A New Guild

Last night, Erza had talked with her younger siblings all night, asking what path they wanted to take in the future and whether they wanted to join Fairy Tail. Their answer was that they needed to think about it.

Early the next morning, Erza watched the ship sail away. Though they would no longer be able to live together, she was happy that they had found something they wanted to do.

When Lucy woke up, she saw Erza returning from the beach and asked, "Erza, why are you up so early?"

"I just went to see them off."

"They've already left?"

"Yes. They have their own path to walk. They were trapped in Paradise Tower for eight years, and they want to go out and see the world too!"

"All right, let's head back after breakfast."

Magnolia Town

When Ye and the others returned to the guild, a brand-new guild building stood before them.

Natsu said in surprise, "Whoa! It's already finished? It's huge!"

"It's so beautiful!"

Mira came out to greet them. "Oh my! You're back! So, what do you think of the new guild?"

"Were you shocked?"

The group nodded. (O∆O)

"There's even an open-air café and a swimming pool!"

When they reached the guild entrance, they found Marcus running a stall.

Marcus said, "Welcome, esteemed customers, to Marcus's Shop."

Ye said, "Marcus, you're a shop owner now?"

"Just making a little money. Take a look and see if there's anything you like. We've got T-shirts with the Fairy Tail emblem on them, along with some magical tools."

"These figurines are...? Is this me?"

"What do you think? Aren't they exquisitely made? Official Fairy Tail figurines, only 3,000J each~!"

Lucy asked, "Why is Ye's marked at 10,000J?"

"How can they be the same? Ye is one of the new Ten Wizard Saints, so of course I have to price his higher. And it's selling really well."

Ye casually picked up Lucy's figurine. "How much is this one?"

"Oh, that one? A member of the strongest team, only 4,000J."

Ye said disdainfully, "That's expensive."

"How much is Mira's figurine, then?"

"This one is only 6,000J."

"(✧∇✧) So cheap!"

Lucy complained, "How can you be this biased?!"

Marcus then picked up Lucy's doll and said, ⌓‿⌓, "Its clothes can come off too."

Just as he was about to remove the figurine's clothes, Lucy stopped Marcus in one swift move.

"You can't!"

Ye looked at the other female figurines with an unfriendly expression. "These can come off too?"

Cold sweat slowly trickled down Marcus's face as he nodded.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Smack!"

Marcus, bruised and battered, apologized.

"I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

After dealing with Marcus, Ye walked through the guild doors. What greeted him was a guild even more luxurious and spacious than the old one!

"Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!"

Lucy said in shock, "Is this really our guild?!"

"Welcome to Fairy Tail!"

Several girls in ultra-short skirts were greeting people at the entrance.

Looking at the scene, Ye said, "The old man really has good taste in this regard!"

Gray chimed in, "That's right!"

Mira continued introducing the place. "There's a lot more too. There's an amusement park underground, and the pool is out back. The biggest change is that anyone can go up to the second floor now."

When Natsu and Gray heard that they could go up to the second floor, they excitedly asked, "Does that mean we can take S-Class Missions now?! (✧∇✧)"

"Nope. You still need the master's approval to accept missions."

Natsu said disappointedly, "It'll be painful to only look at them without being able to take them."

Makarov's voice suddenly rang out. "You brats are back!"

"We're back, old man!"

"Oh, right, let me introduce you. This is Juvia, a new guild member. Isn't she cute?"

Gray said, "I didn't see you all morning. So you came back before us."

"Yes, Lord Gray. Juvia still had something to take care of."

Erza said, "Mm! You helped us a great deal at Paradise Tower. Welcome."

Makarov quietly said to Ye, "She's from Phantom Lord."

"I know. I ran into her at the beach."

Seeing Ye's indifferent expression, Makarov said, "You're really calm, kid. I thought you'd oppose me doing this."

"Am I that petty?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

"And I recruited Gajeel too."

"If he joined, he joined. Jose was the one at fault, not him."

"Hahaha, that's good. I was worried you'd hold a grudge."

Ye rolled his eyes at Makarov.

"Ahem! There's another newcomer in the guild!"

"The guild has another newcomer? Who could it be?"

A man with long black hair and a heavy metal outfit appeared.

Gray hurriedly said, "Hey, hey, hey, this isn't funny, old man. Why is he here?"

"That's Gajeel!"

Lucy and Erza asked in confusion, "Who is he? Why is Gray reacting so strongly?"

Happy explained, "He was Phantom Lord's trump card. An Iron Dragon Slayer Wizard. He was the one who destroyed our guild."

"So you're the bastard!"

The moment Natsu heard Happy's words, his anger flared. He had long wanted to settle things with the culprit who had destroyed the guild; he just hadn't expected it to be this guy. As he spoke, Natsu rushed forward to beat him up.

"Ye, why are you stopping me?!"

"He's a guild member now. I've already collected the debt for him destroying the guild before. There's no need to keep holding onto it!"

"But—"

"If you want to fight, I'll fight you!"

"Fine! Here I come!"

"Bang!" Ye chopped Natsu on the head, driving him straight into the floor!

Makarov shouted angrily, "Brat, couldn't you go a little easier? The guild was just rebuilt."

"I was just helping the master test whether the construction quality was up to standard. Hahaha."

Happy said as usual, "K.O."

Gajeel slowly said, "I'm just here to take some jobs and support myself. I didn't come to deal with you people!"

Juvia hurried over and said, "Juvia brought him here. He's actually a very good person. Jose made him do all those things; it wasn't his fault."

Gray said, "Since Ye agrees too, I have nothing to say."

Erza looked at Gajeel and said, "I hope you don't cause any trouble in the future. Otherwise, I'll deal with you myself!"

"Tch!"

Ever since Phantom Lord had disbanded, Gajeel had nowhere to go. Makarov found him scavenging scrap iron to eat at a junkyard. Seeing such a powerful young man, Makarov could not bear to watch him continue living that way, so he put aside past grudges and invited him to join. Gajeel was deeply moved, because Phantom Lord had never given him anything like that. With Juvia's persuasion as well, he agreed to join.

Makarov stepped in to smooth things over. "All right, everyone. What's done is done, so don't dwell on it. Just as Juvia said, after watching him these past few days, I can tell this kid has a good heart."

"You've got to be kidding. How am I supposed to work with him?"

"We didn't settle things last time. Next time, I'll find a chance to teach you a proper lesson."

"Hah! Just what I wanted!"

"But you really are weak, Fire Dragon. You haven't even made S-Class. How can you call yourself a Dragon Slayer Wizard?"

This was exactly a sore spot for Natsu. They were both Dragon Slayer Wizards, yet the other was S-Class while he was only A-Class. Gajeel's words made Natsu furious.

"What did you say, bastard?! Fairy Tail's S-Class isn't so easy to earn. Someone like you couldn't make it either."

"Don't make excuses for yourself, Fire Dragon. I don't want to take jobs with an unqualified Dragon Slayer Wizard."

"Who are you calling unqualified?"

The two immediately began arguing face-to-face, neither willing to yield to the other.

Makarov could not stand it anymore and punched each of them on the forehead.

"Both of you, calm down!"

"Hmph." "Hmph."

The two still turned their heads away, glaring at each other in displeasure.

Juvia hurriedly explained to Gray, "Gajeel is actually very lonely. Juvia was just a little worried about him. It doesn't mean Juvia likes him."

Gray asked in confusion, "Why are you telling me this?"

Suddenly, the guild went dark.

"What's going on? Why did the lights suddenly go out?!"

"All right, stop asking. Sit down and watch the performance," Makarov explained.

"A performance?!"

Soon, the curtains at the center of the stage opened, and the lights shone on Mira standing in the middle with a guitar, ready to sing.

"(O∆O) Mira!"

"We've been waiting for you, Mira-chan!"

Everyone in the guild cheered excitedly.

Then Mira's beautiful singing voice rang out, and the guild instantly fell silent. Ye quietly watched his lover onstage. Since Mira retired, her charm had blossomed more and more, and she had become increasingly beautiful. She was elegant in public and skilled at home—simply the perfect lover.

"That was so good!"

"Amazing!"

"One more song!"

As Gajeel watched Mira finish singing onstage, his urge to sing instantly burst forth. He grabbed his electric guitar and stepped onto the stage, where all the lights focused on him.

Everyone was still cheering about how beautifully Mira had sung when she suddenly vanished, replaced by a man. Everyone was completely baffled.

"Next, I'll perform a song I wrote myself."

The instant Gajeel opened his mouth, everyone's faces twisted in misery.

"What the hell is that singing?!"

"It sounds awful!"

As they spoke, they began throwing things onto the stage.

"Get down! Your singing is terrible!"

Gajeel did not tolerate them either.

"This is art! Do you people understand art?! What a bunch of tasteless fools."

"Bastard, what did you say?! Want to fight?"

"Come on, then!"

And just like that, the guild broke into another massive brawl.

Natsu said happily, "Hahaha, now this feels like Fairy Tail."

As soon as he said that, a cup flew toward Natsu.

"Bang!"

"Which bastard threw a cup at me?!"

With that, he joined the massive brawl.