The Carlos Mountains are located in the western part of the Council, standing tall in the western region of the Kingdom of Fiore and stretching across a vast expanse of land. The mountain range consists of rugged peaks, rolling glaciers, and mysterious forests.
It was now late September in the year X768. Layla and August had been traveling for over a year. During this time, whenever they reached a city, August would take Layla to see physicians and healing Mages, but nothing could be done about Layla's condition; they could only offer some sound advice. Layla felt a tinge of regret, but didn't care all that much. After all, he wasn't the original occupant of this body, and as a somewhat selfish individual, as long as his memories remained intact, he was fine.
By this time, Layla had already mastered magic. After months of grueling torment, Layla was finally able to learn magic, though at the time he hadn't decided what kind of magic he wanted to study.
"There is no need to rush. Magic will also choose you; with an unwavering heart, you will eventually encounter the magic you desire. Since you are feeling hesitant and undecided, this magic might be of help to you." Seeing the hesitation in Layla's heart, August transmitted the Super Archive Magic directly into Layla's mind and explained how it worked.
After a short while, Layla gradually absorbed the Super Archive Magic that August had transmitted to him. Then, spreading his hands, a golden magic circle materialized, followed by the appearance of a massive information-gathering sphere above his head and a virtual screen in front of him.
"Whoa! This is Super Archive Magic, and you can search for so much information on it!" Layla tapped on the screen with both hands, searching for various types of magic information, causing the screen in front of him to split into numerous small, neatly arranged windows.
"Use it well."
Returning to the present, Layla looked at August and couldn't help asking, "Grandpa, how much farther until we reach a town?"
"We're almost there. Look, just a short distance away—let's use Teleportation Magic." August walked to the top of the slope ahead and pointed at a town not too far off in the distance.
Along their journey, Layla and August had crossed high mountains and traversed forests, encountering many villages. Sometimes these places were plagued by magical beasts, and Layla and August would help them out, resting in the village afterward. Generally speaking, however, August always had Layla spar against these magical beasts first; if Layla couldn't beat them, they would wait until he was completely exhausted before August stepped in.
Layla felt a surge of depression inside. "This world is pure physical conditioning. Why are all Mages melee fighters, and why are the physiques of the people here so absurd?" More importantly, of course, Layla had learned Teleportation Magic and instantaneous movement—if you can't beat them, you have to run fast.
With the formation of a magic circle, Layla and August teleported to a forest a short distance from the town.
"This is Carlos Town! It's so huge. I wonder how many magic shops are in there." Thinking of various interesting magical items, Layla began to get excited.
"Well, just go take a look. Our travel funds are almost gone." Seeing Layla's excitement, August instantly poured cold water on him.
Walking into a magic shop, Layla gazed at the various display cases filled with countless Celestial Spirit keys he didn't recognize, as well as some ring magic. The shelves were crammed with magic potions of all kinds, capturing his attention.
"If you outfitted your entire body with magic items, fighting people would literally make you a pay-to-win player. Oh well, in this world, your strength is still determined by your own magic power." Looking at the dazzling array of goods, Layla's mind raced.
Indeed, there was no real need for Layla to buy any of these things; he merely found them interesting. The most fun part of coming to a magical world was experiencing all kinds of magic, but most of them weren't terribly practical for him. There were some everyday magical tools that seemed quite interesting, but Layla had no money.
Afterward, Layla and August had a meal at a restaurant and then went to an inn, preparing to stay there for the night.
"There's a train station in this town. Tomorrow we'll take the train to Magnolia. I heard there's a very powerful healing Mage there, so we're going over to take a look." And naturally, to see what the guild she created looked like.
"Take a train? Okay." Layla wondered why they suddenly needed to take a train. Was there something urgent they needed to rush for?
"Speaking of which, there seems to be a rather interesting guild in Magnolia, though their ability to cause trouble is also top-tier." Layla thought to himself that they were finally going to Magnolia after all. Looking at the copy of *Weekly Sorcerer* in his hand, the headline clearly read: [Fairy Tail's strongest S-Class Mage, Gildarts, destroyed a mountain peak in the Altana Mountains.] At the same time, Layla watched closely to observe August's reaction to hearing the name of this guild.
"By the way, Grandpa, what guild do you belong to?"
"Me? I don't have a guild. Do you know about the Alvarez Empire, the central nation of the Western Continent? I happen to be the ruler known as the strongest Mage King of that country." August stroked his beard, wearing a meaningful smile.
Of course Layla knew about these things, but he was completely clueless about what happened to August after he met Zeref. He opened up the Super Archive Magic to search for information.
"Grandpa, no way! Is all this information about you?" Even though he was mentally prepared, seeing August's surface-level information was already enough to leave one dumbfounded. This amount of information surpassed what some people accumulated over several lifetimes.
"Hahaha, it's all right." August stroked his beard.
"All right, all right, time to sleep early." August urged Layla, who was still busy searching for information about the Alvarez Empire on the side.
"Okay." Layla acted very obediently. As for why, back when he had first learned this magic, Layla had stayed up all night looking up every conceivable, public, and interesting piece of information he could think of, pulling several all-nighters in a row. The next night, when August saw Layla preparing to stay up late again, he gave him a direct whack on the head, knocking him right out, and ever since then, Layla had learned his lesson.
August lay on his bed, recalling their time in Maple Village. Initially, August hadn't thought much of it, but when Layla heard August's name, his reaction had seemed a bit strange. Noticing this, August had activated his Eye of God Magic and discovered that Layla's soul was extremely unstable, yet his body contained a massive pool of magic power. If left unchecked, Layla's soul would be unable to properly control his body, and the magic within him would be like a ticking bomb.
Although August was puzzled as to how Layla might still know about him despite his confused state of memory, he remained uneasy. Making him train his body and battle magical monsters all along the way was entirely intended to help his body gradually adapt, thereby allowing his soul and body to better harmonize and control his own magic power. Of course, during those months, August had closely monitored Layla's condition, and upon seeing improvement, he finally felt relieved and no longer needed to cast soul-stabilization magic on Layla every night.
At first, he had only done it for the boy's physical well-being, but as their time together grew longer, he felt that this disciple was far from simple and was hiding many secrets.
The next morning, Layla opened his eyes, put on his clothes, and groggily began to wash up.
"Morning, Grandpa. Where did you go for a joyride?" Hearing the door open, Layla turned his head to look at August returning from outside. Seriously, how was Grandpa able to wake up this early every single time? Was he getting younger the older he got?
"Hurry up and wash up. I've already bought the tickets; pack your things and let's go. You can never wake up when it's time, yet you don't even have as much energy as an old man like me." Looking at the lazy Layla, August wore a look of utter exasperation and went on a relentless rant.
"Got it." Layla quickly finished washing up, packed his luggage, and stood at attention in front of August. Layla knew very well that his grandpa simply couldn't stand seeing him laze around; if they didn't have places to be, Grandpa would definitely make sure he had a thorough "workout."
"All right, let's go." Seeing Layla's obedient attitude, August nodded.