User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 383: Surfer Lucy, Review./@comment-68.1.178.233-20140510202916/@comment-7418318-20140511093126

You're speaking from a reader's perspective.

The people in Magnolia didn't learn of their lives being in danger most of the time.

Sure Phantom Lord would have carved a bloody trench through town, but would an average non-mage citizen know that the attack would continue to hurt bystanders, instead of only blasting the guild? Phantom Lord was a legal guild and not a dark guild, so most people would not believe them capable of such an act.

In the Fighting Festival arc, the people thought that Thunder Palace was either part of the preparation for Fantasia or an odd kind of fireworks. They never learned that it could have destroyed the town. And I doubt anyone in the city would even have known that his bright light was actually Fairy Law and that Laxus was trying to kill them. If it had become known that Laxus was trying to kill tens of thousands of people not just once but twice, he'd have been put into prison for life or outright executed by the Magic Council.

In the Edolas incident, the people only know that they are missing a few days. I doubt any Fairy Tail member just went out and told everyone "Oh hey, you all almost got killed and used as fuel for magic items in an alternate dimension" and I doubt anyone would have believed them even if they did.

And even now people wouldn't know why the Demons come to Magnolia. Taking Fairy Tail out first is the logical and tactically right decision in any way, since they are the strongest fighting force in the city, so I doubt people will jump to the conclusion that Tartaros came only for Fairy Tail.