FT: The Phantom Dragon Slayer Chapter 102: The Final Promise (2)

Chapter 102: The Final Promise (2)

“Mr. Ciel! I’ve been wanting to see you!!”

“…And you are?”

Ever since returning from Edolas, there had been a few small incidents here and there, but for the most part, I had been enjoying peaceful days.

After waking up this morning, I joined Elfman and Natsu’s training for a bit, and then went to the guild. While chatting with Master as Natsu’s team searched for a request on the board, it happened.

Out of nowhere, a woman with grass-colored hair appeared in front of me, called my name, and suddenly ran over—throwing her arms around me without hesitation.

“Three years… it’s been three years since we last met~! When I heard you were alive, I came searching for you!”

The woman hugged me tightly, greeting me with overwhelming enthusiasm.

She looked like she was in her early twenties. Despite her neat outfit—a pure white coat over a black shirt and skirt, paired with low-heeled brown leather shoes—she was undeniably beautiful.

Her dark violet eyes shimmered with a faint blue light in her irises.

A very distinctive set of eyes… one I definitely remembered.

“Miss Lilia.”

“So you do remember me!”

“Well… there’s no way I wouldn’t remember you. Still, suddenly showing up and hugging me like that would surprise anyone, even me.”

“A-ah…?!”

Only after I said it did she realize what she had done; she quickly let go and bowed her head in a formal apology.

“I’m sorry! I was just so happy that I lost control for a moment…”

“No, actually, I’m more surprised by how energetic your reaction wa—”

“Heee~ So you’re Miss Lilia, huh?”

“…Mira?”

Just as I was about to continue questioning Lilia, I heard Mirajane’s voice beside me and turned my head.

For some reason, she was all dressed up today—fancy outfit, hair styled, the whole thing.

But her expression was… bad. She was glaring at me like she wanted to kill me.

“You must’ve had quite a long girls’ meetup. To think you’d arrive at the guild when the sun’s already high. And that outfit—what, are you appearing in Weekly Sorcerer to—”

“You idiot!!”

“Guh—?!”

“Mr. Ciel?!”

I only said that to lighten her mood a little, since she clearly wasn’t feeling well.

But what came back at me was Mirajane’s unrestrained fist.

I was sent flying across the bar counter from a punch thrown while she was in Satan Soul.

“W-Wait just a moment! What do you think you’re doing?! You can’t just throw a punch out of nowhere!”

“Hmph! Well, she is a beauty. I don’t care anymore! Do whatever you want, you idiot! You mutt! Pineapple head! Hope you two live happily ever after!”

“Hey—! Wait a—!”

“Lilia, leave her be.”

“Mr. Ciel, are you alright?”

Shouting angrily, Mirajane stormed out of the guild. Lilia moved to speak after seeing what happened, but I stopped her.

I tried to appear calm when she asked if I was okay, but honestly, getting punched by Satan Soul made my face throb like crazy.

“Ciel, is that beauty your girlfriend?”

“G-Girlfriend?”

“Kufufu… of course not.”

“It seems Mira has gotten the wrong idea—quite badly, in fact.”

Master asked me while I rubbed my cheek, and at that moment, I finally understood why Mira was mad.

That hug from earlier must have completely given her the wrong impression.

She always acted like that whenever a woman was involved, but… isn’t her possessiveness going a bit too far?

I answered Master half-heartedly and turned back to Lilia.

She looked flustered and lowered her head again.

“Mirajane… ah! So that’s the woman you had feelings for—! I’m so sorry for causing trouble! It was a misunderstanding!”

“It’s fine. I’ll take care of that myself. Anyway, you said you came here to find me. Is it because of that day? To settle a grudge?”

“T-That’s…”

Lilia Kenbell.

The only reason I could imagine her seeking me out was to resent me and take revenge.

That was all I could think of. But when I asked, she instead looked up at me with sorrowful eyes and spoke words I did not expect.

“About that day… I’m truly sorry. I lashed out and cursed you without knowing anything.”

“Lilia…”

“That day…?”

“Ciel-nii, who is this woman?”

“I didn’t know there was a girl who would come looking for Ciel even though she’s not his lover.”

As all eyes in the guild were still gathered after Mirajane’s sudden outburst, Natsu, Gray, and Elfman approached, asking about Lilia.

Meanwhile, Lilia trembled, and then burst into tears.

In a shaking voice, she apologized over and over.

“I’m so… so sorry… I truly am… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

“…Master, I’ll take her with me for now. I apologize for the commotion.”

“No, no. Compared to the mess Natsu and his bunch cause on a daily basis, this is nothing.”

“Elfman, I’m taking her to my place for a bit. If Mira or Lisanna come back, please tell them not to enter the house for now.”

“What? Why all of a sudden…?”

“I have something important to discuss with her.”

“…Alright. If my sisters come, I’ll let them know. I don’t know what your relationship with that lady is, but you better explain it to my sister later.”

“Yes, thank you, Elfman. …Lilia, let’s go.”

I supported the crying Lilia and headed out of the guild with her.

If it were any other day, Happy and the guild members would be teasing me about “love affairs” or “secret girlfriends,” but seeing my serious expression as I guided her out, they could only watch with worried faces.

I had a feeling the conversation she wanted to have would not be a light one. So I brought Lilia to my home.

....

After landing a solid punch on Ciel and storming out of the guild, Mirajane ran off in anger.

Lucy’s group snapped out of their stunned silence and quickly chased after her.

While they followed Mira, Walker erased his presence once more and continued observing everything happening inside the guild.

“Lilia, huh… They clearly have some history, but it doesn’t seem romantic.”

Watching Ciel leave with Lilia, Walker judged that their relationship was complicated—but without affection.

He immediately began tracking Mirajane’s scent, hopping across rooftops.

Before long, he found her at a café, angrily shoveling desserts into her mouth while Lucy’s group tried to comfort her.

“Uh… Mira, how about you cool down a bit?”

“Y-yeah, maybe it’s just a misunderstanding?”

“If you keep eating like that, you’re gonna turn into a pig!”

“Thirty more slices of cake. Now.”

“Erza!! Why are you not stopping her and instead binge-eating with her?!”

“Hmph! Who cares about that pineapple-headed idiot! He probably flirts around with random girls behind my back all the time! He never understands my feelings anyway!”

Mirajane fumed, while Erza—far from calming her—kept ordering more cake. Lucy, Lisanna, and Levy were horrified.

Juvia, who tried eating along in solidarity, lay on the table groaning with a swollen stomach, unable to continue.

The atmosphere was so volatile that no one dared approach—until Walker finally released his concealment and walked up to their table.

“Hey. Don’t you think this is a bit much just because the guy hugged a girl once?”

“…What. Did. You. Just. Say?”

“U-Uh?!”

Mirajane’s murderous smile made Walker instinctively recall the morning scene of Erza cheerfully greeting him back at the guild, and he physically flinched.

But if he wanted to snap Mira out of her delusion, he needed to go in hard. Steeling himself, Walker smirked confidently and spoke.

“After you all ran off, I stayed behind and watched from the guild.”

“So what?”

“Their situation is complicated, sure, but it didn’t look like anything… suggestive.”

“But still…”

“From what I heard, Illusian’s been rejecting every woman who tried to hit on him. Meanwhile, he’s been faithfully turning down advances from all sorts of girls around him. So what—do you not trust him?”

“…I want to trust him. But last time it was that girl Sorano… and now an even prettier woman runs straight into his arms… I just… lost confidence. What if Ciel is hanging around other women when I’m not there…?”

“Mira-nee, don’t you think you’re jumping to conclusions? Maybe it really is a misunderstanding, just like Mr. Walker said.”

“Lisanna…”

“If you really want to know the truth, why don’t we just go see them? Illusian brought that Lilia woman to his house.”

At Walker’s suggestion, everyone tilted their heads.

“Brought her… to his house?”

“No way. You don’t think—?!”

“D-do you mean they’re going to do s-something l-like THAT?!”

“H-hey guys… isn’t that jumping ahead a bit too far?”

“CIIIIIEEEEEEEL!!!”

“M-MAMA HELP—!!”

“UWAAAH?!?!”

The moment Mira imagined Ciel and Lilia alone in his home, she grabbed Walker by the collar and shook him with terrifying force.

As she shook him, Walker was suddenly hit with déjà vu—memories of Erza grabbing both his collar and his hair whenever she thought he was cheating.

Ah. This girl… she really is just like Erza.

With a sigh and dizziness setting in, Walker finally managed to speak through the shaking.

“C-cgh! I-If you’re that worried, then let’s all just go to his house. With my Concealment, Illucian won’t notice us.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s GO!”

“M-Mira-nee, wait—! No matter what, this is—”

“…What did you just say?”

“—Nope, never mind. Let’s all go. Yes. Let’s go.”

“Now this is getting interesting.”

“Erza, whose side are you even on?!”

“Both Ciel and Mirajane are on my side.”

“…Ha… Haaah…”

And so, with Mira still clutching Walker by the collar, the group of women stormed out of the café.

...

“Sniff… sniff…”

“Here—some lavender tea. It’ll calm you down; it should make you feel a little better.”

“…Thank you.”

I brought Lilia into my house and handed her a handkerchief and a cup of tea.

She nodded once, wiped her tears with the handkerchief, and sipped the tea. After a short while, she seemed to calm down; she sat opposite me and bowed her head once more.

“I’m sorry for causing so much trouble…”

“No, this is nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Silence stretched between us for several minutes as we just looked at one another without speaking.

Finally, Lilia broke the hush.

“It’s been three years since that incident… I officially became a doctor.”

“Congratulations.”

“Yes. Like I promised your brother, I aim to be a kind and gentle physician to everyone… but sometimes I get exhausted. When that happens, I look at the portrait you drew of me and gather strength to keep going.”

“I see.”

She reached into her bag and took out a notebook stained with blood and a book that seemed to pulse with magical energy, placing both on the table.

“After that day… while we were cremating my brother’s body, I found this book inside him. And from a diary I found in the hut he’d left behind in the village, I discovered that I had misunderstood you, Mr. Ciel.”

“…Yes. That notebook is indeed something I gave him.”

“The child I was—the one who cursed you and screamed that you should die—how foolish I was. You did what you did at my brother’s request… and yet I didn’t know. I blamed you for killing him, cursed you, and wailed in front of you. I am truly sorry for what I did that day.”

She kept apologizing, and I closed my eyes briefly, then opened them and spoke.

“No… even though it was a request, there was nothing I could do. All I could do was kill the one who hired me. He probably died despising me in his last moments. In a way, that was inevitable.”

“…Mr. Ciel, that’s not what I came for. I brought you this book along with my brother’s diary because I don’t want you to carry any guilt.”

“His diary…?”

“About half a year after that incident, I searched for you. I was told you were dead… and I’ve lived ever since haunted by the fact that I could never apologize. But then I heard rumors you were alive, so I came. Please—would you read his diary?”

Lilia pressed the bloodstained notebook into my hands, asking me to read her dead brother’s words. I felt conflicted, but took the diary she offered.

It was the record of my first failure as a wizard in Fairy Tail—the day I failed a mission and, for the first time in this world, took a life… the day whose stain I could never erase.

The scent of blood on the pages brought that man back to my mind—my client, the man who died by my hand.

“You might not want to remember this… but please, read my brother’s diary. I’m begging you.”

“…If you ask so earnestly… I will read it.”

Moved by the desperate plea in her eyes, I turned to the first page of the bloodstained diary.