Innocent

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Fiore Branch of the Magic Council

Whoooosh—!!

Zzzzzzz... whoooosh—

Inside the courtroom, Makarov stood there, snoring away, while the Magic Council Chairman and nine council members sat above him.

Seeing Makarov act so nonchalantly during such a serious trial made many of the council members furious.

"M-Makarov, sir?"

"Huh?!" Makarov jolted awake.

"This is a trial... Were you just asleep?"

"Of course not! Hohohoho—ho!!" Makarov awkwardly scratched his bald head.

Soon, the verdict was announced.

"Dissolving Phantom Lord... Jose being removed from the Ten Wizard Saints—that was expected. But I didn't expect Fairy Tail to be declared innocent."

After the trial, Makarov sat down for a chat with his old friend and council member, Yajima.

"You should be thanking me, old man. I did my best to defend you." (Yajima)

"I won't say much, Yajima, but I owe you one. When the guild's rebuilt, I'll treat you to ramen." (Makarov)

"Fairy Ramen—12 extra slices of char siu." (Yajima)

"12?! That's a lot!" (Makarov)

"This whole incident violated the Inter-Guild Non-Aggression Treaty, Article 4—" (Yajima)

"Alright, alright! 20, 30 slices, whatever you want!" (Makarov)

"BTW old man, do you really not know who destroyed Phantom Lord's branch guild?" (Yajima)

"…"

The entire guild knew—how could he not? He just hadn't expected Uchiha Kitaro to be so decisive.

Right after learning that Fairy Tail had been attacked by Phantom Lord, the kid immediately wiped out their branch using his clones.

And the craziest part? While his clones were tearing Phantom Lord apart, his real body was calmly studying magic.

Makarov didn't know whether to call the kid fearless or ruthless.

But he could tell—compared to the soft-hearted members of Fairy Tail, Uchiha Kitaro had lived through a much harsher reality. That must've shaped his cutthroat decisiveness.

"So, you do know, huh? If I had to guess, it was probably that super rookie of yours—the one who wiped out Phantom Lord and even defeated Jose, one of the Ten Wizard Saints."

Makarov stayed silent, which was as good as confirmation.

"Anyone smart enough to be on the Magic Council can put the pieces together. Phantom Lord attacks Fairy Tail, then immediately gets destroyed. Of course, it had to be someone from Fairy Tail.

"And there aren't many in your guild capable of something like that. Because of the last incident, the Council was already keeping an eye on Uchiha Kitaro.

"The only reason there's no punishment is because, one, there's no solid evidence, and two, we have proof that Phantom Lord deliberately provoked Fairy Tail and even tried to start a war.

"But that rookie of yours is something else. Taking down a Ten Wizard Saint? That's not just a monster—that's a super monster."

"Hahaha! Right?! That little punk Uchiha Kitaro is something else! He's my student now, learning magic from me!"

Even though Kitaro was a troublemaker, Makarov was proud of him.

"He's learning magic from you? You sure you're not gonna ruin him?" (Yajima)

"What'd you just say?!"

"Anyway, old man, the Council's been watching Fairy Tail closely. Org even suggested dissolving the guild. If this keeps up, you're going to face severe punishment. You should retire while you still can—your body won't last much longer." (Yajima)

As an old friend, Yajima knew Makarov's health wasn't as good as it seemed. If he wasn't careful, his life could be in danger at any moment.

That night, Makarov sat on the rafters of the Fairy Tail guild, drinking under the moonlight.

He couldn't help but think about Yajima's words.

"Retirement… huh."

He was already over eighty. He'd thought about retiring before.

But back then, the guild was full of kids. He had to stay.

Now, those little brats had grown into Fairy Tail's pillars of strength. He had to admit—he was getting old.

"The guild is renewed… Maybe it's time for a new master."

"Laxus… that kid has serious emotional issues."

"Gildarts… no way."

"Mystogan… he's completely hopeless at communication. If that's the case, Erza's still pretty young…"

"As for Uchiha Kitaro… he's great, but he's too inexperienced. He's not even an S-Class wizard yet. And honestly, I don't think he really cares about the guild. What he seems to care about most is magic itself. Even with all that power, he's still not satisfied. Just how strong does that kid want to become?"

Being a guild master wasn't just about strength—it was also about seniority. Otherwise, it would cause unrest among the members.

It was like a company hiring a new recruit, a lazy one at that, and then suddenly promoting them to CEO within a month. How would the hardworking employees feel about that?

An S-Class wizard wasn't just a title—it was a symbol of strength and status. S-Class wizards were also the guild master's potential successors.

If anything happened to the master, the S-Class wizards would step up to lead the guild.

You had to be S-Class before you could even be considered for guild master.

That was the same for every magic guild. If someone who hadn't even reached S-Class tried to take over, it would never work.

"I'll wait a little longer."

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