Heartfilia, Lucy's family.
Calling it a 'family' is a bit of an exaggeration, as Layla and Jude only had one daughter, Lucy.
However, ever since Layla passed away, Jude, unable to cope with the grief of losing his beloved and unsure how to face his daughter, poured all his energy into his business.
Combined with his considerable personal ability, he developed the Heartfilia Merchant Guild into one of the top-ranking guilds in the Fiore Kingdom in just a few short years.
Ezreal reached out and pressed the edge of the request form; sunlight slanted down from the high stained-glass window, casting tiny golden shadows beneath his eyelashes: "I remember the current head of Heartfilia..."
"That would be Mr. Jude," Mira said as she walked back to the counter, placing Yuumi on a soft cushion on the counter, then casually picking up a wine glass and wiping it as she spoke.
"However, I heard that as the Merchant Guild grew larger and larger, it faced hostility and suppression from other merchant guilds, so Mr. Jude is considering finding cooperative allies, and the sincerity of the alliance seems to be that young lady."
There are many large and small merchant guilds within the Fiore Kingdom; there's only so much cake to go around, and if everyone takes a little, there won't be much left. Heartfilia was originally unremarkable, but after Jude took over, the Merchant Guild indeed developed rapidly, but it also made many enemies.
Jude, with his excellent foresight, naturally realized this, and to break the deadlock, he came up with the simplest and most effective way to find allies: marriage alliance.
"A business marriage..." Ezreal's mind conjured an image of Lucy holding her Celestial Spirit keys, and he smiled.
According to the timeline, the father-daughter relationship between the original Lucy Heartfilia and Jude was in an awkward period, with Jude, who became increasingly strong with the development of his career, only wanting to quickly resolve external pressures and internal problems.
Marrying off his daughter was a win-win solution, but it was also at this time that Jude provoked Lucy's strong resentment.
If he remembered correctly, Celestial Spirit Mage Lucy, currently only 15 years old, was brewing a plan to run away from home to defy her 'dark' father, Lord Jude.
The countdown to the young lady's runaway from home!
As he thought about it, the smile on Ezreal's face became even more pronounced.
Jet suddenly leaned in front of Ezreal, his nose almost touching the other's: "You little brat, don't tell me you have designs on a rich young lady, Loki No. 2!"
"What kind of ridiculous name is that!" Ezreal pushed Jet away dismissively.
Loki, who was far away, sweet-talking a new acquaintance, pushed up his glasses and glanced over, "Did I hear someone call me?"
"No!" Jet and Droy shouted in unison, waving their hands repeatedly, and pushed the blue-haired girl with glasses towards Mira, hiding her.
"Idiot green-eyed monster, don't attract Loki!" Droy grabbed his companion's collar and pulled him back.
"Hm? Sprout-head, are you looking for trouble or what!" Jet glared at him with his neck stiff.
The two snorted at each other, then twisted and fought like pretzels.
Ezreal and the others were used to this; it was just their normal behavior.
Anyway, compared to Natsu Grey, these two's destructive power was small, their danger level low; at most, they'd break a few tables and chairs.
It would be fine to just make a few more sets when the 'furniture human pillar' returned from his request.
Levy sighed helplessly, her braids arcing a semicircle in the air as she turned, looking at the blond young man with anticipation: "EZ, are you joining? We're just about to team up for this request."
"No problem, the weather's just right, not too hot, not too cold, so it'll be like a trip," Ezreal said, nodding with a smile.
He might even meet Lucy on this trip; joining in the fun would be nice.
And the Heartfilia Merchant Guild was indeed generous; even with four people splitting the reward, they would each get a good amount.
If they encountered people from a Dark Guild trying to rob them, it would be a good opportunity to collect some evolution materials.
Three birds with one stone!
Ezreal looked at the taken request form, then at Mira, "Which city was the Heartfilia Merchant Guild headquarters in again?"
Mira thought for a moment and replied, "Ohara City, it's quite far, to the south."
"Ohara, huh?" Ezreal nodded, then looked at Levy and the other two, "When are you planning to leave?"
As the core of the trio, the two 'dog-followers' unconditionally listened to Levy, so their gaze obediently fell on the girl with glasses. Levy thought for a moment and said, "The sooner the better. We already bought some blank cards from Cana-chan this morning and sealed some daily necessities, so we can leave anytime."
Ezreal smiled and snapped his left hand in front of Levy.
A white magic circle opened, then transformed into a platinum and gold interweaving spatial teleportation gate, floating in front of the bar.
"Then let's leave now! I happen to have the coordinates for Ohara City. If I'm not mistaken, the teleportation gate's landing point should be Ohara's Central Park."
"Woohoo, cool!"
"Let's go! Let's go!"
Jet's eyes lit up; he gave a thumbs-up and stepped directly into the teleportation gate, disappearing.
"Wait for me!" The sprout-headed Droy also followed closely behind him.
The girl with glasses first patted little Yuumi's head, then said goodbye to Mira before stepping into the teleportation gate.
Ezreal followed closely behind.
Mira watched as the four successively stepped into the teleportation gate and disappeared, then hugged little Yuumi and softly said with a smile, "Have a safe journey."
...The halo of the teleportation gate had not completely dissipated when the salty sea breeze, wrapped in the warm spring sun, rushed towards them.
Ezreal squinted, seeing Levy's blue hair catch tiny glints of sunlight in the wind. Not far away, the bronze mermaid statue in the fountain plaza was pouring water droplets from a seashell into the pool.
"Is this Ohara?" Droy stood on tiptoe, looking around, his sprout-like cowlick swaying in the wind.
The glass storefronts on both sides of the street reflected the flowing crowds; gentlemen in top hats and women carrying flower baskets came and went under the Baroque-style arcades, and the rich aroma of baked cakes and spring flowers wafted through the air.
Levy suddenly squatted down, her fingertips tracing the gold leaf fragments embedded in the cracks of the bluestone bricks: "'Fiore Architectural History' mentioned that the Heartfilia Merchant Guild funded the reconstruction of the entire port city. Look at these gold leaf fragments in the brick cracks; they were decorations scattered when it was completed—now they've been trampled into dust."
"Over there!" Jet suddenly pointed at the distant dock and exclaimed. The golden sails of a seven-masted ship undulated between the blue waves, and the iris flag fluttering at the top of the mast echoed the glazed emblem on the roof of the Merchant Guild headquarters.
Stevedores were chanting slogans as they moved oak crates marked with an 'H' down the gangplank, and sunlight streamed over the crane's boom decorated with bronze gears.
Ezreal watched with interest the Mage guard patrol on the street corner; the iris emblem on their breastplates glowed with a faint cyan halo in the sunlight: "They've even infiltrated the city's public security; no wonder the Heartfilia Merchant Guild is seen as a thorn in the side by other merchant guilds."
As they passed through a long corridor covered with wisteria, Droy suddenly pointed at a dessert shop and exclaimed, "Isn't that the strawberry mousse tart from the latest cover of 'Sweetheart Witch'!"
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