That evening, Rhode gathered a few people in the guild with a heavy heart—Mira, Laxus, Gajeel, and Jubia.
He said seriously, "There's a very important emergency mission, come with me this time."
Gajeel asked in confusion, "Now?"
"Yes." Rhode glanced at Reby not far away and asked, "Did I interrupt your date?"
"Nothing like that!" Gajeel retorted loudly, but quickly calmed down, saying, "It's just that this lineup seems a bit exaggerated."
Three S-Class mages plus him and that idiot Rain Woman truly felt like the guild's strongest squad.
If an emergency mission required such a lineup, something major must be happening.
Rhode said, "We'll set off immediately, details later."
Jubia asked, "Can I go say goodbye to Gray-sama?"
Gray seemed to have arranged a fight with Natsu outside today.
Rhode refused, "No, it must be kept a secret from them."
Jubia felt a bit disappointed but didn't object, as secrecy is a rule mages must follow.
Even such a request was denied, so others had nothing to say.
Reby and Li Li noticed their serious attitude and curiously asked a question, but Rhode only told them it was an emergency mission and not to ask further.
They had no choice but to comply, watching Gajeel leave with some concern.
After leaving, the five headed straight for the canal, rented a speedboat, and made their way to the Royal Capital of Kurokas.
The boatman was driving at the front, and the five were sitting in the cabin at the back.
Rhode, Mira, and Jubia were used to various modes of transport, so they didn't feel anything.
Laxus sat with a stern face, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, but a careful look would reveal a slightly grim expression.
But now everyone's attention was on Gajeel.
Ever since getting on the boat, he looked uncomfortable all over. As soon as the boat set off, cold sweat started forming on his forehead, and his mouth seemed to twitch.
"Mr. Gajeel?" Jubia addressed him formally as was her habit with people she knew, "Are you feeling unwell?"
"I... feel... really uncomfortable..." Gajeel covered his mouth, suddenly wanting to lean out the window and vomit.
Mira speculated, "Could it be... seasickness?"
"I never... got seasick before!" Gajeel said laboriously, his face pale, "I'm not like that idiot Fire Dragon..."
"This is interesting." Rhode laughed with schadenfreude, "When we went to Celestial Wolf Island and came back, Gajeel didn't get seasick at all.
"Could it be that recently you've been training with Natsu too much and caught it? Is motion sickness contagious?"
Jubia clasped her face in shock, "Isn't Gray-sama in danger then?"
"No way." Mira comforted, "Gray's habit of stripping hasn't infected Natsu, has it?"
Rhode couldn't understand the logic in his wife's words, luckily Jubia didn't care about the logic either.
She just thought, if Gray-sama seriously fights Natsu, he would definitely strip, right? Want to see!
Jubia started daydreaming, forgetting everything else;
Gajeel felt too uncomfortable to think of anything else;
Laxus rested with his eyes closed, looking indifferent;
Mira, seeing Rhode's earlier performance, suspected there was more to it but didn't ask out of trust.
Thus, a curious scene unfolded on the boat—though they were told it was a very important emergency mission, no one asked about the mission details on the way.
This left Rhode feeling stifled in contrast.
He was waiting for a conversation starter, occasionally glancing around.
Then he noticed something, "Laxus?"
"Hmm?" Laxus responded with a short nasal sound, reluctantly opening his eyes to look at him.
Rhode said curiously, "Why is your forehead sweating too?"
"..." Laxus didn't want to speak.
"Huh? Really!" Mira examined him closely, "Could it be you're seasick too?"
Jubia snapped back briefly, "Mr. Laxus too...?"
Laxus closed his eyes again, as calm as if it wasn't his own weakness that was found out, "Don't tell anyone."
"Since when?" Mira asked curiously, "Even I didn't know."
Laxus didn't respond; naturally, he wanted to keep it hidden, as motion sickness doesn't suit his aloof image.
Rhode sized up Laxus and Gajeel back and forth, "Now I want to not only tell everyone, but also study it. Is there something special about you Dragon Slayer Mages?"
Natsu, Gajeel, Laxus, finding the common ground among these three wasn't difficult.
Mira thought and said, "If it's because of the Dragon Slayer Magic, we haven't seen Wendy getting motion sickness before."
"Maybe it's because she knows Troya, or perhaps because she's not strong enough," Rhode speculated, "Was Gajeel not strong enough before?"
"Forget that little girl, how could I be weaker than the Fire Dragon!" Talking about this perked Gajeel up slightly, "It must be because Sky Magic is more special!"
Mira said, "Natsu has been getting motion sickness since he was very young. There's no way that's because he was stronger than Gajeel back then. So there must be another reason."
Jubia questioned, "But didn't Mr. Rhode also learn Dragon Slayer Magic?"
Rhode waved it off, "What I have is Receiving Magic, it's a counterfeit version of Dragon Slayer Magic."
Rhode and Mira curiously asked back and forth.
Laxus, unable to tolerate this couple's pestering, had to recall.
Eventually, he mentioned that the first time he realized he was motion sick was when he could use the power of Dragon Slayer Magic to change his body shape, making dragon-scale-like patterns appear on his body.
Gajeel only discovered it today. If anything was different from before, it would be opening the Second Magic Source, greatly increasing his magic power, and learning a few more moves of Dragon Slayer Magic.
Rhode adopted a root-cause analysis method: "Dragon Slayer Magic, by definition, is transforming one's body organs into dragon organs.
"So it seems, from Laxus's experience, the changes in the body must reach a certain limit.
"In Gajeel's case, perhaps after opening the Second Magic Source, he unknowingly reached this limit, thus causing this reaction.
"Wendy's magic training level is probably a bit lesser than yours, so she hasn't discovered it. Of course, we can't exclude the possibility that Sky Magic is more special.
"As for Natsu... maybe he's exceptionally gifted, reaching that level from a young age?"
Gajeel wanted to retort but felt increasingly weak, not even wanting to speak.
Mira, however, cheerfully added, "Or maybe Natsu originally got motion sickness, and learning Dragon Slayer Magic just made it more apparent."
Rhode nodded seriously, "That's possible."
Amid their banter, Rhode suddenly said:
"By the way, if you really can't stand it, you can change the mode of transport, like my Void Swift Crab? Natsu loves it."
Laxus and Gajeel stared intensely at Rhode, squeezing words out from between their teeth, "Why, didn't, you, say, earlier?!"