.

Two figures were seen with the enhanced senses of both Kazuya and Tsuna. They hid themselves under the shade of the big tree on the horizon and had chosen to take the higher ground.

"Should we take an opponent each?" Though Tsuna asked this question, it was to prevent Kazuya from recklessly charging in on his own. Since both of them were former heroes, they had the habit of standing in front of others. This was the responsibility that came with the blessing they were given and it was something that couldn't be changed just because they wanted it.

"Fine." Kazuya agreed. "We'll take on whoever faces us when we make our way up." Kazuya didn't want to waste any time and immediately dashed towards the two figures.

Tsuna sighed before heading towards the other direction. This way, the two would have to concentrate on either one of them and allow the other to reach them sooner or split their focus in which they would inevitably battle one on one if the opponents had failed to stop Tsuna and Kazuya's ascent.

""!!"" The two figures hadn't expected their positions to be discovered quickly. The two people showed that they were capable enough when the attacks that were meant to scare off these intruders were repelled easily.

Realizing that Kazuya and Tsuna were no ordinary individuals, the figures decided to get serious. They didn't know what they were doing in the mountains but it looked like they did not have good intentions. The shorter figure that had a sword on his waist was emitting a strong killing intent after all.

Kazuya locked on to the target that stood on the right side of the tree. He made his advance swiftly despite the upward and uneven terrain of the mountain. It was only until he suddenly felt a surge of mana that he had turned to take a more careful route.

As he had expected, he would have been in trouble if he had proceeded on the quickest path as the earth in front of him started to tremble. Many rocks started to fall on the path Kazuya had taken and it didn't take a long time for the terrain to change.

"(A mage!)" Kazuya exclaimed. The surge of mana he felt surprised him as he never thought that he would run into such a capable mage on earth.

Seeing that Kazuya had perfectly evaded the landslide intended to prevent him from getting close, the mage wasted no time and turned a hand towards where Kazuya had dodged to. Sensing the spell and recognizing it, Kazuya quickly rolled to the side as an earth spike sprouted from the ground.

"Annoying.." Kazuya clicked his tongue and focused mana on his legs. He jumped towards the spike and used its height to leap towards the mage's direction.

"Wind spirits converge! Mystral Wind!" Kazuya got close enough to hear the mage's voice. It sounded like a man and a relatively young one at that.

"Tsk!" Kazuya clicked his tongue and immediately drew his sword.

Mistral Wind was an advanced magic spell that would injure and send him flying down the mountain if he took a direct hit. This mage made a quick judgement to subdue him by using the aftereffects of the spell which would make him unable to use his body adequately because of the cold elements of the spell. He had underestimated this mage and assumed that the opponent was only adept in earth magic.

"Blaze Break!" Kazuya shouted as flames immediately emerged to cover the sword in his hand. The explosion of both mana and flames that met the spell head-on startled the mage and both the archer and Tsuna who were also locked in an intense battle.

Kazuya still hadn't reached the mage but he successfully reached flat ground. The terrain would no longer be a burden when evading the attacks from the mage and he would be able to see and feel the magic spells that would be used against him.

He looked at himself and found that his clothes had been damaged by the spell. He had been wearing an experimental fabric underneath his clothes that protected him from the spell but the unprotected parts were still left with scratches. It was truly reckless to meet an advanced spell head on so Kazuya decided to be a bit more cautious.

Glancing towards his opponent who seemed to have also been shocked by what just happened, Kazuya was able to see that they too had indeed tried to hide their identities. The mage and the archer were wearing green cloaks that seemed to blend perfectly with their surroundings. This gave Kazuya an inexplicably nostalgic feeling that made him frown.

"(That wasn't a standard spell..)" the mage who observed Kazuya's cloaked figure analyzed. "(Is he naturally blessed by fire spirits?)" he thought before raising his hand to cast another spell.

"!" Kazuya immediately read the pattern. His experience and the memories that have been etched into his soul made Kazuya's senses clear on what he was about to face.

"Ice Needles!" sharp icicles immediately hurled their way towards Kazuya.

He knew the intent of the mage, common sense indicated that water was the natural enemy of fire. If he used the sword to deflect the ice, it would turn into water and weaken the fire. It was a clever attack but since Kazuya already read the pattern, he chose to dodge by dashing towards the mage indirectly.

"(Let's see how clever you are once I close in.)" Kazuya thought as he continued his pursuit. As he was getting closer, he felt a fluctuation nearby but it had already been too late when he found out what it had been.

"Quagmire!" the mage shouted as the hand that he hid on his back casted the spell. He had a hunch that his opponent had read the spells he was casting because of how quick and advanced his movements was. Though he thought that the probability was low, he still tried.

Little did he know that his hunch had been correct and Kazuya had stepped right into the thick and muddy earth that almost completely halted his steps. From the speed that the ice needle's couldn't catch up to, it looked like Kazuya had a hard time to even walk.

"(Damnit!)" he cursed in his mind. He had walked right into the trap. He was too distracted with advancing while evading the continuous barrage of ice needles that mage's ability to cast earth magic slipped his mind. "(Looks like this is one mage I can't afford to mess around with)"

It wasn't that Kazuya had been inexperienced with handling mages, it was because there had been rarely any mages at his level and all the current experience he had accumulated so far had been focused on earth's level aside from his spars with Tsuna, so this mage's wits and capabilities were an eye opener for him.

"(Looks like he's finally taking his opponent seriously)" Tsuna dodged the incoming arrows and slowly continued his ascent.

"I don't sense any hostility from you compared to your companion. Why is it that you came here?" a female voice reached Tsuna's ears. It sounded peaceful and elegant which made him want to talk, but before he could reply.

*RUMBLE!*

Kazuya wasn't the only one who had underestimated his opponent. The quagmire was an advanced spell that was used to trap multiple enemies. Since it was only to trap one, the radius wasn't that wide and as deep as it should have been so Kazuya was able to take advantage of this and had cast an advanced spell of his own.

"Earth Pillar!" he had controlled the earth from deep underground and used it to pierce through the shallow quagmire under the mage's control.

Kazuya wasted no time and kicked the the rising pillar and used it's force to hurl himself towards the enemy. The mage was surprised but it had only been for a moment. Multiple number of ice needles appeared in front of his hand and immediately made their way towards their airborne enemy.

"Ignition" flames started to surround not only the sword but also Kazuya's body. He intended to reach his opponent with this step and received the ice needles that evaporated upon touch.

"(This person has an impressive amount of mana.)" the mage couldn't help admire Kazuya. "(But I must apologize, guerilla tactics have a high probability of failing against me.)" the mage raised his other hand and reinforced his spells. The ice needles stated to quickly grow larger and looked more like spears now.

"(Dual casting?)" Kazuya immediately recognized what the mage had done. It was not the spell that he was shocked to see but rather the speed it took to improve the intermediate level ice spell to an advanced magic.

"Kid! Be careful!" Tsuna couldn't help but shout. Even he had judged that they had underestimated the mage.

"HAAAAA!!!" Kazuya gripped his sword tightly with both hands. The flames that surrounded him started burning in a different color. Blue flames sprang forth from the blade and completely covered his body. From Tsuna and the archer's point of view, he was like a blue comet that was falling from the sky.

"(Talented fellow. Looks like my dual casting didn't faze him)" Kazuya slashed at the oncoming barrage of ice that seemed to have evaporated almost instantly. This made the mage even more surprised but he relented and concentrated on strengthening his own spells by making the stake-like small spears into javelins. "(How about triple casting?)"

*BANG!* the earth rumbled as the impact from Kazuya meeting the spell head on shook the surrounding area. The large branch the mage had been standing on also broke as he fell to the ground. There had been a pile of mist a few meters away from him in which it was unknown if Kazuya had made it out unscathed.

Tsuna and the archer appeared near the big tree but hadn't made any moves. They were concerned about their companions after that big clash. the archer extended her hand towards the torn part of the mage's clothes and was relieved that he didn't suffer from a major wound.

"Oi, Kid are you alright?" Tsuna stared at this misty crater. He wasn't worried whether Kazuya had died because he knew better than anyone else how smart and crafty this kid was.

"I'm fine" a shadow jumped off of the crater and landed beside Tsuna. Though Kazuya's clothes had been tattered, he had been wearing a protective suit that he had the team of Kazuno tech develop so he didn't suffer from any injuries.

There was no one more surprised than the archer that Kazuya had been unscathed. Though he wasn't able to reach her mage companion, Kazuya was able to inflict a light wound. She used healing magic to immediately take care of it but so far, there were very few people to have been able to give her companion any injuries.

"Isn't it about time you people tell us what your purpose is in intruding here?" the mage was unhappy. He had intended to give Kazuya an injury to give him an advantage if their battle continued but he wasn't able to see what his opponent had done to prevent his attack from doing any damage.

"You think you still have the advantage?" Kazuya patted the dust from himself and threw his tattered clothes to the side.

"You may have succeeded in getting close but so what? Your weapon has already been shattered. I can tell that you're primarily a warrior so expecting a chance against me in a magic battle is wishful thinking. I don't want to shed blood unnecessarily." The mage shook his head and looked at the sword handle in Kazuya's hand. It was the only thing that was left of the prized sword that Kazuya got from the Dokuro clan's former base.

"This is where you're wrong." Kazuya dropped the handle and raised his hand once again. A gun appeared on his arm which startled both the mage and the archer. "I advise you not to make any sudden moves. I might accidentally pull the trigger if I sense even the slightest indication of mana usage."

"You think a gun would make a difference?" The mage scoffed.

"A regular gun wouldn't. But would you think that I would take out an ordinary gun in a mana battle? Isn't that like taking a knife out in a gunfight?" Kazuya grinned. "It's up to you if you believe me or not but my bullets have been engraved with formations what would enable them to penetrate through mana. You should be knowledgeable about formations, right?" Kazuya's statement startled the mage. He suddenly thought of something and frowned. If his thoughts were correct, these people came here because of him.

"What is he talking about?" the archer suddenly spoke to the mage in a language that shook the hand that held the gun.

Both Kazuya and Tsuna turned towards the person who spoke in the natural language of the elves. Tsuna immediately realized the weirdness he felt earlier. When this archer spoke to him, it was as if she had been a foreigner who had strange habits when speaking.

"I.." the mage was hesitant. "It's right, they should be here because of something I did." He replied in the same language.

"What did you do?" the archer said in a scolding tone as if the mage had been a troublemaker. This caused the tension around the group to lessen. It had appeared that the mage had been obedient towards the archer. "I want to apologize if he has done anything to offend you." The archer politely bowed towards Kazuya who still held the gun towards them.

"You may speak in your own language if you have difficulty adjusting to ours." Kazuya replied in elven tongue which shocked the archer enough to make her raise her head immediately.

"You are.." the elf shook her head and immediately took off her cloak and revealed features that made the hardened Kazuya and Tsuna''s mouths gape in shock. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am called Lailah Aelrindel." The seemingly flawless woman had lustrous long blonde hair which didn't make her pointed ears look strange at all. She was an elf, the presence of one had shaken Tsuna and Kazuya.

"You must be from the Kouzuki clan, yes?" seeing an elf on earth was something truly shocking so the mage wasn't surprised by their reaction. He broke the silence by speaking but he was immediately grabbed by the taller elf and forced to his knees.

"He is correct. I am indeed from the house of Kouzuki." Kazuya removed his tattered cloak and mask without hesitation. "I am called, Kouzuki Kazuya. This person is Nagato Tsuna, a close friend of our clan and my godfather." Kazuya tried to remain calm as soon as he heard the elf's identity. "It is an honor to meet an esteemed high elf such as yourself." Kazuya lowered his gun but remained vigilant.

This time, it was the mage and the archer's turn to be shocked. Not only did the cloaked figure turn out to be a young boy, the identity of the man beside him wasn't that simple as well. This group certainly has a lot of things to talk about.

Kazuya observed their reactions to his words and couldn't help but frown. He turned towards the dependable Tsuna beside him who didn't seem to have come to any conclusion after meeting this elf. This confirmed the suspicion he had somewhat been holding for the past few years. With the appearance of this high elf together with this mysterious mage, Kazuya had made a conclusion. The only thing left for him now was to confirm it.

"I humbly thank Nagato-san for taking it easy on me." Lailah spoke in a polite language in regular tongue. "The hero from the legends surely lives up to his reputation. My husband has a lot to learn from his predecessor."

"Predecessor?" Tsuna looked confused. He looked at the mage who just finished taking off the cloak to reveal the image of a young man who was in his 20s. None of them realized Kazuya's surprise as the two were focused on the man they thought was behind the Kouzuki clan's mysterious strength.

"That's right. It's nice to meet you, Hero Raphael. I never thought that the man known as the spear god was still alive! I had just recently returned from Edea after figuring out how to take my wife with me to earth." The mage turned out to be a chatterbox who fawned over Tsuna. "Oh I almost forgot! My name is—"

"Natsuhisa Akira, otherwise known as; Hero Gabriel, the greatest mage." Kazuya interrupted. His words reminded them that he was still there. "I suddenly feel that my intelligence is still lacking for failing to figure out such a seemingly obvious conclusion." Kazuya couldn't help but shake his head.

He didn't feel too good after finding out the conclusion that he had been trying to solve ever since he came back from Edea. His assumptions about his predecessor was muddled because of the centuries that separated the time they were summoned. Kazuya had neglected to consider the difference between the passage of time between the two worlds.

From what he had gathered from the conversation so far. Kazuya returned to the point where not only he had yet to be summoned, but the hero Gabriel as well. His efforts to search for him as soon as he returned had no returns because the hero had yet to exist.

The consolation that he got was his correct decision in not interfering with Natsuhisa Akira when they had met prematurely. It seems as though from what he could remember about this inventor's past, the time he spent in Edea was when he reported to have been missing.

Kazuya felt dumb and embarrassed. Even the inventions that utilized magical formations were indications that this man was capable of using mana. Even the beautiful wife he supposedly took home with him during his travels was an elf. The person who he assumed was Natsu in the first place, sparred with him without utilizing abilities to be known as the greatest mage!

"How did you.." the mage, who was now revealed as Natsu couldn't help but turn to ask Kazuya. He couldn't think of a way where his identity could have been revealed so he took another look at the boy who he knew was still a middle school student but was able to fight on par with him.

"Our identities aside, I think we still need to clear up a few things." Kazuya ignored Natsu's question and turned towards Lailah. "In a hypothetical situation where someone breaks into the elven forest and that person permanently damages the forest's sacred tree, how would the elf clan feel?" Natsu immediately froze after hearing Kazuya's question.

Each elven forest has a sacred tree that naturally gathers mana and makes the forest flourish. Elven tribes usually gather around these sacred trees and build their settlements while protecting them. Elves are magical creatures which strive on mana for survival. To them, eating like humans was optional and rather than absorbing the nutrients like humans, they primarily absorb the mana that existed in whatever food they choose to consume.

"That is an unforgivable act." Lailah replied without hesitation. "Elves would deem the culprit an enemy that deserves death."

"What if it was to save a person?" Kazuya continued.

"We are not an unreasonable race. I believe we can come to a mutual understanding if that person needs something from the sacred tree." Lailah did not understand why the young boy asked this question, but she chose to answer anyway.

"That is indeed the correct answer." Kazuya nodded. "Your esteemed husband broke into my clan's home and nearly destroyed the mana gathering formation that I had built and nurtured over the years. Without warning or consideration, almost causing a backlash that would have made our land unable to gather mana until a few centuries later." Kazuya revealed his point in which Lailah had glared towards Natsu.

"That was.." Natsu was unable to say anything to defend himself. Kazuya's example had ruthlessly left him with no way to convince his own wife. His actions were indeed not what a hero like himself was supposed to do. "I apologize, I was desperate at the time. We had just come back from Edea and I had underestimated how devoid of mana Earth had been." He began to explain how Lailah's condition was after they had arrived.

She was severely weakened from the sudden change of environment which was like a fish who was suddenly thrown on land. If it weren't for Natsu having retained some of the mana that he had from his visit to Edea, she would have only lasted for a few weeks.

He quickly moved her to this mountain's forest which was a lot better compared to the city. Natsu then began his search of a solution to solving Lailah's problem and that was when he happened to sense the mana that seemed to be gathering towards a direction that led to a residential district that had an adequate amount of mana that was suitable for Lailah to survive in.

Unfortunately, this neighbourhood was a place that an unemployed person like him, who had just come back, could not afford to stay in. There was no way that he could pay for a house in the neighbourhood so he opted to investigate why such a mystical place in the city could gather such a dense amount of mana. This led him to the Kouzuki clan's estate.

When he approached, he immediately got surprised at the detection formation that he didn't expect to exist on earth. Having been desperate, he quickly found the formation that Kazuya had set-up. Though it wasn't an overly complicated formation, his knowledge could tell even if he built his own formation, it wouldn't be able to go against one that had been established for a long time. The mana around the prefecture had already been monopolized because of this formation which was upgraded throughout the years.

"That was why I disrupted the formation in a hurry." There was a regretful look on his face.

"I know you did it for Lailah-san. All of us here are aware of how elves survive. A high elf like Lailah-san would need a higher amount of mana compared to normal elves to survive so you should have asked, I wouldn't have turned her away." Kazuya crossed his arms. "If not for her presence, I would have already shot you for endangering my family. I have killed people for much less." Kazuya revealed a hint of killing intent. "It wouldn't have mattered even if we are already acquainted."

"We've met before?" Natsu tilted his head while thinking. He was sure that he never met Kazuya before.

"Twice." Kazuya grinned before turning around to face towards the direction away from them before taking out a golden hair ornament. He began fixing his long hair but all of them could sense the small usage of mana from his direction. "The second time was with me" a young feminine voice was heard as Kazuya turned around.

"You're.." he definitely recognized this person. "Kazuno Kaguya!?" How could Natsu not recognize who this person was? As he began to take interest in finding himself a living, he had been approached by the most likely candidate that he always felt was unfathomable.

There were other revelations that Kazuya was able to tell as soon as he discovered who Natuhisa Akira's really was. The requests he presented to Kazuno Tech before officially starting to work for them must have been granted by Stockton International in his previous life. He had requested help in order to give his 'foreign' wife an identity so she would have no problems being registered as his wife. Kazuya understood the nature of his request as Lailah shouldn't have any records in this world.

Currently, although Natsu had already signed the contract with Kazuno Tech, he hadn't started working because they had yet to complete their end of the bargain. Jirou had the most connections with the government and because of what happened with Tomoyo, even Kazuya had neglected to focus on the conditions for Natsu's recruitment.

"The first time we met was because of a mutual friend we had that was called Autumn Mist. I believe that was before you were summoned to Edea." Kazuya dispelled his disguise magic and spoke in his usual voice.

"You're the Winter Fog that established the guild!? That shouldn't be right.." Natsu was speechless. He was now technically an employee of Kazuno tech and was a member of the guild which was where all the pioneer members of the company came from. How could he not know how the company was founded by the mysterious Winter Fog?

It was then that Natsu had realized why the person who founded the company had refused to appear before anyone except the CEO who was rumored to be his fiancé. From the time he suggested starting the company, Kazuya was even younger than what he was assumed to be taken seriously. Even he would have had his concerns as open minded as he had become after experiencing another world for himself.

"Pardon my interruption but how did you know when Akira went to Edea?" Lailah couldn't help but raise a question. "Not only that, how come you are even more fluent in speaking our race's language compared to Tsuna-sama?"

"The answer is simple, Natsu-san to me is, what Tsuna-san is to him."

.