"What are you thinking? I don't have such a fetish."
"That's good..." Lahar breathed a sigh of relief and issued orders to his subordinates, "Quick, secure the scene, investigate and collect evidence!"
"Yes!" The soldiers quickly dispersed.
Rhode casually asked Lahar, "How many now?"
"It's already the 9th recently..." Lahar suddenly stopped talking, theoretically, this information shouldn't be disclosed casually, but Rhode asked so naturally.
How does this person manage to chat like a colleague, without any sense of formality?
Normally, mages would want to stay far away when they see us from the Council working, right?
Especially Fairy Tail!
Rhode was a bit surprised, this is one more guild than he knew was destroyed...
"Shadow of Hades, Black Mandrake, Eye of the Dream Demon..." Rhode quickly listed 8 guild names, then asked, "Where's the other one?"
Lahar was somewhat amazed by Fairy Tail's intelligence capabilities, considering they knew so much and wouldn't be far from knowing the last one.
He revealed, "It's the Fierce Ghost Hunters, located about eighty kilometers from Sabertooth."
"Sabertooth?" Rhode felt Lahar probably wasn't mentioning them casually.
Lahar said, "Yes, Rufus and Oroga from Sabertooth led a team there to investigate two days ago, and encountered a strange man resembling a shark.
"That person was about to leave, but they stopped him, leading to a big fight, resulting in more than a dozen people being poisoned and nearly dying.
"Fortunately, Dolanbart was nearby and managed to bring them back safely. According to him, that shark man's 'magic' was a kind of black poisonous water."
Yet another new demon, even Sabertooth's God Slayer Mage, Memory Shaping Mage, and a dozen helpers combined were no match?
It seems the cadre of Gate of the Underworld is really formidable.
Rhode asked, "Is there any internal news in the Council? Especially about the goals of Gate of the Underworld?"
"Um... sorry." Lahar didn't say if they had no information or weren't allowed to say.
Today, he had already leaked enough information.
Actually, a few evaluators suspected that Sin of the Witch or Fairy Tail might be responsible for wiping out these Dark Guilds two days ago.
They didn't have a good impression of the guild winning the Great Demon Fighting Martial Arts and even criticized Fiore's royal family, believing such competitions amounted to flaunting military power.
Such an atmosphere isn't conducive to peace in the Magic Realm, they think.
Of course, Lahar wasn't about to share this with Rhode.
Rhode showed no sign of leaving, just standing there waiting for the Council to survey the scene, listening to their reports to Lahar:
"Captain, all fatal wounds on the deceased were caused by slashes, similar to the previous guilds. Some people showed signs of organ failure."
"Captain, their guild president wasn't present, and several famous mages were also absent."
"Captain, we've used magic to scout, and within ten kilometers, there are no other mages around."
Though there were a few magic creatures, someone went to check, they were Mr. Rhode's summoned beasts, so there was no face-to-face report.
Rhode listened for a while, the situation here seemed similar to Eye of the Dream Demon, qualified individuals were likely taken away.
And those without any qualifications should have had their life energy slowly drained away, but the person seemed impatient or just inherently cruel, and gave them quick deaths instead.
Rhode looked at the scattered body parts — maybe not so quick, though.
...
August quickly reached its halfway point.
Since their last trace, Gate of the Underworld seemed to have quieted down all of a sudden, no more large moves.
But neither Sabertooth nor the Council believed the matters would end so anticlimactically.
During such a time, the quieter the circumstances are, the more urgency they feel.
On the 17th, something not too big and not too small happened.
Wolian returned.
He had been working in a research lab in the Royal Capital for months, collaborating on the next generation of portable communication magic crystals,
and now upon returning, announced suddenly...
"I've succeeded!"
As soon as Wolian stepped into the guild doors, he loudly proclaimed the good news.
And as the door opened, there was suddenly a muffled sound of 'boom', followed by a shower of multicolored confetti paper.
Soon after, there were 'pop pop pop' sounds from party poppers, leaving white ribbons shooting towards the entrance, covering Wolian.
"Oh oh oh! Congratulations...!!!"
The cheers followed but came to an abrupt halt.
Wolian froze for a bit, looking at his comrades around the entrance still holding their cheering postures, feeling quite moved.
"To think, everyone actually... actually really anticipates my return? You guys are... you guys are..." Wolian emotionally raised his hand, gently wiped away the tears at the corner of his eyes.
Yet the guild remained silent, as everyone watched him a bit awkwardly at the door.
Ultimately, it was Marcus, who was closest to Wolian, who spoke first: "Ah, Wolian... how come you returned at this time?"
"Of course it's..." Wolian, amid his emotion, suddenly realized something was off, "Didn't you all know I was coming back beforehand?"
"Of course not, you didn't inform us ahead of time."
"Then this welcome ceremony..." Wolian also went silent, it clearly wasn't prepared for him.
The emotional sensation he had just felt, vanished in an instant.
Marcus sympathetically patted Wolian's shoulder and pointed to the banner hanging on the second-floor railing.
Wolian looked up, and saw clearly written there: [Happy Birthday, Mirajane!]
"Messed up, huh?" Erza patting her forehead, "Didn't Rhode say he'd bring Mira over at 11:30 sharp?"
Reby checked the time, "It's now 11:28, seems we can't rearrange in time."
Lucy suggested: "How about asking Elfman and Lisana to delay them for a bit?"
However, Mira's voice had already come from outside the door: "Is that Wolian?"
Wolian stiffly turned around, the long ribbons and glittering confetti still hanging on his head and body.
Around him, a group of people who still held newly twisted party poppers.
"Is this welcome ceremony prepared for Wolian?" Mira showed her signature grin of welcoming back a comrade, "Welcome back, Wolian."
"Th-thank you." Wolian gave a smile that was worse than crying.
And Rhode, who was arm-in-arm with Mira, was scanning those unreliable guys with his eyes.
He had taken leave saying he was preparing a birthday celebration for Mira at home, but when heard, they insisted on holding the party at the guild.
Rhode said the surprise was intended for Mira at home.
These guys argued that it could be arranged at the guild, and each patted their chest promising; saying, 'Leave it to me', 'No problem', 'Rest assured', and the like.
Only then did Rhode decide to trust them once.
The result: 'Is this how you put me at ease?'
With a gaze filled with murderous intent sweeping over, they either looked down or up, completely avoiding eye contact.