Earth land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
November 8, x787.
"Alfonzo, we're not gonna be late, are we?" Wendy asked from the back seat of the S 600.
Currently, Alfonzo, Wendy, Carla, Saeko, Rika, and Miyuki were driving towards Magnolia's east gate in the S 600. And already, the sun had set and the time for Ur's announcement of this year's S-Class candidates was fast approaching.
"I told you we should have left yesterday." Carla said with her arms crossed from her seat on Wendy's lap. "If you had only listened, we wouldn't even be having this conversation."
While Carla's "I told you so" tone was rather annoying, Alfonzo was mostly unbothered by it. He could tell that she was only worried for Wendy's sake, after all. And ever since the little episode the two had in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Carla had toned down her overbearing nature by quite a bit when talking to everyone else, as well.
At the same time, Alfonzo knew exactly why Carla was worried. As previously mentioned, Ur would be announcing this year's S-Class candidates before too long. And there was a good chance that Wendy would be among them. Not only Wendy, though. But Rika would probably be among them, as well. Unfortunately, Saeko, who had only been promoted to A-Class earlier this year, would most likely not be participating in this year's promotion exam.
"You two really don't need to worry." Alfonzo said from the driver's seat. "We've still got about an hour to get there. And it should only take us about thirty-five minutes from where we are. So, we'll be there with time to spare."
"And in the worst case scenario..." Rika said with her head resting against her hands while leaning back in the front passenger seat. "Alfonzo can just fly us there with his magic."
That was enough to calm Wendy by a considerable amount. Carla, on the other hand, only pouted, hoping that they would get there fast for Wendy's sake. Meanwhile, Saeko was taking this opportunity to train herself in [Magic Power Detection] as she spread her magic power as thinly as she could.
"Oh, you're getting better, Saeko." Alfonzo said with a smile after feeling Saeko's magic power. "The feeling of your magic power spread around us is getting harder to detect."
In response, Saeko smiled up at Alfonzo, briefly making eye contact with him through the rear-view mirror.
As the five Fairy Tail wizards continued to chat, Miyuki sat quietly in the back seat while she was prepared to carry out any orders she might receive from Alfonzo. However, the conversation in the magic vehicle came to an abrupt stop when Alfonzo, who had picked up something with his own [Magic Power Detection], raised an eyebrow.
"Is something wrong?" Rika asked after noticing Alfonzo's change in expression.
"No, nothing's wrong." Alfonzo replied while shaking his head lightly. "But it looks like Irene's new house is almost done."
"Huh? Irene's new house?" Wendy asked curiously. "Is she having a house built? Is it near the lake like Master Ur's and the Seto family's? Other than there, I can't think of anywhere with enough land to build a house that would suit her."
"Nah, she chose another plot of land to build on." Alfonzo replied. "And it's inside of the city proper. On top of that, it's somewhere you and Carla should be pretty familiar with."
"Me and Carla?" Wendy asked while tilting her head in confusion.
Carla, on the other hand, opened her eyes wide in surprise after thinking about what Alfonzo said for a moment.
"You mean where Ur's old house was, don't you?" Carla asked in a surprised tone. "But how is that possible? That place is still frozen over because of Ur's rampage, isn't it?"
Hearing that, Alfonzo could not help but chuckle when he remembered the episode between Gildarts and Ur the day after his and Elicia's wedding back in September of x785. Wendy, on the other hand, teared up a little remembering how her second home had been destroyed. Meanwhile, Saeko, Rika, and Miyuki looked at the three with curiosity, since they were not living in Magnolia back when Ur destroyed her old house.
"And it looks like we might have two more guild mates in the near future, too." Alfonzo added with a smile.
'Then again, I'm not sure what the rules are for sentient swords joining guilds.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'But we've already got three talking cats in the guild, so, why the hell not?'
"I feel like you're thinking something rude, Alfonzo." Carla said sharply as she narrowed her eyes towards Alfonzo.
"It's just your imagination." Alfonzo said as he casually waved off Carla's glare. "Anyway, do you guys wanna stop and take a look at the progress of Irene's new house on our way back?"
"Absolutely not." Carla said strongly. "Are you intent on making us late?"
"*Sigh* Fine." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "It's not like we would have been late, though. I just wanted to drive by and see how my design looked in 3D."
Despite his desire to see Irene's new house, Alfonzo decided he could see it later. It was dark, anyway. So, checking it out in the morning would probably be better. So, without any delays, Alfonzo drove directly to the guild hall after entering the town. And when he parked the S 600 outside the front doors, the occupants caught sight of a few people they had not seen in a while.
"Oh, what's up, Ed, Al, and Meredy is with you, too." Alfonzo said after turning off the s 600's engine and stepping out. Then, he turned his attention towards Meredy with a grin. "So, have you started aiming for the reverse harem route, or something?"
Hearing that, Meredy started to giggle. Meanwhile, Edward frowned in annoyance. Alphonse, on the other hand, looked away sheepishly. At the same time, Wendy, Carla, Saeko, Rika, and Miyuki also climbed out of the S 600. And when they saw the expressions on the trio's faces, they all raised an eyebrow.
"No, that's not it, Alfonzo." Meredy said with a smile. "Winry isn't willing to share, so I finally gave up on Ed."
"So, since you couldn't have the older brother, you went after the younger one, huh?" Rika asked with a cheeky grin on her face.
"Well... Kinda." Meredy replied while a small, bashful smile crept onto her face. "But to be honest, I tried to get Winry to agree to share both of them between the two of us. But she said no even harder than my proposal to share just Ed."
"Can we not talk about this?" Edward asked in an annoyed tone.
"So, you had to explain to Winry that none of this was your idea, huh?" Alfonzo asked while glancing at Edward sympathetically.
"You have no idea..." Edward replied in an exasperated tone. "And no matter how hard I tried to explain that I was happy with just her, I still had to dodge her wrench for nearly an hour."
In response, Alfonzo patted Edward on the shoulder consolingly. However, when he was standing right next to him, he noticed something was different.
"Hmm... You've grown, Ed." Alfonzo said as he placed his right hand on top of Edward's head. Then, he used it to measure their relative heights. "About 5'6", I'd say. Not bad. I guess having your whole body back caused a late growth spurt."
At first, Edward wanted to swat Alfonzo's hand away from his head. But when Alfonzo mentioned his growth, he could not help but puff out his chest in pride. In the next instant, however, Edward was once again ready to get angry.
"You're still pretty short, though." Alfonzo said with a grin. Then, he pointed at Alphonse. "I mean, look, you're still shorter than your little brother. I guess you'll always be the little-big brother, huh?"
Hearing that, Edward was ready to explode in anger. Despite growing in height, he still had a complex about it. Before he could, though, Carla's voice put an end to that, along with the other conversation going on outside the guild hall.
"Do we really have time for this?" Carla asked with her paws resting on her hips. "Ur's announcement is gonna start any minute. I'm going inside. But if you wanna stay out here and gossip, be my guest."
With that, Carla turned away from the rest of the group and walked into the guild hall. And as she walked away, the rest of the wizards exchanged glances. Then, Edward was the first to move. After snorting at Alfonzo, he quickly entered the guild hall, as well.
Shaking his head at his brother's antics, Alphonse was the next to enter the guild hall. And he was quickly followed by Meredy, who waved at the others as she caught up to Alphonse.
"Hey, Meredy never said if they were actually dating or not." Rika said with a pout. "couldn't Carla have waited like two more minutes? I mean, we still have about fifteen minutes left. What's the rush?"
"I think she just misses Master Ur." Wendy replied with a smile. "Besides, we can just ask Meredy about her and Alphonse later. It's not like she's gonna run away, right?"
"I guess you're right." Rika replied while maintaining her pout. A moment later, however, she put on a mischievous smile. "Still, I wonder what Ur's gonna think."
"Huh?" Wendy exclaimed in confusion. "Think about what?"
"I know what you mean, Rika." Saeko said with a nod. "Next year, her daughter is gonna get married. On top of that, the two girls she all but adopted have boyfriends. I wonder if she'll feel like her girls are being stolen away."
Immediately, Wendy's face reddened furiously.
"Wh-Wha-What are you talking about?" Wendy asked, basically squeaking out her question. "M-M-Me and Lee aren't dating yet! We still have to go on our first date!"
Though no one present thought it was possible, Wendy's blush intensified after her little outburst. Then, before anyone could tease her about it, she turned away and walked into the guild hall as fast as she could without running.
"She's so cute." Rika said with a smile.
"She really is." Saeko added.
"*Sigh* It's too bad she's never gonna live this down, though." Alfonzo said in a feigned tone of sadness. "Ur's gonna be even more relentless in her teasing than any of us could hope to be."
Seeing Alfonzo's expression, Saeko, Rika, and Miyuki could only shake their heads. Then, after Alfonzo finally started moving towards the guild hall's doors, they followed him quickly while continuing to chat. However, when they eventually entered the guild hall, Alfonzo quickly separated from the ladies to head back stage to join the other S-Class wizards. Meanwhile, Rika and Saeko had to stop Miyuki, who tried to follow him. Then, after explaining what would happen, they all took seats to await the announcement.
About a minute later, Alfonzo arrived backstage. And when he did, he could not help but smile helplessly.
"Maybe there was a reason why Gramps only allowed one wizard to pass the exam each year." Alfonzo muttered to himself as he glanced around the room. "I mean, at this rate, we're gonna have more wizards at S-Class than wizards below it."
As he muttered to himself, Alfonzo glanced over all of Fairy Tail's S-Class wizards. Namely,Gildarts, Laxus, Elicia, Erza, Mirajane, Ultear, Cana, Fried, Sun, Gray, Natsu, Bickslow, Evergreen, Elfman, Marin, Levy, Laki, and Juvia. If he added himself and Ur, that would make a total of twenty active S-Class wizards for Fairy Tail, a number that put them above the other guilds of Fiore by a large margin.
"You're finally here." Ur, who had been paying attention to the entrance to the backstage area, said shortly after Alfonzo entered the room. "I'm actually surprised that I was the first to greet you after you came in, though. I wonder if Lici is losing her touch."
However, As she reached that point, Ur noticed that Alfonzo's expression seemed a little strange, almost as if he were kissing the air. And after noticing that, Ur narrowed her eyes. Then, she glanced in the direction where Elicia should have been chatting with Alfonzo's other wives, wives-to-be, and Laki. And when she did, she narrowed her eyes even further. Then, she sighed in exasperation a moment later.
"I missed you, too, Lici." Alfonzo said with a smile after ending his seemingly one-sided kiss with the air, not even paying attention to Ur's greeting.
"Hehehe. Welcome back, Fonzie." Elicia said, though her figure was not visible.
In the next instant, Elicia, with er arms and legs wrapped around Alfonzo's neck and torso, respectively, blurred into existence. At the same time, the Elicia who was sitting with Cana, Laki, Ultear, Erza, Mirajane, Sun, and Marin faded away, shocking the other six women. Then, they all glared in Alfonzo's direction. More specifically at Elicia, who was clinging to Alfonzo happily.
"Seriously, Lici?" Cana asked in a dumbfounded tone. "Did you just use [False Appearance] to make sure you were the first one to hug Fonzie and welcome him home?"
"Sure did." Elicia replied while nodding without shame. "No one is gonna beat me to being the first one to give Fonzie a hug when he gets home."
"But do you seriously have to resort to trickery?" Mirajane asked while smiling pleasantly.
"For real." Ultear added. "You should just train harder so that you're faster than us."
"Hmph!" Elicia snorted. "You all can say that when you have a baby. I couldn't train seriously for almost a year. Otherwise, none of you would be fast enough to give Fonzie a hug before me."
While most of those in the waiting room did not pay any attention to the back and forth between Alfonzo's wives and wives-to-be, Ur could feel her eyebrows starting to twitch in irritation. She had already spoken to Alfonzo shortly after he entered the room. Yet, she had still not been acknowledged.
"You all can argue about that later." Ur said in a low, menacing tone. "For now, it's time to announce this year's S-Class candidates. Now, let's go."
Hearing that, the argument stopped immediately. Then, everyone in the backstage area nodded in agreement as they all stood up and started to make their way to the stage.
"Uh... Ur, can I say something first?" Alfonzo asked while smiling sheepishly.
"What is it?" Ur asked in a tone that made it clear she was still upset about being ignored.
"Well, maybe we should go back to only passing one wizard a year." Alfonzo said while scratching the side of his head. "I mean, we've already got twenty S-Classes in this room, and that number doesn't include Mystogan. On top of that, you plan on promoting both Irene and Brandish without the exam, right? At this rate, we're gonna have more S-Classes than wizards who aren't S-Class, you know."
That statement caused all the wizards present to stop in their tracks. Then, they all looked around at the other nineteen people in the room.
"Wow, being S-Class doesn't feel so prestigious when there are this many, does it?" Evergreen asked.
"Yeah... It feels kinda common, doesn't it?" Marin asked.
"The Kid might be right, Ur." Gildarts said as he scratched his head. "I never really thought about why the Old Man only allowed one wizard to pass until now. But it kinda makes sense, doesn't it."
"*Sigh* I guess you're right." Ur said while shaking her head. "I just always felt it was a pity that only one person could pass each year. But I guess there was a reason for it. On top of not overcrowding the ranks of S-Class, it also kept the wizards striving for improvement in a competitive atmosphere. *Sigh* I guess we'll be going back to only one pass per year. On top of that, we'll have to make the grading criteria stricter, too. Oh, and we can't give [Soul Armaments] to every candidate anymore, either..."
With that, Ur continued to mutter to herself about what should and should not be changed about the S-Class Promotion Exam. Meanwhile, all the S-Class wizards had no idea if they should sit back down or make their way out onto the stage.
In the end, Ur's announcement of the S-class candidates was an hour behind schedule. Needless to say, the A-Class and below members of the guild were not happy to be left waiting like that, with Irene, Heine, and Juliet the most irritated of the bunch, despite the fact that they were half an hour late for the scheduled time.