The next day, at the Fairy Tail guild hall.
Even though such a malicious incident had occurred the day before, and everyone's injuries hadn't fully healed, the noisy atmosphere was no less than usual — in fact, it was even livelier.
Because the Harvest Festival wasn't over yet, even the members who could normally take jobs were gathered at the guild, drinking and boasting, waiting for the evening's grand magical parade.
The one silver lining was that, having gotten their fighting out of their systems during the civil war, they weren't brawling at the drop of a hat like usual. Instead, they were engaging in verbal sparring and roasting each other.
For Fairy Tail, this scene was quite harmonious!
"Such reckless people. I told them not to order so much alcohol when they're injured..."
Mira, dressed in a wine-red gown, returned to the counter, set down her empty tray, and let out a deep sigh.
"What's the harm? With their physiques, a bit of drinking won't kill them," Chase said with a smile from across the table.
Mira shot him a sideways glance, her eyes landing on the large beer mug in his hand. Her delicate brows knitted together as she placed her hands on her hips, her expression turning stern. "And you, Chase!"
Her suddenly serious expression left Chase a bit confused. If he remembered correctly, Mira usually didn't restrict people's drinking. Why was she acting so strange today?
Even so, he silently put down his mug.
Lucy, watching from nearby, shook her head and thought to herself:
Even I can see that Mira-nee just doesn't want your time together to be constantly interrupted. And you have no idea!
Damn card addict. Serves you right for being single!
Even though she was an emotional idiot herself even denser than Natsu or Gajeel she oddly sounded like an expert when analyzing others.
Truly, the best relationship experts are those who've never been in a relationship...
Over there, seeing Chase obediently put down his mug, Mira's tightly furrowed brows finally relaxed.
"Hey, Chase. During the civil war yesterday, you used the Kuribohs to secretly film the whole thing, didn't you?"
She had accidentally discovered the Kuribohs' presence after defeating Freed. She also understood the underlying reason Chase had been comfortable letting his comrades "fight each other."
"That's right. I recorded all the footage so the Dark Magician can see if there's room for improvement."
Chase nodded, not surprised Mira had noticed.
Receiving his affirmative answer, a faint, sweet smile curled at Mira's lips. She sighed, "You always care about everyone."
"Haha, of course. I'm going to sell the compiled training guides to them for a good price. A nice little profit."
Chase said matter-of-factly, "Mm — 100,000 each."
After all, it was the fruit of the Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl's labor. Why should it be free?
"Huh? I thought it would be free." Mira's smile froze.
"Don't worry. Yours is free. You helped a lot with the new house." Chase waved his hand generously.
Mira's flaw was quite obvious even without the Dark Magician's analysis: her magic power was too low. Basically, after one demon form, she was out of commission.
If she could overcome this pain point, sustaining demon form for longer or even using multiple forms simultaneously, her combat power would be super strong!
Then, he could try to fight Mira hand-to-hand and get cards to drop from her...
But thinking about it, Mira's weakness was the result of sealing her magic power for over two years. It probably couldn't be cured overnight.
The best solution was, of course, to directly open the "Second Origin" to store more magic power.
Unfortunately, the magical world currently had no relevant concepts or theories. Even bringing Ultear over wouldn't help.
Lucy, eavesdropping on their conversation from nearby, shrank her head and quietly scooted away from Chase, frantically reducing her presence.
As the first to receive a training guide, she was terrified Chase would come asking her for money.
100,000 Jewels was an absolutely unaffordable fortune for a broke person with only a few thousand!
The heiress of the country's richest family, reduced to this — truly something else.
"Speaking of which, Lucy mentioned during our chat—"
Mira propped her cheek on her hand and smiled at a certain sneaky-looking blonde girl. "You made a training plan for Lucy over a month ago, didn't you?"
Called out, Lucy was startled. Mira-nee didn't let me off either!!
Seeing she couldn't avoid it, Lucy's eyes darted. She immediately pressed herself against Chase, flipped her hair, lifted her leg, and struck a sweet, cute (in her opinion) seductive pose.
"Kind-hearted, handsome Chase~ Sibling bonds can't be measured with money. You wouldn't charge me, would you~?"
"Oh. Since you were the test subject, I never intended to charge you. That way, if something goes wrong, I'm not responsible." Chase's face showed no reaction.
Even though the Dark Magician's expertise differed from Fairy Tail's magical system, since the usually rigorous Dark Magician was willing to put it out,
it was naturally no problem.
But for some reason, seeing Lucy like this made Chase want to scare her a little.
Hearing this, Lucy's coquettish expression instantly changed. She was indeed frightened. "So I'm just a guinea pig on your path to making money?!!"
Seeing her react so strongly, Chase couldn't help but laugh. He looked at Mira and sighed, "Happy was right. Lucy really is easy to fool!"
"It certainly seems that way."
Uncharacteristically, Mira didn't defend Lucy. She laughed happily with Chase.
"Damn card addict, go DIE!"
Lucy instantly transformed into a sawtooth-fanged monster. Her spit rained down on Chase's face.
Why didn't she kick him like she did Natsu and Happy?
Because she didn't have the courage yet...
"Aye~ So this is the so-called sibling bond~" Happy stood on the counter, spreading his hands and shaking his head.
Chase took the tissue Mira handed him, wiped his face, looked at the now-calmed Lucy, and put away his smile. His voice was serious. "You, the guild members — I genuinely want you all to become stronger. So you can better protect yourselves."
This brief sentence extinguished Lucy's anger. "Chase, you—"
"If you're too weak, beating you up isn't any fun."
"So that's the kind of protection you meant!!" Spit Dragon Slayer Lucy returned.
Remembering Chase's full-power battle stance, the ambitious determination to grow stronger she had felt last night suddenly lost its motivation.
"By the way, Lucy, how is your training progressing?" Mira blinked her beautiful eyes, curious.
"I-It's not like I've made huge progress..." Lucy averted her eyes, looking a bit guilty.
In truth, the Dark Magician's guidebook was very useful. She, born into the Heartfilia family of Celestial Spirit wizards, had high talent. And she had been working hard.
So, in just over a month, she had made considerable progress.
When Loki had given them vacation tickets to the resort, Crux had told her about "Star Dress" — an advanced form of Celestial Spirit magic that allows the wizard to transfer a spirit's power to themselves.
That's right. Lucy was now qualified to learn this magic!
Since the principle of Star Dress was very similar to Re-equip magic, Lucy had asked Erza many questions the previous night.
With Erza's help and guidance, after trying countless times, she had finally — full of passion —
Entered Star Dress: Canis Minor form. Gaining the ability to tremble like she had Parkinson's!
Cough. It was weak. Might not even match her base form's combat power.
But undoubtedly, it gave Lucy a huge sense of accomplishment. She had been planning to share her joy with Chase today.
Now? She didn't dare.
Forget fighting. In her Canis Minor form, one punch from Chase would probably send her flying far away!
***
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