Nate didn’t hide anything and expined Zeref’s curse to the two women, including the existence of the Alvarez Empire in the Western Continent.

  After hearing the story, Mirajane's eyes widened as she muttered,

  “This is unbelievable. Zeref… he’s the legendary Bck Mage, isn’t he?”

  “That’s him,” Nate nodded. “I met him during the S-Css exam when I was setting up the arena. That’s how I got to know him.”

  “So, you’re going to be an emperor over there?” Mirajane asked, taking a sharp breath.

  “Why the gasp?”

  Nate shook his head.

  “It’s not like I’m leaving the guild. I’m just taking on the emperor’s position as a side job.”

  The Alvarez Empire didn’t need him to manage it directly; it already had an exceptional administrator. Worst case scenario, Irene was also there, wasn’t she?

  “When will you leave, Fourth Master?” Mavis suddenly asked.

  “You want to come too?” Nate was surprised. “Sure, we can leave ter today.”

  “Really?” Mavis’s eyes sparkled. “The Western Continent sounds so interesting!”

  Mirajane covered her mouth and chuckled.

  “Just don’t let Natsu find out, or he’ll start cmoring to come along.”

  “That’s definitely something Natsu would do,” Nate agreed with a nod.

  As they chatted, time passed. After finishing breakfast, Nate focused his thoughts and entered the game world. Before heading to the Western Continent, he wanted to test creating the “Coal Dragon Dungeon” to see if the concept was feasible.

  …

  The Future World

  South of the royal capital, in the Coal Dragon’s ir.

  This area was an open-pit coal mine shaped like a massive bowl. The deeper one ventured, the smaller the area became, resembling a colossal crater.

  Fairy Tail’s 40-pyer team had been trying to defeat the Coal Dragon since st night. This was their fourth attempt, and they were close to their fourth wipeout.

  Boom!!!

  The Coal Dragon soared into the air, unleashing a bst of dragon breath at the st few survivors. A dazzling fireball erupted, shaking the earth with its roar.

  As the fmes and smoke gradually dissipated, the Coal Dragon folded its wings and returned to the bottom of the mine. It opened its mouth, biting into exposed coal veins with a loud crunch. The magic it had expended quickly began to regenerate.

  “I’ve killed them so many times, but they keep coming back. What’s going on?”

  The Coal Dragon belched, scratching its head. While other dragons had fled, this one refused to leave.

  “This coal mine is amazing,”

  the dragon decred, deciding it would be its permanent nest.

  “The only problem is those pesky humans… they keep coming back from the dead. Next time, I’ll leave a few alive to question them…”

  Suddenly, the Coal Dragon raised its head, narrowing its eyes. A figure slowly descended from above, floating gracefully in the air.

  “Another one? Damn it! Can’t a dragon eat in peace?”

  the Coal Dragon roared.

  Nate smiled faintly.

  “Sorry to interrupt your meal. What’s your name?”

  “Hah? A mere human wants to know my name? You’re ten thousand years too early!”

  the Coal Dragon scoffed.

  “I’ve decided—I’m going to eat you!”

  Since the dragon wasn’t cooperative, Nate didn’t bother wasting words. He raised his right hand, crossing his index and middle fingers, and softly chanted,

  “Domain Expansion!”

  In an instant, a surge of cursed energy radiated outward. The bck, mist-like energy spread rapidly, enveloping the Coal Dragon in a massive bck sphere over 500 meters in diameter.

  The Coal Dragon was stunned. It swiped at the sphere’s wall with its cws, producing a loud cng, but its attack was deflected.

  “It’s useless,”

  Nate said with a smirk.

  “This is a sealed, isoted space. Unless you can break through dimensions, you won’t get out. This domain is powered by cursed energy, so your natural dragon resistance to magic doesn’t work well against it.”

  “Interesting,”

  the Coal Dragon growled, realizing this human was different from those pesky Dragon Syers.

  “You seem strong—much stronger than the forty who attacked me before.”

  “I’m not here to fight you,”

  Nate said nonchantly.

  “I’m just using you for an experiment. Your opponents will still be the Dragon Syers.”

  Defeating the dragon would be easy for Nate; all he needed to do was exploit its weakness and use his Dragon Taming Magic.

  “Experiment?”

  The Coal Dragon was enraged.

  Nate extended his hand, and floating text appeared above the sphere:

  [BOSS: Coal Dragon]

  [Difficulty: ★☆]

  “What does this mean?”

  the Coal Dragon frowned.

  “You didn’t want to share your name, so I’ll just call you the Coal Dragon,”

  Nate said.

  “Every time you defeat a team of Dragon Syers, your difficulty will increase. Let’s see how many stars you can achieve!”

  With a fsh of gold, Nate disappeared, leaving only his parting words,

  “Oh, and don’t bother destroying the floating text. Even if you destroy it here, it will still dispy outside. Bye~”

  “Damn human!”

  the Coal Dragon roared in anger, unleashing a breath attack that obliterated the text into dust. However, the walls of the sphere remained intact.

  “Curse it!”

  The Coal Dragon smmed its cws into the ground. Coal dust spread in all directions, triggering a massive explosion. The ground trembled violently, as though struck by a magnitude 10 earthquake, yet the bck sphere remained unbroken.

  “What… is this thing?”

  …

  Outside the Sphere

  Floating in the air, Nate watched quietly. After waiting a while, he was satisfied that the sphere showed no signs of cracking.

  If this had been a dragon like Acnologia or Igneel, they might have broken out. But the Coal Dragon clearly wasn’t at their level.

  “This will do for now,”

  Nate thought.

  “It’s just a one-time dungeon—once the boss is defeated, it’s over.”

  After the pyers defeated this dragon, he pnned to use his Dragon Taming Magic to control it.

  …

  Leaving the “game world,” Nate brought Mavis to the port city of Hargeon. They needed to board a ship to reach the Western Continent, and the journey would take ten to fifteen days. However, there was no trade between the two continents, making it nearly impossible to find a ship.

  Nate inquired around the port, but there were no commercial vessels heading to the Western Continent—not a single one. A curious captain finally asked,

  “Nate-san, what do you need in the Western Continent?”

  “To be the emperor.”

  “Ha! You’re hirious,”

  the captain ughed.

  “Occasionally, people from the Western Continent come here to work, but trade between the two continents is illegal. You understand, right?”

  Nate nodded in realization. It wasn’t that ships never traveled between the continents; rather, the kingdom prohibited such trade. Of course, smuggling ships existed, but getting caught would mean huge trouble. Naturally, everyone pretended there were no ships avaible.

  “Forget it. Let’s fly,”

  Nate said, turning to Mavis.

  “First Master, can you fly?”

  “I can’t,”

  Mavis burst out ughing.

  “Are we really going to fly there? It’s very far, you know.”

  She really couldn’t fly now that she was alive? Nate suspected she was feigning ignorance but decided not to press her.

  “Then we’ll ride a dragon,”

  he said, snapping his fingers.

  “Reverse Magic: Flying Thunder God!”

  A massive golden magic circle appeared in the air above the port, summoning the Sea King Dragon from the parallel world. Its sudden appearance threw the port into chaos.

  “D-Dragon!”

  “Run!”

  Nate watched them scatter, amused.

  Run? Where are you going? This is your emperor’s mount!

  He grinned smugly. Nothing’s cooler than riding a dragon!

  Bleam