"Here it is!" Natsu said as he motioned at the Fairy Tail guildhall while grinning at Flare, "Welcome to Fairy Tail! This will be your new home from now on!"
"Fairy …Tail." Flare looked at the guild with an expectant expression.
It was already the next day after Natsu and Laki completed their jobs. And now they have finally returned to Magnolia, where their guild is.
To be honest they were actually chased out by Mito because of Natsu.
The old lady really did prepare a feast for them but Natsu found it dull, with people barely talking and just focused on eating and small conversations. It can't be called party at all!
So Natsu, being Natsu, decided to take it up a notch.
He first spiked the punch, and pretty much everyone's drink and got them drunk. He then went wild by using his magic to do some tricks.
He brought life to the party.
Unfortunately, he ended up burning down a significant portion of Mito's manor, but everyone was too drunk to care— thankfully no one was hurt.
But the very next day, Mito chased them out while swinging some chains that she summoned out of thin air.
Natsu never realized that Mito was actually a mage, and damn those chains hurt.
Laki was actually blushing the whole time though, whispering something like "the way she used those chains …she's definitely on top", or "her husband must've enjoyed it", and "she's definitely a beast when she was young".
Natsu feels like there is something in those words that he didn't get, but he agreed that Mito was definitely a beast. She's probably as scary as Erza at her prime.
Apparently, Mito was a redhead, and Erza was too. Maybe redheads are just built different. He hoped Flare won't end up like them.
"Well, let's go in." Natsu said before kicking the door open, "Everyone! We're back!"
But the expected cheers and greetings Natsu was expecting did not reach his ears. Instead, what greeted him was the tense and gloomy atmosphere.
He frowned. Did something happened?
"Guys, is there something wrong?" Asked Laki, holding Flare's hands as she walked in, "We have a new member joining us, can't you at least act normal and not make her feel tense?"
"Seriously," Natsu nodded as he sat down on one of the chairs, "What's up?"
It was Macao who stepped up, "Well, a new member is definitely worth celebrating …but we are in dire state right now."
"Is it the council again?" Asked Laki. "Or maybe the Magnolia Mayor? It's about time we pay our rent for this plot of land."
"Doesn't matter, if worse comes worst then we just move our headquarters in my place." Natsu suggested, "I own a hectare of land outside Magnolia."
That little bit of information stunned everyone in the guild.
Macao stared at Natsu, before taking a deep breath, "…okay, before we get to heavy stuff, let me just say this …how the fuck did you get that much land?! No way you are rich enough to buy that!"
"Hey, Happy and I can survive just by eating fish. And we don't even have to buy them since we have a pond in our place where we can just catch some. We also grow our own fruits and vegetables."
"That doesn't explain how you can afford a hectare of land!" Macao retorted, annoyed. "A square meter in Magnolia cost a hundred thousand you know! A hundred thousand! Multiply that by ten thousand and an you'd need to have a billion to be able to buy that! You're not even S-class, how are you able to pay that?!"
Natsu smirked, "That's …a secret."
Well, back in the day Mira would help him pay when she was still active as an S-class, and even after that she would still help him using the money she earn as a model.
Before Lisanna "died" the two of them also teamed up and pay it with the money they earn from a mission.
Cana also chipped in too from time to time, despite Natsu telling her not too. He knew that Cana donated most of her earnings to orphanages, and that's why she has very little money left to buy her booze and would sometimes just bill it to the council.
But most of all, Natsu managed to pay for his own land thanks to Gildarts.
"Never mind that," Natsu changed the subject, "What's going on? Why do you all look so depressed?"
Macao immediately forgot about the issue of Natsu's home and sighed, "It's the council. They have been urging us to choose a new master and pay off all our debts or else they'd force us to disband."
"That's nothing new." Said Laki as she led Flare to the counter to get her stamp, "But, to pay off our debts huh. That would be impossible without our S-class mages."
"No need to worry about the debts for now," said Natsu, "first, we need to think of who's going to be our new master. The debt can be discussed after."
"Didn't the old man left a will somewhere in there or something?" Asked Wakaba.
Macao shook his head, "I searched his office but found none …except for some very juicy magazines." He said the last part with a perverted smile.
He got to say, the old man really got a good taste.
"Oh quit it with the perversion will you?" Natsu clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Have you tried searching the basement?"
"I haven't, but there's only barrels of wine there." Said Macao.
"So you haven't searched for it." Natsu sighed before turning towards the counter, "Kinana, let me borrow the key to the basement."
"Ah," Kinana nodded before she hurried to give Natsu the key, "Here you go Natsu."
"Thanks." Natsu grinned at her, "Imma go search the basement, you people go and search every place you can think of."
"I'll go with you." Laki volunteered, "Flare already got her mark."
Natsu turned towards Flare, who was looking at the crimson colored Fairy Tail mark at the back of her right palm.
"Kinana, can you teach Flare about the rules, regulations, and responsibilities of a mage and how the guild works?" Natsu asked.
"Sure thing Natsu," Kinana nodded before turning towards Flare, "Come here Flare, let me educate you."
"Hm?" Flare tilted her head in confusion.
"Come on Laki," Said Natsu as he head towards the basement.
"Coming." Laki quickly followed after him.
...…
...
…
Later.
"Oh dammit!" Natsu cussed as he closed another door in frustration, "Why are there so many rooms in this basement?"
"This is no longer a basement, this is like an underground village or something." Said Laki.
Usually, only the Basement 1 is accessible since the other under it is for master access only. But since they no longer have any master and this is a very important thing, they decided to just head to lower basement floor.
Who knew that it would actually lead them to a tunnel leading to a lot of empty rooms. Well, instead of a tunnel, it's more appropriate to call it a dungeon.
A ridiculously large, useless, and empty dungeon.
The two went deeper and deeper and still found nothing but empty rooms.
What was their master thinking building such a place? If it's not Makarov, then what was the previous masters thinking for building such a useless thing?
"We reached the end," Natsu groaned, "In the end there's nothing really here huh? What's gramps even planning on doing to this place?"
"Well there's another door over here," Laki pointed to a door that might have been hidden had they not been looking. "Let's try checking it out."
Natsu nodded and marched towards the door, throwing it open with the hope their search was over. Only to freeze and stumble back with a gasp.
Laki raised a brow seeing his reaction and decided to take a peek …her reaction was no better than Natsu.
"Is that…?"
"The First Master?"
There, encased in a Lacrima, was Fairy Tail's first Master.
Master Mavis Vermillion.
"Oh! Hello! It's been a while since I've had visitors!"
The two turned to face the voice and promptly screamed in horror. Because despite the fact that there was a body in a lacrima, Mavis Vermillion was standing before them.
"G-G-G-Ghost!!! Ghost!!!"
"Our guild is hunted!!!"
The two scurried over to escape, even stumbling down on their path as they hurriedly tried to reach back to the ground floor to warn their guildmates that their guildhall is hunted.
"T-T-There's a ghost here!?" The 'ghost' of Mavis screamed in fight while looking around, "W-Wait! D-Don't leave me behind! I-I'm scared of ghost!"
"Waaahhh!!!! She's following us!!!! She's following us!!!!"
"Don't leave me!!!"