Natsu froze at the strangely chilling smile on Blanc's face.
Although Blanc looked like he was smiling, this was the first time Natsu had felt his anger so clearly.
But Makarov, who had been forcing himself to stay calm all this time, felt a chill down his spine. His composed facade instantly crumbled, and he hurriedly warned:
"Blanc, you calm down too. Don't you dare stir up trouble behind my back! Armed conflict between guilds is strictly forbidden!!"
Blanc had always been steady and reliable, giving him the least cause for worry.
Yet for some reason, Makarov had a nagging intuition that one day, Blanc would cause some truly enormous trouble.
After all, when good children started making trouble, they could be far more reckless than the naughty ones.
Blanc turned his head, blinked, and gave the Guild Master an innocent look.
"Guild Master, don't you know me by now? No one in the guild supports you more than I do. How could you suspect me of planning to cause trouble? You're wronging an innocent man."
Wasn't that unfair? How could an honest, reliable fellow like me go looking for trouble? I'm just waiting for it to come to me.
"Uh... really? That's a relief, then."
Guild Master Makarov gave a dry cough, hastily concealing his embarrassment, then put on a stern face and announced loudly:
"All right! This matter ends here!! Until the building upstairs is repaired, we'll carry on with our regular work down here! Meeting adjourned!"
"Are you kidding me?! Who's in any mood to work?!" Still unable to accept it, Natsu kept shouting in protest.
"Natsu, enough already!" Finally pushed past his limit, the Guild Master roared at Natsu, then hopped off the crate and staggered away, clutching his stomach.
"Ah, wait, I can't... hold it