Erza: Is This How You Express Love, Ifrit?

"Ur's ice turned into water and flowed into the sea. Even so, Ur is still alive."

"You should move on soon too, and return to the right path. Don't make Ur and me worry about you anymore."

"Hmph, you're the junior disciple. It's not your place to lecture your senior!"

Deliora was dead.

Everything signified an ending.

Leo had finally made peace with his obsession with the past. Though he was still rather tsundere, he had at least recognized his mistake and reconciled with Gray.

However, Gray's problem being resolved did not mean everything had been resolved.

"Great! We completed an S-Class job too!" Natsu bounced around happily.

"Mm-hmm!" Lucy stood beside him, looking at him with a hint of admiration. She had to admit, that final punch Natsu threw at Deliora had been insanely cool!

"Heh." Gray leaned against a rock, looking relaxed and pleased with himself as well.

"Ahem." Ifrit coughed twice as a reminder.

"What is it, Ifrit? Don't spoil the mood," Natsu said unhappily.

"Ifrit, you look terrible. Did you use too much magic power?" Lucy asked with concern.

"..." The relaxed smile on Gray's face froze. Compared to Natsu, his steadier nature had allowed him to notice something was wrong from Ifrit's unusual behavior.

"Natsu." Happy tugged on Natsu's sleeve, signaling for him to look in Erza's direction.

Natsu and Lucy looked over, and their smug expressions instantly froze in terror!

Cold sweat broke out on Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Happy.

Ifrit lowered his head and remained silent. He did not want to get caught in the crossfire.

"That's right, our punishment is still waiting for us!" Lucy's expression collapsed. She cupped her face in her hands and let out a silent scream, like that famous painting—The Scream.

Erza's face darkened.

Everyone's bodies and expressions stiffened.

"Before that, there is something else we need to do. The commission was not to defeat Deliora," Erza said.

"That's right!" Lucy remembered. "We have to save the villagers who turned into demons!"

"But..." She then asked in confusion, "Deliora is already dead. Shouldn't the village's curse have been lifted?"

"Lucy, those two things don't have much to do with each other," Ifrit reminded her.

"Then what exactly is going on?" Lucy was puzzled.

"I roughly understand now," Erza said. "Let's return to the village and verify it."

Though her expression was not very pleasant, she still asked with concern, "You can all still move, right?"

"No problem." Natsu was full of energy.

"I'm fine too." Gray nodded as well.

"Aye!" Happy answered decisively.

"I'm exhausted, but I'm fine!" Lucy squeezed her calf, whose muscles were aching badly.

"Lucy, don't force yourself," Ifrit said.

"Huh?" Lucy hurriedly said, "I'm not!"

"If you force yourself to keep walking while tired, your calves might get really thick," Ifrit warned her with a serious expression.

"Huh? Really?!" Lucy jumped in fright. She definitely did not want thicker calves!

"Or they might become covered in muscles, like Natsu's," Ifrit added.

"I don't want that!" Lucy loudly refused.

"What's wrong with looking like me?" Natsu said unhappily.

He turned his calves this way and that, inspecting them. They had both explosive power and endurance—how great was that?

"So..." Ifrit looked at Natsu and said solemnly, "I'll leave the important task of protecting Lucy's beauty and charm to you, Natsu!"

"Though I don't really get it..." Natsu scratched his head carelessly. "Anyway, just tell me what you want me to do."

"Carry Lucy on your back," Ifrit said.

"You should've said so earlier. Though Lucy is very—"

"Shut up and get moving! Erza is already getting impatient!"

Natsu was about to say something tactless when Ifrit loudly cut him off.

"Yes!" Natsu jumped in fright. He glanced at Erza's icy expression, then hurriedly grabbed Lucy and tossed her onto his back.

"Hey, hey..." Lucy had just been about to say something, but when she saw Erza's face, she decisively shut her mouth.

This was fine too...

She could rest for a while.

What if her legs really got thicker, or became covered in muscles?

"..."

Erza remained expressionless.

Well, she simply had not shown any expression just now. Inside, she was thrilled beyond measure!

How could she not be happy to see her foolish little brother finally having some luck with women?

But...

She really could not show too much emotion, or these guys would get carried away!

Speaking of which...

Ifrit.

Erza looked at Ifrit, and the smile she had nearly failed to suppress vanished at once, as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water over her.

Natsu's situation was easy enough to solve. Lucy was a good girl.

Gray was quite popular too.

The real headache was Ifrit, who seemed to have the highest emotional intelligence and intelligence of them all.

She truly had no idea what kind of girl could tame that troublesome fellow.

"Alright, it's time to go, Erza," Ifrit reminded her.

"Mm." Erza nodded.

Everyone headed toward the village.

"Ifrit..." Lucy lay sprawled over Natsu's back, her face full of helplessness. "Even if you wanted to take pictures, couldn't you use your magic so I wouldn't notice? Who takes photos by shoving the camera right in someone's face like that?!"

"By the way," Gray asked curiously, "Ifrit, why do you like taking pictures so much?"

Ifrit lowered his camera with a satisfied expression and sighed.

"You only get one life. Anything might happen only this one time right before your eyes."

"The first time you hold hands, the first time you care for someone, the first time you carry someone on your back, the first princess carry."

"The feelings brought by those first times are incomparable to the second, third, or however many times that come afterward."

"And it's not just first times. There are many things that seem meaningless, but are actually worth remembering."

"In short, they are all precious and beautiful."

"Of course I want to record them."

"I'll compile them into an album, then give it to all of you at a special time."

"I see." Erza's gaze became incredibly gentle. Rarely, she removed one of her gauntlets and stroked Ifrit's head as she softly asked, "Is this how you express love?"

"So cheesy, Erza." Ifrit immediately dodged two steps away and said with a smile, "Actually, I was just joking. I mostly want to photograph these things so I can laugh at all of you later. Hahaha—ah!"

After laughing only a few times, Ifrit was punched in the stomach by Erza.

His laughter came to an abrupt stop.

"Can't you just accept praise properly for once?" Gray said helplessly.

"Tch."

With a twist of his wrist, Ifrit turned the camera into a card and slipped it back into his pocket.

Everyone returned to the village.

Erza was, after all, an experienced S-Class mage.

She was not a reckless brute like Natsu, nor was she a newcomer like Lucy.

She always felt that things were not that simple.