"You brats! Pipe down!"
"Can't you see you've scared the newbies?!"
Before Ide could even react to the chaotic scene inside the guild, a deep, raspy, and booming voice echoed from above everyone's heads.
"A giant?"
Ide looked up and was shocked to see a colossal figure standing deep within the guild hall. The giant's head nearly scraped the ceiling, and he must have been over twenty meters tall.
At this moment, the giant was glaring down at the unruly guild members, scolding them furiously.
"We got it, Master."
Under the giant's scolding, the rowdy guild members immediately settled down, returning to their seats and behaving themselves.
"Master?"
"I see. Is this giant the Senior Makarov that Ur mentioned?"
"I didn't expect the Guild Master of Fairy Tail to be a member of the Giant Tribe."
Standing at the entrance, Ide muttered to himself as he looked at the massive figure.
Hummmm!
However, the very next second, the giant figure began to shrink rapidly right before their eyes.
From a towering twenty-meter titan, he shrank down into a tiny old man less than a meter tall. He then performed a high-difficulty 360-degree flip in mid-air and landed perfectly in front of Ide, Ur, and Irene.
He smiled kindly. "Hello there. I am the Guild Master, Makarov. Pleased to meet you."
"Huh?"
Ide stared at the tiny old man. It was hard to connect this little geezer with the majestic giant from a moment ago.
After a brief silence, Ide looked at the white-haired old man and sighed. "Magic really is wondrous! Its abilities are even more bizarre and varied than Devil Fruits."
"Senior Makarov, I've heard so much about you!"
"I am Ur Milkovich from the Kingdom of Iceberg. This is my husband, Ide, and my best friend, Irene."
"We traveled thousands of miles to come to Fairy Tail not only to join your guild but also to seek your help."
Ur stepped forward first, introducing the group and explaining their purpose.
"Easy, easy."
"Let's get you joined up first, then we can talk."
Makarov had a mischievous grin on his face. He whipped out the guild stamp he had prepared in advance and, with lightning speed, stamped the Fairy Tail emblem onto the backs of Ide, Ur, and Irene's hands.
"Eh?"
"Is it that simple?"
"Aren't there any entrance exams or trials?"
Ide looked at the golden emblem on the back of his hand—it looked like a dancing fairy, a soaring phoenix, or perhaps a mysterious creature with a tail—and asked the old man in confusion.
"You aren't bad people, are you?"
Makarov looked up at Ide with eyes that seemed capable of piercing through to one's soul and asked softly.
"Of course not."
Ide shook his head.
"Then there's no problem~"
"From today on, we are all family living under the same roof."
Makarov smiled—a kind, genuine smile without a hint of calculation, one that instantly put people at ease.
"This old man... is serious."
Ide was stunned. Both his Observation Haki and his intuition told him that this old man was a purely good person, a patriarch who treated everyone in the guild equally like his own children.
"Ide, do you understand now what a Wizard Guild truly is?"
Ur leaned over and whispered to him.
"I understand now."
Ide nodded slightly. He finally understood what Ur meant when she said the relationship between a guild and its wizards was closer than he imagined.
A Wizard Guild was a big family—a home that embraced and supported all its members.
"Alright then."
"Now, tell me in detail about this trouble you're facing."
"Although, even if you hadn't joined Fairy Tail, I would have done my best to help you anyway."
Makarov clasped his hands behind his back and asked.
"Can I say it, Irene?"
Before speaking, Ide asked for Irene's permission. After all, this involved her secret.
"Sure."
Irene shrugged indifferently.
"Okay."
Getting the green light, Ide leaned in close to Makarov and whispered, "It's like this, Senior Makarov. Irene accidentally cultivated Dragon Slayer Magic to its peak, causing her body to undergo irreversible Dragonification. She has completely turned into a Dragon and lost her ability to function as a human! Do you have any way to turn Irene back into a human?"
"Huh?!"
Makarov, who had been smiling kindly, froze. He stared at Ide blankly, his usually sharp brain seemingly short-circuiting.
Ide's words made sense individually, but put together? Makarov didn't understand a single thing.
Hey, hey, hey!
What do you mean "cultivated Dragon Slayer Magic to its peak"?
What do you mean "irreversible Dragonification"?
What do you mean "turned into a Dragon and can't be human anymore"?!!
"Ah."
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
Just as Makarov stared at them in total confusion, Irene walked up to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "It means exactly what he said."
BOOM!!
The moment Irene's voice fell, Makarov's pupils constricted violently. He looked at Irene as if she were a monster, his eyes wide with disbelief. "What immense magic power! This is inconceivably strong!"
"Oh my~"
"It seems this 'little brat' can't solve my problem either."
"Looks like the pressure is back on you, Ide."
Irene chuckled nonchalantly, as if she had expected Makarov to be helpless.
After all, this was a condition that even the Black Wizard Zeref couldn't cure.
"I guess our only hope really lies with the Devil Fruit, huh?"
Ide sighed. It seemed that to restore Irene's humanity, they would have to rely on the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Commoner.