Early that morning, everyone had already gathered in the lobby of the assigned tournament inn where Fairy Tail was staying in Crocus.
"I can't believe it! Natsu, you guys only came eighth?" Macau's son Romeo, who had only just heard the news, looked incredulous. "You only just scraped through the preliminaries in last place? That's—"
"All right, all right. I know everyone finds it hard to believe, but that's what happened." Makarov cut off their questions, holding his wineglass and waving a hand unconcernedly. "Well, as long as we passed the preliminaries, that's enough! Who cares about the ranking? The preliminary standings don't decide everything, nor do they fully reflect a guild team's strength. All you need to do is keep giving it your best in the main tournament. For the Thirty Million— ahem! It's all for the title of number one in Fiore—"
Realizing he had let something slip, Makarov hastily corrected himself and drained his glass to hide his embarrassment. Unfortunately, he drank too quickly and choked as soon as he swallowed, spraying it all back out in one mouthful. Macau, who sat opposite him and held the distinction of being Fairy Tail's most incompetent guild master ever, immediately wore a spectacularly mortified expression.
"..." Everyone stared speechlessly at Makarov's antics, unable even to muster a sarcastic thought.
"But do you really need money that badly, Master?" Mira asked in surprise, apparently noticing Makarov's embarrassment.
On the day she and Achill broke free of the seal, they had briefly asked around Magnolia for news of Fairy Tail. But once they heard everyone had already headed to Crocus, they flew straight over without stopping! Thus, she had never actually seen the guild's current dilapidated state. Even during the two days since they had reunited in Crocus, she had only