The carriage had barely left Sunken Bell Town on the return journey when Macao took out the reward for the job.
"According to Guild rules, we deduct transportation and job supplies first, then divide up everyone's share."
Mira sat up straight, clutching her box of strawberries. "There's no compensation to pay for the church, so I should get a bigger share of the bonus."
"Why?"
"I smashed the core."
Lin Yuan leaned against the other side of the carriage. "I pulled the root back."
"Without me, you'd just have pulled it back to feed it."
"Without me, you'd still be counting its teeth from the front."
As the two leaned closer and closer in their argument, Macao hid the money pouch behind his back.
"Keep arguing, and the whole bonus goes toward carriage repairs."
Wakaba leisurely blew a smoke ring. "I suggest we start by giving the man in charge some compensation for mental distress."
"That works." Macao nodded.
"Don't even think about it!" Lin Yuan and Mira said at the same time.
By the time the carriage reached Magnolia, the sun was nearly down.
The doors of Fairy Tail had barely opened when confetti and wooden mugs came flying from both sides. Lin Yuan instinctively folded space, and all the confetti changed direction, landing neatly on Macao's head.
The hall fell silent for a moment before erupting into even louder cheers.
"The first job was a success!"
"I heard you even tore down a church!"
"We didn't tear it down," Mira corrected immediately. "It collapsed on its own."
Lisanna ran out of the crowd and threw her arms around her sister. Elfman followed her and only breathed a sigh of relief after making sure Mira was unhurt.
"Lin Yuan, are you all right too?" Lisanna asked.
"I'm fine."
"Of course he's fine." Mira raised her chin. "He hid behind me the whole time."
Lin Yuan looked at Macao. "The job report should say who protected whom."
"The report only states the facts. It's not there to settle your arguments."
Natsu had already squeezed his way to the front. When he heard that Lin Yuan had shattered the statue from more than ten paces away, his eyes lit up.
"What's that move called? Use it again, and let's fight!"
Gray cut in from the side. "You just want a fight, don't you?"
"Don't you?"
"Of course I do."
The two lunged at Lin Yuan at the same time.
Lin Yuan folded the distance in front of them into a circle. Natsu and Gray charged around the same table three times before finally crashing into each other head-on.
The celebration in the Guild instantly turned into laughter.
Mira watched for a while, then suddenly said, "Let me borrow that trick."
"What do you want to do?"
"Nothing."
Her gaze had already settled on Natsu and Gray, and her demon right hand slowly clenched into a fist. Sensing danger, the two immediately stopped arguing and turned to hide in the crowd.
Makarov stood by the railing on the second floor, watching it all.
Mira had managed to complete a full-body Take Over of her own accord and release it herself after the job; Lin Yuan had also begun using spatial magic to protect, seal off, and coordinate with his companions. The two children who most needed to learn to control their power had both made clear progress on their first job.
Of course, the most gratifying thing was that there was no new compensation to pay.
The thought had barely crossed his mind when someone kicked a wooden mug used for the celebration up to the second floor, hitting the railing right in front of him.
Crack.
Makarov stared expressionlessly at the split wood.
"Everyone's drinks are cut in half tonight to pay for the railing!"
The cheers immediately turned to protests. No one knew who threw the first chair, but the hall soon descended into chaos.
The brawl continued until Makarov conjured a giant hand and pinned Natsu, Gray, and Mira to the floor together. Lin Yuan shortened the distance between himself and the back door ahead of time and successfully escaped to the backyard.
"Lin Yuan was part of it too!" Mira shouted from the floor.
"At least he knew to run," Makarov said.
"That's not fair!"
"We'll settle this when we get back," Lin Yuan answered from outside the back door.
Mira immediately began to struggle, and a few more cracks appeared beneath the giant hand.
After dinner, Makarov called the four members of the job team into the office at the back of the first floor.
Macao recounted the investigation, while Wakaba added details about the extent of the cursed object's roots. When Lin Yuan's turn came, he explained in detail how the snake pattern had burrowed into the lines of space; Mira, meanwhile, made a point of stressing that her final three punches hadn't damaged anything that required compensation.
The metal box was placed on the desk.
Rather than touch the black stone directly, Makarov first set up an isolation barrier. He took out three thick ancient books and checked them one by one against the writing on the back of the stone fragment.
"Can you read it?" Macao asked.
"Only some of it. This script was rarely used even before the Magic Council was founded, and later it was sealed away as taboo."
Makarov examined the partial snake scale with a magnifying glass. As soon as the lens drew near, a gray light appeared over the black stone, but it was quickly devoured by the God-Slaying Magic Power Lin Yuan had left on it.
The ancient writing was finally revealed in full.
There was no name for the cursed object, nor any method of performing a ritual, only three brief lines.
Strip away faith.
Sever divinity.
With human will, bring down the one who dwells high in the heavens.
The laughter and chatter in the office gradually died away.
Mira looked at Lin Yuan. "Is this talking about your magic?"
"I can't be sure." Lin Yuan shook his head. "But it knows how to deal with gods."
Makarov closed the ancient book, his expression more serious than when he had received the job.
"This isn't a prayer, nor is it a spell for summoning a god."
He sealed the black stone back inside the metal box.
"This is a record of hunting gods."