Mr. Rhode suggested, "How about you bribe me a little to see if you can persuade me to break the rules and let you perform?"
Lucy seriously considered for a moment and said, "It's not impossible, but how should I bribe you? Money definitely won't work, maybe a gift or help you with something?"
Rhode laughed, "Using your best method, beauty trap, like maybe pulling down your collar or something."
"No way." Remembering previous failures, Lucy held her collar tightly. "Saying that in front of Miss Mira, is it really okay?"
Rhode hugged Mira and said without fear, "No problem at all, Mira enjoys watching."
"No problem," Mira said with a smile, "In fact, I'm very much looking forward to it. Lucy's fashion sense is always superb, especially in the area of lingerie."
"You don't need to say that last part!" Lucy hugged herself tight; although happy about Miss Mira's praise, the direction of the compliment was a bit strange.
Mira thought for a bit, clasped her hands together, and said like a lecher, "Then... can I admire Lucy's good figure, how about it?"
"Don't say Taurus's lines!"
Mira immediately changed her expression, "Are you going to punish me?"
"Don't use Balrog's lines either!"
Rhode looked at his playful wife and laughed.
Originally just coming outside after sitting inside for too long, Rhode didn't expect a pleasant surprise.
He joined his wife in teasing Lucy for a while, then happily returned to his book.
Near noon, Rhode carried his book upstairs and pushed open a door.
—Sure enough, Makarov was lying asleep on the desk.
With a loud thud, Rhode placed the book on the desk.
Makarov's body bounced up immediately, quickly grabbing a pen and acting as if he were working seriously.
Seeing it was Rhode, he relaxed again and tossed the pen aside. "Oh, Rhode, do you need something?"
"President..." Rhode looked at the documents on the table and said earnestly, "There are 12 compensation bills, just 12 signatures needed. You've been signing since morning, but only completed one?"
"Well... hahahaha, it's because bills are important, so I need to carefully check each one for accuracy, going slow is normal."
"I see." Rhode realized, "Since you're so thorough, I'll just hand over the original documents to you and Mira directly from now on."
"Don't..."
At another company, they might think Rhode is maneuvering to control finances.
But at Fairy Tail.
Makarov just wants to push away all troublesome tasks; spoiled by Rhode and Mira these past two years, he's even too lazy to sign now.
The clever Makarov quickly changed the subject, "Those are the rules for the Great Demon Fighting Martial Arts, right? Have you decided on the participants?"
Rhode sighed, "You don't even ask what the rules are, just directly about the participants?"
Makarov whispered, "You said to wait for the rules and then decide the participants after reading them."
"Fine, I'll get to the point." Rhode gave up, "The most important change for us this year is that each guild can field up to two teams, meaning 10 primary participants."
"Such good news?" Makarov got happy, more chances for the kids to perform and a slightly increased chance of winning.
"Maybe Princess Jade specially amended the rules for us, otherwise why change just this year?" Rhode joked casually, mainly because he heard Lucy saying the princess was looking forward to her performance.
"Hahaha, something like that is impossible, right?" Makarov clearly didn't take it seriously and started counting on his fingers.
"With this, Natsu and Gray can participate, Gajeel and Jubia too, and... but we'll need to reconsider team divisions."
After three seconds of thought, he looked up at Rhode, "What do you think?"
"..." Rhode waved his hand and turned to leave, "You should use your brain occasionally, Mira's waiting for me for lunch."
"Hey..."
Makarov had no choice but to sit down, go over the highlights Rhode had marked, and think about the participant issue.
Mira was sitting quietly downstairs, Lisana was beside her, and the tableware was already set.
Elfman had temporarily left the Strauss family's team recently, which everyone understood.
Mira asked, "How's it going?"
"Let the president worry about it for a while," Rhode laughed heartlessly, "Eighty or ninety years old, it's the right time to work hard."
The couple laughed mischievously.
At this time, a pigeon flew into the guild 'tweet tweet tweet', many people glanced at it, seeing a note tied to its foot, didn't pay much attention.
There's a 90% chance this carrier pigeon is for Rhode and Mira, a 0.1% chance it's for the president, and another 0.9% it's lost.
Sure enough, the pigeon flew directly to Mira, planning to gracefully land on her little head bun.
However, Rhode caught the pigeon, put down his chopsticks, and untied the note on its foot, "This pigeon is really rude, I wonder whose it is."
"Mr. Rhode, please come to the other side of the lake right away."
Rhode frowned, turned the note over to check, the back was blank, "Such arrogant wording? It sounds like a ransom note."
Mira asked, "Who sent it?"
"No signature." Rhode put the note on the table for them to see.
"Such elegant writing, looks like a girl wrote it," Lisana said bluntly, "Brother-in-law? Who is it?"
"Stop it." Mira patted Lisana's head.
"Let's go have a look first." Rhode directly arranged, "Mira, stay a little behind me, and Lisana, stay in the guild and watch the pigeon."
The 'other side of the lake' should mean the big lake behind the guild, it wouldn't take long for Rhode to go there.
However, he's not in a hurry to fly, instead choosing to ride a River Crab across, using Void Divination to open his view as he goes.
Just after docking, he soon noticed a duo hiding in the nearby woods.
Judging by their appearance, they might not seriously intend to hide.
As soon as they saw Rhode, they walked out of the woods.
"Ultear, Melty?" Rhode asked, "Why did you come here?"
"Long time no see." Ultear greeted cheerfully, "Perhaps I should first congratulate you on your wedding?"
Melty stood beside her, smiling somewhat shyly.
"The blessing is late, but thank you." Rhode laughed, "You Sin of the Witch have been regulars in the newspapers these past months."
Ultear said, "It's mutual."
"Did you specifically call me for something?" Rhode looked around, "You probably have a few more companions, right? Did they run away and you need my help to catch them?"
"No, they have other tasks." Ultear said, "We came for the Great Demon Fighting Martial Arts."