Weekly Sorcerer

"Thanks." Rhode expressed his gratitude for Mira's kindness. "Now I know why Laki said no one had ever seen Mystogan's true face."

Mira was still a little worried. Following his lead, she said, "Yeah, he's always so mysterious. He probably has his own reasons."

"Huh? Even Erza got hit?" Rhode noticed that the entire guild was sprawled all over the place. "Does that mean Mystogan is way stronger than Erza?"

"No, you can't compare strength that simply," Mira said.

"If they fought head-on, Erza would have ways to defend against that Sleep Magic. You can't know for sure without seriously fighting it out."

"Is that so?" Rhode nodded.

Miss Mira... She said she wasn't good at fighting, but whenever combat came up, she always spoke with such authority.

Was it because she knew her companions well enough? Or because she had watched so many fights?

Many people in the guild were also talking about Mystogan. Some did not care at all and simply went about their business.

Others took pride in having such a powerful mage in the guild, their faces full of admiration.

There were also those who were annoyed, shouting that they would beat him up sooner or later.

That was more or less how Fairy Tail guild members got along. They freely showed off their individuality while accepting how others did things.

If they could not accept it, they settled their disagreements with a fight. If that did not work, they found another chance to fight.

After the fight, they were still family.

Just as Mira had said, they could openly express what they liked and disliked.

"Fine, I hate Mystogan now. Someday, I'll beat him up with seven hands and eight feet," Rhode declared.

That sort of thing probably fit the guild's style, though carrying it out would be a little difficult.

"Well... you'll have to work hard." Mira smiled. "And as for 'seven hands and eight feet'..."

"I used it wrong, right?" Rhode cut in. "My magic is definitely meant for ganging up on people. When I beat him up, there'll be more than seven hands and eight feet."

Mira wore a helpless expression.

"Enough! Mystogan has reasons he has to do this, and he'll explain them to you later. And then..."

Makarov spoke up to stop everyone in the guild from condemning Mystogan, while discreetly glancing at Rhode from the corner of his eye.

Seeing Mira talking with him, the Master relaxed and glared angrily. "Gray!"

"Yes!" Gray, whose name had been called, instinctively straightened up.

"This is your doing! The councilors lectured me again because of you!"

"Y-Yes, sorry!" Gray looked away, too guilty to meet the Master's eyes.

At that moment, Natsu, who had failed to catch Mystogan, stormed back into the guild in a fury.

But the moment he saw Gray's expression, he burst into laughter, laughing so hard that everyone could practically see the flames in his throat.

"Ahahahaha! Gray, you got yelled at again!"

"Tch..." Gray gritted his teeth. "That bastard Natsu..."

Getting mocked by Natsu irritated him more than being scolded by the Master.

"You too, Natsu!" Makarov suddenly roared at Natsu as well.

"How did a job to capture wild boars end with you burning several acres of someone's crops? You even baked all the water out of their rice paddies!"

Natsu and Gray stood side by side, sweat starting to bead on their faces.

"Damn it! You destroyed more farmland than the wild boars did!"

The Master berated the two of them for several minutes. He was so furious that he deliberately used magic to enlarge his head, then yelled beside their ears with a mouth big enough to swallow both of them whole.

Natsu and Gray were nearly blown away.

Even after scolding them for so long, though, the Master never once told them to change their bad habits, nor did he impose any meaningful punishment.

After venting his anger, the Master returned to continue writing his letter of apology.

The farmland Natsu had destroyed had been compensated for on the spot with his reward money, so there was no need to worry about that.

Gray had also apologized to the client quite sincerely. Of course, the part where he promised he would never do it again could be ignored.

Still, whenever there was another job involving escorting a lady, it was best not to assign Gray.

From the stairs, Makarov spotted a handsome guy chatting while holding two beautiful women in his arms—Loki could not be assigned either.

The last time, that guy had made a move on an actress from the entertainment company that had posted the request, and they had filed a complaint too.

Makarov sighed. "None of you ever let me relax..."

Yet when he saw how lively the children were, how much they argued and caused trouble, he could not help feeling happy.

The troubles of happiness.

Mira promptly brought him some tea and pastries, offering Makarov a little comfort.

He pushed his luck. "It'd be better if you replaced the tea with alcohol."

"No, Master." Mira put her hands on her hips. "You already drank plenty yesterday. You can't keep drinking heavily today. You should watch yourself too!"

"Yes..." Makarov drooped.

He himself was also someone who never let others relax.

"Of course we have magazines."

During the afternoon break, Laki searched behind the counter and pulled out a magazine in response to Rhode's question.

"Weekly Sorcerer, the most popular mage magazine right now. I bought this issue a few weeks ago and forgot to take it home."

Rhode took it and looked it over. The cover featured three handsome men, one of whom was Mr. Hibiki, who had loaded the language pack for him.

The other two had their own distinctive charm, though the pose the three struck together reminded him of Team Rocket.

"They're all mages from Blue Pegasus?" Rhode asked.

Laki nodded. "That's right. This issue's theme is Blue Pegasus, a guild with lots of handsome guys."

Rhode had reason to suspect that Laki had left it here because she wanted to look at handsome men, then forgotten to take it home.

When he opened the magazine, the first page was a photo spread of Hibiki, followed by information such as his age, magic, preferences, relationship status, and so on.

Further on were the other two members of his guild and squad, presented in much the same format.

Eve of Saint Night, Hibiki of Byakuya, and Ren of Sorano together formed Blue Pegasus's signature team, Tri Men.

The interview section afterward also mentioned that they had a powerful mage serving as their captain and guide.

All three said he was an exceptionally manly mage, the big brother and teacher they admired.

That was Ichiya Wandereye Shou, known as the strongest man in Blue Pegasus.

Unfortunately, after learning that the magazine had limited space, Mr. Ichiya had deliberately given the spotlight to his three teammates in order to look after his juniors. It was truly touching.

"He's a good person." Rhode continued flipping through the pages.

Right after that came an obvious advertisement page. This issue's featured product was Magic Mosquito Repellent Potion—one light spray, and mosquito bites would stay far away.

Judging by the ad's introduction alone, it seemed much more effective than mosquito coils, floral water, and similar products.

The company had even paid extra for special effects.

Since Rhode lingered on the ad page long enough, the magazine began to glow, projecting a 3D image into the air to demonstrate how to use the potion.

With professional voice acting and excellent advertising copy, even Rhode, a broke man, could not help wanting to buy a bottle.

Timeline-wise, there were roughly another eleven and a half months until Lucy joined the guild, which was also when the story began.