Chapter 9: Dinner, Erza Returns
After strolling around for the entire afternoon in this town of Magnolia, Yumesaki headed back home.
He had bought a few special ingredients, planning to cook for himself.
Yes, Yumesaki actually knew how to cook, and his culinary skills weren't bad at all—in fact, they were even better than Gin Dojima's.
All of this had to be attributed to Yumesaki's Copy ability. This power of his could not only replicate Devil Fruits and mimic magic, but it could also copy the physical skills and techniques of others.
For instance, Yumesaki had once used this exact type of ability to mimic Mihawk's Swordsmanship.
And culinary skills were also a type of skill, equally capable of being copied.
Therefore, Yumesaki had copied the cooking skills of Gin Dojima, Erina Nakiri, Cosette, and even those of the Totsuki Elite Ten graduates.
The current Yumesaki could be described as a master in the art of cooking.
The food he prepared was even more delicious than Gin Dojima's.
It was just that Yumesaki was a rather lazy person who didn't really like taking action himself, so every time he ate, he would usually have food prepared by other people.
After all, the taste wasn't bad either.
But occasionally, when the mood struck him, he would also take matters into his own hands.
For example, today.
As he carried the groceries back to his front door, a voice suddenly echoed from next door.
"Yumesaki, do you live here?"
Yumesaki turned his head to look, finding that the window of the house next door was open, and the head of a beautiful blonde girl was leaning out from it.
It was Lucy.
"Huh?" Yumesaki looked toward Lucy with quite a bit of surprise, "The house you rented is next to mine?"
Lucy laughed, "I didn't expect it either. This is a real coincidence, turns out we are neighbors."
Yumesaki laughed too, "It really is quite a coincidence."
No wonder when he bought the house, he always felt like he had seen the surrounding environment somewhere before. So that was the case.
Thinking this, Yumesaki raised the groceries in his hand and shook them in front of Lucy, saying: "I bought a few things and plan to cook for myself, would you like to come over and have a taste?"
"Is that really okay?" Lucy was a bit surprised, and also a little hesitant.
"Of course it's fine. We can eat together. How can eating alone ever be as good as two people eating together?"
Lucy was successfully convinced. Eating completely alone highlighted one's loneliness, while two people eating together allowed for talking and laughing, which was indeed much better.
"In that case, please wait for me a moment, I'll change my clothes first."
"Alright, once you're done changing, remember to come find me."
Yumesaki pushed the door open, returned to his own home, walked into the kitchen, and began processing the ingredients.
Today he had bought some special wild beast meat. The quality of the meat was fresh and delicious, and the price wasn't cheap, so Yumesaki planned to make a potato meat stew, and also do some roasted meat.
The doorbell rang right as he was busy processing the ingredients.
Yumesaki left a Shadow Clone to continue processing the food, while he himself went to open the door.
Standing in front of the door was exactly Lucy, who had already changed her clothes.
Along with Natsu and Happy.
"Yo, sorry for the intrusion," Natsu said with extreme familiarity.
"Aye, sorry for the intrusion, Yumesaki," Happy was equally familiar.
Seeing Lucy's speechless expression, Yumesaki roughly understood what had happened, smiled slightly, and then opened the door wider.
"Come on in."
"Excuse me," Lucy said a sentence carefully, then stepped forward and walked inside.
Natsu and Happy followed right behind her.
Yumesaki brought them into the living room, but when they saw that there was still another Yumesaki inside the kitchen, they couldn't help but be startled.
Lucy looked at the Shadow Clone that was currently processing the ingredients in disbelief, almost thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her.
She rubbed her eyes, and after confirming that she wasn't seeing things, she spontaneously said:
"Yumesaki, are you twins?"
"No, this is my Shadow Clone. You can think of it as a form of self-duplication magic," Yumesaki explained.
Lucy suddenly realized.
Natsu circled around the Shadow Clone and looked at it a few times. The Shadow Clone raised its head and rolled its eyes, "What are you looking at? Can't you see I'm processing ingredients?"
"He can talk! Yumesaki, your clone can actually talk!" Natsu shouted.
Yumesaki couldn't help but complain: "Who said clones can't talk? You're being way too exaggerated with your surprise."
Happy asked with curiosity: "Then can your clone help you fight?"
"Yes, it can."
Lucy said with envy: "This is just too practical."
Yumesaki nodded, "In a sense, it really is very practical."
Lucy couldn't help but say: "I didn't expect you to even know this kind of magic, what is it that you can't do?"
"There's plenty of magic I don't know, but I have the ability to mimic magic. The magic I don't know can all be copied. In the future, who knows, maybe I can become a Magic King who masters all magic."
Hearing this sentence, Lucy couldn't help but widen her eyes, looking toward Yumesaki in disbelief.
"Magic that mimics magic, isn't that way too much of a rule-breaker?"
Natsu and Happy were both shocked, "Is that true? Even Dragon Slayer Magic can be copied?"
Yumesaki nodded, "Theoretically yes, but I don't plan on mimicking Dragon Slayer Magic."
"Why?" Lucy didn't understand the problem. In her view, Dragon Slayer Magic was incredibly powerful.
Even Natsu was somewhat confused, "Dragon Slayer Magic is a very awesome magic."
Happy also added from the side: "Aye, that's right, Natsu is very awesome."
However, a single sentence from Yumesaki instantly deflated the boy and the cat. "Because I still quite like transport vehicles."
Ah, that...
Lucy only reacted just now. Dragon Slayer Magic, although extremely powerful, had a massive drawback—they couldn't ride transport vehicles. Any kind of vehicle was absolutely forbidden.
The moment they got on one, they would vomit.
Amidst the talking and laughing of the group, the Shadow Clone soon finished preparing a sumptuous dinner.
Everyone moved to the dining room and began to taste it.
"Oh oh oh, this is so delicious! It's even better than the food in restaurants!"
Upon tasting the potato meat stew, Lucy couldn't help but voice her admiration.
Natsu ate while nodding his head, terrified that after finishing this meal he wouldn't be able to eat something this good again, "I've decided, in the future after finishing a job, I'll come find Yumesaki. The dinner you make is just too awesome."
"Rejected."
Yumesaki refused him without a single shred of hesitation, "Making a meal once in a while is still fine, but telling me to cook every single day, you might as well just kill me."
Lucy said while sucking on her spoon: "That really is a pity, Yumesaki's cooking skills are even greater than the chef at my house."
"Even if you praise me, it's still a no."
Natsu and Happy looked at each other, looking like eggplants bitten by frost, their entire selves turning sluggish.
But Yumesaki remained unmoved.
Wanting me to become a chef for you guys, don't even think about it.
A knocking sound echoed from outside right at this moment.
Yumesaki told the Shadow Clone to open the door, revealing Erza, who was wearing her armor and returning from outside, her body covered in the dust of travel.
"Erza?"
"Natsu?" Erza looked at Natsu with some surprise, "Why are you here?"
Natsu said: "I came for dinner, Erza. The dinner Yumesaki made is super delicious, do you want to have a taste?"
"Is that true, it just so happens that I'm also feeling hungry."
Erza didn't have the slightest concept of what was called politeness. She walked inside with heavy footsteps, pulled out a chair and sat down, her gaze naturally falling upon Lucy's form.
She had already seen the storyline, so of course she knew who Lucy was.
"This is Lucy, right? I am Erza."
At this moment, Lucy felt a powerful aura emanating from Erza, and even her speaking volume became smaller. A bit of confusion surfaced in her eyes, "Does Miss Erza know me?"
She should be meeting this Titania for the very first time.
Erza nodded, "That's right, I know you. Welcome to Fairy Tail, Lucy."
"Thank you."
Lucy also didn't expect that Erza would welcome her. A smile grew in her eyes, and her voice returned to normal.
Yumesaki had the Shadow Clone prepare a set of bowl and chopsticks for Erza, and then asked: "Is the Eisenwald matter resolved?"
"It's finished," Erza nodded, "Everyone was defeated by me, and now they have all been detained."
"Eisenwald? What's that?" Lucy asked out of curiosity.
Erza said: "It's a Dark Guild. Their leader, Erigor, found the legendary Lullaby, and planned to carry out an assassination when the Guild Masters gather."
"What?" Natsu instantly became fired up. To actually dare to assassinate their Guild Master, this was truly lawless and completely unforgivable.
"No need to be anxious, Natsu. I have already defeated that bunch of people, Lullaby has also been destroyed by me, and everyone has been locked up in the Magic Council's prison. They can't cause trouble anymore."
Erza immediately calmed Natsu down, and then her eyes shone as she looked toward Yumesaki, "Next is Galuna Island."
Yumesaki shook his head and then said: "The Galuna Island matter isn't actually the problem. What is truly troublesome is Phantom. We want to act but there is no evidence, and not acting means we can't just watch our own kids get hurt."
"So the Guild Master is currently caught in a dilemma on both sides."
Natsu completely didn't understand what those two were actually talking about. What Galuna Island, what Phantom?
Wait a minute, Phantom... could it be... Phantom Lord?
"Hey hey hey, Yumesaki, the Phantom you are talking about should be Phantom Lord, right?"
Lucy also reacted, "Phantom Lord, the guild whose name stands on equal footing with Fairy Tail."
"Nonsense, Fairy Tail is the best." In Natsu's heart, there wasn't a single guild that could compare to Fairy Tail.
Phantom Lord couldn't either.
Lucy didn't pay mind to this, but was instead very curious about what was going on between Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail.
Why would the Guild Master be in a dilemma on both sides.
Erza also had no intention to explain, but was instead deeply lost in thought.
In fact, she also very much understood the Guild Master's thoughts. After all, acting without any reason against any official Guild was a massive taboo.
The Magic Council would definitely not allow such a thing to happen.
But if they didn't act first, Phantom Lord would definitely move. That guy Jose was truly far too narrow-minded.
He definitely couldn't possibly let go of such a good opportunity.
As for giving up Lucy, this option didn't appear in Erza's brain at all.
Fairy Tail would never abandon any comrade.
"Do you have any good ideas?" She asked Yumesaki.
Yumesaki calmly repeated his plan of going undercover and taking out Jose once more, and told Erza they could completely pretend to be people from a Dark Guild.
"Absolutely not, that is far too underhanded," she rejected it firmly.
She wasn't the type of person who didn't know how to adapt, but this kind of framing and trapping tactic was something she simply couldn't bring herself to do.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
95+ chapters ahead of WebNovel
70 Power Stone = 1 Bonus Chapter (Up to 5 bonus chapters per week).
Join my Patreon to get access to more chapters from Webnovel here:
patreon.com/FaaanzKun