"Ahhh~"
Deep beneath Fairy Tail, Makarov had recently built a private hot spring for the guild.
Macao and Wakaba soaked in the water with blissful expressions, letting out noises so indecent that Ankh immediately looked over in disgust.
"What the hell was that sound?"
Ankh rested comfortably against the edge of the spring, staring at the two middle-aged men as though they had just committed a crime.
"Ankh, did you hear anything important at the Magic Council?" Laxus asked from a stool beside the bath.
Freed was enthusiastically scrubbing his back.
Ankh thought back to the meeting Makarov had taken him to a few days earlier and sighed.
"Nothing new. It was the usual warning to keep a close eye on Tartaros."
Romeo asked curiously, "Since Tartaros is the only member of the Balam Alliance left, does the Council want to wipe them out in one push?"
"Exactly. Unfortunately, the last one is also the most mysterious."
Wakaba joined in. "Once Tartaros is gone, the magical world should finally calm down, right?"
Laxus snorted. "Not a chance. Even without Tartaros, there are dark cults and criminal guilds all over the continent."
Ankh closed his eyes and relaxed in the hot water as he explained, "Guiltina's position is unclear, and clashes along the border between the two continents are becoming more frequent. The western continent has also started saying one thing and doing another, so they're hardly a reliable ally. The Council wants to eliminate the threat at home before turning its attention outward."
"The world's still a mess, huh…"
"Who cares? That's not something small fry like us need to worry about."
"Small fry? We're Fiore's strongest guild! If a war really starts, we'll probably be sent straight to the front."
While the men's bath gradually turned into a loud and poorly informed discussion of international affairs, the women's side appeared much more normal.
Appeared being the important word.
With Cana around, no woman entering the bath was ever truly safe.
"Oy, Lucy~ I heard you and Natsu kissed?"
Using the thick steam as cover, Cana crept up behind Lucy and suddenly grabbed hold of the two enormous crimes against fairness attached to her chest.
Lucy screamed on the spot.
Turning red as a boiled lobster, she desperately tried to explain herself while escaping Cana's relentless pursuit.
Nearby, Levy watched the violent bouncing with deep resentment and muttered, "There are moments when I really don't like Lu-chan…"
"Speaking of small chests, where's Wendy?"
Mirajane was washing Lisanna's hair and answered with a smile, "She went on a job. The client specifically requested Erza and Wendy. I think it's some kind of theater performance."
"I can already imagine how chaotic that's going to be…"
Mirajane turned a teasing, gossip-hungry gaze toward Levy.
"Why didn't Gajeel bring you on his job this time? Haven't the two of you been inseparable lately?"
Levy had already grown used to being teased by everyone in the guild, so she merely spread her hands.
"Jet and Droy suddenly decided they wanted to go on a mission with Gajeel. I have no idea what got into them."
Mirajane thought about those two men's abilities, then smiled with carefully chosen politeness.
"Hopefully they'll be useful to him…"
Just then, a chilling voice suddenly sounded nearby.
"The blonde one…"
...
"Flare? She went to see Lucy?"
After finishing their bath, Ankh and Mirajane changed into comfortable clothes and sat chatting at the guild counter while Mira told him what had happened in the women's bath.
"She wanted to thank her. It seems that girl has finally decided to change her ways."
Ankh shrugged, not especially interested in Flare's emotional journey.
Back during the Grand Magic Games, he could already tell that Flare had probably been bullied by the other members of Raven Tail.
But to him, it had looked like a pack of vicious dogs turning on one another, so he had not stepped in the way he had for Yukino.
Now that Raven Tail was gone, Flare had probably gained her freedom and come back to say goodbye to Lucy.
After chatting with Ankh for a while, Mirajane quickly returned to work. When she looked through the records on the request board, her brows furrowed.
"Natsu and Gray's personal request is already three days overdue. With their strength, that shouldn't have happened…"
"They probably finished the job and started fighting each other again," Ankh said calmly. "Don't worry. Erza sent word earlier saying she'd gone to drag them back."
He had barely finished speaking when the guild doors were kicked open.
An enraged Erza threw two bruised and swollen lumps into the hall.
Upon closer inspection, they were indeed Natsu and Gray.
"You defeated the target monster days ago, yet the two of you stayed there fighting for three days and three nights!"
Natsu weakly raised one hand. "We stopped to sleep and eat."
Gray nodded seriously. "We'd never let a fight interfere with anything important."
Erza smiled with such fury that it terrified everyone nearby. Then she pulled out a spiked club and resumed beating the two idiots.
"Whoever thought of sending those two on a job together must be a genius," Ankh remarked cheerfully as he watched Erza bludgeon Fairy Tail's fire-and-ice duo.
"Master, another urgent request arrived this morning!"
Mirajane took out a new request sheet and handed it to Makarov, who was drinking nearby.
Makarov glanced at the name on it, then jolted upright.
"Natsu, Gray—this is another personal request for the two of you!"
"Again?!"
Natsu and Gray immediately pressed their foreheads together, glaring at each other with open disgust.
"I'm never taking another job with this guy!"
"You think I want to work with you, you droopy-eyed bastard?"
"What did you call me?!"
Makarov's booming voice cut through their argument.
He gripped the request sheet and spoke with complete seriousness.
"You will accept this job, and you cannot afford to make any mistakes."
"The client is Warrod Sequen."
"Hm?" Ankh turned toward him in surprise. "Warrod?"
"That's right. Warrod Sequen, one of the Four Gods of Ishgar—and before he retired from active guild life, he was once a member of Fairy Tail."
"What?!"
Ankh added, "Warrod has lived for more than a century. He was one of the founders who established Fairy Tail alongside the First Master."
The younger guild members froze, then all sucked in a breath at once, making their own small contribution to global warming.
A current Council member was one of Fairy Tail's founding elders?
Since when did their guild have that kind of connection?
Lucy felt a faint sense of unease.
"What kind of problem could someone that powerful possibly need the guild's help with?"
"Whatever it is, the entire team should go," Ankh said as he rose and took the request sheet from Makarov.
"Sending only these two would be far too disrespectful."
He looked toward the members of the strongest team.
"If Warrod is personally asking for help, then something serious must be happening."