After that night… naturally, nothing actually happened.
They were still on a ship after all.
With the way this wooden cabin carried sound, doing anything "serious" would have been no different from a live broadcast to the whole crew.
Even with Kabe's thick skin, he still could not bring himself to start working out on a boat.
So, before Erza could properly pounce, he carefully knocked her out and laid her on the bed.
Ultear and Millianna, who were both drunk out of their minds, got hauled up one in each hand and tossed into their own rooms as well.
In the end, only four guys were left at the table, talking, laughing, and chatting about the future.
...
Over the next few days, most of their time was spent traveling.
They disembarked at Hargeon, then quickly found a cheap merchant vessel leaving port.
After that, the group switched to the train line, heading straight from Hargeon to Magnolia.
Jellal woke up a few times along the way, but every time he had just opened his eyes and had not yet managed to cause trouble, Kabe put him back to sleep with another tap.
Erza, once she sobered up from that drunken night, seemed to have lost her memory of it.
She was as stern and serious as before, a little gentler perhaps, but otherwise unchanged.
If Kabe had not noticed the way she deliberately avoided his gaze whenever their eyes met, he really might have believed her claim that she did not remember.
Which only solidified his resolve: once they got back, he was definitely going to "educate" Erza properly.
However, all of his plans fell apart the moment they returned to Magnolia.
...
Their guild stood before them, pierced and wrecked by several massive iron spears.
The FAIRY TAIL signboard had a huge cross painted over it in black, and beside it someone had written a single word: Trash.
Kabe clenched his fists, rage boiling up as he ground out two syllables between his teeth.
Beside him, Erza's face was as dark as a thundercloud.
Even Ultear, who had only just joined them, looked ice cold.
The guild they called home had been vandalized and disgraced like this.
No one with a heart could swallow it.
Sho and the others did not know the full story, but even they were affected by the crushing pressure leaking off the three.
Their faces all turned grim.
Forcing down the flames climbing in his chest, Kabe took a deep breath and said,
"Everyone's mood is in the guild, not out here."
"Let us go and see them."
He strode inside first.
Erza and the others followed in silence.
...
The once bustling main hall was silent now, empty of people.
The only thing in sight were the iron spears driven into the floor, tearing the guild apart in a jagged mess.
Kabe's brows knit tighter as he scanned the hall and the second floor.
Then he shifted his footwork and let his ki perception guide him, heading toward the source of the strongest cluster of familiar auras.
Down.
He led them downstairs.
...
In the basement, several rough tables had been set up in a hurry.
The people who usually never ran out of energy to brawl and shout were now slumped over those tables, leaning or lying on them.
No one was talking.
The only sound was the occasional dull glug of someone forcing down another mouthful of alcohol.
When Kabe came in and saw that, although everyone was low in spirit, no one seemed seriously injured, his tightly locked brow eased a little.
Macao, who had been staring blankly at the door, snapped back to himself the instant he saw Kabe.
He jumped up like a spring had been triggered under him.
"Kabe, you finally came back."
His shout stirred the whole basement.
"What, Kabe is back?"
"That is great, our guild's trump card is here."
"Kabe, you saw outside, right?"
"That mess is all Phantom Lord's doing."
Everyone rushed over at once, voices overlapping as they surrounded him, all trying to explain the situation in one breath.
"Move, you idiots."
"No one can understand a word you are saying."
Mira shoved the crowd away from around Kabe, trying to clear some space.
But everyone's emotions were wound so tight that even when pushed back they refused to leave, still hovering nearby.
Seeing that, Kabe raised a hand to stop Mira and cut straight to the point.
"Forget the details for now."
"First tell me: what is the guild's situation exactly, did anyone get hurt?"
At that question, Mira's body trembled.
Her eyes instantly reddened as she stepped in front of Kabe and bowed her head.
"I am sorry."
"I was too weak."
"I could not protect the guild."
"Juvia… she was ambushed by one of Phantom Lord's Element Four."
"Her magic power was forcibly drained."
"Right now, Porlyusica is looking after her."
Then Mira began to slowly explain what had happened.
...
The attack on the guild had happened only last night.
It started in the second half of the night, when everyone had gone home and Juvia had returned to the girls' dormitory.
The attacker's target seemed to be Juvia from the very beginning.
He broke directly into the girls' dorm and launched a surprise attack on her.
Thankfully, Juvia had good instincts.
Even though she was ambushed, she managed to stall and bought enough time for help to arrive.
Cana rushed over and used her Crush magic to scare the enemy off.
Even so, before escaping, he still managed to use magic to rip almost all of Juvia's magic power out of her.
The sudden depletion of magic forced Juvia into a state where her life hung by a thread.
Cana immediately sent someone running to fetch Porlyusica and at the same time had another person send an urgent message to Mira and Warren.
By the time Mira, Laki, and the other members who received Warren's telepathic broadcast arrived at the guild, the building was already in its current state.
Because she was worried that people might be picked off alone by another attacker, Mira had no choice but to quickly clear out the basement and gather everyone together there for safety.
...
After hearing everything, Kabe did not blame anyone.
Instead, he reached out and rubbed Mira's head, looking at her tired face with genuine praise in his voice.