Farce

As the cathedral spire fell, two figures also plummeted down with it.

"Go ahead and run if you dare!" Eleven pressed Mest down firmly, panting heavily as he spoke viciously.

Mest was completely dumbfounded. On one hand, his magic was truly exhausted, and he no longer had the strength to run away, making him feel dizzy. On the other hand, he really didn't expect Eleven to be so ruthless.

He had assumed he would be safe stopping atop the cathedral. After all, Eleven had come from an orphanage and should have respected the cathedral, so he shouldn't have been attacked there.

But what he didn't expect was that he had miscalculated, and very badly so. This devil actually acted without hesitation, and even managed to blow down the church spire in one go.

This is Magnolia's iconic landmark! Is this guy an idiot? Is it really worth it just to arrest one person?

"Hey, what's going on?" The voice belonged to Erza.

Erza and Mira, who were already fighting at the foot of the cathedral, were the most frightened. The two were in the middle of a fierce fight when suddenly a huge cross fell from the sky and almost crushed them.

"Cough cough cough, Eleven? What are you doing here?" Brushing aside the dust that had settled in the gaps, Erza and Mira finally discovered the culprit behind the incident.

At this moment, Eleven was like a lion cub that had caught its prey, his eyes gleaming, completely pinning Mest down, his face still showing the ecstatic expression of someone who had captured their prey.

Eleven hadn't expected Mest to be such a fast runner; the two of them ran all the way from the suburbs to the city center, who knows how far they ran.

Halfway there, Eleven had basically forgotten why he was chasing Mest in the first place, and his only thought was to catch this slippery eel that he could never get his hands on, gradually becoming obsessed and insane.

Upon hearing Erza's voice, Eleven gradually regained his senses. The fanaticism in his eyes faded, and he looked up, glancing around blankly. A look of utter bewilderment appeared on his face.

"Huh? What's going on here?" Eleven stood up and scratched his head sheepishly.

"You're still asking us what you're doing? This is going too far!" Mira, who was standing to the side, was furious when she saw Eleven acting foolishly, and rolled her eyes at him in annoyance.

At this moment, Gray and the others, who had been watching from outside, rushed into the smoke and dust. The sudden turn of events made them very worried about Erza and Mira's safety.

"Mira, are you alright?" Lisanna threw herself into Mira's arms, looking Mira up and down to make sure Mira wasn't hurt.

Eleven still seemed somewhat bewildered, looking around at the crowd and then at the ruins behind him. Fragments of Memories gradually returned to his mind, and a bead of cold sweat unknowingly appeared on Eleven's forehead.

Huh? This is a cathedral? When did I get here?

Huh? Isn't that the big cross? How did it get on the ground?

Huh? Did I do this?

Huh? Is Maria going to kill me?

"Eleven, what are you doing? How did you manage to destroy the cathedral?" Erza, always the calmest one, was the first to react and begin investigating the cause and effect of the incident.

Eleven was taken aback by Erza's question. He looked into Erza's eyes and remained silent for a long time before slowly turning around to look at Mest was still lying on the ground.

"Mest, what are you doing? How could you destroy the cathedral like that?"

Experiments have shown that shifting blame and repeating a grade are innate human instincts.

Mest: (꒪⌓꒪)...

Erza ignored the silly Eleven and efficiently went to Mest's side, helping him up. "Mest, are you alright? Can you tell me what happened?"

Mest glanced at Eleven, who had already joined the crowd and was pretending to be indifferent, and gave them a helpless look.

"It's nothing, I'm just being chased by Eleven."

Mest ruthlessly betrayed Eleven, who was trying to shift the blame.

All eyes turned to Eleven, making Eleven break out in a cold sweat.

"Eleven, Mest may have just joined, but she's already a member of the guild. How could you be so violent towards a fellow member?" Erza reprimanded Eleven righteously.

Upon hearing this, everyone turned their gaze to Erza. This girl had just been fighting with her guildmates, and now she could say such things without batting an eye; she was truly remarkable.

However, Erza was completely unaffected by the questioning looks from the crowd, effortlessly ignoring them. Feeling bored, everyone turned their attention back to Eleven; it was much more interesting to watch this guilty-looking guy.

Eleven was indeed feeling guilty. Firstly, he had ripped off the roof of the cathedral, leaving him speechless in front of his fellow villagers. Secondly, he didn't know how to explain the situation to Erza and the others.

No matter how much he pressured Mest, it was a matter between the two of them. Whether it was to prevent Mest's secret from being leaked or to protect everyone in the guild, he felt that Mest's secret shouldn't be exposed to too many people.

After agonizing for a while, Eleven couldn't come up with a good excuse, so he simply gave up thinking and pointed at Mest, saying, "He's a werewolf, and I'm chasing a werewolf."

Mest:...

Werewolf my ass! Isn't this over yet? Why did you even pursue me in the first place?

No one noticed Mest's expression of utter disbelief at the werewolf; everyone was shocked by Eleven's words.

Gray and Lisanna rushed excitedly to Mest's side, each grabbing one of his hands, and asked in surprise, "Ugh, are you really a werewolf?"

"I'm not! Don't talk nonsense!" Mest replied firmly, giving them a look as if they were idiots.

"Huh? Then what are you?" Gray and Lisanna looked disappointed.

"I am..."

Mest suddenly ran out of things to say and didn't know how to continue. How was she supposed to respond? Was she supposed to shout, "I'm a person!"? Why should I prove I'm a person? Absolutely not!

Doug, standing at the very back, covered his face with his hands in exasperation.

It's because of werewolves again! Just how much do these guys love werewolves? They'd tear down a cathedral just to catch them? And judging from Mest's expression, she's clearly made a mistake again. These guys are really... sigh~

"Um, everyone, listen to me, you've got it wrong..."

Doug was about to speak up to help Mest out of this predicament and end the farce, but his curse of not being able to finish his sentences continued, and he was interrupted again.

"You little rascals, don't cause trouble during the Harvest Festival!"

The voice came from a short old man, but he strode with earth-shaking steps, and behind him, faintly visible, could be a few wisps of slowly rising flames of anger.

o(▼伶▼メ;)o