The Master's sudden sternness startled Lucy and the others.
Not daring to slack off, everyone put their magic to work and began clearing the site with gusto.
"By the way, Master, what kind of guild are we going to build? The same as before?"
Macao used his magic to lift a heavy stone slab and toss it into the lake, muttering curiously.
"No, the new guild is going to be much bigger. While we were under the Council's supervision, the Master came up with a rough idea."
Mira smiled and pulled out a sketch, proudly showing it to everyone.
Macao leaned in for a look and was immediately stunned by the abstract doodle that looked like it had been drawn by a toddler.
"Oh? You've already got a design?"
Gray walked by carrying a wooden plank, glanced up with curiosity, then did a double take. "Hah? What kind of design is this? Which idiot drew it?!"
At this, the sweet smile on Mira's face froze. The next second, she covered her face and burst into tears.
"It was Mira!" Gray panicked.
"Hey, that's pretty low, Gray. You made her cry."
"How ungentlemanly. No sense of chivalry at all."
As the surrounding guildmates pointed and murmured, Gray grew even more flustered, scrambling to comfort her.
Just then, a figure approached from the side.
Chase reached over and took the sketch from Mira, examining it carefully.
"Hmm—a grand castle-style building, a spacious bar, a pedestrian food street around the perimeter, and an outdoor pool. Looks like a pretty impressive new guild to me."
"You idiot, Gray. Can't you see it when it's drawn this clearly?"
Mira's tear-filled eyes lit up again, her heart filled with joy. Chase understood! The design she'd stayed up all night to draw, following the Master's description!
"Hey, Chase, are you serious?" Gray, Macao, and the others were taken aback.
Not far away, Lucy, Natsu, and Happy huddled together with mischievous grins.
"Wait a minute. Is Chase really that considerate? Normally, wouldn't he be the one laughing the loudest?"
"If it were Lucy, definitely!" Natsu nodded firmly.
"...What do you mean 'if it were me'?! As a girl, my emotional resilience is pretty fragile too, you know!"
With that, the three exchanged glances, then all stuck out their tongues in unison and sang: "Something's going on~"
And with that, the little episode was over.
By the time the site was completely cleared, the sun was setting in the west.
The others had already returned to the girls' dormitory or their own homes, leaving only Makarov, Mira, and a few others behind to discuss the details of the new guild's construction and the schedule for the various material suppliers, preparing for the official start of work tomorrow.
Lucy, meanwhile, dragged her tired body back toward her rented apartment.
It was the same dangerous riverbank, the same well-meaning boatman warning her, the same unsteady Canis Minor, Plue, trailing behind her.
"Those Council guys said Phantom Lord, as the one who started the war, will probably just end up disbanded. I'm glad it turned out that way."
"Chase is really incredible, fighting the Phantom Lord Master, one of the Ten Wizard Saints, to that extent. And Erza and Mira too—they took out the Element 4 like it was nothing."
"Then there's Mystogan, who took down all of Phantom Lord's branches by himself, even though he disappeared right after we left the camp."
"If it weren't for everyone in the guild this time, I might have—"
As if talking to Plue behind her, or perhaps just to herself, Lucy's eyes grew steadily more determined.
"To make sure nothing like this ever puts everyone in danger again, I need to end things with that man for good…"
Ever since she'd decided to stay in Fairy Tail and accept everyone's feelings, she'd made up her mind:
She absolutely had to go back to that cold, empty house and make her intentions clear to her father, Jude Heartfilia.
"But before that, I should go home and take a nice, long hot bath. These past few days at the camp, I haven't been able to relax at all."
Just as Lucy, full of anticipation, pushed open the door to her apartment, she saw—unsurprisingly—that the lights were on.
"Yo, Lucy! You're back!"
Natsu was sprawled out on her pink bed, grinning as he greeted her.
"Lucy took forever. Natsu and I already took baths," Happy muttered, then went back to sharpening his claws on a pillar.
Lucy: "..."
After two and a half seconds of stunned silence, the sweet young girl transformed into a demon from hell. She hurled her suitcase with brutal force: "THIS IS MY HOUSE!!!"
Thud!
The suitcase hit Natsu and Happy dead-on, sending them flying with blood spraying from their mouths, embedding them like decorations into the cracked wall. Double kill.
Scene shift…
Lucy reluctantly pushed two cups of tea toward Natsu and Happy, both nursing fresh bumps on their heads. "Drink up, then go back to your own house!"
"Lucy's so heartless. You know our place is in the forest outside town, and you're kicking us out this late."
"Exactly. We're exhausted from cleaning up the guild ruins, and she has no sympathy. And she calls herself our teammate…"
Natsu and Happy didn't take the tea. Instead, they had the audacity to start scolding Lucy for being unreasonable.
"Don't make me sound so cruel!"
Seeing them look so pitiful, the soft-hearted Lucy immediately relented. Her eyes darted around as she suggested, "Hey, you could go to Chase's place. His house is plenty big!"
"No way. Chase's place is too restrictive. You're always at risk of getting hit, and you have to pay for anything you break," Natsu said with a pout.
"And I can't use the walls to maintain my claws," Happy added, going over to the nearest wall to demonstrate.
"So what, you don't have to pay for damages at my place?! Stupid cat, get your filthy claws off my wall!!"
Lucy's mouth twitched uncontrollably, a large vein popping on her forehead.
"Hmm? Sounds like you two have quite a few complaints about me, Natsu. Happy."
The familiar voice scared Natsu and Happy half to death, and they quickly covered their mouths.
Looking up, they saw Chase and Dark Magician Girl jumping down from the apartment window and landing on the desk, making their way into the living room.
"Can't you guys use the normal entrance for once?"
Lucy looked at the footprints on her desk and sighed wearily. "My place has a door!"
As for why Chase and Dark Magician Girl were showing up at this hour, she was far too used to it by now.
"Ah, sorry, Lucy! I saw your window was open and didn't feel like going around," Dark Magician Girl said apologetically, scratching her head.
"That's weird. I clearly locked all the doors and windows before we left for the Council camp," Lucy said, frowning.
She quickly pieced together the sequence of events: Natsu and Happy had definitely used that same route to break in!
"Haha, don't sweat the small stuff."
Unlike Dark Magician Girl's relatively polite apology, Chase was far more casual. He walked straight over and picked up her teacup, taking a sip.
"...That's my cup."
Watching Chase set the empty cup back down, Lucy sighed heavily and pressed a hand to her forehead. "Well, anyway, Chase, you didn't come all the way here this late just for tea, did you?"
Dark Magician Girl smiled mysteriously, answering for him:
"Of course not, Lucy. The Master brought you something good!"
***
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