After some playful commotion, as the sky gradually darkened, everyone ended their discussion about Lucy and the Heartfilia Konzern. They left the construction site one by one and headed home.
Since their residences were nearby, Lucy asked Chase if she could walk back with him.
Of course, that was just an excuse.
Night fell. The same wide street by the city canal…
The blonde girl stretched out her arms for balance, wobbling along the embankment, followed by the unsteady Canis Minor, Plue.
"Hey there, little lady! Do be careful now~"
A local fisherman, appearing like an NPC, rowed his boat past on the canal and called out a reminder.
"Got it, kind old man!"
Dark Magician Girl struck her signature peace sign and waved cheerfully at him.
Then, she lost her footing, her body instantly tipping out of balance, and tumbled clumsily toward the canal.
Fortunately, she had quick reflexes—she transformed into a streak of pink light and returned to her original spot just in time.
The kind fisherman watched, utterly dumbfounded.
"That idiot…"
Chase, walking behind, sighed in embarrassment. He then turned to Lucy, who had been unusually quiet. "Lucy, you didn't just ask to walk together because it was on the way, did you?"
Lucy seemed distracted. After a pause, she nodded. "Huh? Yes!"
She had been trying to figure out what Chase had done to make her father Jude always so stubborn change so drastically.
But no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't find a reasonable explanation. It couldn't really be that Chase had just beaten him up, could it?!
"Actually... Chase, did you go to the Heartfilia estate today?" Lucy asked tentatively.
"That's right. Even if he's your father, doing something like that to the guild—I had to get some answers!"
Chase waved his fist and admitted it. "From what Natsu, Erza, and the others said, it seems my words got through to that guy Jude."
If Lucy was asking this question, then Jude had definitely told her something.
"Your words? Chase, what exactly did you say to Father—to Dad?" Lucy couldn't help but ask.
"Well, I just reasoned with him. He's the richest man in Fiore, after all. I couldn't exactly solve it with my fists, right?"
At this, Lucy snapped her head up and stared directly at Chase.
Her eyes were filled with suspicion, as if to say: I don't believe a word of that!
The old Jude wouldn't even listen to his own daughter's thoughts. How could a few words from a stranger like Chase shake him let alone change his entire personality?!
But that wasn't what Lucy had truly been wrestling with on the way here. She didn't want to dig into the details.
It was just that…
"When there was a much simpler way... Chase, why did you go this far..."
Lucy stopped walking, buried her face in her chest, and stared at the neatly laid cobblestones beneath her feet.
From everything she had seen, she knew Chase's personality well: he was the type who would rather fight than waste words.
Even against the Heartfilia Konzern, which held enormous influence in Fiore.
Truth be told, Lucy already knew the answer. She just—having grown up in a cold, heartless home without a mother—didn't know how to face the happiness welling up inside her.
As she fell silent, a heavy warmth pressed down on her head.
"Silly girl. Because we're family!"
"Beating Jude up would have been the most efficient solution, but then you would have had to choose between Fairy Tail and the Heartfilia family."
Chase ruffled Lucy's hair and smiled. "That would have hurt, wouldn't it?"
Even though she'd already guessed the answer, hearing Chase say it out loud still made Lucy's nose sting. Her eyes immediately grew moist.
Seeing this, Chase quickly pulled his hand back and called out to Dark Magician Girl ahead. "Dark Magician Girl, go!"
"On it!"
Dark Magician Girl, who had been quietly observing, instantly understood. She bounced over.
Before Lucy could react, her pale, slender hands were already wiggling into Lucy's armpits.
"W-Wait, Dark Magician Girl, what are you—ah ha—th—that tickles—ahaha—stop it!"
Caught off guard by the sudden "attack," Lucy squirmed and dodged, unable to hold back her laughter.
Tears—whether from joy or discomfort—spilled from the corners of her squinting eyes.
"Hahaha! That's more like it. A happy ending calls for laughter."
Chase crossed his arms and watched the two cute blonde girls playfully push and shove each other.
A girl's tears were far harder to deal with than any terrifying enemy!
For Lucy, this was destined to be an unforgettable day…
The next day…
Fairy Tail's reconstruction continued as usual, in full swing.
Construction efficiency in the magical world was truly remarkable. In just two or three days, the new guild's first floor had already taken shape.
The core load-bearing walls and pillars had risen from the ground, surrounded by neatly erected scaffolding, ready for the next phase.
Chase, having slept well, woke up early. After practicing his
God-Slaying Magic in the card space for a while, he strolled leisurely toward the construction site.
Before he even arrived, he could hear Natsu and Gray's bickering echoing from behind the fence.
In an inconspicuous dark corner near the fence, Chase noticed a figure fidgeting restlessly.
"Aaaaah, Juvia wants to press her forehead against Gray-sama's too!"
Juvia, dressed in blue, held a lunchbox. She crouched there, radiating a distinctly suspicious energy, peeking through a narrow gap with starry eyes fixed on Gray in the distance.
"Oh, really? And then?" Chase asked.
"And then, at such close range, their lips would inevitably touch, and then Juvia could stick out her tongue—Huh?!"
Juvia, deep in her lustful fantasy, suddenly snapped back to reality. She spun around and saw Chase. With a yelp, she immediately leaped several steps back.
"Y-You're the one who fought Master Jose—Chase?!"
Her heart-shaped eyes were instantly replaced with wary vigilance. She was no match for this powerful man…
"Relax. We're not enemies right now."
Seeing Juvia still on high alert, Chase waved his hand casually. "Don't worry. Since you're Gray's girlfriend, you're practically a member of Fairy Tail already."
"G-G-G-Girlfriend? Lover? Wife? Mother of thirty children?!!"
At the word "girlfriend," Juvia's system crashed. Her face turned beet red and began spewing steam.
Then, with a thud, she fell over in a blissful, love-struck faint.
"…" Chase's mouth twitched.
That reaction was even more over-the-top than I imagined!
***
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