"Ankh! Welcome back!"
Ankh, who had returned to the guild a step later than Natsu and the others, was immediately spotted by a beaming Mirajane as soon as he pushed open the heavy wooden doors.
Ankh grinned, the familiar noise of the guild washing over him.
"I'm back. I had to deal with the Council for a bit and took care of some personal matters."
Mirajane handed Ankh a refreshing drink, her delicate face adorned with a gentle, welcoming smile.
"You've worked hard. I heard the Council sent a letter commending the Guild Master, and it made him really happy."
Makarov, seated at the nearby bar counter with a mug in hand, cleared his throat lightly.
"Not at all. It's just rare that we didn't receive any complaints or bills for property damage..."
True enough.
Since the joint battle had taken place entirely within the isolated Nirvana, there were hardly any public facilities to destroy.
Ankh chuckled softly, taking a sip of his drink.
'Besides,' he thought, 'if I hadn't made a trip to the Council, those stubborn council members might have used the destroyed Nirvana as an excuse to cause trouble for the guild anyway.'
These were critical times for the newly reformed Council, but Ankh didn't believe that showing weakness would make them go easy on Fairy Tail.
"Ankh-san! I've joined Fairy Tail too. Please take care of me!"
Wendy, who had returned to the guild earlier with the rest of the team, ran up to Ankh.
She gave an adorable, polite bow and smiled brightly.
'Wendy.'
After the joint war, Ankh had left ahead of the others.
Just like in the original storyline, Guild Master Robaul had revealed the heartbreaking truth about his illusions and entrusted Wendy and Carla to Fairy Tail before Cait Shelter faded away.
At the time, Wendy had cried as if the world were ending.
Fortunately, Erza and Lucy had been there to comfort her through the loss.
After spending a few days back at the lively guild, her spirits had gradually lifted.
"Oh! You're more than welcome." Ankh laughed heartily, patting her blue hair.
He then turned to the white Exceed in Wendy's arms and said cheerfully, "You too, Carla. Welcome to the guild."
Carla turned her head away sheepishly, her tsundere nature acting up as she muttered, "I only came because Wendy likes it here..."
"Hahaha..."
The members of the strongest team soon came over and sat down around Ankh's table.
Erza asked Ankh with some concern, "Brother, how are things with the Council? After all, we had some conflict with Lahar back then..."
Gray also chimed in curiously, "And what about Richard? Jura is very concerned about his situation."
Ankh waved his hand dismissively. "Our merits far outweigh our faults this time. What could the Council possibly say? They thanked us."
"As for Richard," Ankh continued, "it seems the Council was impressed by his good character post-Nirvana and wants to train him to work for them. He'll be fine."
Erza looked pleasantly surprised. "That means Wally can reunite with Richard legally!"
Ankh nodded, then remembered something.
He reached into his bag and pulled out four gleaming keys.
"Lucy! Here's your reward too!"
Lucy took them curiously, her eyes widening as she examined the items.
She exclaimed in pure surprise. "Celestial Spirit keys! Three Zodiac Celestial Spirits, and the Caelum Celestial Spirit?!"
Ankh nodded and casually made up a smooth explanation: "The Council confiscated them from Sora... Angel. I claimed them as spoils of war for you."
Lucy happily clutched the keys to her chest and smiled radiantly. "Great! This means we have new members! I'm going to make contracts with everyone!"
With that, Lucy hurried off to a quiet corner to summon the Celestial Spirits and begin making contracts.
Scorpio: Aquarius' partner who uses Sand Magic.
Aries: A timid spirit who has a complicated history with Leo, possessing a gentle personality and using wool magic that makes people feel soft and relaxed.
Gemini: The shapeshifting Celestial Spirit who previously managed to copy Ankh and fight him briefly.
Caelum: A versatile silver-key spirit that can transform into various weapons, allowing the originally weak-in-melee Lucy to fight while holding them.
In any case, with a total of fifteen keys, Lucy could now be considered a major figure in the Celestial Spirit Mage world.
"Speaking of which... four members of Oración Seis are still at large. That's really worrying..." Erza frowned, her warrior instincts flaring up.
Ankh's expression remained completely unchanged as he immediately pivoted the subject.
"That's the Council's business. Our most important goal right now is to prepare for the cherry blossom viewing party in two days!"
Upon hearing this, Erza's eyes immediately lit up, her attention successfully diverted as she excitedly agreed, fists clenched.
"You're right! This time I'm definitely going to get bingo!"
"Cherry blossom viewing party? Ah—I've heard about that too! Magnolia's cherry blossoms are famous!" Wendy immediately began to look forward to the event.
The gentle big sister Mirajane smiled at Wendy and explained: "That's right. It's a traditional activity the guild holds every year during this season. Everyone sits together drinking tea, eating sweets, and viewing the magical cherry blossoms. It's very romantic."
The tsundere white cat Carla couldn't help but show a hint of longing, murmuring softly.
"That doesn't sound too bad..."
Happy immediately jumped up to curry favor, flying closer with a wide smile.
"Carla, we can eat fish together then! I'll catch the best ones!"
"Hmph—" Carla turned her face away again, leaving poor Happy to go bicker with Lucy for amusement.
"Speaking of which, there's one more thing."
Mirajane, now wearing a pair of reading glasses on her nose bridge that added a scholarly air to her delicate face, held a thick mission book as she turned to Ankh.
"Do you remember? Before you left for the coalition, Juvia and Gajeel temporarily took over your routine missions."
"But... that mission didn't go very smoothly," Mirajane sighed. "Plus, Gajeel has been in poor spirits these past few days, and his face keeps getting mysteriously injured, so it delayed some work."
"They still have one task that hasn't been handled yet, and they might need your team's help to take over and finish it."
Seeing Mirajane's apologetic look, Ankh smiled and said, "Since they took over our work before, it's only right that we help them now that we're back. What's the mission?"
Mirajane adjusted her glasses and looked at the commission document.
"It's an herb gathering mission. You need to go to Mount Hakobe to collect a special herb. It can be used to brew tea, made into matcha for cakes, and—most importantly—it can temporarily boost a Mage's Magic Power."
She handed him a piece of paper. "Here's a picture of the herb drawn by the client."
Ankh took the picture and stroked his chin thoughtfully.
Mount Hakobe—an old familiar place Ankh had visited during his very first mission, and it was quite close to Magnolia.
Although the herb might be hard to find in the snow, with so many people in their team, it shouldn't take too long.
Ankh looked at Erza and asked, "What do you think?"
Erza nodded firmly. "It's just gathering herbs. We can definitely make it back before the cherry blossom viewing party!"
Natsu stretched his muscles, flames briefly flickering from his fists.
"Perfect! One last job before the cherry blossom party, then we can play hard!"
"Aye!" Happy cheered.
Lucy, who had just finished forming contracts with her new Celestial Spirits, wandered back over and felt inexplicably uneasy.
'Mount Hakobe... That place is super cold....Better dress warmly,' she thought, shivering preemptively.
Ankh also looked at Wendy and Carla, inviting them warmly, "Since Wendy just joined the guild, she should come with us to get familiar with how our team operates first. She can take on bigger missions alone later once she's settled."
Wendy immediately raised her hand energetically, a determined smile on her face.
"Understood! I'll do my best!"