All "Acquaintances"

After hurriedly borrowing money from Makarov, Ul finally managed to send the carriage on its way!

When Ul returned to the guild, Makarov was still completely dumbfounded...

"Thanks, Master. I'll pay you back as soon as I can..."

Ul walked over to Makarov and spoke.

Only when Ul spoke did Makarov finally snap out of it. He rubbed his forehead with a headache and slowly asked, "Ul, did you fail your job?"

"No!"

"You didn't?" Makarov stared at him in surprise.

He'd assumed Ul had run out of money for the carriage because he'd failed the job. After all, though D-rank jobs weren't difficult, they were mostly taken by new mages, so the success rate wasn't all that high.

So Makarov wouldn't have been surprised if Ul had told him he'd failed.

But now Ul was telling him he'd completed the job, which only made Makarov more puzzled.

"Then what happened to your reward? Didn't the person who posted the job pay you?"

"Uh... I did get paid, but something came up, so I spent it all!" Ul scratched his head, looking awkward and a little embarrassed.

"Spent it all?" Makarov opened his mouth, at a loss for words.

If he remembered correctly, that job had offered the highest reward of any D-rank job!

Sigh. Another one who gives me no end of trouble, Makarov thought.

He'd been prepared for this, but now that it was actually happening, he couldn't help feeling utterly exhausted...

Compared with the day Ul had first joined the guild, there were noticeably more people inside when he returned this time.

It took only a few glances.

He'd already spotted several "acquaintances"!

"Hey, Ul! Long time no see. I didn't expect you to join the guild too!"

At the familiar voice, Ul turned around and immediately saw Natsu, beaming brightly, with little Happy behind him, drooling.

"Hi! Long time no see, Ul... slurp... Those fish on your back look delicious!"

"?(°﹃.?)"

From the moment Happy appeared, he hadn't looked at Ul at all. He was staring fixedly at the two huge fish strapped to Ul's back, practically drooling with longing...

These were the gifts Granny Is had given Ul.

The fish in Granny Is's pond had been raised until they were practically magical. These two might have looked big, but in that pond they were only medium-sized. If Ul hadn't been too weak to carry it, Granny Is had even planned to give him the "King of Fish"!

Ul had thick skin!

But even he felt a little embarrassed around an old woman like Granny Is!

After all, he'd only gone to complete a job, yet somehow ended up with more than he could handle. It was just... beyond words!

"Happy, do me a favor. Find someone to prepare these two fish. I'm treating everyone to fish today."

Though Ul had hurried back to the guild by carriage, in this hot weather the two huge fish obviously couldn't stay out of the water for long!

So before they spoiled, Ul decided to have them prepared and take the opportunity to get to know the guild members better!

"Right! I understand!"

At Ul's words, the little glutton Happy's eyes lit up. He eagerly agreed, then scampered off to find someone!

Only then did Ul turn his attention back to the guild...

The Fairy Tail guild always seemed exceptionally noisy, with an atmosphere full of all kinds of "cheer"...

For instance, Natsu, who'd just been talking to Ul, had already started a "friendly" argument with a black-haired boy who was bare-chested and wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. They kept exchanging "kind greetings"!

"You damn pervert..."

"You coal-burning cinder..."

"Idiot!"

"Moron!"

"Bastard, you wanna fight?"

"Bring it on! I'm not scared of you!"

After trading a few "greetings," the two quickly "embraced" and began rolling around on the floor...

As they rolled, they soon caused a few "accidental injuries" in the already crowded guild. Before long, the brawl spread...

In the blink of an eye!

The guild was a scene of drunken "brawling," with bottles and furniture flying everywhere. Even flashes of magic began to appear among the chaos!

"Will you all stop it this instant?!"

At last, just before a group of mages could unleash their magic, a young but authoritative female voice suddenly rang through the guild!

The next moment!

Everyone in the guild froze in place, except for Natsu and the black-haired boy, who were still grappling with each other.

Thud, thud, thud.

Accompanied by heavy footsteps,

Ul saw a girl with long blood-red hair and a stern expression step out from the crowd. She was clad head to toe in knight's armor, and slowly made her way in front of Natsu and the black-haired boy...

Then... she raised her hand!

Everyone heard two heavy thuds. The girl knocked Natsu and the black-haired boy flat with a pair of powerful punches. Bumps sprang up on their heads, and they stared dazedly, seeing stars!

At the sight!

The others who'd been fighting just moments earlier broke into a cold sweat. They trembled, terrified that the girl might punch them too...

Ul: "Uh..."

"This really is a familiar scene!"

He'd often seen this scene in the anime, but seeing it with his own eyes still gave him an unreal, almost dreamlike feeling.

These were all "acquaintances" of Ul's!

The black-haired boy was Gray Fullbuster, one of the important supporting characters in the Fairy Tail anime and Natsu's archrival. He used Ice Make Magic, and his strength was on par with Natsu's!

The girl with blood-red hair was Erza Scarlet, later known as Titania. She was a prodigy who passed the S-Class Mage examination at fifteen, and was incredibly powerful. She used a special form of Requip Magic known as "The Knight"!

These two were both major characters in the anime, nothing like a supporting character such as Wakaba!

After dealing with the "problem" inside the guild, Erza finally walked over to Ul and Makarov.

She gave Ul a curious glance, then turned to Makarov and asked, "Master, who is he...?"

"Oh! That's right, you haven't met him yet!" Makarov seemed to remember something. His one-meter-tall body hopped onto the counter in a flash, and he called out to everyone, "Let me introduce you all. This is the new member I told you about, the one who joined our guild a few days ago: Ul Gilde!"