Since the nearby train station had been destroyed during Erza and the others' pursuit of the dark guild, the next day, Chase and his companions chose to return to Magnolia by magic four-wheeled vehicle.
During the journey, while passing through the easily disoriented Croba Canyon, they encountered a village transformed by magical creatures.
After a series of mishaps, by the time they returned to Magnolia, the bright moon had already risen and night had fallen.
"Another day full of adventure and strange encounters..."
After washing up, Lucy sat at her desk, quill in hand, reflecting on the past two days.
The strongest team, the dark guild, the demon from Zeref's book, the magical creature village—and so on.
"Although the journey was fun, occasionally staying comfortably in my own room like this feels pretty great too."
As she waved her quill, writing her novel, she thought contentedly, "Guess you really need a balance of work and rest~"
The long journey had drained even Natsu's seemingly inexhaustible energy. He and Happy had returned to their house in the suburban forest early;
Erza, dragging a cart full of luggage, had gone back to the guild's girls' dormitory, saying she needed to properly organize things.
Whether she meant organizing her room or the girls' dormitory's discipline was anyone's guess...
Lucy nodded firmly, Erza's serious expression appeared in front of her eyes.
Yep, definitely the latter!
"And then there's Chase, who parted ways with us at the city river... He's probably asleep by now, right?"
Remembering how before they separated, Dark Magician Girl had mentioned needing to warm the bed for Chase, Lucy's face instantly flushed bright red, steam practically rising from her head.
"They're so close..."
"Dammit, I really want to know more about Chase's scandals!"
Just as various strange images began to appear in Lucy's mind, she suddenly thought she heard someone calling her name.
"Hey, Lucy!"
Illegal entry?
Natsu? Gray? Or Chase?!
Almost reflexively, Lucy clutched the manuscript on her desk to her chest, abruptly standing up and looking around.
The experiences of the past few nights had turned her into a nervous wreck.
After searching carefully, the empty room remained quite silent, with no signs of any perverts having been there.
"Just a hallucination from exhaustion..." Lucy sighed softly.
Suddenly, the floor beneath her trembled, and a humanoid muscular cow with horns popped out from within.
"Moo! I sensed it! Lucy's in danger!"
Taurus of the Zodiac was in high spirits, his heart-shaped eyes locked on Lucy.
Lucy startled at first, then pulled out her Celestial Spirit key and bared her jagged teeth at the perverted spirit.
"You jumping out of nowhere are the real danger!!"
"Moo~"
In a flash of starlight, having finished his antics, Taurus was forcibly sent back to the Celestial Spirit World.
"Seriously... none of them give me any peace." Lucy pressed her hand to her forehead and sighed.
"Lucy! Can you hear me?!"
Before her tense nerves could fully relax, that strange greeting came again.
This time, Lucy finally recognized the voice.
With a mix of doubt and trepidation, she walked to the window facing the street outside and pushed it open.
Looking up, her gaze crossed the river dotted with moonlight, and there—on the second floor of the house diagonally across—sat Chase on his open window, waving at her.
"It really IS you!!"
Lucy's mouth twitched as she petrified on the spot.
"Hey, Lucy! Good evening~"
Dark Magician Girl's head popped out from beside him, happily waving her arm.
Her sweet voice echoed through the quiet street. Lucy keenly noticed lights turning on in several nearby houses.
"I heard you! Stop shouting! It's so embarrassing!!"
The shame of social death washed over her.
Lucy slammed the window shut at light speed, bolted out the door at a speed beyond her physical limits, and dashed across the bridge over the river, arriving at Chase's house.
"Seriously! It's fine if Dark Magician Girl does it because she's cute, but Chase! Doing this late at night—I could report you for harassment, you know! Harassment!"
The moment she entered, chest heaving from exhaustion, Lucy launched into mode of complaining and threatening to express her displeasure.
"Hahaha! I needed to talk to you about something, and since we're so close, I just called out directly."
Chase smiled and poured her a cup of hot tea.
"Even so, this is way too direct!"
That said, she politely accepted the tea and sat down across from Chase.
"Lucy, cuteness isn't everything. You should scold me properly too. I'm sorry for disturbing you so late."
Dark Magician Girl sat properly on the sofa, her face tense, completely opposite her usual cute persona.
PFFT!
Her serious expression and earnest tone startled Lucy so much that she sprayed the tea she'd just drunk all over Chase's face.
Was this still the Dark Magician Girl she knew?! Are you sure she hasn't been possessed by Virgo?!
Chase daily tea facials: 1/1
Seeing this, Dark Magician Girl maintained her smile and upright posture.
But her big, beautiful eyes kept twitching, as if conveying some kind of secret code.
Lucy instantly received this signal and glanced toward the corner of the room.
There, a stern-faced man draped in a dark purple magical robe stood with arms crossed, right hand holding a magical staff.
Just from his upright posture, one could tell he was definitely a powerful individual.
"S-such a deep magical aura..."
Lucy hadn't noticed at first, but now she belatedly realized.
The magical aura emanating from this unfamiliar man completely filled the entire room!
The same style magical robe and staff as Dark Magician Girl... So this was the teacher Dark Magician Girl had mentioned—Dark Magician?!
'Just from his presence alone, he doesn't seem like the easiest person to get along with...' Lucy thought nervously, feeling uncertain.
Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Chase stood up, walked over, and smiled as he patted Dark Magician on the shoulder.
"This is Lucy, the one I mentioned. She's pathetically weak and looks kind of silly, but she's still a companion of mine. See if there's any room for improvement."
Back at the guild, Dark Magician Girl had promised Lucy she'd introduce her teacher for guidance.
This was actually Chase's idea as well.
Putting aside whether a stronger Lucy might yield cards, he'd already been thinking about giving Lucy some special training.
After all, the original Lucy really had it rough—always the one getting beaten up.
And Dark Magician himself was a "sage" who had immersed in magical practice for countless years. Although Chase's current magical power couldn't yet unleash his full strength—reaching the level of "Dark Sage" or "Quintet Magician"—his fundamental insights into magic itself remained.
All paths of magic lead to the same destination.
Based on this, although the "magic" of the Fairy Tail world differed from that of the Yu-Gi-Oh! world, with Dark Magician's knowledge, he could still provide Lucy with plenty of useful help.
Chase had no doubt about this.
Because purely in terms of magic, Dark Magician could practically be considered his half-teacher, helping him avoid many detours when he first traveled.
Similarly, other guild companions had also received guidance to varying degrees and all held great respect for Dark Magician.