The meeting officially came to an end, and everyone dispersed and headed home. Moen and Makarov, however, naturally could not leave—they had to stay behind to repair the venue.
Through magic crystal balls capable of video communication, they had already informed everyone back at the guild of the situation. Led by Uncle Reinhard, the "Fairy Tail Construction Squad" was mobilized once again.
This time it was an official assignment, with generous subsidies provided. Everyone happily rushed over, and before long, the repairs were successfully completed.
This was what professionalism looked like!
The trip back was lively. Their entire guild had reserved a whole train carriage, and they returned to the guild amid laughter and cheer.
"Bang!"
Makarov kicked the guild doors open and strode in boldly, only to be greeted by a roll of the eyes from Airo.
"You went out for a routine meeting and ended up spending nearly ten million J. Chairman, when you're back, please don't destroy guild property anymore. Levy works very hard too."
Airo was busy behind the bar but still found time to complain.
When Levy was mentioned, she merely stuck out her tongue and didn't say anything. She still didn't dare complain about the chairman. Although she had once complained to his face when she first joined, her impression of Makarov had greatly changed. She now knew that the chairman wasn't actually a pervert—he just looked like one.
"So noisy, Airo. A large portion of that ten million J went to the guild members anyway. You could say it was a disguised guild subsidy. I don't think there's anything wrong with that."
Makarov said carelessly.
Airo shook her head. There was nothing she could do about the chairman except humor him. They always said old people became like children—the older they got, the more childlike they became.
Meanwhile, over where the real children were, Moen immediately became the center of attention the moment he returned. All the kids crowded around him.
"Line up properly, line up properly. Everyone gets one."
Moen smiled as he directed them, having the kids line up to receive their gifts.
Because of the repairs to the meeting venue, Moen had stayed in Clover for several days and deliberately bought gifts for everyone.
They were all interesting little trinkets—not worth much money but full of thought.
For example, Natsu received a scarf, which he could definitely use. Gray got a pair of loose shorts, which he could also use—although Gray sometimes stripped down completely, most of the time he at least kept his shorts on, making them absolutely practical for him. Elfman received a brightly colored parrot as a pet.
"This one is for Cana. It's a treasure picked up from Cait Shelter. According to Grandpa Rob, it's a divination tool from several hundred years ago."
Moen handed Cana a turtle shell engraved with mysterious symbols on its back. He didn't know whether it was real or fake—Rob said it was, and the credibility was quite high. The old man was so strong that it was normal for him to have some treasures.
The moment Cana saw the shell, her eyes lit up. She took it and immediately began studying it, even attracting Levy's attention, who was very interested in the symbols carved on it.
Moen had brought Levy several ancient books as gifts, also obtained from Cait Shelter. While idle in Clover, he had deliberately made a trip there and harvested quite a lot—until Rob couldn't take it anymore and chased him out.
"Thank you, Moen~~~"
After receiving the books, Levy stopped competing with Cana over the turtle shell. Hugging the box of books, she looked as if she had obtained priceless treasure, her face filled with joy.
The children in the guild all had very pure personalities.
"This is Erza's."
What Moen gave Erza was a suit of armor—not a magical one, but an old piece of armor with considerable age.
As for where it came from… it could only be said that Rob had his reasons for chasing Moen out.
"Thank you. It's a very unique design."
Erza looked at the armor in pleasant surprise. She had a hobby of collecting armor.
Not every piece she bought was usable, but she never sold them—she kept them as part of her collection. This piece was clearly a valuable collectible.
She had previously given Moen a suit of armor, and now Moen had returned the favor. Erza's smile bloomed, showing that she was genuinely happy.
Soon, Lisanna and Wendy also received their gifts. Lisanna got a delicate hairpin, while Wendy received a floral hair accessory.
Lisanna had short hair, while Wendy was preparing to grow hers long, so Moen had deliberately chosen a hair accessory suitable for tying hair for Wendy.
After receiving their gifts, the two girls hopped around happily. They spent time together every day and had become very close.
Mira watched quietly from the side. Even Jet and Droy had received gifts, yet Moen still hadn't called her over.
Of course, she hadn't gone to line up either. Even Erza had lined up, clearly already accustomed to doing so.
Seeing that Jet and Droy had already received their gifts and the line was about to disperse, Mira bit her lip. Her feet wanted to step forward, yet she couldn't bring herself to move.
"Mira, this is for you."
However, while Mira was still hesitating about whether she should go line up, Moen had already finished distributing the gifts and walked over to her on his own.
"F-for me?"
Looking at the gift being handed to her, Mira panicked. She fumbled awkwardly, wanting to take it but not extending her hand.
"Of course. I picked it especially for you."
Moen tilted his head slightly, finding Mira's reaction a bit strange. Something he had already grown used to seemed unusually significant to her. Had this girl never received a gift before?
Thinking about it that way, it didn't seem impossible.
"I still owe you money…"
Mira said softly. The reason she hadn't accepted the gift was because of this. She still owed Moen money, yet she was accepting a gift from him—what kind of situation was that?
"These are two different things, Mira. This is a gift I picked especially for you. If you don't want it, then I'll have no choice but to throw it away."
Moen smiled helplessly. Mira was truly strong-willed—she kept the debt firmly in mind, feeling embarrassed to even accept a gift before repaying it.
But Moen didn't care about that money at all. Deep down, he even felt a bit of regret. Somehow, lending money to Mira to build her house seemed to have increased her pressure instead.
"Why would you throw it away?!"
The moment Moen said he would throw it away, Mira's reaction immediately became much stronger. Even her voice rose, and her movements were no longer hesitant or awkward.
She grabbed the gift bag in one motion and opened it. Inside was an apron, which made Mira freeze for a moment.
"Such a nice apron… how could you throw it away. You could even give it to someone else."
Looking at the apron inside the bag, Mira spoke softly.
"That won't do. This is something I picked especially for you. How could I give it to someone else? If you don't want it, then I can only throw it away."
Moen shook his head and said firmly.
"…"
Mira fell silent. She looked at Moen's bright, sunny smile and asked blankly:
"Why… an apron?"
"When I see you cooking, you always look very relaxed. Mira, you must really like cooking, right? That's why I deliberately picked an apron. I hope I can often eat the food you make in the future—it's really delicious. Just talking about it is already making me hungry."
Moen replied with a smile. He really had noticed this—Mira was clearly not good at cooking merely because she was the eldest sister or because life forced her to be. Those reasons might exist, but she herself genuinely enjoyed cooking.
"…Thank you. Then I'll accept it."
Moen's words caused Mira's expression to lose control slightly. She pressed her lips together, tightened her grip on the gift bag, and thanked Moen.
"That's right, Mira. Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Things are different now from before. You have many people you can rely on. Don't just focus on your small family—you also have the guild, this big family. Look at Lisanna and Elfman. Aren't they very happy in this big family?"
Moen spoke softly as he reached out and patted Mira's head. Mira, when not in delinquent mode, was actually very cute.
"Smack!"
"Don't treat me like a child, Moen!"
Mira slapped away Moen's hand from her head. She wrinkled her nose and glared at Moen with a fierce little expression, shouting softly.
"Haha."
Moen laughed loudly and teased Mira.
"Hmph!"
Mira's cheeks flushed slightly. She snorted and turned her head away, refusing to look at Moen.
"Moen!"
However, before Mira could say anything else, a loud shout made her turn her head back again. She saw a figure rushing in energetically—this was the person who had shouted Moen's name.
Blond hair, with headphones on his head—it was Laxus. Mira did not have much interaction with Laxus. She did not socialize much, and Laxus rarely paid attention to others. Up to now, the two of them had basically barely spoken to each other.
At this moment, Laxus rushed straight to Moen, staring at him with an expression of disbelief.
"What's wrong, Laxus?"
Looking at Laxus's strange expression, Moen was puzzled. Could it be that Laxus also wanted a gift?
"I bought yours too."
Before Laxus could speak, Moen directly lifted a bag and handed it to the dumbfounded Laxus.
"That's not important!"
Laxus pushed the bag aside, then stared intensely at Moen and asked:
"Moen, did you defeat Jose Porla? You defeated one of the Ten Wizard Saints?!"
Laxus's voice carried very complex emotions—first, a strong disbelief, as if he did not want to believe it, and then faintly, a trace of expectation and pride.
"Uh… not exactly. Grandpa was the main fighting force. I can only say that I made Jose Porla suffer a huge loss."
Moen scratched his head. He really felt awkward about this matter, because the rumors outside had become far too exaggerated.
As the story spread, it had already turned into Moen defeating Jose Porla all by himself. Straight-up removing the main fighter—how was that even reasonable?!
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