"Mira's cooking is still just as amazing."
After finishing the meal, Moen spoke up to praise her.
And he wasn't the only one praising her—everyone else was full of compliments as well.
Mira put her hands on her hips, her ponytail practically sticking up toward the sky. Being acknowledged by everyone in a field she loved and excelled at naturally felt great. At this moment, even Erza had no choice but to concede defeat to her, and even loudly praised her cooking skills.
"But Mira, why didn't you use the apron I gave you?"
Moen tilted his head slightly, his face full of confusion.
He had already noticed this issue while Mira was cooking earlier, but he didn't want to disturb her while she was focused on cooking, so he held back his question until now.
Mira froze for a moment when asked, not reacting immediately.
"Did you not like it?"
Moen naturally thought of this possibility.
"No! Of course not."
Mira denied it reflexively, her face starting to redden a little.
"Big sis Mira treasures it a lot, so she put it away for safekeeping!"
Before Mira could explain, Lisanna spoke up from the side. With just this one sentence, Mira instantly entered a flushed, overheated state.
"Lisanna!"
Mira called out, looking at her younger sister.
Lisanna shrank her head back in fright, stuck out her tongue, and wore a pitiful expression like someone who had done something wrong and was waiting to be scolded.
"So that's how it is."
Moen wore a thoughtful expression. Sure enough, it was just as he had thought, last time had been the first gift Mira had ever received from someone else, and that apron held special meaning for her.
"Don't misunderstand! I just—"
Seeing Moen looking as if he already understood everything, Mira didn't even bother scolding Lisanna anymore. She immediately grew nervous and wanted to explain.
"No need to say it. I understand, and I can sympathize."
Moen waved his hand, signaling that Mira didn't need to explain. After all, never having received a gift before wasn't exactly something pleasant to bring up, and Moen didn't want Mira to reopen old wounds.
"…"
Mira opened her mouth, but for a moment didn't know what to say. She really wanted to ask Moen, what exactly do you think you understand?!
But until everyone had left, Mira still never asked. Because she herself didn't know how to explain this matter either.
The next day, Mira arrived at the Fairy Tail guild hall and early in the morning saw Moen seriously drawing tarot cards.
"Wow! The Devil!"
Moen reacted dramatically. This was truly a very rare card for him.
"This is a warning for you, Brother Moen—don't be tempted by material desires, don't let impulse override reason, don't relax your spiritual discipline. Light or darkness lies only in a single thought."
Cana looked serious and solemn as she gave her interpretation.
Moen, meanwhile, looked at Cana in great surprise, then glanced again at the deck of tarot cards. So this deck could really produce bad omens too?! But wasn't the probability a bit too low?!
"Brother Moen?! Are you listening or not?"
Moen's back-and-forth glancing made Cana a little annoyed. She raised her voice slightly to remind him to pay attention to her interpretation.
"Of course. I've remembered everything."
Moen immediately straightened his face and nodded seriously. But to be honest, he really didn't believe in this kind of thing himself.
Although Moen, who had experienced transmigration, rebirth, and even a system, should logically have more reverence for these mystical matters—
For someone carrying the [Saint Seiya System], it was genuinely hard to feel reverence toward any so-called "gods." After all, this system could just as easily be renamed the [God-Slaying System] without any sense of discord. So-called "gods" were basically meant to be fought, weren't they?
However, regardless of whether he believed it in his heart or not, in front of Cana, Moen pretended that he did, just to avoid having her keep emphasizing it to him.
"So today isn't great luck?"
Mira passed by and asked curiously.
She had also gone to Cana for readings before, but unlike Moen who almost always drew good cards and good omens, she frequently drew bad omens. This deck was clearly a normal deck.
Because of this, everyone had always been envious of Moen's luck. Putting everything else aside, just the fact that he could draw good cards every single time was already enough to prove how good his luck really was.
"Yeah, looks like I'll be unlucky for a while."
Moen smiled as he spoke, then casually took out an exquisitely wrapped gift box.
Under the gazes of Mira and Cana, Moen handed the gift box to Mira. He could clearly see Mira's expression turn into one of shock, as if she hadn't expected this at all.
"Th-this is…?"
Mira stammered as she asked. Her mind wasn't working properly, and she couldn't think of any reason why Moen would give her a gift today.
"Isn't the one I gave you something you couldn't bear to use? Then I'll just give you another one. You can also treat it as thanks for being willing to sing that song."
Moen smiled as he spoke, gesturing for Mira to accept the gift.
"…"
Mira was stunned. This was an outcome she had never imagined. Because she had treasured and stored away that apron, Moen was giving her a new apron for everyday use?
"There's really no need, I already have some I usually use…"
Mira was very touched, but she still spoke up to decline.
She normally bought and used aprons herself, and singing that song had clearly been her honor. How could Moen be the one thanking her instead? Wasn't that completely backward? She should be the one thanking Moen.
"The ones you usually use are definitely different from the one I bought. You can rotate them. Besides, this kind of thing counts as a consumable anyway. And since it's already been bought, I can't just throw it away, right?"
Moen had a smile on his face and pretended he was about to toss the gift away. At this point, Mira had nothing left to say and could only accept it.
"…"
Cana watched from the side and couldn't help but press her lips together.
Brother Moen's light shone upon everyone in the guild, warming everyone. Every guild companion would be cared for by him, no one's emotions escaped his attention.
Sometimes, Cana would think to herself, was there anyone who was special?
Her gaze turned toward Mira, would that person be Mira?
"Cana? What's wrong?"
Cana's thoughts were interrupted. She looked at Moen, who was wearing a concerned expression as he looked at her. Mira had already left, she was going home to put the gift away. She couldn't exactly take a gift like that out on a job.
"It's nothing, Brother Moen. You must remember what I said, resist temptation!"
Cana shook her head and once again emphasized her warning to Moen with a serious face.
"Understood! Great Fortune-Teller Cana, I will engrave your warning firmly in my heart!"
Moen stood up and bowed deeply to Cana, shouting loudly.
"Eh?! What do you mean by 'fortune-teller'?!"
Cana puffed out her cheeks and protested unhappily.
"Then should I call you a shrine maiden? Or a witch?"
Moen laughed as he teased her. Witch and shrine maiden, just swapping the order of the words, but the images that surfaced in his mind were completely different.
"Shrine maiden or witch both sound better than fortune-teller, at least."
Cana complained. Although her way of divination would technically make "witch" the more accurate term, for some reason shrine maidens always gave off a strangely younger impression.
"Still, what you reminded me of actually does make sense. There really have been too many material temptations lately. It suddenly feels like I'm not short on money at all, the speed at which fame converts into wealth really is fast."
Moen's expression became more serious, and he stopped joking around. This was something he had felt very clearly during this period of time.
After he became famous, fame and fortune seemed to suddenly become easily attainable. Even if he didn't write The Great Detective Holmos or Masayume Chasing, it would be very easy to convert the reputation of 'Rose Star' into wealth at the very least, far easier than going out to do jobs.
"Looks like I really should take on a mission and go clear my head."
Moen thought back on it and realized that the frequency with which he had gone out on missions recently was indeed a bit low. He needed to properly spur himself on, he couldn't let himself be swallowed by this materialistic society.
Of course, Masayume Chasing still had to be released. This was a work that could genuinely strengthen Fairy Tail's cohesion. It was no longer just a simple song, but a shared memory created by everyone, a memory that truly embodied the spirit of Fairy Tail.
Moen waited in the guild for a while before the people from "Sound Shell" arrived and took away the recorded Masayume Chasing. They would immediately return to begin releasing it on "Sound Shell," while also working overtime to produce records. This song had been teased for quite some time already, and everyone was eagerly anticipating its release.
It wasn't just fans of The Great Detective Holmos who were waiting, ordinary passersby were also curious to see what kind of fun Moen would come up with.
Even the guild masters of other guilds were paying close attention to this matter.
After all, the song was being promoted under banners like "the spirit of Fairy Tail" and "the representative song of the Fairy Tail guild," which made everyone hesitate about whether they should follow suit and promote their own guilds this way to enhance cohesion. Truly, only Fairy Tail could come up with something like this.
But these matters no longer had much to do with Moen for the time being. Moen left together with Makarov and Laxus.
"That what's-his-name, Totomaru or whatever—how strong is he? That we actually need all of us to go rescue him? Even the old man has to move out personally."
On the train, Laxus asked Moen. He kept his face tightly set. At a glance, there didn't seem to be any issue, but Moen could still sense something different from usual about him.
Laxus was wound too tight. He didn't even know who they were going to fight yet—there was no way he could be nervous because of the mission.
And even if he did know who they were going to fight, Laxus wouldn't be nervous or afraid. He'd be excited instead.
'So… it really is motion sickness, huh?'
Moen looked at Laxus with a face full of admiration. To endure motion sickness while keeping his expression completely unchanged, truly impressive, Laxus!
"I'm talking to you."
Laxus frowned slightly. Moen's gaze made him feel uneasy, but he still forced himself to keep his body tense, not allowing even the slightest hint of weakness or discomfort to show.
"It's not a matter of strength. It's because Grandpa once promised that no matter who it was, no one would be allowed to stop him from joining Fairy Tail. Now that he's actively asked for help, we naturally can't just ignore it."
Moen stopped looking at Laxus with strange eyes and explained seriously. This trip was about fulfilling Grandpa Makarov's promise to Totomaru.
That was also why it was only the three of them, grandfather and grandsons. When all was said and done, this could be considered a family matter, something belonging to Grandpa Makarov himself, so it wouldn't be appropriate to involve others.
"A promise? Why promise him anything?"
Laxus frowned, still unable to understand.
With no other choice, Moen explained to Laxus the "Phantom Lord Incident" that had happened while he was away.
"Crackle—!"
Lightning burst from Laxus's body, frightening the surrounding passengers into quickly moving farther away, afraid of getting electrocuted by him.
"Calm down, Laxus!"
Makarov, who had been silent the entire time, finally spoke up to shout at him. However, there was actually a hint of satisfaction on his face.
Laxus's reaction clearly showed that he still cared deeply about the guild in his heart. That meant Laxus was still a good kid.
"You did well, Moen."
Laxus spoke concisely.
He had no choice but to keep it short.
It was too uncomfortable!
Laxus hurriedly gathered his focus, but his expression darkened even more than before.
One part was anger. The other part was that increasingly unbearable feeling that was washing over him. He was relying purely on sheer willpower—otherwise, he'd already be slumped over by now.
"I never expected that bastard José Porla would really go after Totomaru. I originally thought the conflict between them was just historical baggage, but it turns out that guy himself is just trash!"
At the mention of this matter, Makarov ground his teeth in anger. Back then, when he said he'd let Totomaru join Fairy Tail, he had already declared that if Jose Porla dared to stop him, he'd go beat him up.
Yet now, forget about joining Fairy Tail—Totomaru just wanted to leave Phantom Lord, and he was already imprisoned by Jose Porla. That guy was completely disregarding the rules!
Joining or leaving a mage guild was a mage's personal freedom. Even as a guild master, Jose Porla had no right to stop him.
It could only be said that Jose Porla's actions finally made Totomaru give up persisting. He ultimately decided to join Fairy Tail and sent a request for help to Makarov, one that had to be passed through several people before it finally reached him.
"Looks like I didn't hit him hard enough back then."
Makarov sighed emotionally. If he'd known, he shouldn't have let Jose Porla off so easily that time. He should've beaten him even harder, made him recover for a year or two—so he wouldn't be causing trouble again so soon.
"I don't think he should've fully recovered so quickly."
Moen spoke seriously. How much time had even passed? Not even half a year yet—Jose Porla could already use magic power to purge all the poison from his body?
"I'll handle him."
Although Laxus was so uncomfortable that his face was nearly turning black, he still didn't forget to fight for the right to take part in battle. He understood now, this time they were going to fight Jose Porla. He had to seize this opportunity.
This was his chance to prove himself.
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