Who Are You Calling a Kid, Bastard?

After a chaotic scuffle, Erza finally put away her longsword, panting heavily. Riyao then patted his clothes and pretended to examine Irene's body.

He placed two fingers on little Irene's slender wrist, closed his eyes, and felt it for a moment before his playful expression slowly faded.

He frowned, occasionally letting out a "tsk tsk" sound, looking very serious and as if the situation was extremely difficult. Finally, he shook his head heavily.

This display, resembling a terminal diagnosis, terrified the people surrounding them, making their hearts race and leaving them too afraid to even breathe.

Erza's face paled, and she stepped forward to grab Riyao's arm, her voice tightening.

"Riyao, what happened? Tell me!"

Could it be that the cleansing of the Dragon Force left some irreversible aftereffects, or that its very life essence was damaged and it won't live much longer?

Under the watchful eyes of seven or eight tense figures in the room, Riyao slowly withdrew his hand, opened his palm, and sighed.

"It's nothing, it's just that Irene needs to grow up like a normal child."

The air was deathly silent for two seconds.

Large veins bulged on everyone's foreheads as they glared at the unscrupulous doctor who was deliberately panting heavily, their fists clenching so tightly they cracked.

Why are you putting on this melodramatic show of life and death just to say something so pointless?

Irene, the person involved, breathed a sigh of relief, swung her short legs that were dangling in mid-air, and sighed while holding her face in her hands.

"That's good. Speaking of which, Erza hasn't even called me 'Mom' yet. Waaah, I'm so sad and upset."

As Irene spoke, she raised her wide sleeve to wipe away non-existent tears from the corners of her eyes, whimpering and putting on a very distressed and sad appearance, but the corners of her mouth that were turned up high never came down from beginning to end.

No wonder he's a cunning old fox who's lived for four hundred years. Once he lets go of his psychological burden, his scheming and cunning nature is exactly the same as Mirajane's!

Brush!

Everyone turned to look at Erza, their ears perked up and eyes wide, eager to see what this usually imposing Titania would do.

Stared at by so many gossipy eyes, Erza froze on the spot, took two steps forward awkwardly, her cheeks flushed red, and opened her mouth.

"@%*→+"

It felt like there was a wad of cotton stuck in her throat; she mumbled something indistinctly, her voice so soft it was like a mosquito's hum, and no one present could understand what she was saying.

Irene blinked her big eyes, clapped her hands, and a sly glint flashed in her crimson eyes.

"Since I'm a child now, how about I call Erza' Mommy'?"

I think it's good.

Without even a second's hesitation, Riyao gave a thumbs up and immediately agreed. This is so much fun!

Puff--

Erza, standing nearby, heard this outrageous suggestion. Her mind wandered, and suddenly white smoke billowed from her head. Her eyes turned into the shape of mosquito coils and began spinning in circles. She swayed unsteadily, almost crashing and restarting on the spot.

Seeing this, Riyao and Mirajane exchanged a knowing glance and mentally gave each other a thumbs-up.

Ever since Erza gradually developed a resistance to the cloying sweetness of their lovey-dovey relationship, the Riyao Couple has finally found a new weakness in Erza!

Now there will be so much fun to do in the guild!

But jokes aside, Erza's feelings for Irene are very complicated. She was abandoned in Rosemary Village when she was a child. Although she could vaguely guess her mother's suffering after hearing the previous secrets, there was still a knot in her heart that she couldn't untie.

After a while, Erza's chest heaved violently as she finally snapped out of her dazed state. Her right hand gripped the hilt of her sword tightly, her eyes darting around, and she looked as if she wanted to find someone to hack at and slash to vent her shame.

Seeing that things were going badly, Riyao and Mirajane, quite obediently, took small, quick steps and silently retreated, hiding behind Gray and Natsu.

You can't fleece a sheep all at once, or make it immune to all the tricks at once. You have to take it slow; haste makes waste.

The others shook their heads vigorously, none of them daring to provoke Erza at this critical juncture.

Erza composed herself, stepped forward, and scooped up the tiny, bean-sized Irene like a doll, holding her in her arms. She then strode quickly to a secluded corner on the other side of the tree canopy. She wanted to talk to Irene alone and verify some things that had been hidden in her heart for many years.

Everyone wisely refrained from following them, giving the mother and daughter ample privacy, and returned to their seats to continue eating and chatting around the barbecue grill.

To everyone's surprise, Riyao, who is usually eager to stir up trouble, actually sat quietly cross-legged in place, neither joining in the commotion nor engaging in any underhanded tactics.

This was completely unlike him. Lucy, Levy, and Lisanna all narrowed their eyes, suspiciously looking Riyao and Mirajane up and down.

Feeling uneasy under his gaze, Riyao put down his chopsticks and glared back defiantly.

"Why are you looking at me? Do I have words on my face? What kind of person do you take me for? This is a real reunion between mother and daughter, how could I possibly disturb them, really."

Riyao patted his chest and spoke with righteous indignation, his back ramrod straight, looking every bit the upright and honest gentleman, without a trace of guilt on his face.

Gray, who was munching on an ice cube nearby, sneered, thinking to himself that this guy couldn't possibly be that calm.

They were childhood friends who grew up together in the guild, so he could guess most of what was going on in this guy's mind even with his eyes closed.

After looking around for a long time and finding no evidence of the crime, Gray got tired of continuing and quietly ate his barbecue, lest this cunning fellow use it as an excuse to hang him from a tree branch.

However, what neither of them noticed was that beneath the strands of hair hanging by their ears, Riyao and Mirajane each had a Little Parasol leaf attached to them, the surface of which was shimmering with a faint green light.

Just kidding, this entire towering Parasol Tree is Riyao's absolute home ground, nurtured by the magic of his life. Just because he says he won't disturb it doesn't mean he won't eavesdrop live!

Two hundred meters away Erza's hesitant question was being transmitted in high definition, word for word, through the bio-sonar system formed by the leaves into the couple's ears.

While eavesdropping, Riyao leaned close to Mirajane's ear and whispered something.

"How could I not be curious about something so interesting? Hehehe."

Hehehe.

Mirajane listened with great interest, and influenced by the Riyao's laughter, he subconsciously covered his mouth and let out a strange, eerie laugh.

After she finished laughing, she realized that she had ruined her image. Embarrassed and annoyed, she reached out and tugged at Riyao's cheek, making his mouth look like a flat duck's beak.

On the other side, Lucy, unaware of the truth, looked up at the five different colored gourds remaining on the tree branch above her head.

"By the way, when will the remaining gourds land? I'm quite curious if the first guild master will become even smaller."

After all, Mavis was originally the size of a thirteen-year-old little girl. If she shrank even further proportionally, wouldn't she become a baby doll that you could hold in your arms?

Riyao rubbed his cheeks, which were red from being pulled, and answered casually.

"Irene is probably around 12 years old now, like the original version. Those who know, know."

Originally, the bone age was twelve or thirteen. After the curse was washed away and the body was reshaped, at most, the person would just stay in the same place and it would be impossible for them to reverse aging and become an infant.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a furious, shrill shout suddenly erupted from above.

"You bastard!! Who are you calling a child, you brat junior!"

Everyone looked up sharply and saw the light golden gourd on the branch shaking violently from side to side in anger, its skin bulging with each movement.

Riyao raised an eyebrow, a look of surprise on his face. His body hadn't even fully formed before landing, and he had already regained his self-awareness.

"As expected of the first generation, it's much better than the other gourds."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a weak, slightly embarrassed, gentle male voice came from not far away.

"Um, I'm awake too."

This time, it was the pure black gourd hanging diagonally opposite that swayed gently, as if it were politely greeting everyone.

Riyao's lips twitched; he had almost forgotten about Zeref.

Thinking about it carefully, it makes sense. Both of them have exceptionally strong mental abilities. One has the mind of Fairy Tactician with a photographic memory, and the other has lived for over four hundred years under a curse and has researched countless dark magics. They are both top performers in the mental realm.

"Oh!"

Upon hearing the black gourd speak, Natsu's eyes lit up instantly as he was lying on the ground gnawing on a bone. He dropped the bone and ran over, poking the black gourd with his finger, his eyes full of curiosity and excitement.

He scratched his messy cherry-blossom hair, counted on his fingers for a moment, then put his hands on his hips and flashed a bright, white smile at the black gourd.

"Riyao said you all looked to be 12 years old when you came out, so you should call me 'brother' now!"

"..."

The black gourd, which had been swaying, froze instantly and became completely still.