After all, Rhode wasn't really a demon, so he stopped after messing with them seven or eight times.
Natsu collapsed on the ground with a dazed expression, as if a white soul was floating from his mouth, about half dead.
Lucy sat on the ground holding her suitcase, resting her chin on it, looking listless.
Gray was leaning against a column of the clock tower, half of his clothes off, yet lacked the strength to remove the rest, with a look of utter despair on his face.
Wendy was lying on the ground, hugging Warm, mumbling Carla's name incoherently.
Meanwhile, the real Carla and Hapi were lying head to head on the ground, their wings drooping on either side.
—— Earlier, they wanted to fly away, but suddenly a strong spider web appeared and trapped them, making escape impossible.
As for Erza…
"You're all so useless, just this little punishment and you're defeated already!" Erza said with her hands on her hips.
Gray had a dark look on his face: "Why... why is Erza completely fine?!"
Erza waved her hand grandly: "That's because I deeply understand my mistakes and have the resolve to take responsibility. Your resolve is lacking!"
Lucy struggled to lift her head and weakly said, "It's not about resolve at all…"
"Anyway, this is not enough!" Erza clenched her fist, looking all fired up, "Rhode, the guild's punishment for us isn't just this, right?!"
"No, please don't…" came a feeble protest from the side.
"Hmm…" Rhode didn't expect Erza to adapt so quickly, "The physical punishment is about done, this time you can really go downstairs."
Erza showed a hint of regret, while the others inexplicably felt a bit grateful: "Finally, it's over…"
Feeling relieved, they subconsciously overlooked an important keyword, adjusted themselves slightly, and followed Rhode downstairs.
Once they appeared on the stairs, the guild members looked at them with dagger-like glares.
Everyone said in unison, gritting their teeth through the words: "Wel~come~back… Was the party~enjoy~able?"
"Sorry!"
They all bowed in unison, and Lucy accidentally bumped her head against the handrail, clutching her forehead in pain and squatting down.
Erza, Natsu, and Gray each broke a small piece of the handrail.
Wendy didn't reach it, avoiding the mishap. Hapi and Carla did the same.
Mira waved them over: "It's okay, everyone was just worried about you, come down and sit."
Feeling like pardoned prisoners, they quickly sat down at Mira's table.
"Did Rhode do something excessive to you?" Mira asked, noticing their pale faces, and called Miss Laki and Ginanna to bring them some food to calm them down.
Erza said with a heavy heart: "Just a little physical punishment, not enough to make up for our mistakes."
The others felt a tickle of alarm, Erza was being too straightforward, did she forget how tough Mira could be?
"Oh dear, so it did happen, I'm really sorry." Mira apologized on Rhode's behalf and then took out a gift box, "This is a gift to celebrate your safe return, why not open it and take a look?"
They felt a sense of relief; thankfully, it was the gentle Mira today, not the scheming one.
"That's too kind, this makes us feel even more ashamed." Erza, as a representative, opened the gift box.
They all leaned in to look, only to find a stack of papers inside, puzzled eyes turning to Mira.
Mira smiled as she took the papers out, laying them on the table one by one, carefully explaining: "These are the accommodation fees from Pomelo Hotel you stayed at."
Their faces turned pale, sensing a bad omen.
"These are the repair fees for the floor you damaged."
They gulped.
"Although you didn't stay there, these are the costs of reserving rooms for investigation leads about you."
They started to tremble.
"These are the fees for hiring a Star Spirit Mage to help and issuing requests to other guilds."
Everyone except Erza was slumped over the table.
"Additionally, because helping find you delayed people's work, everyone said it's in the spirit of companionship, but some want you to run errands or something to repay."
"I see…" They recalled Rhode's words.
So there was a mental blow too?
"This is all fair," Erza wholeheartedly agreed and even smiled, "The spirit of companionship is priceless!"
Mira glanced at Rhode helplessly, in many ways, Erza was too strong, ordinary things couldn't faze her.
Rhode nodded at her, time to use that move.
Mira opened her little bag and took out an envelope: "Erza, this is for you."
"Oh? There's more? It's fine, I'll accept whatever the cost." Erza respectfully took it, opened it, and pulled out a piece of hard paper.
Erza immediately saw the keyword—"wedding", and froze on the spot.
After several seconds, her neck raised creakily like a rusty machine, turning towards Rhode with a creak, then creaked back: "Wed-wed-wedding!"
Steam silently rose from Erza, while the guild erupted: "What?!!!"
Rhode went behind Mira, embracing her neck: "What are you surprised about? Haven't we said we'd get married soon?"
"But you never mentioned a specific date."
"Yeah, it's so sudden!"
"Does Erza have the only invitation?"
Mira smiled: "Of course not, everyone has one."
She took a stack of envelopes from her little bag, with names written on each. Rhode joined her in handing them out.
Usually, just a word to guild mates would suffice, so writing invitations wasn't necessary.
But Rhode and Mira didn't always train and philosophize at home, writing wedding invitations together was also a happiness to savor.
Miss Laki eagerly opened her invitation; she'd been a fan of this couple for nearly seven years and almost thought it was over…her hands shook as she opened the envelope.
"Cordially invite Miss Laki to Mr. Rhode and Miss Mirajane's wedding… Location: Kardia Cathedral, Magnolia City… Date: January 1, 791…"
"The 1st? That's only 4 days away?"
Rhode said: "Yeah, we actually planned this five days ago, but some things delayed the invitations."
"I'm sorry." Lucy felt deeply guilty, imagining if they returned a few days later, it would've meant Erza and the others might miss it!
Seeing Erza dumbfounded with excitement, she must really want to go, right?
Macao asked: "Just our guild attending?"
Rhode answered: "Of course not, we've got friends from other guilds, and some of Mira's editor and model friends…"
"Model friends!" Macao, Wakaba, Wolian, and others got excited, "I'll go choose a suit and hairstyle for the day right now!"
No other reason, just felt that Rhode and Mira's wedding was too important and must be taken seriously.
Speaking of which, Mira's model friends from back then must be around twenty-six or seven years old now?
Such wonderful years!