After gaining fame throughout the Kingdom of Fiore under the nickname "Rose Star Boy," and even becoming renowned across the entire continent of Ishgar, Moen immediately felt the troubles of becoming a celebrity. His once peaceful and warm daily life seemed to be gone forever.
"Sorry, I'm not accepting interviews."
Moen politely refused the reporter who had come to interview him in person.
"Are you really not going to consider it?! Mr. Moen! We can add more money!"
The rejected reporter was extremely anxious and unwilling to leave just like that. If he could obtain such an exclusive interview, his status at the newspaper would absolutely skyrocket!
"How much more?"
Moen asked with a bit of curiosity.
"Uh—"
The reporter froze for a moment, then his expression instantly turned ecstatic. He raised one finger and said firmly.
"One million J, plus another one million J!"
After saying that, the reporter looked at Moen with hopeful eyes. They weren't afraid of Moen asking for more money—what they feared was Moen not wanting money at all!
"Oh, sorry, I'm not accepting interviews."
Moen lost interest and spoke once again. Two million J for a single interview was honestly not a small amount, but Moen still chose to refuse, clearly showing that he wasn't short on money.
"…"
The reporter who had just been toyed with stood there completely stunned. He had already doubled the offer, yet Moen was still dissatisfied?!
"We can add more!"
The reporter chased after Moen all the way to the Fairy Tail guild hall, but was stopped at the entrance by the "two guardian generals," and could only watch as Moen entered the guild.
"Do you have a job request to post?"
Gray, wearing nothing but a pair of loose shorts, asked righteously as he stretched out both arms to block the reporter.
"Uh, yes!"
The reporter froze for a moment, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
"What kind of request?"
Natsu widened his eyes beside Gray. If there really was a request, the two of them couldn't stop the guy from entering.
"I want to commission someone to help me interview Mr. Moen of the Fairy Tail guild!"
The reporter shouted. This outrageous move instantly stunned Gray and Natsu, and the two gatekeepers foolishly let him into the guild hall.
"Alright, alright, so that's how you want to play it?"
Moen was completely speechless. He looked at the reporter and waited for him to submit the request. He really wanted to see what new tricks this guy could pull.
Recently, Moen had rejected interviews from all kinds of reporters. This one in front of him was the most persistent, he had even come up with the idea of using a job request.
"Sir, how may I help you?"
Airo greeted the reporter with a professional smile, warmly leading the now-sweating reporter to the request counter.
"I want to submit a request. The content of the request is to interview Mr. Moen Dreyar of the Fairy Tail guild according to my requirements. The commission fee is three million five hundred thousand J!"
After hesitating briefly, the reporter decisively went all in, directly pushing all his money onto the table.
"Are you sure?"
Airo opened her mouth slightly and couldn't help but take a sharp breath, confirming the request content and amount with him multiple times.
"I'm sure!"
The reporter nodded firmly. He knew this approach wasn't very appropriate, it carried a hint of forcing the issue. He was essentially using money to incite other Fairy Tail members to persuade Moen for him, indirectly pressuring Moen.
Other reporters might have thought of this method before, but he was truly the first to actually do it.
"Alright, please wait a moment."
Airo smiled as she completed the registration of the request. After collecting a service fee that made the reporter's heart ache immensely, she posted the request on the guild's request board.
A reward of three million five hundred thousand J, with no restrictions on who could accept it, even a novice mage could take this request directly.
After the request was posted, the reporter began to look forward to it. That was three million five hundred thousand J, after completing this one job, he wouldn't have to worry about life for at least two or three years. With so many mages in Fairy Tail, he didn't believe no one would be tempted!
However, reality always delivers the most merciless blow. After such a bizarre request was posted, not only did it fail to cause the expected sensation, it didn't even stir a ripple. Everyone merely glanced at it and moved on.
"How could this be…"
The reporter stood there dumbfounded, completely unable to understand.
"Why wouldn't it be? What kind of guild do you think Fairy Tail is? Why do you think we're the number one guild in the Kingdom of Fiore? You should understand that before coming here."
Looking at the stunned reporter, Airo said with a smile.
Forcing Moen to accept an interview by playing the emotional card, while also pocketing money that should have gone to Moen—Fairy Tail members would never do such a thing. It would be disgraceful, and the money wouldn't sit right on their conscience.
"…"
The reporter was completely stunned. Looking at the Fairy Tail members chatting and laughing together, he felt he had gained an entirely new understanding of this guild. Perhaps he could report on something else?
Moen looked at the reporter and thought that this could count as teaching him a lesson.
In fact, over these past few days, Moen hadn't refused every single interview. He had accepted an interview with Sorcerer Weekly.
That was only to promote The Great Detective Folmos, and during the interview, he didn't talk much about the matter of "defeating Jose Porla."
This was also the reason why there were still reporters coming around in hopes of securing an exclusive interview.
But Moen truly had no intention of talking more about that incident, because there really wasn't much he could say. He didn't want to help Jose Porla clear his name.
For now, it was better to let the bullets fly a little longer. The Great Detective Folmos could also benefit from more traffic—after all, the effect of the previous interview had been very good.
After learning that the author of The Great Detective Folmos was the recently famous "Rose Star Boy," this novel, which hadn't even been released yet, immediately caused a massive sensation.
There was no helping it—"Rose Star Boy," as the hottest topic during this period, naturally had that kind of drawing power, directly swallowing up massive amounts of attention.
And the sensation caused by The Great Detective Folmos was then fed back to the "Rose Star Boy." Everyone was extremely curious about what kind of story this young "Star God descended from the heavens" could write.
There were also quite a few voices predicting failure. That was inevitable. If the quality of the work truly wasn't good, then once it was released, it would immediately be devoured by the backlash of popularity, and Moen's reputation would become unbearably foul.
But neither Moen nor Sorcerer Weekly were worried about this at all, because they had absolute confidence in this story.
Certainty that came from the future was simply reassuring.
"Better go out and take on some jobs to lie low."
Moen looked at the request board, selecting missions.
The Great Detective Folmos was about to be published, and it was foreseeable that in the near future, even more reporters would swarm over. The Fairy Tail guild was bound to become lively.
Moen didn't want to deal with those reporters, so he decided to go out on missions. Going out to complete tasks and improve his strength was the most important thing.
After careful selection, Moen accepted a mission that looked like it would be thoroughly enjoyable in combat—bandit suppression. A group of bandits was holed up in the forest. Of course, that was only incidental. The main objective was the magical beast that needed to be subjugated. The magical beast was the real main course.
"This village… having both magical beasts and bandits nearby, and still managing to exist so stubbornly, there's got to be something to it."
Moen held the request slip and looked at the address on it, feeling puzzled. The location of the village that submitted the request wasn't very far from the bandit hideout or the mountain where the magical beast resided.
"I'll go take a look first."
Thinking this, Moen went to find Airo to complete the request acceptance procedures. He didn't pay any more attention to that reporter and set off directly.
Walking along the streets of Magnolia, Moen felt extremely relaxed.
After the initial wave of excitement had passed, the citizens of Magnolia gradually returned to treating him the same way they always had.
Mainly because everyone had been very familiar with him to begin with. Although they were shocked at first, they quickly adapted.
Moen walked along, greeting familiar faces along the way. Soon, he arrived at the station. He had deliberately chosen a mission that was farther away, and the location was extremely remote, which should effectively avoid drawing excessive attention.
As Moen boarded the train and left, a group from Phantom Lord happened to arrive. Gajeel, who had just gotten off the train, narrowly missed Moen.
However, his luck wasn't bad. The moment he stepped off the train, he heard the station staff discussing Moen, who had just departed.
"Moen! That guy has already left Magnolia?!"
Gajeel no longer cared about his discomfort and rushed straight over, charging up to the two staff members who were chatting. His expression was extremely fierce, startling them.
"Who are you, kid? Why are you asking about Moen?"
Although startled by this sharp-looking youth with nails all over his face, the two staff members still raised their guard.
Of course, it was only slight vigilance. There had been far too many people asking about Moen lately. Reporters had been coming in wave after wave. If Gajeel didn't look so non-mainstream and wasn't so young, they would've mistaken him for a reporter as well.
"I—"
Gajeel was instantly stuck. He couldn't exactly say that he was here for revenge, could he?
But then, on second thought, did it really matter?! That was exactly what he was here for, to make a big scene! To let everyone know!
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