Magnolia.
The lively atmosphere of the banquet filled the entire Fairy Tail guild.
Natsu and Happy dance, Gray stripping show, Bickslow dance, Team Shadow Gear crazy poses, Cana chugging booze...
All kinds of weird performances one after another.
"So this is a Fairy Tail banquet? It's even more, um, hard to look at than I imagined."
Lucy sat alone in a corner, looking around, always feeling a sense of powerlessness, as if she couldn't quite blend in.
"Perfectly normal. In situations like this, you just need to take personal protective measures." A cute, playful voice came.
Lucy looked up, recognized the speaker, and immediately beamed. "Dark Magician Girl!"
Dark Magician Girl sat down across from Lucy, casually glacing at the noisy banquet center, and sighed softly. "Haven't seen everyone in over a year, and nothing's changed. Their energy seems like it'll never run out."
"Very apt description." Lucy deeply agreed.
Then, remembering what Dark Magician Girl had just said, she looked puzzled. "By the way, what do you mean by 'personal protective measures'..."
Just then, an empty beer barrel came flying from the banquet center, heading straight for where they were sitting.
Dark Magician Girl had anticipated this. Swinging her magical staff, she knocked the barrel right back where it came from.
With a sharp "thud," it hits someone's head.
"Nice! A perfect home run!" Dark Magician Girl proudly struck a cute peace sign.
"...I think I get it now."
As she spoke, Lucy moved quickly, grabbing Happy as he flew overhead and holding him defensively in front of her.
This technique was called Celestial Spirit Magic: Happy Shield!
"Huh? Lucy, what are you doing?" Happy, caught serving as meat shield, looked utterly bewildered.
"Shut up, you damn cat! I'm not done with you for leaking intelligence to Mira-nee!" Lucy said fiercely.
Happy was about to quibble when a flying slipper smacked him right in the face. His head lolled to the side, and his white soul immediately left his body.
"Haha! Personal protection success!"
Lucy imitated Dark Magician Girl's pose with a peace sign.
The two blonde beauties looked at each other and beamed as if they'd found kindred spirits.
"Hey Lucy, that super cute Celestial Spirit of yours is called Plue, right? Can you summon him so I can hug him?"
"Of course! Open! Gate of Canis Minor!"
"Speaking of which, Dark Magician Girl, what kind of magic do you use?"
Lucy noticed the pink magical staff Dark Magician Girl had casually set aside.
"It's the black magic my teacher taught me."
"Oh? Dark Magician Girl has a teacher? Black magic—just hearing it sounds super powerful."
"Yep! My teacher's magical prowess is super high! But he doesn't like crowds, so he rarely comes out."
Dark Magician Girl hugged Plue and squished him, thinking for a moment before saying, "Someday I'll have Master introduce you. Teacher can definitely help you become stronger!"
"Really? Thanks so much!"
While the two blonde girls chatted animatedly...
Away from the banquet center, at the bar counter.
Chase and Mira stood side by side, while Makarov casually sat on the counter.
"I see. I never imagined that behind the S-Class commission to subdue pirates, such a thing was involved."
After listening to Chase's account of the entire Demon Ruins Island incident, Makarov looked quite surprised.
If such a huge conspiracy was hidden behind it, then this commission wasn't just ordinary S-Class—it was the highest difficulty level, possibly even reaching SS-Class.
And above SS-Class were the Ten-Year Quests and Hundred-Year Quests!
"Mira, organize the relevant materials and send them to the Magic Council. Those old bastards were already urging when I came back." Makarov looked at Mira.
"Understood." Mira nodded with a smile.
"As for you, Chase, come with me to Crocus tomorrow for the guild masters' meeting. Since this incident made such waves, we need to crush the other guilds' spirits!"
Thinking about how he could finally strut at this meeting, Makarov's grin was harder to suppress than an AK.
"The guild masters' meeting in Crocus, huh?"
Chase agreed without hesitation. "No problem."
His immediate agreement caught Makarov and Mira off guard:
Wasn't this guy usually the one who hated attending meetings the most? Why was he agreeing so readily this time?
"This isn't like you at all..."
Makarov frowned, his tone thick with confusion.
He'd already prepared to drag Chase along even if he had to use force.
"Haha, I just have a feeling something interesting might happen at this meeting."
Chase just smiled, offering no further explanation.
In the end, the banquet predictably devolved into an all-out brawl.
But with Makarov present this time, the commotion was quickly suppressed.
Under his scolding, everyone finished their "daily exercise" and started getting to work, picking up suitable commissions and gradually leaving.
Chase, meanwhile, took Dark Magician Girl to the Magic Council to hand over Cluny, the dark guild master who'd been sealed in a card.
Back then, the situation was urgent—he'd been focused on rushing to Demon Ruins Island but couldn't just leave Cluny unattended, so he'd used the card seal that card mages specialized in to temporarily imprison him.
Then a series of events followed, and only now did he have time to put a perfect end to this S-Class commission.
With the merits from the ruins island incident preceding him, the entire handover process went smoothly. Chase easily received the 9.9 million Jewel commission reward Marshall had left with the Council.
By the time he returned to the guild, the sun was setting and dusk had fallen.
As soon as he entered, Mira waved him over.
"You're back, Chase. A few mages from Black Pheasant Foot have been waiting for you a long time."
Hearing that familiar guild name, Chase's mouth twitched.
Seriously? Even in Magnolia, he couldn't escape this wannabe guild?
What kind of damn karma was this!
Following Mira's gaze, Chase saw the Black Pheasant Foot mages sitting and chatting with Lucy and Cana.
"Ina, Bukolevin, Dashnyu—it's you guys."
Recognizing them, he instantly guessed why they'd come and laughed. "Come on, you guys. It was just a little thing. You didn't have to come all the way to the guild to thank me, you know?"
Hearing this, Lucy and Cana immediately shot him disdainful looks.
The next second, Ina—with her chest and long legs—suddenly stood up, slightly blushed, walked quickly to Chase, extended her pale hand, and shouted:
"Pay up!"
Here's what happened: Having agreed with Chase to share the merchant ship's losses, they'd been rescued by the maritime guard and returned to port.
They'd waited from dusk till night, from night till dawn, but never saw Chase. Instead, they got today's newspaper.
Realizing they'd been stood up, they had no choice but to painfully pay the compensation—far exceeding the commission reward—to the ship captain, then rushed straight to Fairy Tail to collect their debt!
"Huh?"
This statement, completely different from the gratitude he'd expected, left Chase stunned.
"Ahaha! Sorry, sorry! So happened much, I completely forgot about this..."
Snapping out of it, he quickly looked at Dark Magician Girl beside him.
His money had always been kept by Dark Magician Girl—it was more convenient to bring into the cards that way.
After asking the compensation amount, Dark Magician Girl pulled out the money—and paid for Ina and her teammates' shares too.
Like he always said, Chase, who could make several million from any S-Class commission, is not short of money at all.
Unlike her two teammates, who were overjoyed hearing the full compensation was paid, Ina accepted the money numbly, somewhat disoriented.
S-so cute, so pretty... this girl next to Chase... I feel like I've seen her somewhere...
Manages Chase's money... so is she his girlfriend...
The short-haired girl felt a bit flustered and unconfident.
Come to think of it, the reason she'd mustered the courage to come to Fairy Tail wasn't about the money at all!
"Alright! The matter's settled. Friends from Black Pheasant Foot can head back now."
Mira clapped her hands, her face still wearing a gentle smile, but deep in her eyes lurked extremely aggressive.
"After all, you're from a different guild. Without official documentation from your master, lingering too long could cause very troublesome consequences~"
Though Ina still had much she wanted to say to Chase, with things put that way, she really couldn't stay.
Muttering "Sorry for the intrusion," she left dejectedly with her two teammates.
Lucy, lying in the corner eating melon, looked wise as her gaze kept switching between Chase, Mira, Dark Magician Girl, and the departing Ina.
Finally, Detective Lucy reached a conclusion in her mind:
Hooking up~!