Princess Jade thought for a long time and managed to say, "How about you cover half of the medical expenses?"
Rhode, Natsu, and Lucy looked at her in shock.
Princess Jade uncertainly asked, "Is that too much?"
"No, it's too little," Lucy said. "Although our guild rarely has cases of causing injuries, if it happens, we fully compensate..."
Princess Jade said, "Ah, because when soldiers are injured in battle, all medical expenses and allowances are covered by the kingdom. I thought asking for half was already excessive."
Her character might be somewhat similar to Lucy's, easily trusting others and overly kind-hearted.
Besides, considering their relationship, Princess Jade felt embarrassed to propose a harsh punishment.
Rhode didn't mind tidying up Natsu a bit, so he straightforwardly suggested:
"Why not lock him up for an extra week, and bring in a set of dumbbells? A thousand bench presses and a thousand squats each day, and no food until they're done."
Princess Jade looked at Natsu, "Would that be too harsh?"
She felt that such an exercise regimen could be life-threatening.
Natsu confidently flexed his muscles and said with a grin, "No problem, I accept!"
Princess Jade hesitantly nodded, "Okay, so how many kilograms should it be?"
Rhode held up two fingers.
Natsu was about to say 200 kilograms was fine, but then Rhode said, "Two tons."
Natsu collapsed on the floor with a thud, then jumped up, pressing his forehead against Rhode's, "Are you trying to kill me?!"
"I remember when Hapi put you through devil training, making you carry a rock and hop, that rock was about this weight."
"But he didn't make me hop a thousand times!"
"I recall your training was 8 years ago, Natsu." Rhode placed a hand on Natsu's shoulder and said 'heartbrokenly,' "Have you not grown at all in the past 8 years?"
Natsu, realizing it had already been 8 years, quickly said, "Of course I'm much stronger now! Back then I was just a kid!"
"Then it's settled. Thank you, Your Highness." Rhode took advantage of Natsu's moment of inaction and jovially finalized the punishment.
But his conscience urged him to say to the princess, "Prepare the kind that can be easily adjusted."
"Alright." Princess Jade covered her mouth with a smile, realizing Mr. Rhode seemed a bit mischievous.
For the time being, things were settled this way.
Natsu and Lucy were temporarily assigned to an empty room, far from where the King and Princess were staying, and because the King's order hadn't arrived yet, the Demon Sealing Stone hadn't been removed from them.
With the royal guards escorting her, Princess Jade left to see the King, while Yukino stayed behind.
Of course, Rhode didn't leave, as he didn't dare leave Lucy alone here in the current situation.
If a few more Celestial Spirits sneaked into the Royal Palace, things would escalate quickly.
Just as well, he wanted to chat with Yukino to know what she had been through recently.
Lucy had nothing to do, and Natsu's punishment hadn't started yet, so they all sat together to listen to stories.
In a low voice, Yukino narrated, "After that incident, I searched for my sister for a month, but couldn't find any trace of her at all, and I didn't know what to do.
"Thinking about it now, that period must have been when the Council was pursuing them the most fiercely, so their tracks would be the most hidden then."
Natsu asked puzzled, "Who's your sister?"
Rhode gave a brief explanation about Kono.
Lucy hit her palm with her fist, "Ah! No wonder you're so good at Celestial Spirit Magic too."
What delighted Lucy the most was sensing Yukino's attitude towards the Star Spirits was different from Kono's; Yukino was someone who cared about the feelings of the Star Spirits.
Skipping the detailed discussions with those two, Rhode asked, "How did you join the King's Army? And how did you become the princess's guard?"
Yukino looked at Rhode and said, "That has something to do with you as well."
"Me?"
Yukino nodded, "Yes, when I didn't know what to do, your achievements, Mr. Rhode, came from the Gioa Kingdom to the Fiore Kingdom.
"Your feats in capturing the bandit leader, getting knighted as a Count, clearing out bandit groups, and repeatedly being promoted to Duke inspired me—if I could serve the royal family and build a record of achievement, perhaps I could gain a pardon for my sister."
"Ah..." Rhode didn't expect his deeds to have reached here.
Kono was judged a major criminal by the Council Headquarters, but since she hailed from the Fiore Kingdom, caused major incidents in the Fiore Kingdom, and was captured there, the Fiore Kingdom really had a say in the matter.
With sufficient justification, the King could even directly declare her innocent.
The other members of Oracion Seis were in a similar situation.
To reach such a degree, one really had to contribute significantly, like saving the entire country in some grand crisis, similar to what Rhode did.
But in the peaceful land of Fiore...
Rhode said a bit sympathetically, "It's difficult, even achievements like saving the princess yesterday would require many more instances."
"I know, but I must try." Yukino nodded, acknowledging that the entire guard unit contributed to last night's events, and although her performance was excellent, it wasn't a decisive turnaround.
Natsu thought for a moment, quickly coming up with an idea, and grinned mischievously, "Why don't we really assassinate the princess?"
"Natsu! What are you talking about?!" Lucy glanced jitterily at the door, wanting to yell at Natsu, but not daring to be too loud.
Yukino hurriedly said as well, "Please don't joke about something like that, Mr. Natsu."
"Don't worry, I'm saying we pretend to assassinate her, then Yukino comes and chases us away, then we pretend again, and get chased again..."
Natsu stood with hands on his hips, looking 'very clever', "If you save her a dozen times like that, it should be enough, right?"
Lucy knocked Natsu on the head in frustration, "Idiot! How could something like that work? They'd see through it immediately."
"Just change our appearance, like a ninja." The clever Natsu peeled off his scarf and wrapped it around his face, leaving only his eyes visible, and made a ninja gesture, "Nin nin nin! Now people won't recognize us!"
Lucy patted her forehead, resigned, "Ah…this scene feels oddly familiar."
"See Lucy, you think it'll work too, right?" Natsu agilely jumped around, acting sneaky.
Lucy gave up trying to talk sense into Natsu and pleaded, "Mr. Rhode, please say something to him."
Rhode said, "That really is too stupid, Natsu."
Lucy immediately agreed, "Exactly!"
But Rhode changed course, "To do it properly, we should make it a bit sophisticated, like capturing some Dark Guild members and use Gemini to extract their information, then replace one of them.
"Then Mira can transform into one, Macao another, and the old master should be able to become one as well, and they'll need to quickly learn their magic...
"That way, we can infiltrate the Royal Palace, pretend to be intercepted by Yukino, and have her chase us out, then swap the real ones back in for Yukino to catch.
"So they would be tortured severely, refusing to admit their deeds, considered stalwart, and continue to be interrogated.
"The next day we could replace a few more guild members to disguise, continue the assassination attempt, and rescue our companions, of course, again being defeated by Yukino and captured...
"Although that Dark Guild would eventually be destroyed, it would achieve two goals at once."
By the time Rhode finished speaking, the other three were looking at him as if they were staring at a demon.