Makarov woke up, his head spinning: "Where is this?"
"The Guild," Laxus said, quite out of character, as he handed him a wet towel. "Wipe your face first."
"Hmm..." After wiping his face, Makarov felt a bit clearer and asked in wonder, "Weren't we at the party? How did we suddenly get back... How did I get back?"
"You certainly drank too much." Laxus poured a cup of hot water for his grandfather, "Rhode said you used to get just as drunk at routine meetings."
Catching the keyword 'Rhode', Makarov tried to retrieve his memory but failed, though he succeeded in mentally filling in the blanks.
"Hahaha... did he carry me back?"
Makarov chuckled foolishly, although he felt something was off, it made perfect sense for Rhode to bring him back after he got drunk.
It's perfectly reasonable to have some memory gaps as well.
So this must be the truth.
Seeing his grandfather like this, Laxus was even less able to guess the truth. He sighed and advised, "You should moderate a bit, at your age, you should take care of your health..."
Feeling that this was too blunt, Laxus corrected himself: "Don't always trouble Rhode."
Makarov ignored the latter part of Laxus's remark, showing a benevolent smile, "I got it."
There's always a next time.
Quitting drinking was impossible, Mira and Rhode had tried every trick in the book and still couldn't make him quit.
At most, he'll just tone it down a little.
Makarov jumped off the bed and listening carefully, knew there must be a lot of people in the Guild: "Let's go, while there are many people, I will make an announcement."
The grandfather and grandson quickly stood by the railing on the second floor.
Laxus stood tall, drawing attention by just standing there.
Seeing his tall grandson, Makarov could only jump onto the railing: "You brats!"
The Guild gradually quieted down, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at Makarov on the second floor.
Makarov shouted loudly, "More than half of April has passed, which means there's less than two and a half months to go until the Great Demon Fighting Martial Arts begins.
"It is a grand festival celebrated across the nation, and also a great opportunity for Fairy Tail to earn 30 million, no, to officially declare its comeback!"
"Oh!!!"
"Uh, oh..."
Makarov expected everyone to be enthusiastic, but he didn't expect that only the Celestial Wolf Group, Romeo, and Asuka were excited.
Macao and Wakaba's faces all showed worry: "Do we really have to participate?"
"That kind of competition is quite troublesome."
"Thinking about getting a high rank is difficult..."
Romeo said to Macao: "Dad, show some spirit! It's no longer the time when you were acting President, we can definitely win!"
"Uh... you brat, what do you mean by that?" Macao couldn't believe his own son would stab him in the heart like that, "Do you mean if I were President we'd definitely lose?!"
Romeo fled to Rhode's side, continuing to whisper, "The fact is we never won... never even made it to the top ten."
"That was just bad luck for us!" Macao blushed an angry red, wanting to 'chase' Romeo.
Wakaba hooked his neck: "Don't get mad, the fact is the fact."
Macao glared angrily, precisely because it's a fact, he was even more upset.
Rhode patted Romeo's head: "Our Guild does indeed have bad luck."
Since deciding to participate, he had looked into the past few years' competitions and noticed that Fairy Tail was always unlucky in the "draws."
Every year at the Great Demon Fighting Martial Arts, the events are different.
For example, the year when Alzack and Bisca participated, there was no shooting contest, and the year Jet participated, there was no running contest...
They always managed to perfectly avoid the years they excelled in. Even if their abilities were no weaker than the contestants from other guilds, they were eliminated without a chance to showcase them.
So Fairy Tail's results at the competitions were never ideal.
Bigda did catch a year with a dance contest.
But faced one of Blue Pegasus's most handsome men, One Night, who defeated him with his rare, almost cheating-like charm...
After experiencing numerous failures, apart from the ever-enthusiastic Romeo and clueless Asuka, the rest of the stay-behinders didn't even want to mention the Great Demon Fighting Martial Arts anymore.
Romeo looked a bit disappointed: "Brother Rhode, don't you want to participate either?"
"No." Rhode looked at Romeo, then at the others, and said, "If everyone has been so devastated by such competitions, then we should participate even more. Not just for the prize money, and not just for fame."
"Exactly!" Makarov waved his hand firmly from upstairs, saying loudly:
"We shall dispel the shadows of our family, bring light to the darkness of our family, reclaim the honors our family deserves! That is what Fairy Tail is all about!"
Wakaba puffed out a cloud of smoke, chuckling: "To make it sound that significant..."
Macao scratched his receding hairline: "Then there's no reason not to participate."
Laki added: "I might not compete, but I'll help with logistics and cheering!"
Ginanna, Marcus, Nabu and other stay-behinders expressed agreement.
Erza, Gray, Lucy, Wendy all smiled, and Natsu jumped right onto a table: "I'm fired up, the victory is definitely ours!"
In the Guild, voices of cheer and encouragement echoed, and Makarov signaled everyone to quiet down.
He cleared his throat and continued: "Following the usual practice, each guild can have... how many participants again?"
Rhode said helplessly: "Five main participants and one alternate."
Makarov felt no embarrassment at all, continuing naturally: "Very well, the currently decided participants are Rhode, Mirajane, Erza, and... Laxus."
Rhode was not surprised, Mira gave a slight smile.
Laxus and Erza were slightly stunned but didn't say anything.
The others had even less to say, as it should be said these few were completely expected.
If all the S-Class Mages participated, this year would certainly be the most hopeful.
"For the other main position, I intended for Kildas to go... but the fool has no idea where he's wandered off to."
Kana didn't argue at all about the President calling her dad a fool, she even raised her bottle towards the President with a toast, smiling: "Even if we found him, he surely wouldn't be interested."
"True," acknowledged Makarov, familiar with Kildas's ways, "So the remaining main spot and the alternate will go to..."
Natsu, Gray, Elfman, Gajeel, Jubia, Kana, Thunder God Tribe... a group of hopefuls looked eagerly at Makarov.