Before long, noon arrived. The Fairy Tail Guild's newly expanded, spacious hall was filled with several tables of lavish food, with a large crowd gathered around them, eating and drinking amid a lively bustle.
"Hmm... I don't know why..." Achill swallowed the steak he had been chewing and gazed thoughtfully at the mountain of food before him. "Why does every meal lately feel a little worse than before? And there doesn't seem to be as much variety, either. Am I imagining it?"
"Hmph! You should be grateful you're getting fed at all!" Sitting directly across from Achill, Makarov immediately shouted in extreme displeasure, "For certain people who do nothing but freeload here all day, even having food to eat is an act of immense charity! So stop being so picky, you rotten little brat!" He raised his eyebrows at Achill in a provocative gesture.
"Is it because some old geezer is a cheapskate?" Achill ignored him completely, as though he weren't even there, and turned to Le Qi beside him. "Is that it, Le Qi?"
Le Qi rolled her eyes speechlessly. Clearly unwilling to get caught in a war between the older and younger generations, she immediately buried her head in her meal, silently repeating, I can't hear you. I can't hear you. I can't hear you...
"Isn't it because you wiped out all of Magnolia Town in one go last time, Achill?" Natsu, who sat beside Makarov, answered loudly while wrestling with an enormous roasted fish in his hands. "Our guild paid for a lot of the reconstruction, so money's tight right now. We had to cut back a little on the food."
That would have been fine left unmentioned, but the instant Natsu brought it up, Makarov bristled and glared at Achill with a look of bitter resentment.