Laki

At the guild bar, Makarov, wearing a clown hat and looking slightly tipsy, greeted Hughes, who sat down next to him.

Hughes raised a hand in response, his gaze fixed on the small, purple-haired figure bustling behind the bar, and said with a smile, "Laki, the old man said he would take care of you unconditionally until you're 13. Aren't you just slapping him in the face now!"

Laki is the same age as Elfman, Gray, and others, and is currently only 12 years old. According to Makarov's rules, she only needs to grow up happily and carefree.

As for expenses such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation, they are covered by Makarov's bottomless pension.

Laki, carrying a tray full of drinks, smiled and squinted, "Hughes, I just wanted to help everyone."

"By the way, Hughes, do you need to feed the food into the stomach?"

Hughes twitched his lips and waved his hand in polite refusal. He still couldn't accept Laki's way of speaking; the girl's way of expressing herself was entirely unwritten and complicated.

Eating was like feeding her stomach, and sleeping was about getting through times when she was least expecting anything.

However, this girl's magic is quite good; it's Wood Make Magic. Speaking of this, Hughes is reminded of the Legend of the Eyes: Five Villages Melee from next door.

With her Laki mind and her remarkable magical talent, with a little nurturing, she could easily recreate the Wood Human Technique and the Deep Forest Emergence in the Fairy Tail world.

I wonder if this girl has developed a strange hobby of collecting torture instruments.

It's a sad thing, but not only are the male mages in Fairy Tail weird, but none of the female mages are normal either.

Hughes sighed inwardly, took two buckets of liquor from the tray in Laki's hands, one for himself and the other in front of Makarov.

Makarov reached for the barrel of wine, took a large gulp, and his face flushed even more. He let out a satisfied burp and slowly said, "Has the Dojigiri Ezel of the Tartaros been dealt with?"

Hughes nodded and quietly recounted everything that had happened in Thunder Valley to him, including his own impersonation of Jose.

Makarov paused slightly as he reached for the drink, giving Hughes a serious look. "Hughes, are you sure Dojigiri Ezel can be resurrected?"

Hughes nodded. "The Nine Demon Gates has signed a pact with Pluton, wanting to completely eliminate them. The only options are to kill Pluton or destroy the Hell Core within the Tartaros. These are the two methods I know so far."

"Of course, old man, if you can get Zeref to come, that would be great too..."

Before Hughes could finish speaking, Makarov rolled his eyes at him.

Only an ignorant fool would dare to provoke a monster like Zeref.

Two breaths later, Makarov's eyes widened suddenly. "Wait, how did you know Zeref was still alive?"

Zeref was born 400 years ago and is the progenitor of dark mages. He was designated by the Magic Council as the most ferocious and evil dark mage in the magical world.

Rumors have long circulated that Zeref is dead, and the Black Magic Cult has stirred up various upheavals on the Ishgar Continent in an attempt to resurrect Zeref.

If the second chairman Precht Gelb, hadn't told him some secrets before leaving, Makarov wouldn't have known that the terrifying monster Zeref was still alive.

How did Hughes know that Zeref was still alive? No, he even knew about the deeply hidden Tartaros!

Facing Makarov's inquisitive eyes, Hughes calmly picked up two fingers, raised an eyebrow, and said, "I only know a tiny bit of the main stuff."

"Old man, if there's anything you want to know, you can ask me. Don't worry, I charge very little. If all else fails, I'll give you five collector's edition photo albums each time!"

To be honest, Hughes was also a little frustrated. Others traveled through worlds and made a fortune by relying on their foresight.

He had a head full of information about the Fairy Tail world, but it was all useless. The main reason was that he never thought that the Fairy Tail world had what he needed.

Makarov stared at Hughes for a few moments, his mouth slightly open, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped himself.

He did have many questions he wanted to ask, but he wasn't sure whether he should ask them or not, and he was having a hard time deciding.

Hughes knew that although Makarov was usually carefree and easygoing, the old man had a lot on his mind.

In order to obtain certain intelligence, he even dared to send people to infiltrate the Magic Council!

"Old man, we'll deal with whatever comes our way. There's nothing to worry about. The world won't end, and everyone in Fairy Tail will continue to grow happily!"

Hughes patted the old man on the shoulder and said with a smile.

No matter how many or how strong the enemy, what is there to fear? Once the background music starts, we'll annihilate them all.

If that doesn't work, we'll take everyone to Tenrou Island...

Makarov shook his head, took a sip of his drink, his deep eyes darted around, but in the end he said nothing and asked nothing.

Just then, Hughes suddenly remembered something. "Old man, are you having trouble writing your letter of self-criticism? Could you write one for me and Laxus when you have time?"

Makarov:??? Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling!

"What did you two do?" Makarov asked, puzzled.

"We just accidentally destroyed Thunder Valley!"

As soon as Hughes finished speaking, the old man waved his hand nonchalantly. He thought it was something serious. Thunder Valley was a no-man's-land. As long as it didn't affect anyone, with his "Ten Wizard Saints" status, it was just a matter of saying a few nice words to the Magic Council.

"We also destroyed tens of meters of territory belonging to the kingdoms of Kingdom of Fiore and Kingdom of Bosco," Hughes continued.

"A few dozen meters of territory... that's not a big deal. If you leak the information about the Tartaros to the Kingdom of Fiore, the Kingdom of Bosco, and the Magic Council, and show a good attitude, this matter will be over."

"Forget it, I'll handle this for you!"

As the First Destruction Maniac of Fairy Tail, Makarov knew exactly how to handle this matter.

Hughes gave him a thumbs up, then stood up. "Then I'll leave this to the chairman. Consider it a favor I owe you!"

"I'm off, old man. I'm going back to get some sleep. Tonight I'll call those old geezers over, and we'll all go blanch some vegetables together!"

Makarov took a sip of his drink and nodded occasionally.

Inside the three-story villa, Hughes descended from the sky into the courtyard, took out his key, and opened the front door.

Mira took Elfman and Lisanna to the next town for a mission, and the old man said they wouldn't be back until tomorrow at the earliest.

The mission level is low, only C-Class, and it requires driving away wild animals that are destroying crops.

Mira took Elfman and Lisanna with her for two reasons: firstly, because of their magic, which allowed her to see if there were any suitable wild beasts or animals to take them in.

Secondly, Elfman will be able to start accepting missions next year, Mira wants to pass on some useful experience to Elfman during the mission process.

With no one home and not particularly hungry, Hughes was too lazy to bother himself, so he closed the door and slept soundly until the sun went down.