Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
May, x785.
"Wendy's training with Tsunade should start today." Ur said while seated at the bar in the Fairy Tail guild hall with a glass of wine in her hand. "I hope she'll be okay."
"You've really taken a liking to that girl, haven't you?" Ren asked with a smile. "But still, she's been training with you for more than half a year, now. I'm sure she'll be fine."
"I'm not worry about her safety." Ur said after taking a sip from her wine glass. "But I'm afraid of her picking up Tsunade's bad habits."
Hearing that, Ren could only look at Ur skeptically. Then, her gaze shifted to the glass of wine in Ur's hand.
"I really don't' think you have to worry about that." Ren said while shaking her head. "If she hasn't started drinking by now, I doubt a month with Master Tsunade will make a difference."
"What do you mean?" Ur asked with a hint of annoyance in her tone.
"Ur, Sweetie, you do realize it's only 7 a.m., right?" Ren asked exasperatedly.
Hearing that, Ur froze momentarily. Then, she looked down at the glass of wine she was holding.
"*Sigh* Maybe I really am a bad influence." Ur muttered.
A moment later, Ur raised her glass, chugged down its contents, and placed the glass on the bar.
"*Sigh* I guess I'll try not to drink so much." Ur said, sounding disappointed in herself. "I wouldn't want little Elicia to pick up my bad habits, eihter."
As she spoke, Ur turned on her bar stool with the intention of standing up. However, as she turned around, her elbow grazed the wine glass.
*Shatter!*
As a result, the wine glass was knocked off the bar, shattering after falling to the floor.
"Damn it, I'm gonna have to pay for that." Ur muttered while staring at the shattered pieces of glass on the floor.
Before she could call for a waitress to clean up the mess, however, Ur widened her eyes when she saw the pieces of shattered glass start moving on their own. Then, both she and Ren watched as the glass pieced itself back together. And at the end, the glass lay on the floor, completely whole, as if someone had placed it there.
"You really should be more careful, Mom." Ultear said as she and the residents from Alfonzo's mansion approached from the guild hall's entrance.
"Ultear, you just…?" Ur asked in atone filled with disbelief.
"Yup." Ultear replied proudly. "I've made some real strides towards mastering this [Arc of Time Magic], haven't I?"
"You really are talented." Ren praised genuinely. "It's only been what? Six months since you started learning it?"
"Yeah." Ultear replied. "But other than rewinding time on an object for a few seconds, I can't really do anything else with it."
"Oh, come on, Tear." Elicia said with a smile. "It's only been six months. Do you remember how long it took me and Fonzie to learn a second magic to a point we could use it in combat? It was almost a year."
"Lici's right." Cana chimed in. "Besides, you're learning an ancient magic, which is a lot more difficult to learn in the first place."
With that as the starting point, all those near the bar began discussing the difference between learning normal magic and ancient magic. After a few minutes, however, the conversation was brought to an end when the voice of a young girl echoed through the guild hall.
"Master Ur, I'm here!" Elicia Hughes shouted as she entered the guild hall with her parents. "I'm ready to start training."
Hearing that, Ur, Ren, and the residents of Alfonzo and Elicia's mansion turned their heads towards the guild hall's entrance. And when they did, they could not help but smile.
"Alright everyone, let's break it up." Ur said as she walked away from the bar. "Get to training. Fairy Tail wizards don't slack off."
As Ur said those words, she turned her head towards the quest board.
"And Nab, if you don't take a job today, I'll take charge of your training after I'm finished with little Elicia." Ur said in a menacing tone.
Immediately, Nab chose the quest he was currently looking at, ran over to Vijeeter, who was dancing around the guild hall, and dragged him out of the guild hall to complete the quest.
Then, after Nab and Vijeeter were gone, everyone looked at Ur in disbelief while thinking the same thing.
"Mom, what did you do to Nab?" Ultear asked, putting the other's thoughts into words.
"Nothing." Ur replied. "I've only helped him train a few times, that's all."
Deciding it would be better for their mental health that they did not know more, everyone moved towards the elevator to start their own training.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Mermaid Heel Headquarters.
Around the same time Nab dragged Vijeeter out of the guild hall, Alfonzo, Wendy, and Carla entered the Mermaid Heel guild hall. Meanwhile, Marin, driving the Escalade, had gone to Cedar to stock up on groceries.
"You all get started pretty early." Anko said after noticing the trio enter the guild hall. Then, she looked around. And after not finding what she was looking for, she asked about it. "Hey, where's Marin?"
"She took a trip to Cedar to buy a few things for us." Alfonzo replied.
"Damn, I wish I had known she was going." Anko said with a pout. "I've never ridden in one of those new Magic Vehicles. And I've heard they're pretty comfy."
"Yeah, they are." Wendy replied with a nod.
"They're passable." Carla added with her arms crossed.
"Carla…" Wendy muttered.
"Anyway, we're here to have some breakfast before we get started for the day." Alfonzo replied while smiling wryly at Carla, who turned her head away.
"Oh, are you going to cook?" Anko asked with her eyes lighting up.
"Nope." Alfonzo replied quickly. "I don't wanna be stuck in the kitchen for hours… again."
"Tch!" Anko clicked her tongue in response.
With that, Alfonzo, Wendy, and Carla ordered breakfast. Then, after eating, they asked Anko to lead them to Tsunade's office.
*Knock!* *Knock!* *Knock!*
"Lady Tsunade, Alfonzo, Wendy, and Carla are here to see you." Anko said after knocking on the door to Tsunade's office.
"Come in." Tsunade replied from the other side of the door.
"Alright, I'll go start my training." Anko said as she turned around. "Why don't you come have a drink with me after you're done working, Alfonzo. I have a few questions for you. Especially after seeing how infatuated Yoruichi is with you."
"Sure, why not." Alfonzo replied with a casual shrug of his shouldres.
With that, Anko nodded at Alfonzo and the others. Then, she made her way back to the guild hall's first floor. Meanwhile, Alfonzo turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.
Upon entering Tsunade's office, Alfonzo, Wendy, and Carla saw Tsunade sitting behind her desk while Ritsu sat in front of it and sipped from a cup of tea.
"Good, you're here." Tsunade said with a serious expression on her face. "Please, have a seat."
Following Tsunade's instructions, Alfonzo and Wendy took a seat in the two unoccupied chairs in front of Tsunade's desk. Meanwhile, Carla flew up and landed on top of the desk, just to the side of Wendy.
"Wendy, I'll be with you in a moment." Tsunade said as he glanced at Wendy. Then, after receiving a nod in response, she turned her attention to Alfonzo. "These are the blueprints to our guild hall. Naturally, I've marked out anything you're not supposed to know about. I've also marked where I want the four training rooms to be installed."
As she spoke, Tsunade pushed a few sheets of paper with building designs towards Alfonzo. Then she waited for him to look over them.
"This shouldn't be a problem." Alfonzo replied after examining the blueprints. "but, do you have the extra marble?"
"don't worry about that." Tsunade said, waving off Alfonzo's question. "We only expect you to take care of creating the training rooms. Making them match the rest of the building from the outside is for the contractors to take care of later."
"If you say so." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "Well then, the only thing I ask is that you keep people away from the work sites."
"I don't know how possible that will be." Ritsu said, inserting herself in the conversation. Then, she pointed at the blueprint. "The places where we want you to build the training rooms are right next to the showers and changing rooms. And our wizards will need to get cleaned up after training."
"*Sigh* That's why I wanted you to keep the sites clear." Alfonzo replied. "For as long as I'm working at each site, at least. If one of them thinks I'm trying to peep and attacks me, I won't hold back in defending myself."
"What's the matter, Alfonzo?" Tsunade asked with a teasing smile on her face. "I thought you were supposed to be good at handling women."
Rolling his eyes, Alfonzo decided he would not dignify that joke with a response.
"You don't need to worry about that.' Ritsu said, also ignoring Tsunade's little joke. "I'll be nearby while you work. That way, if there are any questions about the building's structure, I'll be there to answer them. I'll also be able to keep the ladies from having any wrong ideas."
"Okay, I guess that works." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "Just show me where you want the first one to go."
"Very well." Ritsu replied with a gentle smile after finishing the contents in her teacup. "Follow me."
As soon as Alfonzo and Ritsu left the office, Tsunade stood from her desk. Then, she stepped towards a bookshelf. After reading the titles on the spines of the books, she pulled a few from the shelf and returned to her desk.
"Okay, before we begin your training as a healer, we need to make sure you have enough knowledge about the human body." Tsunade said. Then, she dropped the six books she was carrying on the desktop. "So, I want you to read these. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Meanwhile, I'll be working on this damn paperwork."
Hearing Tsunade's instructions and seeing the stack of books that was taller than Carla, Wendy looked on in shock.
"You didn't think this would be easy, did you?" Carla asked, snapping Wendy out of her daze. "You only have a month to learn as much as you can, Wendy. You don't have the time to be surprised."
*Smack!*
"Right." Wendy replied as she slapped her cheeks. "I don't have time to waste. I need to learn this so I can help my friends."
Hearing that, Carla nodded while Tsunade smiled at Wendy as she opened the book on the top of the stack.
'Good. At least she's determined.' Tsunade thought to herself as she picked up a cup of tea.
Taking a sip from her teacup, Tsunade turned her head to look out the window at the morning sky.
*Spurt!*
However, instead of a blue sky, what Tsunade saw was a large amount of metal material floating past her window.
At the same time, Wendy and Carla's attention was drawn to Tsunade when they heard her spit out her tea. A moment later, they noticed all the building materials floating past the window, as well.
"I guess Alfonzo is getting to work." Wendy muttered as she turned her attention back to the open book in front of her. "I better work hard, too. I don't wanna waste the opportunity he got for me."
"That's right." Carla said with a nod. "The best way to repay him for giving you this opportunity is to do all you can to learn the art of healing while we're here."
"Yeah." Wendy muttered as she continued to read.
Meanwhile, Tsunade could only look at the girl and her cat with disbelief swirling in her eyes.
'Am I the weird one for reacting like that?' Tsunade wondered. 'When they saw tons of metal just floating through the air, they didn't even twitch. Then, again, I guess you get used to it after being around someone with [Metal Magic] for long enough, huh?'
With that thought, Tsunade shrugged her shoulders, took another sip of her tea, and finally got back to her paperwork.
About two hours later, while Alfonzo was working on the first training room and Wendy was reading medical books in Tsunade's office, Marin returned to the house she was staying in with Alfonzo, Wendy, and Carla. And when she did, she found Yoruichi waiting outside the front door.
'Well, I knew it would happen eventually.' Marin thought to herself with a shrug as she parked the Escalade in front of the house. 'I guess it's better to just rip the band-aid off.'
"Hey, Yoruichi." Marin said with a slightly stiff smile as she stepped out of the driver's seat. "Since you're here, mind helping me bring in the groceries. After that, we can talk."
Taking a deep breath, Yoruichi nodded in response. Then, she followed Marin to the back of the Escalade to help with the groceries.
"Yeah, we can talk after we're done." Yoruichi said as she started helping transport the groceries.