Chapter 367: FTG Chapter 364: The Harvest Festival Celebration (End)
On the day of the Harvest Festival, the entirety of Magnolia was decorated with lanterns and colored banners, a celebration shared by all the people.
Fairy Academy had already begun its holiday a day in advance, precisely to allow the students ample time to play.
The central grand plaza of the town was the place where the program performances were to be conducted today.
Since a street parade lasting approximately two hours was to be conducted starting at eight o’clock in the evening, the program performances were arranged for the daytime, starting from nine o’clock in the morning and continuing until ending at six o’clock in the evening. During this period, a total of twelve programs were to be staged, which could be described as exceptionally tight.
Among the twelve programs, the two stage plays used the longest time and were also the most attractive ’highlights.’ Therefore, one of them was arranged for the morning session, while the other was arranged for the afternoon session, with each session using other programs beforehand and afterward to warm up and wrap up.
The ’Dragon King Festival’ prepared by Fairy Academy was arranged for the afternoon session, so by right, the people performing the program had a whole morning of time to prepare, and could even rehearse one more time inside the academy.
It was just that they were very confident in their own acting skills, so they chose not to rehearse, but instead came to the grand plaza to watch the performance of ’Fairy Tail.’
At ten o’clock in the morning, the plaza was crowded full of residents who had come to watch the performance.
Erzi, Cana, Natsu, Gray, Happy, and the others gathered in one place, quietly waiting for the ’First Generation Fairies’ that was about to be staged.
Aside from Cana, who was cradling a wine barrel in her hands, what the other several people held in their hands were all oversized ice creams bought just now on the street side. Upon them, five round scoops—red, white, cyan, blue, and yellow—piled one on top of another, carrying massive pressure, making anyone who took a single glance at them unable to resist lightening their load.
"Speaking of which, have any of you watched the rehearsal of the guild’s stage play?"
"No!"
"I was busy with the academy’s stage play previously, and don’t even know who within the guild is performing."
"I heard Macao and Wakaba reported to the Master several times that they wanted to participate in the performance, but they were all rejected by him using ’the characters have been settled’ as a reason. However, during this period of time inside the guild, I don’t seem to have heard of anyone receiving an invitation..."
"Could it be that the Master wants to personally go onto the field?"
"He is the Master, maybe he really will, you know!"
"But the age difference is a bit too much, right? I’ve looked at the script, and the First Generation Fairies inside are all people in their twenties. Our guild... it seems only Laxus fits."
"Erzi, don’t you have any insider information?"
"Uh... I really don’t. I asked my dad and mom several times, but they didn’t answer every time. I think it’s probably because they want to give us a surprise, so they deliberately kept it a secret."
Not long after, the performance began, and the surrounding audience quieted down one after another as a gentle voice exceptionally rich in a narrative sense began a monologue.
"The story happens dating back 99 years ago. On Tenrou Island, out upon the southern sea of the Kingdom of Fiore, there was a magic guild named ’Red Lizard’."
"The youth Weston was a Wizard of this guild..."
The voice of the monologue was very familiar to everyone; it was Layla.
Erzi’s eyes lit up: "So Mom is responsible for the monologue... then what about Dad?"
No one answered her query; everyone was focusing intently on watching the stage play.
Performing a stage play at the Harvest Festival was still a first, combined with the fact that the stage play recounted the story of the First Generation Fairies liberating Magnolia from the hands of a dark guild, so the residents in town were all very interested.
Very quickly, the characters took the stage one after another.
The youthful Weston, Mavis, Zera, as well as the master of Red Lizard, the master of Blue Skull...
The story proceeded in an orderly manner, yet Erzi and the others, as well as some members of Fairy Tail not far away, were stunned.
"This... who is this group of people?"
"They aren’t people from the guild!"
"Which corner did they pop out from?"
Though bewildered, the crowd still found it inappropriate to break out on the spot, continuing to hold their breath as they watched on.
The plot gradually developed to the trio of Yuri, Precht, and Warrod landing on Tenrou Island and becoming friends with the three of Weston. Weston imparted magic to the three, and the group came to Magnolia as a team to take back the Tenrou Jade, launching a battle against ’Blue Skull.’
"Still people we don’t recognize..."
"What exactly is the Master doing? Why did he let a group of people we don’t recognize perform our guild’s program?!"
"Though saying it like that, I feel the casting is very suitable, you know—the guys are handsome and the girls are beautiful!"
"Right, right, right, especially that one named Yuri, he truly has a few parts of resemblance to Laxus... he just doesn’t resemble the Third Generation very much!"
An hour later, the plot entered the final stage.
Blue Skull was defeated, and the six-person group of the First Generation Fairies established the magic guild Fairy Tail in Magnolia. The stage play came to a complete close at this point.
The performers bowed to the audience in unison, subsequently dissipating into thin air one after another.
Seeing this state of affairs, the audience didn’t feel it was strange either—after all, it was a performance by a magic guild, so doing a bit of magic was very normal—they rose one after another to clap and cheer, shouting plaudits repeatedly.
Only the members of Fairy Tail still carried complaints on their faces while cheering, while a few others revealed expressions of surprise.
"The performance was good, it really was good, but it wasn’t performed by people of the guild, so in the end it lacked a bit of flavor!"
"Wait until the Master comes back, I must definitely question him thoroughly!"
"Let’s go, let’s head over to eat first. In the afternoon we still have to prepare in advance for that stage play of ours..."
Erzi was just about to leave following the crowd, but turning around she unexpectedly saw a figure unseen for a long time.
In a corner of the plaza, Weston, who had been missing for many days, along with two similarly very old old men, were gesturing toward the stage on the plaza, talking and laughing.
Erzi’s brow instantly wrinkled up.
These two old grandpas don’t seem to be people from the town either?
But they look so familiar!
Especially the one whose head is like a tree, she has definitely seen him somewhere!
Erzi inclined her ear to listen closely but couldn’t hear their voices, only able to vaguely recognize a few words mentioned during their exchange from their mouth shapes—
’Thought-projection’, ’formidable’, ’nostalgic’, ’visiting a grave’...
She placed her entire attention on the conversation of the three old men, utterly not looking at the path ahead, and caught off guard, she bumped right into a figure.
Thud—
"Ah... sorry!!"
Erzi hurriedly turned her head back to apologize. What entered her view was a streak of gorgeous, scarlet long hair.
"It’s no matter."
"When walking in the future, you must look at the path properly, you know!"
It was a super young, super beautiful, super gentle auntie!!
Erzi was instantly attracted by the other party’s appearance, her twin eyes staring straight at her.
This person also looks so familiar!
"This... uh, madam? Are you here in Magnolia to travel and sightsee?"
"To be precise, I am here to visit relatives!"
The woman smiled and stroked Erzi’s head, subsequently, amidst Erzi’s dazed gaze, she carried a magic staff that was even taller than her own body, sauntering off.
Far down the street, the shouting voices of Natsu and Happy came once again—
"Erzi!"
"What are you standing there in a daze for? Hurry and come over!"
"Everyone is waiting for you!!"
Erzi returned to her senses, composed her mind, and marched her paces to run toward her partners.
"Coming!!"
(The End of the Book)
