You Sure Can Talk

Qi Yan looked toward the sound and saw a familiar figure crawling out from between a girl's legs.

Pink hair, a dragon-scale-patterned scarf—it was Natsu, with a blue cat named Happy beside him.

Natsu crawled in and saw that the other person was not Igneel as he had thought. He was so embarrassed that he broke out in a sweat. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Fire Dragon. You know who I am, right?"

The man struck what he thought was a handsome pose, but before he could finish speaking, Natsu and Happy had already crawled out of the crowd and turned to leave with their heads hanging.

"They left so fast."

Seeing their idol being ignored, many of the girls immediately rushed over, grabbed Natsu by his scarf, and dragged him back.

"How can you two be so rude?"

"That's right!! Fire Dragon is an incredibly powerful mage."

"Apologize to him."

Natsu was confused as well. "What are you doing?"

The man waved his hand and said magnanimously, "Forget it, forget it. He doesn't look like he meant any harm."

"Ah~~~! He's so gentle!!"

All the girls' eyes filled with hearts.

The man took out a signing board, wrote the large words "Fire Dragon" on it, and handed it to Natsu. "Here's my autograph. Take it and show it off to your friends."

"Ah~~~! I'm so jealous!"

"I don't want it."

The moment Natsu finished speaking, the girls defending their idol picked him up and threw him out.

"What did you say?!"

"Get lost!!"

The man snapped his fingers, and a ball of red flame rose beneath his feet, carrying him into the air.

"Thank you all for such an enthusiastic welcome, but I have business at the harbor ahead, so I'll be taking my leave. I'll be holding a party on the ship tonight, so make sure you all come." With that, he waved and flew away swiftly atop the flames.

"Yeees!!"

"We'll definitely be there!!"

That magical sight made many of the girls cheer and jump excitedly.

"What's with that guy?"

Natsu was still confused.

Then Qi Yan's voice rang out. "Natsu, Happy."

"That voice!"

Natsu and Happy froze, then quickly looked toward the sound. Qi Yan stood not far away, smiling at them.

"Qi Yan!!"

Seeing Qi Yan, both Natsu and Happy were delighted. Over the past half year, Qi Yan had become very familiar with Natsu, Happy, and everyone else in the guild. Ever since Qi Yan moved into his new home, the two of them would visit him from time to time to hang out. They were quite close.

"Qi Yan, you're back!"

Happy ran over happily.

"Yeah, I'm back."

Natsu quickly crawled over, hugged Qi Yan's leg, and cried, "Qi Yan! Save me! Hurry up and treat me to a meal! I'm starving to death!"

"You caused trouble everywhere again, didn't you?"

Seeing Natsu like this, Qi Yan guessed that he had most likely gotten into trouble during a job and had to pay compensation again. Otherwise, with Natsu's abilities, a 200,000 J job would have been easy for him.

"Aye! We had to pay again this time."

Happy gave him a definite answer.

Qi Yan shook his head helplessly. "Let's go. I'm hungry too. I know a place up ahead that's affordable and tastes good."

"Alright!!"

Natsu and Happy both jumped up happily.

Suddenly!

A voice sounded behind them.

"If it's alright with you, let me treat you to this meal."

The three of them froze at those words and turned around, only to see a very cute-looking girl standing behind them.

She had dazzling blonde hair, with one lock tied up by a blue butterfly ribbon, making her look playful and adorable.

She wore a short-sleeved white top with blue trim and a blue pleated skirt. Her skin was very fair, and she was exceptionally cute. Especially that impressive figure of hers—she was simply a beautiful sight to behold.

Qi Yan could not help but pause when he saw her. Although the real person differed somewhat from the anime, he still recognized her at a glance. She was Lucy Heartfilia, the female lead of the Fairy Tail anime.

"Thank you for earlier!"

Lucy raised a hand and greeted them with a smile.

"Huh?"

Natsu and Happy were confused. Lucy was speaking to them, but they did not remember doing anything worth thanking them for.

Lucy explained, "That man called Fire Dragon used a magic called Charm. That magic seduces people's hearts. It was banned from sale many years ago. Using that kind of magic to lure girls is so sleazy. Thanks to you two barging in, the magic affecting me was broken. So please let me treat you to a meal to show my gratitude."

Natsu and Happy looked at each other.

"I see. But there's no need. Qi Yan will treat us."

Natsu grinned and patted Qi Yan on the shoulder.

"Aye! Qi Yan will treat us."

Natsu and Happy knew that Qi Yan was practically the biggest rich guy in the Fairy Tail Guild. One of his jobs earned more than they could make in a year. Qi Yan had gone out to complete an S-Rank Mission this time, and judging from the look of things, he had definitely completed it successfully. This was the perfect chance to mooch a meal off him.

Qi Yan rolled his eyes helplessly. "Haven't you two mooched enough meals and drinks already?"

Qi Yan did not mind treating them to meals. From time to time, he would invite guild members he was close to over to his home for dinner and gatherings.

"I should do it! If I don't properly express my gratitude, I'll feel bad about it."

After hearing Lucy say that, Qi Yan and the other two stopped refusing. The group headed to the restaurant together.

"My name is Lucy. What are your names?"

"Qi Yan."

"Natsu."

"Happy."

"Qi Yan, Natsu, and Happy? Oh, right, don't let my appearance fool you—I'm also a mage, more or less. I just haven't joined any guild yet."

"Ah, a guild is an organization that gathers many mages together. It provides jobs and information for mages. If a mage doesn't work through a guild, they can't really be considered independent."

"But!! But!! There are many guilds in the world, but famous guilds have correspondingly strict requirements for joining."

"The guild I want to join the most has lots and lots of really amazing mages!"

"Ah... what should I do?! I really want to join it, but the requirements must be really strict."

"Ah! Sorry, I started talking about mage stuff. You probably don't understand much of it."

"But I have to join that guild. It seems like I'll be able to get a lot of important jobs there."

Qi Yan, Natsu, and Happy stared at Lucy in bewilderment before saying, "You sure can talk!!"

From the moment they met Lucy, her mouth had been going on and on without stopping. It was clearly their first meeting—she was way too talkative.