Rowan shrugged. Erza's refusal was entirely within his expectations, so he was not surprised at all.
After all, Erza was an upright person by nature.
It was only natural that she would refuse to do something like that.
Unfortunately, she could not think of a suitable plan either. In the end, she found herself trapped in the same dilemma as Makarov.
And so, the dinner came to an end.
The next day, when Rowan entered the guild, he saw Makarov and Erza sitting together with their arms crossed, both looking deeply troubled.
It was obvious that they were seriously trying to come up with a way to deal with Phantom Lord.
But they still had no good ideas.
Rowan could not help laughing at the sight.
At the same time, Mirajane walked over and asked curiously, "Do you really have no other solution?"
Rowan glanced at her.
"You know about it too?"
Mirajane nodded.
"The Guild Master told me."
Rowan said helplessly, "I already told them my plan, but neither of them agreed. What else can I do?"
He paused, then turned to Mirajane.
"What about you? Do you have any ideas?"
Mirajane smiled and playfully stuck out her tongue.
"I'm only the guild's poster girl. What ideas could I possibly have? But I believe in the Guild Master and Erza. They'll definitely find a solution."
"What a wonderful 'they'll definitely find a solution.'"
Rowan laughed helplessly, unsure how to respond.
Should he call her someone who refused to take responsibility, or say that she simply trusted her companions?
"Erza, let's fight!"
At that moment, Natsu suddenly jumped up and challenged Erza to determine once and for all who was stronger.
This could be considered one of Fairy Tail's regular programmes.
The moment everyone heard that Natsu wanted to challenge Erza, the surrounding guild members immediately became excited and began cheering, eager to see chaos.
"Stop making noise, Natsu. I'm thinking."
However, Erza was in no mood to fool around with Natsu. The matter involving Phantom Lord was already troubling her enough.
But Natsu was not the sort of person who listened to advice. He stared eagerly at Erza.
"Fire Dragon's Iron—"
"I said stop bothering me!"
Still deep in thought, Erza caught sight of Natsu lunging at her from the corner of her eye and casually threw a punch.
Bang!
Natsu was slammed straight into the floor and could no longer get back up.
Macao immediately announced,
"Erza wins!!!"
"That was pathetic, Natsu."
"You got knocked out with one punch! How embarrassing, Natsu!"
"Erza is as strong as ever."
Lucy was completely dumbfounded by what she had witnessed. She quietly moved beside Rowan and asked, "Has Erza always been this terrifying?"
She had seen Natsu's destructive power before. He was ridiculously strong.
Yet against Erza, he could not even withstand a single punch.
Wasn't that far too absurd?
Mirajane smiled and handed Lucy a drink.
"Erza is one of the strongest mages in Fairy Tail. At the moment, she should only be below the Guild Master and Rowan."
"Hey, hey, I can't pretend I didn't hear that, Mirajane."
At that moment, a golden-haired man with a rebellious expression leaned out from the guild's second floor and looked down at them. His gaze fell on Rowan.
"I admit the old man is strong, and I admit Erza is qualified to be my opponent. But are you saying Erza is stronger than me, Mirajane?"
Mirajane raised her head and looked at the arrogant blond man.
"That's right. Erza is stronger than you."
The man's expression stiffened slightly, and his face darkened. Golden lightning appeared around his body, crackling continuously.
"That really irritates me, Mirajane. Even if it's you, saying something like that will make me angry."
Seeing the atmosphere turn tense, Lucy cautiously asked, "Who is he?"
"Laxus. The Guild Master's grandson and a Lightning Dragon Slayer Mage," Rowan replied.
Hearing this, Laxus immediately shifted his gaze from Mirajane to Rowan.
"And who the hell are you?"
Rowan smiled faintly.
"I'm Rowan, a newcomer who recently joined the guild. This is Lucy."
"Rowan?"
Laxus suddenly understood.
"I remember now. You're the newcomer who just joined and claimed to be the strongest in the guild."
Rowan shook his head.
Laxus sneered.
"What? Trying to deny it now, coward?"
Rowan said, "I never said I was the strongest newcomer in the guild. I said I was the strongest person in the guild."
"Huh?"
Laxus stared at Rowan.
The next second, he clutched his stomach and burst into laughter.
His loud laughter echoed without end.
"That's a pretty good joke. I can't stop laughing."
Laxus raised a hand and wiped the tears of laughter from the corner of his eye before looking at Rowan.
"Then show me your strength, newcomer."
"You looked at me, didn't you?"
Rowan raised his head, and his gaze met Laxus's.
Mind-Control Magic, activate.
The next second, Laxus's eyes became vacant, and his entire body stood motionless.
In an instant, everyone in the guild who had been watching the situation erupted into chaos.
"He was really controlled!"
"Mind-Control Magic is terrifying!"
"Even Laxus can't resist it? As expected of the man who calls himself the strongest in the guild."
"If making eye contact means instant defeat, how is anyone supposed to fight him?"
Rowan ignored everyone's shouting. He stroked his chin while staring at the blank-faced Laxus.
"What should I make you do?"
"A striptease? No, that would be too painful to watch."
"Confess to a random passerby? Hmm, that might frighten them."
"How about going to the most crowded place you can find, hugging a large tree, and confessing that you'll marry no one but it for the rest of your life?"
Macao finally could not hold back.
"Are you a demon?"
If Rowan genuinely forced Laxus to do that, Laxus would never be able to hold his head up again.
It would be complete social death.
"That's right! Laxus may usually be arrogant, but he doesn't deserve that."
"Exactly. I admit Laxus is annoyingly full of himself, but that would be far too cruel."
"That's not merely killing him. That's destroying his heart too."
Mirajane also advised him, "You'd better not do that. I'm afraid Laxus might actually cry."
"Fine. Since everyone is saying that, I'll let him off this time."
Hearing everyone plead for Laxus, Rowan released the mind-control spell.
Laxus awoke as though from a dream and finally regained control of his body.
However, he remembered everything that happened while he had been controlled.
Although he had lost control of his body, he had clearly heard every conversation around him.
Especially Rowan's suggestion that he perform a striptease.
He had almost been forced to do it.
Fear, humiliation, fury, and all kinds of emotions flooded his mind at once, causing a nerve in Laxus's brain to snap.
In an instant, Laxus went berserk.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I swear I'll kill you!!!"
Violent lightning erupted from his body.
He transformed into a streak of lightning and appeared before Rowan with a whoosh.
"Lightning Dragon's Iron Fist!!!"
Laxus's fist was wrapped in violent lightning as he mercilessly drove it toward Rowan's head.
Rowan smiled faintly and neither dodged nor retreated.
Stopping Power!
The ability he had copied from Gojo Satoru instantly activated.
The closer Laxus's fist came to Rowan, the greater the resistance became.
Eventually, it stopped firmly in front of Rowan.
Both the fist and the raging lightning halted only a few centimetres away from him.
That tiny distance was like an uncrossable chasm.
No matter what Laxus did, he could not harm Rowan.
"You bastard…"
After throwing the punch, Laxus gradually calmed down.
A wave of lingering fear and heart palpitations swept through him. He was genuinely terrified that he might have killed Rowan with that punch.
If that had really happened, how could he have continued staying in Fairy Tail?
Although Rowan was a newcomer, he was still a member of the guild.
However, when Laxus saw that even his full-powered punch could not touch Rowan, anger mixed with his fear.
He was furious at his own powerlessness.
He could not even break through the other man's defence.
No wonder Rowan dared to call himself the strongest person in Fairy Tail.
He genuinely had the ability to back it up.
"LAXUS!!!"
At that moment, Guild Master Makarov's furious roar rang out.
Before Laxus could react, an enormous fist struck him with a loud bang and sent him flying.
Laxus smashed through several tables before finally coming to a stop in a miserable state.
"What do you think you're doing, Laxus?!"
Makarov stared at his grandson with deep disappointment.
"You actually tried to kill one of your companions! Do you even understand what you just did, Laxus?!!!"
Not long ago, when Makarov had read the manga and seen Laxus instigate the guild civil war, he had been furious.
Later, however, it became clear that Laxus was merely excessively prideful and terrible at expressing himself.
Deep down, he was still a good child.
That had made Makarov feel relieved.
But today, when he saw Laxus attack Rowan with his full strength out of humiliation and rage, Makarov realised that Laxus had a serious problem.
Fortunately, the person he attacked was Rowan.
But what if it had been someone else?
Could they have survived Laxus's punch?
The answer was no.
Most people in Fairy Tail were genuinely no match for Laxus.
The current Laxus had not experienced enough hardship and had not yet recognised his true feelings.
He was still a thoroughly troublesome child.
Makarov felt that he had to correct this problem.
As the Guild Master, he had a responsibility to correct the faults of every guild member.
And as Laxus's grandfather, he had even more reason to correct him.
"Laxus, in my capacity as the Third Guild Master of Fairy Tail, I am giving you an order."
"You attacked a fellow guild member and violated our rules. From this moment onward, you are forbidden from entering the guild for three months."
~~~
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