Fairy Tail: Collapsing Stars

Chapter 367: 367 30,000 vs. 1,000,000?

”A war is starting?”

Evanʼs eyes narrowed slightly. Sure, he had asked Old Toma to get to the point, but this was too concise, wasnʼt it? At least tell him who they were going to war with?

”Yes, war is about to begin...”

Toma said gravely, hands behind his back, his expression serious, as if he didnʼt see much hope in the Kingdom of Fioreʼs current situation.

”Apologies, Your Majesty Toma. I arrived late, Lord Evan moved too quickly.”

”Since Iʼm here now, Your Majesty, Lord Evan, please allow me to explain.”

Just as Evan was frowning in confusion, waiting for Toma to elaborate, the White Tiger pushed open the door to the conference room and stepped forward.

”Very well, Iʼll leave it to you, Captain White Tiger.”

Toma gave a slight nod upon seeing her.

The Kingdom of Fiore had thrived for so long partly because Toma never involved himself in military matters, he had no talent for warfare. His strengths lay more in diplomacy and political maneuvering between nations.

In fact, he had just received intel from the frontlines about an impending invasion. Upon hearing it, Tomaʼs first move wasnʼt to summon his generals or the leaders of the Magic Knights. Instead, his first action was to send White Tiger to Magnolia to fetch Evan.

To Toma, gathering any number of armies or commanders was less effective than calling in Evan, the top-ranked member of the Ten Wizard Saints.

Would Evan help him? Well, Toma was the guy with a Fairy Tail guild mark tattooed on his butt, surely Fairy Tail wouldnʼt leave him hanging, right?

”Lord Evan, allow me to explain the current state of the war. Would that be alright?”

White Tiger turned toward Evan and asked.

As a Saint Wizard, Evan would typically be addressed as ”Your Grace” or something equivalent, but with King Toma present, such titles would suggest Evan outranked the king, which would be awkward. After some thought, White Tiger simply opted for ”Lord Evan.”

”Go ahead.”

Evan didnʼt care about titles. Whatever White Tiger called him was irrelevant, as long as he felt respected, that was enough.

”Thank you, Lord Evan. Iʼll be brief...”

”In truth, itʼs about the Dragonʼs Tear you took with you. Do you remember it?”

White Tiger gave a polite bow, then brought up the artifact.

”The Dragonʼs Tear? So this war has something to do with that?”

Evan raised an eyebrow. At first, he thought this was just a run-of-the-mill conflict between nations.

If that were the case, he could just show up in the enemy kingdomʼs capital, grab their king by the collar, and give him a lecture. Simple. But now, it seemed more complicated.

”When His Majesty entrusted you with the Dragonʼs Tear, there was significant opposition. And now, the one who has incited this war, the traitor who betrayed the Kingdom of Fiore, is one of those original dissenters...”

White Tiger nodded and explained the link between the Dragonʼs Tear and the upcoming war.

”A traitor?”

Evan caught the key detail immediately.

”Yes. The real reason Fiore is facing a sudden threat of war is that a traitor within our military defected, taking with him classified information on our kingdom. He fled abroad and used that intel to curry favor with nearby monarchs. Now, many of our neighboring nations are simultaneously pressuring Fiore, demanding we hand over ancient and dangerous treasures sealed in our royal vaults, including, of course, the Dragonʼs Tear.”

White Tigerʼs tone was calm as she laid out Fioreʼs current crisis.

”Got it…”

”So, Old Toma, what you want is for me to end this war, right?”

Evan leaned back in his chair, thinking for a moment before asking, gaze fixed on Toma, who stood solemnly with hands behind his back.

”If possible, yes. Thatʼs exactly what Iʼm asking.”

Toma nodded respectfully.

”Ending a war is easy. But how I do it is up to me. Iʼll handle the ending, you deal with the aftermath. That okay with you?”

Evan asked matter-of-factly.

”Of course, thatʼs our responsibility.”

Toma exhaled in relief. With Evanʼs assurance, the Kingdom of Fiore was as good as invincible.

”Then let me ask you this, Old Toma, do you want to resolve this with force, or more gently?”

Evan tapped his fingers lightly on the table as he posed the question.

”And if we did go with force, what would you do?”

Toma asked cautiously.

”Drop a meteor on every enemy capital. Wipe out all the armies of the nations preparing for war. Make an example out of them and show the whole continent what Fioreʼs capable of.”

Evan replied flatly, expression blank.

”Uh…”

”I figured youʼd say that.”

Sweat beaded on Tomaʼs forehead. If anyone else had said that, heʼd think it was nonsense.

But if Evan said it, he believed it. Without question.

No one knew better than Toma how powerful Evan truly was.

”And the gentler option?”

Toma asked carefully.

”Just scare them into withdrawing. Thatʼs about it, right?”

Evanʼs eyes narrowed. Honestly, he preferred the violent solution, it required less thinking. The ”gentle” route took strategy, which wasnʼt Fairy Tailʼs style.

”Then letʼs go with the gentler approach. I donʼt want to disrupt the regional balance of power if I donʼt have to...”

”Fioreʼs population isnʼt large, and our land is more than enough. Thanks to your help, weʼve converted many of our mountains into fertile fields. Even some long-hidden underground mines were discovered when you cleared out those dark guilds. Weʼre prosperous now, we donʼt lack for anything. Iʼm not interested in more territory.”

Toma shook his head. The entire kingdom had fewer than twenty million people, and their land was more than sufficient. He had no desire to conquer anyone.

”Understood. Then Iʼll proceed as youʼve requested.”

Evan gave a slight nod, after all, this was Old Tomaʼs request, so of course heʼd go along with it.

”Just what is going on between His Majesty Toma and Lord Evan?!”

”Do they really think war is something that can be dealt with this easily?”

White Tigerʼs pupils trembled slightly as she watched Evan and Toma chatting so casually.

To her, it felt as if, in their eyes, this entire war could be resolved with just a few words...

From White Tigerʼs perspective, both Evan and Toma were grossly underestimating what war truly meant. War wasnʼt something you could smooth over with a conversation, it was soaked in blood.

As someone whoʼd fought on the front lines for years, White Tiger understood just how brutal and bloody war could be.

In her view, both Toma and Evan were being far too naive.

When tens of thousands of soldiers charge at a single target, even the mightiest mage could fall. After all, many of those soldiers came from private magic guilds, and among them were fighters ranked as S-class mages!

”Captain White Tiger! Emergency report! Itʼs bad, really bad!”

Just as Evan and Toma seemed to have settled the course of action, almost as if the enemy nations, their armies, and their top warriors no longer posed any real threat, a panicked soldier burst into the meeting room.

”Calm yourself! Do you even realize who youʼre standing in front of?!”

White Tiger frowned and scolded the flustered soldier with a sharp tone.

”I..Iʼm sorry! I didnʼt know His Majesty was present. Please forgive me!”

Only after her reminder did the soldier look up and realize that the man standing solemnly with hands behind his back was none other than King Toma. Panic set in, and he dropped to one knee, not daring to look him in the eye.

”Rise. This is an emergency, no need for formalities.”

”Just tell us clearly what you came to report.”

Toma waved his hand gently, gesturing for the soldier to speak.

”Y-Yes, Your Majesty...”

”Weʼve just received intel, led by the Kingdom of Stratra, over twenty nations have formed a coalition army exceeding one million soldiers. Theyʼre advancing toward the borders of Fiore.”

”And among this million-strong army are numerous highly skilled mages. Our situation is... very grim.”

The soldier stood and relayed the report, his face filled with fear and dread.

”What? Over twenty nations formed an army of a million?! How many do we have at the border?!”

Before Toma could speak, White Tiger blurted out the question, panic written all over her face.

To be honest, the situation on the border was far worse than she had anticipated.

”U-Uh… we have… about…”

”Thirty… thirty thousand soldiers.”

The soldierʼs lips turned pale, and he spoke with a dry, cracking voice.

”30,000 against 1,000,000?! This isnʼt a battle we can win with courage alone!”

White Tigerʼs face went ashen, she had lost all confidence in the borderʼs defense.

”Your Majesty, we must immediately mobilize all available forces and send reinforcements to the border. Contact every independent mage guild, mercenary group, anyone we can recruit! If we begin mobilizing now, thereʼs still a chance!”

She turned to Toma, urgently stating her plan.

”Sip~”

In response, Toma simply took a calm sip of his tea.

”Sorry, Evan. Looks like those countries are even more desperate than I thought. Iʼll leave the border to you, then.”

Toma spoke politely as he turned to Evan, giving a slight bow to show his respect.

”Weʼre from the same guild, no need to be so formal.”

Evan chuckled softly and stood up from his chair.

”Huh…?”

It was only as Evan stood that the soldier finally noticed there was someone else in the room, someone who wasnʼt his captain or the king.

Seeing the deference Toma showed to this man, the soldier instantly realized that Evan must be someone extraordinary.

”Coordinates?”

Before the soldier could gather his thoughts, Evan walked up to him and asked calmly.

”C-Coordinates?”

The soldier blinked, confused.

”What else? The location where the one-million-strong army is gathered.”

Evan chuckled slightly, this soldier was a bit slow on the uptake.

”Uh, southeast of the kingdom…”

The soldier finally answered quickly.

”Southeast, huh? Got a map?”

Evan raised an eyebrow. The southeast of Fiore covered a lot of ground, heʼd need something more precise.

”Yes! Yes, I do!”

The soldier stiffened, then quickly rummaged through the multifunctional backpack he carried. He pulled out the latest revised map of the Kingdom of Fiore.

Thanks to Fairy Tailʼs frequent disruptions, Fiore had to update its official maps nearly every month...

The benefit? No other country had an accurate map of Fiore, not even Fiore itself.

This led to the rather hilarious situation of the twenty-nation coalition each holding slightly different versions of Fioreʼs map, over thirty variants in total.

”Roughly… here.”

The soldier spread the map on the table and marked the approximate location of the allied armyʼs encampment.

”Got it.”

”Old Toma, you might want to start preparing the victory banquet~”

Evan glanced at the map, cracked his neck, and stood tall, clearly ready to move.

”You got it!”

Toma smiled joyfully as he watched Evan prepare to depart.

”Well then, Iʼm off.”

With a small grin, Evan vanished completely from the royal conference room.