Lisanna Was Asking for a Beating Again

"Anyway, Master, that's what happened on our job!" After returning to the guild, Mira gave Makarov a detailed account of the job.

As for Hughes, Mira had dropped him off with Granny Porlyusica. He needed proper treatment.

Makarov took the pipe from his mouth and sighed helplessly. It had been an ordinary job to drive away wild beasts, so how had it become entangled with a demon?

Were those two children unlucky too? They had even encountered a Primordial Demon that had long since vanished.

At that thought, Makarov suddenly remembered that Mira seemed to have taken over Satan. He hurriedly stood up from behind the bar.

"Mira, try not to use Satan's power much before you become an adult. Take Over Magic has a drawback: users are easily influenced by what they take over, and their personalities can change. You're still young, so you're even more susceptible."

Mira nodded. Hughes had already warned her on their way back to the guild.

"What about Hughes? Nothing went wrong this time, did it?"

Mira told Makarov about Hughes's fight with Satan and informed him that Hughes's flame powers had grown considerably. Hughes had asked her to tell Makarov.

Hughes had no intention of hiding it, and he couldn't have hidden it anyway.

After hearing everything, Makarov said nothing. He merely let out another long sigh, and for some reason, his back seemed much more hunched.

Porlyusica's diagnosis of Hughes echoed in Makarov's mind.

"Master, there's one more thing. Hughes asked me to ask you how to learn to change the shape of his flames and break sealing magic. He said that after he gets back from Granny Porlyusica's, he wants you to teach him both!"

After Satan's lesson in tough love, Hughes had reflected on his painful experience and resolved to study hard and train to address his weaknesses.

The Flame-Flame Fruit's awakening had now reached thirty percent. With Makarov's help, that was enough for him to develop some of Ace's moves.

For example, he should be able to develop Divine Fire: Shiranui, an advanced version of the flame spear he had used before, as well as moves like Fire Fly, Heat Haze, and Flame Commandment.

With more ways to fight his enemies, he would at least avoid being left as battered as he had been this time. Most importantly, he needed to learn how to break sealing magic.

How could Makarov refuse when Hughes was so eager to learn? He nodded. "I'm available whenever he's ready."

Granny Porlyusica was a good person. Hughes felt he might have misjudged her; she hadn't even charged him for his treatment this time.

Thinking that a good person would surely see a good deed through to the end, Hughes shamelessly held out his hand to her. He thought Granny Porlyusica would give him a few potions to restore his energy for free.

Porlyusica thought Hughes would like her broom, so the two parted on bad terms.

Stingy. Far too stingy...

Standing outside the guild's entrance, Hughes grumbled for quite a while before kicking the doors open with extreme arrogance. "Sons, Daddy's home!"

"Bastard, who dares act so arrogantly?!" Macao rose angrily and looked over, then calmly sat back down.

Everyone in the guild: ...What happened next? They had been waiting for quite a while...

"Wakaba, what are you looking at me for? Want a fight?"

"Huh?" Wakaba, called out by Macao, pulled his head out of a barrel of booze. His bright red face was full of confusion.

Hadn't he been drinking? When had he looked at Macao?

"Ooh, Macao, you chickened out!" the naked Gray said disdainfully. "You're a member of Fairy Tail, and you're actually scared!"

Everyone: "Ooh~"

"Bastards, like hell I'm scared of Hughes! As a guild veteran, I was going easy on him before. All of you, watch closely and see how I beat Hughes up!" Enraged, Macao rolled up his sleeves and stormed toward Hughes.

He was going to get revenge for the last time Hughes had beaten him to a pulp, and show those bastards the formidable strength he possessed as a guild veteran.

"Wakaba, aren't you taking bets? I want to bet on Hughes!"

"Me too!" ×n

"Hughes at zero to one, Macao at ten thousand to one. I'll just take a twenty percent cut!" Wakaba pulled out a betting board from somewhere and immediately wrote the odds on it.

"Bastard Wakaba, aren't you taking us for fools?!"

"Bastards, you were the ones who started treating me like a fool!"

"Want a fight?"

Meanwhile, Hughes had easily sent Macao off to meet his great-grandmother with a single punch. When he turned around, he saw that Wakaba and the others had already started fighting.

"Just as I thought, I'm a normal person. I've been coming to the guild for so many days, and I haven't managed to fit in with their nonsense once!"

"Damn it, even Mira has been hit by flying slippers plenty of times..."

Under Hughes's envious gaze, Wakaba and the others fought in ever greater chaos. Tables and chairs flew around the guild, and a pair of pants belonging to who knew who even landed at his feet.

Being well-mannered enough to believe that trash belonged in a trash can, Hughes kicked the pants into the one outside the door.

Now, people passing by wouldn't accidentally step on the pants and slip.

He really was a good person!

There was no need to thank him, really. Of course, if someone insisted on thanking Hughes, he wouldn't refuse.

"Hi, Hughes! What are you laughing at?"

Lisanna, who had just been out playing with Natsu and Happy, stood behind Hughes and greeted him happily.

"Hey, Hughes, you're back!"

Hughes turned around and saw Natsu and Lisanna standing side by side behind him. A little blue cat was perched on Natsu's head, looking timidly at Hughes.

Hughes's eyes lit up at once. He had only been away for a few days, and those two had already hatched Hani!

Little Happy was quite cute, with none of the bad behavior he would have later. Hughes stepped forward and gently rubbed him; he felt quite nice to the touch.

"Hughes, isn't Happy cute?" Natsu beamed.

But Hughes didn't want to see Natsu so happy. He scratched his nostril. "I heard that you and Lisanna are Happy's dad and mom?"

"Oh, Hughes, what are you saying? That was just a joke!" Lisanna covered her face and protested shyly.

Natsu was still beaming as he scratched the back of his head. "Lisanna did say that!"

Little Happy raised a paw. "Aye!"

Hughes spread his hands and shrugged. "Well, Mira, you heard them. At this rate, Lisanna's child might be calling you Auntie by the time she becomes an adult!"

Lisanna, Natsu, and Happy all shuddered. It seemed a monster had appeared behind them... No, the monster was walking toward them.

"Lisanna, I've only been away a few days, and you've already become like this? And you, flame brat, how dare you lead Lisanna astray!" Shrouded in a dark aura, Mira walked in from outside the guild one step at a time, radiating an overwhelming pressure.

Even Satan hadn't been as intimidating as Mira was at that moment. The terrifying pressure was enough to make even Hughes want to run away!

"Mira, listen to me! I was joking!!"

"Bastard Mira, don't bully Lisanna! She's Happy's mom!"

"Hah?!" The vein mark on Mira's forehead grew even more pronounced.

"Natsu, please stop talking... ┭┮﹏┭┮."

It was none of Hughes's business, and he intended to stay out of it. Worried that he would get caught up in the trouble if he stayed, he crossed his hands behind his head, turned around, and walked away, whistling a cheerful tune.

Children needed to be disciplined from a young age. They would be hard to control once they grew up...