Under Dark Magician Girl's hopeful gaze, Mirajane used a magical communication device to contact Weekly Sorcerer's editor.
"Am I hearing this correctly, Miss Mirajane? You're saying Dark Magician Girl wants to do a photobook with you, and you've agreed?" an excited voice came from the other end.
"Mhm~ Is that possible?" Mirajane nodded lightly, asking softly.
"Cool~!! A deal like this?"
After an uncontrollably joyful exclamation, the reply came immediately. "Absolutely no problem!"
"A playful, cute magic girl and a stunning white-haired beauty—just thinking about that combination gets my blood boiling!!"
"Can you come to the port city of Hargeon today? The shoot location is on Demon Ruins Island off the coast of Fiore. A specialized Magic Boat will take you there."
Mirajane didn't reply immediately. Instead, she smiled slightly. "In that case, shouldn't the reward be adjusted upward just a tiny bit?"
"Of course, of course."
"How does 500,000 Jewels sound?"
"..."
In the Fiore royal capital, at the Weekly Sorcerer headquarters office, an editor with an ahoge on his head fell silent: You call this "a tiny bit"?!
"Come to think of it, I seem to have received invitations from other weekslies for Dark Magician Girl as well."
Mirajane rested her chin on her hand, playfully winking at Dark Magician Girl to signal her not to say anything.
Though she usually presented a gentle, skilful image at the guild, Mirajane also had a cunning, shady side sometimes.
If not for that incident years ago, her personality now might be even more "terrible" than Natsu and Gray's!
"Fine! I'll apply to the company. Please don't entertain those small-time magazines!"
The voice on the phone reluctantly promised.
After all, the combination of Mirajane and Dark Magician Girl was just too explosive—and perfectly suited the shoot's theme. It could potentially boost their magazine's overall popularity even further.
With that reasoning, they should be able to convince the company to raise the reward, right?
And just like that, with a little maneuvering, Mirajane effortlessly secured the job.
"Mira-nee is amazing! Not only did you get the magazine to change the request content, but you even raised the reward to 700,000 Jewels!"
Dark Magician Girl looked at Mirajane with admiration, her pretty eyes sparkling.
Immersed in magical training, she completely lacked the negotiation skills Mirajane so casually wielded.
"Hehe, it's really simple." Mirajane's face beamed with pride as she reached out and affectionately patted Dark Magician Girl's head. "With more reward, we can buy more pretty clothes."
"Sticking with that reckless fool Chase must be super hard. You need to treat yourself properly sometimes."
The reason she'd bargained with Weekly Sorcerer wasn't for her own benefit—she intended to give it all to Dark Magician Girl.
"Hey hey, I can't just ignore that remark about me being some evil capitalist..."
Chase, innocently caught in the crossfire, stepped forward to strongly protest being offended.
"Oh? Busted?" Mirajane tilted her head slightly, a touching smile on her lips.
This woman definitely had a sinister side!
...
When the fleeing Loki finally returned, Mirajane roughly briefed him on the work handover.
After confirming everything with Weekly Sorcerer, she packed lightly and left the guild with Dark Magician Girl, heading to Magnolia Station to catch the steam train to Hargeon.
"Chase, Elfman—I'm leaving the date to you. Make sure you get along well with Loki!"
Mirajane's parting words, delivered with a smile, nearly made both men collapse on the spot.
I don't want this kind of peace of mind at all, Mira-nee...
Elfman's mood changes to Laxus as he silently squats in the guild corner wiping tears, as if suffering some great injustice.
The other "victim" was naturally Loki, buried in work—not Chase.
Thick-skinned as ever, Chase completely disregarded the date with Loki. He'd already been summoned by Cana to the bar table.
Cana lifted her wine barrel and took a swig, boldly wiping the residual drink from her lips.
"Maintaining card magic activation across such long distances—Chase, how the hell do you manage that?"
Thinking of Dark Magician Girl leaving with Mirajane, her face was full of confusion.
As a fellow card magic mage, her cards mostly involved elemental attacks like fire and lightning.
Though she did have means to summon creatures to fight for her, the duration was quite limited—let alone across multiple towns!
If she could obtain useful card magic training methods from Chase, this year's S-Class mage trial might be hopeful!
This was the obsession that had bound her for years—the only goal she had in joining Fairy Tail.
"Cana, I've told you before, long ago."
Chase drained the beer glass in front of him and looked at Cana, whose eyes were filled with the to grow stronger. He said seriously, "Our magics are fundamentally different. My training methods would be completely useless to you."
"Please! If I can become stronger, I'll do anything!"
Cana slammed the empty barrel heavily onto the table, her emotions somewhat agitated.
"Hey hey, don't say things that sound so ambiguous. If gossip Lucy overheard, that'd be trouble."
Seeing that Cana hadn't taken his words to heart, Chase shrugged helplessly and sighed softly. "A year and more gone, and you're still obsessing over S-Class..."
At the last Fairy Tail S-Class mage qualification trial, Cana had lost to him—missed S-Class by a hair.
"I'm different from you and Ersa and the others. If I don't become S-Class, I can't stay in the guild."
Cana's eyes gradually dimmed, her faint voice ending with a slight choke.
With less than half a year until this year's S-Class trial, she'd already silently resolved:
If she failed again this year, she'd leave Fairy Tail and abandon the fantasy of reuniting with her father, Gildarts.
"Relax. Look at guild veterans like Macao—clearly weak as hell, but they're living just fine now."
Chase pointed at Macao, who sat nearby chatting with old smoker Wakaba.
Macao seemed to sense something and turned to glare darkly in their direction: That bastard Chase is badmouthing me again?!
"Chase, someone like you could never understand my feelings."
Cana shook her head with dismay, grabbed a fresh barrel, and started chugging.
"That's not necessarily true. If I'm not mistaken, it's about family, right?"
Chase extended a finger and smiled, lowering his voice. "Like maybe some man in the guild is your long-lost father or something."
"How do you know?!"
Cana's expression changed drastically. She stomped one foot on the table and thrust her forehead right up to Chase's face.
She was absolutely certain that no one in the guild knew she and Gildarts were father and daughter.
She'd guarded this secret even when dead drunk.
Where had Chase gotten this information?!
The strong smell of alcohol hit him, making Chase's nose uncomfortable.
He pressed Cana's shoulders and pushed her back slightly. Light flickered at his fingertips as a card materialized.
"Don't forget, I'm also a card mage skilled in divination."
This was completely made up.
But Cana didn't doubt it. She slumped back into her seat, defeated.
If even she, a weak mage, could deduce some information with cards, then Chase, strong as a monster, certainly could.
"Can you keep this secret?" she begged.
"Of course. I'm not the type to meddle in others' business."
That said, Chase flipped the card in his fingers to its front and slid it across the table to Cana.
"What's this?" Cana looked doubtfully at the card depicting a magic book.
"Magic Card: Book of Secret Arts. I accidentally obtained it in Guiltina. It slightly increases a mage's magical power limit."
Chase explained, "The effect only activates when deployed, but experiencing a stronger version of yourself beforehand should help you somewhat."
As a cheat he'd brought with him from time travel, theoretically, others couldn't use Chase's cards.
But Cana's situation was slightly different.
She was a mage specializing in cards, capable of trapping people in card spaces completely independent from reality. Activating a Magic Card wouldn't be too difficult for her.
Of course, the premise was she had Chase's permission.
Hearing the effect, Cana's eyes widened, staring at the Book of Secret Arts in shock.
"Raising magical cap?! How could I accept such a precious card?!" She shook her head repeatedly.
"Dream on. Just lending it to you for a few days."
"I'm so sorry..."
In the end, Cana did take the Book of Secret Arts from Chase—she was straightforward by nature, not one to be overly coy.
"Chase, why are you helping me?"
Cana carefully tucked the card into her ample bosom, lowered her head, and stared blankly at the barrel before her.
"Isn't it obvious? After all..."
Chase unceremoniously lifted the barrel, drained the remaining drink, and smiled. "We're family!"
Hearing this, Cana paused, then a bright smile appeared on her slightly flushed face.
"You're impossible. I'll treat you to a drink sometime—we won't stop till we're drunk!"
"Haha! The kind charged to the Magic Council?"
"Who knows~" Cana looked away, playing dumb.
"Hey, Chase."
After a few seconds of silence, she looked up at him seriously. "Thanks."
"Save those words for when you actually make S-Class."
Suddenly remembering something, Chase fixed Cana with a malicious stare. "By the way, you said earlier you'd do anything to get stronger, right?"
"Wh-what do you want?" Cana crossed her arms over her chest, unnerved by his gaze.
For some reason, her heartbeat inexplicably quickened.
"Fight me then."
Cana, who'd already steeled herself, stared wide-eyed. "Huh?"
"When you get stronger, fight me. I'm really looking forward to a battle between card mages!" Chase seriously repeated.
The stronger Cana became, the higher the chance Duelist Soul would drop cards.
This was the first leek he'd "targeted" since returning to the guild.
Apparently having misunderstood, Cana's face reddened. "...Go to hell!"
You damn battle idiot, destruction freak—give me back that heartwarming moment!
Fortunately, a sudden commotion at the request board eased the embarrassing scene.
The noise came from the Shadow Gear team—composed of Princess Peace Levy, Speedman Jet, and Green (plant mage) Droy.
Apparently, over some request, Jet and Droy had disagreements and were arguing fiercely.
Chase eavesdropped and eventually understood the situation.
Jet and Droy were fighting over who would guard Levy's luggage!
Only those two would do something so weird. In another team, if it were Natsu and Gray, it'd be a miracle if they didn't burn or freeze Lucy's luggage to bits!
"Shut up! Jet, Droy—can't you see I'm looking for a request?!"
Natsu, plastered against the request board, turned and yelled at them.
Where he got the nerve to say that...
Jet and Droy, in the middle of their heated argument, naturally wouldn't obediently listen. So the three rolled up their sleeves and went at it.
In the end, Natsu prevailed, standing triumphantly on top of them, laughing wildly.
In the chaos, a request slip, blasted into the air, floated down and landed right on Natsu's head.
Natsu grabbed it, glanced at the contents, and his eyes lit up.
"Hey Natsu, what request did you get?" Happy curiously leaned in. "What?! 200,000 Jewels for destroying a novel?!"
"That's not the point, Happy. Look—the novel's owner, Duke Everlue, is recruiting a blonde maid!"
Natsu pointed at the detailed info on the slip.
Happy instantly understood his best buddy's meaning. "A blonde maid? But Dark Magician Girl already left for Hargeon with Mira."
"You forgot? Besides Dark Magician Girl, there's another blonde in the guild."
"You mean..."
"That's right!"
Natsu and Happy exchanged glances, letting out malicious chuckles. "Hehehe~"
"Let's go, Happy!"
"Aye~!"
Cana watched the duo vanish in an instant and couldn't help sighing, "Looks like someone's about to get played."
"You can drop the first two words." Chase smiled as he stood up.
He hadn't expected Natsu and Happy's first official team request with Lucy to be picked up in a scene like this.
According to normal plot development, Lucy would unravel the famous author's legacy novel in this request, obtaining one of the Zodiac—the Virgo Celestial Spirit, Virgo, who possessed considerable combat ability.
Chase wasn't interested in things he already knew. He turned and headed for the stairs.
"Hey Chase, where are you going?" Cana's voice came from behind.
"Nothing better to do. Thought I'd find an S-Class request to mess around with." Chase waved dismissively.
Find an S-Class request to mess around with...
Cana's eye twitched as she tightly clenched her fist: What an infuriating statement!
The warmth from Chase's "we're family" speech moments ago completely evaporated.
Only when Chase's figure disappeared around the stair corner did Cana put away her anger. She seriously tucked away the Book of Secret Arts card and left the guild.
She wanted to get stronger—then thoroughly trample that annoying face of Chase's with her feet!
Perhaps she didn't even realize it herself, but her goal of becoming an S-Class mage...
Had unconsciously crooked.
***
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