Chapter 16

Chapter 16 Punishment.

Someone dared to compare our bonfire with fiery Gehenna?

We can immediately explain the difference to you!

Song of the Inquisitors.

The trip was relatively calm. Why relative? Well, it's all about Natsu - a couple of months of brainstorming classes is not the time for which the mind can grow strong enough to overcome the problem of dragonslers, called seasickness. In general, the fireman felt bad, and my head ached, though not particularly critical, but unpleasant. And so, this unpleasant headache was superimposed on another problem - the local crew of the ship, consisting mainly of 'pirates', although in reality they looked more like not sea robbers, but ordinary merchants, well, except for the captain of the ship, that's that yes, only a parrot on his shoulder was missing to complete the picture. What is the problem? The problem is that the entire crew, including the captain, had a crush on Elsa and constantly tried to trick her, and it was clear that the girl liked the simple compliments and sincere admiration of the sailors (I was not too lazy to get into the emophone on purpose). Hell, I seem to be quite naturally jealous, in any case, the navigators tried to stay away from me, instinctively feeling the source of possible trouble. And I have some suspicions that my reaction did not remain a secret for the Valkyrie, in any case, every time she looked at my displeased face, her emotions showed fun and something similar to satisfaction with the work done. Rrrr ...

And then, at one fine moment, Lucy sat down with the displeased me, being in deep thought, half-and-half with determination, hmm ...

-Hi, Sephiroth, - the girl began.

-And hello to you, beauty, - I smile in response.

-I wanted to say thank you ...

-For what? - I'm somewhat surprised.

- After all, it was you who knocked out the subordinating magessa that took control of Taurus? Yes, and a severed rat nearby said a lot - hmm, I never tire of being surprised at Lucy - after all, she's not a stupid girl, but there are enough cockroaches in her head for a whole platoon of magicians, and that's why her problems are.

-Well, I could not let my colleague in the guild suffer, and education does not allow leaving the lady in trouble, - I did not deny.

-Thank you, - the girl whispered again and kissed me on the cheek, after which she turned sweetly pink. Oh, what a flash of jealousy on the horizon, it seems, a certain red-haired person is watching us, which means it's time for sweet revenge.

-Mmm ... if they always thank me like that, then I agree to save you all the time, - now add a slight smile, heh, increased embarrassment on the one hand and a new outburst of jealousy on the other, how lovely.

-By the way, I read that book that you gave me, - the girl changed the subject, - to be honest, it's hard to believe that Celestial Spirits are so powerful.

-As I understand it, a lot depends on the owner of the key, his strength, character, habits and ideas about how the summoned Spirit should behave.

- Tell me, could you help me with training? After that spellcaster, I realized how weak I was. Now I am a ballast for any team ... - Heartfilia was sad.

-Get these thoughts out of your head - you are no ballast. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, - hmm, I say, of course, confidently, but somehow I don't really believe myself. Now Lucy is exactly what ballast, although she herself understands it well - as for help - Celestial spirits are not my direction, but what I can, I will help, for example - developing normal combat forms for those called up, and of course, combat training for you , hehe, - the girl shuddered, - it will be difficult, won't you change your mind?

-No, I firmly decided!

- Well then, when we get home, let's start.

Otherwise, the voyage was boring and uninteresting - during the day I either chatted with Lucy and Elsa (Gray went into himself, digesting what had happened, and Natsu was not in a position to conduct a conversation, but I had no desire to communicate with a flying glitch) , but at night (it was two days to sail to Hargeon - an unsuccessful wind direction, plus, a loaded heavy ship provided a speed comparable to a turtle ... more precisely, with the speed of a shot old turtle, which is crawling with its last bit of strength, in any case, it seemed to me so. .. at night I practiced blood management, or rather, tried to master this skill again. It turned out frankly shitty, or rather, in no way at all - I didn't have any problems, but then - a complete failure - you can still release it through the pores, but somehow to manipulate further, alas, in no way - the 'signal', if it can be called that, was jammed by the magical background of the pure world. Perhaps it will be possible to develop a sense of blood, but, given the magic of life and a similar ability, only to the more expanded, in its arsenal, there is no sense in it. Maybe try to combine Blood and the magic of Life, but this is a whole scientific work in an unknown area, and it certainly should not start on the swinging deck of an ordinary ship, and even with a bunch of witnesses. Bummer, sir, and I was hoping for another interesting trick, unknown to the locals, to get into my arsenal, well, no luck.

But then the journey came to an end, we said goodbye to the 'pirates' in the port of Hargeon and went to the station to look for a train to Magnolia (Elsa's hamster cart, as it turned out, greatly contributed to the overloading of the ship - the girl even managed to stuff the fish caught along the way, and now (the station administration had to hook up an extra carriage to fit all of her luggage. My Inner Hamster got hold of a picture of the Valkyrie and began to pray for it).

The return home greatly added the mood to all the fakes, the trio's contract was especially happy, it was beyond my strength not to spoil their mood ... and not only mine.

-What are you so happy about? You still can't avoid punishment, - Elsa was content to watch the stretching faces of the magicians.

- But, I thought we were forgiven ... - the blonde began.

-Why? - Elsa gave her a 'loving' look, - then I was just too busy saving your skins, besides, only the Master can cancel or mitigate the punishment, so get ready.

- Oh no, I don't want to ooo, not again! - Gray was in a panic, and Natsu was somehow nervous.

-What is this punishment? - no, I'm really interested, there seemed to be an episode in the anime with the exchange of bodies, only it was, firstly, filler, and secondly, the exchange of souls is a very complex ritual and it can be done with just a dozen phrases that were written on that piece of paper, only Bickslow, who specializes in working with souls, is capable, and even then, it is not at all a fact. Not to mention canceling the action by casting the spell backwards.

-Hmm, well, the last time this couple was guilty, the Master made them walk around the city in women's dresses for a whole week and respond to girls' names. Although then they just tried to get into the women's hostel ... - I learned three things. Firstly, Gray and Natsu are not hopeless, since they tried to get into the girls' hostel, although it is not yet known what they needed there, they could have just tried to catch Elsa, and secondly - Makarych has a very sophisticated fantasy, so it's better for him under the hot hand and not to get caught, well, and the third - it is necessary to think over distracting maneuvers and plans to retreat from the hostel - I doubt that a woman's dress will suit me.

- Yes, sternly. And the old man is still an inventor - mmm, how nice it is to look at the elongated faces of this 'sweet couple'.

-And why are you happy? You were on that island too. This means that you will be punished too! - the dragonseer was indignant.

-Not, have you forgotten the guild rule? Everyone decides for himself where to go and what to do. I was just fishing, not stealing a contract from the second floor. Who knew that a quiet, peaceful island would be the goal of your mission? - Elsa nodded affirmatively, - by the way, Lucy, what key did you get?

-Sagittarius. Centaur archer.

-Hmmm ... air aspect, if I'm not mistaken, not bad, for a complete set there is not enough fireman ...

Well, here's the guild, and there the Master was already waiting for us. A very displeased Master.

- They came back, it means they were spies ... What were you thinking about when you got into this task. You could dishonor the guild, although to hell with it, with the reputation, you yourself could die, idiots! So far, you have neither the knowledge nor the strength for such contracts, but what next? Going on ten-year assignments? - Dreyar spilled like a nightingale for another thirty minutes, never repeating himself in the description of the guilty individuals, well, except that, except for the 'spy' that had already become his calling card, but Lucy got a minimum - after all, she did not participate in the abduction of the contract and did not join the violators instead of bringing them back. As a result, she got off with a verbal punishment and a promise not to do this anymore, so as not to drive the head of the Fey into the coffin ahead of time, the old perverted wanted to spank her, but, under the joint 'kind' looks of Elsa, Mira (the Deputy Master, as always, followed superiors, so that he would not get too carried away), and mine, got confused and left this idea. But the guys got it in full - and the heavy Workshop tasted their hands, and learned a lot about themselves, and for the next two weeks they got stylish costumes ... of jesters, after which they were released to all four sides. Well, Elsa and Lucy and I had to tell what happened on the island (Mira really wanted to know how, when I went fishing in splendid isolation, I came back with two girls, and the rest of the fairies pricked up their ears too). Then, having taken leave (and having made an appointment with Lucy for tomorrow afternoon at the entrance to the guild), he hurried home.

The house, or rather the enchanting basement, was already ready for use, having taken out the first test tube containing a mixture of water and non-melting ice, I began to draw a ritual figure under it. I needed to create an anchor in order to attract the entire essence of Ur, in general. It would have been nice to enlist Bickslow's help, but this type was not available right now. Yes, and I did not arouse much confidence, and therefore - again calculations (praise the combat mode), drawings and again calculations. So, you can attract a soul, but one problem has surfaced - a container. Initially, I planned to use a homunculus carcass, but alas, you cannot pour the soul of a magician into it and at the same time maintain life. If I had a 'whole' soul, the problem would not have arisen - for a couple of minutes the body will not go bad without magic, and then the infused will take care of the container himself. In my case, the introduction process could drag on for a long time - from a week to a couple of months. A thought flashed with the support of the preparation through Simba. But I also had to abandon it - the chance is too great that the soul of Ur will try to merge not into the body, but into the symbiont, in terms of magical indicators somewhat superior to the prepared vessel, and taking into account the magic that nestled in me - this means devouring the soul of the sorceress with a probability of percent at ninety. Eh, I would like the Black Stone of Souls from the 'Old Scrolls', but what is not there. I had to trudge to the library and look for alternatives. Although I didn't have to strain too much - the solution was already on the surface - an ordinary ice crystal holds the soul of the ice magician well, and if you use water and pieces of ice from Ur's body for the base, then the size of such a crystal will not be very large - it turned out to be something- it is about two meters high and a meter wide. I had to go to Gray and ask him to conjure up such a thing, preferably one that could not melt within a couple of months, but better half a year (just in case, it is worth taking with a margin). It had been night for a long time in the yard, but when did it stop me? In the end, we can say that it is just a very early morning and follow the advice of one wise bear ...

Finding Fulbuster's house by the mark left on the ice wizard was no problem, but waking him up and explaining what I want from him at half past five in the morning is much more difficult. The iceman was so sleepy that he dutifully complied with my demand, freezing Ur water (of course, what kind of water I did not explain) and freezing a crystal of the required size on top, then turned over on its other side and immediately fell asleep. I admit, not without my help, but let him think that he just dreamed everything. You never know how things will go further? I don't want to give the guy wasted hope. Back home, I placed the resulting ice crystal in the place prepared for it and started the ritual. Well, now all that remains is to wait for the soul of Ur to occupy a new container, at this glorious moment the magic will cease to work and the drawing on the floor and walls will become just a drawing. Just in case, lowering the temperature of the basement to minus three degrees so that the crystal does not melt for sure (climate control in the spell hall is a mandatory thing - many spells, especially at the first attempts to master it, require different conditions. It's not for nothing that cold magicians sit naked in snowdrifts), I left the palace and went to the laboratory - soon the showdown with the Phantom Lord was about to begin, and it was worth preparing for it properly. A rough plan of action was already spinning in my head, but some materials were required to execute it. Firstly, flash bangs, or rather some of their analogs, since it is not a problem to get magnesium - it is still used in the local photo maker for flash - far from everywhere it is possible to replace it with an appropriate spell or magical artifact. For the complete happiness of the attacker, I added capsules with hydrogen sulfide and an extract from the gland of a local animal, which is a close relative of our skunk, to these cute bombs (here it was used to create perfumes and some other chemistry). Personally, I really did not like Gajeel, at least the way he was presented in the first series of his appearance. And given the slightly more realism of this world, this bastard may not limit himself to beating Levy. Although, even this option does not suit me. So let him feel all the charm of my future gift to a quiet, modest girl with a sharpened nose and a dragon's ear. Further, Juvia, aka Rains. A very interesting girl. Both in external data and in character. She is pathologically unlucky with the guys, but what is there - these clinical idiots constantly sewed her off! Due to the fact that next to her you see, it always rains! Dibiloids! I just have no words, at least censorship. Such failures, of course, drove the girl into depression, which led to a greater riot of the elements around her and great fears of others, which in turn led to greater depression and so on. Why didn't the rain please them? For example, on the contrary, I really like it, it evokes a lyrical mood and serenity. In general, the water sorceress needs to be rescued before she reaches the handle, and so a young and beautiful girl, who is not yet twenty, wrapped herself in a fur coat that does not fit her at all. I did her aging hairstyle and in the end she looks thirty years, if not more, and I just like her. In general, figs Gray, not Juvia, besides, after that story with the island, he will not look towards the fair sex for six months more for sure. But how to stop it without causing grievous bodily harm? Almost all of my arsenal is designed to destroy the target - the magic of Fire, if it does not evaporate, on the spot, it will burn great, a blow with the raw power of Death ... I will leave it without comment, I do not really own the Darkness yet - I definitely will not be enough for the restraints, but physical attacks on it do not work - it simply turns into a water form, this one trick speaks of a monstrously powerful control of the elements - not every higher spell of the school requires becoming an attranah (attrans - a creature that can be called a semi-elemental - not an element that has taken human form, but a person who has become an element.Such creatures can freely control their element and are practically invulnerable to physical attacks * author's note). Hmmm ... but you can play on this. Prevent it from going into water form. But how? Attack suddenly and knock out with a blow to the head? It is doubtful whether it can become water on reflexes. But what if we contrast magic with ordinary chemistry? I remember there is such a wonderful substance - quicklime. In a dry state, it is ordinary chalk, but upon contact with water, a reaction begins with the release of a large amount of heat, such that in the Middle Ages 'kind' people executed especially malicious fellow citizens by drowning in a bag with this powder, and then they argued that it would be cooked earlier, or choke. No, I will not use such a savage method, but the principle of operation itself - after all, there is a mass of substances that react interestingly with water. After all, I need to prevent the sorceress from going into a state that is invulnerable to physical attacks and carefully knock it out, and then in a calm atmosphere it will be possible to talk to her. Well, I also have a present for Jose, the main thing is to play the cards correctly - he won't give me a second try. With the chemicals plan in mind, I got to work.