Is There a Guild Forbidden Zone Too?

"Laxus?" Mira stood slightly in front of Rhode, raising an arm to shield him.

"Rhode only joined the guild the day before yesterday. He was just practicing magic."

"Magic? That?" Laxus sneered. "Don't make me laugh! What use could that pathetically weak magic power possibly have?"

Worm trembled in fright. Rhode frowned; this was the worst attitude he had encountered since joining the guild.

Even Ms. Porlyusica, who claimed to hate humans, was exceptionally thorough when tending to the wounded.

But this guy in front of him looked like he genuinely disliked him...

No, it was not dislike. It felt more like contempt. He seemed to radiate a sense of superiority from head to toe.

Rhode had only just arrived and did not want to cause trouble. "If I disturbed you just now, I apologize."

"So it's not just his magic power. Even his personality is pathetically weak... I really don't know what the old man sees in taking in someone like this."

Laxus looked down below. This time, he was no longer speaking only to Rhode, nor was he speaking only to Mira.

"Fairy Tail already has enough weaklings. Why are people like them qualified to be my comrades? Huh?"

Those words angered many people in the tavern, especially Natsu and Gray.

The two, who had been behaving under Erza's suppression, slapped the table and stood up. "What did you say?"

The sound of glass bottoms striking tabletops rang out from the other tables as well. Everyone glared displeasedly at the blond youth upstairs.

"That Laxus guy is still the same as ever!"

Erza stopped chatting with her friends and said coldly, "No matter what, what you said was too much, Laxus."

Laxus met Erza's gaze, looking ready to draw swords. "Oh? Erza, are you going to stand up for these pieces of—"

"Enough!" Makarov had sobered up at some point. He slapped a job request onto the table.

"Laxus, there's a request here specifically for you. Go deal with it first."

"..." Laxus looked at Makarov, but Makarov did not even raise his head to look at him.

He snorted, went downstairs to pick up the request, then turned and left. "Boring."

Everyone watched Laxus leave, all of them more or less dissatisfied with him.

Natsu looked furious, as if he might rush up to start a fight at any moment, but Gray had hooked an arm around his neck and held him back tightly.

In a corner of the tavern, two men and a woman silently stood up and followed Laxus.

The atmosphere in the tavern cooled after they left. It was quite a while before everyone sat back down and conversation gradually resumed.

"Sorry for causing everyone trouble."

Rhode felt that Laxus might have some issues, but today's conflict had started because of him. Next time, it would be better to practice in the courtyard.

"It has nothing to do with you. That guy has always been like this." Laki curled her lip. "If he weren't the Master's grandson, he would have been thrown out long—"

"Laki!" Mira stopped her from continuing. The Master must have been hurting more than anyone over what Laxus had become.

"He's the Master's grandson?" Rhode compared the tall, upright Laxus with the short yet stout Master.

You really couldn't tell.

"That's right, he's my grandson, but..." Makarov looked toward the guild's entrance.

"I'm sorry. It's my responsibility that Laxus became like this. Don't take what he said to heart."

"No, no, you don't need to apologize..." Rhode could more or less guess what had happened.

Following the usual story trope, the kid had probably been told things like, "As expected of the Master's grandson," ever since he was little, and had developed a rebellious streak because of it.

At first, it would not have been much, but over time, he had started wanting to earn recognition through his own abilities, rather than through the identity of being "the Master's grandson."

Konohamaru from that other series seemed to have been like that too.

The difference was that Laxus had been rebellious for rather a long time, and he seemed to have gone a little off track.

Rhode thought back but truly could not recall anything related to Laxus.

Still, since Tatsuya had said it was a happy ending, this kid would probably straighten himself out eventually...

The guild gradually returned to its usual bustle.

The sun sank behind the western hills, and night fell.

The guild's lights had already been lit. Only a few scattered patrons remained in the tavern, drinking and chatting.

Rhode was ready to split up with Laki and begin sweeping.

"I'll handle downstairs by myself today." Laki said apologetically, "Since I came so late this morning."

Rhode said, "Then I'll do upstairs."

Laki stopped him. "No, upstairs has to be left for Mira to clean."

"Huh?" Rhode did not understand. "It would be the same if I did it. Mira worked hard today too."

"No means no." Laki said, "The guild has rules. Other than a few people who have been approved, no one else is allowed on the second floor."

"...Why?"

How was this like a martial arts novel? Did they have a guild forbidden zone too?

"Because there's a special notice board on the second floor, and it's covered with extremely difficult S-Class requests." Laki explained.

"The rewards are considerable, but one careless mistake can cost you your life. That's why only S-Class Mages are allowed to go to the second floor to accept requests."

S-Class Mages were easy enough to understand. Rhode guessed they were probably the strongest people in the guild.

He asked, "But there's no need to forbid people from even going upstairs, right?"

Laki said helplessly, "Because there are too many reckless people in the guild."

"That's true." Rhode thought about what the guild members were like and immediately understood the reason for the rule.

For example, someone as impulsive as Natsu was also the protagonist. Who knew, maybe one day he would sneak off to take on an S-Class request.

This rule might have been made specifically for him.

No wonder only the most reliable waitress, Mira, was allowed up there.

"By the way, how many S-Class Mages are there in the guild? Who's the strongest?"

"Hmm..." Laki thought for a moment. "Putting the Master aside, the strongest should be that man, but he went out on a job and hasn't returned to the guild in two years."

"Two years? What kind of job takes that long?" Rhode asked, surprised and worried. "He hasn't run into anything dangerous, has he...?"

"No, no..." Laki immediately waved her hands. "Mr. Gildarts is so strong he's practically a monster. I don't know what job he's doing, but he's the one person who definitely won't get into trouble."

It seemed that Laki trusted that man deeply, so Rhode stopped worrying needlessly. "Then who else is there?"

"Besides him, the other S-Class Mages are Laxus, Mystogan, Erza, and..."

Laki changed her wording. "No, right now, it's only those three. As for which one is strongest, I don't know either."

"You've already met Laxus and Erza. As for Mystogan... you'll probably never see him. It seems like the Master is the only one in the entire guild who knows what he really looks like."

Another mysterious person. Rhode silently committed Mystogan's name to memory.

The most troublesome one was Laxus.

Rhode had been thinking that someday he might help the Master teach his unruly grandson a lesson, so he would stop looking down his nose at everyone.

But then he considered his current Summoning Magic—Poros and Rift Scuttlers.

It looked like that would not be happening anytime soon.