S-Class Mission

After Mystogan left, everyone slowly woke up.

"This feeling... That's right, it was him, Mystogan."

"That Sleep Magic was really powerful."

When Lucy woke up, she found that the Quest Slip in her hand was gone, leaving her thoroughly confused.

"Huh? What happened?"

Mirajane explained, "If nothing unexpected happened, it was Mystogan."

"Mystogan? Who's that?"

Gray explained, "He's one of the candidates for strongest."

"Isn't Ye Yang the strongest? Why are there candidates too? And why did he put everyone in the guild to sleep?"

Mirajane said, "He doesn't want anyone in the guild to see what he looks like, so whenever he comes to take a quest, he puts everyone to sleep. Only the Guild Master and Ye Yang have seen his face."

Lucy said, "The way you put it, he sounds really suspicious!"

"I've seen him too." A voice suddenly came from the guild's second floor.

Everyone looked toward the second floor.

A young man with short blond hair, a lightning-shaped mark over his left eye, and headphones over his ears stood there, smiling at them.

"Mystogan is very shy, so you'd better stop talking about him."

The moment Natsu saw Laxus come out, he shouted, "Laxus, come duel me!"

Laxus teased, "Didn't Erza just beat you up?"

"Come down here!"

"Come up here."

"Yeah!" Natsu wrapped his hands in flames and leaped upward. Just as he was about to reach the second floor, Makarov slapped him straight back down.

"You're not qualified to go up there yet."

Laxus said disdainfully, "You can't even handle Erza, and you want to duel me?"

Erza's anger flared at once when she heard that.

"What did you say?!"

Makarov snapped, "You shut up too, Laxus!"

After being rebuked by Makarov, Laxus's expression darkened as well.

"Hmph. Whether it's you, Mystogan, or that guy over there playing dead, I'm the strongest person in this guild! Once I inherit the guild, I'll drive all you weaklings out! I'll build the strongest guild!" With a flash of lightning, he vanished from where he stood.

The guild suddenly fell silent.

Lucy asked in confusion, "And who's that guy?"

Gray answered, "He's also one of the candidates for strongest. He's the Guild Master's biological grandson."

"Then what did the Guild Master mean when he said we can't go to the second floor?"

Mirajane explained, "Lucy, you know that quests are taken from the quest board over there, right?"

"Yeah."

"Actually, there's more than one quest board in the guild. There's another one on the second floor."

"There's another one?!"

"That's right. The first-floor board only holds A-Class quests and below, while the second floor holds S-Class quests and above."

"S-Class?" Lucy stared at Mirajane in shock. It was her first time hearing of quests ranked like that.

"That's right. Only people recognized by the Guild Master can accept the quests upstairs."

"So far, there are only six people: Erza, Mystogan, Gildarts, Laxus, Ye Yang, and me."

"Huh?!" Lucy stared at Mirajane in surprise.

"Miss Mirajane, you're so young. Why did you retire?"

"Well, a lot happened. In any case, remember this: S-Class Missions are extremely dangerous. One wrong decision, and you could lose your life."

"Of course, S-Class Missions also pay very well. The minimum reward starts at 5,000,000 Jewel."

At the mention of money, Lucy couldn't help looking at Ye Yang.

"So that's why this guy can buy so many houses?"

Mirajane smiled and answered, "More or less, but... never mind. Lucy, you have to remember that no number of lives would be enough for an S-Class Mission."

"Mm-hm, I understand. S-Class means monsters."

"Haha, there's nothing wrong with putting it that way."

Time passed quickly, and soon evening arrived.

Lucy headed home alone.

"I've more or less figured out the guild's combat strength now. At the top is the Guild Master, then that unknown Uncle, and then S-Class mages like Laxus."

"As for Ye Yang, his strength is really hard to judge. Although he's called the strongest mage, there might be a lot of exaggeration in that."

When Lucy returned home, she found Natsu in her room, lifting a Dumbbell.

"Yo, Lucy, you're back!"

"Yo my ass!" She kicked Natsu straight into the wall.

"What are you two doing sneaking into my house again?!"

Natsu acted as if nothing had happened after being kicked.

"Hehe, of course we came to ask you to do a quest with us."

As he spoke, Natsu placed the Quest Slip in front of Lucy.

Lucy held up the Quest Slip and examined it carefully.

"Garna Island, the Cursed Island, ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten-thousands..."

"7,000,000 Jewel?!!"

"What kind of quest is this? Why does it pay so much money?!"

"The reward is practically on par with an S-Class Mission?!"

Natsu grinned. "This is an S-Class Mission. I specifically had Happy take it. It's even the cheapest one, since it's our first time doing an S-Class Mission."

"Aye~"

At that moment, Lucy remembered what Mirajane had told her.

"But... aren't we not allowed to take one without the Guild Master's permission?"

Natsu said confidently, "It's fine. As long as we complete the mission, Old Man will recognize us."

Natsu continued tempting her, "And once we finish this mission, we'll have the rent all at once~"

Happy said, "We won't have to worry about rent for a while~"

Lucy had to admit that she was persuaded by one human and one cat.

"Ah! Honestly, you two are impossible. But just so we're clear, you two split it fifty-fifty with me."

Happy's eyes instantly turned into the shape of money.

"Lucy, you're so generous! You're letting Natsu and me split it fifty-fifty while you don't take any!"

"What are you thinking? I split it fifty-fifty with you two, then you and Natsu split your half fifty-fifty!"

Now that Lucy had agreed, Natsu didn't care how the money would be divided. He immediately climbed out through Lucy's window.

"Can't you two just leave properly through the door?!!"

Early the next morning, inside the Fairy Tail guild.

Makarov sipped hot tea with a contented expression.

"What a peaceful day. It would be nice if it could stay like this forever."

"But why is it so quiet today?"

Just then, Mirajane hurried down from the second floor.

"This is bad, Guild Master! One Quest Slip is missing from the second floor!"

"Pfft--!!"

"What?!!"

"How could a Quest Slip be missing? Who isn't here in the guild?"

Gray looked around for a while.

"It's Natsu! And Lucy! No wonder I kept feeling like something was missing today. Those two are gone."

A voice suddenly came from the second floor.

"Last night, I saw a cat carrying off a sheet of paper in its mouth."

Everyone immediately realized.

"It was Happy!"