The S-Class Exam Begins Again

That afternoon, Jiang Bai was sprawled out on his private sofa in the corner of the guild, a sofa that Erza and Mirajane had reinforced dozens of times in turn, with his ever-present unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth, enjoying a rare moment of peace and quiet.

A short figure appeared silently beside the sofa, casting a disproportionate shadow.

"Cough cough."

Makarov cleared his throat.

Jiang Bai didn't even bother to lift his eyelids, only mumbling indistinctly, "Grandpa, if you have something to say, say it quickly. If not, don't disturb me while I'm contemplating life."

"You'll still be the examiner for this year's S-Class Mage Promotion Exam, kid."

Makarov went straight to the point, announcing it in an unquestionable tone.

The cigarette that Jiang Bai had been holding in his mouth instantly fell onto his chest.

He sat up abruptly, his face screaming "Are you kidding me?", and his sleepiness vanished instantly.

"No way, old man?"

Jiang Bai looked at Makarov with a disgusted expression. "Too much trouble! I just finished testing Laxus the year before last, and it was me last year too. Shouldn't it be that old man Gildarts' turn this year?"

He didn't want to go through that exhausting, tedious process again.

Makarov stood with his hands behind his back, looking completely at ease.

"Oh, you mean Gildarts?"

The old man looked up at the sky, his tone calm, "After he recognized his daughter last time, he was so happy that he took on a 100-Year Quest to calm down, and he hasn't returned yet."

"I wrote to him, and he said that having you in the guild is enough, and that the older generation should make way for outstanding young people like you."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Bai's temple throbbed involuntarily.

"Make way?!" He jumped up from the sofa in anger, his voice so loud that everyone in the guild turned to look. "Bullshit! That lecherous guy is definitely using the quest as an excuse to run off to some backwater again! He just doesn't want any trouble!"

Makarov glanced at the furious Jiang Bai and simply stroked his beard leisurely.

"There's nothing we can do about it. These days, besides Gildarts's away, the only S-Class Mages left in the guild are you and Laxus."

The old man shrugged, his face showing a "I'm helpless too" expression.

Jiang Bai choked instantly.

He certainly knew this situation. Let that stubborn Laxus be the examiner?

Judging from his current attitude of "everyone here except me and Jiang Bai is trash," he'll probably electrocute the candidates into charcoal before the assessment even starts, and blow up the guild in the process.

Jiang Bai let out a long sigh, slumped back onto the sofa, and waved his hand weakly.

"Fine, fine, I guess I'm just unlucky."

He resigned himself to his fate.

But then, as if suddenly remembering something, Jiang Bai abruptly opened his eyes and stared sharply at Makarov.

"Wait a minute, Grandpa." Jiang Bai sat up straight, a suspicious look on his face. "Tell me first, who's on this year's list?"

Well...

Makarov's gaze immediately drifted to the other side, avoiding eye contact with Jiang Bai, and he coughed twice.

You'll find out then; there's no surprise if I tell you now.

Seeing the old man's guilty expression, Jiang Bai immediately understood.

Two figures instantly appeared in his mind, one crimson and one silver-white, colliding with each other with world-destroying magic.

Jiang Bai's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

"No!"

He sprang up from the sofa again, grabbing Makarov's shoulders tightly and shaking him violently.

"Grandpa! Do you want me to die?! Erza and Mirajane, no matter who wins, how am I supposed to persuade the other one? What's the difference between this and throwing me straight into hell?!"

Makarov was so dizzy from being shaken that he realized Jiang Bai had already guessed it, so he simply stopped pretending.

"Cough cough! Let go! You brat!"

Makarov shook off Jiang Bai's hand, jumped onto the table next to him, put his hands on his hips, and struck a pose of chairman's authority.

"Then I'm not going to bother with it! Anyway, this is all your own messy affair!"

The old man pointed at Jiang Bai's nose, looking at him with a disappointed expression.

"You want to enjoy the best of both worlds, but now you don't want to bear the consequences? There's no such thing as a free lunch!"

As he spoke, Makarov's tone suddenly changed. He squatted down, covered his face with his hands, and his shoulders began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Waaaaah... I wish I could be surrounded by two such beautiful and capable girls... Youth is so wonderful... Waaaaah..."

He was so envious that he burst into tears on the spot.

Jiang Bai: "..."

Seeing Makarov squatting on the table, crying his eyes out, Jiang Bai's expression froze completely.

The muscles in his cheeks twitched violently twice, and his outstretched hand froze in mid-air. For a moment, he didn't know whether to complain or offer comfort first.

Finally, Jiang Bai let out a long sigh, feeling as if he were raising a spoiled child who would never grow up.

He resignedly stepped forward, reached out, and patted Makarov's bald head absently.

"Alright, alright, old man, that's enough."

Jiang Bai's voice was full of helplessness, "At your age, still crying like that? If word gets out, what will become of your reputation as the head of Fairy Tail?"

Unexpectedly, this attempt at comforting him backfired, and Makarov cried even harder.

"Waaaaah... I'm already this old... and you're only sixteen, and you're already... Waaaaah... It's not fair!"

Jiang Bai: "..."

He decided to give up on communication.

Seeing that the old man was crying harder and harder, showing no sign of stopping, Jiang Bai had no choice but to use his trump card.

"Since that's the case," Jiang Bai's voice rang out lazily, "Then let's just cancel this year's S-Class Exam. It's such a hassle anyway. I'm going back to sleep."

The crying stopped abruptly.

Makarov suddenly raised his head, two clear tear tracks still on his face, but his eyes had regained the shrewdness of a chairman.

"Ahem! Who said it was canceled!"

Jiang Bai knew this would be the outcome. He shrugged and directly offered his solution.

"Since you're afraid of trouble, and so am I, let's keep things simple."

His gaze drifted into the distance, as if he could already see the two figures locked in fierce combat. "Let them both come at me and fight. Whoever lasts the longest under my blade will be this year's S-Class Mage. How about it?"

Makarov paused for a moment, then a glint of shrewdness flashed in his small eyes.

He thought about it carefully, and it was indeed an excellent idea.

This would test the limits of both Erza and Mirajane, prevent them from fighting to the death in the final showdown, and most importantly, pass this huge trouble back to the instigator, Jiang Bai.

"Yes!" Makarov slapped his thigh and made the decision on the spot.

But then, as if remembering something, his expression turned serious, and he solemnly instructed:

"But you have to be careful with your approach! You need to make them clearly feel the gap between you and them, and recognize their own shortcomings, but you can't go too far, understand?"

Jiang Bai pursed his lips, giving him a "Isn't that obvious?" look.

"I know, do you think I could really beat them both so badly they couldn't get out of bed?"

He paused, then suddenly changed the subject, a meaningful smile appearing on his face, identical to Makarov's.

"However, in two years... they might really be bedridden."

Makarov was taken aback at first, but then immediately understood the deeper meaning.

"Hey-hey..."

"Hey-hey..."

An old man and a young man, their two lewd and smirking laughs quietly echoed in a corner of the guild hall, filled with an unspoken understanding that only men could comprehend.