After saying that, Erza turned and prepared to leave.
"Um… excuse me…"
Without turning around, Erza replied,
"If you're looking for work, you'll always be welcome at Fairy Tail."
"Wait… my real name is Bisca. Bisca Moulin!"
"And you?" Bisca asked cautiously.
Erza turned back around. With one hand on her hip and a gentle gaze like a still, quiet lake fixed on Bisca, she said, "Erza. Erza Belserion."
"Erza…" Bisca's cheeks flushed red, and her eyes brightened a little…
Paying no attention to Bisca's reaction, Erza turned and walked over to Ultear, who was standing by the doorway.
Then, with perfectly fluid motions, she pressed her palms together, closed her eyes, and lowered her head.
"Please…"
Ultear raised an eyebrow and swept her gaze around the tavern.
"It's acceptable. The damage isn't too serious."
A green crystal sphere suddenly emerged from the white bracer on Ultear's right arm.
The crystal ball began to glow…
The damaged wall, the tables and chairs, the chunks of rubble that had fallen from the ceiling—
Even the set of billiard balls Erza had wrecked at the very beginning—
All of it returned to its original state!
In just a short while, the tavern looked exactly the way it had before Erza arrived.
The tavern owner had originally been planning to send the repair bill to Fairy Tail, but it seemed that would no longer be necessary.
"What incredible magic!!!"
"She's terrifying too…"
Watching everything return to normal, the customers could only stare in stunned disbelief, their jaws practically hanging open.
"She's so cool, Sunny!" Bisca, meanwhile, had eyes only for Erza…
"So, Sunny was a mouse!!!"
The customers all stared at the little mouse poking its head out from behind Bisca's hair…
By then, Erza, Ultear, and Kagura had already left the tavern.
…
After finishing the story, Erza idly toyed with the white cue ball in her hand.
Erza and the others had already told this story to Raizel before, so this counted as the second time.
"Thinking back on it now, it's honestly kind of embarrassing…" Bisca, standing to the side, blushed as she twirled a strand of hair around her finger.
"What?! That was you, Bisca?!" Seeing her reaction, Natsu finally realized it.
"You're only figuring out now that it was Bisca…" Gray looked at Natsu with utter exasperation.
And when Bisca first came to the guild, Gray and Natsu had both happened to be there as well.
Back then… the two of them were so obsessed with fighting every day that they had each slung an arm over one of Bisca's shoulders and started arguing about settling things with a match, without the slightest concern for how she felt.
Now that he thought about it, even Gray felt embarrassed for his past self…
In the story, Bisca had even said her name out loud, and many of the details had been filled in by Bisca herself from the side.
Especially the things Erza had said to Bisca about what a guild meant—Erza herself might not have been able to repeat those exact same words now.
But for Bisca, it was different.
The expression on Erza's face back then, every single word she said, even that cold armored gauntlet that somehow made one's heart feel so warm…
Bisca would never forget any of it for the rest of her life.
Bisca was the heroine of that story—the woman once known as Redmill.
Three years ago, after being thoroughly taught a lesson by Erza, she had followed in Erza's footsteps and joined Fairy Tail.
Bisca had many friends in the guild, but without question, Erza was the most important one of all.
"This is actually the first time I've heard the full story. I didn't even know you could play billiards," Alzack said as he looked at Bisca.
At the wedding, Erza had only briefly mentioned that the two of them met three years ago because of a misunderstanding.
"It's not exactly something to be proud of…" Bisca replied irritably.
"No. If anything, it makes you feel even more vivid to me."
"Hey, hey, cut it out with the public flirting…" Lucy said, looking like she could hardly bear to watch.
Bisca looked over at Natsu and Gray, who were making a racket around the billiards table, and asked, "By the way, Erza, do you actually know how to play billiards?"
"You didn't know?"
"Ever since I came here, I've never actually seen you play."
"Is that so? Now that you mention it…"
It did seem that, after that one playful incident, Erza had never touched a billiards table again.
Erza smiled as she looked at Bisca—who had taken off her hat, letting Sunny sit on top of her head once again.
"Want to have a match?"
"Of course. It's been a long time."
Bisca chalked the tip of her cue with a piece of blue chalk.
Gray, who knew some of the rules, acted as referee, holding a yellow and a white cue ball in his hands.
"Then let's lag for break to decide who goes first, yeah?"
The lag rules were simple: the two cue balls were placed behind the head string, then struck at the same time so they would hit the far cushion and return.
Whichever ball stopped closer to the head rail won the right to choose the break—either taking it themselves or giving it to the opponent.
Erza and Bisca each took their stance, one on the left and one on the right.
"They both look so serious!"
"Those stances are pretty good!"
Wendy and Carla sighed in admiration.
"Both of you, do your best!"
Happy waved two little flags printed with the guild mark.
"Begin!"
Raizel, however, had no time to watch.
The moment everyone learned he didn't know how to play, Kagura immediately dragged him off to be crushed…
Kagura said opportunities to find something Raizel couldn't do were rare, so she absolutely had to take advantage of it!
'In truth, there are lots of things I can't do!!!' Raizel roared from the depths of his soul.
Aside from training his Magic Power and being able to cook a little, he could hardly be said to have read many books at all…
Whenever he had questions, he basically just relied on his archieve search engine…
Then Raizel realized something... Apparently, Kagura didn't really know how to play either…
Raizel might not know how to play, but he had at least watched it before.
Kagura's posture at the table was definitely off.
He couldn't quite explain what was wrong, but it just looked very different from Erza and Bisca.
And just moments ago, Kagura had actually scooped the cue ball off the table…
Never mind the fact that there hadn't even been any obstructing balls in front of it—judging by the blush on her face, it was obviously a mistake.
Thinking about it, Raizel supposed that made sense.
Most of Kagura's time was devoted to training, and she probably wouldn't spend her leisure time on billiards.
Since it was a battle between two total amateurs, Raizel suddenly felt like he had room to talk.
Neither Raizel nor Kagura paid any attention to ball numbers or shot order—they just hit whichever one they felt like.
Their style was pure instinct and total freedom.
There were four tables in total.
Ultear and Mira had also claimed one.
Neither of them was particularly good, either, but they at least managed to look elegant while playing…
Gray, on the other hand, had been thoroughly corrupted by Natsu.
Somehow, the billiards game had turned into a baseball game!
"Ahhh!!!" Lucy screamed as she ran around trying to dodge.
The game Lucy was playing, apparently, was dodgeball…
"I've decided! From now on, during our guild's Harvest Festival, we're holding a billiards tournament!"
Having become completely addicted, Natsu stood on top of a billiards table, one hand on his hip and the other leaning on a cue stick as he laughed loudly.
"Who approves? Who objects?"
"I object!" Lucy popped up from where she had been crouching under a billiards table.
"We object too!" the other guild members cried angrily along with her after getting dragged into the chaos.
"You know, beating Raizel at billiards is actually possible," Macao said as he looked over at Raizel, who was still playing so badly he looked hopeless.
"Not a bad idea. It's worth considering." Wakaba's eyes lit up.
"The problem is… the events for the Harvest Festival battle aren't up to us…"
And just like that… their hope of defeating Raizel was shattered once again!