"Sorry for the intrusion, Chase-nii."
Lucy had barely left when Lisanna came knocking on the door, her reason was still "just happened to be passing by."
After finishing her cup of weak tea and remarking on how nice Chase's house was, Lisanna likewise pretended to naturally bring up the fight on the Nirvana dueling platform, steering the conversation toward Mira and Erza.
With Lucy's questioning fresh in his mind, Chase immediately understood the little girl's intentions and gave the same answer without a second thought.
Unsurprisingly, Lisanna also fled the scene with a bright red face.
"Really now. These two are more nervous and curious than the actual people involved..." Chase took a sip of tea and shook his head helplessly with a sigh.
Although guild life seemed peaceful and quiet right now, seemingly the perfect time for romance, he was fully aware of the undercurrents lurking beneath this calm.
Grimoire Heart, Tartaros, the Black Dragon Acnologia, Zeref, and even the Five Dragon Gods hiding in the northern continent—all of these potential danger factors were connected to Fairy Tail in some way.
And on top of that, there were the God Realm mages and the various "Gods" of the God Realm, about whom he had extremely limited information.
With time pressing and dangers lurking, although he was a bit tempted, Chase still felt that growing stronger took priority. So for now, he had no intention of starting a romantic relationship.
This might sound a bit like "battle brain," but the truth was, someone who couldn't even protect the person they loved had no right to talk about love.
Rather than hugging his girlfriend on top of some ruins, desperate waiting for death, Chase would much rather trample the Black Dragon and the Five Dragon Gods under his feet, then pull Mira close with one arm and Erza with the other and declare boldly: See this? This is the man you love!
Even setting aside his own personality, this decision of Chase's actually protected Mira and Erza to the greatest extent possible.
After all, the enemies he would face in the future were not good people, and the title of "girlfriend" would obviously attract more attention than "guildmate"—even if he was willing to hide on the continent of Ishgar for the rest of his life, danger would still come quietly.
The world of Fairy Tail had gods, after all!
Thinking of this, Chase slowly put down his teacup, gazing at the remaining tea leaves with a slightly dazed expression, a look of regret on his face.
If I didn't know the full scope of this world, maybe I could be living a lovey-dovey, disgustingly sweet romantic life right now, without a care in the world.
Dammit. It's so damn frustrating.
The next day.
When Chase, having his feelings settled, arrived at the guild as usual, perhaps because he had stepped through the door with his left foot, he was immediately met with looks of contempt and disgust from Lucy and Lisanna.
The two girls, who had been quietly competing against each other just yesterday, were now sitting together like close girlfriends, whispering.
Their conversation was about things like "how terrible," "lecherous card nerd," "shameless greedy bastard," "little Loki," and so forth.
After fleeing from Chase's house last night, the wingmen Lucy and Lisanna had agonized all night before finally deciding to tell Mira and Erza what they had learned, exposing the card nerd's perverted nature.
"Yo, good morning~" Chase greeted them with a smile.
As one might expect, they both turned their heads away in tacit agreement to ignore him.
But Erza, who was sitting nearby eating strawberry cake, jolted upright. "G-g-g-g-good m-m-m-morning, Ch-Ch-Ch-Chase!"
After learning from Lucy about Chase's true feelings, she had been in a state of extreme panic. She was happy that Chase hadn't outright rejected her, but she was also shocked by his domineering answer of "both." Her mind was filled with embarrassing scenarios she had never experienced before.
When Chase wasn't around, she could distract herself with cake. But the moment he appeared, she couldn't even speak properly.
The serious, dignified image of the Fairy Queen was completely gone, giving a strong sense of déjà vu of her original story self whenever she saw Jellal.
Chase had actually wanted to ask her why she was eating cake first thing in the morning, but judging by her current state, he probably wouldn't get a straight answer. It was better to just let her calm down on her own.
"Good morning, Chase."
Compared to Erza's flustered overwhelmed, Mira over at the bar seemed no different from usual. Her pretty face still wore a sweet, charming smile. "Come have breakfast first."
Could it be that Lisanna didn't tell her about last night?
With some suspicion, Chase walked over—and saw Mira cheerfully setting down two pitch-black fried eggs, with some flames still remaining on their surfaces.
The strong smell of burning immediately filled his nostrils.
"Uh... this breakfast is for Natsu, right?" Chase asked tentatively.
"No, it's not. I heard from Lisanna that you have a really good appetite," Mira said, setting the plate down in front of Chase as he sat. Her smile was a bit dark, her words heavy with implication. "So I specially saved these for you."
"For the record, even Natsu won't eat burned fried eggs."
You know they're burned, then!
The corner of Chase's mouth twitched twice. He had personally experienced the darkness of Fairy Tail's poster girl and also realized that she indeed knew everything.
But since he had the guts to say those things to Lucy and Lisanna, there was no way he was going to back down in a situation like this!
"Haha, two is just right. Well then, let's eat!"
With that, Chase didn't hesitate for a moment. He stacked the two black truffle fried eggs together, grabbed them, and raised them to his mouth.
"Wait... never mind."
Mira instinctively reached out and stopped him, then pulled out some perfectly normal milk and bread from behind the bar.
She had only wanted to tease and get back at Chase a little. She hadn't expected him to be so wild that he would actually eat eggs burned all the way through.
What if he got a stomach ache?
"Mira-nee, don't go soft on such a greedy man!" Lisanna came over to Mira's side, glaring at Chase with fierce eyes.
Over by Lucy, looking at Erza whose heart rate had suddenly accelerated, Lucy was even more furious: Why are you blushing like a boiled lobster?!
"How newly strange. I go out for one request, and suddenly the relationships around here are getting hard to follow," Freed said from a nearby corner, scratching his grown hair (he had shaved his head during the civil war), a puzzled look in his eyes.
"If I'm not mistaken, the two strongest female mages in our guild have both fallen for that bastard Chase," Bickslow said, his eyes hidden behind his mask filled with envy.
The five puppets floating behind him repeated, "That bastard! That bastard!" x5
"From a certain perspective, he's also pretty pathetic," Evergreen said thoughtfully.
Elsewhere, Macao and Wakaba, that pair of old drinking buddies, were downing their alcohol in silence, constantly lamenting "It's good to be young."
Compared to these seasoned veterans, Wendy was much more oblivious. She didn't notice anything strange at all. She looked at Happy with concern and asked, "Happy, where's Natsu?"
"Aye~ That idiot forced himself to use the Destruction Dragon's power yesterday and suffered backlash. He's still lying in Lucy's bed right now," Happy explained briefly, then pulled a fish out of the package behind him. "Carla, do you want some fish? I grabbed it from Lucy's fridge. It's super fresh~"
"Who the hell eats this kind of thing first thing in the morning?!" Carla fumed, her paws on her hips.
Wendy silently thought to herself: Poor Lucy...
"Oh, then Momon, do you want some?" After being rejected, Happy immediately turned to Momon.
Unsurprisingly, he received a big roll of the eyes in return.
This cat was a confirmed player.
Beside Momon, Éclair ignored the surrounding noise completely, flipping through a magical book, trying to absorb the knowledge inside.
It was the welcome gift Silent Magician had given her: "Fundamental Theory of Silent Magic: A General Outline (Custom Private Edition)"
At the same time, Juvia was wriggling her hips, constantly trying to get close to Gray. Gajeel was squatting in a dark corner, silently gnawing on iron. Nab, back from his request, was standing in front of the request board, agonizing over which one to take. The off-duty service girls were chattering away about gossip.
The guild atmosphere remained as lively as ever, not significantly affected by the changes in Mira and Erza.
"Oh, Chase, there's a request that suits you pretty well. Want to take a look?" Mira said from the bar after Chase had finished his breakfast, mysteriously raising a finger.
"I'll pass for now. I don't want to miss that person again," Chase said, wiping his mouth.
With his current combat power, there weren't many requests within the Kingdom of Fiore that could provide him with card-drop targets. Rather than possibly going on a wasted trip, it was better to stay at the guild and wait for Gildarts to return with Cana.
With luck, he might be able to complete the five-piece Exodia set!
Mira naturally knew that the person he was waiting for was Gildarts. But Lucy and Lisanna, who were in the dark, knew nothing about this.
Their nerves on edge, they assumed that the person Chase was talking about "not missing" was either Mira or Erza, so they immediately rushed over.
"The person Chase-nii is talking about... could it be Mira-nee?"
"No way, I'm sure it's Erza!"
The two girls, who had been united just moments ago, were now back to competing with each other, their foreheads pressed together.
"Of course it's Gildarts! I'm really looking forward to fighting that guy!" Chase said enthusiastically, clenching his fists.
Lucy: "..."
Lisanna: "..."
...?
Go die, you battle maniac!!
Amidst the noisy, lively guild daily life, two days quietly passed.
What Chase hadn't expected was that before Gildarts returned, a not-entirely-unexpected sudden development occurred first:
The card he had given to Ultear had finally reacted.
***
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