Weekly Sosara

"Thank you," Rhode expressed his gratitude for Mira's kindness. "Now I understand why Laki said no one has ever seen Mystogan's true face."

Mira was still a bit worried and followed his lead, saying, "Yeah, he's always so mysterious. He probably has his own reasons."

"Huh? Even Erza fell for it?" Rhode noticed the entire guild was in disarray. "Does that mean Mystogan is much stronger than Erza?"

"No, you can't compare strength so simply," Mira replied.

"If it were a direct fight, Erza would have a way to defend against this sleep magic. We can't know for sure without actually fighting him."

"Is that so?" Rhode nodded.

Miss Mira... she says she's not good at fighting, but she always speaks so knowledgeably when it comes to combat.

Is it because she knows her comrades well? Or does she just watch fights too often?

Many people in the guild were also talking about Mystogan. Some felt it didn't matter and went about their business.

Some were proud to have such a powerful Mage in the guild, showing expressions of admiration.

Others were annoyed and shouted that they'd beat him up sooner or later.

This is pretty much how the members of the Fairy Tail guild get along: they express their personalities to the fullest while also tolerating each other's actions.

If they can't tolerate something, they resolve the conflict with a fight. If they can't resolve it, they find another opportunity to fight again.

After the fight, they're still family.

As Mira said, they can directly express what they like and dislike.

"Alright, I hate Mystogan now. I'm going to beat him up limb by limb later," Rhode declared.

This kind of talk probably fits the guild's style, though the difficulty of achieving it is a bit high.

"Well... you'll have to work hard for that," Mira chuckled. "And about that phrase 'limb by limb'..."

"I'm using it wrong, aren't I?" Rhode interjected. "My magic is definitely for group fights, so when I beat him up, it'll be more than just limb by limb."

Mira wore a helpless expression.

"Alright! Mystogan has his reasons for doing what he did, and he'll explain them to you later. And now..."

Makarov's voice stopped the guild members' complaints, and he subtly glanced at Rhode.

Seeing Mira talking to him, the Master felt relieved and angrily shouted, "Gray!"

"Yes!" Gray, who was called out, instinctively stood at attention.

"You did a great job, causing me to get nagged by the councilors again!"

"S-Sorry!" Gray averted his gaze, not daring to look at the Master, appearing guilty as if he'd been caught red-handed.

Just then, Natsu, who had returned from chasing Mystogan fruitlessly, stomped back into the guild, fuming.

But when he saw Gray's state, he burst into laughter, laughing so hard that others could practically see the flames in his throat:

"Ahahaha! Gray, you got scolded again!"

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

More than being scolded by the Master, he hated being mocked by Natsu.

"You too, Natsu!" However, Makarov roared at Natsu again.

"Why did a mission to capture a wild boar result in you burning down several acres of crops! You even dried up the paddy fields!"

Natsu and Gray stood in a line, sweat beading on their faces.

"You damn brat! You've destroyed more farmland than the wild boar itself!"

The Master berated the two for several minutes, so angry that he specifically used magic to enlarge his head and roared in their ears with a mouth so big it could swallow them both.

Natsu and Gray were almost blown away.

However, after the Master's long scolding, he didn't say a word about them changing their bad habits, nor were there any substantial punishments.

The Master vented his anger and went back to writing his self-criticism report.

The farmland Natsu destroyed was compensated with his reward on the spot, so that wasn't a concern.

Gray's apology to the client was also quite sincere, though the part about 'guaranteeing it won't happen again' could be ignored.

It's just that next time there's a mission to escort ladies, it's best not to assign it to Gray.

Makarov caught sight of a handsome guy chatting with two beautiful women on the stairs—he couldn't assign it to Loki either.

That guy had made a move on an actress from the entertainment company that issued the request last time and also received a complaint.

Makarov sighed, "None of them make it easy for me..."

But seeing his children being so noisy, boisterous, and full of energy, he couldn't help but feel happy.

A happy predicament.

Mira, at the opportune moment, brought up some tea and snacks, which brought Makarov some relief.

He pushed his luck, saying, "It would be better if the tea were replaced with alcohol."

"No, no, Guild Master," Mira said, hands on her hips. "You drank a lot yesterday, you can't get drunk again today. You need to take care of yourself!"

"Yes..." Makarov replied listlessly.

He was someone who caused others a lot of worry.

"Of course, we have magazines," Laki said from behind the counter, pulling out a book when Rhode asked.

"It's 'Sosara Weekly,' the most popular mage magazine right now. I bought this a few weeks ago and forgot to take it back."

Rhode took it and looked. The cover featured three handsome men, one of whom was Mr. Hibiki, who had loaded the language pack for him. The other two also had their own unique appeal, but the poses they struck together reminded him of Team Rocket.

"Are they all mages from Blue Pegasus?" Rhode asked.

Laki nodded. "That's right. This issue's theme is Blue Pegasus; it's a guild with a lot of handsome men."

Rhode had reason to suspect Laki kept it there because she wanted to look at handsome men and had forgotten to take it back.

Opening the magazine, the first page was a photo spread of Hibiki, followed by information on his age, magic, preferences, and relationship status. Next were two men from the same guild and team, presented in a similar format.

"Saint Night's" Ichiya, "Byakuya's" Hibiki, and "Sorano's" Ren—the three of them together formed Blue Pegasus's signature team, Tri Men's. A later interview section mentioned they had a powerful mage as their captain and mentor. All three spoke of him as a very manly mage, an older brother and teacher they admired. That was Ichiya Wandereye Shou, known as the strongest man in Blue Pegasus. It was a shame, though, that Mr. Ichiya, upon learning of the limited magazine space, had generously given up his feature opportunity to his three teammates, which was quite touching.

"He's a good person," Rhode said, turning the page.

Following this was a very obvious advertisement page, this issue's featured product being 'Magic Mosquito Repellent Potion'—one spray keeps the mosquitoes away. Based on the ad's description, its effects seemed much better than mosquito coils or repellent lotions. The merchant had even paid extra for special effects. Because Rhode lingered on the ad page for a long time, the magazine began to glow, projecting a 3D image into the air that demonstrated how to use the potion. Combined with professional voice acting and high-quality ad copy, even a pauper like Rhode couldn't help but want to buy a bottle.

Considering the timeline, it was about eleven and a half months until Lucy joined the guild, the start of the story.