After spending the entire afternoon exploring Magnolia, Rowan returned home.
He had bought some unusual ingredients and intended to cook dinner himself.
That was right. Rowan actually knew how to cook, and his culinary skills were far from poor. In fact, he was even better than Gin Dojima.
This was entirely thanks to his copying ability.
His power could copy not only Devil Fruits and magic, but also other people's skills and martial arts.
For example, Rowan had once used this ability to copy Hawkeye's swordsmanship.
Cooking was also a skill, so naturally, it could be copied as well.
Thus, Rowan had copied the culinary skills of Gin Dojima, Nakiri Erina, Cosette, and even the graduates of the Totsuki Elite Ten.
The current Rowan could be considered a master chef.
The food he prepared was even more delicious than Gin Dojima's.
However, Rowan was rather lazy and did not particularly enjoy cooking personally, so he usually ate meals made by other people.
After all, their food still tasted excellent.
But occasionally, when the mood struck him, he would cook for himself.
Like today.
Just as he arrived in front of his house carrying the ingredients, a voice suddenly came from next door.
"Rowan, you live here?"
Rowan turned his head and saw the window of the neighbouring house open. The head of a beautiful blonde girl poked out.
It was Lucy.
"Huh?"
Rowan looked at Lucy in surprise.
"The house you rented is next door to mine?"
Lucy smiled.
"I didn't expect it either. What a coincidence. It turns out we're neighbours."
Rowan smiled as well.
"It really is a coincidence."
No wonder the surroundings had seemed strangely familiar when he bought the house. So this was the reason.
With that thought, Rowan raised the ingredients in his hands and waved them in front of Lucy.
"I bought some ingredients and plan to cook dinner. Would you like to come over and try some?"
"Is that alright?"
Lucy was somewhat surprised and hesitant.
"Of course. When it comes to eating, a meal shared by two people always tastes better than eating alone."
Lucy was persuaded.
Eating alone certainly felt lonely, while eating with someone else allowed them to talk and laugh together.
"Then wait for me. I'll change my clothes."
"Sure. Come over when you're ready."
Rowan opened the door, entered his house, and walked into the kitchen to begin preparing the ingredients.
Today, he had purchased the meat of a special magical beast. The meat was delicious and expensive, so Rowan intended to make stewed meat with potatoes and some grilled meat.
Ding-dong!
While he was busy preparing the ingredients, the doorbell rang.
Rowan left behind a shadow clone to continue working and went to open the door himself.
Standing outside was Lucy, who had changed her clothes.
Along with Natsu and Happy.
"Yo, sorry to intrude," Natsu said as though they were already close friends.
"Aye, sorry to intrude, Rowan," Happy said with the same familiarity.
Seeing Lucy's speechless expression, Rowan could roughly guess what had happened.
He smiled faintly and opened the door wider.
"Come in."
"Thank you for having us."
Lucy spoke carefully before stepping inside.
Natsu and Happy followed close behind.
Rowan led them into the living room. However, when they saw another Rowan working in the kitchen, they were greatly startled.
Lucy stared at the shadow clone preparing the ingredients in disbelief, almost thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her.
She rubbed her eyes. After confirming she had not seen incorrectly, she blurted out,
"Rowan, are you a twin?"
"No. That's my shadow clone. You can think of it as Clone Magic," Rowan explained.
Lucy immediately understood.
Natsu circled the shadow clone several times, inspecting it curiously.
The shadow clone raised its head and rolled its eyes.
"What are you looking at? Can't you see I'm preparing the food?"
"It can talk! Rowan, your clone can actually talk!" Natsu shouted.
Rowan could not help retorting, "What kind of clone can't talk? Aren't you making far too much of a fuss?"
Happy asked curiously, "Can your clone help you fight too?"
"Yes."
Lucy said enviously, "That's unbelievably convenient."
Rowan nodded.
"In a sense, it really is."
Lucy could not help saying, "I can't believe you even know magic like this. Is there any magic you don't know?"
"There's plenty of magic I don't know. But I possess the ability to copy magic, so I can copy whatever I haven't learned. Perhaps one day, I'll become a Magic King proficient in every kind of magic."
Hearing this, Lucy's eyes widened as she stared at Rowan in disbelief.
"Magic that copies other magic? Isn't that far too unfair?"
Natsu and Happy were equally shocked.
"Seriously? Can you even copy Dragon Slayer Magic?"
Rowan nodded.
"Theoretically, yes. But I don't intend to copy Dragon Slayer Magic."
"Why?"
Lucy did not understand. In her opinion, Dragon Slayer Magic was extremely powerful.
Even Natsu looked puzzled.
"Dragon Slayer Magic is super powerful!"
Happy agreed from beside him.
"Aye! That's right. Natsu is super strong!"
However, Rowan sank both the boy and the cat with a single sentence.
"Because I'm rather fond of vehicles."
Uh…
Only then did Lucy realise that although Dragon Slayer Magic was incredibly powerful, it possessed one enormous weakness.
Dragon Slayers could not ride vehicles.
No matter what kind of transportation they used, they would immediately become nauseated and vomit.
While the group chatted and laughed, the shadow clone quickly finished preparing the lavish dinner.
Everyone moved to the dining room and began eating.
"Ohhh! This is delicious! It tastes even better than restaurant food!"
After tasting the stewed meat and potatoes, Lucy could not help exclaiming.
Natsu nodded continuously while eating, afraid that if he stopped, all the delicious food would disappear.
"I've decided. From now on, I'll come find you whenever it's time for dinner. Your cooking is amazing, Rowan!"
"Rejected."
Rowan refused without hesitation.
"I don't mind cooking occasionally, but if you expect me to cook every day, you might as well kill me."
Lucy held the spoon in her mouth and said, "That's such a shame. Your cooking is even better than the chefs at my family's home."
"Flattering me won't work either."
Natsu and Happy exchanged glances. Like aubergines beaten by frost, they immediately wilted.
But Rowan remained unmoved.
You want me to become your personal chef?
Don't even think about it.
Knock, knock, knock!
At that moment, someone knocked on the door.
Rowan had his shadow clone answer it.
Erza, dressed in armour and covered in dust from her journey, stood outside.
"Erza?"
"Natsu?"
Erza looked somewhat surprised when she saw Natsu.
"Why are you here?"
"I came for dinner. Erza, Rowan's cooking is super delicious. Do you want to try it?"
"Is that so? I happen to be hungry."
Erza clearly had no idea what it meant to stand on ceremony.
She marched over with loud metallic footsteps, pulled out a bench, and sat down.
Her gaze naturally fell upon Lucy.
Having read the story, she of course knew who Lucy was.
"You must be Lucy. I'm Erza."
At that moment, Lucy felt Erza's overwhelming presence. Even her voice unconsciously became quieter as doubt appeared in her eyes.
"Miss Erza, do you know me?"
This should have been the first time she had met the famous Fairy Queen.
Erza nodded.
"That's right. I know you. Welcome to Fairy Tail, Lucy."
"Thank you."
Lucy had not expected Erza to welcome her. A smile appeared in her eyes, and her voice returned to normal.
Rowan had the shadow clone prepare a bowl and cutlery for Erza, then asked,
"Did you resolve the matter with Eisenwald?"
"It's resolved."
Erza nodded.
"I defeated all of them. They've now been imprisoned."
"Eisenwald? What's that?" Lucy asked curiously.
Erza explained, "It's a Dark Guild. Its leader, Erigor, obtained the legendary cursed flute Lullaby and planned to assassinate the guild masters while they were gathered together."
"What?!"
Natsu immediately became agitated.
They actually dared to assassinate their Guild Master?
They were completely lawless and unforgivable.
"There's no need to get worked up, Natsu. I've already defeated them. The cursed flute was destroyed, and every member was imprisoned by the Magic Council. They can no longer cause any trouble."
Erza quickly calmed Natsu down, then looked intently at Rowan.
"Next is the Cursed Island."
Rowan shook his head.
"The matter involving the Cursed Island isn't particularly important. The real problem is Phantom Lord."
"If the Guild Master acts first, he has no evidence. But if he does nothing, he cannot simply watch his children get hurt."
"So right now, the Guild Master is caught between two difficult choices."
Natsu had absolutely no idea what the two of them were discussing.
What Cursed Island?
What phantom?
Wait, Phantom…
Could they mean Phantom Lord?
"Hey, hey, Rowan. When you say Phantom, do you mean Phantom Lord?"
Lucy reacted as well.
"Phantom Lord? The guild said to rival Fairy Tail?"
"Nonsense! Fairy Tail is the greatest!"
In Natsu's heart, no guild could ever compare to Fairy Tail.
Not even Phantom Lord.
Lucy ignored that point. Instead, she became extremely curious about what had happened between Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail.
Why was the Guild Master trapped between two choices?
Erza had no intention of explaining and instead sank into thought.
In truth, she understood the Guild Master's concerns very well.
Attacking any legitimate guild without proper justification was a serious taboo.
The Magic Council would never allow it.
But if Fairy Tail did not strike first, Phantom Lord definitely would.
Jose was far too petty.
He would never abandon such a perfect opportunity.
As for abandoning Lucy, that possibility never even entered Erza's mind.
Fairy Tail would never abandon a single companion.
"Do you have any good ideas?" she asked Rowan.
Rowan calmly repeated his plan to disguise himself and eliminate Jose. He even told Erza that they could pretend the attacker belonged to a Dark Guild.
"No. That's far too despicable."
Erza rejected the idea without hesitation.
She was not someone incapable of adapting to circumstances, but she could never bring herself to frame someone else in such an underhanded manner.