It Got Used, Anyway

Rhode was assigned by Erza to search for traces of Wollan.

Mira would stay behind. Once the truth was uncovered, she would be responsible for calming the nearby residents, or, in the worst-case scenario, guiding civilians to safety.

At Erza's command, the guild members quickly sprang into action, each performing their duties and doing everything they could.

This was Rhode's first time witnessing the guild operating at full speed.

This guild that argued and fought every day actually had such strong unity.

"Answer my call, Shadow Wolves!" Swept up by the atmosphere, Rhode summoned all six wolves in one go.

There were two packs of Shadow Wolves in Summoner's Rift, six in total.

"Erza, they have a keen sense of smell. If there's anything Wollan has used, they should be able to find him quickly.

"If anyone needs to travel fast, I also have Swift Crabs."

Nab said, "I know where Wollan lives. Send a few with me!"

Mira added, "There might be something Wollan left behind in the guild. I'll go look."

"That's a huge help. I thought we couldn't track him by scent with Natsu away." Erza said, "All right, let's split up."

"Okay." Rhode sent one pack of Shadow Wolves with Nab and kept the other with Mira to search the guild.

"It's so high! This is terrifying! Help!"

Everyone searching froze, then narrowed their search to higher ground.

Rhode was worried about Wollan's safety, but he was also glad that he could help.

That bit of satisfaction completely vanished within minutes.

The others also stopped worrying. Some of them even wanted to beat Wollan up.

Because...

"I'm saved! I finally got off that damn suspension bridge! I'm never going somewhere that high for a date again!"

"Oh no! Could it be that my Thought Projection has been..."

Wollan's voice abruptly cut off.

But curses broke out both inside and outside the guild.

"Wollan!"

"You bastard, are you messing with us?"

"We won't let you off!"

"Another Fairy Tail wizard? What are they up to this time?"

"I was just saying they'd been unusually quiet lately!"

"Pulling a citywide prank like this is going too far!"

All sorts of voices rang out across Magnolia. The complaints from people on the streets could even be heard inside the guild.

Erza covered her forehead with one hand. She had just been so imposing while directing everyone, only for it to turn out like this.

Mira stopped rummaging through things, and a smile returned to her face instead. "My, my... This has gotten out of hand again."

Rhode felt conflicted. "So Wollan took his girlfriend on a date to a suspension bridge, got scared, lost control of his magic, and let the whole city hear his voice?"

Erza nodded. "Yeah. He seems to have a severe fear of heights."

"..." The whole thing was so absurd that Rhode could hardly believe it. "The entire city was affected because of something like this. The residents aren't going to tear our guild apart, are they?"

"No, no." Mira waved her hand. "Things like this aren't uncommon. There's an even more outrageous old man in the guild. Whenever he comes back, the whole city gets turned upside down."

"But we still need to apologize properly and earn everyone's forgiveness. I'm going to find him now." Erza's gaze sharpened. "Rhode, Swift Crab."

"Ah, right." Rhode summoned a river crab. "It's basically like riding a horse. Use its antennae as reins."

"Understood." Erza leaped onto the crab's back, snapped the "reins," and the river crab carried her charging out through the guild's doors.

Thinking of Erza's terrifying expression just now, Rhode asked, "She isn't going to chop Wollan to death, is she?"

Mira said, "She probably won't chop him to death."

So she was going to chop him? Rhode realized his grasp of the common language had improved again. He could easily pick up the meaning behind Mira's words.

Besides, after something like this, even if Erza did not chop him to death, he would still die of embarrassment, right?

Rhode imagined himself crying out for his parents in the minds of everyone in the city because he was afraid of heights...

That would be way too embarrassing. How would he ever show his face again?

Out of concern, Rhode decided to connect to the river crab's vision and check on Wollan's condition.

The river crab's view entered his mind. The scenery before his "eyes" rushed backward, clearly showing that Erza was driving the crab at full speed.

One second later, Rhode voluntarily cut off the visual connection.

The river crab's field of vision was rather broad. It was one thing that he had not thought of it just now, but if he kept watching... that would be a little impolite.

Good luck, Wollan.

The "citywide prank" incident had quite a negative impact.

On the day it happened, Erza and Mira came forward with Wollan to explain and apologize to many residents. After Master returned, he even personally went to City Hall.

Yet both the mayor and the citizens were remarkably tolerant of the incident.

He only shouted into everyone's minds throughout the city. It wasn't like he smashed up the entire city.

According to gossip that did not come from Mira, that was what the mayor said when he met with Master.

After complaining for a few days, the citizens turned the matter into a joke.

Did you know? A Fairy Tail wizard, a few days ago...

The citizens had gained another topic for their post-meal conversations, while the prank-loving guild gained another neither-too-serious-nor-too-trivial black mark on its record.

Even Goodman could not help asking Rhode what kind of magic that had been, and what sort of person Wollan was.

At that point, the matter could barely be considered resolved.

It was just that, after that, Wollan did not appear at the guild for quite a long time.

Whenever he ran out of money and had no choice but to take a job, he would hide in some corner outside the guild and quietly use Thought Projection to send a message to Mira.

Mira would carefully select jobs suitable for Wollan, then find a way to send the job sheets out to him.

Well, Mira had told Rhode that.

Because Rhode's Shadow Wolves were responsible for delivering the job sheets.

A few days ago, Erza had used the river crab's "fast speed" trait to catch Wollan.

Now, the Shadow Wolves' traits of being "good at stealth" and "keen-scented" were being used to find Wollan and secretly deliver job sheets to him.

"I originally wanted them to help rescue Wollan, but look at this now." Rhode gently shook his head. No matter how they were used, they had been put to use anyway.

Since he had made breakthrough progress toward his short-term goal of shortening his magic chants, Rhode had recently gained some extra time to browse the Encyclopedia of Magic.

He was selecting magic suitable for him to study as a secondary discipline.

Of course, to be safe, he still needed to ask Master first before beginning his training and see whether there were any dangers.

"Most magic is not dangerous as long as you train step by step and there is no issue with compatibility."

That was what Master said.

Compatibility was easy enough to understand. It was roughly an aptitude suited to a particular type of magic. It often determined the entry threshold for that magic, as well as one's future potential.

As for how to confirm compatibility, generally speaking, magic that one could awaken on one's own was the most suitable.

For example, Erza had suddenly mastered magic during a crisis when she was young.

Those who could not awaken magic on their own could only choose magic that interested them and try to see whether they could get started quickly.

Rhode had already picked several targets that interested him.

The Wollan incident had not been shown in the main story, but it had been mentioned in the setting materials. Even longtime Fairy Tail fans probably did not know much about it.