Time passed quietly. In the blink of an eye, late July arrived, and the scorching summer of X791 showed up right on schedule.
Thanks to the collective effort of the entire guild, the mountain of accumulated requests had finally been whittled down.
The afterglow of the Grand Magic Games still lingered, so new jobs continued to come in, but from today onward, life could more or less return to its usual rhythm.
The construction crew hired by the mayor worked at an impressive pace. While the guild stayed busy, the renovations were completed in one go.
The building's structure remained the same, but after the overhaul it felt brand-new.
What delighted everyone most was that the old ceiling fans had been replaced with "air-conditioning" units. Powered by magic crystals and supported by a few mechanical components, they were apparently a recent invention that had only become popular in the last two or three years.
On a sweltering summer day, sitting under the cool air, sipping cold drinks, and watching Natsu lose a shooting game to Asuka before crawling around the floor with her riding on his back was pure bliss.
Despite her young age, Asuka already showed remarkable marksmanship. With her toy pistol, she could hit the bull's-eye from twenty paces away.
"Glug, glug, glug… ah!"
Lucy drained an icy juice in one heroic gulp, flopped forward onto the counter, and sighed.
"I can finally relax."
"Haven't teamed up with Natsu and the others lately?" Rhodes asked casually, glancing her way.
"Everyone's drowning in personal requests," Lucy replied, sounding both proud and helpless. "I've got a ton myself."
"Impressive," Rhodes said with feigned innocence. "Mr. Jude alone has requested you three times. Must be because Miss Lucy is just that capable."
Lucy scratched her cheek awkwardly.
"Dad's business has been booming. His caravans always need guards. And… I do take the payment seriously."
"Oh Lucy, how heartless," Mira sighed dramatically, as if mourning
for Jude."Charging your own father for escort work."
"It's guild policy, payment after completion!" Lucy protested.
"Besides, last time Wendy and Carla came along too. Even if I waived my fee, I still had to pay them!"
Mira pressed on mercilessly.
"Poor Wendy and Carla. Helping you out of kindness, only to become your excuse for billing Daddy."
"That's not true!" Lucy shouted.
Mira immediately switched to full dramatics. She threw herself into Rhodes's arms and rested a hand on her belly.
"Darling, if our daughter turns out like Lucy someday, what will we do?"
Rhodes patted her back, resigned.
"What can we do? No matter what she becomes, she's still our daughter."
Lucy was so furious she couldn't find words. She slammed the counter.
"Another round!"
She bought juice with the same gusto others reserved for alcohol.
"Lucy-chan!"
Levy suddenly appeared and hugged her from behind.
"There's an event. Want in?"
"An event?"
"Yep!" Levy beamed. "The guild bath's been rebuilt. We're throwing a pool party. Girls-only soak!"
Lucy's eyes lit up.
"That sounds amazing. Count me in!"
Levy turned to Mira.
"Mira-nee, you coming?"
"Sounds fun," Mira smiled. "I'll join, and I'll sign Lisanna up too."
"We're in!"
Two voices chimed at once.
Jet and Droy popped up behind Levy, hands raised eagerly.
Levy spun around, pressed her palms to their faces, and shoved them back.
"Nope. Girls only."
The two drooped, but Jet shot Droy a look.
Droy blinked. Then realization dawned.
They locked eyes and broke into identical, highly suspicious grins.
"Ahem."
Rhodes cleared his throat. When they looked over, he casually drew a finger across his neck with a cold smile.
Jet and Droy instantly broke into cold sweats.
With Rhodes and Elfman around, peeking would almost certainly end with death. Possibly twice.
"Anyone else?" Lucy asked. "When do we start?"
Levy counted on her fingers.
"Wendy already invited Cana and Bisca. I asked Laki and Kinana. Carla's gone to the dorms to get Evergreen, Juvia, and Mickey. If everything goes smoothly, every girl in the guild should show up."
Rhodes looked at the organizers, Levy, Wendy, and Carla, and felt something oddly unsettling.
Were they training their mental endurance or something?
"What about Erza?" Lucy asked. "She'd love this."
"She went to the weapon shop," Mira replied. "She should be back soon."
Lucy hopped off her stool.
"I'll run home and grab my things!"
Rhodes added casually,
"If I were you, I'd leave Loke's key behind."
Lucy thought for a moment, then tossed Rhodes the Leo key. After that, she added Taurus as a bonus for good measure.
She kept the rest. She was still planning to invite Virgo, Aries, and Aquarius to join the fun.
Before long, nearly every girl in the guild had left. Elfman, Gray, and Max were promptly press-ganged into service as temporary waiters.
To commemorate their new status, Rhodes made them change clothes.
Max in a waiter's outfit looked perfectly acceptable. Elfman was an absolute eyesore.
Gray took forever in the changing room, only to emerge wearing nothing above the waist except a bow tie.
Fortunately, the regular patrons were long accustomed to this sort of thing.
Max's friendly chatter, Elfman's rough-and-ready hospitality, and Gray's aggressively over-iced drinks all received surprisingly high praise.
Before the girls returned, Erza arrived.
She wore her usual armor-on-top, skirt-below ensemble. Resting over her shoulder, however, was a pair of strange, dark-red weapons.
They looked faintly familiar to Rhodes, yet he could not quite place them.
"Twin swords? Or twin blades?"
"Technically, shears," Erza replied. She lifted the man-sized weapon and snapped it twice, just like an enormous pair of scissors.
Without channeling any magic, two clean cuts appeared in midair a meter away, slicing neatly across the countertop.
Rhodes felt invisible blades rush toward him.
He immediately raised a transparent barrier, shielding both himself and the shelves of liquor behind him. Then he silently stared at Erza.
"Sorry," she said awkwardly. "They're forged from the horns on the Clipper Dragon's head and jaw. I'm still getting used to them."
"Oh," Rhodes said thoughtfully. "The dragon shaped like a clothespin. Scissor-type weapons are tricky."
"Yes, but once you master them, they're extremely hard to counter. And watch this."
Erza pulled the handles apart.
The massive shears flashed. The central joint unlocked with a sharp click, splitting cleanly into a pair of dark-red blades.
The weapons reshaped slightly, settling naturally into her grip.
Rhodes froze.
Crap.
Erza had just snapped the chopsticks.
...
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