Ifrit's Bad Taste

Just then.

Boom!

The front doors were kicked open.

A pink-haired boy with spiky hair burst in, accompanied by a flying cat with wings and a beautiful blonde girl.

"I'm back!"

Natsu shouted.

"Welcome back," everyone in the guild replied with smiles.

"You bastard!"

Natsu started causing trouble the moment he came in.

"The Fire Dragon thing was fake, wasn't it? You actually dared to trick me!"

As he spoke, he punched someone flying, smashing several tables and chairs.

"You bastard, Natsu!"

The person he sent flying immediately charged back and grappled with Natsu.

That punch from Natsu seemed to flip some sort of switch, and the guild members suddenly began brawling with one another!

Whoever they saw in front of them, they grabbed and beat up!

"That idiot Natsu is back?!" Gray had sobered up as well and joined the fight.

"Gray!"

"Natsu!"

Ice and fire could never coexist. The two immediately unleashed their magic and went at each other.

In an instant, all kinds of magic lit up the guild hall, escalating the destruction even further.

The chairs, floor, and even the counter were all damaged. Mirajane stood in the corner with Ifrit, her face full of helplessness.

The beautiful blonde girl stood there blankly.

Questions kept surfacing in Lucy's mind: Was this really Fairy Tail, the famous guild known throughout the country?

Suddenly, a chair leg came spinning toward her at high speed.

"Watch out, Miss Lucy."

Someone tugged Lucy aside. She dodged the chair leg, but failed to notice that it vanished after flying out through the guild's front doors.

She turned her head and saw a man standing beside her, someone whose style did not match the Fairy Tail members at all.

"Thank you!" Lucy said gratefully, then asked in confusion, "How did you know my name?"

"I am Ifrit de la Valier, a viscount of House Valier. I saw you once at a reception hosted by your father," Ifrit said with a smile.

Lucy was startled and hurriedly said, "Please keep it a secret!"

"No problem."

"Please, come with me." Ifrit took Lucy's hand and led her toward Mirajane.

"Wait, be careful!" Lucy saw that the fighting here was at its fiercest, with tables, chairs, stools, and magic flying everywhere. Yet this man was actually dragging her straight through the middle of the battlefield!

"Don't worry. You won't get hit." Ifrit looked perfectly calm.

By the time they reached Mirajane, Lucy was still shaken. Tables, chairs, and magic flew over her head, frightening her so badly that her legs went weak. It felt as though she had walked through hell!

But thankfully, she had made it over safely. She looked ahead.

"Huh?!" Lucy cried out in shock.

"Oh?" Mirajane looked slightly surprised as well.

Mirajane remembered that, as soon as the brawl began, she had pulled Ifrit into the corner to avoid getting caught up in it.

Yet Ifrit had brought Lucy over from the entrance.

Two Ifrits?!

The Ifrit Mirajane was holding smiled. "This is my magic, Miss Lucy. Just a trivial illusion, really."

This Ifrit produced a card, flicked his wrist, and it became a Supermarket Coupon.

"A modest gift for our first meeting. Please accept it."

"Thank you." Lucy took the coupon blankly.

"Then, Mr. Ifrit." Mirajane narrowed her eyes and asked with a faintly dangerous smile, "Which one of you is the real one?"

"Well now, which one could it be?" The Ifrit beside Lucy gave a mysterious smile.

Mirajane's eye twitched. Her hand around Ifrit's wrist gradually tightened. The sensation was incredibly real, yet she could not determine whether this was part of Ifrit's "deception."

Mr. Ifrit seemed to have a rather bad sense of humor, Lucy thought.

"Enough, you idiots!"

Suddenly, a giant appeared and stomped Natsu to the ground, frightening everyone into freezing in their current positions.

"Oh my, Guild Master, you were here?" Mirajane asked in surprise.

"Mm." The giant nodded and looked at Lucy. "A newcomer?"

".Yes." Lucy nodded a little fearfully.

The giant rapidly shrank, eventually becoming a short old man dressed in ridiculous clothes. He greeted Lucy kindly. "Pleased to meet you!"

"Huh?" Lucy was stunned.

"So small... Wait, Guild Master, could he be..."

"That's right." Mirajane introduced him with a smile. "This is Fairy Tail's Guild Master, Makarov."

"Heh!"

Makarov flipped up to the second floor, but misjudged the height and slammed his head toward the railing!

Suddenly, a hand caught him, lifted him like a doll, and set him on the railing.

"Eh?!"

Lucy cried out in shock.

The one who had acted was none other than Ifrit!

Standing on the railing, Makarov said, "Ifrit, you're not S-Class. You're not allowed on the second floor!"

"Guild Master, I didn't go up to the second floor." Ifrit's loud reply came from near the entrance of the hall.

"You bastard, Ifrit! Put away your little tricks!" Makarov roared.

In an instant.

Every Ifrit disappeared—the one on the second floor, the one beside Mirajane and Lucy, and even the one who had called back loudly.

At that moment, someone walked in from outside. It was Ifrit, swaying a wineglass filled with orange Sparkling Fruit Drink in his hand.

Damn!

At that moment, nearly everyone felt an overwhelming urge to punch him!

After silencing Ifrit.

Makarov took out a stack of documents and angrily berated everyone.

"You've gone too far again. Look, the Magic Council sent over this many complaint reports again!"

Everyone lowered their heads in shame.

"But!"

Makarov abruptly changed his tone. Flames rose from his palm and burned all the complaint reports to ashes!

He cursed, "The Magic Council can eat shit!"

After cursing, he threw out the fireball, and Natsu leaped up and swallowed it in one bite.

"Listen!"

Makarov told the guild members, who were both ashamed and surprised, "Power that surpasses common sense is born from common sense!"

At the entrance.

Ifrit listened to Makarov's lecture and silently took a sip of Sparkling Water.

He recalled the inspirational words the Guild Master had once told him.

Magic was not the power of miracles.

The ones who made miracles happen were the people who used magic!

But compared to those powerful magics.

Could his weak Deception Magic also create miracles?

Inside.

Makarov shouted, "Don't care about anyone else's gaze! Move forward on the path you believe in! That is what it means to be a Fairy Tail mage!"

"Yeah!!!"

Following their Guild Master, everyone raised their thumbs and index fingers and cheered happily.

Ifrit at the entrance also smiled and raised his hand, copying the somewhat childish gesture.

"However." The Guild Master's expression changed. Looking at the ruins below, he said with a dark face, "You idiots have turned the guild into a complete mess again. You will restore it exactly as it was!"

"Yes..." everyone sighed in unison.

"Don't worry, Guild Master."

Ifrit's voice came from below.

Everyone blinked.

The scene before them completely changed!

Broken walls?

Smashed tables and chairs?

Shattered floors?

None of those existed!

The tables and chairs were neatly stacked in the corner.

Everyone was gathered together, standing on a smooth, level, undamaged floor.

Mirajane was still standing behind the counter.

Lucy stood in front of the counter.

Ifrit sat on a stool beside her, swirling a wineglass filled with Sparkling Fruit Drink in his left hand. He smiled and said, "Actually, nothing was damaged."

Makarov gave Ifrit a deep look.

"IFRIT!!!!"

The crowd's roar nearly shattered the ceiling!