A soft blue radiance suddenly appeared and slowly wrapped itself around Kabe's hand.
"W-what is that?"
To Selene's senses, this blue light was made entirely of the purest possible energy, utterly without impurity.
It was unlike any form of energy she had ever known.
Curious, she cautiously reached out a finger to touch it.
But the instant she did, she jerked her hand back and clutched her finger with a soft cry.
"It's so hot... and so violent."
That single fleeting touch had already left a red mark on her fingertip.
Seeing how strong her reaction was, Kabe immediately withdrew the Ki and explained with a grin,
"This is Ki, a force born from all living things. It is the natural enemy of all evil.
The fact that it could hurt you... looks like you are not exactly a good person, Selene."
Hearing the teasing in his voice, Selene curled her lips in disdain and looked at her finger, which was already healing.
"The natural enemy of evil? I would not be so sure.
If that were true, then the first one it should have hurt would have been you, you shameless little lecher."
That was not something Kabe could easily argue against.
After all, Ki itself was usually meant to be wielded by those filled with righteousness.
Kabe did not consider himself evil, but neither did he think of himself as particularly upright.
Looking at it that way, the fact that he could control Ki at all was probably partly thanks to the benefits of being a transmigrator.
"Ahem. Anyway, the point is, I use Ki to achieve something similar to summoning spirits.
Aries has basically been stuffed full of my Ki to the point of bursting. She can even return to the Celestial Spirit World on her own without me doing anything."
Looking at Aries, who was still bent over and diligently working, Selene nodded in understanding.
That explanation did make sense.
Still, using one of the Zodiac Spirits as a servant...
Even Selene found that extravagance absurd.
...
Not long after, the people of Magnolia all began hearing that Hosenka Village had changed ownership.
Naturally, everyone was curious why the hot spring district, which had been doing perfectly well, had suddenly been sold off by that unnamed duke.
But once the new owner of the village, a stunningly alluring proprietress, reopened Hosenka Village...
It was only natural that everyone's attention drifted entirely away from the question of ownership and onto the proprietress herself.
At the same time, a remote little storefront in town also changed hands.
The small restaurant that had once stood there was transformed, with Levy's enthusiastic help, into a magic shop full of mystery.
Its main business was the sale of magical items, while also taking on side work in potions and divination.
On the surface, it looked like a perfectly ordinary magic store, even keeping the extremely normal signboard, Magic Cottage.
The one thing that was not ordinary at all was that the shop's owner was none other than the newly appointed Wizard Saint, the elegant, beautiful, and faintly dangerous Lady Irene.
And unsurprisingly, for a very long time afterward, both the hot spring district and the Magic Cottage did astonishingly good business.
Part of that was because people genuinely enjoyed the hot springs and wanted to buy useful magical items.
But an even larger part came from the sheer number of shameless old perverts drawn in by the beauty and fame of the two proprietresses.
Kabe could feel very directly how much Selene and Irene had changed the little town.
...
Inside Fairy Tail, Macao proudly rolled up his sleeve and showed off a brand-new silver bracer on his wrist.
"See this? Just bought it yesterday. They say Lady Irene made it herself. It's a defensive magic tool.
In dangerous situations, it can unfold a protective barrier and block most attacks for up to a full minute.
And something this practical only costs two hundred thousand at Lady Irene's shop.
On top of that, Fairy Tail members get a five percent discount and one free recharge service."
The moment he finished speaking, the guild instantly erupted in exclamations and admiration.
"No way. Something like that could save your life at a critical moment, and it only costs two hundred thousand?!"
"And guild members even get a discount! Lady Irene must be doing that for Erza's sake!"
"Beautiful and generous too. Lady Irene is practically the pearl heaven gifted Magnolia itself.
I seriously want to become Lady Irene's dog!!!"
Listening to everyone endlessly praising Lady Irene, Macao felt deeply satisfied, as though he had successfully spread the faith of his favorite idol.
That made the fact that he had spent all of his private savings on the item feel completely worth it.
At the next table over, Wakaba was also in the middle of holding court with a group of drinking buddies.
"You guys have no idea. I went to Hosenka Village last night.
Good lord. The surface decorations and buildings haven't changed much, but inside, it's a whole different world."
A look of lingering delight flashed through Wakaba's eyes. Then he let out a deeply suggestive little chuckle and continued sharing his experience.
"I'm telling you, not only did the owner change, even all the attendants inside have been replaced with lively young girls.
Just picture it. You're soaking in the hot spring under the moon, and beside you there are lightly dressed young ladies pouring your drinks and massaging your shoulders, while soft music from professional performers plays in your ear.
Tsk, tsk... the feeling was so good that even the moon looked brighter and more beautiful than usual."
Gulp.
Just listening to Wakaba describe it made the assembled degenerates swallow hard.
"Come to think of it, I've been taking a lot of jobs lately. My back and legs have been killing me. I really ought to go soak in a hot spring and relax."
"Exactly, exactly. We've been doing jobs for years. It's about time we enjoyed ourselves a little too."