Tony Tony Chopper!

Hughes hummed softly as he led Mira out of the guild, feeling refreshed.

"Were you deliberately trying to annoy the master, or were you trying to get Macao in trouble?"

As an adult, Hughes was naturally doing both. That was what Makarov got for sending him flying last night, and what Macao got for refusing to share the exciting good stuff with him that morning.

Pah! They were all bad people!

"Mira, should we find Madam Yasulien and confirm the job first, or go straight after that orange cat with magical beast blood?"

The world of Fairy Tail distinguished between animals, beasts, and magical beasts.

Harmless creatures like kittens, puppies, and rabbits were classified as animals; larger creatures like lions, bison, and black bears were defined as beasts; magical beasts were animals that could use magic, such as the Forest Vulcan Hughes had encountered before.

Hughes was quite curious about an orange cat with magical beast blood. An orange cat was just a little animal, so how could it have magical beast blood?

Had someone gotten drunk by Daming Lake, or mounted the wrong cat under the moon in Flower Field??

Come to think of it, the Take Over Magic Lisanna and Elfman had learned was Animal Soul and Beast Soul, respectively.

Mira paid no attention to Hughes, whose thoughts were drifting further and further off course. After a moment's thought, she said, "We should ask Madam Yasulien first. The job request says the orange cat ran off in the eastern forest, but what if it went home on its own?

"If it did, we'll have to cancel the job, and we won't have to make a trip to the eastern forest for nothing."

Standing on the busiest street in Magnolia Town, Hughes looked around with great interest, nodding from time to time, his eyes wider than ever.

He was... looking at pretty girls.

No, no! He was here to find Madam Yasulien. Madam Yasulien was very wealthy and lived on this very street, the busiest in town.

Fairy Tail really was modeled after Japan. There were so many pretty girls: gentle, sweet, dashing, slender, and full-bosomed, all of them.

Some of those ample bosoms weren't even bound tight. They swayed with every step, and one look was enough to tell they were big and soft. It was truly a blight on public morals.

Using supreme willpower to keep his eyes from bouncing along with them, Hughes thought he must be ill. With his refinement, how could he possibly do something like glue his eyes to someone else?

He hadn't been like this before. He must have been led astray by Makarov and the others after joining the guild.

"Oh, this one's good..."

Hughes instantly cast his earlier thoughts aside. How could he let himself get distracted while admiring a beauty?

In the crowded throng ahead, an elegant young married woman had been jostled to one side. Her hair, originally pinned up, had come loose in strands, leaving her looking rather disheveled.

Her round, fair face was flushed like a ripe peach, looking exceptionally dewy.

She was tall and shapely, her curves standing out beneath her long, fitted, patterned dress. Her almond eyes glistened, giving her a soft, vulnerable air.

Her lovely face, lonely and streaked with tears, was like a pear blossom in the spring rain.

Judging by her clothes and bearing, she had to be rich or noble. Who knew what she was thinking, insisting on squeezing in among this crowd of commoners?

Hughes noticed quite a few lecherous gazes fixed on her.

Using the crowd as cover, a large hand had already reached for her rounded backside, but she hadn't noticed a thing. She was probably an ordinary person.

Hughes shook his head and casually kicked up a pebble at his feet, treating it as payment for the view.

Crack!

The burly man's agonized howl instantly silenced the crowd, which then scattered. People had always enjoyed watching a commotion, but they were also afraid of being caught in the middle of one.

The young woman took another close look at the stall, and, having confirmed it didn't have what she was looking for, left with the crowd, looking a little disappointed. The view from behind, swaying up and down as she walked, was full of charm.

As Hughes sighed in appreciation, another pebble shot out from beneath his foot, and the burly man's agonized howls became even more heart-rending.

With so many perverts like this around, where would there be any young ladies or shapely young wives left on the streets? People like these were ruining a beautiful world!

Mira, who had seen everything Hughes did, was speechless. Magic flowed over her body, and she seemed on the verge of transforming into a demon!

This definitely wasn't the Hughes she knew. Definitely not. He had to be under the control of dark magic.

"Hiss~"

Caught completely off guard when Mira stamped hard on his foot, Hughes jumped in fright. He thought his little secret had been discovered, and his heart rate shot up.

It felt just like hiding under the covers in the middle of the night to sneak a look at something he shouldn't, only for the director to yank the covers off.

Why did the hospital have something like that, you ask? Hughes had obviously stolen it from the director's office!

"Mira, why did you step on me?"

The girl shot him a sidelong glance, the kind of look one gave trash. Hughes recognized it; he used to look at the director the same way.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot about you. I'll tell you in advance next time, so you can look at the beauties too."

Hughes suddenly understood and thumped his chest in assurance. He wasn't a miser like the director, hiding good things away to enjoy by himself.

"But Mira, you're a girl. Do you like looking at pretty women too?"

"Get lost!"

"Right away!" Hughes, always very obedient, immediately ran off. He'd been curious for a while about what that crowd had gathered around!

When he got closer, he saw that it was a stall selling small pets. All sorts of strange animals were on display: red puppies, pink kittens, and crickets the size of washbasins.

Hughes also saw a blue-nosed raccoon dog.

?? A blue-nosed raccoon dog.

Hughes froze on the spot. Sure enough, the system's notification sounded in his mind.

["Emergency food reserve Tony Tony Chopper" detected. Please challenge him!]

[Quest "Save Tony Tony Chopper" activated!]

A transparent panel opened before Hughes. He looked at the newly added [Haki] and the several quests now lit up under [Quests].

Only then did Hughes remember that he hadn't opened the system panel in ages...

Was the system that easy to overlook, or was something wrong with him??

With no time to check the other quests, Hughes quickly skimmed the one he had just activated.

[Save Tony Tony Chopper: As a heaven's chosen of the reindeer race, his naturally blue nose has subjected him to constant discrimination. By chance, he swallowed the Commoner Fruit, becoming a one-of-a-kind raccoon dog? Reindeer?

Often worth 50 Beli while taking on enemies worth hundreds of millions, he must be rescued from his sea of suffering and found a suitable pirate crew.]

[Quest reward: improved physical condition]

[Quest penalty: reduced physical condition]

Hughes recognized every word, but after reading it, he couldn't tell whether it was a quest description or a roast.

It was just that this time, the quest reward wasn't being handed out in advance, which left Hughes grumbling inwardly for quite a while.

He was very satisfied with the reward of improved physical condition. He didn't know whether the Flame-Flame Fruit would work on Acnologia, the world's magic-immune final boss, but fists definitely would.

The quest was easy and the reward was excellent, so Hughes accepted it right away.

"How much for this raccoon dog?"

The stall owner, who was annoyed that his customers had been driven off, looked up. "Are you making soup or braising it? If it's soup, I'll chop it into pieces for you. If it's braised, I'll chop it into pieces for you too."

"Ha... Chopper really is backup food!!" Hughes was shocked.

"Ah, sorry, I misspoke. I keep thinking I'm still working as a butcher!"

"Let me tell you, this raccoon dog is amazing. It has a blue nose."

Curious, Hughes picked up on his words and asked, "What's so amazing about this raccoon dog?"

"I told you! It has a blue nose."

Hughes: ...Asking online: if I flip his stall over, will the Magic Council arrest me??