"What?!"
"Ten million?"
"You've got to be kidding me!"
Wakaba's startled exclamation immediately caused a huge stir; the entire guild was buzzing with excitement.
Even the mysterious visitor seemed taken aback, hesitating slightly before asking, "Is there a problem? Ten million isn't enough? Should I add a little more?"
Wakaba: "…"
"No need, ten million is already plenty!" he replied, shaking his head. Seeing her reaction, he was even more convinced this was just another prank.
"Is that so? That's good then. Since that's the case, here's the mission reward."
After Wakaba spoke, the mysterious girl seemed relieved. She placed a small box on the counter and then turned to leave the guild.
Watching her retreating figure, Wakaba casually set the mission form on the counter, shaking his head in resignation.
Sigh… I really should discuss this with the guild master. Otherwise, with people pulling pranks like this all the time… hmm? Mission reward?
Suddenly, something felt off.
Wakaba rushed to the small box, his hands trembling as he opened it. The next instant, his eyes widened in disbelief.
"It's… it's really real! The reward is actually real!"
He muttered to himself, staring at the full 10,000,000J in cash inside the box, his expression a mixture of excitement and disbelief.
"Hey! Wakaba, are you okay? It's just a prank. You don't need to get that worked up, right?" Someone asked, noticing his unusual behavior.
"Yeah, we're used to this kind of thing by now anyway."
Most of the guild had experienced prank missions before, so aside from a brief shock at the "ten million reward," they quickly calmed down.
But just as people finished speaking, Wakaba suddenly raised his head. His voice trembled as he addressed the guild, "This… might not be a prank. That person already paid the reward in advance!"
He slowly turned the small box on the counter so everyone could see the stacks of cash inside.
"…!"
"Wha—holy crap!"
"Is this real? Am I dreaming?"
"So much money!"
"Ten million… this is basically an S-Class mission!"
As Wakaba placed the box in full view of everyone, the guild's atmosphere froze for a moment. Then came the shocked murmurs, followed by countless incredulous stares.
Fairy Tail had had missions with rewards of over ten million jewels before, but a mission paid in advance? Not even a one-million J mission had been advanced in such a way.
And ten million… even in this world, it was an astronomical sum. Few in the entire guild could claim their net worth matched it.
Just as the guild members were discussing this, two figures appeared at the guild doors—one tall, one short. It was none other than Makarov and Gildarts.
Seeing the guild in a chaotic cluster around the counter, both looked puzzled.
"What's going on? Has something happened in the guild?" Makarov asked.
The guild quickly cleared a path and greeted him.
"Guildmaster!"
"Master!"
"Guildmaster!"
Makarov nodded lightly as he walked forward, "What exactly is going on… hmm? What's this?"
He soon saw the ten million jewels in cash on the counter. Even he was momentarily stunned.
How can there be this much money here? Who is it from?
"Guildmaster, here's the situation…" Makarov listened carefully as Wakaba explained the whole incident.
After finishing, Makarov fell silent, deep in thought. After a brief pause, he asked, "What's the mission content?"
"Content? Let me see…" Wakaba replied. He hadn't paid much attention to the mission at first, thinking it was a prank. Now, he looked over the mission form again.
"Found it. The mission is… to rescue the wealthy industrialist Singer from the dark guild Beast Apostles… Huh? Is this the same Singer who visited our guild recently?" Wakaba's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Looks like it. And that Beast Apostles, must be the same dark guild Ur encountered a week ago."
Makarov pondered for a moment. Recalling Ur's previous warning, he frowned. Then he made a decision.
"Since the reward has already been paid in advance, our guild has no reason to refuse. That said… according to Ur, the Beast Apostles aren't very strong, but they did capture a strange creature a week ago. We can't know what schemes they might be planning."
"Here's what we'll do: for safety, this mission will be classified as S-Class. Gildarts will lead the team, accompanied by Mirajane and Ur…"
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