"Ouch!"
Rhodes, who was thinking about his future training plan, suddenly heard Natsu's scream.
"Why does the old man's punch hurt so much today?!"
Next came Happy's voice: "Natsu feels pain? You're lying, right? But the guild master just used fire magic!"
"If you don't want to get hurt, then behave yourselves!"
Makarov scolded Natsu a few times, and then looked at the red glow gradually fading around him, lost in thought.
Fire that could make Natsu feel pain was definitely not ordinary fire.
Rhodes returned to the tavern feeling a bit guilty and sat on a stool at the counter to rest.
Seeing that Mira didn't seem too busy, he asked, "Natsu got beaten again—what was it for this time?"
"He fought Nab and almost burned down the bulletin board," Mira said, glancing at the large bump on Natsu's head, finding it increasingly amusing.
Burning down the bulletin board was indeed a good reason to get beaten. Rhodes' guilt reduced by 99.99%.
Due to the "Investigate the Volcano Monster" mission last time, Natsu had been feeling irritable these past few days.
He'd been excited, thinking there was a clue about Igneel, the fire dragon. But when he arrived, it turned out to be just a fire lizard living in the volcano.
Although they completed the mission without causing too much trouble, Natsu still felt unsatisfied.
Since then, he and Happy hadn't taken on any new missions for ten days.
Rhodes also contributed a bit, helping Natsu so that even though he'd been eating and drinking a lot lately, he didn't run out of money for daily expenses.
Mira thought for a while and asked, "What was the deal with the guild master's magic?"
"How did you know that I know?"
"Although the guild master also knows fire magic, it's just the most basic kind. What he just used was completely different."
"As expected of Teacher Mira." There was nothing to hide here, so Rhodes said, "That was a special ability of the wild creature I summoned today."
Mira pretended to be angry, "Now you call me Teacher Mira. Why didn't you invite me to watch when testing a new spell?"
"Because it's a new wild creature, and although all the creatures I've summoned so far have obeyed me completely, there's always a chance that a new one might go berserk."
Not only for summoning a new creature, but Rhodes also didn't plan on asking her to watch when he received a new creature.
Unless she could regain her S-class level, otherwise, if things really got out of hand and she got hurt, Rhodes would regret it forever.
He always felt bad about troubling the guild master too.
Maybe I should buy the guild master some drinks later… oh wait, Mira's been restricting his drinking recently, so forget it.
Such a heartless Rhodes.
"It feels weird for you to use the phrase 'obey completely' here." Mira pondered for a moment but couldn't immediately think of a better word.
She smiled bitterly and said, "You've almost made me forget how to speak properly."
Rhodes patted his chest, "No worries, I'll take responsibility for teaching you the common tongue in the future."
"Spare me." Mira laughed, "How about learning from Laki instead?"
"Do you two have to drag me into your flirting?" Laki put down a few wine glasses she had just collected, then made a prayer-like gesture with a dreamy expression,
"Ah~ this must be what they call love—like a whirlwind that, when it surges, also occasionally sweeps up those watching it!"
"Laki~" Mira was already used to Laki's "nonsense," her face unfazed.
Rhodes remained unperturbed, simply wanting to tell her to say more if she could speak at all.
"By the way, Mira, what's up with Erza today? She seems out of it." Laki pointed to a corner of the guild.
Rhodes asked in confusion, "Is Erza in the guild?"
If Erza was here, how could Natsu have acted out so much and even needed the guild master to intervene?
Rhodes looked curiously in the direction Laki pointed.
There, Erza sat with her head bowed, seemingly staring at the tabletop. Her scarlet hair fell down on both sides.
She remained motionless, with an aura of dejection surrounding her, her whole demeanor devoid of energy.
If one stared at her for a few seconds, it almost felt like she had lost all her color, turning grey and lifeless.
Mira spoke with some sympathy, "Erza… had a little incident during a mission."
Laki was incredulous, "Seriously? But it's Erza! The Erza!"
"Even Erza has things she's not good at handling," Mira couldn't hold back her laughter, her sympathy running out.
She then hesitated, "But is it really okay to talk about this?"
Seeing her expression, Rhodes knew she definitely wanted to say it, and all that was needed was for someone to say, "I promise I won't tell anyone," and then…
Sure enough, Laki understood gossip well and immediately grabbed Mira's hand, "It's okay if you just tell us, I promise I won't say a word!"
She then glanced at Rhodes.
Rhodes had never liked participating in such gossip, so he declared righteously, "I also promise."
As long as you don't actually spread it, it doesn't count as gossip.
The three then huddled together, whispering.
"What?!" Laki almost screamed in shock, but quickly lowered her voice, "Erza got confessed to?!"
Rhodes was more concerned whether Erza had ended up killing someone, "What happened to that person? Still alive?"
"Hey, shouldn't we be asking who it was?" Laki retorted.
"That person…" Mira dragged her words slightly, building up suspense, "It was Ichiya from Blue Pegasus."
"Ah~ Blue Pegasus' handso…" Laki's voice of admiration suddenly cut off, her expression becoming horrified, "I-Ichiya?!"
Mira confirmed, "Yes, after Erza completed her mission, she took a break at a tavern on her way back, where she met Ichiya.
Apparently, Mr. Ichiya had seen Erza accompanying the guild master at the regular meetings, and fell in love with her at first sight."
"Ah… well… poor Erza."
Laki didn't know much about Ichiya, but as one of Blue Pegasus' signature wizards, she had seen his picture before—let's just say it left an impression.
Rhodes was the same—Mr. Ichiya was the kind of person who was hard to forget after seeing once.
Although judging someone solely by their appearance might be unfair, from what he knew, the most memorable thing about Ichiya was indeed his appearance, which was something beyond his control.
"Since Mr. Ichiya only confessed and said some cheesy lines without crossing the line,
And since he's not really a bad guy, there wasn't much Erza could do."
Mira's tone had both sympathy and a hint of schadenfreude, "Being entangled by a strange person can really be troublesome.
Erza could only escape back here. She's been sitting there daydreaming ever since, not even in the mood to repair the armor she damaged during the last fight."
Rhodes reflected for a moment—he probably wasn't a "strange person" like that.
Only then did he begin to feel sorry for Erza.
Come to think of it, when Loki pursued Erza, he got beaten half to death, but when Ichiya confessed, it just grossed her out a bit and that was it...
It goes to show that Loki really deserved a beating, and Ichiya was genuinely a good person.