Fairy Tail: I Can Hear Everything With My Unique Skill

44: Gate of the Snake Charmer Ophiuchus I

After a few minutes of resting, Akira and Gildarts left the now-destroyed temple. They didn't want to spend another minute in this disgusting place. Besides, sunset was approaching, so they needed to hurry up, or else they would have to camp out in the forest again.

Thankfully, both of them managed to reach the Heartfilia mansion before it got too dark. One could say they barely made it.

" Dear guest, Lady Layla is expecting your presence; if you don't mind, please follow me, " the butler said as both Gildarts and Akira just entered the house after walking past the guards.

"Okay." Akira and Gildarts looked at each other before agreeing.

The butler nodded and began escorting the two of them. Since this mansion is so huge, one could actually get lost if he wasn't careful. It took a whole 10 minutes to actually reach the room where Layla was waiting for them.

" Lady Layla, I've brought our esteemed guests as you have instructed, " the butler said as he knocked on the door, asking for permission to enter.

"You can enter. " Layla's voice came out from the other side. The butler then opened and gestured for both Akira and Gildarts to enter.

Entering the room, they found Layala sitting on a chair reading a book, and next to her was Lucy eating some sweets while playing with her doll.

"How did the mission go? " Layla asked with a smile. Her eyes were shining, waiting for the good news.

Akira took out the celestial spirit key from his bag and handed it to her. " Here is the Celestial Spirit key we found in that temple. "

"Oh, it is the key of the Snake Charmer Ophiuchus, " Layla said with surprise. She never expected there would be something this precious in that temple. The most she expected was a silver key.

" You two have a very great job. I will also add another 1 million jewels to the agreed reward for all the hard work you two have done, " Layla said generously.

" Thank you very much, Lady Layla, " Akira and Gildarts said as they bowed ninety degrees. No one would say no to some extra cash.

Layla just smiled at them. The reason why she gave them that much of a reward is because this key is very important for her family plan.

Ophiuchus, the snake charmer, is also known as the 13th Gate since its power is comparable to a Zodiac key. For her family mission, she needs to collect all 12 Zodiac keys. And even for her, who is known as the most genius celestial mage in her family, this is not a simple job.

For one to make a contract with a Zodiac key, they must possess extreme luck and destiny. This has been more apparent as even in her whole family line of Celestial mages, there has not been anyone who managed to make contracts with all 12 celestial spirits other than their ancestor Anna Heartfilia herself.

So Layla didn't have confidence in herself that she would be able to gather all 12 zodiac keys even with all their family resources. So this is why she needed a backup plan in case she really wasn't able to collect all 12 keys.

And her backup plan is this key Ophiuchus. Using a forbidden technique, she may be able to use Ophiuchus as a replacement for any missing Zodiac keys.

***

After a while, both Akira and Gildarts were once again escorted back to their rooms by a maid. Gildarts, like the womanizer he is, tried to hit on her, but he was disappointed to find that this girl was married.

Although Gildarts is scum, he isn't one to hit another person's woman. So when he heard the maid was married, he lost all interest.

Akira ignored the drama as he was deep in thought. He didn't expect the reason for Layla's death was because of this.