Fairy Tail: Not the Guild Master This Time

Chapter 951: A Personal Request from the Ten Wizard Saint

Speak of the devil. Before the goat’s milk was even finished, Erza marched Natsu and Gray straight into the guild.

Without a word, she tossed the two battered bodies onto the floor.

Lucy and Happy followed behind. One was trying hard not to laugh, while the other looked completely drained of life.

"Happy, come here," Mira called cheerfully. "There’s something good to drink. Erza and Lucy too."

She did not know what had happened, but it definitely sounded entertaining.

The injuries on Natsu and Gray looked familiar. They were clearly not battle scars from an enemy.

More importantly, Erza’s eyes looked a little... swollen.

Curiosity burned.

"Aye."

Happy fluttered to the counter, gulped down a mug of warm goat’s milk, and immediately felt revived.

Lucy and Erza took seats nearby. Seeing Mira’s enthusiasm, Rhodes slid a mug to each of them.

He planned to put it on Warm’s tab anyway.

"Smells amazing," Lucy sighed.

Erza inhaled deeply, her eyes lighting up.

"With this aroma, if it were whipped into cream for a cake..."

"Goat milk can’t make cake cream," Lucy objected. "It should be custard or oat porridge."

"Is that so?" Erza mused. "Then perhaps just a splash, for a blended cream."

"I’ll bring more next time," Rhodes said casually. Then he asked,

"So how did those two end up like this? Did the job go wrong?"

Mira smiled brightly. Her husband really knew how to read the room.

Happy pulled a crumpled request sheet from his small green pouch. It still smelled faintly of fish.

"The job was done three days ago. They’ve just been fighting ever since."

That explained it. Most of the injuries were clearly friendly fire.

Rhodes whistled.

"Three days of nonstop arguing and fighting? How is that even possible?"

Happy slumped.

"Not nonstop. They stop to eat, sleep, then start again."

"I couldn’t stop them. They even wrestled in their sleep and woke me up. I haven’t slept in three days. Waaah."

The poor Exceed had been completely innocent and utterly exhausted.

Lucy spread her hands.

"Erza and I went to check on them. They were still at it. And..."

She glanced slyly at Erza’s face.

Erza’s expression darkened, but she did not interrupt.

"They actually swung at Erza when she tried to break it up."

Lucy had been frightened at the time. Now, remembering it made her laugh.

"Already beaten half to death, they got a fresh layer of damage from Titania."

Mira laughed softly.

"Erza getting hit? That’s rare."

Erza snorted.

"I let my guard down. You used to get knocked flat too."

Mira smiled sweetly.

"Yes. A long time ago."

Somehow, Erza felt like she had lost that exchange.

After hearing the full story, the guild hall felt lively rather than somber. Aside from Wendy healing the two and Juvia anxiously fussing over Gray, everyone was in good spirits.

Such deep camaraderie really did move one to tears.

Rhodes briefly considered awarding Natsu and Gray a Little Red flower. Anyone who made his wife laugh deserved praise.

Then a better idea struck him.

"Oh, since everyone’s here," he said, "there’s something we need to settle."

"Everyone?" Lucy looked around. "A lot of people are missing."

"That doesn’t matter," Rhodes replied calmly. "Teams A and B are both here."

"Teams A and B?"

Lucy suddenly found Rhodes’s smile unsettling.

"You remember," he continued. "The winning team gets to order the other around for an entire day."

Lucy’s jaw dropped.

Oh right. That bet.

Erza froze. She had been far too busy lately to remember it.

Cana, half drunk in the distance, had not even heard a word.

Natsu’s ears twitched. His wounds already felt healed, and he tried to quietly slip away.

Sensing Juvia’s burning stare, Gray jumped to his feet as well.

"Oh right, that!" Mira clapped her hands, then frowned thoughtfully.

"But Team B used a substitute. We had six people, Team A only five. How do we divide this?"

"Uh, I promised Plue I’d take him for a walk today," Lucy said, already rising to escape.

"My new armor just arrived," Erza added, inching toward the door.

Natsu and Gray suddenly threw their arms around each other’s shoulders and tried to stroll out like the best of friends.

"Natsu. Gray. Hold it."

The Master’s voice stopped them cold.

They stiffened and turned around.

"M Master?"

Lucy’s heart sank. If the Master was about to enforce the bet, there was no escape.

Instead, Makarov pulled out a request sheet.

"You two have another personal mission."

"No way I’m working with him," both blurted out at once. Then they froze.

"Leave it to us!"

"You’ll go whether you..."

Makarov paused, blinked, then nodded. That would do.

He fixed them with a stern glare.

"This time, you will behave yourselves and show the client proper respect."

Lucy blinked.

"Master, who’s the client that needs that much formality?"

Makarov replied calmly,

"The requester is Warrod Sequen, one of the Ten Wizard Saints."

The room went silent.

"A Ten Wizard Saint request?!"

Everyone gasped.

They saw Ten Wizard Saints all the time, but one personally issuing a job to ordinary guild members was something else entirely.

Makarov shook his head. It was not about rank.

He wanted those two to show the elder what Fairy Tail’s new generation was capable of.

Even if the old man probably already knew their infamous reputation, it was still worth trying.

Rhodes scratched his head.

"If the old geezer needs help, why not just ask directly? Why go through a formal request, and even make it a named one?"

Makarov shrugged.

"There are no details on the sheet. You’ll find out when you get there."

Erza slammed her hand on the table.

"Master, sending only those two will end in disaster. Let me go with them."

"Erza?" Lucy yelped, then shot her hand up immediately.

"I’m coming too."