Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
September, x784.
Another week had passed since Alfonzo's day off. In that time, the wizards of Fairy Tail manage to finish building their new and improved guild hall. And today, Alfonzo would be installing the last of the necessary items to get the guild hall up and running.
Currently, most of the guild was standing outside of the building, waiting for Alfonzo to arrive and put the finishing touches on it. However, with the personalities of the Fairy Tail wizards, they were quickly getting impatient.
"Can't we go in yet?" Natsu asked in a whiny tone. "I mean, the building is already built, what are we waiting for?"
"Why don't you use your brain, you stupid pyro." Gray shot back. "Can we even open the front doors without Alfonzo's magic?"
"What did you say, ice cube?" Natsu asked angrily.
"I'll say it as many times as you want." Gray replied.
*Bang!* x 2
"You two shouldn't fight." Erza said, bringing a fist down on top of both Gray and Natsu's heads.
"Aye!" Gray and Natsu replied simultaneously while holding their heads in pain.
"*Sigh* Those two never learn." Lucy said while watching the entire encounter between the rest of her team.
"Well, what do you expect from ice and fire?" Elicia asked with a wry smile. "By the way, how did your trip back home go? We've been so busy rebuilding the guild hall that I didn't get a chance to ask you about it."
"*Sigh* It didn't go as well as I hoped it would." Lucy replied while shaking her head. "dad wanted to use me as a bargaining chip. That's why he hired Phantom Lord to bring me back."
"What do you mean?" Sun asked, tilting her head cutely.
"He wanted to marry me off to the son of another big company's CEO to make a business alliance." Lucy said while clenching her fists and gritting her teeth.
"Damn... That sucks." Ultear said.
"Yeah, it makes it even worse when I already have someone I like." Lucy said with a blush starting to creep up her face.
To that, Elicia, Cana, Ultear, Mirajane, and Sun gave Lucy a knowing smile.
"So, Alfonzo finally manage to catch your heart, huh?" Mirajane asked with her usual pleasant smile on her face.
Though Lucy did not reply, the intensifying blush on her face made it obvious what the answer was.
"I need to step my game up." Marin muttered to herself while listening to the conversation from close by. "If I don't, I'm gonna fall even further behind."
"I kinda envy you, Lucy." Cana said with a pout. "Out of all of us, you're the only one he made any effort to pursue."
"Seriously?" Lucy asked in disbelief. "I heard you say something like that before, but was it really true?"
"Yeah, it's true." Ultear replied. "Though he did confess to Erza, the rest of us had to tell him how we felt first."
"But why?" Lucy asked in a confused tone. "You're all so pretty. And Alfonzo doesn't strike me as the shy type."
"That's probably my fault." Elicia said, raising her hand with a sheepish smile on her face. "Originally, Fonzie didn't want a harem, ya know."
Hearing that, everyone turned their attention towards Elicia, waiting for the continuation of her explanation.
"You see, back when Gildarts found out that Cana was his daughter, that's when Cana caught feelings for Fonzie, I think." Elicia continued. "And after that, she kept trying to get his attention and affection. But..."
"I could never steal Fonzie's attention away from Lici." Cana said, interrupting Elicia.
"Yeah, what she said." Elicia said with a nod. "That kinda put me in a bind. I could see that Cana was getting more aggressive, trying to take my boyfriend for herself. And it didn't' make it any easier since she was my best friend. So, when Fonzie and I went on our first B-Class quest, I convinced him to maybe take in Cana, too."
"Wait, your first B-Class quest, how long ago was this?" Ultear asked.
"Hmm... I think we were twelve?" Elicia replied while looking up to the sky in thought.
"And you two were already boyfriend and girlfriend back then?" Marin asked curiously. "That's kinda sweet."
"Well, for as long as I can remember, I've always been with Fonzie." Elicia said with a smile. "but we're getting off topic. Anyway, I convinced Fonzie to accept Cana's feelings, too. I mean, it was clear to see that he was pretty fond of her, too."
The group of girls fell silent after hearing the entire explanation with the sound of Erza scolding Gray and Natsu about getting along better as background noise.
"After that, Erza and I joined, right?" Sun asked.
"That's right, but your circumstances were a bit special." Elicia replied.
To that, Cana, Ultear, Mirajane, and Sun nodded in understanding while Marin and Lucy looked at them with confusion.
"What do you mean special?" Marin asked curiously.
"I wanna tell you, Marin." Sun said, pulling Marin into a hug. "But I'm not allow to. Not until you join Alfonzo's harem, anyway."
"I never said I was gonna join his harem." Marin said with a blush on her face.
Hearing that, all the girls rolled their eyes and looked at Marin with gazes that screamed: "We're past that already, aren't we?"
"*Cough* Anyway, that makes me wanna know even more." Marin said, her embarrassed blush deepening even further.
"Alfonzo, my boy! You're finally here!" Makarov's loud shout put an end to that conversation before the girls could embarrass Marin even further. "Must you make this old man wait so long?"
Not only the girls, but all the conversations taking place around the guild's entrance died down after hearing Makarov's loud shout. Then, everyone looked in the direction Makarov was looking. At first, they all wondered how Makarov could see Alfonzo over all the much taller people. But then they remembered [Magic Power Detection] and credited it to that.
Walking from the direction of the town, Alfonzo was walking leisurely with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face. But what caught everyone's attention was the large metal cube that was floating behind him.
The cube was built in a way that it looked like it was meant to fit into something. In fact, it was meant to be the power source for the whole building, though most of the wizards present were unaware of that fact.
"Hey everyone, glad to see that you're all here." Alfonzo said casually as he approached the new guild hall. "I know you're all looking forward to going inside and seeing everything in its completed state, but you'll have to give me a few more minutes."
With that, Alfonzo walked around to the side of the building without even stopping to chat.
In his wake, Alfonzo left a group of confused wizards. However, the more curious of the bunch decided to follow him around the building.
Eventually, Alfonzo, followed by Team Natsu, Makarov, Ur, Alfonzo's girlfriends/fiancée's, and a few more wizards reached the entrance to the underground garage. Then, with his [Metal Magic], Alfonzo opened the doors and made his way inside.
After walking for a few more minutes, Alfonzo reached a large door that would be able to fit the large metal cube that was levitating behind him through it with room to spare.
"Hey, Alfonzo, what is that thing?" Natsu asked curiously while pointing at the floating metal cube.
"This is that big ass lacrima that was powering Phantom Lord's HQ." Alfonzo replied. "And now, it's gonna be the power source for our new guild hall."
With that, a collective gasp could be heard from the wizards who followed Alfonzo.
"Well, you did say you wanted it." Erza muttered, remembering Alfonzo's desire for the large lacrima.
"Awesome!" Natsu shouted loudly. "Does that mean our guild hall can walk around, too?"
Hearing that, several of the present wizards' eyes lit up in anticipation. However, their hopes were crushed rather quickly.
"Nope, not at all." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "If you all had any idea how heavy this building is, you would know that was impossible. And even if it was, it would bring so much destruction with every step that we'd probably be labeled as a Dark Guild."
Just like that, all the wizards who were imagining having a walking guild hall deflated.
"Anyway, we should get this in place." Alfonzo said with a smile.
With that said, Alfonzo levitated the metal cube into the even bigger door. Then, he opened the door to reveal a slot that would perfectly fit the metal cube. ON top of that, there were several pipes imbedded in the slot that would slot into the cube, as well.
A moment later, Alfonzo slotted the cube into its proper place. Then, the entire area around the cube lit up with a soft white glow.
"Okay, that's good to go." Alfonzo said as he stepped away from the doors to the power source before they closed. "Now, until we register the members of the guild, no one but me will be able to open this door."
"What do you mean, register the members of the guild?" Makarov asked curiously.
"I'll explain that when we're in front of everyone." Alfonzo replied as he started to leave the underground garage.
Instead of leaving through the garage door that they entered through, however, Alfonzo made his way to an elevator that was not too far away from the power source. Then, after pressing a button and waiting for the elevator doors to open, Alfonzo stepped inside.
"Alright, let's go check out the new building." Alfonzo said with a smile. "Oh, but I'd advise you to take the stairs, Natsu."
Not long afterward, everyone who accompanied Alfonzo, other than Natsu, to insert the power source found themselves on the ground floor of the guild hall. On top of that, everyone who was waiting outside was already inside as well.
"Did you see that?" Jet asked excitedly. "The doors opened on their own. We didn't even have to touch them."
"Of course they did." Levy said with a slight smile. "Do you think anyone other than Alfonzo could move those heavy metal doors if they didn't?"
"Wow, look at all the stuff that's already in here." Macao said while looking around. "This is one of those billiard tables in Alfonzo and Elicia's game room, isn't it?"
"Yeah, and there are card tables and dart boards, too." Wakaba added in wonder. "Relaxing here is gonna be great."
"There are even easels that fold into the wall for my canvases in this corner." Reedus said in an impressed tone.
"Come on, Lisanna!" Elfman said loudly as he made his way towards the stairs. "Let's explore the rest of the building like real men!"
"*Sigh* Big Brother Elf…" Lisanna said in an exasperated tone while rubbing her temples.
Seeing everyone's excitement, everyone who came up from the underground parking garage felt themselves getting excited, too. But before they could go off and explore, Alfonzo gathered everyone's attention on himself.
"Alright, I've got some things to tell you about the new guild hall before you go off and have your fun!" Alfonzo shouted.
Immediately, all the hustle and bustle died down. At the same time, Natsu finished climbing the stairs and entered the common area on the first floor.
After he noticed that everyone's attention was on him, Alfonzo walked over to one end of the bar. There, the two quest boards were set up. However, there were no quest sheets on the board. That was not the important part at the moment, though. Instead, Alfonzo made his way to a pedestal marked with the Fairy Tail guild emblem that stood between the two boards.
"Before you do anything, I need everyone to come over here and push some of your magic power into this." Alfonzo said, laying his hand on the pedestal. "This will register your magic power signature with the building, allowing you to use the elevators, training rooms, and take quests from the quest board."
"What do you mean 'take quests/?" Max Alors asked curiously.
"Well, as you can see, the quest boards are blank, right?" Alfonzo asked, gesturing to the two quest boards. Then, after getting nods of acknowledgement, he continued. "That's because all the quest sheets are inside the boards. And when a wizard registered with the system touches the boards, they will display the quests that are stored inside."
Just that was enough to cause more than a few pairs of eyes to open wide in surprise.
"Then, once you pick your quest, the quest sheet will shoot out of this slot right here." Alfonzo said, pointing to a thin slot on the side of each quest board.
"But how do we keep people from taking quests they aren't ready for?" Makarov asked in a concerned tone.
"That's where your office comes into play, Gramps." Alfonzo said, waving off Makarov's concerns. "You'll be able to designate wizard classes from your desk. That way, you'll know exactly which quests anyone is able to take. But we'll have to register you as the guild master first."
With all the explanations out of the way, the Fairy Tail wizards orderly, well… as orderly as Fairy Tail wizards can do anything, registered their magic power signatures with the building. Then, after setting Makarov as the guild master, Alfonzo, Makarov, and Ur went up to the top floor via the elevator while the rest of the guild explored the building.
"And this is your office, Gramps." Alfonzo said after stepping out of the elevator.
Seeing what was in front of them, Makarov and Ur's jaws dropped. Opposite the elevator was a metal wall. However, Makarov already knew that if he inserted his magic power into a certain sigil carved into the wall, it would display the outside as if it were a window overlooking all of Magnolia.
Then, a desk was placed in front of the wall with the owner facing away from it. In front of the desk were a pair of elegant, red, leather couches with a mahogany coffee table between them.
The wall to the left of the elevator was completely covered in book shelves. And on those shelves were all the documents that could be recovered after Gajeel's attack on the original guild building. Meanwhile, the wall to the right had a mini-bar, a liquor cabinet, and a door that led to a training room for the guild master.
"And last, but not least, is this." Alfonzo said after approaching the guild master's desk and pointing at a piece of lacrima framed with mithril that strongly resembled a tablet from the modern era. "This is what you use to set the permissions for the guild members. And once you've done that, there will be no more incidents where unqualified wizards steal quests."
After Alfonzo finished, a few moments passed in silence. However, when it seemed that Makarov had been silent for too long, both Alfonzo and Ur turned to look at him and were surprised by what they saw.
Right now, Makarov was crying silently.
"Master, are you okay?" Ur asked with concern.
"I'm fine, Ur. No, much better than fine." Makarov said with a happy smile despite the tears flowing down his face. Then, he turned to Alfonzo. "What you created is much more than I ever imagined it to be after you showed me the design. You've done a great service for Fairy Tail, my boy."
With that, Makarov approached Alfonzo and patted him on the back. Then, he turned around once again and took in the sight of his new office.
"Ooh! I can't wait to show off to those old guys!" Makarov exclaimed with child-like excitement.
With that, the trio chatted for a bit longer in Makarov's office and set everyone's wizard classification. Then, Alfonzo, Makarov, and Ur joined the rest of the guild in exploring the building.