Outside the door, Laxus entered the guild with a tense expression, the Thunder Legion following behind him.
"Old man, about the matter of repairing the guild, I... ouch...!"
He had only gotten halfway through his sentence when his legs suddenly gave out. His body tilted sideways, and his chin slammed viciously into the corner of a table.
"Laxus!"
At the sight of that, the three members of the Thunder Legion immediately rushed forward in a flurry to help him up.
The guild fell silent for a split second.
Then, in the next instant, an explosion of laughter erupted throughout the hall.
And among them all, Kabe's laughter at the bar was by far the loudest.
One hand clutching his stomach and the other pounding hard against the counter, he laughed until tears were spilling from his eyes.
"Hahahaha! Damn, Laxus!
That stupid look on your face is even funnier than a clown in a circus!"
Supported back to his feet by Freed, Laxus listened to the piercing laughter all around him.
A man who usually carried himself with icy arrogance, he could not help it now. His face turned completely red with embarrassment.
"Shut up! All of you!"
He roared, silencing the crowd, then turned to glare at Kabe and shouted furiously,
"Bastard, who do you think made me like this?
If you hadn't spent all of yesterday forcing drinks down my throat, how could I possibly have ended up so weak in the legs that I can barely even walk!"
"Haha, if you can't hold your liquor, then you can't hold your liquor. Don't make excuses and blame others.
Remember what I told you. If you're bad at it, then train more. Got it, rookie?"
"You bastard!"
Laxus exploded with rage, releasing his magic power in a violent burst.
In an instant, the wooden floor beneath his feet shattered into pieces.
The moment that terrifying magic power swept through the hall, everyone who had just been laughing at him shut their mouths.
Even Ultear's eyes flickered with surprise.
That level of magic was already not beneath hers at all.
As expected of Fairy Tail's S-Class.
None of them could be underestimated.
Of course, there were still plenty of people in the guild who were not afraid of Laxus.
Mira was laughing quite happily.
So was Makarov.
As Laxus's grandfather, it had been a very long time since the old man had seen such an amusing sight from this child of his.
"Heh. In this case, Kabe is right. As my grandson, Laxus, your alcohol tolerance really is a bit pathetic."
"Shut up, old man. Pathetic or not, I can still outdrink you with ease."
Laxus shot the old geezer an irritated glare.
Not wanting to let the topic stay on this humiliating matter any longer, he took a breath, reined in his magic, and then shifted the conversation with a serious expression.
"Old man, you've gotten stingier and stingier over the years.
If you ask me, the guild is already wrecked to this point. There's no need to keep repairing it. We should just build a new one."
"What?! You brat, what nonsense are you spouting?!"
Makarov exploded on the spot. He jumped up and latched onto Laxus, grabbing him by the collar as he shouted.
"You little bastard, do you even know who built this guild?!
This was built by the First Master, the Second Master, my father, your great-grandfather, and Elder Warrod, the four founders of the guild with their own hands!
Do you know how much memorial value this place carries, or do I need to spell it out for you?!"
"Oi, old man, you're spraying spit all over my face."
Laxus turned his head away in disgust and wiped the spit from his face.
Then he raised a hand and pointed at the guild hall, which was already packed full of members, and said flatly,
"Of course I know the guild's history. But at least look at what the guild is like now.
That's not even counting the members who are still far away and haven't made it back yet.
The main hall is already packed to the brim. If the number of people increases even a little more in the future, the guild simply won't be able to hold everyone.
You can care about history, but only after paying attention to reality first. This place has already become too cramped."
Once Laxus said that, the others also began glancing around the guild hall.
And after looking, they all realized that the guild really had become too crowded.
At some tables, eight or nine people were squeezed together.
And even then, quite a few others still had no choice but to stand.
Makarov's expression froze as well.
His eyes slowly swept across the guild.
Yes... as Fairy Tail's fame kept growing, more and more children had come to join out of admiration.
Before he had even noticed it, Fairy Tail's membership had already broken past a hundred.
It was no longer the small guild from his youth.
Looking at these young people overflowing with life and spirit, Makarov once again felt, with painful clarity, the fact that he had grown old.
He jumped down from Laxus and began pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back.
"Even so... this is still the hard work left behind by our predecessors. If I tear the guild down, then how am I supposed to face the departed First Master in the future?
And..."
The old man seemed to have other concerns as well.
Several times, he looked as though he wanted to speak, only to stop himself.
He appeared unusually hesitant.
Laxus, already getting impatient from watching this, crossed his arms and asked,
"What other problem is there? If you're worried about that retired old senior, then at worst I'll go personally and apologize to him and explain the situation."
As the Master's grandson, he naturally knew more than the average guild member, including the existence of the great senior Warrod, one of the Ten Wizard Saints.
And yet, Makarov still shook his head.