Risley's attitude left Millianna speechless for a moment.
Everyone's definition of beauty really might be different.
Still, it didn't matter. Risley was cute with her plump figure too.
Millianna laughed and hugged Risley.
This cat-loving girl was clearly the oldest member of Mermaid Heel present, yet she behaved more like a lively younger sister.
Of course, their ages were not that far apart. Millianna was only one or two years older than them.
With Wally's matter settled for the moment, the girls began chatting and laughing again.
Millianna went to change, then headed off to play with Kagura and Risley, leaving Marco, Erza, and Mirajane to continue keeping watch.
The matter of Elfman and Evergreen's suspected romance was still echoing in the three of their minds.
Many things had happened this year, and all of them had touched people deeply.
It seemed those events had also quietly encouraged the budding of more than a few feelings, pushing people to take that one extra step forward.
"Bisca and Alzack seem to have crossed that line too," Marco added.
That pair ending up together was not surprising at all.
"How nice."
Sure enough, Erza and Mirajane did not look particularly shocked when they heard it.
Alzack and Bisca were both immigrants from the western continent.
After joining Fairy Tail and settling down in Magnolia, they had naturally grown closer to each other than to most others.
They were both young, in the prime of life, a handsome man and a beautiful woman who had wandered far from home together.
It was only natural that their relationship would develop.
The two of them becoming a couple was completely within expectations.
...
The three of them continued observing for a while, but everything Marco reported was either gossip or trivial little incidents.
From the look of things, everyone really was having fun.
Gossip was enjoyable, but once it had been eaten up, it quickly lost its flavor.
There were only the three of them here, with no one else to share it with.
And if gossip couldn't be shared, even the sweetest melon lost half its taste.
"Looking at it now, maybe we really were worrying too much."
Mirajane couldn't help speaking up.
She was getting a little restless.
As for Elfman's matter, she urgently wanted to go share it with Lisanna.
"Don't rush. See? Here they come."
Light flickered in Marco's eyes. He raised a hand, signaling for Mirajane to stay calm.
The dangerous targets had finally appeared.
At the entrance to Ryuzetsu Land, several people who looked nothing like decent citizens walked in.
"Those are... Raven Tail members?"
The moment they appeared, they immediately attracted quite a bit of attention.
Compared to everyone else, those few simply did not look like they belonged to a proper guild.
They gave off a dangerous air just by standing there.
Among them, the red-haired woman's expression was twisted and broken, making her look like a lunatic.
There was also a man in a tight suit who kept scanning the crowd with a cruel grin, as if looking for something precious on people so he could destroy it.
The urge to ruin things was practically written across his face.
Raven Tail had once been a Dark Guild, and that was not exactly a secret. Although they had now become official, people still looked at them with wary eyes.
That was unavoidable.
These people truly did not look like members of a righteous guild at all.
"Look at that. Seems like everyone has quite the opinion of us."
Nulpudding, a short, vicious-looking man with slicked-back hair, spoke with a grin.
His gaze swept back and forth through the crowd, as though searching for a target.
"Teach them a lesson."
Kurohebi, the man in the tight suit, said viciously as his eyes continued raking across the people around them.
"Don't cause trouble. We're an official Mage Guild now."
Obra, wearing a tall hat and a mask over his long nose, reminded the other two.
It wasn't that he was especially law-abiding.
The problem was that there were far too many mages here. If a fight broke out, they would get mobbed!
"Official Mage Guilds are forbidden from attacking each other."
Obra remembered that the Magic Council had such a rule.
Of course, that kind of rule could only restrain guilds willing to listen.
If a major guild violated it, the matter often ended without consequence.
For example, there was the 'lawless' Fairy Tail.
How had Phantom Lord, once a powerful guild, disappeared suddenly?
True, Phantom Lord had attacked first.
But according to the rules, Fairy Tail should have handed the matter over to the Magic Council instead of storming their headquarters themselves.
In the end, the strong could do whatever they wanted.
In Obra's eyes, the Magic Council was nothing more than an organization that bullied the weak and feared the strong.
If one possessed enough power, replacing them might not be impossible.
The Jellal incident had damaged the Magic Council's authority, and that damage was not something that could be erased in a short time.
"Fairy Tail..."
Under everyone's stares, the four Raven Tail members entered Ryuzetsu Land, then soon stopped again.
Because they had seen that mark.
They had seen someone bearing that guild emblem.
Inside Ryuzetsu Land, everyone was dressed in swimwear, so most guild marks could be spotted at a glance. It was easy to tell which Mage Guild someone belonged to.
"What are you staring at?"
Gajeel, who was being watched by the four Raven Tail members with open hostility, spoke in irritation.
He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, loose shorts, and sunglasses, lying on a beach chair and sunbathing under the artificial "sun."
These four weirdos had stopped right in front of him, blocking the light, and were now staring at him strangely.
Naturally, Gajeel had no intention of indulging them. He immediately frowned and spoke.
"Well, if it isn't the legendary Iron Dragon, Gajeel. The traitor from Phantom Lord. Having a good time in Fairy Tail?"
Looking at Gajeel's displeased face, Nulpudding opened his mouth and mocked him.
Gajeel had come from the now-disbanded Phantom Lord before joining Fairy Tail.
On top of that, he had once gone to Fairy Tail to cause trouble himself.
In Nulpudding's view, Gajeel's relationships in Fairy Tail had to be terrible.
After all, he had once been their enemy.
"Hah? I'm doing great. Don't waste your concern on me."
Gajeel looked at the short, fat man in front of him as if he were staring at an idiot.
He felt absolutely no sting from those words.
He had already been part of Fairy Tail for several years and had long since blended into the big family.
Back when he had gone to Fairy Tail to cause trouble, all he had really done afterward was fight with Natsu every day.
No one had seriously held it against him.
The members of Fairy Tail would never ostracize him over what happened back then.
Even Totomaru of the Element 4, who had personally attacked them at the time, was now respected in Fairy Tail and had even become the teacher of quite a few fire-element mages.
Fairy Tail was an extraordinarily accepting guild!
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