Sieg motioned for her to stand up first and said, “I heard from Selene that in order to deal with the dragons in the western continent, the envoy of the Flame Dragon King came to discuss the action with you, so I came to see the situation. How is the discussion going?”

“For the time being, a solution has been determined.”

It was Belserion who answered.

Belserion lowered his dragon head and said, “If you are not in a hurry, Irene and I were planning to report to you after this meeting.”

“This is about slaying the dragon. I would be unhappy if I was excluded from the process.”

Ziggy laughed.

These words frightened Irene, who had just stood up, so much that she quickly knelt down again, fearing that Sieg would be really angry and bring down divine punishment on her.

“…Well, it seems I can’t joke with you. I’m not angry, Irene, calm down.”

“Yes… Thank you for your forgiveness and mercy, Master Sieg.”

Irene patted her chest and took a deep breath to regain her composure.

Sieg was actually very troubled by Irene’s current attitude. Just like he had never thought of developing his relationship with Lucy to this point, he had never thought of really ruling a country and making Irene be so respectful to him that she couldn’t even make a joke.

However, no matter what he said over the past month, Irene didn’t change. It was useless to say anything now. Besides, there was a more important person waiting for Sieg to meet in the reception hall.

“So, you are the messenger of the Flame Dragon King?”

Sieg looked at the young man…or boy, who was sitting in another chair at the huge round table.

He was a black-haired boy wearing black clothes with a long white cloth tied around his body. His grey eyes were gleaming with a dim luster. He looked a little gloomy, with a vague, empty smile on his face.

Sieg recognized him, so he was somewhat surprised now.

“…I didn’t expect it to be you. Is this the identity you have in this era?”

“…I see. I didn’t expect that the Eclipse Gate Project, which I had shelved, would actually have a successful case.”

The boy stood up, walked to Sieg, put his hands on his chest, and bowed slightly:

“From my perspective now – hello, respected Winged Dragon King. [Nice to meet you], I’m Zeref, Zeref Dragneel.”

“This time, I am here as a representative of my friend, the Flame Dragon King Igneel, to discuss with you the matters related to the joint all-out war against the invasion of dragons from the Western Continent. I hope that your country can work with us to expel all the invaders from the Western Continent from our homeland and put an end to the dragon disasters that have occurred in various parts of the Eastern Continent.”

The black magician who was regarded as the most vicious one 400 years later and the dark side of the entire history of magic now appeared in front of Sieg in such an identity.

Sieg paused for a moment, then pulled out a chair and sat down. “I have a lot of things I want to ask you, so let’s talk about them all at once. Before you answer my questions, please explain this [Total Force Battle] first—”

“Could it be that the Flame Dragon King is preparing to start an all-out war?”

40. Kill them all, leaving no one behind!

A total battle between the dragons of the East Continent and the dragons of the West Continent.

If it is true as Sieg thought, that the Flame Dragon King is preparing to launch an all-out war between the two continents, then a considerable area of ​​the entire East Continent will be caught up in the war, right?

From Sieg’s perspective, he certainly hoped that the final battle could start smoothly. All the dragons in the Western Continent should be killed! The dragons in the Eastern Continent who defected to the Western Continent should also be killed!

But he also cannot ignore the negative impact of a total war.

“For that matter, Igneel is thinking of calling a war in which only dragons can participate.”

Jeff explained.

“——【Dragon King Festival】.”

“With the gimmick of [determining who is the strongest dragon king] as the core, we will try our best to attract the attention of all dragons on the East and West continents to one place, and then capture all the dragons in one fell swoop – to put it bluntly, this is the battle plan.”

“…Wouldn’t it be easier?”

Sieg frowned.

Can this kind of warfare alone really end the long-standing war between the two continents?

Jellal smiled and said, “Indeed, at first glance it looks like a fight, but the opponent is a dragon, and the dragons of the Western Continent are quite ferocious. As long as Igneel makes a declaration as the Fire Dragon King, or even makes a provocation, the dragons of the Western Continent will definitely respond. At least, those dragons that want to dominate the humans on this continent will definitely respond.”

“At that time, we only need to get rid of all those dragons. That way, even if we can’t end the war completely, we can at least reduce the number of dragons to a point where they can no longer start a war.”

The reason why the dragon disaster became a dragon disaster is, on the one hand, because the power of dragons is too strong compared to humans, and on the other hand, there are too many dragons. Although there are not tens of millions or even billions of dragons like humans, it can also be said that there are thousands and thousands of dragons.

This number is something that humans can never resist, and even if there are only a single digit number of dragons, they can easily conquer a kingdom – countries like Dragnov are only a minority after all, and the number of dragon slayers is not as large as that of any kingdom in the Eastern Continent.

“Igneel hopes that as a human, I can go to various kingdoms protected by dragons to lobby and try to win the support of dragons seeking peace, so that we can fight side by side in the Dragon King Festival. And he will persuade those dragons who stand on a neutral position. Even if we can’t bring them all over, we must ensure that they don’t defect to the Western Continent.”

“And this kingdom – the kingdom that is protected by the Winged Dragon King – is my first stop.”

Zeref reached out his hand to Sieg, Belserion, and Irene.

“【Winged Dragon King】, 【Sky Winged Dragon】——Sieg Feil.”

“【Wise Dragon】—— Belserion.”

“【Dragon Queen】——Erin Dolagnov.”

“I hope that you can participate in the Dragon King Festival later, as a force to fight against the dragons of the Western Continent, and work with us to drive out all the dragons that invaded Ishgar, leaving no one behind.”

[Drive out all invading dragons]!

【Leave no one behind】!

Sieg licked his lips and said, “I like what you said, but it is not enough to just drive them out. We must kill them all, eradicate them completely, and not even spare a young dragon. All dragons that invade Ishgar must die.”

“We will peel off their dragon scales, devour their flesh and blood, crush their dragon bones, drink their dragon blood, and swallow their hearts into our stomachs – we will bury them completely! Let the battlefield of the Dragon King Festival become their graveyard!”

It has to be done to this extent.

Simply expelling them is not enough. If that happens, perhaps after a hundred years or so, the dragons that were once expelled will invade again, and then this Dragon King Festival will be meaningless.

If you are going to do it, do it thoroughly.

There is no need for the ferocious dragons to survive! They must be killed!

“…You are more violent and radical than I thought.” Zeref said with a smile, “But you are right. I am glad that you can accept our invitation, Lord Sky Wing Dragon. Where are Lord Xianlong and the Dragon Queen?”

“This is a plan that benefits the entire Ishgar. I have no reason to refuse.”

Belserion nodded.

Irene nodded slightly. “We are all fed up with wars and this kind of life where we don’t know when we will be attacked by dragons. In order to prevent our children from living in this kind of environment, we must end the war in our generation.”

“If I can be considered a fighting force, then please allow me to participate in the Dragon King Festival.”

“Thank you everyone.”

Zeref stood up and bowed to the three of them, thanking them. “Well, that’s enough business, Mr. Skywing Dragon. What’s next?”

Sieg nodded: “Um…..Sorry, Irene, Belserion, you guys go out first. I want to talk to him alone about the next thing.”

“Yes.”

Without any suspicion, Irene immediately stood up and left the reception hall with Belserion.

Seeing the man and the dragon leave so decisively, Jellal was a little surprised: “This country has really become a one-man show for you. I thought they would ask to stay.”

“It’s just out of trust.” Zigg said, “Even if there is a one percent chance that you want to harm me, I will never get into trouble. I may even get rid of you. They just believe in my power.”

“Of course, I don’t think I can kill you. The curse of the god Anxelram, I remember it was something like this, right? Although I know a lot of magic, I don’t know how to remove curses, let alone remove the curse of God. Unfortunately, I can’t kill you now, and I don’t want to kill you.”

“…I’m surprised, really.”

Jellal held up his hands. “It seems that my future self has told you a lot of things. In the future… are we friends?”

Sieg: “I don’t think so. To me, you are just a stranger who I met once. Although I came to this era through the Eclipse Gate, it was indeed partly because of what you said to me.”

“Eclipse Gate… Well, just as I thought, you have magic that does not belong to this era, but magic with a very special time attribute. Only the Eclipse Gate can carry magic of that attribute – as its developer, I know this very well.” Jellal said, “So, what is the question you want me to answer for you?”

“What do I have to do to get back to the future? 400 years in the future?”

Sieg went straight to the point and directly stated what he wanted to ask.

41. Go meet Lucy’s ancestors?

A way to go back 400 years into the future.

Although Griffith and his team are already conducting research in the future, for the sake of safety, Sieg does not intend to put all the possibilities on them. If Griffith and his team are unable to figure it out, then won’t he and Lucy have to stay in the past until they have spent a full 400 years before returning to the future?

Sieg could afford to wait, but Lucy definitely couldn’t.

So if possible, Sieg planned to start research on Back to the Future later.

But now, an unexpected meeting with Jellal made him book ahead.

“Back to the future?”

Jellal was silent for a while. “Theoretically, since you returned to the present through the Eclipse Gate, then as long as you pass through the Eclipse Gate, you should be able to go back to the past. However, in order to meet this condition, I think I need to meet several prerequisites first.”

“I think one of them is that you need sufficient magic power, right?” Sieg said.

“You do know it.”

“After all, I’ve actually used the Eclipse Gate once, so I know what a magic-wasting device it is.”

Is this a device that wastes mana?

Jellal smiled slightly. “That’s indeed a very suitable name for it. Although it has the power to travel through time, it consumes a huge amount of magic power every time it is activated. It can’t be said to be a particularly practical magic item.”

“And if you want to go back to the future through the Eclipse Gate, in addition to having enough magic power to activate the Eclipse Gate, you also need someone to open the Eclipse Gate for you 400 years later.”

“One entrance, one exit…but when I came back, I only opened one door–“

“If it’s a fixed-point, fixed-time teleportation, then a portal is naturally needed. But in my opinion, when you returned to the present through the Eclipse Gate, you should have returned on the night of the lunar eclipse, right? As far as I know, only on that night will the magic of the Eclipse Gate undergo a qualitative change and lead to a fixed era – so even if you don’t open the door to this era, you can still come to this era.”

As expected, he is the wizard who created the Eclipse Gate.

Even though he was regarded as the source of many disasters and the most vicious black magician in later generations, no one could surpass his attainments in the field of magic.

Obviously, this was his first meeting with Sieg, but he saw and analyzed almost everything.

“Of course, what I said is just theory. I still need some time to study whether it is feasible.”

“It’s okay. I can wait. Just don’t make me wait for more than ten years or even decades. My companions can’t wait that long.”

“Don’t worry about that. I think it will be completed in about half a year. After all, this is just a derivative study of an already completed topic. It won’t take too much time.” Jellal smiled, “Although even now, I think this theory is completely tenable.”

Zigg nodded: “Why don’t you first tell me the other conditions that need to be met?”

“There are no other conditions. Sufficient magic power and opening the Eclipse Gate in two eras – these two conditions are enough.”

“I think the magic power can be collected through the Dragon King Festival. Although it is a magic power-wasting device that absorbs magic power regardless of friend or foe, if the entire Dragon King Festival is held, it should be possible to collect enough magic power to activate it.”

“As for opening the Eclipse Gate… I think if everything goes well, my future self will be able to help with it.”

The future of Jeff?

Zig frowned, “What do you mean?”

“It means that I will keep this in mind from now on.” Jellal placed his hand on his chest. “In this era, when we open the Eclipse Gate and send you back to the future, I will keep this in mind until I open the Eclipse Gate for you 400 years later to let you return.”

“After all, I will not die no matter what because of the curse of Anxelram, so it’s just right that there is something I can remember and never forget.”

Zeref said it lightly, but what he said made Sieg’s expression serious.

Remembering something for 400 years – it’s easier said than done…

“However, if I want to open the Eclipse Gate, I still need the help of a friend of mine.”

Jeff changed the subject.

Sieg also reacted: “Oh, right, I remember that to open the Eclipse Gate, you need the assistance of a Celestial Mage who holds the 12 Zodiac Celestial Keys…Does such a person exist in this era?”

“Oh? There isn’t one in the future 400 years from now?”

“My companion only possessed 10 keys, without the Libra and Pisces keys, so when opening the door, I had to make up for the missing magic myself.”

“…After doing this, you still have enough magic power to kill dragons. It seems that your total magic power is far beyond our imagination.” Zeref looked at Sieg with surprise, and then returned to the topic, “Well, the Celestial Mage who possesses all 12 Celestial Keys does exist in this era, and he is one of my few friends.”

“——[Anna Heartfilia]. If there’s a chance, I can take you to meet her.”

Anna Heartfilia.

When he heard the name, Sieg’s face froze.

“You… didn’t call me by the wrong last name, did you? Your friend’s name… is Heartfilia?”