul takeover. Had had to come to a better understanding of how he thought and why. He had to learn emotional control and restraint to tame the dragon seed. But that wasn’t self-realization, that was just anger management, or even fear of getting angry and losing control. And that was the thing. He was afraid he’d lose control. He felt he was an imposter, who had cheated his way to some nepotistic position of power and authority. He had blood on his hands, people he had killed, and worse he knew he’d kill more and stain his hands further. And he was afraid to stop feeling guilty for it, because of the slippery slope it might represent. Because once intent to kill him became enough even without meaningful ability to do so, it’d be so much easier to say he had killed them because they were ‘bad’. And he wasn’t wise enough to play arbiter to man’s soul.
So he had gained fear, guilt, and a new flavor of self-loathing to go with those he’d already had.
But it wasn’t all bad. While he still had never let himself become the closest with Diabolos, he had people he’d honestly call friends there. Kiria, Skullion, Madmole, Pax, Cullen, Orin, even the Dark Dragon Slayer Knights. They were his… tribe. He still missed the old Thunderbolts from time to time; he’d in all honesty been closer to them than to Diabolos. The fact that Richard and Sorano both had decided that they didn’t want to risk their lives fighting beside him in a battle that they would ultimately have little to no impact on saddened him. It was irrational; he shouldn’t have wanted them to join him in the first place and his reason told him that. But he was not a vulcan with some heart bound by emotionless logic. He was human. And some part of him still treated this too much as a game. He had to because otherwise he’d be too pants-browningly scared to do what he had to do to survive.
And then there was Tabby and Minerva. They were closer to him than the Thunderbolts. But it was hard to call them friends. They were apprentices. The power imbalance was always there and always real. Still he valued them, and he valued their company.
He’d gained human contact.
And it’d felt good to know he’d helped Diabolos. To have helped Irene. To have helped take down Hades. To see magic surge in Edolas. To save Crocus from being turned into lacrima. To have helped the world. It gave him a feeling of accomplishment which had long been lacking from life. And he could grow addicted to it. It was certainly a better hit than beating any video game had ever been. Even if some of it felt unearned, the accolades were nice.
And Lisanna had been very very pleasant. And Selene was being very very pleasant.
In the wash things were alright. Still he’d decided. He’d not detour to Minstrel. That was just acting out of his coward’s fear. He should go and stop Tartaros, because it made the world a better place.
“So why are we heading back to Minstrel?” Tabby asked as they boarded the train the next afternoon.
“Because I’m too weak,” Arthur said. “I want to see if I can access a dark mage’s research on perpetual energy.”
“You’re too weak?” Tabby said. “What sort of threat do you think you’ll have to deal with?”
“Acnologia,” Arthur reminded, even as he knew that wasn’t the real reason. He should be going east, fighting Tartaros, and taking the chance to help Minerva find the Yakumo while he was in the region. He’d be a lot happier doing that, than going south again.
Tabby nodded. The cat really didn’t get why Arthur was so afraid of what amounted to just another dragon. But he was beginning to realize that everyone in this area seemed to hold the same opinion; if they didn’t claim the dragon was just ignorant fools misdescribing a terrible but natural magical disaster.
Arthur’s name carried weight with the magic council. It only took him 4 days to get an audience. The wait was intolerable. He had no idea when Irene would call him back with the communication lacrima she’d given him with news from Zeref or just because he holiday with her daughter had ended. He had no idea when Jacob would find his trail. He had no idea when Natsu and the others would be done other than soon. And there was still Tartaros to deal with.
Not that he didn’t put those four days to use. He’d helped rebuild the very system that the Council used for its information storage and to control Etherion. If he needed Etherion in the battle with Acnologia he intended to be able to use it without having to wait for authorization from the Council. He’d left backdoors into the system, and just like Brain’s had never been patched till it had been his job to patch them, his had not been patched.
He knew there was a danger of what would happen if he got caught. That he might end up losing a very useful ally and gaining a very troublesome enemy. It wasn’t that any of the mages in the Council could threaten him. It wasn’t that he was scared even of the Thunderbolts - Erik only had three S-class threats under him, four if they dragged Meredy in, the remaining members would never have made it in one of the top teams for a top Dark Guild. It wasn’t a fear of the military force and power they could bring to bear. He intended to war with the Dragon King, and that’d take more power than the entire military of Ishgar. There were threats - Fairy Tail, the Thunderbolts, the Wizard Gods - but most of them would let him talk, and some of them might accept his actions.
It was the simple fact that they were the government. He could fight them. But it’d be a constant thorn in his side unless he opted for something massive and destructive and which would stain his hands a deep crimson, they could make life a hassle across the continent.
Still he judged the odds that they found out to be slim enough to try it. He would ensure he could control Etherion, and while he was there he’d see if they had put the information that he needed into the system where he could access it.
Arthur was furious below the surface when the time for his meeting with the council came. He’d had plenty of time to find the information that he needed, and a fair bit more. The question was how he intended to act upon it. Because something had to be done about it.
The magic council was obviously untrustworthy. If they weren’t actively corrupt their incompetence made them incapable of doing their basic job. But maybe it was only a subset of the council?
They had built an “Etherious Factory” in the east of Ishgar with the help of a magical researcher Solamen Kaine; a man Arthur recognized as Duke Solamen of Edolas. A magical researcher who Selene had seen introduced to Tartaros which was now acting out of the same region as the factory.
The fact that they were attempting to build a secret army of demons was bad. That they seemed to be working with Tartaros to do it, was something that pissed him off.
But he had to be careful. Just going in there raging wouldn’t do any good. Picking a fight would be a mistake. But he didn’t really have time to think through his options as much as he’d like. Overclocking his mind helped divorce him from his immediate reaction and give him time to think, even as he approached the council’s chambers. If he’d gotten to this information yesterday he’d have had plenty of time to consider and think through what to do. But he hadn’t gotten to it till just a little bit ago. There had been a fair bit of data to sort through.
It would be his luck to figure it out immediately before talking to the council. He wasn’t sure if that was good, or bad luck. It was certainly the most extreme moment to figure it out.
Did he confront the council with it? Did he test their response by asking permission to go deal with Tartaros? Did he play his cards close to the chest and tell them nothing and just ask for the information he’d already taken for himself?
B was a mistake. It’d just lead to Tartaros being warned, and whatever information he could get would be limited.
So that left A and C. Either might start a fight with the council. If the council wasn’t all corrupt, though, A might get an actual investigation going. It was the better option, except he’d not had time to think about a cover story for how he got the information. C would give Tartaros the smallest chance of a warning. But he’d be leaving a flank exposed as the council might want to protect its secret demon army. But it’d give him the best chance to get information, and actually make certain what was happening there and whether the entire council was involved or just an individual or two.
He still hadn’t decided when he had walked into the council chamber. There were formalities, his arrival being announced, and the opening of new business. For Arthur it all moved in a dragged out cawl, his mind still debating what to do.
“So, Arthur, Mage of Guiltina, you said you wished to speak to the council about something concerning Grimoire Heart’s guild master and his research?” Gran Doma asked. “We will hear your petition.”
“According to my sources, someone has been attempting to put his research into practice,” Arthur said. Gran Doma had been harsh at times, but when he had worked with him before he had been honest. He held a strong belief in law, order, and justice.
“That is one reason we have retained his research,” Gran Doma stated. “But I suspect you do not mean the council’s research labs.”
“Depends. Are you attempting to create an army of mass produced demons modeled after those of Zeref’s in Pergrande?”
His Archive was recording everything around him, specifically keeping an eye out for if anyone attempted magic.
“I trust you have proof of this, and aren’t merely making empty claims to try and distract the council,” One of the councilmembers said. Arthur didn’t remember their name.
Arthur resisted the urge to snap back that they had the proof themselves. Instead he looked at them. “I need to protect my sources. After all, if Tartaros got access to this research it was probably through the council’s own attempts. While that doesn’t prove there’s a traitor on the council, it does indicate the possibility.”
“You dare make such an accusation, you dishonor the council. You should be thrown out of here, bringing such baseless and empty claims against those gathered here,” the council member spat out.
“No,” Gran Doma said, “Let him speak. The former council disbanded, after they took a traitor to their breasts. And there was more than one at the time, we all know that Crawford Seam worked with Tartaros and Brain. So Arthur, what evidence do you bring?”
This was when Arthur had to make a decision. Either he revealed he hacked their database - at which point he could have just fabricated everything and any evidence there was suspect - or he held back most of the evidence he actually had. Or he had to think of something clever.
“Less than I’d like, mostly the testimony of information networks I have access to and individuals who I trust,” He said. “I decided to stop here before making my way there to deal with Tartaros once and for all.” And that meant somebody on the council might well be warning them. But that was a threat he could handle.
Even now he was contacting Gran Doma through his Archive’s telepathy feature. He was informing the head of the council and only the head of the council how and where he had found the information. If it disappeared now, it’d be confirmation. Trusting Gran Doma could be dangerous; but if Domo was corrupt, the whole council really would need to be ousted from power.
“You can’t expect us to accept this all on the word of some anonymous source you refuse to name or provide information about,” another council member stated.
Arthur shrugged. “I can tell you the truth. If you don’t want to believe it, well it’s Ishgar which will suffer. I am going to deal with Tartaros and finish what I started years ago. The Balam Alliance will fall. I just thought you should be allowed to prepare yourself and Ishgar for the fallout and maybe uproot the traitor in your midst. If you don’t believe me… Well I’ll just have to get proof out of the ruins.”
“You didn’t come here just for this, did you?” Gran Doma.
“Maybe I came to see if you’d tell me it wasn’t you. That you didn’t have a hand in this,” Arthur answered.
“The idea of creating an etherious army had been broached. As a last emergency measure in case of Alvarez repeating its attempt at invasion. But it was decided to create a trio of etherious first and study them to ensure that there would be no safety concern in following Hades’s method, and its creations could be used as soldiers. A full scale factory was not authorized.”
“And what about a man called Solamen Kaine? Are you familiar with the name?”
Gran Doma shook his head, but another man raised his hand. “He’s a magical researcher in Pergrande. A recently up and rising star with his creation and refinement of magical tools.”
“He’s an escaped, would-be usurper from Edolas who is believed to be in league with Tartaros,” Arthur stated. “Last time I saw him he was using a landship to try and take over the world, and armed with Earthland’s rich ethernano he might be able to create weapons to dwarf the Etherion cannon.”
And then questions began. Arthur refused to give his sources. The threat of a traitor made that possible. He could, however, give the location of the factory when asked. And eventually there was the question of what he actually wanted out of telling them.
“A reaffirmation of my faith in humanity isn’t enough? Approval for the strike on Tartaros, and a fast airship. Teleporting to the region would risk disturbing dangerous forces across the peninsula.”
There was an uproar at that. But it at least made them think he had a motive for being here, and hadn’t just found out about things by hacking their system.