A/N

Hi everyone! Clearly the winner of the December Wildcard (side story) Poll was I am Not a Mage. All updates for side stories are voted on my pat-re-on. If you want to make your voice heard, head there and join the appropriate tier to have your vote counted. It is Bored Peasant's Written Works. I also have the next five chapters of my main story, Plan for the Galaxy, available there. All updates for the side stories will be released there prior to being posted here.

I have had quite a few comments from different people complaining about the weakness of non-magic using civilians compared to wizards in this story. Perhaps I should be clearer. The people that the MC is comparing himself to are mostly the A and S class wizards, as they are a lot stronger than civilians, especially as they have all trained their bodies to be stronger and more powerful. The low ranked wizards would not be that strong. However, while everyone in Fairy Tail is more resilient than our world due to it being anime and their having ethernano passively taken into the body, it does reinforce the body more than ours are, even if they don't have a magic container like wizards do.

What this means is that MC is strong enough that low level wizards (D and C ranked) would be stronger than him, but not so much stronger that they would be able to harm him in such an easy manner. He is able to beat and kill them relatively easily due to his experiences and skills, even if he doesn't have magic.

TL; DR – MC is mostly talking about A and S class wizards when people are being thought of as really strong. He is weaker than low level wizards but not by much.

Hope that helps.

Special thanks to Adorjan Csapo, Arrimar26, BuzzGrave, FallenMetalGod, Ezoz, Cesar Montemayor, Doglore63, EndlessWaltz00, liam Darrell, MathTheOriginal, patiflops, r4p16, Ranger and Sonic for their patronage. Your support means the world to me and I wouldn't be able to continue writing if it wasn't for my patrons.

Anyway, on with the story!

…

CHAPTER 6 - SCIENCE-ING THE MAGIC

(Zack POV)

I'll admit, I had expected the mansion for someone as powerful as the Dragon Queen to be far larger than it was. It was certainly opulent, but the size for a person that could transform into a dragon if she wanted to was nowhere near what I thought it would be.

That said, the grounds were splendidly large and beautifully maintained. I guess when she was raised as a princess, having plenty of servants taking care of the garden was probably just routine.

The place that I was directed by Irene to park my plane was a large barn that was a short walk from the rear of the mansion. I made sure to put my ward stones around the plane again, though I knew that to someone of Irene's power, I may as well have covered it in a paper shield. She would be able to break them without even noticing they were there. Still, I needed to charge the lacrima anyway so this would be a safe place to do the job.

And clearly trust was a major issue, as Irene was standing at the barn door waiting for me. She didn't have to say anything or even look threatening. Her mere presence was the most lethal death threat I had ever received, save for maybe the balrog on the failed hundred-year mission.

"I'm glad to see that you didn't get lost," she said, sounding condescending, as if I were an idiot.

"Well, while I don't make it a habit, following beautiful women flying ahead of me in open sided dresses is a past time that any red-blooded man would wish to indulge in," I replied with a winning smile.

"Oh?" she asked with a coy smile. "Are you saying you wish to revisit our earlier conversation?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Sadly, unless my body suddenly got a lot stronger in the last twenty minutes, I must still decline. But who knows what the future holds?"

We exited the barn and I took another look around the estate. It was beautiful. Honestly, it kinda felt like when I had watched Richie Rich as a kid. Massive sprawling gardens that were beautifully maintained, a large fountain in the middle of it, a mansion nearby. I could only imagine how much of my savings would disappear if I wanted to buy a place like this.

"You have a beautiful home," I complimented.

"Thank you," she replied. "Now come, you will sort out your rooms."

She led the way to the massive mansion, entering through one of the doors near the back. A blue-haired maid was standing just inside, waiting for Irene to walk in it seems.

"My lady!" the maid straightened up. "How might I serve you?"

"You will take this young man to a guest suite and let him bathe. Find some new clothes for him when he is ready, bring him to the lab. He shall be staying with us for a while."

The maid gave another low bow. "Please follow me," she said, looking up at me.

I followed her through the house, making my way up to the second floor. The whole mansion gave off a feeling of refined opulence. It wasn't gaudy or tacky, like some people with an abundance of wealth might have with their ludicrous displays of artwork. Every painting, sculpture, tapestry and even the sconces spoke of someone with excellent taste in their interior design choices. It was subtle, but powerful. I mentioned as much to the maid.

"Every decoration and item of furniture in this manor was personally chosen by Lady Irene," the maid said simply. "As such, it is of the highest quality and taste."

She led me to a door on the west side of the mansion's second floor, opening it without knocking. It was a large room that had a massive four post bed, a desk and a large trunk at the end of the bed. A second door was on the left.

"That leads to your bathroom," the maid explained, pointing at the door. "If you wish to go through, I shall have some clothes laid out on the bed by the time you are finished. There is a towel already inside that you may use. If you need anything else, please pull this cord." She gestured to a cord hanging from the ceiling near the doorway. "One of the serving staff will attend to you. After you have finished your shower, I will show you to the permitted areas of the manor."

Easy enough. I was looking forward to having a bath to loosen up my muscles after my flight anyway. I nodded to the maid and thanked her. I started to remove my shirt before she had even finished leaving the room as I made my way to the bathroom. Time to get myself refreshed.

…

"And this is the laboratory that Lady Irene has said you will be working in," the maid, who still hadn't given her name, explained as she led me to a basement area under the west side of the mansion.

It was a medium sized room, with thick stone walls and a few bright lacrima lights in the ceiling. It was actually surprisingly well-lit for a building that didn't have electricity. Especially since it was underground. Clearly the lab was for people studying things that they didn't want to risk outsides seeing through windows. Not that I really cared so long as it did the job.

Having seen the library earlier in my tour, which also included a large supply of tomes on Runes, I figured that the only four rooms I would need to go to were my own quarters, the lab, the library and the servant's dining room where I was told I could eat my meals. The rest of the mansion was either out of bounds for me, or it served no purpose for me to go there.

"This should do nicely," I said. "Are there any supplies available for me to use for my experiments?"

"In this storage cupboard, you should find any supplies that you would need," the maid gestured to a two-door cupboard built into one of the walls. "Another maid will be provided to you to assist you in your efforts if needed. If you need anything that isn't in the cupboard, you can inform her and she will seek to provide it if it is possible to do so."

I nodded. "Thank you," I replied. "Also, could you please inform Lady Irene that I wished to speak to her? I wish to ask her some questions that I am hoping will help in my research."

The maid nodded. "I shall pass on your message," she confirmed. "I make no promises as to when she will be available to answer your queries."

I shrugged. "That is fine," I said. "The fact that you are asking at all is enough for now."

With that said, I turned to the cupboard. Time to see if they have what the doctor ordered.

…

It turns out, that Irene was available that very day, only three hours after I asked. I'm not going to lie, that did make things easier for me to get started. And the wait until then let me start reading the books she had on Runes and Runic magic, so it was time well spent, as far as I was concerned.

"Thank you for making time for me, Lady Irene," I said, sitting across from the dragon queen in her office. "I am hopeful that by asking you a few questions, it will make it easier for me to be able to find a way to help you. The more information I can get, the clearer I'm hoping it will be for me to find the correct path to return you to the human state you wish to return to."

She nodded at me. "As you say," she replied. "At the very least, I can see that you are at least trying to discover a way. Many in the past have not even done this much."

I shrugged. "There are a lot of blowhards out there," I agreed. "I find it understandable that you may have had thoughts of me just being another one of them."

She gave an amused smirk. "The thought certainly crossed my mind," she admitted. "Time will tell if I was right."

I gave a huff of amusement, before I opened up the notebook and picked up a pencil.

"So," I began looking straight at Irene, my pencil held firmly in hand, "can you tell me what happens when you use magic? By that I mean, do you subconsciously draw on both your own natural magic, the Dragon Slayer magic, or both?"

Irene looked thoughtful at the question. "I would say that it would mostly be a combination of both," she mused. "I can draw on my non-Dragon Slayer magic when I choose to but I have been using Dragon Slayer magic for so long that drawing on both is just a reflex action, even if I am not casting a Dragon Slayer spell."

"Right." I made a note of that. "And when you do cast Dragon Slayer spells, does that use your normal magic too or is it purely Dragon magic?"

She considered the question. "I would need to double check as I never really thought about it before, and I will do so afterwards, but I believe that when I use Dragon Slayer magic I am only using Dragon energy."

I noted that down as well. "Now, I know that most people recharge their magic by unconsciously drawing in ethernano from the world around them to get their magic levels up again. How does your dragon energy recharge?"

"From the dragon seed," Irene replied immediately.

I blinked at that trying to remember the specifics of that from my previous life. Something about how using Dragon Slayer magic planted a dragon seed inside you which eventually morphed a user into a dragon?

"I am not familiar with a dragon seed," I said slowly. "Can you tell me what that is?"

He lips pursed in annoyance for a moment, but I didn't know if it was annoyance at me for my question, or with the dragon seed inside of her.

"A dragon seed is the consequence of a wizard using Dragon Slayer magic," she explained archly. "Dragon Slayer magic is not meant for humans; it's meant for dragons. When a human is taught to use Dragon Slayer magic, it plants a seed inside of that magic user to allow them to replenish their dragon energy."

"So normal magic energy is not recovered the same as dragon magic energy?" I asked for clarification.

She shook her head. "No, it is not. Dragon energy comes from a dragon's core, and inside of a wizard that uses Dragon Slayer magic, it comes from the dragon seed which allows them to replenish their dragon energy."

I wrote a few notes on that. "Now, this Dragon Seed, is it a physical thing that could be removed with surgery? Or is it a metaphysical thing?"

She blinked, clearly not having expected the question. "It is a physical thing but it is not something that I believe can be removed. Even if you could, using either dragon energy or Dragon Slayer magic would cause it to regrow. And even if you could remove it, the dragon energy already in the body would probably be enough to cause it to regrow all on its own, even without using Dragon Slayer magic again."

I nodded and made a note of that. It would make things more difficult to achieve in dealing with a reversion to a full human state. Because even if I could remove the Dragon Seed, if I couldn't remove the dragon magic from the person's system at the same time, it would probably make it grow back anyway.

"I hesitate to ask this, because I know that you have looked for a way to return to full human status," I said slowly. "But if the Dragon Seed could be removed, would you ever consider a Separation Enchantment?"

This was a touchy subject for a wizard. A Separation Enchantment was a means to completely separate someone from their magic, completely and totally. It was possible to remove the enchantment, but there had been documented cases of people having long term negative effects.

"I have considered it," Irene confessed, surprising me. Magic was such an integral part of a wizard's identity, the idea that one was considering to willingly part from their magic was extremely significant. "However, I was able to determine that it was only a temporary halting. If the enchantment was applied before I turned into a dragon then maybe it would have worked, but now that I already am one, it would most likely kill me to be separated from my magic."

I frowned but wrote that down. Considering how long she had been looking for ways to remove the dragon transformation, I guess it would have made sense for her to truly consider all options to see if there was something that would work. She had long gone mad because of her desperation, at least from what I remember from the anime, but who is to say that there wasn't more to it. I remember as well that she had been tortured by her ex-fiancé, some general whose name escapes me. Either way, Irene having even considered losing her magic really just highlighted how badly she wanted to be rid of the dragon transformation.

"Ok," I said, looking down at my notes. "This gives me some ideas, but I will need to test things first. Give me a few days to look over the books you have on Runes in your library and I will see if I can come up with something that I can test on the lacrima that you gave me the other day."

"Of course," she said, standing up. "Just remember to work as though your life is on the line. After all, if you fail, it very well may be."

I looked at her, keeping my face impassive. I wasn't freaking out even though I knew that she was very easily able to follow through with her threat, I was confident that I would be able to find some way to dissuade her.

"Very well," I replied, not showing my inner thoughts. "Don't worry, I have honour, Lady Irene. I was going to work on it to the best of my abilities anyway. But I will say, before I begin that if you want me to have the best chance, I would be better off working in my lab back in Fiore."

"Oh?" she hummed. "Trying to leave me so early? Or are you trying to flee?"

"I would think that a woman of your calibre would be able to tell if I was lying," I stated easily. "Nevertheless, I shall do what I can while I am here. Please let me know when Brandish arrives so that I can speak to her."

With that she nodded and headed out, never minding the fact that I had basically dismissed her in her own house. Hopefully that doesn't come back to bite me.

…

I looked down at the lacrima sitting on the desk in front of me. Then I looked at the lacrima that was right next to it. The one on the left was the lacrima that was full of Irene's magic, while the one on the right was a blank lacrima that I was using to test out the first idea that I had for helping out Irene. Behind me was a maid that had been assigned to assist me in setting up and cleaning up experiments. I hadn't even bothered to ask her for her name. she was a pretty thing, but her face was completely blank as she watched me. I had no idea if she was happy that I was working on a cure for her mistress or if she was angry that Irene was looking to not be a dragon anymore.

Either way, she refused to speak to me when I tried to strike up a conversation with her, so I stopped trying. I just issued her with instructions and she performed them perfectly. She just watched as I wrote down the Runes that I was going to use for the first test.

"Day three, test one," I said out loud, the information being written out by a special pencil that I had carved Runes into and placed a lacrima on top so that it could record my words without me having to spend ages writing it out myself. "Attempting transfer of Irene's magic from her lacrima to a blank lacrima. For this test, I am just going to be transferring the whole of her magic and not trying to distinguish between the Dragon Slayer magic and her own natural magic."

I moved over to a spot several metres away from the table with the lacrima, where I had drawn Runes with a tiny lacrima that would act as a switch. "Runes have been copied completely into my notes so that I can review them afterwards to determine what was successful and what was not. I shall be doing that for all subsequent tests but I shall not need to mention it more than once," I called out to my pencil. "Activating switch, now." I pressed down on the lacrima to activate the Runes and begin the transfer.

Irene's lacrima glowed slightly for a moment. The Runes flashed as they began the transfer.

BANG!

The blank lacrima that I had prepared for the test exploded, sending tiny shards of lacrima all over the place. I used my arms to cover my face but I noticed that the only reaction the maid had was to turn her face away from the explosion. It made me wonder just how strong she must have been to not be worried by an explosion that almost acted like a shrapnel grenade.

Once my ears stopped ringing, I looked up and saw that the desk was now blackened and cracked. It hadn't broken the table completely but the explosion had certainly done a number on what had been a thick and sturdy table that I was able to use for experiments. Luckily though, Irene's lacrima was sitting exactly where it had been before without the slightest hint of damage that I could see.

I blinked at the results. "Test one is a failure," I called out to where my pen was, back near the switch. "Not entirely sure yet what the problem is yet. I will need to try and get a more detailed diagnostic on Irene's lacrima before I run the next test. I did see that the Runes had lit up which indicated a positive result in beginning the transfer, but the blank lacrima exploded within the first five seconds. I will have to see why that was. Side note, I do wish I was in my lab in Fiore to do this, as my diagnostic equipment there might have given me better readings. For now, I will just have to make do."

I moved closer to the table and just as I reached out with a gloved hand to pick up Irene's lacrima, the table collapsed with a groan.

I stared at it, my hand still outstretched with Irene's lacrima sitting in it firmly. My engineering mind could only think one thing.

"Fascinating."

…

"Day four, test five," I announced to the Rune pencil, which as once again sitting away from the new, reinforced table, to ensure that it would not be damaged by another explosion. Each of the tests before had all had the same result; an explosion, leaving a shattered blank lacrima and a broken table.

"After having performed further diagnostics on Irene's lacrima, I have determined that it is likely the cause of the explosions. While my diagnostics here are not the most accurate, they do indicate that her magic is far too potent for a normal blank lacrima to be able to take into itself without extreme care. To combat this, I have altered the Runes to facilitate a much slower transfer so that the blank lacrima doesn't get overloaded too quickly, which will let me know if there is a chance of the transfer being successful in the first place.

"Sidenote: I don't know how Irene managed to get her magic into this lacrima without destroying it. My most likely explanations are that she has such extreme control of her magic that she can make sure that she is able to transfer her magic in such a way that it doesn't overload the lacrima, or that she has access to a different type of lacrima that allows for more potent and powerful magic to be stored inside it. If so, it sort of reminds me of the Tower of Heaven. Hmmm, I really should get on to that soon."

I stepped back to my switch and braced myself. "Activating switch, now." I pressed down on the activation lacrima.

This time, Irene's lacrima gave its soft glow and the Runes also started glowing, indicating that the transfer had started. I couldn't help flinching slightly in expectation that the explosion was about to happen. But nothing happened.

I looked over to see that the blank lacrima was changing colour, indicating that it was taking magic into itself.

"Test seems to be working," I called out to the pencil. "The blank lacrima is absorbing the magic from Irene's lacrima, now that the transfer rate has slowed. So far it seems to be going well."

A few seconds later, as the formerly blank lacrima started glowing to indicate it was full, I was rewarded with a loud BANG as the new lacrima exploded, making me duck out of reflex to avoid the shards.

"Note to self," I said to the Rune pencil. "Make sure I turn off the transfer rate to ensure that the blank lacrima doesn't explode in my face again."

…

"Day six, test nine," I called out. "I have finally got what I think to be the best rate of transferring the magic out of Irene's lacrima into the blank lacrima. Interestingly, Irene's lacrima doesn't seem to have lost much, if any, of the magic that had been stored inside of it. This leads me to believe that I was right a few days ago when I gave the hypothesis that the lacrima used by Irene was a special type that was capable of holding her magic in a way that the blank lacrima are not.

"The last test worked as I had expected and I was able to transfer the magical energy to the blank lacrima without any issue. The next test will be to try and distinguish the different energies inside the magic and see if I can find a way to separate them while inside the lacrima. This would lead one side of the lacrima to have dragon magical energy, while the other side would be Irene's personal energy.

"That is the aim at least. I honestly have no idea on how to do it yet, so I am doing a lot of guesswork with my Runes. It may be the most complicated Rune scheme I have ever come up with on the spot like this. Only my defences around my lab would be more complex than this and I took days to write them. To adjust the previous Runes into these ones in the space of six hours is actually making me a little proud of myself. I have certainly learned a lot more about Runes in the last week than I have for a while."

I moved back to the activation switch and got ready. The maid was still standing in the corner of the room, watching with that blank expression on her face, just like she had for the last six days. She still didn't say anything to me, so I had decided to just pretend she was unable to speak, even though I knew she could. I turned back to look at the table.

"Beginning test, now."

I hit the switch lacrima and watched as one of the test lacrima, formerly blank lacrima that successfully received magic from Irene's lacrima, began to glow, as did the Runes around them. The glow slowly grew brighter and brighter. Then the test lacrima began to vibrate…

BANG!

… right before it exploded.

I did notice though that the explosion was different this time. The explosions from the other tests were like little bombs going off. This time, it was like watching a rock being stretched too far and shattering on itself.

"Test has failed," I said. "Lacrima integrity is gone. It appears that the Runes were not trying to separate the magic within the lacrima, but the lacrima itself. I am going to have to go through the Runes again to try figure out how to affect the magic without affect the lacrima, which is technically a magical element, even if it is blank. This will take some thinking. Luckily, I have the maid here to bounce my thoughts off. It will be hard and one sided, like a chalk board, but it might be the only option I have. I haven't seen Irene for the last five days, so I am uncertain when I will be able to have another intelligent conversation."

The maid threw me a dirty look, meaning I got the first emotional reaction from her since I had begun. I consider that a win.

"For now though, it has been two days since I have had a proper sleep, so I am going to have a bath and get a rest."

…

I eased myself into the massive tub, easing my tired muscles. I closed my eyes in contentment of a nice hot bath.

I had been at Irene's mansion for a week now and this is the first time I decided to use the bathtub. The thing was more like a ten-person spa than a bathtub but I am not complaining. It was just what the doctor ordered after the long days and sleepless nights of trying to find a way to get the Runes to do what I wanted. While I didn't think that Irene would do me harm if she thought I was actually trying, if she thought I wasn't I didn't think she would be likely to leave me… whole and undamaged.

It was a hell of a way to make me work harder though. And it was paying off.

Using the books that Irene had on Runes, I had been able to think of new ways to use my existing Runes knowledge, and with different methods. The language of Runes was complex and true mastery of it meant that you could do so many things that people who didn't use Runes wouldn't be able to prevent. Just look at the Fairy Tail civil war where Freed was able to force his own guild mates to fight within his Rune traps that they couldn't escape from, regardless of their strength.

I just wish that I had been able to test this back in Fiore, where I had better gear that I had created or purchased.

The sound of splashing had me open my eyes and Iooked over to see Irene enter the bathtub, the only thing protecting her modesty was a towel wrapped around her torso, hiding her intimate places, if only barely, going by how tight and short it was.

"Well, this is pleasant," Irene cooed in a sultry voice, closing her own eyes.

Was she trying to get me to be all embarrassed? Jokes on her. I was no little boy virgin to get shy about being naked. Even if it was in front of the hottest and most dangerous MILF I have ever seen, and a certain part of me was definitely appreciating that fact.

"Yes it is," I replied, leaning back and making myself comfortable again. "I haven't seen you for a while, Lady Irene. How have you been?"

Her eyes opened a fraction as she looked at me. When she saw that I wasn't embarrassed or shy she gave a pout. "Really?" she asked. "Nothing? I must be losing my touch."

I gave her a wan smile. "Life in a military barracks, I'm afraid," I said. "You can become too familiar with naked people walking around, or having group showers. And while you are without a doubt one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, I am not the type to get shy about being naked anymore."

"Oh?" she asked coyly. "You think I'm beautiful?" her eyes turned to look down at where my waist was. "Oh my." She waved a hand in front of her face, as if she were trying to get cool her blush. "I see that you are indeed a talented man."

I smirked at her. Honestly, I was also very glad that I had nothing to be ashamed of in that department.

"Be honest with me, please, Lady Irene," I said, cutting off the flirting. "Would you ever actually consider that sort of relation with someone like me?"

She looked at me with an eyebrow raised for a moment before her face shifted to a mildly amused expression. "No," she said without hesitation. "You are not worthy of me. While you do amuse me with your flirting and you are working to help me, even if it is most likely futile, you deserve a boon. Seeing me in my natural state," she hefted her large breasts up to the top of the water, her nipples still just barely concealed by the towel, leaving me to get even more turned on, "is all the reward you shall receive from me and you will feel honoured for the privilege."

I gave her a lopsided smile. "Oh, believe me, I do feel honoured to have seen this. I can imagine that if anyone found out about it, many would want me dead out of sheer jealousy."

She gave an amused hum of agreement. We both sat in silence for a moment, before I decided to try my luck with another topic.

"You know, you remind me of my friend," I said conversationally.

She didn't reply verbally, only looking at me with an eyebrow raised. Her expression was certainly colder than before.

"She enjoys having platonic baths with people too," I continued. "Has done since I knew her. It was actually quite funny. She would physically drag people off to have bath with her once she finished training with them."

There was complete silence to my observation. Irene's face might as well have been made out of marble and I could feel the temperature of the water rising.

I gave out a sigh. "Fine," I said, "I will drop it. But, I will just say," my voice lowered to just above a whisper, "I think you would be proud of the young woman that she is today."

There was the tiniest flinch and for the briefest of moments a look of longing passed over her face, disappearing so quick I would be forgiven for imagining it. We descended into a silence that seemed to lie heavy over the bathroom, all thoughts of resuming our flirting lost.

Finally, Irene stood up from the bath, her towel clinging to her body so well she might as well have not been wearing one. Even her nipples could be seen outlined through the wet fabric.

"Brandish will be here in three days," Irene declared, staring down at me harshly. "You will be able to share your message with her then. You will continue to work until she arrives. Afterwards, you may return to Fiore, but I expect you to continue working on the Runes when you are back there. Understand?"

I nodded my head, doing my best to not ogle her too obviously.

"Good," she said imperiously. She turned to leave, marching out of the bathroom. As she reached the door she stopped. She didn't turn around, nor even turn her head the slightest. Yet still, the softest of whispers reached me from where she stood.

"Thank you."

With that, she departed, not waiting for a response.

I leaned back in the tub and sighed in relief. That could definitely have gone better, but it could also have gone a lot worse. Damn my recklessness sometimes. I have no idea how this would affect the canon timeline, but I wasn't overly concerned with keeping long distance events the same. I was just going to take things as they came.

Oh well, at least all I needed to wait for now was my meeting with Brandish. Man, I got to mess with canon so much on this trip. Yay!

…

A/N Please Review and Follow/Favourite as you please.

I hope you enjoyed the scene here. I did enjoy writing it a lot actually. It was a little different than the earlier chapters, which did have some angst in them, but I thought it was a good inclusion. Anyway, if you want to read more works, head to my profile. If you want to read them early, head to my pat-re-on: Bored Peasant's Written Works. I have some original works there too for you to enjoy if you are interested.

Until next time!