Makarov agreed to Erza and Lucy's request almost without hesitation; he really was worried the two idiots would mess things up.
If Erza didn't go with them, they might end up burning down Senior Vorod's house, or freezing to death the forest he'd worked so hard to grow, that kind of thing.
Erza is loyal; after taking the mission slip she conveniently slung Kana over her shoulder too, not wanting to let her shoulder everything alone.
Lucy gave Rhode an awkward grin, grabbed Hapi, and bolted after them.
Rhode originally had a bit of an opinion about it, but right now he really didn't feel like talking to the President.
Seeing the old man about to speak up, Rhode hurriedly asked Mira, "Did we forget to turn off the stove at home? I'll go back and check, okay?"
Mira just smiled without saying anything.
Makarov said tiredly, "Alright, alright, I know you don't feel like taking over right now. We'll talk about it again after Mira gives birth, okay?"
"Deal! We'll talk about it then!" Rhode agreed on the spot.
He felt like by then he should be able to come up with some new excuses, like having to take care of the kid or something.
Once the kid gets older, he can work a bit harder and have Mira get pregnant with a second one… run that loop once and he'd have stalled at least another two years.
Rhode almost burst out laughing. Foolish President, please just sit in that chair for a few more years.
Makarov felt this brat was definitely brewing some bad gas.
...
"We escaped!" A few hundred meters away from the Guild, Lucy couldn't help cheering.
Hapi asked, "Why are we escaping?"
Lucy said, "Team A is gonna get bossed around all day long, didn't you hear?"
Even though they'd still get dragged back into it later, stalling for a day is still stalling.
"But we're not members of Team A, we don't have to run with them."
"Disloyal cat!"
Hapi muttered, "We still haven't had a proper talk with Carla since we came back. If she ends up hating us, it'll all be Lucy's fault."
"I'll treat you to fish."
"Lucy's the best!"
"Okay," Erza directly issued the order, "go pack your luggage. Meet at the station in half an hour."
Natsu raised his hand, "I object, I wanna go on foot!"
Erza turned to look at him. "Hmm?"
"Love! I'll definitely be on time!" Natsu chickened out in a second; at least today he really didn't dare provoke Erza.
Erza smiled and gave Kana a full set of "forceful induce-vomit plus physical wake-up service," and Natsu shot off into the distance.
Gray also hurriedly swore, "I'll wear my clothes properly!"
Erza nodded in satisfaction.
Kana took a bit of time to barely figure out what was going on, then looked painfully at what she'd just thrown up. "At least half of today's booze was wasted!"
"Is that really the point?" Lucy complained. "Is your body okay? Just watching made me feel pain!"
Kana didn't care. "Huh? I'm fine. Erza has good control, and alcohol numbs the pain anyway."
Lucy said helplessly, "You were just complaining that today's alcohol was wasted…"
Kana had already accepted the fact that she'd been passively drafted into the team, and casually scratched her hair. "Then I'll go get ready."
Lucy watched Kana walk back in the direction of the Guild, suspecting that what Kana was going to "prepare" was probably just a few bottles of booze.
Half an hour later, Team A successfully set off by train.
What followed was a very, very long journey for Natsu; in a daze, he was shaken awake by Lucy and helped off the train.
The five people and one cat first hired a cart to help Erza haul her luggage, then trekked through a valley, crossed a small river, and arrived at a stretch of desert.
Erza checked the map and found a wooden cabin on the edge of the desert.
Kana looked at the shabby little house, confused. "A Ten Wizard Saints Mage lives in a place like this?"
Gray said, "Where else would he live?"
Kana said, "I thought he'd live in a castle like Rhode."
Lucy said, "Mr. Rhode doesn't actually live in the castle that often, right?"
In their impression, Rhode seemed to always live in Magnolia just like everyone else.
"Natsu, look," Hapi patted Natsu's leg, "that kind of looks like our place."
"For real!" Natsu laughed. "This client's got pretty good taste, huh."
"How does that look like your place?" Lucy stared for a bit. "The three trees on the roof?"
"Okay, the President told us to be more solemn," Erza signaled them to cut it out. "Time to knock on the door."
Team A soon met this not-so-serious Ten Wizard Saints mage, and got baptized by his bizarre talking style.
Every three sentences he'd toss out a "Just kidding, just kidding."
He made the five people and one cat all a bit neurotic; every time Vorod spoke, they'd have to consider whether this line was him joking or not.
After teasing the junior Fairy Tail mages for a bit, Vorod finally got slightly more serious:
"Now let's get to the main topic. While I was investigating various deserts, I came across a village whose residents are giants.
"Since ancient times they've worshipped a flame called the Eternal Flame, and regard it as the guardian god of their village.
"But when I last passed through there, the whole village was frozen solid—whether people or animals, buildings or rivers, even the Eternal Flame was frozen, sealed in some sort of strange ice."
"Frozen flame?" Natsu found it unbelievable.
"Giant Village?" Lucy felt like she'd heard of it somewhere.
"Strange ice?" Gray felt like he'd heard that too.
Though the three of them were focused on completely different points, Vorod still asked, "You've got any leads?"
Gray was the first to remember. "I recall Rhode told me about a special kind of ice he and Mira encountered while traveling—it could freeze demons. But he didn't know where that ice came from either."
"Ah! Mine's related to Mr. Rhode too." Lucy only remembered her previous experience after hearing Rhode's name.
"Natsu was there as well—when we went to the Council's prison to visit a girl named Freyja. The emblem on her body, we checked it later: that emblem represents the Sun Village, whose residents are all giants!"
Hapi抢答 for Natsu, "Love! We remember!"
Everyone looked at Natsu, waiting for him to spill intel on the Eternal Flame.
Natsu tilted his head. "Why're you looking at me like that?"
Erza asked directly, "Have you heard of the Eternal Flame?"
Kana asked, "Don't tell me it's related to Rhode too?"
Natsu said righteously, "No, I was just wondering if that kind of flame would taste good."
Everyone almost toppled over.
"Ha, ha, ha," Vorod laughed. "Was that a joke?"
Natsu shook his head. "Of course not."
"Ha, ha, ha," Vorod laughed even harder. "Fairy Tail mages really are interesting!"
After laughing for a while, Vorod finally seriously considered the two bits of intel just now. "Maybe I should've added Rhode's name when I specified the team?"
The five of them said in unison, "No need!"
Hapi weakly raised his paw. "Love… we think we should go ask him for some intel."
The five glared daggers at him.
Hapi lowered his head, trembling.