Fairy Tail's Everyday Life

The morning sun streamed through the enormous stained-glass windows of the Fairy Tail guild, casting dappled light across the hall, which was still a little messy after a night of revelry.

The air still carried the lingering excitement from last night's explosive news, mingled with the aromas of freshly baked bread and rich coffee.

Guild members gathered in twos and threes, breakfast in hand, but their eyes kept drifting toward the bar, blazing with gossip and barely concealed astonishment.

At the center of everyone's attention sat the father and daughter who had just had their "reunion of the century" yesterday: Gildarts and Cana.

But the scene now was utterly unlike their deeply moving embrace and tearful sobbing last night, and full of comedy that left people caught between laughter and tears.

"Oh! My adorable Cana! Daddy's precious girl! Let Daddy take another good look at you!"

Gildarts's rugged, weather-beaten face was twisted into an outrageously exaggerated smile, one that was even a little pervy.

His massive body clung to Cana's petite form like a huge lump of taffy.

"Dad... you... you're too close..."

Gildarts held Cana so tightly in his arms that she could barely breathe.

Her fair, adorable little face had been squeezed out of shape.

Worse still, Gildarts's chin, covered in stiff stubble, was rubbing madly back and forth against her cheek like a wire brush.

"Cana! Daddy missed you so much! Daddy missed too much over the past dozen years or so. Starting today, Daddy won't leave you for even a second!"

Gildarts was completely immersed in the immense joy of getting her back and paid no attention to his daughter's resistance.

As he loudly proclaimed his suffocating fatherly love, he rubbed his stubble even harder against Cana's delicate skin, producing a grating rasp.

"That hurts! Dad, your beard is so prickly!"

Cana finally cried out in pain.

Tears of grievance welled up in her big amber eyes as she pushed with both hands against Gildarts's chest, hard as an iron tower.

But to Fairy Tail's strongest mage, Cana's resistance was even weaker than a kitten's scratching.

"Prickly? Oh! Sorry, sorry! Daddy was too careless!"

Hearing his daughter cry out in pain, Gildarts was so startled that he immediately let go and stood there at a loss, like a child who had done something wrong.

But his eyes remained glued to Cana, watching her pleadingly like a big dog abandoned by its owner, pitifully wagging its tail.

"Then... then should Daddy go shave? No, Daddy will go right now! For Cana, Daddy will shave every day from now on!"

Seeing Gildarts so anxious and fearful, with none of a powerhouse's dignity left, the others in the guild couldn't help covering their faces, their shoulders shaking violently as they struggled to hold back their laughter.

Who could have imagined that Gildarts, the "Destruction King" who had single-handedly destroyed countless dark guilds and made even dragons steer clear of him, would become such a shameless daughter-con in front of his own daughter?

Meanwhile, Riyao sat on the other side of the bar, holding a steaming cup of black tea and watching this family comedy with a smile.

A sly glint flickered in his eyes as he toyed with the camera he had used yesterday to take the picture of "Gildarts bawling his eyes out," apparently considering how to maximize the photo's value.

Cana trotted over to Riyao and gave him a resentful look.

Riyao stifled a laugh and rubbed his face hard.

"I'm professionally trained. Normally I don't laugh, unless something is just too funny."

"Riyao, you could have told me beforehand!"

"Riyao, you little brat, you've been bullying my daughter, haven't you?"

"Don't think I can't tell, you bastard old man. You're obviously trying to get back at me while you have the chance! Cana, seeing how you've kept this bottled up for two years, who knows how long it would have taken if you hadn't said anything now? What if you got a younger brother or sister later? Would you team up and form a Dad-vengers alliance?"

"A... Dad-vengers alliance?!"

Hearing those murderous words, Gildarts's tall, imposing body shuddered violently, as though an invisible bolt of lightning had struck him square on the crown of his head.

His eyes, already wide with nervousness, bulged out even more dramatically, the whites streaked with terrified red veins.

He whipped his head around and shook it wildly like a rattle-drum, waving both hands frantically in front of his chest as he tried to clear himself of the baseless "charge" in Cana's eyes.

"No, no, no! Cana, listen to Daddy explain! Daddy definitely hasn't been fooling around out there! There are absolutely no little brothers or sisters! Daddy only has room in his heart for you and your mother! That brat Riyao is making vicious accusations! He's trying to drive a wedge into the bond we father and daughter have only just formed, a bond stronger than diamond!"

Gildarts's voice cracked with extreme panic, his rough voice now sounding like a screaming rubber chicken with its tail stepped on. It echoed through the spacious guild hall, setting off another round of even more unrestrained laughter around him.

Macao, who was sitting in a corner of the bar smoking a pipe, finally couldn't hold back and burst into laughter, slapping his thigh.

"Hahaha! Gildarts, your day has finally come! The great strongest mage of Fairy Tail, scared so badly by a little brat that he can't even speak straight! If word gets out, those dark guilds you beat up will probably laugh their teeth out!"

Beside him, Wakaba blew a smoke ring and chimed in teasingly, "That's right, Gildarts. But seriously, given how wild you used to be, who knows whether you left any 'romantic debts' out there? Cana, you'd better give your unreliable dad a thorough interrogation!"

"Shut up, you two bastards! Crush Magic—believe me, I'll turn you and the bar to powder!"

Flustered and furious, Gildarts roared at his two troublesome friends, a faint but alarming ripple of magic emanating from him.

But just as he was about to act, Cana's resentful, suspicious gaze fell on him again.

"Dad... you really... don't have any other children out there?"

Cana bit her lower lip. Though she knew Riyao was most likely joking, she couldn't help feeling a sliver of doubt when she saw how guilty Gildarts looked.

After all, in her memory, her dear father's reputation really didn't seem very good.

That one look instantly shattered the authority Gildarts had just mustered.

The magic around him drained away in an instant like air from a punctured balloon, and he slumped again. He crouched in front of Cana like a husky that had misbehaved, pressed his palms together, and swore with tears in his eyes.

"Absolutely not! Cana, Daddy swears to heaven! If Daddy has any other children out there, may Daddy get lost every time he takes a job and get meat stuck in his teeth every time he eats barbecue!"

"Click!"

"Riyao! What are you taking pictures of this time, you bastard?!"

Hearing the shutter, Gildarts jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on and reached for the photo in Riyao's hand.

Riyao slipped out of the way, and the two began chasing each other. He took the opportunity to step on Laxus's foot, and Laxus joined the brawl. Then a full-scale melee broke out, sweeping up the guild members who were drinking there.

"Riyao, you did that on purpose, didn't you? You definitely did."

"I accidentally did it on purpose."

"Lightning Dragon's Crushing Fist."

"Unrivaled brute strength."

"Rules are meant to be broken."

"I brought you braised noodles."

"Magic trick."

A head popped out of a barrel in the corner. Riyao looked at everyone fighting and gave a crooked smile. "Naive, naive."