I passed! My life is saved!
Looking at Mirajane sitting on the edge of the bed, still puffed up with anger, and Erza quietly comforting her at the side, Kabe, who had just changed his clothes, finally let out a huge sigh of relief.
Then, thick skinned as ever, he walked over and sat down between the two of them, draping an arm over each of their shoulders.
"Well… there's something the Master didn't explain clearly.
Actually, at Blue Pegasus, the woman I was involved with wasn't just Karen.
I also kept a newcomer named Jenny, with a monthly allowance of five hundred thousand."
Before he could even finish stammering that sentence, Mirajane, who was already furious, raised her arm and slammed an elbow straight into him.
"Calling you a bastard really wasn't wrong at all. Cheating with other women is one thing, but you even spent money to keep one?
Ugh, disgusting!"
Even Erza, who was usually calm and composed, trembled with anger upon hearing this, looking like she wanted to draw her sword again and chop him down on the spot.
Kabe's skin was thick enough to tank it. He desperately sweet talked the two of them, coaxing and pleading nonstop.
After a long stretch of persuasion, they finally accepted the fact that he had two women outside.
...
"Then what's the deal with these two keys? That woman was a Celestial Spirit Mage, wasn't she?
What kind of Celestial Spirit Mage gives away her own keys?"
Staring at the two keys Mirajane took out, Kabe reached over to accept them and explained.
"She stopped being a Celestial Spirit Mage a long time ago. Recently, she's been learning Perfume Magic from one of her former seniors.
And she's actually pretty good at it too. She even developed a side business selling perfume and became a small rich woman."
"Perfume Magic?"
Erza suddenly became alert.
"Isn't that Ichiya's specialty? The senior you mentioned… don't tell me it's him?"
"Mmhmm, it really is that guy."
As Kabe nodded in confirmation, Erza's expression instantly twisted in disgust, her face turning iron green.
"She actually took that disgusting man as her teacher? That woman's taste is truly terrible."
Erza rarely badmouthed people behind their backs, but her hatred for Ichiya came from a past mission where the two had crossed paths.
His greasy tone, disaster level appearance, and extreme narcissism had left Erza with severe psychological trauma back then.
Thankfully, Kabe had once bragged to Ichiya that Erza was one of his girlfriends.
Otherwise, that guy would have definitely gone up to flirt with her and ended up being chopped into a bloody mess by an enraged Erza.
...
Back to the main topic, Kabe continued.
"After she started making money, Karen basically stopped going out on missions. She rarely used Celestial Spirit Magic anymore.
But she didn't want the powerful combat strength of two Zodiac spirits to go to waste.
So she handed the keys to me and told me to find suitable owners for them."
"Suitable owners? You mean Lucy?"
Mirajane immediately thought of the blonde girl they had met on their first mission together.
Recalling how Lucy had been toyed with by her own spirits, Mirajane nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, Lucy would definitely work. You always hear about masters abusing their spirits.
But being abused by spirits instead, she's probably the first. At least those two spirits would be safe with her."
Although Mirajane's line of thought left him speechless, Kabe still nodded along.
"She really is my first choice.
I plan to sell the Leo key to her. With her status as a Heartfilia family heiress,
this strongest of the golden keys should fetch at least thirty million."
Thirty million!!
Hearing that number, both women could not help swallowing hard.
Such a huge sum of cash was something neither of them could casually pull out, even combined.
But Erza quickly spotted the blind spot.
"Only Leo? There's still another key, isn't there?"
"This one…"
Kabe paused, then said,
"This is the Aries key. As for her… I have other plans."
As he spoke, Kabe decided to show off a little and properly shock the three of them.
He took out the Aries key. Without chanting a spell or doing anything special, he casually drew it through the air.
The next second, under the women's disbelieving gazes, a golden magic circle appeared.
Before they could even process the shock of him using magic like this…
Ariès stepped through the magic circle and appeared in front of them.
The moment she arrived, Ariès' gaze accurately landed on Kabe.
She immediately bowed happily toward him and greeted him.
"Long time no see, Master. Is there anything I can do for you?"
Looking at the pink haired, fluffy dressed, soft and adorable girl in front of them…
Erza and Mirajane instantly suppressed the shock on their faces.
They pulled away from Kabe's arms and turned cold, hostile eyes toward him, their gazes filled with suspicion.
"Uh, this really isn't…" Kabe wiped the cold sweat off his forehead and shook his head earnestly.
Mirajane crossed her arms and snorted.
"Not now doesn't mean not later. We can already guess what kind of thoughts you're having without you saying anything."
On the other side, Erza looked conflicted and hesitated before speaking.
"Being lustful, I won't comment on that anymore… but Celestial Spirits are… forget it.
As long as you don't force yourself on her."
Ariès: "???"
Looking at the two unfamiliar women standing beside her master, Ariès' small mouth opened slightly.
When her confused eyes turned back toward Kabe, the look in them had completely changed.