Jason courageously lived through it again.
He even took a picture of the three people under the bear paw the moment he got up.
Truly a professional journalist.
The guild was slightly bustling for a moment, and Mr. Cook really turned the giant bear paw Erza brought back into a fragrant dish.
——One bear paw turned into a whole feast.
Everyone enjoyed the meal heartily, and Jason joined in for lunch, though he was still startled while eating, looking just like a fervent fan.
Loving Fairy Tail day in and day out for so many years, definitely a true fan without a doubt.
When the pub got lively at noon, Mira habitually went to help serve plates, as if waitressing was part of her 'taking care of people' duties, which she quite enjoys.
She served juice to Asuka and showed off her Transformation Magic, patting Asuka's head lovingly.
Then she placed a teacup in front of Lucy: "Lucy, why didn't you invite your dad to come along?"
Lucy gave a helpless look and said, "He's already gone."
Mira exclaimed in surprise, "So soon? I heard from Reby yesterday that he was very ill."
"Because he thought he couldn't hold on anymore, he entrusted his assets to the commercial guild to sell at a low price, intending to leave me an inheritance…
Lucy gave a bitter smile; the word 'inheritance' was heavy for her, thankfully it didn't develop into the worst situation, "Now that my dad is fine, he wants to quickly go back to stop the sale, maybe he can still recover some losses."
"I see..." Mira looked at her sympathetically. With such a fuss, Lucy's family might incur heavy losses.
"Anyway, it was thanks to Mr. Rhode, Wendy, and Granny Porlyusica this time." Lucy smiled, sipping her hot tea, then frowned in concern again, "Now I have to figure out how to pay the rent."
Jude left Lucy a hefty living allowance, but he didn't have much liquid capital, so Lucy has to take on a few tasks to pay the rent.
"Good luck." Mira sympathized with her and turned to look at the bulletin board, reminding her, "If you want to take on tasks, better hurry up."
Lucy suddenly stood up, oh right! Seems like there aren't many tasks at the guild now!
"Natsu! Time to go work!" Lucy dragged Natsu towards the bulletin board.
Natsu was holding a plate, still munching on meat, mumbling that he wasn't full yet.
It was rare that Erza was treating today, no need to spend money.
"Only four tasks?" Lucy looked at them one by one in disappointment, hoping for something suitable.
Nabu said, "There were five in the morning, Kana and Kildas took one."
"Kildas?" Natsu perked up, asking, "Did they take on a difficult task?"
Nabu said, "Just a regular escort task, with a reward of 20,000 J."
"Kana must have wanted to work, and Kildas insisted on going along." Lucy guessed the truth.
But thinking it over, hiring Kildas for only 20,000 J, the client is really lucky… or maybe lost big time.
While Lucy was pondering, Natsu with his greasy hand tore off the task with the highest reward: "This one will do, call Erza and Gray."
Lucy hurriedly called out, "Wait, I haven't looked at it yet!"
"It's just a bandit group, we'll beat them up, no problem at all." Natsu said confidently, but then worried, "But Hapi isn't back yet, we're short on fighting power."
"So Hapi is considered important combat power in your eyes?" Lucy retorted, pointing to the reward on the task note, "An eight-person bandit group, a reward of 2 million J is obviously suspicious, right?!"
"Just beat them up." Natsu excitedly called for Erza and Gray to gather.
"Stop repeating the same thing!" Lucy felt exhausted, thinking she should probably ask Mr. Rhode… oh, he hasn't taken over these matters again, maybe Wakaba or Laki then.
Lucy dragged Natsu's scarf to go ask Wakaba—only this way would he not dare to play tug-of-war with her.
To Lucy's relief, Erza and Gray were sensible, like her they thought they should inquire about the bandit group's info first.
"Black Knight Bandit Group…" Wakaba thought for a moment, then said, "They're quite notorious because all 8 have battle-specific Magic Armor and weapons.
"Do you remember those weapons from Edolas? These are improved versions developed from that foundation, initially mismanaged and leaked into the black market, became a hot ticket for criminals, and the better ones even have new functions added.
"The Black Knight Bandit Group was originally a group of desperados, and after being equipped with armor and weapons they're even tougher to handle, which probably accounts for the high reward."
Wakaba himself wouldn't take such a task since the risk was high and easy to mess up unexpectedly, just like that time Macao got beaten by monkeys.
Macao came over sharply, heavily placing his glass on the table: "Wakaba, you punk, are you badmouthing me?"
"No time for you." Wakaba pushed Macao away by his face, "Our guild rarely gets such high-reward tasks, it must be because they heard you guys were back that they gave it to us, we should cherish it."
"Understood." Erza nodded seriously, "This is also an opportunity to reestablish the guild's reputation."
With her saying that, Gray and Lucy also felt a surge of motivation, eager to complete the guild's first high-reward task in recent times beautifully.
Macao glanced at the task sheet, seeing the Black Knight name, he reminded:
"These guys should be classed among the new-style mages; their magic is messy and unpredictable, even just a little bit of everything, so you also need to be cautious."
Rhode chimed in casually: "Are the bandits and brigands nowadays this troublesome?"
Macao said, "Only if they're affluent bandits."
Rhode nodded.
In other words, in this era, as long as you have money, you can acquire quite powerful Magic Tools through either legal or illegal channels?
Even enough to cause some trouble for Erza's squad?
Just not sure what the upper limits of these tools are.
Rhode thought about it, then asked, "Would you consider inviting Wendy along for help?"
Erza asked, "Wendy? She's been accompanying you, hasn't she?"
"Yes, but I'll be quite busy the next few days, not much time for tasks. You're up against different enemies than before, Wendy could be a great help."
Rhode currently didn't lack money and didn't want to compete for tasks.
Erza thought it reasonable: "I'll go invite her."
Rhode, like performing magic, pulled out a fluffy white ball smaller than Hapi: "By the way, take Warm with you."
Lucy was surprised: "Warm? Why is it so small now?"